STUDIES IN

Christian Education

By E. A. Sutherland, M.D.

THE RURAL PRESS

Madison College
Tennessee
 Th irty-seven years later. students and faculty
members of Madison College - The Nashville
Agricultural and Normal I nstitute - were deeply
concerned with the funda mental principles a n d
objectives o f the institution. and a series o f lessons
by the author. Dr. E. A. Sutherland. led to this

Reprint
by THE RU RAL PRESS
1952
 IV •

Studies
• . -- - -- ........ �., .. �....

In

Christian Education

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES BEFORE THE

MIDNIGHT CRY
Compared with
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES BEFORE THE
LOUD CRY

By E. A.

"Now, as never before, we need to understand the true

science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall
never have a place in the kingdom of God."
ELLEN G. WHITE in Christian Educator, August, 1897
 FO R E W O R D
,j>.-

The Students' Volunteer Band, studying fields of

missionary activity in the Nashville Agricultural and
Normal Institute, had the privilege of attending a series
of studies given by Dr. E. A. Sutherland, president of the
institution, revealing the fact that the great Protestant
denominations failed to give the first angel's message in
its fulness because they did not free themselves from the
papal system of education. Clinging to this system in the
end brought them into confusion.
The Seventh-day Adventist denomination came into
existence because of this failure, and it must succeed
where the others failed. Their birthright as a denomina­
tion is a great reform movement, the greatest the \VOrld
has ever known. The Lord has been telling our people
that, as individuals, we are in positive danger of suffering
the same defeat as they suffered, because we still cling to
worldly methods of education. They failed to give the
midnight cry because of their wrong system of education.
We are soon to enter the period of the latter rain. We
trust the following pages may be earnestly and prayerfully
read.
The reprint of this pamphlet is in recognition of the
urgent need today of an understanding of these vital
truths concerning Christian education.

ii
 BIBLIOTECA
INSTITUTULUI
R E FE R E N C E S
TEO�JGIC ADVENTIST

Quoted as

Acts of the Apostles, Mrs. E. G. White ................................ Acts

Christian Education, Mrs. E. G. White ................................ C. E.
Christian Educator .................................................................. C. Ed.
Education in the United States ............................................ Boone
Education, Mrs. E. G. White ....................................................... Ed.
Education in Georgia, Charles E. James ................................ Ga.
Great Controversy, Mrs. E. G. White .................................... G. C.
History of the Popes .................................................... Von Ranke
History of Education .......................................................... Painter
Higher Education in Tennessee, Merriam .......................... Tenn.
Life of William Miller, White .............................................. Miller
Life of Melanchthon ...................................................... Melanchthon
Life and Works of Horace Mann ............................................ Mann
Macaulay's Bacon ................................................ . . . . .................. M. B.
Macaulay's Von Ranke ............................................................ M. R.
Testimony, Series B, No. 11 . . .
. . .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... Madison School
Oberlin, The Colony and the College ............................ Fairchild
Philosophy of Education ................................................ Rosencranz
Rise and Constitution of Universities .................................. Laurie
Review and Herald ................................................................ R. & H.
Special Testimonies on Education .......................................... T. E.
Story of Oberlin, Leonard .................................................. Oberlin
Testimonies for the Church . .... . . ............... .. .......................... . ....... T.
Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia,
(Adams) ..................... . Jefferson
Unpublished Testimonies ........................................................ U. T.

iii
 C ON T E N T S

Page
I. BEGINNING OF EDUCATIONAL HISTORY IN
THE UNITED STATES . .
.. ... . . . ............ . . . . ........ 1

II. HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM BEFORE 1844 .............. 17

1. The Place of the Bible in Education .
..... ......... . . . .... .. 18
2. Ancient and Modern Worldly Classics . .
. .. ... .. ........ .... 21
3. Elective Courses of Study ...................... . ..................... 23
4. Emulation, Honors, and Prizes .... ............................ .... 29
5. Reforms in Diet . .... ..... .. ...... ...... ........ ...... .................... .... 30
6. Proper Location for Schools and
Country Living for Students .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... 33
7. Simplicity in Buildings . ,........................................
... ... 36
8. Manual Training and the Practical in Education .... 41.
9. Manual Labor Displaced by Athletics,
Sports, and Games .... ................................ 50
10. Student Government . ..................... ................................ 52
11. Training Self-Supporting Missionaries,
A Layman's Movement . . ............
. . . . . . ...... . . 59
12. Selecting and Training Teachers .. .. . . . . . ......... . ........ . . . .. 74

III. SOME EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS ... . . . . . .................. 82

IV. EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES ............... ......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 103

V. PRACTICAL SUBJECTS FOR THE CURRICULUM .

........ . . . . . . . . .. . 103

iv
 I
BEGINNING OF EDUCATIONAL
HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES

That church triumphs which breaks the yoke of worldly

education, and which develops and practices the prin­
ciples of Christian education.
," Now, as never before, we need to understand the
true science of education. If we fail to understand this
we shall never have a place iI:l the kingdom of God."
( C . Ed. , August, 1897) . "The science of true education is
the truth . . . . The third angel's message is truth. " (T. ,
Vol. 6, p. 13 1 ) . It is taken for granted that all Seventh­
day Adventists believe that Christian education and the
third angel's message are the same truth. The two are as
inseparable as are a tree's roots and its trunk and
branches.
The object of these studies is to give a better under­
standing of the reason for the decline and moral fall of
the Protestant denominations at the time of the midnight
cry in 1 8.�4. and to help us as Seventh -day Adventists to
avoid their mistakes as we approach the loud cry, soon
due to the world.
A brief survey of the history of the Protestant denomi­
nations shows that their spiritual downfall in 1844 was
the result of their failure "to understand the true science
of education. " Their failure to understand and to prac­
tice Chris'ian education unfitted them to proclaim to the
world the message of Christ's second coming. The Sev­
enth-day Adventist denomination was then called into
existence to take up the work which the popular churches
had failed to train their missionaries to do. The Prot­
estant denominations could not give the third angel's'mes­
sage. a reform movement, which is a warning against the
beast and his image, because they were still clinging to
those doctrines and those principles of education which
themselves form the beast and his image. It is important
2 ST U D I E S I N

that young Seventh-day Adventists study seriously the

causes of the spiritual decline of these churches in 1844,
lest we· repeat their history, and be cast aside by the
Spirit of God, and thus lose our place in the kingdom.
If Seventh-day Adventists succeed where they failed,
they must have a system of education which repudiates
those principles which in themselves develop the beast
and his image. "Now, all these things happened unto
them for ensamples ; and they are written for our ad­
monition upon whom the ends of the world are come. "
(I Cor. 1 0 : 1 1 ) .
Protestantism. born i n the sixteenth century, was about
to lose its light in Europe. God then prepared a new land,
the future United States, as a cradle for the protection and
development of those principles, and from this country is
to go forth the final world-wide message that heralds the
Saviour's return.
"It was a desire for liberty of conscience that i.nspired
the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across
the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilder­
ness, and, with God's blessing, to lay on the shores of
America the foundation of a mighty nation . . . . The Bible
was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom,
and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently
taught in the home, in the school, and in the church, and
its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, purity, and
temperance . . . . It was demonstrated that the principles of
the Bible are the surest safeguards of national greatness."
(G. C., pp. 292 , 296) .
These Reformers. on reaching America, renounced the
papal doctrines in church and state, but they retained the
papal system of education. While the Reformers rejected
the creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her
spirit of intolerance. "The English Reformers, while re­
nouncing the doctrines of Romanism, had retained many of
its forms. " Some "looked upon them as badges of the
slavery from which they had been delivered, and to
which they had no disposition to return. . . . Many
earnestly desired to return to the purity and simplicity
which characterized the primitive church . . . . 'England
 CHRISTIAN E D U C A T I ON 3

was ceasing forever to be a habitable place.' Some at

last determined to seek refuge in Holland. Difficulties,
losses, and imprisonment were encountered. . . . In their
flight they had left their houses, their goods, and their
means of livelihood . ... But they cheerfully accepted the
situation, and lost no time in idleness or repining . . . .
'They knew they were pilgrims' . . . . I n the midst of exile
and hardship, their love and faith waxed strong. They
trusted the Lord's promises, and He did not fail them in
time of need. And when God's hand seemed pointing
them across the sea, to a land where they might found for
themselves a state and leave to their children the precious
heritage of religious liberty, they went forward without
shrinking, in the path of Providence. . . . . The Puritans
had j oined themselves together by a solemn covenant, as
the Lord's free people, to walk together in all His ways
made known or to be made known to them. Here was the
true spirit of reform, the vital principle of Protestantism."
( G. C., pp. 289, 291 ) .
The educational system of the church, which had driven
them from their native home, was one of the most serious
errors from which the Puritans failed to break away. This
system of education, while papal in spirit, was, to a cer­
tain extent, Protestant in form. The historian writes of
the schools of the Puritans in the New World, that their
courses were "fitted to the time-sanctioned curriculum of
the college. They taught much Latin and Greek, an ex­
tended course in mathematics, and were strong generally
on the side of the humanities. . . . This was a modeling
after Rugby, Eton, and other noted English schools."
Again we read, "The roots of this system were deep in
the great ecclesiastical system." "From his early train­
ing," Dunster, one of the first presidents of Harvard,
"patterned the Harvard course largely after that of the
English universities." They so faithfully patterned after
the English model-Cambridge University-that they were
called by that name, and the historian wrote of Harvard,
"In several instances youths in the parent country were
sent to the American Cambridge for a finishing educa­
tion." Boone, speaking of the courses of study of William
 STUD I ES I N

and Mary prior to the Revolution, says, "All were of

English pattern." Of Yale, started later, it is said, "The
regulations for the most part were those at Harvard, as
were also the courses of study." The younger patterned
after the older. It is very natural that Yale should be
established after the English papal system, because the
founder, Elihu Yale, had spent twenty years in the
English schools. "Twenty years he spent in the schools
and in special study." (Boone, pp. 2 4-40) .
Seventh-day Adventists should not let this fact escape
their attention : the three leading schools of the colonies
were established by men who had fled from the papal
doctrines of the Old World ; but these educators, because
of their training in these papal schools and their igno­
rance of the relation between education and religion,
unwittingly patterned their institutions after the educa­
tional system of the church from which they had with­
drawn.
It is surprising that these English Reformers, after
sacrificing as they did for a worthy cause, should yet
allow a system of education, so unfitted to all their pur­
poses, to be in reality the nurse of their children, fron
whose bosom these children drew their nourishment. They
did not realize that the character and Christian experi­
ence of these children depended upon the nature of the
food received. Had they grasped the relation of the edu­
cation of the child to the experience of the same individ­
ual in the church, they would not have borrowed this
papal system of education, but would have cast it out
bodily as too dangerous for tolerance within the limits of
Protestantism.
Some facts from educational history will make clear
the statement that the system of education in Oxford,
Cambridge, Eton, and Rugby was papal, and the New
England Reformers, patterning their schools after these
models, were planting the papal system of education in
America. Laurie says, "Oxford and Cambridge modeled
themselves largely after Paris . . . . A large number of
masters and their pupils left Paris . . . . Thus the English
portion of (Paris) University went to Oxford and Cam-
 C H R I ST I A N E DU C A T I ON 5

bridge. " The relation of the University of Paris, the

mother of Cambridge and Oxford, to the Papacy is thus
expressed, "It was because it was the center of theologi­
cal learning that it received so many privileges from the
Pope, and was kept in close relation to the Papal See."
(Laurie, pp. 1 53, 162, 2 42 ) .
Luther a n d Melanchthon , the great sixteenth century
Re:ormers, understood clearly that it was impossible to
have a permanent religious reform without Christian
education. So they not only gave attention to the doc­
trines of the Papacy, but also developed a strong system
of Christian schools. Melanchthon said, "To neglect the
young in our schools is just like taking the spring out of
the year. They indeed take away the spring from the year
who permit the schools to decline, because religion can­
not be maintained without them." "Melanchthon stead­
ily directed his efforts to the advancement of education
and the building up of good Christian schools . . . . In the
spring of 1 5 2 5 , with Luther's help, he reorganized the
schools of Eisleb en and Magdeburg." He declared, "The
cause of true education is the cause of God." (Melanch ­
thon, p. 8 1 ) .
"In 1 5 2 8 Melanchthon drew u p the 'Saxony School
Plan,' which served as the basis of organization for many
schools throughout Germany." This plan dealt with the
question of a "multiplicity of studies that were not only
unfruitful but even hurtful. . . . The teacher should not
burden the children with too many books." (Painter,
p. 1 5 2 ) . These reformers realized that the strength of
the papal church lay in its educational system, and they
struck a crushing blow at this system and. wounding it,
brought the papal church to her knees. The Reformers
established a system of Christian schools that made
Protestants of the children. This wonderful revolution in
education and religion was accomplished in one genera­
tion, in the brief space of one man's life.
To give an idea of the power in that great Christian
educational movement, the historian, speaking of several
European countries, says : "The nobility of that country
studied in Wittenberg-all the colleges of the land were
6 STUD I E S I N.

filled with Protestants . . . . Not more than the thirtieth

part of the population remained Catholic . . . . They with­
held their children, too, from the' Catholic schools. The
inhabitants of Mainz did not hesitate to send their chil­
dren to Protestant schools. The Protestant nations ex­
tended their vivifying energies to the most remote and
most forgotten corners of Europe. What an immense do­
main had they conquered within the space of forty years .
. . . Twenty years had elapsed in Vienna since a single
student of the University had taken priests' orders . . . '.
About this period the teachers in Germany were all, al­
most without exceptions, Protestants. The whole body of
the rising generation sat at their feet and imbibed a hatred
of the Pope with the first rudiments of learning." (Von
Ranke, p. 135 ) .
After the death of Luther and Melanchthon, the theo­
logians, into whose hands the work of the Reformation
fell, instead of mUltiplying Christian schools, became ab­
sorbed in the mere technicalities of theology, and passed
by the greatest work of the age. They sold their birth­
right for a mess of pottage. When the successors of Luther
and Melanchthon failed to continue that constructive
work, which centered largely in the education of the
youth, who were to be the future missionaries and pillars
of the church, internal dissention arose. Their time was
spent very largely in criticising the views of some of their
co-laborers who differed with them on some unimportant
points of theology. Thus they became destructive instead
of constructive. They paid much attention to doctrines,
and spent the most of their energy in preserving ortho­
doxy. They crystallized their doctrines into a creed ; they
ceased to develop, and lost the spirit of Christian educa­
tion, which was the oil for the lamps. Protestantism de­
generated into dead orthodoxy, and they broke up into
opposing factions. The Protestant church, thus weakened,
could not resist the great power of rejuvenated papal edu­
cation.
The success of the Reformers had been due to their con­
trol of the young people through their educational sys­
tem. The papal schools were almost forsaken during the
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATIO N 7

activity of Luther and Melanchthon. But when these Re­

formers died and their successors became more interested
in abstract theology than in Christian education, and
spent their time, energy, and the money of the church in
preaching and writing on abstract theology, the papal
school system, recovering itself, rose to a life and death
struggle with the Protestant church. The Papacy real ­
ized that the existence o f the papal church itself depended
upon a victory over Protestant schools. We are surprised
at the skill and tact tfi e papal educators used in their
attack, and the rapidity with which they gained the vic ­
tory. This experience should b e a n object lesson forever
to Seventh-day Adventists.
A Christia n School Animated by the Papa l Spirit.-The
eyes of the successors of Luther and Melanchthon were
blinded. They did not understand "the true science of
education." They did not see its importance, and grasp
the dependence of character upon education. "The true
object of education is to restore the image of God in the
soul. " (C. E., p. 63) . Satan took advantage of this blind­
ness to cause some of their own educators, like wolves in
sheep's clothing, to prey on the lambs. Chief among these
was John Sturm, who, by these blind Reformers, was
supposed to be a good Protestant. Sturm introduced prac­
tically the entire papal system of education into the Prot­
estant schools of Strasbourg. And because he pretended to
be a Protestant, the successors of Luther looked with favor
upon his whole educational scheme. He was regarded by
the so-called Reformers as the greatest educator of his
time, and his school became so popular among Protes ­
tants that it was taken as their model for the Protestant
schools of Germany, and its influence extended to England,
and thence to America." "No one who is acquainted with
the education given at our principal classical schools­
Eton, Winchester, and Westminster-forty years ago, can
fail to see that their curriculum was formed in a great
degree on Sturm's model. " The historian says that it was
Sturm's ambition "to reproduce Greece and Rome in the
midst of modem Christian civilization." (Painter, p. 163).
This education ,
8 STU DIES I N

great inroads on the lambs of the flock, and made possibl�

a papal victory. Most dangerous of all enemies in a
church is a school of its own, Christian in profession,
"with teachers and managers who are only half converted " ;
who are accustomed to popular methods ; who "concede
some things and make half reforms, . . . preferring to
work according to their own ideas," (T., Vol. 6, p. 1 41 ) .
who, step by step, advance toward worldly education,
leading the innocent lambs with them. In the day of
judgment it will be easier for that man who has been cold
and an avowed enemy to a reform movement than for
that one who professes to be a shepherd, but who has been
a wolf in sheep's clothing, who deceives the lambs until
they are unable to save themselves. It is the devil's mas­
ter stroke for the overthrow of God's work in the world,
and there is no influence harder to counteract. No other
form of evil is so strongly denounced. "I know thy works
that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
(Rev. 3 : 1 5 , 16) .
Sturm's school stood as a half-way mark between the
Christian schools of Luther and Melanchthon and the
papal schools round about him. It offered a mixture of
medireval, classical literature with a thin slice of Scrip·
ture, sandwiched in for effect, and flavored with the doc­
trines of the church. Its course of study was impractical;
its methods of instruction mechanical ; memory work was
exalted ; its government was arbitrary and empirical. "A
dead knowledge of words took the place of a living knowl ­
edge of things . . . . The pupils were obliged to learn, but
they were not educated to see and hear, to think and
prove, and were not led to a true independence and per­
sonal perfection. The teachers found their function in
teaching the prescribed text, not in harmoniously develop­
ing the young human being according to the laws of
nature." (Painter, p. 1 56 ) . Macaulay, speaking of this
system of education, adds : "They promised what was im­
practicable ; they despised what was practicable. They
filled the world with long words and long beards, and they
 CHRISTIAN E DU C A T I O N 9

left it as ignorant and as wicked as they found it." (M.B. ,

p. 379)·
Jesuit Sch ools.-This study should make it clear that
the Protestant teachers weakened and unfitted the Prot­
estant denominations for the attack made by the Papacy
through the counter system of education introduced by
Loyola , founder of the order of Jesuits. Before this, the
Catholic church realized its helplessness to withstand the
great movement of Protestantism, inaugurated by thou­
sands of missionaries trained in the Christian schools of
Luther and Melanchthon. Noting the return of the Prot­
estant church to dead orthodoxy under the inefficient
leadership of Luther's successors, the Papacy recognized
the vulnerable point in Protestantism.
The Order of Jesuits found its special mission in com ­
bating the Reformation. As the most effective means o f
arresting the progress of Protestantism, i t aimed a t con­
trolling education. "It developed an immense educational
activity" in Protestant countries, "and earned for its
schools a great reputation . . . More than any other
.

