There are two denominational industrial schools in the South,—one situated at Graysville, Tenn., for the training of white laborers, both men and women; and one at Huntsville, Ala., for the training of colored persons. The one at Graysville is under the charge of Prof. C. W. Irwin; and Brother S. M. Jacobs is at the head of the other.
It is a fact, demonstrated by all foreign mission boards of long experience, that there is no place so well adapted for the education of native workers as is their own country, preserving as far as possible their own customs. Every argument that will apply to foreign countries will apply with equal force to this Southern field, both with the white and with the colored race. The method of Christ’s teaching is a divine method, and will apply to all people of all languages and nations and tongues. But the laborers themselves should be trained to mingle with the people, and visit them at their homes, in their own field, without breaking up social customs. It is the grace of Christ received into the heart that does the breaking up.
Young men and women who have given themselves to God as laborers, or who desire to do so, should be the ones to attend these schools at Graysville and Huntsville. Neither were these schools established to reform those who have given themselves to work evil, and so take the place of a State reform school; but they are for the training of workers in the cause of God. Each of these schools is doing a good work. At present there are about thirty-five church and small industrial schools in the South, besides the two principal schools already mentioned. This indicates that the church school work in the South has been taken hold of with earnestness, as there are more church schools in this field, in proportion to the membership, than in any Conference in the North.
At Huntsville a new school building has recently been erected by the students. The General Conference Association bore the expense, which was only for one carpenter and for the lumber, etc. This building was dedicated while we were there. Two or three years ago a commodious barn and other buildings were erected by student labor, the timbers being hewed in the woods belonging to the school. The call of Sister Hattie Andre to go to Australia has left a vacancy in the school at Huntsville, which we hope will soon be filled by some other person equally competent, to act as a preceptress as well as a teacher. This need must be supplied at once, to relieve Sister Jacobs of part of the work that now necessarily falls upon her. There is also need of a white woman nurse, to educate the colored girls in the art of nursing. To take them North to educate them is not as well as to train them on their own ground. A great and good work can be accomplished, with some capable person who can teach and instruct in harmony with the other branches of work that are being carried on in Huntsville.
We were glad to become more familiar with these schools in the South. It is certainly in the order of God that they have been established; for the South is the place in which to train workers for that field, in order that prejudice may not be aroused and customs antagonized. To ignore the customs of any people is to close the door of access to their hearts. Even in Australia, which is more like America than any other of the English colonies, there are customs entirely different from those in the United States, which, if ignored, would cause an arrest and fine. In Japan, inland hotels are closed against European travelers because the customs of that people have been ignored. Prejudice is like a corked bottle—will let nothing in or out. To ignore customs creates prejudice. There are, in the South, customs of the white and the colored people which can not be ignored without intensifying prejudice already existing, and closing the doors of successful labor among either of the races. Taking into account not only these things, but the unpopular truth, which Satan hates, it can readily be seen that this is a field of no ordinary character.
The Bible is not silent upon such important questions. If Joseph, in eating, had his servants “set on for him by himself, and for them [that is, his own brothers] by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians” (Gen. 43 : 32), it should teach us a lesson not to ignore altogether the customs of the people for whom we would labor.
Even in the days of Esther the Persian court had a custom acknowledged by Mordecai as a means that might be used by God for the deliverance of God’s people, and which God did use for that purpose, which the most enlightened among Seventh-day Adventists would ignore at the present day. This is worthy of careful study. It contains lessons for God’s people in these last days. The Lord meets persons where they are, rather than where they ought to be.
The humiliation of Christ, in taking upon himself human nature and learning the trade of a carpenter, was not much in harmony with the customs of the heavenly court, and especially with himself, who was the Creator of the heavens and the earth. To understand how this could be, passes the ken of human wisdom. How he could take upon himself the customs of humanity can never be comprehended, neither in this world nor in the world to come, only on the principle of infinite love.
