General Conference Daily Bulletin, vol. 8
February 21, 1899
33rd Session. - WORCESTER, MASS., TUESDAY, - VOLUME 8. SOUTH LANCASTER, MASS. - NUMBER 5
The Daily Bulletin,
PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF
Seventh-day Adventists.F. S. BLANCHARD & CO., Printers, Worcester.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, - 50 CENTS.
CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER
| Our Pioneer Tent Preacher, | 41 |
| General Conference Proceedings, | |
| Eighth Meeting, | 41 |
| Ninth Meeting, | 43 |
| Bible Study - Daniel and Revelation - | |
| A. T. Jones, | 46 |
| Medical Missionary College, | 47 |
| Walla Walla College, | 48 |
| Report Healdsburg College, | 48 |
| Report Cor. Sec. I. R. L. A., | 47 |
| Financial Statement I. R. L. A., | 48 |
“Words measure power; and they measure thine. Greater art thou in thy childish years Than all the birds of a hundred spheres; They are brutes only, but thou art divine.” GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.1
The world needs “facts” rather than “isms.” The facts of the gospel pave the path to eternal life - the “isms” of theology are like the fallen leaves which scatter over the path and hide it. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.2
Christ, “the Great Physician,” responded to the call of the physically sick and suffering with the same readiness that he answered the cry of the sin-sick soul. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.3
That system of education which begins at home with the little children, follows them into the church school, and, if the Lord directs, carries them thence into the academy or the college, to fit them further for larger usefulness, is that “course” which will meet with divine approval. A Christian education trains its recipients to a Christian life and qualifies them to carry the last truths to this last generation. No other system of education is either profitable or Christian. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.4
The gospel of healthful living is now being preached with a deeper meaning than ever before; its relation to the increasingly unhealthful conditions, at this time found throughout the world, is more fully understood, and its especial mission during the closing years of time more clearly comprehended. This makes necessary a more careful, personal application of the true principles of healthful living - requires a more earnest advocacy of its general adoption. Those who live through the physical test of the seven last plagues must possess bodies which are germ-proof and immune. They who believe that the last days are upon us will train their bodies as well as their minds and hearts to express the righteousness of their faith. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.5
OUR PIONEER TENT PREACHER
Probably no one of the early workers among Seventh-day Adventists exerted more direct influence to win people to the truth than Merritt Eaton Cornell. He was born in Chili, New York, Jan. 29, 1827, and when ten years of age, removed with his parents to Michigan, and settled in Tyrone, Livingston County. At an early age he gave his heart to the Lord, and began to preach the Advent doctrine as best he knew, shortly after the disappointment of 1844. While still young in GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.6
PICTURE - ELDER M. E. CORNELL
his chosen work, he was passing through Jackson, Michigan, and heard Elder Joseph Bates speak on the obligation of the fourth commandment. Accepting the seventh day as the Sabbath, he began its proclamation, and was soon recognized as one of the principal evangelists of this denomination. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.7
In connection with Elder J. N. Loughborough, Elder Cornell held the first tent-meetings ever conducted by this people. These were in Battle Creek, Michigan, where is now the largest church of the denomination. In tent work and otherwise, Elder Cornell labored extensively for many years in most of the Northern States, from Maine to California. He fell asleep in Battle Creek, Michigan, Nov. 2, 1893, leaving the companion of his labors, a paralytic invalid, who still cherishes the blessed hope of the Master’s soon coming. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.8
GENERAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Educational Question Continued - Speeches by Dr. Waggoner and Others - Fullest Freedom to be Accorded Delegates in Expressing Their Views - Health and Philanthropic Work Considered - Address by Dr. J. H. Kellogg. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.9
EIGHTH MEETING, SUNDAY, 3 P. M., FEBRUARY 19
The Chair: Are there any delegates who have not been recognized in the conference, and assigned a seat? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.10
A. Moon: Elder C. A. Hall, of Jamaica, is here; and I move that he take his place with the delegates. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.11
Carried. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.12
The Chair: When we adjourned at noon, we were considering the school question, or the recommendations that came from the Committee on Education. Inasmuch as the health work, which has been assigned for this time, will not be taken up until to-morrow morning, we can continue the consideration of these recommendations this afternoon. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.13
R. A. Underwood: I would like to have the recommendations read. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.14
C. P. Bollman: I have been thinking a good deal over this matter since these recommendations were first presented. While I was not in harmony with them at first, I believe now the only thing we can do consistently is to pass them as presented. I was glad this morning when Professor Lewis called for definitions of what was meant by some of these things. Now, for instance, when we are told that a teacher ought to be able to teach from the Bible all that the pupils ought to know, I wanted to know whether that means using the Bible exclusively. But I understand that none of the brethren take that view; that the Bible is to be made the touchstone, and that everything is to be measured by that, and that it is the standard by which everything is to be tested. I am in harmony with that view, and I believe all the delegates are. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.15
The Chair: One of the delegates has asked for the re-reading of the recommendations. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.16
The secretary then read the recommendations, as found on page 30 of the DAILY BULLETIN. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.17
The Chair: The question is before you. If any one wants to speak on it, let him be free to do so. The question is called for. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.18
E. J. Waggoner: Now it is a very easy thing to vote on a resolution; nothing is easier in this world. It only takes a little muscular effort. When the resolution is passed, what have you got? We are all in favor of teaching according to the Testimonies; but there does not seem to be any agreement as to what the Testimonies teach. So we can pass this resolution that we are all in favor of conducting the schools according to the Testimonies, and then go on just the same as before. And what is gained? We are all in favor of the Testimonies. Therefore, some time - it may not be now - we must come to a quiet, dispassionate, careful, and prayerful study of the thing itself. A question was asked by Brother Lewis this morning, or a statement made, to this effect: we [that is, teachers] have to do with the practical teaching of children; you men are teaching grown people. But we have to take the children. I have some children. Now the principle of teaching two children is not any different from the principle of teaching two hundred. My little girl once said to me, “I have learned something new at school.” She knew she had learned in school what it was that made little particles of matter hold together. “What is it?” - “It is cohesion.” “Well,” I said, “let us see.” Of course I had to tell her something, because she was not very much acquainted with language. And so I told her what cohesion is: co, meaning “together;” and haero, “to stick.” “Cohere” means to “stick together.” The next question was, What makes the particles of matter hold together? - Sticking together. And then she found out that she had not learned anything. She had found, however, that the teacher had simply given her a name instead of a thing; or, in other words, had simply given her a Latin word instead of an English word. When I began to study philosophy, I was taught that the property that holds things together is cohesion, and I was just foolish enough to be satisfied with that; yet it seemed as if there was something intangible that I could not get hold of. I went to school, and I learned “cohesion,” and “adhesion,” and some other words; and what did I know when I had finished? - Why, I knew without going to school that the particles of a pencil stuck together, because I had to use force to break them. I did not need to go to school to learn that. Then what was the use of my going to school those years, simply to learn to substitute a Greek word for an English word? It was simply the substitution of the Greek word for the English word; but it was making me feel that that word in Greek gave the reason for the thing which was expressed in English. It did not do it. I frequently have the Bible on the table when we eat, and I turned to the first chapter of Colossians, and I said, “Here, read this: ‘And he is before all things, and by him all things consist;’ or ‘and by him all things are held together.” That is the strict rendering of the revision, with the margin. In him, in Christ, they all hold together. I took occasion to fix on the mind that power is of God. Power not simply belongs to him, but is of him. There is no power but of God. There is no force here. The word of God is quick and powerful. But you know scientists have a word they use a great deal as another term for force, and that is energy. Very well; that word “energy” is exactly the word you have in Hebrews 4:12. The word of God is energy, - a power, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Then the little girl knew what cohesion is. The teacher had told her that the particles of matter stick together by cohesion; now, she knew that cohesion is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, - the Spirit of God. What had she learned? - Well, she had a lesson in language. Why was not that just as good a Latin lesson as if she had learned it out of a Latin text-book? She had had a lesson in real science. She had had a lesson in the gospel, the power of God - of salvation. And she had had a practical lesson in pedagogy. But she never heard the word in her life. Now that is just one practical instance of teaching children, or any one else, because the way to teach anybody is the way you teach children. That is only one specimen of innumerable ones. A large part of the teaching of the present day is borrowed from ancient paganism, and is a deification of names. What is it that holds the particles of this metal together? - It is the power of God. Why not say the power of God, then, instead of saying “cohesion,” which does not tell anything, because cohesion is simply an echo? Mark this: cohesion means “sticking together,” doesn’t it? Now the pupil asks what it is that makes the particles of matter stick together? - It is the Spirit of God. How do you find it out? - Well, the Bible tells us that: “Whither shall I go from thy presence, or whither shall I flee from thy Spirit?” “Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” There, my friends, in that simple thing, is the basis of all energy, of all science, and of salvation - the all-pervading presence - of God, the Holy Spirit filling every particle of matter, so that, as mentioned the other day, when the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters, matter was impregnated with force. And what is force? - It is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the mover, and nothing can move except by the Spirit of God. Why does not everything move right? Because some resist the Spirit of God, and we have the resultant of motion - erratic man, because the Spirit of God moves in one way, and he goes the other way, and that makes the erratic man. Remember, we must come to the very simplest form, in order to find the point. And what is God’s school for the children? - The family and the home. But for the curse, there never would have been a school established on the earth. How was it with Jesus? He learned at home. Under present circumstances we must have schools, because there are so many parents who are not fit to be parents. They do not know how to teach their children. Therefore to supply the place of poor orphan children with parents, we have to have schools. If the schools do not do any better than the parents, the children might as well stay at home. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 41.19
S. H. Lane: It would be a good idea to have schools for the parents. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 42.1
