A Place Called Oakwood

10—The Huntsville School

Periodical: The Southern Field Echo

May 1, 1910

I have been writing for our papers on the needs of the Southern field. This is a living subject with me. I hope that our people will not stop to question about everything that does not exactly meet their ideas before giving to the work that needs their help so much. I have tried to bring before our people the needs of the Training School at Huntsville. This school should have special advantages, and our people should understand that liberal gifts made to this enterprise will be money well invested. PCO 75.1

At the Huntsville School a thorough work is to be done in training men to cultivate the soil and to grow fruits and vegetables. Let no one despise this work. Agriculture is the ABC of industrial education. Let the erection of the buildings for the school and the sanitarium be an education to the students. Help the teachers to understand that their perceptions must be clear, their actions in harmony with the truth; for it is only when they stand in right relation to God that they will be able to work out His plan for themselves and for the souls with whom, as instructors, they are brought in contact. PCO 75.2

Let us encourage all Seventh-day Adventists to have a deep interest in the work that is being done at Huntsville for the education of men and women to be laborers among the colored people. The preparations for a sanitarium for these people should go forward at Huntsville without delay. If we will move forward with faith in God, He will fulfill His word to us. We have no time to lose, for wickedness in the cities is reaching a terrible pass. The night is coming in which no man can work. Let us not grudge the colored people a well-equipped sanitarium in connection with the Huntsville School. The building should not be restricted. It should be made roomy enough to accommodate with comfort those who shall come to it. PCO 75.3

“Ye are laborers together with God,” the apostle Paul declares. We are a part of God's great plan, bound up with Christ in God. The greatness of our work is to be measured by the power of the grace of Christ to enable us to perform it. We are to be the means of concentrating the light of heaven upon souls; we should therefore pray earnestly that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine forth. By faith we are to present Christ as a personal Saviour; then Christ will prepare the mind and heart to receive the truth as it is in Jesus. PCO 76.1

The first and great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” PCO 76.2

The gospel of Christ embraces the world. Christ purchased the human race at a price that was infinite. The ransom embraced every nationality, every color. We should think of this when we consider the colored people in our own land who are so greatly in need of our help. These men and women should not receive the impression that because of the color of their skin they are excluded from the blessings of the gospel. PCO 76.3

Let those who have known of the faithfulness of the laborers, and of the progress of the work in the Southern States, testify to all our people of what they have seen and heard. I am satisfied that those who are carrying the burden of the work at Huntsville are doing their best to carry on the work of education for the colored people acceptably, and to provide increased facilities. The white teachers who are acting a part in the school, should be encouraged. The colored youth are there to be educated to labor for their own people as teachers, nurses, and Bible workers. PCO 76.4

My brethren, I entreat you not to let the work for the colored people be longer neglected. Meetinghouses, simple, but convenient, should be built for them, where they can come together to study the Word of God. God gave to you the greatest gift that Heaven could bestow. “Freely ye have received, freely give.” PCO 76.5

Let our ministers say to the people, Our time to work is short. You who have land that you can dispose of, use it to advance the cause of truth. Make it possible to secure places from which the work for the colored people can be carried on. As the Lord's stewards we are responsible for the welfare of the needy. PCO 76.6

Unabridged

Source: Southern Field Echo, May 1, 1910 PCO 76.7