“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” Heb. 5 : 8-10. From the eleventh to the fourteenth verses the apostle argues that to explain this would be difficult, seeing that they were dull of hearing, and had not had their senses exercised to discern good and evil. This perfection of Christ, which fitted him to be a High Priest, so that all could come to him boldly, was wrought out and made “perfect through sufferings.” Heb. 2 : 10. By submitting to customs that were in direct opposition to the customs of the court of heaven, Christ accomplished his work while on earth. This is a lesson that many of us have yet to learn.
After going through these fields in the South, and seeing that in the different States the condition of things is different, our conclusion is that those laboring there are better prepared to adapt themselves to existing circumstances as they are led by the Spirit of God, than are others who have never entered this field, to direct. Those in the field know best how to reach the hearts of the people; and having once reached their hearts, the grace of God will regulate the customs after the example of Christ.
S. N. H.
SOUTHERN GERMANY.
By John Norton Loughborough
LEAVING Friedensau January 10, in company with Brother Conradi and Dr. Hoenes, I came to Halle. We had a three-hours' meeting with fifty of our people there. Of these, five were from Leipsic, about fifteen miles distant. Brother Conradi, Dr. Hoenes, and I each spoke on this occasion.
The next day we came to Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here we had services in the afternoon and evening. About thirty of our people were gathered there. After the evening meeting, we went fifteen miles to Darmstadt, where we stopped overnight with Brother Obländer, who, with other workers, is opening the work in that place. The word “Darmstadt” means a serpent. The place was so named from a small, crooked stream that runs through the town. Darmstadt was the former residence of the wife of the czar of Russia.
Friday, January 12, we went to Stuttgart, in southern Germany. This beautiful place of one hundred and forty thousand inhabitants, is the capital of the German state of Württemberg, and the royal palace of the king is in the heart of the city. Our meetings here continued for three days. With a few who came in from other places, our congregation consisted of seventy-five adult Sabbath-keepers. The meetings were held in a large hall, in which is a pipe organ, run by steam. Because the man owning the hall is friendly to the truth, he lets our people have the use of the hall and organ for two marks, forty-eight cents, for each meeting. The church furnishes fire and light.
Our meetings were full of intense interest to those new Sabbath-keepers. It was expected that two persons would be baptized; but before the meeting closed, seven united with the church. Six of these were baptized. Sabbath afternoon the ordinances of the Lord's house were celebrated, every person taking part.
Present truth was first proclaimed in Stuttgart in 1894, in May. From there it has spread out to other places. In this southern German field there are now three churches, with one hundred and twenty members, and two ordained ministers, Brethren Obländer and Frauchiger, and two Bible workers.
It was of much interest to me to visit Stuttgart, as this is the place where L. H. Kelber received the light on the termination of the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8:14. Here he published his books during the first angel's message.
As I now pass on from Germany to Switzerland, I will speak briefly of the European-German field as a whole. It has sixty churches, with a membership of eighteen hundred, and about fifty scattered Sabbath-keepers. Of these we have seen about eight hundred on this trip. The tithe paid in the German field during 1899 was $14,550; the week of prayer offering was $800. Contributions during the year were as follows: To the ship mission, $1,000; to the sanitarium, $750; to the work from the Sabbath-schools, $1,040; the entire amount furnished to the work being $18,140. The sale of books delivered by the canvassers was $20,000; and the other sales of the tract society amounted to $2,200. The largest church in the German Conference is at Hamburg, and has a membership of 253. Their tithe last year was $2,200. To the Lord's name be the praise for the success already apparent. May all these persons be living representatives of Christ, and still greater results will be seen.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
BALTIMORE SUNDAY CLOSING CRUSADE.
By K. C. Russell
The Baltimore Sunday closing crusade, which has been in progress for several weeks, is doubtless the most radical of any that has been entered upon in modern times. The chief promoters of the movement were the clergy of the city, which is usually the case, the Methodists taking the lead.