E. J. Waggoner: Yes, it would; and that brings me to the point that this question can not be looked at from the standard of the preacher and of the teacher. You remember they came to Christ and said, “Master, we know that thou art a teacher sent from God.” The people who were trying to entrap him had to admit some things perforce. What did he teach? We know that thou art a teacher and teachest the way of God in truth. We know that the Son of man is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. What did he teach? - He taught himself. I am going to venture to read a very short paragraph here that is very simple. I think it will help to throw light on this. It is in regard to what the birds and lilies teach us. You know the Lord tells us to consider what the birds and lilies teach us. “Nobody teaches in gladness better than he who is glad. The teacher in gladness has nothing more to do than to be glad himself. There is nothing easier to teach than gladness when one is glad. But no matter how much he exerts himself to deal out gladness when he himself is not glad, the teaching is imperfect.” The question is asked, How shall we teach this, and how shall we teach that? - Nobody can tell you how to teach, and what you shall teach, any more than any one can tell you what and how you must preach. A man must have the teach in him, or he can not teach. No one can tell him how, except the one Teacher, and he does not tell him how to teach; but when he comes to him, and learns of him, he can teach somebody else. That is the way for the person to learn to teach. Now about adapting this simple teaching of truth to the schools as they are. I have taught school, but I am sorry to say that I didn’t know the gospel then. Indeed, I did not know the Lord, even when I was in school. I was a heathen. Now I do know the Lord, and what I know of him I know as well as anybody can know. But I know the one thing to study in the universe is God, and I know that you can not put it in a Seventh-day Adventist school on the basis of the ordinary academic course, and with the ideas of what the people think they must learn, you can not teach the gospel in that way. There must be a revolution. Some say that this must come gradually. Don’t you remember that Brother Ballenger said last night that it was not the thing to break off gradually, and you all said Amen? Now when we come to the matter of the gospel in education, then you say it can not be done. There was a time when men knew God; but they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and they did not glorify him as God. So they deified names; because you know that the heathen recognized God in everything, his power in everything. Everything known was a god; and there was a god of the wind, and a god of the waves, and a god in the trees, and another god in the earth. Every different manifestation of force was a different god. God was in the thing, and they put a name there; and we have gone on, and the world has gone on, for these hundreds of years, devising names, putting names in the place of God. Now what true education is, instead of giving these all names in the place of God, and deifying them as if the name did the thing, when they say cohesion holds it together, - it is to put there the Name that is above every name, and worship that, and see God there. Why should we, as Seventh-day Adventists, who have a message that God has committed to us in mercy, hide things simply because it is popular to hide them? Why should we not teach our children that God holds things together? There is only one force in the universe, not many forces. There is just one force, and that is God, his Holy Spirit. Why should we not teach them to see this, instead of substituting this nomenclature, - cohesion, adhesion, etc.? True, there is such a thing as cohesion, but it is not a force; it is the name of a condition. What we want to know is what causes the condition. There is such a thing as gravitation, or weight, but it is not a force. What we want to know is what causes it. You know very well that people spend years and years just learning those terms. But they do not know the thing, because they do not know God. What has this to do with the third angel’s message? What is the third angel’s message? What does it carry with it? - The commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Yes; but has not everybody believed the commandments of God? Then what especial phase of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is it that causes this message? - The Sabbath. What is the Sabbath? - “I gave them my Sabbaths, that they might know that I am God.” Then don’t you see that teaching this science, this thing, is teaching the Sabbath? The Sabbath teaches them to see God; and the Sabbath is not simply knocking off from work Friday night until Saturday night; but it is resting in the eternal power of God. Now just one thing more as to this practical teaching. I was much interested last winter in planting seeds, and then digging them up to see what progress they were making in growing. I had done the same thing many times, but now I was especially interested in watching them. I had tumblers with thin cloth spread over them, and seeds which I had sprouted between pieces of blotting paper set on the table where we could see them and watch them. You all know that when a grain of corn or wheat begins to grow, it grows out both ways. There is a stem, and one end of that stem is always root, and the other end is always branch; and the root end always comes out at the same end of the kernel of wheat, and the stalk end invariably comes out at the other end. More than that, whichever end of that kernel is up, the root end will go down and the stalk end will go up. People tell us, and I have read it lately, that it is the power of gravitation that makes the root go down. It is not the custom to say God in such things, and so we put another word in. It was interesting to watch those roots try to find a place to go down; the cloth was too closely woven for them to go through and they would wander around to make an opening for themselves to go through and get down to the water. It was interesting to see how a pea, standing on its head, as it were, would send a root over, and then go down. I also had some wheat and barley, and it was so situated that the root was right up in the air, and the stalk end could not get out of it in any other way except by going through the cloth into the water. As soon as it got through the cloth, and was free, it turned around and came through the cloth again, and grew up, but the root made a graceful curve and went down. It was not only nice to watch, but it taught something. What is it that makes this root know enough to go down, no matter how you put it? Here is a root that is planted in a dry soil, and over here is a well or spring. Does that root go fooling around all over the country, prospecting for water? No; it goes right straight for the water, and it takes the shortest cut for it, too. How does it know how to do this? When a man goes to a place to make a living, he goes around prospecting to find the place to get the living; and nine chances out of ten, he will settle in the wrong place. If he chooses the right business, and picks out the right place in which to carry it on, you say, What good judgment that man has; he is a man of discernment. But why do you not say the same thing of the root, that goes straight to the point, and never fools around prospecting? Why do you not say that the root has good judgment? Why not? What does the man do that the root does not do? The root knows right where to go to get a living; the root never fails, and the man sometimes does. The man is lauded as having good judgment, the root is despised. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 42.2
The Chair: The time has now arrived for a ten minutes’ adjournment. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 42.3
C. Santee: The last of these recommendations is one of real interest to me, and so far I have not heard much said in regard to it. Now, on this recommendation I want to suggest a few thoughts in the form of questions, because in every conference there is more or less agitation regarding church schools. The question is, Where shall we hold them? What kind of teachers shall we have? The conference committees are being applied to for advice in regard to this. And in some places they are starting schools without the advice of the committees. While this is so, there are a number of schools, not only in my own State, but in others, that are already having a reaction in this matter; and when that reaction comes, the result will be that the next time an effort is made to start these in a better way co-operation can not be secured. This is something already among us, and I am anxious to have counsel in the matter. Shall these schools be held in the churches? There is some difference of opinion in regard to this. We have started a school in Des Moines, Iowa, - not by the conference, yet that body has encouraged it. At the time it seemed impossible to get a suitable building for the school, so it was started in the vestry of the church in Des Moines. Now I will read a statement from “Testimony for the Church,” No. 33, and this was the especial point that caused us to wait: “The place dedicated to God should not be a room where worldly business is transacted. If the children assemble to worship God in a room that is used during the week for a school or a storeroom, they will be more than human if, mingled with their devotional thoughts, they do not also have thoughts of their studies, or of things that have happened during the week.” These questions ought to be brought up and counseled over further than they have been. We are told that it is extremely important that church schools should be started. But what can we do? God speaks not only to individuals, but I believe he says, Counsel together, and I believe it is right for the brethren to meet together in the fear of God, that God may give us light in the matter. I am anxious to know what we should do, and all our churches in Iowa are anxiously seeking counsel on this subject. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 42.4
J. N. Loughborough: In a church school started in our conference not long ago, the teacher considered this matter of so much importance that she postponed the beginning of the second term of her school for a week, knowing that I would come to the place, and she wished to get some counsel. She said that it was thought that the Testimonies said that church schools should be started, and that they must have one. But she said the greatest difficulty would be that of obtaining specially trained teachers for that work. God has helped her. I am heartily in favor of this part of the resolution, as well as the rest. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.1
H. P. Holser: I am glad that we are giving some time to this question; for it is one that has interested me much. I believe it is one of the most important questions that we can consider in our conference, and that the time will come when the question of teachers will be on a different basis than it has been in the past. The question of teachers has become a matter of profession. We have schools for making teachers. Certain methods are learned, applied, and carried out, that are called teaching. But only as we learn more of the truth will we learn the true method of teaching, and I believe that we must go on an entirely different plan of teaching than we have had. Our teachers must have an entirely different experience and qualifications, and I believe this will come about through the Spirit of God that we are seeking now. When we are taught of God, then we can teach, than we shall know how to teach, then we shall get hold of the right methods, and I trust the time will soon come when we shall recognize only such as true teachers as are themselves taught of God. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.2
marcusstop S. H. Lane: It will only be a short time before there will be more students in our church schools than in our academies and colleges. Indeed, I was surprised to learn the other day that there are over eight hundred already in these church schools, and the matter of the selection of teachers is indeed an important question. I think that we will all recognize it, and that it matters not how well educated an individual may be, if that individual can not govern the school, the thing is a failure. I have been in a few of these church schools, and the greatest trouble with Seventh-day Adventist children is that in many respects they are the hardest children in the world to manage. The majority of them have been brought up on lines of temperance. As a rule they are healthy, and their minds are active and acute, and they are already little engines, either for good or bad in the superlative degree; and if their minds are not properly trained, church schools will prove a failure. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.3