agency it stayed the progress of the Reformation, and it

even succeeded in winning back territory already con­
quered by Protestantism . . . . It worked chiefly through its
schools, of which it established and controlled large num ­
bers. Every member o f the order became a competent and
practical teacher." (Painter, p. 166) .
The following methods of teaching are characteristic of
Jesuit schools : " The memory was cultivated as a means
of keeping down free activity of thought and clearness of
judgment." In the place of self-government "their meth­
od of discipline was a system of mutual distrust, espio ­
nage, and informing. Implicit obedience relieved the
pupils from all responsibility as to the moral j ustifica­
tion of their deeds. " (Rosencranz, p. 2 7 0) . "The Jesuits
made much of emulation. He who knows how to excite
emulation has found the most powerful auxiliary in his
teaching. Nothing will be more honorable than to outstrip
a fellow student, and nothing more dishonorable than to
be outstripped. Prizes will be distributed to the best pupils
with the greatest solemni ty . . . . It sought showy results
10 STUD I E S I N

with which to dazzle the world ; a well-rounded develop­

ment was nothing. . . . The Jesuits did not aim at develop­
ing all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the recep­
tive and reproductive faculties." When a student "could
make a brilliant display from the resources of a well­
stored memory, he had reached the highest points to
which the Jesuits sought to lead him. " Originality and
independence of mind, love of truth for its own sake, the
power of reflecting and forming correct judgments were
not merely neglected, they were suppressed in the Jesuit
system. " ('Painter,
education was remarkably successful, and for nearly a
century, all the foremost men of Christendom came from
Jesuit schools. " (Rosencranz, p. 2 7 2 ) .
Success of Jesuit Sc h ools.-Concerning the success of
the Jesuit educational system in overcoming the careless
and indifferent Protestants, we read : "They carried their
point." They shadowed the Protestant schools and like a
parasite, sucked from them their life. "Their labors were,
above all, devoted to the universities. Protestants called
back their children from distant schools and put them
under the care of the Jesuits. The Jesuits occupied the
professors ' chairs. . . . They conquered the Germans on
their own soil, in their very home, and wrested from them
a part of their native land." (Von Ranke, Vol. 4, pp. 134-
139)·
This conquest rapidly went on through nearly all
European countries. They conquered England by taking
English youth to Rome and educating them in Jesuit
schools, and sending them back as missionaries and teach­
ers to their native land. And thus they were established
in the schools of England. The Jesuits overran the new
world also, becoming thoroughly established, and have
been employing their characteristic methods here ever
since. Here, as elsewhere, their only purpose is "to obtain
the sole direction of education, so that by getting the young
into their hands they can fashion them after their own
pattern. " (Footprints of the Jesuits, p. 419) .
"Within fifty years from the day Luther burned the
Bull of Leo before the gates of Wittenberg, Protestantism
 CHR I S T I A N EDUCATIO N I I

gained its highest ascendency, an ascendency which it

soon lost, and which it has never regained." (M.R. )
"How was it that Protestantism did so much, yet did
no. more ? How was it that the church of Rome, having
lost a large part of Europe, not only ceased to lose, but
actually regained nearly half of what she.,had lost ? This
is certainly a most curious and important question." We
have already had the answer, but it is well stated thus by
Macaulay, who understood the part played by the Jesuit
schools founded by Loyola : "Such was the celebrated
I gnatius Loyola, who, in the great reaction, bore the same
part which Luther bore in the great Protestant move­
ment. It was at the feet of that Jesuit that the youth of
the higher and middle classes were brought up from child­
hood to manhood, from the first rudiments to the courses
of rhetoric and philosophy . . . . The great order went forth
conquering and to conquer. . . . Their first object was to
drive no person out of the pale of the church."
H eresy Hunting Defeats the Protesta nt Ca use . Macaulay
-

thus gives the causes for this defeat of Protestantism and

the success of the Papacy : "The war between Luther and
Leo was a war between firm faith and unbelief ; between
zeal and apathy ; between energy and indolence ; between
seriousness and frivolity ; between a pure morality and
vice. Very different was the war which degenerate Prot­
estantism had to wage against regenerate Catholicism, "
made possible b y the Jesuit educational system. "The
Reformers had contracted some of the corruptions which
had been justly censured in the Church of Rome. They
had become lukewarm and worldly. Their great old lead­
ers had been borne to the grave and had left no successors.
. . . Everywhere on the Protestant side we see languor ;
everywhere on the Catholic side we see ardor and devo­
tion. Almost the whole zeal of the Protestants was directed
against each other. Within the Catholic Church there were
no serious disputes on points of doctrine . . . . On the other
hand, the force which ought to have fought the battle of
the Reformation was exhausted in civil conflict."
The Pa pacy learned a b itter lesson in dealing with heretics .
Since the Reformation, she conserves her strength by setting
12 ST U D I ES I N

them to work. Macaulay says : "Rome thoroughly under­

stands what no other church has ever understood-how to
deal with enthusiasts. . . . The Catholic Church neither
submits to enthusiasm nor prescribes it, but uses it. . . .
She accordingly enlists him (the enthusiast) in her serv­
ices . . . . For a man thus minded there is within the pale
of the establishment (Orthodox Protestant churches) no
place. He has been at no college ; . . . and he is told that if
he remains in the communion of the church, he must do so
as a hearer, and that, if he is resolved to be a teacher, he
must begin by being a schismatic (a heretic) . His choice
is soon made ; he harangues on Tower Hill or in Smithfield.
A congregation is formed, and in a few weeks the fProt ­
estant] church has lost forever a hundred families. "
The Papacy was wiser than the Protestants in dealing
with those who became somewhat irregular in their views.
She spent little time in church trials. She directed their
efforts, instead of attempting to force them from the
church. "The ignorant enthusiast whom the English church
makes . . . a most dangerous enemy, the Catholic Church
makes a champion. She bids him nurse his beard, covers
him with a gown and hood of coarse dark stuff, ties a
rope about his waist, and sends him forth to teach in her
name. He costs her nothing. He takes not a ducat away
from the regular clergy. He lives by the alms of those who
respect his spiritual character and are grateful for his
instructions . . . . All this influence is employed to strength-
en the church . . . . In this way the church of Rome unites
in herself all the strength of the establishment [ organiza­
tion] and all the strength of dissent . . . . Place Ignatius
Loyola at Oxford. He is certain to become the head of a
formidable secession . Place John Wesley at Rome. He is
certain to be the first general of a new society devoted to
the interest and honor of the church." (M. R.)
The Church of Rome, since its rejuvenat-ion, is literally
alive with determined, enthusiastic, zealous soldiers who
know nothing but to live, to be spent, and to die for the
church. She is determined to conquer and bring back
humiliated, broken down, and completely subj ugated, the
Protestant denominations. She has everywhere, th�ough
 C HR I S T I A N E D U C AT I O N 13

her Jesuit teachers, editors, and public officials, men at

work to fashion public sentiment, to capture th e impor­
tant and controlling positions of government, and most of
all, to obtain control, through her teachers, of the minds
of Protestant children and youth. She values that eternal
principle, and makes use of it, "Train up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from
i""." Let me teach a child until he is twelve years old, say
the Catholics, and he will always remain a Catholic. We
can now better comprehend why those English Reformers
did not understand the character and the danger of the
school system in vogue at Cambridge, Oxford, Eton, and
Westminster, and unwittingly planted this system of edu­
cation upon the shores of their new home and in everyone
of their Christian schools. They ignorantly fos�ered it and
scattered it, and their successors, like the successors of
Luther and Melanchthon, became so infected with the
spirit of Rome that by 1 844 the Protestant churches were
morally like their mother.
In this we have been tracing the roots which co"e the
tree of education in the United States. While Harvard, the
first school in New England, at first "was little more than
a training school for ministers," and "the Bible was sys ­
ter"'"'a"ically studied," yet i t i s plain to a n y student o f
Harvard's course o f study that, aside from Bible teaching,
its curriculum was modeled after Eton, Rugby, and other
noted English schools which were all based on Sturm's
system. Yale, William and Mary, and other institutions of
the United States are modeled after this same system.
Behold Protestant America training her children in schools
which were modeled after Sturm's papal schools.
The secret of the rejection of the Protesta nt d enominations
in 1 844 is contained in the educational history just given.
We see that, while they clung to the forms of Protestant­
ism, their educational system continually instilled into
the student the life of the Papacy. This produced a fotm
of Protestantism imbued with the papal spirit. This spells
Babylon. Should not our students seriously question the
character of the educational system they are under, lest
they find themselves in· the company of those five foolish
14 ST U D I - E S · IN

virgins who are rejected in the time of the loud cry, just as·
the great Christian churches were rejected at the time of
the midnight cry because they failed to understand the
"true science of education?" "They did not come into the
line of true education," and they rejected the message.
C ertain divin e id eas of r eform in civil governm ent were
received from God by some men in this country during.
the days of the wounding of the Papacy. These men dared
teach and practice these truths. They fostered true prin­
ciples of civil government to such an extent that the t hird
angel's message could be delivered under its shelter. But
the papal system of education, as operated by Protestant
churches, was a constant menace to this civil reform, be­
cause the churches would not break away from the medi­
reval classical course with the granting of degrees and
honors-without which it is difficult for aristocracy and
imperialism in either church or state to thrive. But in
spite of the failure of the churches to break away from
this system, the civil reformers repudiated all crowns,
titles, and honors that would have perpetuated European
aristocracy and imperialism. The churches, because they
still clung to the papal educational system, became respon­
sible, not only for the spirit of the Papacy within them­
selves, but also for the return of imperialism now so·
plainly manifesting itself in our government, and especially
noticeable in such tendencies toward centralization as the
trusts, monopolies, and unions.
The year 1 844 was one of the most critical periods in
the history of the church since the days of the apostles.
Toward that year the hand of prophecy had been pointing
for ages. All heaven was interested in what was about to
happen. Angels worked with intense interest for those who
claimed to be followers of the Christ to prepare them to
accept the message then due to the world. But the history
quoted above shows that the Protestant denominations
clung to the system of education borrowed from the Pa­
pacy, which wholly unfitted them either to receive or give
the message. Consequently, it was impossible for them to
train men to proclaim it.
The world was approaching the great day of atone-
 C H R I STIAN EDUCATI ON 15

ment in the heavenly sanctuary, the year 1844. Prior to

this date, history records a most remarkable Christian edu­
cational movement and religious awakening. The popular
churches were rapidly approaching their crucial test. And
God knew it was impossible for them to acceptably carry
the closing message unless they should "come into the
line of true education "-unless they had a clear under­
standing of "the true science of education. " These words
were applicable to them : "Now as never before we need to
understand the true science of education. If we fail to
understand this, we shall never have a place in the king­
dom of God."
What th e Prot esta nt church es faced in th e y ear 1 844, w e
S ev enth-day Adv entists a r e facing toda y. We shall see how
the Protestant denominations opposed the principles of
Christian education and thus failed to train their young
people to give the midnight cry. Seventh-day Adventist
young people, thousands of whom are in the schools of the
world, cannot afford to repeat this failure. The moral fall
of the popular churches causing that mighty cry, "Baby­
lon is fallen, is fallen," would never have been, had they
been true to the principles of Christian education. If indi­
vidual Seventh -day Adventists approach the loud cry with
the same experience that the Protestants approached the
midnight cry, they likewise will be foolish virgins to
whom the door is closed. The virgins in Christ's parable
all had lamps, the doctrines ; but they lacked a love of
truth which lights up these doctrines. " The science of
true education is the truth, which is to be so deeply im­
pressed on the soul that it cannot be obliterated by the
error that everywhere abounds. The third a ngel's message
is truth and light and power." (T., Vol. 6, p. 13 1 ) . Is not
Christian education, then, the light to the doctrines ? Papal
education fails to light up those lamps, for it is darkness.
Surely it is a serious time for our young Seventh-day
Adventists-a time when every teacher in the land, when
every student and prospective mission worker in the
church, should look the situation squarely in the face and
should determine his attitude toward the principles of
'Christian education. For "before we can carry the message
16 STU D I E S I N

of present truth in all its fullness to other countries, we

must first break every yoke. We must come into the line
of true education." ( The Madison School, p. 30) . "Now
as never before we need to understand the true science of
education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never
have a place in the kingdom of God." We are dealing
with a life-and-death question.
 C H R I S TI A N E D U C A T ION 17

II
HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM
PRIOR TO 1844
We now approach the study of the educational reform
· c arried on among the Protestant denominations in con ­
nection with the first angel's message prior to 1844. The
iollowing statement shows that there was need of a reform
in education at that time :
"When the truth for these last days came to the world
in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels'
messages, we were shown that in the education of our
·children a different order of things must be brought in."
(T., Vol. 6, p. 1 2 6 ) .
It i s impossible, i n the limit o f time, t o study in detail
all the experiences of the group of more than sixty schools
.advocating reform in education before 1 844. With no
attempt to exhaust the subj ect, the object will be to show
that the light of Christian education shone with sufficient
· clearness in various schools of the United States to give
the Protestant denominations an opportunity to ga ther up
these principles as they were developing in the various
:schools, to incorporate them in their own church schools,
" to come into th.e line of true education," and to train an
. army of missionaries to spread the nessage to the world
.at that time. For convenience, the various phases of Chris­
tian education will be considered as follows: The Place of
· the Bible in Education ; Ancient and Modern Worldly
Classics ; Elective Courses of Study, Degrees, and Honors ;
�Reforms in Diet, Location of Schools, and School Build -
ings ; Training for Self-supporting Missionary Work and
.a Layman's Movement.
The attitude of the Seventh -day Adventist student to­
'ward these problems will measure his efficiency in the
:.proclamation of the third angel ' s message.
Histor ians quot ed .-The history of the educational re­
form movement prior to 1844, from which we quote, has
.been written, in most part, by men not in sympathy with
18 S TU D I E S I N

the reforms made at that time. Many of these schools,

after relinquishing their reforms, developed the popular
system of education . The educators connected with these
schools in their later history are no more proud of that
period which covers these reform experiences than is the
man who has once known Christ, who has followed Him in
simplicity, and has later gone to the world. Such a man is
apt to make light of his religious experience, and excuse
himself for his former attitude toward reform.
So these historians, writing after the reform period,
have often pictured the reform in an unfavorable or even
in a ridiculous light. Had we access to the Reformers
themselves, doubtless the movement would appear in a
still stronger light. Enough is given, even by the ene ­
mies of the movement, to satisfy the reader that the Spirit
of God did stir the hearts of educational and church lead­
ers in these great reforms, and under its guidance they
attempted to practice them.
,. The Place of the Bible in Education
Over this question, the relation the Word of God should
sustain toward other subjects in the school curric­
ulum, has been waged the war of educators for ages. The
leader on each side in this controversy understands that
his victory depends upon the position which the Bible
holds in the school.
The story of this contest between the two forces over
the position of God's Word in the education of the young,
may be read in the following Bible history: "The people
served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of
the elders that outlived Joshua. . . . And there arose
another generation after them, which knew not the Lord.
. . . And they forsook the Lord God . . . and followed other
gods, the gods of the people that were round about them,
and bowed themselves unto them. . . . And the anger of
the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them
into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them . . . so that
they could not any longer stand before their enemies. . . .
Nevertheless the Lord raised up j udges which delivered
them. . . . And it came to pass when the judge was dead,
 C H R I STI A N· E D U C A T I ON 19

thatthey returned and corrupted themselves . . . in follow ..

ing other gods." (Judges 2 :I7-I9).

�'. � This is a condensed history of ancient Israel. When
the:� Word of God held its proper place in home and
school, Israel was prosperous, and worldly nations said of
them, '�Surely this great nation is a wise and understand­
ing people." Then we read that they would "forget the
things" of God, and fail to "teach their children" the Word.
These untaught children "mingled among the heathen and
learned their works, and they served their idols, which
were a snare unto them. . . . Thus were they defiled with
their own works, and went a whoring with their own in­
ventions. . . . And He gave them into the hands of the
heathen ; and they that hated them ruled over them. .
Many times did He deliver them. " (Ps. I06 :35-43 ) .
The student of the Bible can read i n this history of
ancient Israel a series of reforms which exalted the Word
of God to its proper place in home and school. This was
followed by carelessness in regard to Bible study and the
practice of its principles in home and school. This meant
that the ideas of worldly men took precedence over God's
Word, resulting in such weakness that the very people
whom Israel was so anxious to imitate despised them for
their imitating, and regarded them with such disgust that
they reduced Israel to abject slavery ; and Israel lost the
esteem of the world, in exchange for which she had neg­
lected the Word of God. In the educational world she
became the tail instead of the head. It has been a battle
royal between Christ and Satan, Christ ever placing the
wisdom of His Word before His people as "the principal
thing," "a tree of life," while the god of this world holds
us in bondage whenever the love of the truth dies out in
our hearts. It has ever been ,his purpose to "spoil through
philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world." And so the question at
issue between Christ and Satan in the educational contro·
versy, past, present, and future, has been concerning the
place of the Bible in the minds and lives of teachers and
students.
The history of modern Israel may be written in the
20 STU D I E S I N

same language as ancient Israel, substituting only modern

terms and phrases to impress more vividly the compari­
sons and the applications. The generation beguiled into
preferring worldly literature to the Word of God has
seldom been able to apply these lessons to itself, because"
"the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not."
"Above all other books, the Word of God must be our
s�udy, the great text-book, the basis of all education ; and
our children are to be educated in the truths found therein,
irrespective of previous habits and customs. In doing this,
teachers and students will find the hidden treasure, the
higher education. Bible rules are to be the guide of the
daily life. (T., Vol. 6, pp. 1 3 1-132) . . . . A new purpose
p.:us� be brought in and find place, and students must bt:
aided in applying Bible principles in all they do. Wha':­
ever is crooked, whatever is twisted out of the right line, is
to be plainly pointed out and avoided ; for it is iniquity
not to be perpetuated." (T. , Vol. 6, p. 1 2 7 ) .
Students i n our Christian schools should test every
fact and statement offered by the Word of God. All in­
forrY!ation that does not stand the test should be rejected
as chaff, for it is not oil for their lamps, and will only
hinder in giving the loud cry. "A different order of things
rr:ust be brought" into our schools, and "crooked and
twisted things" must be straightened by Bible principles.
Had this principle been followed prior to 1 844, students
would have been prepared to receive the midnight cry, and
to carry the message to the ends of the earth.
T h e Bi ble in O b erl in.-Oberlin College, established in
Oberlin, Ohio, in the year 1 833, had a most remarkable
experience in the training of Christian workers. A histo­
rian of the institution writes : "The Scriptures, both in the
English version and in the original tongues, were consid­
ered to possess the highest educational value ; and as such,
they should be studied first, last, and everywhere between .
. . . The Bible is fit to be, and ought to be, at least upon a
par with the classics, and should have a place in every"
scheme of education from the primary school to the uni­
versi�y . . . . Should not the theological students read the:
 C H R I ST I A N E DU C A T I O N 21

entire Bible i n Hebrew and Greek ? Oberlin decided to

restore the Bible to its place as a permanent text-book in
the whole course. . . . Christian education without the
Bible! A mons trosity in the religious world, a stumbling
block to unbelievers!" (Oberlin, pp. 233-235).
The following words sum up the conclusions of a large
class of scholarly men of that time, who were endeavoring
to bring about a reform in education : "In the dark ages
the classics were first despised, then over-exalted, and the
Scriptures belittled. Now, again, we see the Bible is good
for style and taste . . . . The Bible is overlooked and neg­
lected in education. Let the Bible have its place. Matters
like these are not to be decided by the customs of the
schools which are yet replete with many a usage which
has come from the age of Cardinal Bembo." (Idem, p.
235)·
An earnest effort was made by many educational re­
formers to place the Bible where it belonged in the schools.
The power of God attended this effort. Had not teachers
yielded to the pressure brought by leaders who were in
sympathy with worldly education, the history of the popu­
lar churches would have been entirely different, and that
of Seventh-day Adventists also.
Oberlin allowed the Bible to slip from its e xalted position ,
and, after a lapse of sixty years, from the following words
we j udge that the Bible has not yet reached the place it
should occupy, even with our own students : "The Bible
has not been made a standard matter in their education,
but books mixed with infidelity, and propagating unsound
theories, have been placed before them. " (T. E., p. I SO),
2. Ancient and Modern Worldl y Classics
Students in a worldly system of education are in­
spired by ideas from the heathen classics and other world­
ly authors, even as students of Christian education are
inspired by the Bible. The classics, or humanities, may
not always appear by name in the curriculum of some so­
called Christian schools ; yet, if the system is not animated
by the spirit of the Bible, the result of the education will
be seen in worldly characters.
 -
22 S TU D I E S I N