Baltimore's new mayor, being a Methodist, and a strong advocate of the Sunday laws, gave the ministers much encouragement in their efforts for Sunday closing. After besieging the police commissioners, they finally succeeded in getting them to carry out their wishes by enforcing Maryland's Sunday law, which is known as the "Old Sunday Blue Law" of 1723. So, in response to the demand of the ministers, the police department proceeded to enforce the law almost to the letter, Sunday, January 28. There were nine hundred policemen on the force that Sunday, and the result was that nearly four hundred violations of the law were reported. Tobacco stores, confectioneries, and even the drug stores were closed.
They, however, permitted the street cars to run, and the newsboys to sell their papers. It is thought that the law was thus rigidly enforced by the police in order to bring the old obsolete Sunday blue law into as much contempt as possible with the inhabitants of the city; and there is no doubt that this was the effect produced on many. Even the ministers were sorry that the enforcement was made so rigid to start with, when they saw the effect. Following this the press of the city was open to the citizens, and many pleaded for what they called a "sensible Sunday."12The result of all this was the introduction of a bill into the Maryland Legislature by Representative Sanford for the purpose of modifying the old law. The bill was reported favorably by the judiciary committee. This aroused the ministers, and a special hearing was called, which took place in the House, February 27; but previously to this hearing there were mass meetings held in different churches, for the purpose of opposing the bill, and calling for volunteers to attend the hearing. The promoters of the Sanford bill calling for the modification of the law, while believing in the wicked principle of legislating on the Sunday question, the same as do the other side, ask for more liberal provision in harmony with the "spirit of the times." The demand for the modification was prompted by largely the same spirit of selfishness that lies at the foundation of all Sunday laws; hence there was no possibility of our sympathizing with those who were working for the modification of the law, as they were just as far from the true principle as was the other side.
It was simply a dispute over what things should, and what should not, be permitted. One speaker, at a mass meeting that was held for the purpose of opposing the modification bill, spoke in defense of the Sunday "blue law," to the effect that under the influence of that law had come the men who had been the stability of our country. To learn what kind of men that law would produce one needs only to read the history of the times when those laws were in full force.
A man with "Rev." attached to his name, who would like to see innocent women stripped naked "from the middle upward," tied to a cart's tail, and unmercifully whipped through different towns, for their religious faith, is a sample of the kind of men who, we were told, have made our country what it is. How deluded a man must be who has such a conception of the forefathers of our country! I maintain that the men who brought to us the legacy of prosperity and progress are men like Roger Williams, men who protested against "blue laws" and the intolerant spirit of the age in which they lived. The arguments to convince the people at these mass meetings were largely the same as are usually advanced on such occasions; namely, "civil sabbath" and the necessity of physical rest one day in seven, etc., etc.
THE HEARING.
The advocates of the modification of the "blue laws," and the opponents of this measure, who attended the hearing of the Sanford bill at Annapolis, Md., February 27, filled ten cars. Brother D. W. Reavis, who has had much experience in connection with such work, said that it was the most heated hearing that he had ever witnessed. When there was a point scored on either side, it was applauded by the respective adherents with an enthusiasm that would equal a political speech pending a presidential campaign.
To see those who claim to be ministers of the gospel leave him who is Lord of the Sabbath, him in whom is all power in heaven and in earth, and appeal to the puny arm of the state for that which it has no rightful authority to give, is enough to cause one to blush for shame.
The proposed bill was finally laid on the table; but it is thought that there will be another bill introduced, which will be local, applying only to Baltimore, asking for a modification of the old law. It is expected that this will provoke the Baltimore clergy to renew their fight for Sunday legislation.
In addition to this, there is also a bill before the Senate asking for an exemption clause for those who observe another day of the week. This bill was reported unfavorably, but was made the special order for Tuesday, March 6. This agitation has afforded an excellent opportunity to present the principles of religious liberty as it is in Christ.
I have delivered two lectures setting forth the principles of the gospel on the question, and endeavoring to show the inconsistency of the arguments that are advanced in favor of Sunday legislation. Two of the leading dailies published a synopsis of the lectures.