Wm. Covert: The recommendation suggests that the teachers in our schools should be well qualified for their work, and this I certainly believe is correct. If we have Christian teachers well qualified for the work and for the church school, and a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, I do not see that it would injure the cause of God if we were not prepared with any other house, to let the school go on in the church until we could make different arrangements. We have ten church schools in Wisconsin, and I can say that I know that God has possession in some of them at least, and that the work that is being done will not in any degree be improper in the house of God. I believe that wherever these schools can be conducted five days in a week, or between Sabbath and Sabbath, it is just as necessary as it is to have the school on the Sabbath: and if there is a reason why we should have Sabbath-schools for our children, I believe that there are five times as many reasons why we should have church schools for our children, and that they should be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I have noticed the workings of these schools, and I do not think there has come any harm from their being in a church, although we are endeavoring to provide houses as fast as possible. At one school there were eighteen pupils: and when they went there, they were unconverted, but I have learned from the teachers, and also by observation, that when this school came thirty-two miles to attend a meeting that I held, they were much different in their behavior than when, a few months before, they were at a camp-meeting. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.4
Wm. Ostrander: I am glad to put myself on record as favoring the church school, and this has come about perhaps by observation more than otherwise. I think it is a good idea that competent teachers be selected; and when the school shall be conducted in the fear of God, the results can not fail to be good. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.5
G. W. Reaser: The question of church schools is a live one in the Upper Columbia Conference. Ever since the June camp-meeting the question has been agitated, and there has been a demand in various places for church schools. When we come to consider the Testimony that says wherever there is a church of Seventh-day Adventists in which there are six children, there should be a church school, I think we are warranted in saying that that certainly means something. We have five church schools, and they have been in operation for a number of months. One of the great difficulties has been to secure competent teachers. I do not recommend the holding of church schools in the church building unless there is a separate room for the purpose. The most successful school that we have is the one at Boise, the capital of Idaho. It has a membership of forty pupils. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.6
C. W. Flaiz: I am glad that the education of the children of Seventh-day Adventists is to receive some consideration from this conference. I am sure that when this matter receives proper attention, many of the problems that have confronted us will be solved. What we want is to begin in God’s order, beginning first with the home school, then the church school. In that way the children will learn; they will grow; and God will come in by his Spirit to teach them. If we do not do this thing, we shall never learn how. The way to learn to shoot is just to shoot. I have often thought that the way for a preacher to learn to preach is just to take his Bible and begin to preach. The idea is to get out and do something; thus you will become proficient. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.7
The Chairman: The time has now come to close this meeting. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.8
J. H. Haughey: I feel very much burdened to speak just a word, if I may. My prayer before this conference began, was that God would give me the spirit of discernment, to know his Spirit. I want to say that this is one of the happiest days of my life. I am in full accord and sympathy with what has been said here to-day. I have been much impressed the last few days with the meaning there is in the second chapter of 2 Kings. I believe it is for us as a people. Elisha and Elijah and the schools of the prophets are there spoken of. The spirit which was upon Elijah was partially upon Elisha. Elisha knew about this. He went down to Bethel, and the Lord revealed to the prophets that he would take away from them Elijah that day. Elisha followed Elijah to Jordan. He wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Oh, brethren and sisters! if the Lord has come to us to-day, and I believe he has, I hope that as he has given us now the droppings of the early rain, the time will soon come when he will give to us the double portion of the spirit of Elijah, so that from this on we shall go forth, and speak the gospel message of God in the true spirit of it, and in the power of it, and all the glory will be to his name. Praise the Lord! GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.9
J. W. Westphal: I move that we adjourn. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.10
J. W. Watt: I second this motion. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.11
The Chair: Before putting the motion to adjourn, I would like to say a few words. It has been my intention from the beginning to give the fullest liberty to all the speakers. I can not find it in my heart to hold the meeting down strictly to parliamentary rules, and confine everybody to speak strictly to the question, unless that is the mind of this body. I am simply your servant. It does seem to me that we want to lay aside all formality in this conference, except what is necessary to preserve order and decorum. Let us give the fullest license to the Spirit of God. I thank the Lord that the Spirit has been so manifest in all our meetings. But I would say that Satan would like to get in in some way; and I fully believe that just at the point where we think we are enjoying the most of the Spirit of God, it will be necessary to be on our guard, or Satan will slip in there, and begin to bring about separation. I never felt more like yielding myself fully and entirely into the hands of my Heavenly Father. I want to learn just what he has for me in this conference; and I believe you want to learn it, too. May God help us to keep walking humbly before him! GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.12
Meeting closed with the benediction by Elder O. A. Olsen. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.13
NINTH MEETING, MONDAY, 9:30 A. M., FEBRUARY 20
The chair was occupied by Elder J. N. Loughborough, and the delegates were led in prayer by Elder R. S. Donnell. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.14
The Chair: The time has arrived for the opening of the meeting. Shall we have the reading of the minutes of the last meeting? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.15
Minutes were read and approved. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.16
A. J. Breed: I do not feel satisfied with what I said yesterday with reference to speaking on the educational question. As far as I am concerned, I would not hinder freedom of expression. If the Lord has light for this meeting, I do not want to suppress it. So I simply beg the pardon of this body for the position I took. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.17
C. C. Lewis: I rise to a point of special privilege. In my remarks yesterday I dropped at least one unguarded expression in speaking of my difficulty in understanding practically some of the thoughts that had been presented, and used a comparison that, I am sure, did injustice to the brethren, and did not properly represent my own attitude toward them, which is one of love; nor my views with reference to the ideas which have been presented. I desire, therefore, to apologize to the brethren this morning, and to this conference, for having been led to drop any such unguarded remark. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.18
E. J. Waggoner: This makes me feel a good deal worse than anything yet. I do not like to have the brethren feel as if they had to apologize to me. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.19
W. W. Prescott: I might say that I was a little overcome yesterday, but not because anything was said personally to me. The reason it was a little bit too much for me at that time was because we had had such a good meeting on Friday evening, and there was such a harmonious spirit to receive the Holy Ghost into our hearts, and the thought came over me, with such force as almost to overcome me for a moment, that we are now considering a motion against it. But there was nothing that hurt me personally. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.20
L. A. Hoopes: I feel a deep interest in the question that has come before us this morning. I feel a deep interest in the recommendations that were presented, as I was a member of the committee. That committee has met twice a day ever since the conference opened; and before these recommendations were framed at all, we sought the Lord for special guidance. In the discussion of those recommendations I felt that we ought to get directly at the point, and I must confess, brethren, that I was just beginning to feel a little uneasy. But I now feel that God, who is manifestly in our midst, is able to direct his own work. I do not wish to have these recommendations passed because they came from a committee of which I was a member; and if this conference sees proper to lay these altogether on the table, I shall not feel bad. Brethren, I have now come to that point where I am one with you. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.21
Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: What I have to say is perhaps a little irrelevant, but I am constrained to say it, and it is concerning what has come to me personally in the lesson of the morning. It seems to me that it has a particular bearing on this whole question. I think it is a wonderful publication of our uttermost need in Christ, that we are here this morning. As Nebuchadnezzar’s need was published to all nations, in the fact that he was lifted to that position, so this company of Christian brothers and sisters are sitting here in conference to-day because we are such a needy company. And it comes to me that we are called upon to walk very softly before the Lord, and that we are called upon to take, first of all, anything that will fill us up with goodness. The first thing is, to be filled with the goodness of God, and then everything else will take care of itself. I have said to myself, and to some of the brethren, as I have realized the goodness of God, and the wonderful goodness manifested to me, Why did he do it? I have been looking at myself to see if I could not find some beautiful things in me that made God want to do these things for me. With a new force there has come to me that statement concerning Christ, that he was without form or comeliness, and so it is because of our need of God, and our lack of comeliness, that we are here to-day. That is the message for this hour, and according to our need will be our God to us. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.22
W. T. Bland: I have a word this morning. After I made that motion yesterday, I felt very sorry indeed; but this morning, after hearing these remarks, I really have felt glad, because I believe it has brought us nearer together, and if there is anything we need, it is to be brought nearer together, and I want to be one with you, in this work. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.23
N. W. Kauble: While my name did not appear in connection with the motion yesterday, it was impossible for me to be in the audience and have a discussion going on without taking sides. I thought our brethren were spending a good deal of time that ought to be spent in some other way; and I felt so much over the matter, that I was satisfied it would work against me unless the thing was straightened up. I came to this conference to get all the light God had for me, and I have no disposition in my heart, and I do not think I had yesterday, to reject light. But I am blind in many things, and erring; and so I decided yesterday evening that the best thing I could possibly do would be to go and have a talk with these brethren, and I did it. God blessed us, and I saw some things in a different light from what I did then; and I want to say this morning that I am in perfect harmony with my brethren, and I am perfectly willing to let God lead in this meeting. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 43.24
The Chair: It was stated by Brother Irwin this morning that we would go on with the consideration of the school question, and he requested me to take the chair in his absence. I believe now we have come to the point where these three recommendations are pending action or disposition in some way. You may wish them read again. What is your pleasure about them? [A voice: I call for a vote.] GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.1
The Chair: A vote is called for on the recommendations. All in favor of their adoption, say, Aye. Any opposed, No. It is unanimously carried. [The recommendations are recorded on page 30 of the BULLETIN.] Having disposed of this matter, I inquire if any committees have reports to offer. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.2
C. P. Bollman: I ask a personal privilege. Most of the delegates know of the fire that burned my home since leaving to come to this conference. I feel personally indebted to this entire company for the kindness shown me, and the substantial testimony given me of their sympathy. I wish to thank them this morning for their kindness and words of sympathy. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.3
M. C. Wilcox: If no committees are ready to report, would it not be better to take a recess so that the committees may have time to work, and provide something to bring before the conference? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.4