"Uninspired authors are placed - in the hands of chil­

dren and youth in our schools as lesson books-books
from which they are to be educated. They are kept
before the youth, taking up their precious time in study­
ing those things which they can never use . . . . All un­
necessary matter needs to be weeded from the course of
study, and only such studies placed before the student as
will be of real value to him. " (T. E., pp. 15 1 , 232 ) .
Th e Classics i n O b erl in.-Educational reformers prior to
1 844 endeavored to follow the truth in the subjects they
taught. Oberlin, among others, had this experience :
"Heathen classics-these two words stand for another of
the burning questions of six ty years ago . . . . The subject
was under debate everywhere abroad." President Mahan,
in 1 835, "objected to the present plan in relation to
Greek and Latin, especially the latter. It was better
adapted, he said, to educate the heathen than Christians.
We can discipline the mind with the Hebrew and Greek
Scriptures, and these can purify the mind. This is the
opinion of the best men and the best scholars. Let us
have less classics and more natural science, more Ameri­
can law, and history, more of men and things. Give us
truth, facts, practical and available knowledge."
The annual announcement of Oberlin, issued in 1834,
contains this statement : "The collegiate department will
afford as extensive instruction as other colleges, varying
from some by substituting Hebrew and sacred classics for
the most objectionable pagan authors." The reason
assigned for substituting the Scripture in the original for
heathen authors was "that certain classical authors were
so abominably unclean that it is nothing less than crimi ­
nal to put them into the hands of our youth."
Sixty years after this, we Seventh -day Adventists re­
ceived the following instruction on this subject, because
our schools had not taken the positive stand on the
classics and worldly authors that these educational re­
formers took prior to the midnight cry : "Shall pagan and
infidel sentiments be presented to our students as valuable
additions to their store of knowledge ?" (Counsel to
Teachers, p. 26) .
 C HRI S T I A N E DU C A T I O N
23

The Board o f Trustees asked the Fac ulty o f O b

" to consl er ' er I In
'
'd ' h much prayer and dehberation whe th
WIt
�he time devoted to heathen classics ought not to ��
Improved by the study of the Hebrew Scriptures and
natural science." Three years later the same trustees
asked, "Should not the theological students read the en ­
tire Bible in Hebrew and Greek?" Two years later they
voted "that no student should be denied the approb ation
of the college at the end of his course by reason of any
want of knowledge of heathen classics, provided he sus­
tains well an examination in other branches needed to
prepare him for preaching Christ."
The movement to substitute the Scriptures for the
heathen classics met with favor in many schools. In
1 830 a lawyer of great eminence, a graduate of Yale,
made a plea for "Sacred vs. Heathen C lassics." The
president of Amhurst, the president of Cooper Union,
and PrQfessor Stowe, of Dartmouth College, "were in
full sympathy with a desire to see relatively less honor
bestowed on the literature of ancient Greece and Rome,
and relatively more honor on the literature of ancient
Palestine." ( Oberlin, pp. 231 -235 ) .
These quotations show that a number of institutions
of learning which today advocate the classics, at one
time in their history favored the substitution of the
Scriptures for the classics.
3. Elective Courses of Stud y and Degrees
Worldly education compels students, regardless of
their needs or future work, to follow a prescribed course
of instruction. It deals with students en masse, Chris­
tian education recognizes individual needs, and works to
perfect individual character, It permits students, in
counsel with teachers, to select subjects according to their
future needs. The Papacy cannot thrive, unless it puts
students through a prescribed course, "the grind," to
destroy independence and individuality. Protestantism
is the reverse.
"This long, drawn-out process, adding and adding
more time, more branches, is one of Satan's snares to
24 STU D I ES I N

keep laborers back . . . . If we had a thousand years

before us, such a depth of knowledge would be uncalled
for, although it might be much more appropriate ; but
now our time is limited." (T. E., p. 106) .
Elective Courses.-Thomas Jefferson, in his declaration
of principles for the University of Virginia in 1823, said.
relative to the stereotype curriculum : "I am not fully
informed of the practices at Harvard ; but there is one
from which we shall certainly vary, although it has
been copied, I believe, by nearly every college and acad ­
emy in the United States. That is the holding of all
students to one prescribed course of reading, and dis­
allowing exclusive application to those branches only
which are to qualify them for the particular vocations to
which they are destined. We shall, on the contrary,
allow them uncontrolled choice in the lectures they shall
choose to attend, and shall require elementary quali ­
fications only, and sufficient age." Boone further says :
"This policy has been in operation ever since . . . . There
is no curriculum of studies as in most institutions of like
grade. . . . This is 'the freedom of teaching' ; and is the
correlative of that equally fundamental freedom of
learning which, in this country, has come to be known
as 'the open system, or elective syste m.' '' (Boone, pp.
190 - 1 9 1 ) .
Jefferson's Pla n for a n elective course was a blow a t
one o f the fundamental principles of the ·. papal system.
which gives the student no choice. and. of coursf'. was
opposed by those controlled by the papal system. Boone
says : "In 18 14, after numerous defeats and constant
opposition from William and Mary College, from Prot­
estant churches, and from most of the political leaders
of the time, Mr. Jefferson and his friends sought to
provide a university" which recognized the great prin ­
cipJe of liberty in education.
Ra ndolph-Macon College, a Methodis+ institution,
founded about 1828, grasped the light of Christian edu ­
cation and made an effort to break away from the medi­
reval system , which exalted the classics. Randolph-Macon
took this action concerning the old media: al courses :
 C HRI S T IAN E DU C A T I O N 25

The Uelective system was adopted . . . . It is claimed that

more thorough work can be done under this system than
under the old curriculum system, but students are not
allowed to choose for themselves without consultation
with the faculty. Practically every student has a curric­
ulum chosen for him, according to the course h e wishes
to pursue. " Randolph- Macon had a hard time, and
failed to carry out the reform. UIt was a new movement,
and it encountered prejudice or cold indifference on the
part of the preachers and the people." (Jefferson, p. 243 ) .
Harvard . that school which imbibed the papal system
of John Sturm from the English Cambridge, and which
led all other American schools in the papal plan of edu­
cation, was among th� first of the older schools to attempt
to come into line with true education on this reform.
It began about 1824. "The experience of Harvard, dur­
ing the long transition from a uniform required curric­
ulum to a regulated freedom in choice of studies, migh t
b e helpful to other institutions . . . . There was adopted a
course described as by far the broadest plan enacted up
to that time." The students were given large latitude in
their choice of studies. They were permitted "to elect
from the following subjects . . . . It was a large concession
and had a permanent influence upon the course." (Boone,
p. 196) .
Yale. which so closely imitated Harvard in its early
history, was materially affected by the reform in courses
made by Harvard, and allowed students greater freedom
in the choice of studies. uEven Yale, which has been
generally and very properly regarded as the conservator
of the principle of authority in college instruction, has
granted large liberty in a quarter of a century . . . . Sn
numerous were the concessions that nearly one-half of
the work of the last two years was left to be determined
by each student himself. The juniors elected about 60
per cent of their work and the seniors about 80 per cent.
. . . From the standpoint of the ancients , or even of A
scholar of the Revolutionary period, the change would
s""em to be ruinous ; but no one longer denies either the
necessity or the wisdom of the elective principle. To pf'r -
26 S T U DI E S I N

mit choice is dangerous ; but not to permit it is more

dangerous." (Boone, p. 197 ) .
The Universit y o f M ichigan. years ago, loosened up, and
"students were allowed to pursue special courses, and
secure at their departure, certificates of proficiency."
Cornell U niversit y also grasped the principle of Chris­
tian education on the subject of elective courses. "Lib­
erty in the choice of studies is regarded as fundamental."
I n many wide- awake schools this question is being
asked : "Shall a B.A. degree be given where th e classics
have been omitted ? JOH NS HOPKINS says, Yes."
(Boone, pp. 197- 198) .
A prominent educator thus summarizes the virtues
of the elective system : It encourages· the early choice of
one's life work ; it develops individuality ; it gives a
chance for individual choice and guidance ; it gives oppor­
tunity to teach what the student most needs ; it best
holds the interest of the student ; it will early reveal the
capacity of the student.
The old, established courses were arbitrary, and were
necessary to build up an educational trust suited to the
needs of the Papacy. Without such courses, it was diffi ­
cult to adumbrate students, making them efficient tools
in the hands of the leaders. No one should be allowed.
according to their ideas of training, to exercise the right
of choice, for fear he could not be directed as an obedi­
ent servant by the system when engaged in his life work.
Individuality and personality, all independence and origi­
nality could be pretty well crushed by putting the students
through the regular prescribed course of study. No man
was allowed to teach, preach, or do anything of impor­
tance without first finishing a course and receiving a
degree.
So the Lord, in order to prepare workers for the mid ­
night cry, inspired the reformers to attack the hard-and ­
fast course of study that had been inherited, practically
without change from past centuries-a course that held
the students' minds on the dim and musty past ; that
blinded them to the interesting and practical things of
life and unfitted them to enter life, capable of putting
 C H R1 S T I A N - E- D U C A T I O N -2 7

into practice the things learned in school. . Su ch a train ing

was absolutely useless to one preparing to give the mid -
.

night cry. �
Degrees.-Christians must hold before the world "th�t
all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that amon g these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Pa­
pacy opposes these truths, and has found its most effective
tools in overcoming these unalienable rights to be her edu­
cational system with its courses and degrees. On the one
hand, these destroy freedom, independence, and original­
ity of thought ; while on the other hand, they develop
class distinction, aristocracy, and imperialism.
The apostate' apostolic church, in order to keep her
members submissive to her will in teaching, found it
necessary to develop an educational trust. This edu­
cational monopoly became effective and complete when \
she adopted the pagan scheme of rigid courses leading to
degrees. She gave the form to Christianity, and for the
Spirit of God she substituted the pagan spirit. The combi­
nation of Christian form and pagan life produced the
Papacy. Hartman, writing concerning the educational sys­
tem of the apostate church, says, "The conferring of
degrees was originated by a pope." (Religion or No Reli­
gion in Education, p. 43) .
"Many who professed conversion still clung to the
tenets of their pagan philosophy, and not only continued
its study themselves, but urged it upon others as a means
of extending their influence among the heathen." (G. C.,
p. 508) . "As long as we sail with the current of the world,
we need neither canvas nor oar. I t is when we turn
squarely about to stem the current that our labors begin.
Satan will bring every kind of theory to pervert the
truth. The work will go hard." (T., Vol. 6, p. 1 29) . "There
is need of heart conversion among the teachers. A genu­
ine change of thought and method of teaching is required
to place them where they will have a living connection
with a personal Saviour." (T.�. , p. 29) .
Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote that grand old
document, the Declaration of Independence, which an-
28 STUD I ES I N

nounced to the world our separation from the papal

form of government, and which enunciates the divine
principle that all men are created free and equal, en­
deavored to develop an educational system in harmony
with the reform position which the government had as­
sumed. He saw the necessity of discarding rigid courses
and degrees, and introduced the "elective system" as
we have seen. "At first he attempted to drop the long ­
established academic titles, save that of M.D. , and to
adopt the simple title of Graduate U.V., the name of the
school or schools in which the student 'had been declared
eminent,' being expressed in his 'certificate,' which was
to be 'attested' by the particular professor. " (Jefferson,
p. 1 53 ) . Professor Tappan, first president of the Uni­
versity of Michigan, followed Jefferson's plan. "Students
were allowed to pursue special courses, and receive at
their departure certificates of proficiency. " (Boone,
p. 191 ) .
That "first attempts to change old customs brought
severe trials," (Mrs. E. G. White) was well illustrated
in the experience of the founders in the University of
Virginia, for "in a few years the Board and Faculty were
forced to give up the reform."
We have seen that th� �()Pu1ar demand for the old,
established course and degrees was too strong for Jeffer­
son to withstand. Later the Spirit of God stirred the
churches by setting up an agitation in the Oberlin school,
giving them an opportunity to get away from that sys­
tem so effective in maintaining the Papacy, and to pre­
pare the people of God for the midnight cry. Of Oberlin
College, it is said : "The democratic feeling, the spirit of
equality, the absence of classes and castes based upon
mere artificial distinctness, is almost as marked in the
institution as in the village." (Oberlin, p. 398 ) . "There
has been no positive action by trustees or faculty in
opposition to such degrees, only traditional repugnance.
Even the common degrees, in course, have been some­
times held in disrepute among the students. Half of the
class of 1 838, which numbered twenty, declined to receive
the degree ; and the President announced at the com-
 C HRI S T I A N EDUCATION 29

mencement that those who desired the degree could re­

ceive their diplomas at the college office." (Fairchild,
p. 2 67 ) .
The pressure o f the church controlling Oberlin was
so strong that the reformers were unable to break away
from the old educational system. Who can tell how
much weight this failure had in reducing the Protes­
tant churches to the condition called "Babylon?"
4. Emulation. Honors, and Prizes
The granting of degrees, prizes, honors, etc. , is bor­ y'
"
rowed from the papal system of education.
"In our institutions of learning there was to be exerted
an influence that would counteract the influence of the
world, and give no encouragement to indulgence in appe­
tite, in selfish gratification of the senses, in pride,
ambition, love of dress and display, love of praise and
flattery, and strife for high rewards and honors as a
recompense for good scholarship. All this was to be dis­
couraged in our schools. It would be impossible to avoid
these things and yet send them to the public schoo!."
(Mrs. E. G. White, R. & H., Jan. 9, I 894) .
Before I 844 God was endeavoring to do for all Prot­
estant denominations what he is now endeavoring to do
for Seventh-day Adventists. The educational reform
prior to the midnight cry proved a failure. But he who
shares in the loud cry must succeed in the educational
reform.
"Oberlin is somewhat peculiar in the matter of marks,
prizes, honors, and the like. During the thirties, when
Mr. Shipherd and his associates were laying the founda­
tions, there was much earnest discussion abroad con­
cerning the value and legitimacy of emulation. . . in
student life. Many of the foremost educators held most
strenuously that they are not needed to secure the best
results ; while in general tendencies it was on the whole
positively harmful and vicious. In every way it was far
better to appeal to pupils of all grades as well as to all
others by addressing only their higher nature. Influenced
largely by such convictions, it has always been that,
30 STU DI ES I N

though recitations and examinations are marked and a

record is kept, this is not to establish a basis for grading
or for distribution of honors, but only for private consul­
tation by the teacher, a student, or other persons con­
cerned. No announcement of standing is ever made. "
(Oberlin, p. 408) .
Un iversity of N a shville While Oberlin was s truggling
.-

over the question of prizes, rewards, classics, etc., other

institutions were battling with the same problem. Doc tor
Lindsley, founder of the University of Nashville, the
predecessor of the well-known George Peabody College
for Teachers, said, "The giving of prizes as rewards for
scholarship was discarded, " and the founder testifies
that "a much greater peace, harmony, contentment.
order, industry, and moral decorum prevailed." ( Tenn . .
P· 33 ) ·
Horace Mann, the eminent teacher and writer and the
father of the public school system in the United States,
heartily disapproved of the classic system of emulation.
Mr. Mann says : "I hold, and always have held, it too
unchristian to place two children in such relation to each
o ther that if one wins the other must lose. So placed,
what scholars gain in intellect, yes, and a thousand times
more, they lose in virtue . . . . You know my view of
emulation. It may make bright scholars, but it makes
rascally politicians and knavish merchants. " (Mann.
Vol. I, p. S I S ) .
Mr. Mann was opposing th e Jesuit papal practice, so
necessary to the success of their system of education,
which says : "Nothing will be held more honorable than
to outstrip a fellow student and nothing more dishon­
orable than to be outstripped. Prizes will be distributed
to the best pupils with the greatest possible solemnity. "
(Painter, p. 17 I ) .
5. Reforms in Diet
"The true science of education" gives the student a
knowledge of the laws governing his body, and a love for
those laws. Every Christian school should give its stu­
dents a knowledge of proper diet and proper clothing ,
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 3r