A large amount of literature has been distributed, which was supplied without delay by the International Religious Liberty Association. If there was ever a time when this association should be sustained in its noble work, it is now. This work demands our immediate attention for two reasons: First, the great need of instructing the public who are so completely devoid of a knowledge of the real principles that underlie all Sunday legislation; and secondly, the dispatch with which this literature must be distributed when an issue is sprung quickly. Brother Reavis has rendered valuable service in getting before our State legislators important reading-matter, and also in visiting lawyers in Baltimore. May the Lord hold in check the enforcement of these oppressive measures until the honest are warned.
K. C. RUSSELL.
A WORD TO OUR INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
By G. H. Baber
For some time I have been impressed with the thought of writing to the directors and teachers in our various institutions of learning. I have received calendars from some of these. I read with interest their articles in the REVIEW, whether they refer to the needs, the progress, or the decisions of councils; but in none of these do I find reference to the thing that burdens me.
You are aware that to the south of, and adjoining, the United States lies a vast territory more than twice the size of the United States including Alaska. In round numbers, there are eight million square miles, with a population of fifty million. Politically it is divided into fifteen republics and four small dependencies, not including Cuba and Puerto Rico. Nearly all these republics have inefficient, unstable governments. Some of them are seldom free from revolution. These are signs of decay, and must class them with Lord Salisbury's “dying nations.”
The political prophecy of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, that “the ultimate work of the United States will be to govern South America,” also Mexico and the Central American states, has nothing to do with my burden. Whether the United States, in pursuing her policy of “benevolent assimilation,” will think it her “duty to give them a white man's government” or not, does not affect in the least the great commission of our Saviour, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” A faithful church must respond to this commission without consulting the forms of government, without waiting for the “open doors.” The doors have ever been open since the divine commission was given. The trouble is not with the door, but with those who hesitate to enter. “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward,” and the door will open as did the waters of the Red Sea.
It is a matter of rejoicing to read of the opening of so many schools for the purpose of training Christian workers. There should be one hundred times as many workers in the field as there are at present. This certainly calls for many well-filled training-schools. For what fields are these schools training their pupils?—Certainly some of them ought to be preparing laborers for this great Latin American field, where the Spanish language is spoken. Brazil, of course, is an exception, as the Portuguese is the language of that country. But these languages are so similar that one understanding the Spanish can readily learn the Portuguese.
Probably you will have surmised that my burden is to have the Spanish language taught in not only one, but in many, of our schools. Certainly this great “neglected continent” deserves more attention from her more favored sister of the north.
It is a great mistake to say that a missionary to a foreign field should wait to learn the language on the ground. He might as well wait to learn the Bible in the pulpit. The conjugations of the verbs, the definition of words, and many other things may be learned in English schools or in private homes. To give stability to our work in this field we must have foreign leaders; and they should be in training as regards the language as well as in other things.
The great original Spanish field, with its 17,000,000 persons, is yet untouched by this message, which is to go to every tongue and to every nation of every tongue. Then give us plenty of Spanish tongues, American heads, and Christian hearts, and the work will move with rapidity, and God will be glorified. May the Lord bless you in introducing Spanish into your curriculum.
G. H. BABER.
Valparaiso, Chile.
THE BATTLE CREEK CHURCH SCHOOL.
By A. W. Spaulding
Meeting of March 13.
The parents and teachers connected with the Battle Creek church school will regard the meeting held the evening of March 13 a happy event in having drawn more closely together their common sympathies in the education of the children. Feeling that the members of the Battle Creek church should be given an opportunity more fully to understand the purposes and methods of the school management, and the meaning and results of the peculiar training Seventh-day Adventist children should receive, the college invited both those whose children are in attendance at the church school and those who have children in other schools, to meet with the teachers, Monday evening. A large company assembled.
The meeting having been opened with a few remarks by Professor Sutherland, three of the church school teachers, representing three of the different groups into which the school work is divided, spoke at some length, explaining in detail the principles upon which the work is based, and illustrating these with some of the practical work done by the children.
The primary teacher, in speaking, laid stress upon the manner in which the children are, from the very beginning, taught to look for the authority of God in everything they are directed to do. Emphasis is continually given to the fact that God means just what he says, and gives strength to do that which he tells us to do. The physiology lessons give constant opportunity for inculcating this principle.