The Chair: I think that time was asked for the consideration of the educational work. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.5
R. A. Underwood: The committee on Plans and Resolutions will doubtless touch the educational question, and bring in some matters later on. Would we not gain time to allow the committees to work, instead of talking now, unless some one has a special burden? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.6
V. Thompson: I have heard a number of teachers speak of their plans on education. I do not see why this is not a favorable time for them to speak to this point. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.7
The Chair: I understood they wanted opportunity to present some thoughts and experiences, and that they would occupy most of the hour. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.8
G. E. Fifield: I move that we take a recess. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.9
The Chair: To what time? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.10
It was finally arranged to have recess. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.11
Upon the conference reassembling, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, was asked to address the delegates on medical missionary work, which he did as follows:- GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.12
The subject of medical missionary work has never occupied a great amount of time in the councils of our General Conference, and I presume it will not be proper to occupy a great amount of your time here to-day. The subject is a very large one, and I want briefly to outline the work that is being done, and needs to be done. To do this fully would occupy more time than you could well afford to devote to it here, where there are so many other subjects that need careful attention. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.13
The principles of health reform, or what we call our health principles, have been before this people for thirty-five years, and the more I have studied them, the more I am amazed at their magnitude, and their beauty. During the last three years especially, these principles have grown with wonderful rapidity. The length, and breadth, and depth of these, which God gave us a third of a century ago, are becoming more and more clearly defined, and more and more thoroughly established on scientific facts. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.14
We find that almost every new discovery in science having any bearing upon health goes to confirm these great principles, and not a single word can be found - not a single fact can be presented - by anybody that in the slightest degree weakens, or in any sense overthrows, a single one of the principles that have been practised all these years. It is a thing that ought to give us faith and hope and confidence, not only in the principles, but in the way in which the Lord brought them to us, as well as in all the other truths they accompany. If there is anything in the world that ought to strengthen one’s faith in the Lord’s work, it is just to take up these health principles, and see in what a plain, clear, simple way they were first presented, unaccompanied by scientific facts, and note how they have won their way in the world. Not only among this people, but all over the world we find these principles growing. Elder Conradi could tell you how the principles of hygiene are received in Germany and in Hungaria. Brother Holser could tell you how they are developing in Switzerland, and from Australia we have letters from Sister White, Dr. Caro, and Elder Daniells, telling how these same principles are agitating the minds of the people there. Dr. Waggoner and Professor Prescott can tell how they are growing upon the minds of the people in England; and I might spend several hours telling how the principles are developing in this country, and moving the hearts of the people. I remember that sixteen or eighteen years ago a canvasser in Ohio was introducing Good Health, and he called at a house, and introduced himself as a sanitarium missionary, and said to the lady who opened the door, “I came to talk with you about sanitarium methods.” She said, “We have not such a thing in the house, and we don’t want any.” But the time has come when the people begin to see the need of these sanitarium principles, and they want them in their houses, too. There is one thing to which I would call your attention. I do not remember whether or not I spoke about it two years ago; but it is a very fearful thing, and stares the world in the face, and they can not get away from it. There is a class of people in the world who try to make us believe that we are getting healthier; that human life is getting longer; that we are making such wonderful discoveries of how to prevent disease, and how to antagonize plagues, etc.; and that we are gradually getting the victory over these evils, and by and by, if we can not exterminate smallpox, we shall be able, at any rate, to deprive it of its power by vaccination, and in other ways. Now we have to look this matter squarely in the face. Less than a month ago I found some statistical evidence in one of our scientific journals stating that at the present time there is in the United States one idiot for every five hundred persons, and other statistics I have gathered show that there are now, in every million of people, 3,400 idiots, lunatics, and imbeciles; and that this number has increased three hundred per cent. in fifty years. Thirty years ago the proportion in England was just what it is in this country at the present time. At this rate we can look ahead, and easily tell what it will be in fifty years more. Fifty years ago there were about one thousand idiots, lunatics, and imbeciles to the million. At the present time we have 3,400 to the million. That is over three times as many. In fifty years more, increasing at the same rate, we would have ten thousand to the million, or three times 3,400. Then fifty years further on, there would be ten thousand to the million, or one per cent. of all. Fifty years more, we would have three per hundred, or three per cent. In fifty years more, there would be nine to the hundred; and in another fifty years, twenty-seven to the hundred. In another fifty years we would have eighty-one to the hundred; and in fifty years more, two hundred and forty-three to the hundred. But the world could not go so far as that, even though it be but three hundred years. Two hundred and sixty-five years would be the farthest point that could be reached, before the whole world would be made up of lunatics, imbeciles, and idiots. But society could not hold together, even to that point, judging of its condition at the present time. Let some political question come up, and it seems to seize half the population with some phase of lunacy. It is the same in many social reforms. People in the world get an idea, and it carries them away off. So we have anarchists, socialists, and various classes of people who are insane in various ways. This is likely to keep going on until we have so many imbeciles that it will be impossible for society to hold together. When we get to going down, our speed will be accelerated, as when you start a ball rolling down hill. That will go faster and faster, until it gets to the bottom, when it is dashed to pieces. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.15
Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: Is not that a very strong demonstration of the fact that the Lord is soon to come? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.16
Dr. Kellogg: That is the very thing I wanted to bring to your minds. We have statistical proof of the fact that this world is soon coming to an end. The Lord is not coming to destroy the world, but to save it; he is coming to save the world from what would come to it if it went on. We are coming down to a time of absolute confusion and destruction. Men are getting more and more subject to disease all the time. There are fewer old people than formerly. The last fifty years the bottom seems to have dropped out of the constitution of the human race. The Lord made man the toughest animal on the face of the earth. Even to-day you take a man who is in good training, and there is not another beast that can compete with him. A man can travel farther in six days than a horse. A well-trained man can tire out two or three horses in the course of a week. There is no question about it. Man, however, has greatly deteriorated, but no other animal would stand the abuse that he endures, even now. How long could a horse or a cow endure such treatment as human beings give themselves? A man would not dare feed his horse what he himself eats, or his cow either. He would not even feed his dog the same. A woman eats, and feeds things to her child, that she would not give her bird; she takes better care of her cat than of herself, or her child. The world is coming to see that there is a tremendous catastrophe before the race if something is not done. The hearts of the people, the world over, are wonderfully open to receive these principles. Two things are a constant wonder to me. The first is the beauty of these principles, and the other thing is that we do not appreciate them more. How can it be? Just see what these principles can do for this people! Let me call your attention to what the world is trying to do. Just as soon as small-pox gets into a community, what do the doctors do? They say everybody has to be vaccinated. Over in India they vaccinate from arm to arm, and people get leprosy and consumption through it. In this country that method is not tolerated. You would not allow your children to be vaccinated from your neighbor’s child’s arm; but you allow them to be vaccinated from a calf, because you know the calf has a great deal better blood than your neighbor’s child has. You are afraid of your neighbor, and you have reason to be afraid of him. In India not long ago there was a case where one hundred and sixty students in a school were vaccinated from arm to arm, and sixty of those boys and girls came down with leprosy in three years. Think of that. You see vaccination is not a thing that is entirely safe; but there is some reason in it. But if you are vaccinated from a calf that has tuberculosis, then you get consumption. So you see that is not altogether safe. I believe there is something better on principle than that, and I am going to try to show you some disease with disease, and the man who is vaccinated is a little lower in vitality after he has been vaccinated than before. It is like a boy who becomes immune to the use of tobacco. At first it makes him sick, but afterward he becomes used to it, and it does not affect him; yet it is doing the boy harm all the time. It is thought by some scientists that the time will soon come when vaccination will be employed for all maladies in the earth. It has been said by Dr. Lancaster, of London, that the time will come when a young man taking a course in a medical school would, before he finished, be vaccinated for all diseases that were prevalent in the country. I do not think there would be very much left of that man after he had gone through all that. It has been proved that when a man has had small-pox, he is more subject to consumption than before. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.17
The Chair: Has that been proved, doctor? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.18
J. H. Kellogg: Yes, it has been proved within the last three months by statistics that have been collected that a man is not so good after he has had smallpox as he was before. That is also true of typhoid fever. Very often consumption is fastened upon the victim of typhoid fever. As I said before, this method of obtaining immunity against disease is the method of fighting disease with disease, meeting evil with evil, antidoting poison with poison. It is wonderful to see to what an extent this can be carried. In Chicago a few weeks ago a woman appeared before our medical class; and she had with her a rattlesnake, which she took out of its cage. She held him in her hand and irritated him. She beat him, and stirred him up until he became angry, and then as she bared her arm, the reptile struck it time and again, and fastened his fangs into her arm, until the flesh was all covered with the virus. Then she said, “Take that virus, and inject it into a mouse, and see how quickly it will die.” But yet it did not affect her in the least. The fact is, she has become so accustomed to the virus of the snake’s bite that her body is perfectly immune to it, and it apparently does her no harm whatever. I remember a woman at the sanitarium, who in one day took eight hundred full doses of morphia, - enough to kill forty men. Apparently it did not hurt her, though in fact it was all the time undermining her constitution. This method of fighting disease with disease is the human way of meeting disease, just as we fight fire with fire. But God has given us a truth that has in it power to lift a man above the power of disease. He has given us principles which, if we obey and follow, will change our bodies so that we shall not have to be vaccinated; that will lift the body above the power of disease, and above the power of sin; for sin and disease go along together. Disease is the consequence of sin, and sin induces a moral disease. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 44.19