and should acquaint him with all phases of life that make
a successful missionary. A wave of reform in the matters
o� diet, clothing, and other important health principles
swep t over the country ; and many educational reform­
ers endeavored to introduce these practical subjects into
their schools. The Spirit of God was preparing them for
the crucial test in 1 844.
"A knowledge of physiology and hygiene should be
the basis of all educational effort." (Ed., p. 195 ) . "While
the schools we have established have taken up the study
of physiology, they have not taken hold with the decided
energy they should. They have not practiced intelligently
that which they have received in knowledge." (U. T.,
May 19, 1897 ) . "The health should be as sacredly
guarded as the character." ( C . E. , p. 184) .
The Founders of Oberlin. moved by the spirit of reform,
said : "That we may have time and health for the Lord's
service, we will eat only plain and wholesome food.
renouncing all bad habits, and especially the smoking and
chewing of tobacco, unless it is necessary as a medicine,
and deny ourselves all the strong and unnecessary drinks,
even tea and coffee, as far as practicable, and everything
expensive that is simply calculated to gratify appetite."
(Oberlin, p. 86) .
I n 1 83 2 , Mr. Sylvester Graham, the inventor of Gra ­
ham flour, "began to call men to repent of the sins of the
table. According to this classical authority, vegetables
and fruit should constitute the substance of every meal,
and should be eaten as nearly as may be in their natural
state. Bread should be made of unbolted wheat flour
(that being the natural condition) , though rye and
Indian are allowable if unbolted, likewise rice and sago,
if plainly cooked. Good cream may be used instead of
butter, though milk and honey are somewhat better.
Flesh meat and fish in all forms had better be banished
from the table. No fat or gravies are to be tasted, nor
any liquid foods like soup and broth. Pastry is an abomi­
nation, and cakes in which any fat or butter has been
used. Bread should be at least twelve hours from the
oven, and twenty-four hours are better. And as for con-
32 STU D I ES I N

diments, pepper, mustard, oil, vinegar, etc., and stimu­

lants like tea and coffee, they are to be by all means
eschewed as deadly foes to health." ( O berlin, pp. 2 1 8-
2 19 ) .
Professors Shipherd and Finney o f Oberlin both con­
fessed to being restored to health through the Graham
diet reform. The Oberlin pUlpit became aggressively
Grahamite. The boarding department of the school was
placed in charge of a disciple of Graham. "Tea and
coffee were not introduced into the college boarding hall
until 1 842-possibly a little later. . . . Many of the fami­
lies discarded tea and coffee, and a few adopted the
vegetarian diet." Concerning the vegetarian diet, we
read: "For two or three years longer the students were
furnished at the hall with 'Graham fare.' They were not
restricted to this. A table was still set for those who
preferred a different diet." (Fairchild, p. 83) .
Diet Reform i n Other S ch oo ls.-Oberlin was not alone in
these reforms . "In Williams College an association was
formed in 1 83 1 , comprising the maj ority of the students ,
with board based upon the principles of abstinence from
tea and coffee, and the use only of food, the simplest in
every res pect." "The same reform was recorded in the
history of Hudson College." In Lane Seminary "it was
the wish of the students to dispense with tea, coffee, and
all luxuries, and to live on the principles of Christian
simplicity and economy." "In Danville, Kentucky, and
Maryville College, Tennessee, it was the same, because
we wish our ministers free from dys pepsia and liver com­
plaint. " Oberlin's historian writes that "the company was
large that used neither flesh nor fish, neither butter nor
milk, neither tea nor coffee." (Oberlin, pp. 2 2 2 - 2 23) .
Horace Mann said : "We must pay far more attention
to the health of the students, not only by teaching the
physiological laws of health, but by training students to
an habitual obedience to them. Solomon does not say
teach a child in the way he should go , but he says train
him, which means that the child should be required to do
the thing himself, and to repeat it again and again, and
ten times again until it becomes a habit."
 C H R I STIAN E D U C A T I O t'·J 33

M r . Mann says further : "As physical exercise er.� f'rs

so largely into the means of securing health, it is cer1 81n
that no college can ever maintain a general condition of
high health among its students unless they spend some
hours every day in muscular effort. Hence the Fa cuJ 1 y
of Antioch College requires exercise of its students e very
day . . . . We encourage manual labor in every practi c able
way ; and if a liberal public or a liberal individual woul d
give us land for agricultural or even for horticultuf81
purposes, we promise them that the old injunction to ti ll
the ground and dress it shall not be forgotten."
One will look far for a writer with a clearer gra �p of
the health principles as taught by the Word of God. A ft e r
describing the increase of disease in the world because o f
the departure of man from God's original plan, Mr. l\1 a nn
says : "It comes solely because man will break heaven's
laws ; because for the sake of money or for pride, disf'8se
will marry disease ; because when God commanded man
to work-that is, to take some form of exercise-in the
garden-that is, in the open air-men will not exerci·sc,
and will live in dwellings which add artificial poisom: to
natural ones, and then breathe the virulent compound . "
( Mann, Vol. 5 , pp. 342 , 41 5 ) .
I f health reform must b e taught by Seventh - d ay
Adventist ministers and teachers, and understood ctDd
practiced by all who will triumph in the loud cry . we
are forced to conclude that the Lord was giving 1 he
Protestant churches, through their schools, this heolth
reform light, because it was as necessary for them 10
understand and practice it before the midnight cry flS
for us before the loud cry. We are forced also to (' o n ­
clude that their failure to live up to the light on heo 1th
reform unfitted them to appreciate and accept c-thf'r
light. So it is extremely dangerous for students now 1 0
carelessly relate themselves to this reform.
6. Rura l Location for Schools-Country Life for Students
The papal system of education is typified by the word
centralization ; it exalts man, his ideas, and his ways.
In other words, it is a study of the humanities, of the
34 STU DI ES I N

artificial rather than the natural. Such a scheme of edu­

cation can best be worked out in connection with city
life. Therefore, papal schools and those schools patterned
after the papal model are usually located in towns and
cities. On the contrary, Christian education means de­
centralization ; it exalts God and His works ; it is a return
to God's way of doing. This system can best be developed
in the country, on a farm where is to be gained an experi­
ence necessary to the carrying of the last message.
"God bids us establish schools away from the cities,
where, without let or hindrance, we can carry on the work
of education upon plans that are in · harmony with the
solemn message that is committed to us for the world.
Such an education as this can best be worked out where
there is land to cultivate . . . . This usefulness learned on
the school farm is the very education that is most essen­
tial for those who go out as missionaries to many foreign
fields. " (Madison School, pp. 28-29) . "Some do not appre­
�iate the value of agricultural work. These should not
plan for our schools ; for they will hold everything from
advancing in right lines. In the past their influence has
been a hindrance." (T., Vol. 6, p. 1 7 8) .
Concerning the school g rounds, it is said : " 'This land
is not to be occupied with buildings, except to provide
the facilities essential for the teachers and students of
the school. This land about the school is to be reserved
as the school farm. It is to become a living parable to the
students. The students are not to regard the school land
as a common thing . . . . They are to plant it with orna ­
mental and fruit trees and to cultivate garden produce .
. . . The school farm is to be regarded as a lesson book in
nature.' '' (T., Vol. 6, pp. 1 8 1 - 1 82 ) . "Bring all your
energies into the development of the Lord's farm. . . .
The reasons which have led us in a few places to turn
away from the cities, and locate our schools in the coun ­
try, hold good with the schools in other places . . . . Had
the money which our larger schools have used in expen­
sive buildings been invested in procuring land where stu­
dents could receive a proper education, so large a numbe"
of students would not now be struggling under the weight
 C H R ISTIAN EDUCATI ON 35

o f increasing debt, and the work o f these institutions would

be in a more prosperous condition. . . . The students
would have secured an all -round education, which would
have prepared them, not only for practical work in vari­
ous trades, but for a place on the Lords farm in the earth
made new." ( T. , Vol. 6, p. 1 7 7 ) .
We have seen that God was endeavoring to arouse the
popular churches to accept Christian education. This
meant a reform in the location of their schools. A few
years prior to 1844, many educational reformers were
influenced to establish schools away from the city and
on the farm.

The Method ists, as early as 1 7 3 5 , under the direction of

the Wesleys and Whitefield attempted to carry out God's
idea of education in Georgia. They established a school
ten miles from Savannah. The historian states, " Mr.
Habbersham had located the five-hundred-acre grant."
Wesley stated that this school should be "a seat and
nursery of sound learnin g and religious education."
The U niversity of Virginia on a Farm .-When Thomas
Jefferson was making plans for the University of Virginia
in a report made "to the Speaker of the House of Dele­
gates, it is stated that they purchased 'at a distance of a
mile from Charlottesville . . . two hundred acres of land,
on which was an elegible site for the college, high, dry,
open, furnished with good water, and nothing in its
vicinity which could threaten the health of the students. ' "
( Jefferson, p. 69) .
O berlin o n a Fa rm
.- Mr. Shipherd, the founder of Ober­
lin College, writes thus of his early plans : "We are to
establish schools of the first order, from the infant school
up to an academic school, which shall afford a thorough
education in English and useful languages, and if Provi­
dence favor it, at length instruction in theology-I mean
practical theology. We are to connect work shops and
the farm with th e institution." A tract of land was
purchased in the unbroken forests of Ohio, and 640 acres
of this were kept for school purposes. The soil was clay
and wet, and the tract "had been passed by for years as
undesirable for occupation." For this very reason th�
36 STU DIES I N

purchase was severely criticized. It was made bcause the

faith of the founders enabled them to see some things that
even land experts overlooked. Let Seventh-day Advent­
ists read the similar experience of the founders of the
Avondale school, Cooranbong, Australia. The founders of
Oberlin "were guided by a wisdom higher than human,
since a location, almost forbidding in its physical aspects,
and for years quite difficult of access, was a condition
iadispensable to the formation of the character and the
performance of the work to which Oberlin was clearly
called." (Oberlin, p. 82 ) .
Rich mond College (Virginia) was founded by the Bap­
tists in 1 832. They "bought Spring Farm, a small tract
some four miles northwest of the city, and there on the
Fourth of July, opened a manual labor school, called
the Virginia Baptist Seminary." (Jefferson, p. 2 7 1 ) .
Emory and Henry College. a Methodist institution, was
established in Virginia in 1835. It was to be "what was
called a manual labor college, an institution of learning in
which the pupils were to be trained to labor as well as to
think. This manual labor feature was a prominent one in
the enterprise, as it was first brought before the pUblic.
o •A farm containing six hundred acres of highly produc­
•

tive land was purchased and paid for out of the firs t
funds raised. It was at first intended that this farm
should be cultivated by student labor, for which a com­
pensation was to be allowed which would assist in paying
the student's expenses." (Jefferson, pp. 2 53-254) .
It would be interesting to study this reform further,
for many other schools followed this light and secured
locations away from towns and cities. When manual
training is studied, this phase of educational reform will
be brought again to your attention.

7. Simplicity in Buildings
Reform in ed ucation includes the buildings in which an
educational institution is housed. The spirit of centrali­
zation is a necessary feature of the Papacy, and associ­
ated with the papal educational system of medireval Eu­
rope there is usually found a certain characteristic form
 C H R I STIAN ED UCATIO N 37

o f buildings-buildings o f th e monastic order, dark, dingy

cloisters, with which are associated long prayers, count­
ing of beads, chained Bibles, cowls, gowns, mortar
boards, night vigils, long examinations, degrees, parch­
ment rolls ; memory work instead of reason ; sight, not
faith ; thought, not action. Boone says : "Monkish edu­
cation seeks by means of complete silence to place the
�oul in a state of immobility, which, through the want of
all interchange of thought, at last sinks into entire apathy
and antipathy toward all intellectual culture." Think of
attempting to give this kind of education in the open, free
country, or in buildings with open windows through
which streams the bright sunshine of heaven, surrounded
by singing birds, working teams, milch cows, growing
grain, and the sound of hammer and saw. Such surround ­
ings kill this system o f education as surely a s light kil1s
germs.
"The mistakes that have been made in the erection of
buildings in the past should be salutary admonitions t o
u s i n the future . . . . Our ideas o f building and furnishing
our institutions are to be molded and fashioned by a true
practical knowledge of what it means to walk humb1y
with God. Never should it be thought necessary to give
an appearance of wealth . . . . It is not large, expensive
buildings ; it is not rich furniture . . . . that will give our
work influence and success." ( T . , Vol. 7 , pp. 92 , 93) .
Thomas Jefferson , in his scheme for giving a democrati c
education, discarded the medireval dormitory system of
papal schools. "Instead of constructing a single and large
edifice which might have exhausted their funds, and left
nothing or too little for other essential expenses, they
thought it better to erect a small and separate buildi n�
for each professor, with an apartment for his lectures. and
others for their own accommodations, connecting the�e
cottages, by a range of dormitories capable each of lodg­
ing two students only-a provision equally friendly to
study as to morals and order." Of the students' cottages
it is said, "They consisted of one-story dormitories exhib­
iting a not unpleasant effect," and these buildings had
their "garden grounds."
38 STU D I ES I N

This certainly called for self-government. It placed

teachers and students on the same level ; it encouraged
simplicity of life ; it was economical, and appeals strongly
to those who are limited in the amount of money they
can spend in school buildings and equipment. But still
other reasons are given for this cottage plan. Jefferson
said : "The plan offered the further advantages of greater
security against fire and infection, of extending the build­
ings in equal pace with the funds, and of adding to them
indefinitely hereafter. . . . Instead of one immense build­
ing, I favor having a small one for every professorship,
arranged around a square to admit of extension, con­
nected by a piazza so that they can go dry from one
school to another. This plan is preferable to a single grea t
building for many reasons, particularly on account of fire,
health, economy, peace, and quiet." "Such a plan had
been approved in the case of Albemarle College." " Cabal
also was thoroughly convinced of the soundness of the
building policy of the university. Even the enemies of
the institution acknowledged that Jefferson's course was
wise. "
A n influential visitor "had been won over t o the uni­
versity by a mere visit of inspection, which impressed
him with the extent and splendor of the establishment .
. . . There was absolutely nothing in the neighborhood of
Charlottesville to attract either professors or students.
Jefferson was compelled, by the necessities of the situa­
tion, to create something visible and impressive which
compelled admiration." Before the opening of the uni ­
versity, Jefferson wrot e of ten distinct houses for the
professors, "each with a garden," and "an hundred and
nine dormitories sufficient each for two students. "
Jefferson saw the effect o f architecture o n the plastic
minds of students, and said : "My partiality for that divi ­
sion is not founded in views of education solely, bu�
infinitely more as the means of a better administration of
our government, and the eternal preservation of republican
principles." (Jefferson, pp. 6 9 - 1 0 1 ) .
Oberlin's founders came into line with the truth in the
matter of simple buildings. "To increase our means of
 C H RISTIAN E D U CAT I ON 39

service . . . . we will observe plainness and durability in the

construction of our houses, furniture, carriages, and all
that appertains to us." (Oberlin, p. 86) . " There is a plain,
neat, simple style of building which commends itself to
every man's enlightened good sense, and still will not be
highly esteemed by the world, neither is it an abomination
in the sight of the Lord. " (Fairchild, p. 3 59 ) .
T h e cottag e pla n for housing students was followed by
other schools also. Of Oglethorpe University, one of the
leading Presbyterian institutions in the early history of
Georgia, it is said : "There was a row of dormitories of one
story for the habitation of students . . . . These were placed
twelve feet apart, and each one was divided into two rooms
eighteen feet square." (Ga. , p. 83 ) . This was in 1837
when Presbyterians were wrestling with the "true science
of education," and were settling the question whether they
would help proclaim the last message to the world.
The obj ect of the Christian school is to train young
people to "endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus
Christ." Worldly governments, when training soldiers,
avoided those conveniences and luxuries that tend to
make the soldiers unwilling to endure the hardships 0 �
the battlefield. They are not quartered in up-to-date
hotels. But often the buildings of a school are constructed
and equipped for the convenience of those who teach.
house, and board the students, rather than for the train­
ing necessary to fit these young people to become soldiers
to endure hardness. The uniform, the manners, and th�
polishing in general, of the young student soldier receive
more attention than actual drill from many of the officers
who have had more experience in dress parade than in
lying in the trenches. Need we wonder why such a lan:�c
per cent of the students, after long training, prefer to take
up work in an institution with up-to-date conveniences.
where good food, clothes, and a salary are insured, rather
than to pioneer an enterprise where they are thrown
largely on their own resources ? To what extent are large.
well-equipped schools responsible for this? In these lasL
days, schools that teach students to be content with sim­
ple food and clothing, and encourage the spirit of sacrifice.
40 STU DIES I N

and give the ability to say, "From henceforth that land is

my country which most needs my help," will be in great­
est demand by those students who expect to triumph in
the loud cry.
It was on this principle that Thomas Jefferson con­
structed simple school buildings in which to train a class
of men to promote the principles of democracy in the
Uni ted States. And practically every government in the
VJorld has been affected by these principles.
The average teacher, when thinking of a training
school, conceives qf large buildings, equipped with mod ­
ern facilities and conveniences, calling for a large outlay
of means. You students have had no such plants before
you here. Your school would scarcely be recognized as
an educational institution by one having th e ordinary
conception of a training school. This chapel, the small
rct.:itation rooms, the dining room, the shops, cottages, and
other buildings grouped about the farm, provide the
�chool facilities. Our facilities are, as a rule, more simple
th3n many of you have in your own homes. What is the
result? Scores of students from this plant have caught a
v ision, and have recognized the possibility of building up
a school with limited means. As a result, over thirty little

centers are providing education to hundreds of children

outside the church, while if these same students had re­
ceived their training in a school well equipped and ex­
pensive, no doubt the number of schools started would
be considerably less.
Again, the average person, when thinking of a sani ­
ta rium, has before his mind one of our larg� institutions
w ith every modern convenience. You have had before
y o u a small sanitarium, consisting of three frame, one­
story cottages connected by covered porches, equipped
so simply that they can be duplicated in almost any
mission. You have seen this sanitarium filled with pa­
tients and a list of persons awaiting admittance. Many
have had their ideas revolutionized by this small sani ·
tarium, and several health homes are coming into exist­
ence to be conducted on similar plans.
These two illustrations are cited to show that the
 C HRI S T I A N E DU C A T I O N 41

effects of surrounding buildings and equipments on the

minds of students are beyond calculation. The light was
given to the Protestants before I844 to guide them in the
erection of buildings, equipment, and furnishings ; in diet,
dress, and surroundings, so that a great army might be
able, in a simple manner, to sweep the earth with that
mighty message, the midnight cry.
8. Manual Training and the Practical in Education
The times demand an education which will produce
men and women capable of doing things. The papal sys­
tem divorces learning from doing, and disqualifies men
and women for giving the final warning to the world.
God stirred every denomination, prior to 1 844, to put
practical Christian education within the reach of the
young people.
"Had the system of education generations back been
conducted upon altogether a different plan, the youth of
this generation would not now be so depraved and worth ­
less . . . . There should have been in past generations pro ­
visions made for education upon a larger scale. In
connection with the schools should have been agricultural
and manufacturing establishments. There should have
been teachers also of household labor. . . . If schools had
been established upon the plan we have mentioned, there
would not now be so many unbalanced minds. I have
been led to inquire, Must all that is valuable in our youth
be sacrificed in order that they may obtain an education
at the schools? If there had been agricultural and man­
ufacturing establishments in connection with our schools,
and competent teachers had been employed to educate
the youth in the different branches of study and labor,
devoting a portion of each day to mental improvement,
and a portion of the day to physical labor, there would
now be a more elevated class of youth to come upon the
stage of action, to have influence in moulding society.
Tr.. e youth who would graduate at such institutions would
many of th�m come forth with stability of character.
They would have perseverance, fortitude, and courage to
surmount obstacles, and principles that would not be
42 STU D I ES I N