The teacher of the second group, which covers the ground of about the third and fourth grades in graded schools, briefly reviewed the work done by her pupils during the last two terms, and showed how this includes not only the work usually done by such grades; but, through correlation, many of the principles of the work carried by students in grammar school and high school. She also gave some examples of the arithmetic work given in correlation with other subjects, and read some of the problems constructed and solved by the pupils themselves, thus illustrating how the children are taught to reason and understand mathematical principles, rather than to work blindly at problems of whose basic principles they have no comprehension.
One of the teachers of the third group spent some time in discussing the place that mathematics occupies in true Christian elementary education. She said that many of our people are afraid the practical and business faculties of the children are neglected on account of a lack of sufficient arithmetic in the church school; but she declared, and most successfully demonstrated, that the children are receiving more actual arithmetic work in their studies in the solution of problems than they would were the common method of text-book drills employed, and infinitely more of logical work in the construction of problems, and of nicety of judgment in the practical application of mathematical principles in all their studies and lives. One of her pupils, a boy of eleven years, had, in the study of the book of Daniel, discovered the faulty proportions of the map of the twenty-three hundred days which was used, and for the benefit of the school had worked out a chart minutely correct in proportion. At this point she called upon the boy to explain the chart, and the events connected with the twenty-three hundred days. This, without having had any previous preparation except his school work, he did before the audience in a most lucid manner. Does the church school educate Seventh-day Adventist children as workers in God's last message?
An exhibit of the children's work in sloyd, sewing, drawing, and the common branches was arranged upon six tables. This exhibit included only what has been their everyday work, there having189been no special preparation; but to the patrons and visitors there was a beautiful display of the training which eye, hand, and mind receive in the education of the whole man as God has outlined. The whole exhibit showed its clear relation to the work of God, the sloyd work having been done to illustrate the Bible and nature lessons, which the children had received orally; the drawing illustrating the lessons of physiology and the symbols and diagrams of Daniel; while the composition books and arithmetic books, in which the children preserve their lessons, all bore upon the truths they were daily imbibing.
Expressions of surprise and praise were continually heard as the brethren and sisters present examined the work, and many who before had doubted and trembled at the experiment they believed they were making in the education of their children, expressed full confidence because of the words they had heard, and the things they had seen. Those who missed this event missed more than mere sight and sound. There lies the weight of eternal things in the decision of every Seventh-day Adventist parent as to the education of his children. The teachers are anxious for the soul of every child. Will not the parents be anxious also? Teachers are glad at any time to have our brethren and sisters visit the school, and inspect the work being done. For the eternal welfare of the little ones and the sake of the cause of God, let us be faithful in following the Lord's command, “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them;” for “children are an heritage of the Lord.” A. W. SPAULDING.
MORE SUNDAY PERSECUTIONS IN MISSISSIPPI.
By R. S. Owen
BROTHER JOSIAH NASH and I are to be again brought into court for not keeping Sunday. From all that we can learn, the call appears to be for a retrial of the same case for which we were tried and acquitted last July in the justice’s court. The cases are to be brought before the circuit court, which will begin March 12. It seems that their zeal has not yet reached its limit.
The leading citizens of our community have placed their signatures to the following statement as an expression of their sentiments. The willingness with which this was done by nearly all to whom this paper has been presented, indicates that they do not favor such persecution:—
“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
“Whereas, An effort is being made by certain persons to bring hardship upon a certain class of conscientious Christians in our community, known as Seventh-day Adventists, by arraigning them before the courts for the most trivial acts in the way of work which they may have done on Sunday, after resting on the seventh day, which they regard as the Sabbath, therefore—
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Monroe County, Miss., do hereby express our disapproval of any such proceedings as would lower the dignity of our State, by thus using it as an instrument of persecution. Adopting the language of George Washington, we believe that ‘every man who conducts himself as a good citizen, is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience.’”
We hope the brethren and sisters will all remember us daily in their prayers. R. S. OWEN.