Did you ever hear of such a thing as, when there was to be a fight between pugilists like Fitzsimmons and Corbett the battle was called off because one of the men had a cold, or was down with the grip, or fever, smallpox, or anything of the kind? - Why, nobody ever heard of such a thing. The reason for it is that these men have followed the laws of health so rigorously that they are proof against any disease. When Fitzsimmons met Corbett, he was just as ready to meet smallpox or any other condition that could come to him. He was just as ready to fight germs as he was to fight Corbett, and that fact is worth considering. I met a gentleman the other day who told me that he was sick; that because he had to do a little extra work, he had broken down. I said: “That is not what broke you down; you are like a man who had a hole in his boot. As long as he went on dry land, he was all right; but as soon as he stepped his foot into water, it got wet. You have been making holes in your constitution by bad habits, and these habits have let you down; then when a little strain like this came, you broke down altogether. But it is not this little work you have just done that did the mischief; it was your tobacco-smoking and gormandizing at the dinner-table, that did the work.” Thirty years ago God gave us principles which, if they had been followed, might have made us the healthiest people in the world, - a power wherever we are, and an example to all the world. The time will come when there will be some people on this earth whom nothing can kill, not even cyclones nor earthquakes nor disease of any kind, - men whom the plagues can not kill, who can stand anything. God has given us a chance to be some of these men; and why can we not lay hold of the principles that will enable us to be this? It seems to me as if we, of all people, ought hardly to be able to contain ourselves when we have such an opportunity presented before us. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.1
A. F. Ballenger: Could Corbett, with all his training and careful work, be kept from these things without faith? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.2
Dr. Kellogg: No; because he is not absolutely obedient. I was speaking of what exists at the present time. This man is only measurably obedient; but there will come a time when these diseases will come with such power and intensity that they will strike down everybody that has not yielded to God. There is a point here. It is not faith alone that avails the man, but that which faith leads the man to do. It is not the holding of faith but the obedience that comes from faith. The man who has complete faith in God believes everything that God says; and when God tells him to do a thing, he will implicitly obey him. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.3
E. J. Waggoner: It is faith that saves a man, because it is faith that leads him to do that which he does. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.4
Dr. Kellogg: Yes; that is so. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.5
Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: But does not God recognize obedience as far as it goes? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.6
Dr. Kellogg: God is true; he can not lie; and when Corbett obeys the law of health, God will stand by that, and give him the result, but you see the time will not always be that this is so. The time will come when there will be a line drawn, and men will have been so enlightened that they will take their stand on one side or the other. Absolute obedience will be on one side, and to those who obey will belong the victory over appetite, and over the mark of the beast, and everything of that kind. But the others who have not rendered obedience fully to the Lord will have surrendered so fully to evil that they will have lost all the power to comply with any of the laws of God. Professor Bouchard, of Paris, made a statement a short time ago that a person with a perfectly healthy stomach could not get the typhoid fever, because such a stomach will digest typhoid germs just the same as it will vegetables, typhoid germs being a vegetable, just like cabbage. If a man’s stomach is strong enough to digest that kind of vegetables, he can not have typhoid fever. The same thing is true of cholera. All cholera germs are vegetables; and if you get these germs in the stomach, they will grow there on the walls of the stomach, just as mold grows on a wall; but they are vegetables, and if that stomach has the power to digest those vegetables, the man does not succumb to the disease. When Professor Koch discovered cholera germs, he brought them home with him from Egypt to Germany. A rival professor said he did not believe there was any danger in those cholera germs, - if they were cholera germs, - because he had swallowed a pint of them, and no harm resulted. Well, numberless cases of cholera occurred in Hamburg, where cholera germs had infected the drinking water. Many, however, were not attacked by the disease. Brother Conradi can bear me out in that statement. Is not that true, Elder Conradi? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.7
L. R. Conradi: Yes, sir, that is a fact. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.8
Dr. Kellogg: The reason was that some of those people had stomachs able to digest these cholera germs, and so no ill effects resulted from drinking the water full of germs. Only a small proportion of those who used the water died. Why did not all have the cholera? It is a self-evident fact that these germs were destroyed. It is only necessary for a person to have his body in such a condition that he is able to resist all these germs, to be immune; and that is the kind of opportunity that God has offered to us - to reach a state in which we may be immune from these diseases. Now you may wish me to answer this question: Do you think that by any attention a man may give to diet, he can become able to resist the seven last plagues? - No, I do not. I do not believe that a man could live so correctly on a certain diet, as to be free from danger. “Do you think a man, though he exercise so vigorously, and though his manner of living and general conduct be ever so carefully circumscribed, can come into a state where he would not succumb to these plagues?” - No; by no means. I do not think that it is possible for a man to live so healthfully that he could overcome these, unless he has faith in God. He needs that faith, that connection with God, to get the proper instruction and light; and not only that, but the power to obey God. I do not think that we have power enough to suffice, without faith in God. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.9
J. O. Corliss: Do you not think that the more faith a man has, the more healthfully he will live? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.10
Dr. Kellogg: Why, certainly. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.11
J. O. Corliss: I know this: the more faith I have received the more strictly I have lived health reform. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.12
Dr. Kellogg: Yes; that is true faith. It is not a thing that leads us to believe that God will do what we want him to do for us; but true faith will lead us to want to do the things that God wants us to do. Many people have that reversed. They think they can persuade God to do a thing that he does not want them to do: and they think that it is only necessary to have faith enough, and believe hard enough, to bring God to their terms. But it works the other way. It seems to me that real, true faith is that which leads a man to do absolutely as God wants him to do. When he gets that kind of faith, he gets into the line of God’s providence, into the divine order, so that everything goes right with him, and smoothly. He gets into the divine procession, so to speak, and everything marches along beautifully. But it is hard when we try to bring God to our terms. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.13
A Voice: Faith puts a man in the right channel, where the blessing is flowing. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.14
Dr. Kellogg: That is a channel of obedience. It is not a psychological channel, a mental channel, or a theological channel. It is not a channel simply in which a man is protected from danger, neither is it a doctrinal channel; but it is a channel of absolute obedience to God. It is true obedience, that will lead us to do exactly what God asks us to do. It seems to me that it would be profitable to discuss these principles. First, we might say that this subject divides itself naturally into two heads: (1) the principles of truth that God gave us a third of a century ago in relation to health and philanthropy; (2) our duty to our neighbor and to ourselves. These two principles came to us about the same time, - Christian philanthropy and Christian temperance. Let us consider these principles, and their relation to the other branches of what we call the truth - the third angel’s message. In the second place, let us consider, if we have time, this medical missionary work, - the methods or modes of presenting these principles before the world, and the work that is to be done in presenting these truths to the world; - also the relation of these modes and work to the evangelistic and other lines of work which this people have to do. If we could spend our time in doing this, and allow the business to come up before the legal meetings which will be held in Battle Creek, I think it would be more profitable than to consider business during this session. Why could we not profitably spend the time in that way? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.15
The Chair: I understand that was the design, doctor. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.16
Dr. Kellogg: If there is no dissent, we will consider that the best thing to do. So far as I know, the meeting is open for anybody that wants to speak, and to say what he wants to say, without any special restriction. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.17
The Chair: Since there are only five or six minutes before the time to adjourn, perhaps it would be well for you to occupy the rest of the time, doctor. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.18
Dr. Kellogg: The question has been asked, What is medical missionary work? As distinguished from purely evangelistic work, medical missionary work represents all those modes and lines of work which will reach men’s souls through attention to their physical needs. Considered by itself, apart from any other mode of Christian activity, the medical missionary work represents the complete gospel, - health, comfort, salvation, redemption for the whole man, - soul, mind, and body. Medical missionary work - not medical work, but medical missionary work - does not confine itself to the administration of medicine as a gospel measure, but employs every sort of means necessary to afford physical help and relief. Thus it includes among these organized agencies, not only hospitals and dispensaries, but sanitariums; asylums for orphans and for friendless and aged persons; rescue work for men, women, children; gospel shelters for homeless and friendless waifs; and all other means for affording physical relief, as illustrative of the various phases assumed up to this present time. I may be permitted to enumerate several institutions that have grown up, under its fostering care, in Battle Creek and Chicago. In Battle Creek there are the Battle Creek Sanitarium, the Sanitarium Hospital, the Haskell Home for Orphans, the James White Memorial Home, a rescue home for outcast women, Christian Help bands, and organized outdoor relief for the poor, cottage meetings, cottage cooking-schools, and the gospel mission. In Chicago we have the following lines of work: a small city sanitarium; the Workingmen’s Home; two gospel missions; a maternity for unfortunate girls, affording them a Christian home; a free dispensary; rescue work for men; a life-boat service; prison, jail, and saloon work; newsboys’ clubs; visiting nurses’ work; cottage and street meetings; gospel-wagon work on the street in connection with the mission industrial department in the Workingmen’s Home. In addition to these, and the natural out-growth to them, we have the training-school for medical missionary nurses, and a medical training-school for training physicians. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.19
Medical missionary work reaches every phase of human need. It seeks to relieve every kind of human woe. The success of medical missionary work can not be numbered by the number of converts or proselytes. If this were not true, what about the success of the great Master Medical Missionary, who went about doing good; who preached the gospel to the poor; and of whom it was said, “He healed all their sick”? At his death, only a few women hovered near the cross, and a bare handful of followers gathered in secret to mourn his loss. The immediate results of Christ’s mission of love and mercy and healing were apparently small, - a failure, - from a human standpoint; but all the centuries since have been bearing fruit to that divinely patient and infinitely wise seed-sowing. The truest measure of the success of a medical mission is its spirit. To what extent does it reflect the image of him who said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my little ones, ye have done it unto me? How far does it manifest the love and simplicity and sweetness of the Christ-life? If these questions are answered well in any work, the visible results, as regards the number of permanent adherents or converts, may be left to him who has told us, “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” The medical missionary must sow the seed without too anxious thought about the fruitage. God knows where every seed of truth has fallen. His Spirit watches over each, and waters and nurtures it, and the great day of settlement will show the results. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.20