swer\"ed by wrong influence, however popular. There

snould have been experienced teachers to give lessons to
young ladies in the cooking department. Young girls
should have been instructed to manufacture wearing ap ­
parel, to cut, to make, to mend garments, and thus be­
come educated for the practical duties of life." (C. E. ,
pp. I I , 18, 19) .
Jefferson. as we might expect, caught a gl impse of this
important phase of education, and made an attempt to
put it into operation in the University of Virginia. "H�
proposed what he called a 'School of Technical Philos­
ophy. ' . . . To such a school will come the mariner, carpen ­
ter, shipwright, pumpmaker, clockmaker, mechanist,
optician, founder, cutler, . . . soapmaker, tanner, saltmaker,
glassmaker, to learn as much as shall be necessary to
pursue their art understandingly . . . . In this school of
technicology, Jefferson proposed to group the students in
convenient classes for elementary and practical instruction
by lectures, to be given in the evening, so as to afford an
opportunity for labor in the daytime." (Jefferson, p. 84) .
Jefferson is quoted as saying, "No nation will long survive
the decay of its agriculture. " (Pagan vs. Christian Edu­
cation, p. 43 ) .
l iThe Society for Pro moting Ma nual Labor in Litera ry
Institutions was formed in New York in 183 1 , with nearly
a score of eminent names among its officers . . . . A tremen­
dous impulse was given to the movement by the publica­
tion in 1833 of Theodore D. Welds' famous pamphlet
upon manual labor, under the auspices of the society. It
contained the testimony of hundreds of noted men, all
to the effect that this panacea without question was mighty
to heal. . . . His report, when published, produced one of
the sensations of the time." (Oberlin, p. 230 ) .
Manual La bor i n Obe r l : n
.- Oberli n was among th e
schools of this period that placed themselves in the hands
of God to be used in giving a practical education to hun­
dreds and thousands of youth who would later be called to
do strenuous service for the Master. The historian of
Oberlin states that about the time that school started,
there was "a wide-spread intellectual quickening, including
 CH RISTIAN EDUCATION 43

radical reforms in educational methods." Mr. Shipherd,

one of the founders of Oberlin, desired to be in harmony
with the divine plan of education, and said : "Hundreds
of promising youth will doubtless be educated for God's
service, or not educated, as we shall or shall not provide
for them the means of complete education by their own
industry and economy."
In the first annual report of Oberlin published in 1834,
we read, "The manual labor department is considered
indispensable to a complete education." The historian
states : "Honest toil would be honored, the richest and
poorest would meet daily on a common level, the health of
all would be secured, a magic stimulus would be imparted
to both minds and morals ; but the best of all, and most
certain of all, whoever of either sex would gain an educa ­
tion could easily pay his way with the labor of his own
hands."
Oberlin's industrial department, the historian says,
" is furnished with a steam engine which propels a saw mill,
grist mill, shingle and lath saw, and turning lathe, to which
other machinery will be added. One workshop is now
erected and supplied with tools, and others are to be
added. ". "Manual labor was among the most indispensable
elements of the Oberlin idea. Nothing did more for
Oberlin's establishment and enlargement. For half a gener­
ation multitudes of students were brought in from the
whole land over, who otherwise would never have entered
its halls ; and much more, in all probability, would never
have gained an education."
One of Oberlin's founders in 1 833 wrote "that a female
department would be established on the manual labor
plan. including housekeeping, manufacture of wool, culture
of silk, appropriate parts of gardening, particularly the
raising of seeds for market, making clothes, etc."
In fact, the obj ect of Oberlin, as published in its first
catalog, "is said to be to give the most useful education
at the least expense of health, time, and money ; to extend
the benefit of such education to both sexes and to all
classes of the community ; . . . the thorough qualification of
Christian teachers both for the pUlpit and for schools ; . . .
 STU DIES I N

the diffusion of useful science, sound morality, and pure

religion among the growing multitudes of the Mississippi
Valley, and to the destitute millions which overspread
the world, through ministers and pious preachers. "
Manual labor m e t with intense opposition, but i n 1833 .
Mr. Shipherd wrote jubilantly : "The scholars study and
work well. Five minutes after the manual labor bell strikes,
the hammers and saws of the mechanical students wake
all around us." After naming the advantages of manual
training, he adds : "In a word, it meets the wants of man
as a compound being, and prevents the common and amaz­
ing waste of money, time, health, and life." (Oberlin,
pp. 98, 100, 2 2 3 , 2 2 5 ) .
Numerous Manual La bor Institutions.-"In all this, Oberlin
was not in the least original, but merely copied, with slight
modifications, what was to be found in numerous institu­
tions throughout the eastern, middle, and western states.
In 18 3 0, ten could be named having manual labor attach­
ments, while during the next decade several scores were
added to the number. Maine Wesleyan was famous in its
day and was among the earliest. while Bowdoin, Water­
ville, and Bangor Seminary possessed these advantages.
In Dexter, Maine, not only all students, but teachers also
were required to labor at least four hours each day.
Massachusetts had at least half a dozen. . . . N ew York
was favored with several, Oneida Institute being promi­
nent ; and the Rochester Institute of Practical Education,
in which students of ordinary mechanical skill, while learn­
ing a trade, can nearly pay their board ; and it is calcu­
lated, when certain intended facilities are furnished, they
will pay all their expenses. Pennsylvania, too, was well
supplied. At LaFayette College, Easton, President Jen­
kins and the students performed the labor of erecting a
two-story bUilding. . . . In the West, where people were
poorer and land was cheaper, manual labor was most
popular. Hudson ( Ohio) had shops and a farm, Marietta
and Lane Seminary the same, with at least as many more.
Michigan moved in the great matter while yet a territory ;
nor were Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, or Tennessee in
the least degree backward in ministering to the muscle of
 C HRI S T IAN E D U CAT I O N 45

the student class." (Oberlin, pp. � .:I9-230 ) .

l iThe Ed ucational Societies of All the leading Denomina­
tions were active participants, whether Baptist, Congre­
tional, Episcopal, Methodist, or Presbyterian, and most
of the leading educators were full of enthusiasm and
zeal. . . . The Episcopalian secretary could exclaim : 'We
almost envy our successors in the academic course when
something of the vigor of the fathers shall be found in
the intellectual laborers of the day, and the sallow tinge
of dyspepsia shall cease to be the uniform testimonial of
a life of study.' '' (Idem) . Dr. Lindsley, founder of the
University of Nashville, now Peabody College for Teach­
ers, was an advocate of manual labor. He "would have
attached to schools of all grades, farms and workshops.
These farms and workshops would serve a three-fold
purpose. They would furnish the needed exercise, they
would be useful in teaching trades, and they would give
poor boys an opportunity of making a living."
Emory and Henry College. in 1 83 5 , was "a manual labor
college, an institute of learning in which the pupils were
to be trained to labor as well as to think. This manual
labor feature was a very prominent one in the enterprise.
. . . This feature was made prominent in these incipient
movements ; for the institution was built up by a people
engaged almost wholly in agriculture and the mechanic·
arts, a people among many of whom a prejudice existed
against a learned and lazy race." (Jefferson, p. 2 53).
Manual Tra ining in Ba ptist Schools.-"In 1 830, a few
devoted men met in the Second Baptist Church at five
o'clock a. m. to devise and propose some plan for the
improvement of young men who, in the j udgment of the
churches, were called to the work of the ministry . . . .
They organized the Virginia Baptist Educational Society,
and for two years aided approved young men by placing
them in private schools. . . In 183 2 , the Society bought
.

Spring Farm . . . opened a manual labor school, called

the Virginia Baptist Seminary . . . . The number of stu­
dents ran up to twenty-six, about two-thirds of them
preparing for the ministry. . . . To this purchase of nine
acres, six more were added in 1836. . . . The design in
46 STU DI ES I N

adding more was to give more scope for the manual labor
feature of the school. This was strenuously insisted on by
the authorities as giving to the needy opportunity for
self-help and to all opportunity for exercise. But it proved
unpopular with the students . . . . And finally, as we read
in the report of 1 84 1 , this feature . . . has been virtually
abandoned." (Jefferson, p. 2 7 1 ) .
The Georgia Ba ptists i n 1833 founded Mercer Univer­
sity, a school "which would unite agricultural labor with
study, and be open for those only preparing for the
ministry. The idea of founding a manual labor school
where theory and practice should be taught, a scheme
much in favor with Georgia Baptists, seems to have origi­
nated with Doctor Sherwood, who was the first to dem­
onstrate its feasibility in the academy established by him
near Etonton in Putnam County." (Ga., p. 6 1 ) .
We might multiply historical data concerning man­
ual training schools during this remarkable educational
reform preceding 1844. The examples given are typical
of the experiences of more than sixty manual training
schools of this period. To Seventh -day Adventist edu­
cational reformers, these experiences are thrilling. What
would have been the results had the men responsible for
these earlier reforms stood stiffly for these principles
instead of yielding to the pressure brought to bear upon
them by the leading brethren of their respective denomi ­
nations ? This opposition was hard to meet. but the fail­
ure of the cause was really due to lack of courage and
devotion to these principles ; for where there is intense
courage and love for God's work, opposition only
strengthens the reformers. Adventists know that angels
were busy everywhere encouraging these reforms. It is a
startling fact that these schools relinquished their hold on
the manual training reform just about the time that the
midnight cry was due. Had they rem Ained t'-ue, history
would have made a different story. The history of Sev­
enth -dav Adventist educational work also would have
been different.
Had Oberlin, for instance, remained true to her man­
ual training idea , her missionary workers, going as they
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 47

did to the mountaineers of the South and to the freed ­

men of the South, would have changed the whole com ­
plexion o f Southern history. It would have placed the
Southern states forty years ahead of the present. Booker
T. Washington's work for negroes would have been estab­
lished a quarter of a century before his time. But "because
men could not comprehend the purpose of God in the
plans laid before us for the education of workers, meth ­
ods have been followed in some of our schools which have
retarded rather than advanced the work of God. Years
have passed into eternity with small results that might
have shown the accomplishment of a great work." (Madi­
son School, p. 29) .

Adva ntages of Manual L a b or.-" The students were di­

vided into small companies of eight or ten each, and
each company placed under the supervision of one of the
older students . . . . It broke the monotony of ordinary
student life ; it promoted health and buoyancy of spirit ;
in the hours of field and forest labor, there was found not
only relief from study but such a variety of incident, that
the students of those days found more means of solid
enjoyment than others have since. . . . All the students
except day students boarded in a common hall, where, by
practicing economy and with the help of the farm, a
variabl e surplus was realized each year, which was
applied in making improvements. " (Jefferson, pp. 2 53 -
2 5 5) ·
M a nual La bor, as a part of the curriculum in those
schools training ministers and missionary workers, is a
part of that "science of true education" which God
made known to some men and women prior to the year
1 844. It was one of God's ways of training practical
missionaries for mission fields of the world. In spite of
the fact that practically every Protestant denomination
had some experience in conducting manual training
schools, these denominations as a whole opposed the idea ,
and their persistent opposition finally forced the schools
that had led out in the reform to close their manual labor
departments. The closing of the manual labor depart­
ments is a signal for a return to the educational system
48 STUDIES I N

of medi �val Europe. They began to train worldlings

instead of Christians. Herein lay one of the greatest mis­
takes of the Protestant denominations prior to the year
1 844. Here is one of the reasons why they were unpre­
pared for the midnight cry and the first angel's message.
Manual labor in connection with education was called
by men in these manual training schools "a panacea
mighty to hea1." The training school for Christian work­
ers which lost that "panacea" became spiritually sick,
and ceased to advocate Christian educational reforms.
It is called "a missionary impUlse," which through man­
ual labor, "made it possible for the very poorest boy or
girl to secure an education and thus enlarge his fitness
to perform the duties of life."
O berlin 's Fru it God rewarded this school richly for
.-

i cs adherence to truth and for the product of its labors.

in spite of the fact that it was finally compelled to yield.
Of Oberlin it is said : "Though the very name was so
feared and hated, yet there were friends sufficient to de­
sire and solicit more teachers than were to be had. The
quality of their work was found to be so excellent that it
was wisdom to swallow much prej udice in order to secure
the benefit of their instruction. " "One year . . . no less
than 530 teachers went out for the vocation . . . . Who can
measure the benefit bestowed by these great companies of
earnest-hearted men and women who, for more than a
generation, expended their energy upon the children and
youth by the tens of thousands . . . . Oberlin is the fruit­
ful mother of colleges. Olivet College, Tabor College,
Benzonia College, Berea College, Fisk University, Talla ­
dega College, Atlanta University, Straight University,
Emerson Institute, Howard University, and other schools
and enterprises absorbed for many years the missionary
activity of Oberlin men and women. " Their students
entered such "foreign fields as Turkey in Europe and in
Asia, India, Siam , South America, Hayti, and Burma."
(Oberlin, p. 32 1 ; Fairchild, p. 341 ) .
Students can readily gather from this brief sketch how
extended might have been the influence of Oberlin had she
remained true to her reform. The words addressed to
 CH RISTIAN EDU CAT I O N 49

Seventh -day Adventist educational reformers apply with

equal force to the founders of Oberlin. "Reformers have
been handicapped, and some have ceased to urge reform.
They seem unable to stem the current of doubt and criti­
cism." (T., Vol. 6, p. I 42 ) .
O p position -Students will b e interested in a few state­
.

ments showing the decline of these same institutions

under the blighting atmosphere of suspicion, criticism,
and opposition of the leaders. Oberlin withstood the op­
position longer and more successfully than most other
schools. The following extract gives the reader a picture
of the doubt and criticism brought against Oberlin re­
forms by the leaders in the Presbyterian and Congrega­
tional churches. "Manual labor, for example, had many
friends and admirers, but a large number looked askance
at the idea. The student did not need, and could not
arf ord, four hours per day for toil upon the farm or in
the shop. Nor was the financial result likely to be of any
considerable value, either to him or to th e institution to
\vhich he belonged." So said the critics. "Thus heads in
New England and elsewhere began to shake." Again, "I
have some doubts about a project lately started in this
region and which makes no small demands on our regard
as an enterprise of benevolence. I refer to Oberlin, for
which large funds have been received and are collecting.
What need is there of another university or college in the
woods of Ohio, surrounded by other institutions but a
short distance off, still struggling for an existence? . . .
It is said to have manual labor, but so has Hudson. . . .
Why should students be importuned to leave the insti­
tution where they are to go to Oberlin ?" (Oberlin, pp.
2 43 - 2 47 ) ·
Yield ing to Opposition.-After the beginning of the
forties, we hear little of manual labor. With th e general
increase of wealth, there was less need of whatever pecuni­
ary value it possessed. The consciences of the good were
less scrupulous about seeking exercise outside of useful
labor, and the modern gymnasium and athletics soon
began to make all-sufficient provision for the physical
50 STU D I ES I N

well -being of the world." (Oberlin, p. 23 1 ) . Note the

year when this decline occurred.
Mercer University, referred to above, had this experi­
ence : "In 1844, the manual labor system, which had been
on trial since the foundation of the Institute in 1833, was
abandoned , having proved inefficacious. Several other
attempts had been made during the same decade to
establish manual labor schools in different places, which
with one exception, had likewise failed." ( Ga. p. 65 ) .
Do Seventh-day Adventists grasp the significance of
this date ? God cannot forever bear with unbelief, half­
hearted efforts, and cold, indifferent trifling with divine
principles. "If all who had labored unitedly in the work
in 1844 had received the third angel's message and pro ­
claimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord
would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood
of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago
the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned,
the closing work completed, and Christ would have come
for the redemption of his people. It was not the will of
God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilder­
ness. He desired to lead them dire:�t to the land of
Canaan . . . . . In like manner, it was not the will of God
that the coming Christ should be so long delayed."
(G. C., p. 458) .
9. Manual la bor Displaced by Athletics, Sports, and Ga mes
No school can successfully maintairt manual labor
studies in its curriculum on an equality with other studies,
unless the purpose of God for such a practical training
is recognized by both teachers and students. And when
the purpose is recognized, the love, interest, and enthusi­
asm generated by an education to do useful things brings
more enjoyment and keen pleasure to the student than
such substitutes for manual labor as sports and games
can ever bring.
"The physical exercise was marked out by the God
of wisdom. Some hours each day should be devoted to
useful education in lines of work that will help the student
in learning the duties of practical life which are essential
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 51

to all our youth. But this has been dropped out and
amusements introduced which simply give exercise with­
out being any special blessing in doing good. . . . The
time employed in physical exercise, which step leads on
to excess, to intensity in the games, and the exercise of the
faculties, ought to be used in Christ's lines, and the bless­
ing of God will rest upon them in so doing . . . . Diligent
study is essential and diligent, hard work. Play is not
essential. The influence has been growing among students
in their devotion to amusement, to a fascinating, bewitch­
ing power, to the counteracting of the influence of the
truth upon the human mind and character. . . . What
force of powers is put into your games of football and
your other inventions after the way of the Gentiles­
Exercises that bless no one . . . . I cannot find an instance
in the life of Christ where he devoted time to play and
amusement." (T. E., pp. 190 - 1 92 ) .
I t i s easy to determine the system of education in
operation in any training school. Studen'· s who enj oy
games and sports more than useful labor have certainly
chosen a system of education that will give them little
help in preparing to enter th e hard places of the world ,
or to prepare for the latter rain.
We have already noted that opposition to useful labor
in Oberlin brought this change : "The modern gymnasi ­
um and athletics soon began to make all sufficient provi­
�;on for the well -being of the student world." Gradually,
"Oberlin introduced modern baseball, football, and ath ­
letics in general," (Oberlin, pp. 23 I , 407 ) but "the
gymnasium made its way slowly at Oberlin, because it
seemed to be inconsistent with the manual labor idea . "
(Fairchild, p. 2 62 ) . All this i s in harmony with the
statement concerning gymnasiums : "They were brought
in to supply the want of useful physical training, and
have becom e popular with educational institutions. "
(C. E . , p . 2 I I ) .
Before the end, all training schools that are breaking
from "the necks of their students worldly yokes," and
are bringing their students "into the line of true educa­
tion," so they may "carry the message of present truth
52 STU D I ES I N

