A Place Called Oakwood

8—Rise Up

Context: This letter is to Ellen White's longtime friend, Marian Davis. Mrs. White toured the Southern sites to see the progress of the work and provide encouragement. She gives Marian Davis a rather thorough account of the status of affairs efforts at Graysville, Huntsville and Nashville. Ellen White treats on the Oakwood situation extensively in this letter, perhaps her most lengthy account of the particulars of the school. Her insights are keen and accurate.

June 30, 1904

Early on Monday morning we took the train for Huntsville. We reached the school at one o'clock the same day. That afternoon we were taken over a portion of the school farm. We find that there are nearly 400 acres of land, a large part of which is under cultivation. Several years ago Brother S. M. Jacobs was in charge of the farm, and under his care it made great improvement. He set out a peach and plum orchard, and other fruit trees. Brother and Sister Jacobs left Huntsville about three years ago, and since then the farm has not been so well cared for. We see in the land promise of a much larger return than it now gives, were its managers given the help they need. PCO 20.1

Brother Jacobs put forth most earnest, disinterested efforts, but he was not given the help that his strength demanded. Sister Jacobs also worked very hard, and when her health began to give way, they decided to leave Huntsville and go to some place where the strain would not be so heavy. Had they then been furnished with efficient helpers and with the means necessary to make the needed improvements, the advancement made would have given Brother Jacobs encouragement. But the means that ought to have gone to Huntsville did not go, and we see the result in the present showing. PCO 20.2

Recently the suggestion has been made that the school at Huntsville is too large, and perhaps it would be better to sell the property there, and establish the school elsewhere. But in the night season instruction was given me that this farm must not be sold. The Lord's money was invested in the Huntsville School Farm to provide a place for the education of colored students. The General Conference gave this land to the Southern work, and the Lord has shown me what this school may become, and what those may become who go there for instruction, if His plans are followed. PCO 20.3

There is need at the Huntsville School of a change in the faculty. There is need of money, and of sound, intelligent generalship, that things may be well kept up, and that the school may give evidence that Seventh-day Adventists mean to make a success of whatever they undertake. PCO 20.4

Wise plans are to be laid for the cultivation of the land. The students are to be given a practical education in agriculture. This education will be of inestimable value to them in their future work. Thorough work is to be done in cultivating the land, and from this the students are to learn how necessary it is to do thorough work in cultivating the garden of the heart. PCO 20.5

The facilities necessary for the success of the school must be provided. At present the facilities are very meager. There is not a bathroom on the premises. A small building should be put up, in which the students can be taught how to care for one another in times of sickness. There has been a nurse at the school to look after the students when they were sick, but no facilities have been provided. This has made the work very discouraging. PCO 21.1

The students are to be given a training in those lines of work that will help them to be successful laborers for Christ. They are to be taught to be separate from the customs and practices of the world. They are to be taught how to present the truth for this time, and how to work with their hands and with their head to win their daily bread, that they may go forth to teach their own people. The bread-winning part of the work is of the utmost importance. They are to be taught also to appreciate the school as a place in which they are given opportunity to obtain a training for service. PCO 21.2

The teachers should constantly seek wisdom from on high, that they may be kept from making mistakes. They should give careful consideration to their work, that each student may be prepared for the line of service to which he is best adapted. All are to be prepared to serve faithfully in some capacity. PCO 21.4

No laxness is to be allowed. The man who takes charge of the Huntsville School should know how to govern himself and how to govern others. The Bible teacher should be a man who can teach the students how to present the truths of the Word of God in public, and how to do house-to-house work. The business affairs of the farm are to be wisely and carefully managed. PCO 21.5

Each student is to take himself in hand, and with God's help overcome the faults that mar his character. And he is to show an earnest, unselfish spirit in the welfare of the school. If he sees a loose board in a walk or a loose paling on the fence, let him at once get a hammer and nails and make the needed repairs. The wagons and harnesses should be properly cared for and frequently examined and repaired. When harnesses and wagons are sent out in a dilapidated condition, human life is endangered. PCO 21.6

These little things are of much more importance than many suppose in the education of students. Businessmen will notice the appearance of the wagons and harnesses, and will form their opinions accordingly. And more than this, if students are allowed to go through school with slack, shiftless habits, their education will not be worth half as much as it would be if they were taught to be thorough in all they do. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” Little things needing attention, yet left for days and weeks till they become an unsightly neglect, teach the students lessons that will cling to them for a lifetime, greatly hindering them in their work. Such an example is demoralizing, and students whose education is after this order are not needed in the world. PCO 21.7

Should not our God be served most faithfully? We are called upon as teachers to rise up with firm purpose of heart, and discipline ourselves with sternness and vigor to habits of order and thoroughness. All that our hands find to do is to be well done. We have been bought with a price, even the blood of the Son of God, and all that we do is to honor and glorify our Redeemer. We are to work in partnership with Christ, as verily as Christ works in partnership with the Father. PCO 22.1

Christ is pleading for us in the presence of God, and we are to lay aside every weight “and the sin which doth so easily beset,” in order that we may follow our Lord. All that we do, whether it be done with the hands or with the head, is to be done with exactitude. Then Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. PCO 22.2

The soul suffers a great loss when duties are not faithfully performed, when habits of negligence and carelessness are allowed to rule the life. Faithfulness and unselfishness are to control all that we do. When the soul is left uncleansed, when selfish aims are allowed to control, the enemy comes in, leading the mind to carry out unholy devices and to work for selfish advantage, regardless of results. PCO 22.3

But he who makes Christ first and last and best in everything, will not work for selfish purposes. Unselfishness will be revealed in every act. The peace of Christ cannot abide in the heart of a man in whose life self is the mainspring of action. Such a one may hold the theories of the truth, but unless he brings himself into harmony with the requirements of God's Word, giving up all his ambitions and desires for the will and way of Christ, he strives without purpose, for God cannot bless him. He halts between two opinions, constantly vacillating between Christ and the world. It is like one striving for the mastery yet cumbering himself by clinging to heavy weights. PCO 22.4

To Brother Rogers, who is to take charge of the Huntsville School, I would say, Look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. You will have provocations, but do not lose your patience and your self-control. Do not allow yourself to be easily provoked. I am sure that you are in the right place, and I ask you to work with an eye single to the glory of God. PCO 22.5

Abridged

Sources: Letter 215, 1904; The Review and Herald, September 1, 1904; Manuscript Releases 2:67-69; Manuscript Releases 14:37-42; The Oakwood Manual Training School, 6-10; Spalding and Magan Collection, 359-361; Last Day Events, 102