At this point the conference adjourned. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.21
“When we turn away, from some duty or some fellow creature, saving that our hearts are too sick and sore with some great yearning of our own, we may often sever the line on which a divine message was coming to us. We shut out the man, and we shut out the angel who had sent him on to open the door.” GCDB February 21, 1899, page 45.22
BIBLE STUDY. THE BOOKS OF DANIEL AND REVELATION. Synopsis of Lesson by Elder A. T. Jones
Practical Bearing of the Prophecies - Even Apparent History Prophetic of Last Days - The Bible the True Source of Knowledge - Testimonies to Direct Us to the Bible. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.1
I have noticed what I have no doubt you all have, - that this General Conference is already on a very high plain. I desire that you should all especially pray that in these lessons nothing shall occur that will lower it, but that the Lord may lead us in these studies as perfectly as he has led us hitherto. The books of Daniel and Revelation are God’s handwriting among the nations and in the church; and he who can read these books can read God’s handwriting to-day among the nations; and unless a person can read God’s handwriting in the books of Daniel and Revelation, he can not read it as it is among the nations to-day. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.2
I suppose if Seventh-day Adventists were asked what two books of the Bible we had specially studied more than any others, all would say, Daniel and Revelation; and yet the Lord exhorts us, over and over again, to study Daniel and Revelation, and study the books of Daniel and Revelation. Our study in these lessons will be of the books, - not a minute, detailed study of chapter and verse, but the books, that we may get God’s thought in the books. God has thoughts that are expressed in verses: some are expressed in a single word. He has greater thoughts expressed in a chapter; and yet far greater thoughts expressed in a book; and greater thoughts than all these, expressed in the whole Book. So it is important for us all to study words, verses, and chapters; but it is also likely important that we study the books of the Bible; and beyond all that, it is highly important that we study the Bible. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.3
The book of Daniel, by the following verses, is specifically stated to be written for the last days, the time of the end: Daniel 2:28; 8:17, 26; 10:14. In Daniel 8:17 we read, “For at the time of the end shall be the vision.” In the Revised Version it is, “For the vision belongeth to the time of the end.” [E. J. Waggoner: The vision points to the time of the end.] GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.4
Yes. That which was shown there belongs to the time of the end. In the twelfth chapter it says: “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.” Everything in it is for this time. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.5
The book is divided into two parts, and is divided right in the middle according to the chapters as we have them. The first six chapters are of one style, and the last six are of altogether another. The first six are historical; the last six are prophetical. It is true that the second chapter is prophetic; and yet it is historical this far, that it was all shown and all explained to the man who lived then, and for his sake, as well as for the future. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.6
The first chapter records present occurrences, the second likewise; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth all are a record of what had occurred. The seventh to the twelfth are a record of what was to occur. Only the second chapter is prophetic in its make-up. The first chapter records how Jerusalem was burned and taken, and the people were carried captive; Daniel and his brethren were selected to be taught, and they were taught; and then the outcome of it all is told. The second chapter deals with Nebuchadnezzar, and the exposure of the ignorance of the wise men. The third chapter - Nebuchadnezzar’s idea set up against that of God, and the outcome of it. The fourth chapter deals further with Nebuchadnezzar’s experience. The fifth chapter you had last night. The sixth chapter deals with Darius, and God’s dealing with him. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.7
All along it is a running narrative of what had occurred. It is as strictly historical as the books of Kings or of Chronicles; and yet it was all written for now; for the whole book was closed up and sealed. All belongs to the time of the end. Though that part is all historical, except in the second chapter, it is all prophecy in this respect, - the principles there recorded and illustrated are the principles that must guide the people in the last time. The events, the situation, among the nations outside of the people of God in that time, will be repeated in the last time. The same principles that enabled Daniel and his brethren to remain steadfast, manly, Christian men in the midst of all the corruption, licentiousness, and defiance of God, of the nation and city where they were, - these alone can hold a man to Christian integrity, Christian manliness, in purity, in uprightness, in the times to which it applies, and for which it was written, which time is now. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.8
The history of the first half of the book of Daniel, - the history of Babylon and of the men in Babylon - is written because it contains principles that illustrate the last Babylon, and that will save men and make them God’s men in the last Babylon. The one great thought of the whole book of Daniel, upon which everything else hangs, is that which is four times spoken in the book: “The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” That is the one great thing over all that the whole book is given to teach. With that in mind, to read the book with the history that belongs with it, all the world’s history is plain. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.9
In the nature of things there will have to be references made to the book of Revelation, while we are studying the book of Daniel; and with your knowledge of the book of Revelation, I do not need to turn to chapter and verse in these studies, but hold the book up before the eyes of all. All can see, by glancing at the book, from the first chapter to the last, that the book of Daniel deals with kings and nations only. These are incidentals, it is true, but I mean the great points of the book. We all know of Babylon, Media-Persia, Grecia, Rome, the ten kingdoms, and the stone that smites the image on the feet, - all that is world-history. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.10
When you have studied the book of Daniel for just what it is, without explaining it, and marking out the lines with which it is there marked out, becoming thoroughly familiar with these, and then read the history of the world from Nebuchadnezzar until now, you do not find anything that you have not already. Read the history of Babylon exactly as it is in the book of Daniel, without referring to anything else; study it until you see every line marked out, and every line and item of the history that is there written; and then take up the secular history of Babylon, and you have not anything that you have not already. Not a thing. In the history you will see how this occurred, you will see who the man was, in whose time this particular prophecy applied, and who did what that passage of the Book says would be, - you see all this in history, - but when you have all that, the details, the ups and downs, men’s names, the ins and outs of history, you have nothing more of the history of Babylon than you had when you read it in the book of Daniel. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.11
Now this is not to say that the history outside the Book is not to be studied; for you must study that along with this, in order to understand both better. The history outside the Bible is simply the complement of that which is inside, and no man is prepared to study the history outside the book until he has thoroughly studied it in the Book. Then, when he has thoroughly studied it in the Book, the history outside of it is not a task. When he sees these things, he is a seer, and God wants us to be seers. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.12
All who are familiar with history outside the Bible, or inside, or both, will readily recognize the fact and discern the instruction that is in it, and will discover it readily enough. In the Bible, up to the time when the history in the book of Daniel closes, the history of nations, both outside of Bible nations and of Bible nations, is given in the Bible. From there on, in the sense we have already used, the history is given in the Bible, in figure, in illustration, in prophecy; but the recorded history is outside. The history of the kings of Assyria is written in the Bible. Many interesting things are discovered in history; but you have enough of it in the Bible, without any of these. So all the way down to Babylon and Media and Persia, to the time of Nehemiah, Artaxerxes, and Darius, we have history, - Persian documents transferred into the Bible, - and we learn that such and such a king did such a thing, which is the material history of Persia. All you get in history is that. But from there on no history is given from outside, in the Bible; no document is transferred into the Bible. But under the symbol of the ram, pushing westward, northward, and southward, the he-goat, the great horn, etc., the outline of history is given. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.13
Now here is the fact: all the history of this world before that time, outside the Bible, was lost, - buried up under foot after foot of soil and heaps of ruins. Just at the point where the Bible ceases to connect definitely with history outside, just there we reach the place where the history outside of the Bible is written in a language that remains to this day, and the histories themselves remain to this day. Why did God take the history of nations up to this point, and put it in the Bible, and then cease doing so, unless he intends us, from that point forward, to go to where the history is outside of the Bible, and read the two together? Before that time the history was lost and buried, and we could not get it to read with the Bible; but just as soon as we come to the man who wrote a history that stands until to-day, translated into English, in the same language that the Lord chose to write the New Testament, he stops taking the history from the Bible, and simply sketches the history outside the Bible. Then does he not intend us to take this sketch that is in the Bible, and find its counterpart that is outside, so that we shall be students of history indeed? GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.14
But we are not prepared to study the history to which the Lord has thus directed us, and shut us up to, until we have studied thoroughly the sketch which God has given in the book of Daniel. When we are thoroughly acquainted with the prophecy relating to the Grecian kingdom, and the four divisions of it, and not until then, shall we be prepared to look into the history as it is written in the Greek or translated into English. But when we have studied that thoroughly, as recorded in the book of Daniel, we can take up Herodotus, and see just what is going on. We see the points in the book standing there before us. And in this way of studying history, the philosophy of history is discerned. Time is misspent, energy is wasted, in studying merely the facts of history, - getting dates and expeditions, the size of armies and certain battles. But that is simply an illustration of the world’s method of education, - studying phenomena instead of things. They study the phenomena of plants instead of the plants, the phenomena of beasts instead of the beasts, the phenomena of mind instead of the mind, - always something about the thing, instead of studying the thing itself. This is but one phase of the false mode of education. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.15
[Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: I desire to ask a question with reference to the necessity of studying dates. Is it not necessary to have the dates, in order to connect with the prophecies?] GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.16
O, yes; and that is why we must take the history that is outside of the Bible, and study the two together. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.17
There is just as much spiritual truth, there is just as much spiritual substance, that you and I need to-day in our lives, in the books of Daniel and Revelation, as there is in the book of John. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.18
[W. W. Prescott: Is not that righteousness by faith?] GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.19