In all its fullness to other countries," ( The Madison

School, p. 30) will see that all of these substitutes, such
as football, baseball, etc., are replaced by the genuine
useful arts and trades.
1 0. Student Self-Govern ment a nd Christian Democracy
Individ uality, Originality, a n d Independence of thought
and action on the part of the student are in the end de­
stroyed by the papal system of education and other sys­
tems derived from it. This system is intended by its
promoters to destroy these vital elements of character in
order to make the individual a willing, blind, obedient
servant to the mandates of men. The Papacy cannot
prosper except as it does destroy these most god-like fac­
ulties of man. Individuality, originality, and independ­
ence of thought and action are developed by Christian
education. This system is intended to develop minds
capable of being guided by th e Holy Spirit, even though
that way may be at times diametrically opposed to the
rulings of men. They learn to take their orders from the
Captain of the Lord's army, whose hand is among the
wheels of the affairs of men to prevent confusion, an­
archy, and disobedience to any organization which is
based upon correct principles.
God was preparing a company who could be guided
completely by His Spirit in the giving of the midnight
cry. Only those trained to take the initiative, to be self­
governing, would dare break away at the call of God
from the errors and customs of Rome as found in the
Protestant churches.
"The M id n ight Cry was heralded by thousands of be­
lievers. Like a tidal wave the movement swept over the
land. . . . Fantaticism disappeared before this proclama­
tion like early frost before the rising sun. . . . All were of
one heart and of one mind. . . . It caused a weaning of
affection from the things of this world, a healing of
controversies and animosities, a confession of wrongs. . . .
Angels were sent from heaven to arouse those who had
become discouraged, and to prepare them to receive the
message . . . . It was not the most talented, but the mo�t
 C H R I STIAN EDUCATION 53

humble and devoted who were first to hear and obey the
call. Farmers left their crops standing in the fields, mer­
chants laid down their tools, and with tears and rejoicing
went out to give the warning. Those who had formerly
led in the cause were among the last to join in this move­
ment. The churches in general closed their doors against
this message, and a large company of those who received
it withdrew their connection . . . . . There went with it an
impelling power that moved the soul. " (G. C., pp. 440 -
402 ) .
I t does not require deep thought to discover the cause
of the failure of the educational system of the Protes­
tant denominations to train men and women to partici­
pate in the midnight cry. The whole scheme of education
of that era , aside from the reform movement, which was
largely broken down by the pressure of the popular
church leaders, was to make men conservative, fearful of
leaving th e well-trodden paths of action, and of course
"the churches in general closed their doors against this
message. " Protestant teachers and preachers, in harmony
with the Papacy, had for years bound the minds of stu­
dents and church members to creeds both in education
and religion, until their adherents were governed by tra­
dition, prejudice, bigotry, and fear of their leaders. They
had lost their love and power for self-government. Con­
sequently, God could not lead them by His spirit ; their
organization was rejected ; they had morally fallen ; the
second angel called them Babylon .
On the o�her hand, a few devoted schools, educational
reformers, and ministers, had trained a small company
to prize the privilege of being governed by the Spirit of
God as revealed in His word. They had practiced what
they had been taught in self-government. un· , l " -' ey were
willing to follow the guidance of the Spirit. This shows
that true self-government does not mean "do as you
please" ; it means that self shall be governrn by the Word
of God. While this company was cast out of the church
o�ganizations, while they left their crops, their tools, and
fonner employments of all kinds to participate in what
seemed to those who had not learned self-government to
54 STU D I ES I N

be a fanatical movement, yet from such a company

sprang the wonderful Seventh-day Adventist church. And
tnis church is called to set before the world a system of
schools, institutions, and organizations of self-governing
Christians, such as this world has never before seen.
The Chara cter capable of carrying the midnignt cry
had to be developed in the Christian manual training
schools, or in the school of the common walks of life.
The leader of this movement, William Miller, "the farmer
prophet," like Christ and John th e Baptist, was educated
in the latter. His biographer, a man well qualified to
judge the value of the popular educational system of the
churches, writes : "What now, would have been the effect
of what is called a regular course of education ? Would it
have perverted him, as it has thousands ? Or would it have
nade him instrumental of greater good in the cause of
God ? Would it have performed its appropriate work,
that of disciplining, enlarging, and furnishing the mind,
leaving unimpaired by the process its natural energies,
its sense of dependence and accountability as to God ?
Or would it have placed him in the crowded ranks of
those who are content to share in the honor of repeating
the twaddle, true or false, which passes for truth in the
school or sect which has made them what they are ? We
think it would have been difficult to pervert him ; but
where so many who have been regarded as highly promis­
ing have been marred by the operation, he would have
been in great danger. He might have become externally
a better subject for the artist ; but we doubt if he would
ha ve been a better subject to be used as an instrument of
Providence. Ther e are those who survive the regular
course uninjured ; there are those who are benefitted by
it, so far as to be raised to a level with peopl e of ordinary
capacity, which they never could attain without special
aid. And there is a third class, who are a stereotype
representation of what the course makes them ; if they
raise a fellowman out of the mire, they never get him
nearer to heaven than the school where they were edu­
cated. Whatever might have been the result of any
cS':ablished course of education in the case of William
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 55

Miller, such a course was beyond his reach ; he was de­

prived of the benefit, he has escaped the perversion."
( Miller, pp. 1 5 - 1 6) .
This is that William Miller, "the farmer prophet, "
who later brought the first angel ' s message t o Oberlin.
Th e futility of depending upon men who have not
been trained to self-government has been seen in the mid­
night cry experience. Every Seventh -day Adventist is
approaching his final test, j ust as the Protestant churches
approached theirs in 1 844. Ours will come with the loud
cry, the latter rain. Those who lack training for self­
government, those not able to depend upon their own
efforts for support, who are not making the Bible the
basis of study, and physiology the basis of every educa ­
tional effort ; all who, in other words, "do not understand
the true science of education" will have no place in the
kingdom of God or in the loud cry.
Cha racter N eeded for the Loud Cry Is Similar to That
of the M id night Cry
.-" The message of the third angel will
be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with
the greatest power, the Lord will work through humble
instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate
themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified
rather by the unction of His Spirit than by t he training
of literary institutions. Men of faith and of prayer will
be constrained to go forth with holy zeal proclaiming the
words which God gives them." (G. C., p. 606) .
The Jesuit schools taught their students blind obedi­
ence. The student was not required to go to God for
wisdom regarding his conduct. His teacher assumed
that responsibility. True self-government, which may be
defined as bringing one ' s conduct into harmony with
God's principles as expressed in His Word, was absolutely
neglected. The terrible effects of the papal system of
school discipline has been seen during the first angel's
message. Those students who blindly followed teachers
rather than God's principles were bound by customs,
traditions, organizations, and leaders at a time when the
Spirit of God was calling them to follow the truth. As a
preparation for the loud cry, we are told : "The plan of
56 STUD I ES I N

the schools we shall establish in these closing years of

the work is to be of an entirely different order from those
we have instituted." ( The Madison School, p. 28) .
l iThe Object of Discipline is the training of the child for
self-government. . . . Having never learned to govern
himself, the youth recognizes no restraint except the
requirements of parents or teachers. This removed, he
knows not how to use his liberty, and often gives him ­
self to indulgence that proves his ruin. . . . Students
should not be led to feel that they cannot go out or
come in without being watched. . . . Lead the youth to
feel that they are trusted, and there are few that will not
seek to prove themselves worthy of the trust. . . . It is
better to request than to command. The one thus ad­
dressed has an opportunity to prove himself loyal to
right principles. His obedience is the result of choice
rather than compulsion. The rules governing the school
room, should, so far as possible, represent the voice of
the school. . . . Thus he will feel a responsibility to see
that the rules he has helped to frame are obeyed. Rules
should be few and well considered ; and when once made
they should be enforced. . . . Those who desire to control
others must first control themselves." "Co-operation
should be the spirit of the school room, the law of its
life." "Let the older assist the younger ; the strong the
weak. This will encourage self-respect and a desire to
be useful." (Ed . , pp. 285-292 ) .

Jefferson, the Father o f Democracy, knowing that self­

government was not taught in the schools of his day, and
that democracy cannot exist in the state unless its prin­
ciples are first taught and practiced in the school, intro­
duced this principle into the University of Virginia. "It
is very generally known that at the Universi�y of Virginia
exists a remarkable system of student self-government,
by which a high morale and a manly tone of self-reliance
have been successfully maintained." Self-government is
contrasted with what is called "professorial espionage."
Self-government established a frank and kindly spirit of
co-operation between master and pupil. It repressed all
 C HRI S T IAN E D U C AT I O N 57

dishonorable practices of cheating in recitations and ex­

aminations, and promoted a spirit of independence and
self-respect." (Jefferson, p. 94) .
O berlin found it necessary, in th e training of the right
kind of missionaries, to develop a system of self- govern­
ment. In Oberlin "the democratic feeling, the spirit of
equality, the absence of classes and casts based upon
mere artificial distinctions, is marked. . . . The Faculty
never sought to lord it over the students as being them­
selves superior, nor have they insisted upon a particular
show of honors, reverence, or respect even. They played
the role of elder brothers to their pupils. Titles were
unknown, and students addressed their teachers as 'Broth­
er Finney,' or 'Brother Mahan.' '' "Self-rule was the
ideal. The assembled youth were to learn how to use
freedom by being left free. A public sentiment was to
be the controlling force. . . . Each individual has full
liberty to m ake the most of himself, and stands for j ust
what he is worth in heart or brain. Class yells and class
colors have come in of late, and occasionally class hats,
canes, and the like ; at rare intervals, a class robe, but
with the consensus of judgment and taste against any
wide departure from the fashions of dress elsewhere in
vogue in good society." (Oberlin, p. 399) .
I n O berlin, "the regulations are few. No strict personal
surveillance was ever undertaken. The student has been
thrown greatly on his own responsibility, with the un­
derstanding that his continual enjoyment of the privileges
of the school must depend upon his satisfactory deport­
ment . . . . No monitorial system has ever been adopted.
Each young man reports weekly in writing to the profes ­
sor in charge, his success or failure in attendance upon
prescribed duties. The young women report to the lady
principal." (Fairchild, pp. 263-265 ) . This sounds very
much like the following : "The youth must be impressed
with the idea that they are trusted . . . . If pupils receive
the impression that they cannot go out or come in, sit at
the table, or be anywhere, even in their rooms, except
they are watched, a critical eye is upon them, to criticize
58 STU DIES I N

and report, it will have the influence to demoralize, and

pastime will have no pleasure in it. This knowledge of a
continual oversight is more than a parental guardianship.
and far worse ; . . . This constant watchfulness is not'
natural, and produces evils that it is seeking to avoid. "
( C . E . , p . 46) .
Horace M a n n on Self-Government.-In those days when
the Protestant denominations were settling their eternal
destiny, when they were determining whether they would
hear the world-wide judgment message, and themselves
be prepared for the midnight cry, such men as Horace
Mann wrote : "One of the highest and most valuable
objects to which the influences of a school can be made
conducive, consists in training our children to be self­
governing. "
Mr. Mann had the following experience in dealing
with students. He gave the young men to understand
"that he looked to them to be their own police. " "When
a tutor who had resided in a gentlemen's dormitory to
keep order was exchanged for a lady teacher, Mr. Mann
appealed to the senior class one day after chapel service
to know if they were not sufficiently strong in moral
force to take care of the building without such super­
vision. They rose to their feet simultaneously, accepted
the trust joyfully and confidently, kept the promise well,
and transmitted its spirit to their successors." Mr. Mann,
however. was always on the alert to assist these self­
governing students by a word of caution, or by forewarn­
ing them of impending trouble. "It was Mr. Mann's
pride and delight ever after to walk through the gentle­
men's hall at any hour of the day or night. and to take
visitors with him to convince them that a true spirit of
honor and fidelity could be evoked from th e young" in
matters of self-government. At one time he wrote : "Ou'"
dormitory, nearly filled with male students, has no tutor
or overseer. In study hours, it is as quiet as your house.
We have no rowdyism, no gambling or card playing, and
we have nearly succeeded in exorcising profanity and
tobacco." (Mann, Vol. I, pp. 438, S I S ) .
 CHRISTIAN E D U C AT I O N 59

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard ;

Consider her ways, and be wise ;
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler '
Provideth her meat in the summer,
And gathereth her food in the harvest."
I I. Tra ining M issionaries to Be Self-Su pportin g­
A Laymen 's M issiona ry Movement
It was the divine plan that the midnight cry and the
thi.-d angel's message should be carried to every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people. God wanted an army trained
to carry forth this practical religion to a world which had
been educated away from the gospel order by the pagan
aad papal systems of education.
We have seen that Christian education, as developed
bu the educational reformers in every Protestant denomi­
nation, made possible a mighty laymen's movement. We
can understand how these self-supporting missionaries
could quickly carry the message to the world. It was
Satan's studied effort to thwart this self-supporting lay­
men's movement. He accomplished his desired results by
exalti ng worldly literature to a place above the Bible ; by
consuming practically all the student's time in mental
effort, and leading him to depreciate the practical in edu­
cation ; by leading to a gradual substitution of athletics,
sports, and games for manual labor. Satan is endeavoring
to deceive the very elect, the remnant church.
The Protestant denominations could not "carry the
message of present truth in all its fullness to other coun­
tries," because they did not "first break everv yoke" of
worldly education ; they did not "come into th e line of
true education ; " they did not educate to prepare a people
to understand the message, and then give the message to
the world." ( The Madison School, p. 28) .
Self-Supporting Students and Tea c he rs The pupils of
.-"

these schools (of the prophets) sustained themselves by

tilling the soil or in some mechanical employment . . . .
Many of the religious teachers supported themselves by
manual labor." ( C. E., p. 6 1 ) . "Schools are to be estab­
lished away from the cities where the youth can learn to
 60 STU DI ES I N

cultivate the soil and thus help to make themselves and

the school self-supporting . . . . Let means be gathered for
the establishment of such schools." ( T. , Vol. 7 , p. 232 ) .
"The presentation i n our schools should not b e a s i t has
been in the past in introducing many things as essential
that are only of minor importance." (U. T., Jan. 9, 1909 ) .
"Your school i s t o b e a n example o f how Bible studY',
general education, physical education, and sanitarium work
may be combined in many smaller schools that will be
established in simplicity in many places." (U. T., Jan. 6,
1908 ) . "We need schools that will be self-supporting,
and this can be if teachers and students will be helpful,
industrious, and economical. . . . Sacrifices must be made
on every hand." (U. T., Jan. 2 4, 190 7 ) .
Work for the Self-Supporting Laymen.-"The time is
coming when God's people, because of persecution, will
be scattered in many countries, and those who have re­
ceived an all-round education will have great advantage
wherever they are." (An Appeal for the Madison School) .
The apostle Paul "illustrated in a practical way what
might be done by consecrated laymen in many places.
. . . There is a large field open before the self-supporting
gospel worker. . . . From heaven he receives his com ­
mission and to heaven he looks for his recompense when
the work intrusted to him is done." (Acts, pp. 3 5 5 -356) .
Many educational reformers prior to 1 844 were im­
pressed by the Spirit of God to give a practical educa­
tion in order that their students might be free to carry
the truth to any field to which God might call . These
reformers saw that the educational system in vogue in
the Protestant churches was totally inadequate to prepare
a missionary to dare to carry an unpopular truth con­
trary to the will of the leaders in those denominations.
"Professor Finney of Oberlin College said : 'We have had
the facts before our minds that, in general, the Protestant
churches of our country as such were either apathetic or
hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age . . . . Thn
churches generally are becoming sadlv de�enera"Le. They
have gone very far from the Lord , and He has withdrawn
Himself from them.' " "The churches generally did not
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 61

accept the warning. Their ministers . . . had failed to

learn th e truth either from the testimony of the prophets
or from the signs of the times. . . . The fact that the
message was to a great extent preached by laymen was
urged as an argument against it . . . . Multitudes, trust­
ing implicitly to their pastors, refused to listen to the
warning." (G. C., pp. 376, 380) .
Hundreds of Self-Supporting M issiona ries were sent out
by this same President Finney of Oberlin, who "laid
down the somewhat ultra and startling dictum that no­
body was fit to be a missionary who was not willing, with
but an ear of corn in his pocket, to start for the Rocky
Mountains." (Oberlin, p. 2 38) . This was the spirit of
faith and daring awakened in the hearts of students who
were taught to make their way from the soil.
The America n Educational Society was the educational
department of the Congregational denomination, and its
work was to superintend all the educational institu­
tions of that denomination. Oberlin was established by
godly men in the Congregational Church who desired to
make their school a means of training Congregational
missionaries. "Some of the candidates for the ministry
made application to that organization for financial help
. . . which step th e trustees refused to countenance, but
afterward, though grudgingly and unhandsomely allowed.
Oberlin entered into a prolonged tilt with the Ameri­
can Educational Society, of which the provoking cause
was contained in certain pet ideas of the founders, no­
tably, the one with regard to self-support to be made
easily possible through the sovereign virtues of manual
labor. "
Oberlin's Effort to Tra in Self - Supporting M issiona ries,
was attacked by Hudson College, a Congregational
school which attempted to injure the influence of Ober­
lin in the denomination. "Here was too good an oppor­
tunity for Hudson to miss." In January, 1 837 , came this
unjust criticism from Hudson : "When Oberlin started,
it was said that students would support themselves, thus
not needing help. It operated against the Educational
Society, and many refused to contribute ; so when Oberlin
62 STU D I ES I N

becamed convinced that its scheme was VIsIOnary, and

sought aid for students, the Board asked them to say
frankly that Oberlin was not self-supporting, in order to
disabuse the public of that notion. This has not been
done . . . . We are sorry they do not say right out 'We
are not self-supporting.' So now it seems that Oberlin
students cannot earn any more than others and need as
much help. Thus Oberlin manual labor is no better than
it is elsewhere." (Oberlin, pp. 2 49-2 50) .
Oberlin was not always a favorite with sister insti­
tutions, and "was made to appear as a troubler in Israel,
an Ishmaelite. Lane and Hudson had a grievanc2. Here
was a shameless trespasser, a poacher upon their pre­
serves. " (Oberlin, p. I SO) . This was felt because of the
"wholesale exodus of students who had flocked to Mr.
Shipherd's school." The faculties of Lane and Hudson
felt that "in all things, while Oberlin was radical, they
were conservative. Yes, and Oberlin was overrun with
students," and this in spite of the fact that "Oberlin
wrought with all her might to restore to the churches the
purely democratic polity of New England. Therefore,
by a multitude of the good, Oberlin was abhorred and
cast out as vile." "Oberlin is said to be manual labor, but so
is Hudson. It is said that the students come from the East,
but why should they come away from the excellent, long­
tried, richly endowed, and well-officered institutions in
the older states to get an education in a meager and
poorly furnished institute in the wilds of Ohio? Why
should students be importuned to leave institutions where
they are to go to Oberlin, as I understand has been
extensively the case in this region ?" So said Oberlin's
critics.
The Managers of O berlin Felt Keenly These Thrusts from
their own brethren who occupied leading positions. The
accusations were not true. Oberlin was sending hun­
dreds of self-supporting missionaries to the Indians, the
mountaineers of the South, to the freedmen, and to other
needy fields. It aroused President Mahan to reply : "We
do not feel called upon to say or do anything. We do not
much care whether the Society aids our students or not.
 CH RISTIAN EDUCATION 63