Surely; how can it be anything else? What is it but the divine power of divine character that will hold me back from myself, and give me an insight into things that may appear to be right, but are deception and iniquity, and lead to ruin? What is it that will hold me back from that but character. Theory will not. There is not a man that has deserted the third angel’s message who has not had the theory of it as well as anybody that was ever in it; but he did not have the character that is in it. All our theories of the third angel’s message, all our theories of the ten commandment and the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, will not save us from sinning in a single instance, unless we have the character of the books of Daniel and Revelation. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.20
If we would study the books of Daniel and Revelation, and the book of John, and the rest of the Bible, as we must in order to be Christians, we would not need to be told by the Lord that righteousness by faith is the third angel’s message. If we would study the Bible as God calls us to study it, the Testimonies would not need to come to tell us so many things that we are ignorant of. Then we would not need to bolster up the Bible with the Testimonies. The Bible is enough, brethren. The only reason the Testimony comes is that we have not taken the Bible. We can not present the Testimonies to people who do not know anything about the Testimonies. We must preach the word of God. That has strength in it for all people. The prophecies are for those who believe, not for those who believe not. They are given to you and me to teach us, and we are to learn by them. But we are to learn by them what is in the Bible, and then preach that thing from the Bible, and not from the Testimonies. Now I do not think anybody will accuse me of not being loyal to the Testimonies. I hope not, anyhow. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.21
This is what we are told to do: I am to study the Bible and the Testimonies for myself before God; and in the light which God has given in the Testimonies, find that thing in the Bible, and then preach that from the Bible with all the power of the Spirit of God. That is what it is given for. It weakens me, it weakens others to whom I preach, and it weakens our strength, to do it any other way. Brethren, we are not prepared to preach health and temperance unless we can preach it from the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” You take Christian temperance, take the first commandments, and preach Christian temperance from the first commandments, and you can preach it to anybody. You will need, perhaps, to make references to the Testimonies to see it in the first commandment. But we are to study this for ourselves. I am not prepared to teach Christian temperance until I can teach it with the first commandment as the basis of it. We are to preach the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and nothing else. What is temperance worth, if it is not based on the commandments of God? What can it be if it is not in the commandments of God? When God spoke these, there was nothing more to be said. When he had said that, that was all there was to be said. Then everything is to be found in the commandments; and you and I are to find instruction there because it is there. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 46.22
PICTURE - THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY COLLEGE
[Mrs. S. M. I. Henry: The faith of Jesus is in the commandments.] GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.1
Precisely. Everything is there, and we are to find it there; and if I have not found it there, I am to seek God until I do find it there, and then I am to preach it everywhere; so that those who see it will stand on the commandment of God. That is their support and strength. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.2
THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY COLLEGE
A very important part of the work of this denomination is hygienic and medical in its character. From this naturally developed its extensive system of sanitariums; out of them grew training-schools for nurses; and as its latest development, a medical missionary college for the education of physicians for missionary labor both at home and abroad. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.3
The institution is incorporated under the laws of Illinois, and was established in July, 1895. It is situated on the corner of Twentieth street and Wabash avenue. The students, however, receive a considerable portion of their practical and clinical instruction in the hospital, sanitarium, laboratory, and school at Battle Creek. The time ordinarily spent in vacation is here most profitably occupied in hearing lectures and in actual contact with medical and surgical work, carried on with the greatest skill assisted by the latest scientific appliances. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.4
The purpose of this college is to give a thoroughly scientific education in medicine, surgery, and hygiene, in order that its graduates may go out with God’s blessing to heal the sick, help the needy, and preach the gospel to the poor. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.5
REPORT FROM THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION
Though the circumstances have been quite unfavorable, the International Religious Liberty Association has attempted to go forward in the discharge of its duties during the last two years. The members of the board were so scattered that it has been impossible to hold councils. The office of the corresponding secretary has had to be supplied twice, on account of resignations; and the president has been assigned to other work that has virtually deprived the association of his services. Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, the association has circulated, in 1897, 1,329,600 pages of periodicals, and 2,457,430 pages of tracts; and in 1898, 1,273,424 pages of periodicals, and 5,878,824 pages of tracts. Total 7,152,248 pages. Grand total of pages of periodicals and tracts distributed during 1897 and 1898, 10,939,278; value of whole amount, $15,656.46. These amounts include only the principal distributions, no account having been kept of a large miscellaneous circulation. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.6
Through the co-operation of the State conferences, the American Sentinel is now going to nearly every legislature in the United States, and to each member of every legislature now in session. A special personal communication has been sent to nearly all the members of these legislatures. From July 1, 1898, to January 31, 1899 (seven months), the total number of letters and cards sent out from the main office of the association was 16,464. There is a large amount of work done by the field secretaries and special agents for the association, not included in this report. These workers are constantly carrying on personal correspondence, lecturing, writing for the papers, and circulating literature. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.7
There has been much work done with all classes, especially ministers, Christian Endeavorers, the W. C. T. U., and professional classes. Literature was furnished the New England churches for general circulation during the last summer, to counteract the work of the New England Sabbath Protective League. All the principal conventions have been attended, and literature has been supplied. At the National Christian Endeavor Convention, held at Nashville, Tennessee, Mr. Crafts paid the association his usual compliment, by saying that under the shadow of one night we circulated more literature than the whole Methodist Church South had ever done, and that we have the faculty of placing literature so that it is received, retained, and read. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.8
During the years 1897 and 1898, there were eighteen prosecutions for Sunday labor; twelve of these were in 1897, and six in 1898. There are six cases pending for 1899. While the cases of 1897 represented an unusual diversity of territory in the United States and Canada, the most of them resulted in acquittals, and the few penalties inflicted were light. Of the six cases in 1898, two were at Briceville, Tennessee, and four at Ford’s Store, Maryland. Of the six cases pending, four are at Sanford, Tennessee; one at Gainesville, Georgia, where Brethren McCutcheon and Keck were imprisoned in 1893; and one at Aberdeen, Washington. The most severe of the recent cases were those at Ford’s Store. Through these cases, the Seventh-day Adventists as a religious body were tried in the civil court, condemned, fined, and imprisoned, because they teach by precept the observance of a day that is in opposition to the American sabbath. The pending cases in Tennessee are out of the usual order, inasmuch as one of the parties is a self-supporting missionary, engaged in school work for the colored people, for which he is probably persecuted rather than for working on Sunday. Another is one of our sisters, who was arrested for washing on Sunday. In all these cases the association has taken an active interest, supplying necessary means, circulating literature, and assisting the families of those who were imprisoned. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.9
In the biennial report to the General Conference at College View, Nebraska, in 1897, attention was called to the fact that many of the societies which were organized expressly for religious and philanthropic purposes, had been enlisted in the “Reform movement,” through the combined influence of which a wave of prosecutions for Sunday labor was suffered by Seventh-day Adventists during the years 1895 and 1896. During that time there were reported seventy-six persons who were called to account before the courts, and 1,144 days in prison cells and chain-gangs were imposed upon them for their faith. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.10
The great effort made at that time to crush the Seventh-day Adventist denomination in certain parts of the country, is now considered by our opponents to have been a mistake, and the change in their plans of procedure is the cause of the present marked decrease in prosecutions during the last two years. This respite has come to us because our prosecutors discovered that public sentiment would have to be changed, and the legislatures controlled, before the prosecution of Sabbath-keepers could result favorably to their cause. Therefore, all the auxiliary religious organizations have been systematically reorganized, and are enthusiastically working, circulating specially prepared printed matter, to inoculate the public mind with erroneous principles; and while all the Reform associations are working to the same end, the League for Social Service was especially organized “to educate public opinion and the popular conscience” and “to afford a medium through which an aroused public sentiment can be brought to bear quickly and effectively on legislation.” Though there are no outward demonstrations in the accomplishing of these purposes, we know the Reformers were never working so earnestly and so successfully as they are at the present time. They have adopted our plans of educating the public with the printed page, and have engaged their millions of young people in a systematic sowing of their literature, and are bringing the organized influence of the better classes of men and women, through the League of Social Service, to bear upon the members of legislatures when Reform bills are being considered. They are now molding public sentiment to their purposes, and in a very short time our favorable opportunity to give the message will be past. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.11
We call special attention to “The Impending Conflict,” “Testimony for the Church,” No. 33, page 239. If this Testimony was true in 1889, it certainly is now. That a crisis is upon us, there is no question. The promised respite has been granted, that God’s people might awake and let their light shine; but instead of awaking and improving the golden time of the last few years, especially that of the last year, when issues have been before the people which demanded the proclamation of the message to prevent them from abjuring the principles of the government, there has been a disposition to regard this department of the work as of little importance. There never has been a time so favorable as the last two years for giving our special message. The public mind has been made exceedingly sensitive to principles of truth, on account of the greatly increased agitation, and the proposed enforcement of the principles of error. Our opponents have gone out before us; and with their mighty army of workers, their great wealth, and the popular clamor for “Reform,” they have brought the public to the critical point of considering between truth and error. If we now fail to use this most opportune time, the following Testimony will be sadly true of us: “We as a people have not accomplished the work which God has committed to us. We are not ready for the issue to which the enforcement of Sunday laws will bring us. It is our duty, as we see the signs of approaching peril, to arouse to action. Let none sit in calm expectation of the evil, comforting themselves with the belief that this work must go on, because prophecy has foretold it, and that the Lord will shelter his people. We are not doing the will of God if we sit in quietude, doing nothing to preserve liberty of conscience. If our people continue in the listless attitude in which they have been, God can not pour upon them his Spirit. They are unprepared to co-operate with him. They are not awake to the situation, and do not realize the threatened danger. They should feel now, as never before, their need of vigilance and concerted action.” GCDB February 21, 1899, page 47.12
RECOMMENDATIONS
In view of the fact that all the religious bodies are now thoroughly organized, and are systematically working, having for their common object the changing of public sentiment, to favor religious legislation, and that organized influence and compulsion are being used upon the members of the legislatures, preparatory to additional Sunday legislation, whenever the public mind is prepared to sanction its enforcement, we recommend - GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.1
1. That the International Religious Liberty Association be thoroughly reorganized and equipped for effectual work. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.2
2. That the association be placed upon a financial basis similar to that of the Foreign Mission Board and the Sabbath-school Association. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.3
3. That the Executive Board be composed of seven members instead of nine, and that they be chosen from conferences in close proximity to the International Religious Liberty Association’s general office, thereby rendering it possible to hold a council on short notice and at a small expense. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.4
4. That the association be given a president who can devote his entire time to this department of the work. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.5
5. That the association’s general office be changed from New York City to Chicago. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.6
6. That the association be permitted to own and control an organ of its own. D. W. REAVIS. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.7
STATEMENT OF RESOURCES AND LIABILITIES. From Jan. 1, 1897, to Jan. 1, 1899
RESOURCES. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.8
| 1897. | 1899. | |
| Bank and cash, | $3,008 97 | $2,753 70 |
| Inventory merchandise, | 55 | 422 |
| Inventory office fixtures, | 154 | 204 98 |
| Accounts receivable, | 1,585 | 1,403 95 |
| Totals, | $4,802 97 | $4,784 63 |
LIABILITIES
| Accounts payable, | $1,140 74 | $403 91 |
| Net worth, | 3,662 23 | 4,380 72 |
| Totals, | $4,802 97 | $4,784 63 |
RECEIPTS
| 1897. | 1898. | Total two | |
| years. | |||
| Annual dues recd., | $1,484 50 | $2,373 80 | $3,858 30 |
| Donations recd., | 287 80 | 732 61 | 1,020 41 |
| Annual memberships received, | 208 00 | 233 95 | 441 95 |
| Merchandise, | 81 | 81 | |
| Office fixtures, | 28 05 | 6 00 | 34 05 |
| Total receipts, | $2,009 16 | $3,346 36 | $5,355 52 |
| Net loss in 1897, | 730 93 | ||
| Totals, | $2,740 09 | $3,346 36 | $5,355 52 |
DISBURSEMENTS
| Office expense, | $332 28 | $695 06 | $1,027 34 |
| General expense, | 2,507 22 | 1,880 88 | 4,248 10 |
| Washington office, | 76 05 | 76 05 | |
| Merchandise, | 8 54 | 51 93 | 60 47 |
| Office fixtures, | 16 | 16 | |
| Total disbursements, | $2,740 09 | $2,627 87 | $5,427 96 |
| Net gain in 1898, | 718 49 | ||
| Net loss in two years, | 72 44 | ||
| Totals, | $2,740 09 | $3,346 36 | $5,355 52 |
Report of Auditor. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.9
This is to certify that I have audited the books of the Religious Liberty Association; have brought them up to date; taken trial balances and balance sheet; and to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are correct. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.10
Respectfully, MRS. NEMA HOUSER WALTERS, Auditor. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.11
REPORT FROM OAKWOOD INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
This school is now in the third year of its work, and is prosperous. The most of those now in attendance seem to have a definite purpose as the object of their course at school. Some are fitting themselves to go to Africa, others to South America, and a few desire to labor for the uplifting of their own race in the southern portion of North America. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.12
The manual training in the school consists in teaching the students to care for themselves in every practical way, that they may be on the road to independence when they leave it. Book study is also pursued to a practical end, and all text-books not helpful in this direction are discarded. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.13
The methods adopted are such that part of the pupils can be engaged in manual labor for certain hours, while the others are in their classes. This gives, to those who desire it, an opportunity to do nearly enough work to pay their way through the school course, and is a decided advantage. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.14
We are hoping that this conference will take some steps toward providing a series of text-books adapted to the times and to our needs, - those which will more nearly coincide with our denominational ideas of true education. Our conception of what these should be has been embodied in a request submitted to the Book Committee, and need not be given here. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.15
We can not say we are satisfied with the efforts thus far put forth, but still we see that considerable progress has been made in response to the efforts exerted. So, instead of grieving over failures made, we look toward the advancing light, and are encouraged to go forward in the path of duty. We hope in due time to see our school raised to the plane where it will be recognized as one of the “schools of the prophets,” from which pupils may go forth fitted properly to divide “the word of truth.” H. S. SHAW. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.16
UNION COLLEGE, SOUTH AFRICA
This school was founded early in 1892. Its location is in Claremont, one of the suburbs of Cape Town, and about seven miles distant from that city. It occupies two large buildings, situated in a campus of twenty-three acres, to the east of, and near the foot hills of, Table Mountain. The dormitory is three stories high, and has fifty-one rooms, affording accommodation for more than sixty boarding students. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.17
Being a denominational school, the religious sentiment predominates, yet no student is compelled to take any part of the religious instruction to which he may object. Besides the religious training of the school, all the branches generally taught in high grade institutions may be studied at Union College. Both the English and Dutch languages are used in the studies. Manual training is made a specialty; and students are taught cookery, laundry work, and the use of tools in the various trades. The school has a large and deserved patronage. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.18
WALLA WALLA COLLEGE
In a climate hard to surpass, and situated among thrifty orchards and adjacent gardens, bearing most luxuriant growth, is a substantial four-story brick building, the home of the Walla Walla College, of the far Northwest. Its campus is an elevated site of ten acres, commanding an excellent view of the Blue Mountains to the east and south. The two brick dormitories near by have capacity for the accommodation of more than one hundred and fifty students. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.19
PICTURE - WALLA WALLA COLLEGE
This school was opened for its first year’s work, Dec. 7, 1892. Some of the distinctive features of this institution are, Christian homes for non-residents, hygiene and physical culture, instruction in all domestic work, Bible study, low expenses, etc. Departments for the teaching of German, Greek, Latin, higher mathematics, philosophy, and music are well equipped. The college also has facilities for carrying on a successful educational work by correspondence, through which lessons are sent out to students every week. Those who do not feel able to take a full college course may, by this method, get credit for work which will enable them to enter the school in advance of its lower grades. The school appears to be well fitted in every way for the work it has undertaken. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.20
REPORT FROM HEALDSBURG COLLEGE
Since the last General Conference, Healdsburg College has in many respects been reasonably prosperous. The attendance has slightly exceeded that enjoyed during the two years before. During the school year covering 1897-98, the enrollment in all grades reached 222. This year it has been 201, distributed as follows: students taking full work, 115; those taking special studies, - as Bible, music, etc., - 32; in primary department, 54; total, 201. This is about the same as the preceding year, which is a surprise to us, in view of the heavy financial depression prevailing throughout the territory from which the Healdsburg school receives its support. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.21
Two years ago we tried to inspire our students with the thought that to enter an open door in the harvest-field of God was far more desirable than to complete any set course of study; and that all our students should hold themselves in readiness to obey, under proper advice, any call that might come to them. Some feared that this might tend to laxness in school work; but in most cases it had the opposite effect, the work being characterized by greater diligence and devotion than before. In the last half of the year, calls from various sources took from us thirteen persons, - about one third of all the students in the more advanced grades. While this cut down the average attendance, we were glad to see them go, and gave them our prayers for their success. Most of these are still actively engaged in some branch of the work. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.22
Last year, aside from the week of prayer, we made no special evangelistic effort; but the faculty endeavored to keep the atmosphere of the school in harmony with the principles of truth, and so prepare the students for the camp-meeting, which was held at the close of the school year. At that meeting nearly all the unconverted students gave themselves to the Lord, and some of these are now the most devoted and faithful members of the school. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.23
Some advancement has been made in industrial studies. A tent-shop, broom-factory, printing-office, wood-yard, carpenter shop, and blacksmith shop are now in operation, with fair success. The first four named have yielded a fair profit, and future prospects in this direction are good. Ground has been rented on which to grow broom-corn the current year. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.24
Church-school work has received some attention in the California Conference during the last few months, and calls have been received from various quarters for local organizations, and for teachers to supply the demand. A church-school teacher ought to be able, not only to teach the common branches of education, but also to teach these in the light of present truth. To be fully successful, such efforts must be supplemented with a set of text-books in harmony with God’s word, from which all skeptical sentiments shall be eliminated. With such text-books, and teachers who will undertake the work in a missionary spirit, church schools will succeed. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.25
In the History course, “The History of the Sabbath” and “Great Controversy” are being used, the latter being the basis for the study of the Reformation, the papacy, and the French Revolution. Of course it is necessary for the teachers to supplement this book liberally; but the light in which these subjects are presented in it, and the reliability of its statements, make it superior to any other book as a guide in pursuing the study of these subjects. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.26
While considerable progress has been made in school work, the managers are in no way satisfied. They hope that the present Conference will suggest some courses of study which will greatly facilitate future work. Perhaps during the summer a council of teachers might be held, in which such subjects as courses of study, text-books, and a plan for church schools might be carefully and prayerfully considered. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.27
On account of the financial depression prevailing all over our conference, many of our brethren who had loaned small sums of money to the college, were compelled to draw it from the treasury, which has been quite a heavy strain upon the school, but so far it has been able to meet every demand of this kind. R. S. OWEN. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.28
Truth is so logically symmetrical in all its proportions that the eyes which rest upon it do not necessarily require a view of every detail to be convinced. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.29
We may have storm every mile of the way, but it is possible for God to be always with us. 49 The Daily Bulletin Of the General Conference “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14. GCDB February 21, 1899, page 48.30