If we want help, we can get it." "Thus stigmatized and

cast out, what could Oberlin and her friends do but
organize an educational society of her own ? . . . . Oberlin
was charged far and wide with the sin of schism , with
being the foe to church union, with tugging with might
and main to overthrow the ecclesiastical status quo . . . .
It was presently Oberlin's lot to be cast out as vile, and
but for the existence of the association and other sub ­
ordinate bodies affiliated with it, Oberlin's students
would have been unable to secure either license or ordi­
nation."
In 1 839, the Congregational Church put this query in
their church paper regarding Oberlin : "Shall young men
go there expecting to get a thorough, classical, and theo­
logical education? Will such be received by the churches
as pastors or missionaries ? Is there any obligation to aid
Oberlin as now constituted ?"
In 1840, two Oberlin students "asked to be licensed,
and their case was referred to a committee, which, with­
out the least questioning, simply asked if they believed
in the doctrines taught at Oberlin and their way of doing
things. Declining to answer such an inquiry, it was finally
changed to this, 'Do you believe on the whole, that Ober­
lin is a good institution, or is it a curse to the world ?'
They then confessed that they thought it was good, and
also believed the committee would think so too if they
would spend a week there." The license was refused
these Oberlin students. (Oberlin, pp. 2 5 1 - 2 5 5 ) .
The Cong regational Conference then took this action
toward Oberlin : "We deem it inexpedient for our churches
to employ ministers known to cherish O}-prlin ideas." I n
1 8 ,. I . this question was raised b y the Conference o f Ohio :
"Will baptism pass muster as valid if adf!1inistered by an
Oberlin man ?" The question was referred to a committee
which reported : "Oberlin ideas are exceedingly dangerous
and corrupting, and these preachers should not be re­
ceived by the churches as orthodox ministers, nor should
their members be admitted to the communion. " "In 1844,
the General Conference of New York condemned the
heresy and censured th e Genessee Conference for winking
64 STUD I ES I N

at it. . . . The American Board discharged two noble

missionaries, Bradley and Casswell, in Siam for the same
reason . . . . The Cleveland Convention was held this year,
but the conference with which the Oberlin church was
connected was not invited to a share in its deliberations.
Mr. Finney and President Mahan were present, but a
motion that they be invited to sit as corresponding mem ­
bers was voted down by a considerable majority, as one
delegate testifies. But much of the time was spent in
denouncing Oberlin, and the chief object of the conven­
tion seemed to be to destroy its influence, and exclude it
from the pale of orthodoxy.
America n Missionary Association Formed . "When Ober­
-

lin men would go as missionaries to the Northwest, it

became necessary to bring into being, the Western Evan­
gelical Missionary Society to send and support them, and
when they undertook work in behalf of the negroes,
whether in Ohio, Canada, or the West Indies or Africa,
other organizations were required, which in 1846, were
united in the American Missionary Association, which
also for years, with its operations, covered the home as
well as the foreign field. . . . The evil feeling which
was very prevalent and widely extended found fre­
quent expression in language like this : A delegate in
the Cleveland Convention said, 'The influence of Oberlin
was worse than that of Roman Catholicism.' The presi ­
dent of the Michigan University publicly avowed the
belief that 'Oberlin theology was almost devilish.' Still
another brother said, 'Brethren, I hate Oberlin almost as
badly as I hate slavery, and you know I hate slavery
as I hate the devi1.' "
When O berlin Students Applied to the America n Edu­
cational Society to be sent as missionaries to the Indians,
the Society replied : "We cannot. You are good men, and
we wish you well, but it will not do." At another time,
"the Board instructed one of its missionaries to be care­
ful how he associated with Oberlin men on terms of too
great intimacy, lest they be poisoned by their infl.uence."
An Oberlin student had applied for a position as minister
in a Congregational church. The examining board asked :
 C H RISTIAN E DUCAT I O N 65

" ' If installed, will you allow President Mahan or Pro­

fessor Finney of Oberlin to preach in your pulpit ?' And
as he replied that he would, a half day was consumed in
considering if they should proceed with the examination.
When one spoke of the Oberlin brethren, another said ,
'They are not brethren, they are aliens, ' and almost the
entire body was in sympathy with this statement."
(Oberlin, pp. 2 49, 2 65 ) .
Oberlin was being baptized with fire. These experi ­
ences were taken, in the most part, in a kindly spirit.
They attended to their own business, and sent out a
constant stream of live, enthusiastic, successful, soul­
saving missionaries. They were beginning to appreciate
the truth of this wonderful statement concerning Chris­
tian education : "When we reach the standard that the
Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard
Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, straight-laced
extremists." (Mrs. E. G. White, R. & H., Jan. 9, 1894) .
"I want you to guard one point ; do not be easily dis ­
turbed by what others may say. Know that you are
right, and then go ahead. . . . Do not be troubled by the
opinions of those who talk for the sake of talking. "
(U. T . , July 1 8 , 1 892 ) . Remember that Mrs. E . G . White
refers to Oberlin history when the institution was passing
through these experiences by saying : "The churches gen­
erally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone
very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself
from them." (G. C . , p. 37 7 ) .
Had Oberlin yielded to the demands of the church ;
had she not endeavored to obey God even under diffi ­
culties, she would never have accomplished what she did.
For it was in the face of these experiences that she suc ­
ceeded in placing more missionaries among the freedmen
than all other American colleges combined. The spirit of
the Lord helped Oberlin teachers to recognize, under the
conditions of that time, the principle in th e following
statement : "It is not the Lord's will that the work in the
South shall be confined to the set, regular lines. It has
been found impossible to confine the work to these lines.
and gain success. Workers daily filled with zeal and
66 STU D I ES I N

wisdom from on high must work as they are guided by

the Lord, waiting not to receive their commission from
men." (Selections from the Test., p. 62 ) .
A Manual La bor Student o f Oberlin Becomes President.­
The experience of Professor James H. Fairchild, who was
-
connected with Oberlin for over sixty years, first as ["'.
student and then as a teacher, bears witness to the fact
that Oberlin did make it possible for students to be self­
supporting. Professor Fairchild writes : "A very obvious
reason for choosing this institution was my financial
limitations." Speaking of himself at seventeen, he says :
"My parents could spare me from the farm, but could
not furnish money, even for tuition. Oberlin was a manual
labor school, and my brother and myself, taking the firs t
course together, were manual labor students. On our
first arrival we were put in charge of the lath-sawing in
the mill, four hours a day, five cents an hour. This pro ­
vided for our expenses the first year. The next and fol ­
lowing years w e worked as carpenters and j oiners o n the
_ollege buildings and the homes in the colony. By such
labor, re-enforced by the wages of teaching in vacation,
we earned our way through the entire course, without any
sense of want or weariness, or any hindrance to our
studies, or to our general preparation for the work of
life." (Oberlin, p. 290 ) .
This young m a n was a theological student, and with
others from his class went out among the churches as a
self-supporting minister. This was th e preparation hp
received, which fitted him to occupy a place first as
instructor in Oberlin, and l ater as president of the insti­
tution with which he spent his life.
Salary.-The character of the teachers that give stu­
dents an inspiration to self-supporting work is thus de­
scribed in the person of an Oberlin professor : "His piety
is more like the divine Teacher's than usual ; he labors
with his might to do good in school and out ; his education,
though not collegiate, is sufficiently extensive ; he is a
manual labor man; he does not teach for money but to do
good; he is deeply interested in the West." Concerning
the wages of this man, a member of the Board wrote :
 CH RISTIAN EDUCATION 67

"I advise that you offer him $400.00 with the use of a
dwelling-house and a few acres of land, hay for his horse
and two cows, and his wood." Of the founders of Oberlin
it is said : "These unselfish and self-denying souls offered
themselves to the institution without salary for five years."
(Oberlin, p. 209 ) . Oberlin was able to be self-supporting,
partly because she reduced the size of her faculty by uti­
lizing student teachers, and partly because the members of
her faculty were willing to sacrifice in the matter of wages.
The Students who sought an education in such an insti­
tution were as strongly characteristic as the teachers. Of
Oberlin students it is said : "With their own muscle, they
were working their way into the ministry. Most were of
comparatively mature years, while some were past thirty .
. . . It was a noble class of young men, uncommonly strong,
a little uncivilized, entirely radical, and terribly in ear­
nest. " (Oberlin, p. 132 ) .
Setf-S up porting M issiona ries.-These schools which were
wrestling with the problems of true education were all of
them training missionaries and evangelists. They held a
definite object before their students, a life work which
called for self-sacrifice and devotion. This in itself put
zeal and life into the work of teachers and students. The
world was approaching one of the most momentous years
in its history. Th e judgment message was due. Inten ­
sity was taking hold of men in every station of life. Stu­
dents in these schools were alive to the great social ques­
tions of the day, and instead of spending their time and
cn�rgy in the study of dead classics, and other impracti­
cal subjects which have little or no value in the training
of Christian workers, they were dealing with live problems
which called for activity as well as thought. For instance,
Oberlin students were devoting themselves to mission work
among the Indians. They were educating the colored peo ­
ple ; they were sending workers into the mountain districts
of the South, and even into the islands of th e sea. "Every
long vacation, numbers of Oberlin students made their
way to Southern Ohio, wherever the poor colored were
gathered, and lavished upon them sympathy and com­
passion, receiving only their bare living."
 68 STU DIES I N

"In 1 836, Hiram Wilson, a Lane student, proceeded to

upper Canada to work among the twenty thousand freed­
men who had fled from slavery to that place of refuge.
They were in deepest poverty and ignorance. To the task
of Christianizing and educating them, he devoted his
whole life. At the end of two years, fourteen teachers from
Oberlin were assisting him. In 1 840 no less than thirty­
nine were teaching colored schools in Ohio, half of them
young women, receiving their board only, and as many
more in Canada." It was such experiences that prepared
these young people to do a most efficient work for the
freedmen.
M uch of This Work Was on a Self-Supporting Basis. "The
great body of young men who went out from Oberlin to
preach in the early days, went as home missionaries­
with this exception, that they looked to no society to aid
the churches in paying their salaries. It was not difficult
to find needy churches to welcome them. . . . Such was
the prevalent ignorance and misapprehension in regard to
Oberlin, that the most they could look for was the privi�
lege of working in some needy field without molestation.
Each man was obliged to find a place for himself, and
slowly secure recognition. Under these conditions, Oberlin
men found their work and waited for a brighter day."
M issionaries to C u ba .- In 1 836 a student seeking a
warm climate for health's sake, went to Cuba. "Being a
skilled mechanic, he found self-support easy, and while
there, conceived the idea of a mission to the blacks of
Jamaica, to be carried on independent of any outside
assistance." One of the missions started in Cuba was
named Oberlin. "For fifteen years the call for recruits
continued, and was responded to, until in all, thirty-six
had gone forward. For several years, these much enduring
men and women, aside from the pittance which the ex­
slaves could bestow, depended almost wholly upon the
labor of their own hands. In addition, they built their
own dwellings as well as chapels and school houses. "
Oberlin W a s Tra in ing M e n to Procla im a n U n popula r Mes­
sage, and these experiences were a part of their training.
"A year or two of self-denying and efficient labor with
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATIO N 69

som e needy church without aid, was the usual probation

to a recognized ministerial standing. Theological stu­
dents going out to preach found no missionary society to
guide them to open doors, and to secure them compensa ­
tion for the service. They went where preaching seemed
to be needed, and often returned as empty handed as they
went, except for the friendship and gratitude of those
to whom they carried the work of the gospel. " One today
might wonder how they lived, but the writer goes on to
say : "They were manual labor students and could make
their way in Oberlin another year. The situation had its
advantages. The Oberlin man secured a theological stand­
ing of its own-a birthright of liberty. This freedom may
have come at a heavy price, but it was worth the having . "
(Oberlin, pp. 3 2 2 -3 2 5 ) .
This i s a n illustration o f the great principle given us :
" Culture on all points of practical life will make our youth
useful after they leave school to go to foreign cbuntries.
They will not then have to depend upon the people to
whom they go to cook and sew for them, or build their
habitation. They will be much more influential if they
show that they can educate the ignorant how to labor by
the best methods and to produce the best results. . . .
A much smaller fund will be required to sustain such
missionaries . . . and wherever they may go, all that they
have gained in this line will give them standing room."
( C hristian Schools, p. 47 ) .
Oberlin Helps Students Find Their Life Work .-Oberlin
"never stood so exclusively as did the old-fashioned col­
leges for a culture purely scholastic in its nature for book
learning. More emphasis was laid upon the practical side.
Knowledge was good through its uses. . . . Oberlin has
always been impressed by the fact that what the world
most needs is character, men and women of genuine worth
and power whose aims are unselfish and noble, who count
service a delight." The teachers "were overflowing with
stimulus to thought and enthusiasm. . . . The superficial,
the namby-pamby, has been held in contempt . . . . The
mightiest questions were daily brought up for discussion."
(Oberlin, p. 400 ) . Oberlin "was composed wholly of elect
70 STU D I ES I N

persons, who came on a mission, with a burden. a definite

purpose . . . . One of the early graduates used to tell how,
as he bade the class goodbye when he had completed his
course in an eastern academy, the principal commiserated
them upon the fact that they had been born so late in
history that all the really important tasks had been per­
formed, so that nothing remained for them but the ignoble
work of helping to keep the wheels of progress moving
along in the old ruts ! But, entering th e little clearing in
the forest (Oberlin) he soon discovered that the universal
conviction there was that a multitude of mighty questions
were yet calling for solution : that the world's redemption
was only just fairly begun."
Alive Teachers Are M ore I m porta nt Than Expensive Eq uip­
ment to I nspire Students. "Among Oberlin's leaders were
men of remarkable power who uttered their convictions
in such a masterful fashion as to make them deeply felt
far and wide. Moreover, these men were of an intensely
practical make. Thought, investigation, opinion found
their fitting goal only in volition and action. Their defi­
nition of Christianity was broad enough to include every
matter connected with human welfare. Every year they
aroused and inspired hundreds of most impressible minds
and hearts." (Oberlin, p. 2 g8) . "Say not, 'We cannot
afford to work in a sparsely settled field, and largely in a
self-supporting way . . . . God desires that every man
shall stand in his lot and in his place and not feel as if
the work was too hard." ( Words of Encouragement to
Self-Supporting Workers, pp. 10, 1 4) .
O berlin's I nfluence Felt.-The historian gives the effect
of such training in the following words : "It would be hard
to over-estimate the part in this work which was taken by
Oberlin missionaries. Remember that they numbered hun­
dreds at an early day, and soon exceeded thousands . . . .
They scattered westward, eastward, and even southward,
always pushing, debating, inquiring, agitating. It bubbled
from their lips as naturally as their breath, and they could
not refrain from it. . . . Oberlin is peculiar among all the
learned institutions of the land in having so large a con­
stituency of temporary students inculcated with her spirit,
 CH RISTIAN EDUCATI O N 71

but not having her diploma ; the bone and sinew of the
country wherever they are ; active and influential in their
modest spheres, and always ready to second the efforts and
sustain the work of her more authoritative representatives
whenever they appear . . . . There is hardly a township
west of the Alleghanies and north of the central line of
Ohio, in which the influence of Oberlin men and Oberlin
opinions cannot be specifically identified and traced. It
was th e propaganda of a school of thought and action
having distinct characteristics. " (Oberlin, pp. 3 1 4 , 3 1 5 ) .
Perhaps there is no other one experience that better
illustrates the great power of Oberlin people, and their
daring in taking the initiative against popular opinion,
than their attitude toward the · slavery question, and the
freedmen. When we see the work done along this line, we
can better appreciate the value of Oberlin's system of
education along the lines of Bible study, the discarding of
injurious literature, her indifference to school honors, her
manual training, self-government, and self-support. With­
out such training, it would have been difficult for Oberlin
students to pursue the course they did on the slavery ques­
tion. It brought them in conflict with the laws of the
land, but the students obeyed the laws of God rather than
the laws of men. The following statement was addressed
by a civil judge to an Oberlin man who was on trial for
assisting a slave to escape : "A man of your intelligence
must know that if the standard of right is placed above
and against the laws of the land, those who act up to it are
anything else than good citizens and good Christians. . . .
His conduct is as criminal as his example is dangerous."
(Fairchild, p. 1 2 5 ) .
Desire to Reform Aroused b y Correlation.-The secret
of the success of Oberlin teachers in arousing students to
take a stand on this debated question, and put themselves
where they became leaders in a pl"actical movement to
arouse the minds of the people to th e terrible wickedness
of slavery as an institution, lay in the fact that Oberlin
did not conduct her class work and her lectures along the
regular stereotype lines of the schools about them. On the
contrary, Oberlin on every occasion correlated this subject
72 STU DI ES I N

with the daily work in the classroom. One of Oberlin's

enemies understood this secret at the time, and wrote :
"With arithmetic is taught the computation of the number
of slaves and their value per head ; with geography,
territorial lines and those localities of slave territory
supposed to be favorable to emancipation ; with his tory,
the chronicles of the peculiar institution ; with ethics
and philosophy, the higher law and resistance to federal
enactments. Hence, the graduates of Oberlin are masters
of art in abolitionism, and with the acquirement of their
degrees are prepared to go a degree or two further if
occasion requires. . . . They imagine that they are doing
God's service. There may be some excuse for them (the
students) but there is none for their instructors. We
doubt if there is for either. So Ions as Oberlin flourishes
and educates 1 2 50 students per annum, male and female
abolitionists will continue to multiply." (Oberlin, p. 2 65 ) .
I t has always been God's plan, a s illustrated b y the
schools of the prophets, that the Christian school should be
the nursery in which reformers are born and reared­
reformers who would go forth from the school burning
with practical zeal and enthusiasm to take their places
as leaders in these reforms. He intends that the teachers
shall be leaders in reform, and possessed of sufficient
ingenuity and adaptability to make a vital connection
between every lesson and reforms. It was this method
that made Wittenberg the center of the sixteenth century
Reformation.
Fea r to Accept a nd Act Reforms a Mark of Pa pal System
of Education.-It has ever been the policy of the Papacy
to sterilize the brains of teachers so that they cannot be
impregnated with reform ideas. The Papal system of
education makes them content to repeat set lessons to
their students, as they themselves learned them in school,
with no thought of making practical application. The
students, in turn, go out to teach others the same rote
they have learned, and thus the endless treadmill goes
on, ever learning, but never getting anywhere.
Macaulay thus describes this system : "The ancient
philosophy was a treadmill, not a path. I t was made up
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATI O N 73

of revolving questions of controversies which were always

beginning again. It was a contrivance for having much
exertion and no progress . . . . The human mind, accord­
ingly, instead of marching, merely marked time. It took
as much trouble as would have sufficed to carry it forward,
and yet remained on the same spot. There was no accumu­
lation of truth . . . . There had been plenty of plowing,
harrowing, reaping, threshing. But the garners contained
only smut and stubble." (M. B., p. 380 ) .
Any school which, like Oberlin, has power to arouse
its students to carry out a reform for which God is calling,
must expect to meet with the same bitter opposition from
those who are content with the mere form of Christian
education without the power of the Spirit. These are wells
without water, clouds without rain, words without ideas,
lamps without oil.
Opposition Arouses I nvestigation Leading to Friendsh ip.­
In the days when Thomas Jefferson was meeting with the
keenest criticism becaus e of the 1Ieforms in education
which he advocated, he found friends for his reforms
even in the more conservative schools. For instanc e,
Professor George Ticknor, a member of the Harvard
faculty, made a careful study of Jefferson's views of
education. He surprised his friends by traveling six hun­
dred miles by stagecoach and the slow conveyance of
that period, and endured with patience the annoyance
of bad roads and the discomfort of bad inns. What was
he thinking of in such a long j ourney southward ? He
was going to see Jefferson's new university fairly opened ,
and of it he wrote, 'that he found the system more practical
than he had feared ; h e found an experiment worth try­
ing.' '' (Jefferson, p. 129) .
O berlin's Attenda nce a Myste ry We have seen the
.-

j ealousy and critical attitude of many of the leaders

toward Oberlin. It was difficult for Oberlin to bear the
irritation that was so constantly kept up, but God looked
with pleasure upon the manner with which Oberlin met
this persecution. "For the most part, little pains have
been taken to forge or wield weapons of defense. She
had gone forward patiently and persistently, minding her
74 STU DI ES I N

own business and doing her own work in her own way,
assured that full vindication would eventually come.
For one thing, all along she had the comfort of
knowing that devoted and admiring friends were not
wanting, and could see that a phenomenal success at
many points had been achieved. With students of both
sexes, she was fairly flooded. This same surprising and
unprecedented growth in spite of extreme poverty, in
spite of some serious errors and blunders, in spite of hosts
of foes whose united strength seemed overwhelming, con­
stituted a mystery which the most sapient of her calum­
niators was unable to solve. One of these expressed the
perplexing fact to Mr. Finney something like this : 'It has
always been understood that no institution could prosper
or achieve success without having the sympathy and
co -operation of both churches and ministers. In your case,
the multitude of these have either stood aloof, or have
been actively hostile ; and yet you secure students, teachers,
buildings, and endowments far beyond the most fortunate
of your neighbors. We cannot understand it at all.' "
(Oberlin, pp. 263) .
"No educational institution can place itself in opposition
to the errors and corruptions of this degenerate age with­
out receiving threats and insults. But time will place such
an institution upon an elevated platform, having the
assurance of God that they have acted right." ( Mrs.
E. G. White, G. C. Bulletin, 1 90 1 , p. 454) .

1 2. Selecting a nd Training Tea chers

Undoubtedly, more failures have come to educational
reforms and to schools through the inability of the found­
ers to select teachers in sympathy with Christian educa­
tion, and who have the ability to teach the essential
branches as directed by the angels, who wait to co-operate
in the teaching of every class, than through any other one
weakness. Teachers have been employed in Christian
schools "who could pass well in a worldly institution of
learning," but who could not follow the divine pattern as
revealed to the founders. For this reason, many schools,
 CHRISTIAN E D U C AT I O N 75

established by reformers, soon patterned after the popular

schools.
"God has revealed to me that we are in positive dan­
ger of bringing into our educational work the customs and
fashions that prevail in schools of the world." (Madison
School, p. 2 8 ) . "Let not managers, teachers. or helpers
swing back in their old customary way of letting their
influence negative the very plan the Lord has presented
as the best plan for the physical, mental, and moral edu­
cation of our youth. The Lord calls for steps in advance."
(U. T . , Dec. 27, 1 90 1 ) .
Oberlin was terribly pressed b y her own brethren, who
were ignorant of the nature and value of the educational
light God had so generousl y revealed to her. But severe
as was the criticism and pressure from the outside, Ober­
lin might have carried out God's plan in the preparation of
an army of missionaries to give the midnight cry, had not
some of her teachers continued to cling to the principles
and methods of worldly schools. The germ that finally
caused her to stagger in her course was planted in her
vitals by members of her own faculty. One example of
the many that might be given is sufficient to make this
matter clear. "Professor J. P. Cowles never looked with
favor upon such dietetic vagaries ; he did not scruple to
ridicule and otherwise oppose them, and as he himself
states, furnished pepper boxes, and kept the tables sup ­
plied with pepper for months, although eventually the
prudential committee took them away." The influence of
this teacher, with some others who were opposed to Presi­
dent Finney's position on pepper and other condiments,
tea . coffee, flesh foods, etc. , and who failed to realize this
health reform as an entering wedge, is thus stated : "Under
the pressure of this panic, they rushed with precipitous
and confused haste back to their flesh pots ; and here,
under the exhilarating influence of fresh infusions of the
Chinese shrub, the Mocha bean, with the riotous eating of
swine's flesh, and drinking the broth of abominable things,
they succeeded in arresting a necessary renovating work."
( Oberlin, 42 2 -424) .
76 STU DI ES I N

Opposition From Without, Trying ; From With in, Serious.­

The nagging, the sneers, and the falsehoods of those out­
side Oberlin's walls who were out of sympathy with her
reforms, were unpleasant and serious obstacles, but the
opposition of certain teachers who were continually under­
mining the love and respect of students for health reform
was fatal to progress in all reform. In yielding on health
reform, Oberlin began to relinquish her reforms one by
one until she was unable to meet th e test in 1 844. Thus
Oberlin failed in the great mission to which she was called
by the first angel, because some of her teachers were not
in sympathy with Christian education. On those reforms
where the faculty agreed, Oberlin made a world-wide
record.
Jefferson's School finally lost out in its reforms because
he was unwise enough to select a number of members for
the faculty of the University of Virginia from the uni­
versities of Europe. Wise as was Jefferson on many great
questions, h e was weak on this point, and it is said that
"Washington demurred ; he doubted the expediency of
importing a body of foreign professors who would be in­
clined to bring from the European schools ideas at
variance with the principles of democracy, " which Jef­
ferson wanted to make basic in his school. (Jefferson,
P· 45 ) ·
It was for this same reason that the staunch Puritan
reformers lost their hold on those principles that would
have prepared their descendants for the midnight cry.
They established a number of schools, such as Harvard
and Yale, that for years were recognized as Bible schools,
but they were under the influence of teachers who, as we
have learned, brought to them the papal principles of edu­
cation from Oxford, Eton, and other European schools, and
this finally destroyed the desire for reform. If there is one
thing above another that Seventh-day Adventists have
been cautioned about, it is this point. Wrecks of Christian
education have been strewn all along the way, because
teachers have opposed reforms as did that Oberlin teacher
who insisted on putting pepper boxes on the tables, and
ridiculed health reform and its advocates. Is it possible
 C H RI STIAN E D UCATIO N 77

that some Seventh-day Adventist teachers have used their

pepper boxes, filled with the most pungent and caustic
remarks against educational reforms ?
"It is most difficult to adopt right principles of edu­
cation after having been long accustomed to popular
methods. The first attempt to change old customs
brought severe trials upon those who desired to walk in
the way which God had pointed out. Mistakes have
been made, and great loss has been the result. There
have been hindrances which have tended to keep us in
common, worldly lines, and to prevent us from grasping
true educational principles. . . . Some teachers and man­
agers who are only half converted are stumbling blocks
to others. They concede some things and make half
reforms, but when greater knowledge comes, they re­
fuse to advance, preferring to work according to their
own ideas. . . . Reformers have been handicapped, and
some have ceased to urge reforms. They seem unable to
stem the current of doubt and criticism . . . . We need now
to begin over again. Reforms must be entered into with
heart and soul and will. Errors may be hoary with age ;
but age does not make error truth nor truth error."
(T., Vol. 6, pp. 1 4 1 - 1 42 ) .
The Spirit of the Reformer.-In the days when the
schools of the prophets flourished, the man who had these
schools in charge was called "father," and the students
were known as "sons." In New Testament times, one of
the greatest teachers, barring the Master himself, speaks
lovingly of "Timothy, my own son in the faith" ; and
"Titus, mine own son after the common faith" ; and
"My little children of whom I travail in birth." He em ­
phasizes still further the difference between the real teach ­
er and the hired instructor, saying : "For though you
have ten thousand instructors . . . in Christ Jesus, I have
begotten you through the gospel." (I Tim. 1 : 1 2 ; Titus
1 : 4 ; Gal. 4 : 1 9 ; I C or. 4 : 1 5 ) . It is this spirit of fatherhood
on the part of the teacher that makes for success. Emer­
son has said : "An institution is the lengthened shadow
of one man." That one man is the "father."
We have already seen that many of the failures of
78 STU DI ES I N

the educational reform are to be laid at the feet of timid.

unbelieving, conservative teachers ; wherever there has
been real success, and fruit has been borne in an educa­
tional reform movement, you will find one or more teach­
ers who have seIVed as fathers or mothers to the enter­
prise. As a rule, we must recognize that a school which
is obliged to have frequent change of teachers or man­
agement, will see few results in the way of s"eady, healthy,
educational reform. Luther and Melanchthon were the
parents of Wittenberg, and as long as they remained, the
institution was a power for reform throughout Europe.
Jefferson as a Fath er.-When in his eighty-third year,
Jefferson would ride eight or ten miles on horseback
over a rough mountain road to the University of Virginia.
"This shows the deep interest with whic� he watched
over this child of his old age, and why he preferred the
more endearing title of 'father' to that of founder." Mr.
Jefferson carried out this fatherly feeling through the
last years of his life, for he used to entertain the students
at Sunday dinner in his own home. "They might b e
young and bashful, but h e knew the county from which
they came, the men with whom they were acquainted,
and he gave himself to the student family so completely
that they soon felt at home." (Jefferson, p. 2 16) .
Oberlin Ha d Fath ers.-Oberlin could never have ac­
complished what it did had it lacked this parentage.
The relation of the founders to the institution when i":
was conceived in their minds is expressed in these words
as they rose from prayer : "Well, the child is born, and'
what shall its name be?" (Oberlin, p. 8 1 ) . Their love
for this child was manifested in the same manner that a
parent shows love for its offspring ; they toiled, sacrificed,
and suffered for years without thinking of remuneration.
Of Oberlin's faculty it is said : "Among them was the
conviction which nothing could shake, that th e faculty
ought to go 'by faith' in the matter of salary ; that is�,
should not insist upon any legal obligation to pay them
any definite sum, but be content to receive whatever
happened to be forthcoming from the treasury." The
spirit of fatherhood on the part of Oberlin men is re-
 C H R I S T. I A N E D U CATI O N 79

vealed in the following experience of one worker : He

"was so much delighted with what he found of religious
fervor and democratic simplicity, that not long after he
cast in his lot with the colonists, bringing several thou­
sand dollars taken from his own purse or gained by solici­
tation from his friends. Elected a trustee, he was
abundant in financial labors." (Oberlin, p. 28 4 ) . The
spirit of fatherhood means not only to sacrifice on salary,
but to utilize your money and to solicit help from friends .
M r . Finney also bore this same relationship t o the insti­
tution. Many tried to entice him to what they liked to call
more important fields and better remuneration, but he
remained as president of the school for over forty years.
As Elij ah called Elisha from the plow to a subordinate
place in the school of the prophets that he might be trained
to become a father when Elij ah should depart, so Finney
called Fairchild, a young man who had worked his way
through Oberlin. Fairchild was afterwards offered lucra ­
tive and popular positions, but h e chose to remain 'With
Oberlin as a subordinate to Doctor Finney at four dollars
per week, and there received the training which put him
at the head of the school when Finney was called away.
Fairchild's connection with the school lasted over sixty
years.
These men each had a vision. Their students had
visions. The fathers and mothers of Oberlin loved their
children, and their example was not lost upon the stu ­
dents ; for they went everywhere with the same spirit to
father some enterprise for the salvation of souls. They
never hesitated because a field was considered hard. They
were as loyal to a hard field as their teachers before them
had been loyal to Oberlin. It led Oberlin students to say :
"Henceforth that land is my country tha t mos t needs my
help."
Wa lking With God. But Not With a Perfect Heart.­
Of certain kings of Judah it is written that they "did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a
perfect heart." God used Professor Finney and gave him
a view of the spiritual condition of the popular churches.
He knew what the results would be if they did not reform.
80 STU D I ES I N

"Professor Finney of Oberlin College said : 'The churches

generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone
very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn himself
from them. ' '' (G. C., p. 377 ) . Stewl�ut, Shipherd, Presi­
dent Mahan, all founders of Oberlin, understood the situa­
tion as well as Professor Finney. They all recognized
that the only sensible way to bring about a permanent
reformation in the Protestant denominations was through
a system of Christian education ; for "th e hope of the
future missionary work lies with the young. " These men
fought a good fight. They were all reformers of the highest
type. They belong in the class with William Miller, Fitch,
Himes, and others.
Oberlin Hears the First Angel's Messa ge as Prea ched by
Willia m M iller and Fitch
.-" William Miller, having long
since discovered things most marvelous in Daniel and the
Revelation, proceeded for half a generation to turn the
world upside down in preparation for the end of this
di�pensation, which this farmer-prophet fixed for r843."
(Oberlin, p. 66) . " The Rev. Charles Fitch came to preach
the doctrine of the immediate second coming of Christ.
He was a man of much personal magnetism, intensely in
earnest, profoundly convinced of th e truth of his message,
and called, as he felt, to bring the better light to the good
people of Oberlin." (Fairchild, p. 86) .
The founders were greatly stirred, as were many of
the students. But we h ave already seen the weakness on
t.he part of some Oberlin teachers toward preliminary re­
forms. We have seen the terribly bitter spirit manifested
by most of the denominational leaders. These things
almost crushed Oberlin's reforms until she was unable to
meet the higher demands made of her by the midnight
cry. Oberlin College was not perfect in her heart, but
God rewarded the institution for the loyalty she had
shown, and she became a powerful factor in certain re­
forms in the world's history, although she failed to have
a part in that reform of all reforms, the third angel's
message. It is well for Seventh-day Adventists to re­
member that these things happened to Oberlin as an
example for those upon whom the ends of th e world are
 CHRISTIAN E D U C AT I O N 81

come. Oberlin teachers did not "break every yoke" of

worldly education, but "placed on the necks of their
students worldly yokes instead of the yoke of Christ. "
T o us i t i s said : "The plan o f the schools w e shall estab ­
lish in these closing years of the work is to be of an
entirely different order than those we have instituted,"
but Oberlin decided to follow the methods adopted in the
older established schools. She yielded to pressure, and
thus began that "clinging to old customs, and because of
this, we are far behind where we should be in the develop­
ment" of God's work. Oberlin men, just before their test
came, failed to comprehend th e purpose of God in the
plans laid before them for the education of their workers.
They adopted methods "which have retarded the work o f
God. Years have passed into eternity with small results
that might have shown the accomplishment of a great
work." Oberlin, by yielding to opposition, unfitted herself
to carry the message of present truth in all its fullness to
other countries "becaus e she failed to break every educa­
tional yoke." She failed at the last to come "into the
line of true education," and as a result she could not give
the final message to the world.
82 S TUD I E S I N

III
SOME E DUCATIONAL EXPERI ENCES OF
SEVENTH-DAY A DVENTISTS

The condition of the Protestant denominations in 1 844

is illustrated by the five foolish virgins in the parable of
Matthew 2 5 . When the midnight cry was given in the
spring of that year, most of the leaders of these denomina­
tions took their stand against it. During the days of
preparation, they had failed "to understand the true
science of education," and they were not ready when
the climax came. Some of their own educational re­
formers had endeavored to prepare the denominations
for this great event, but these educational men were
opposed and repulsed by their church leaders. There­
fore, the leaders of the church were not ready to accept
the first angel's message. Had the Protestant denomi­
nations "come into the line of true education," they
would have accepted the first angel's message. This
would have united them into one body again. "Th e church
would again have reached that blessed state of unity,
faith, and love which existed in apostolic days when! the
believers were of one heart and one sou!." (G. C . , p. 379) .
The popular denominations had been called by the
Lord to prepare the world for Christ's second coming.
They refused to obey, and "about fifty thousand 'with­
drew from the churches." (IG. C., p. 376) . From this
number came a few stalwart, daring, faithful Christians
who became the founders and leaders of the Seventh-day
Adventist denomination. The most of these sturdy leaders
"had little of the learning of the schools. " They had re ­
ceived their education "in the school of Christ, and their
humility and obedience made them great." (G. C . , p. 456) .
They were self-made, and had no need to spend much
time to unlearn the wisdom received from that system of
education which caused the ruin of the Protestant denom­
inations of 1 844.
 CHRISTIAN EDU CATION 83

Elder James White. in his life of William Miller, ex­

presses in the following words his estimate of that system
of education which ruined the Protestants : "What now
would have been the effect of what is called a regular
cours e of education? . . . Would it have performed its
appropriate work, that of disciplining, enlarging, and
furnishing the mind, leaving unimpaired by the process its
natural energies, self-dependence as to man, and its sense
of dependence and accountability as to God ? Or, would it
have placed him in the crowded ranks of those who are
content to share in the honor of repeating the twaddle,
true or false, which passes for truth in the school or sect
which has made them what they are ?" (Miller, pp. r s , r 6) .
Seventh-day Adventists Called to B e Reformers.-These
brave Christian reformers were now facing a situation
similar to that faced by the Christian refugees who fled
from Europe to the shores of America for the sake of
developing a new order of things. But "the English Re­
formers, while denouncing th e doctrines of Romanism,
had retained many of its forms." (G. C., p. 2 89) . The
founders of the Seventh -day Adventist church had left
apostate churches ; and they, like the English reformers,
were impressed with the condition of these churches, but,
while denouncing the papal doctrines found in the apos­
tate Protestant churches, they failed to see all the errors
in those churches. The reformers of r844 also met perse­
cution, as did the English reformers before they came to
this country. For of them it is said : "Many were perse­
cuted by their unbelieving brethren." (G. C . , p. 1 7 2 ) .
During the first few years of Seventh-day Adventist
church history, we find the founders searching the Bible
for the great fundamental doctrines of the third angel's
message, which revealed false doctrines and certain falla­
cies that had crept into the popular churches ; in writing
and publishing those doctrines to the world ; and in de­
veloping a church organization. They did their work well.
But what was being done for the education of the children
and youth during this constructive period ? Many of them
were attending those same schools that had heretofore
trained men to repudiate the light of the first angel's
84 STU DI ES I N

message. Many of the reformers were disturbed over the

situation. They began to realiz e that keeping the chil ­
dren in these schools would, in time, lead these children
to regard truth as did their teachers who were out of
sympathy with the message.
Light came from God on the problem of education.
Seventh-day Adventist parents were instructed to take
their children out of the public schools anp to establish
schools offering a Christian training. "When I was shown
by the angel of God that an institution should be estab ­
lished for the education o f our youth, I saw that i t would
be one of the greatest means ordained of God for the
salvation of souls. " (C. E., p. 2 4) . To establish schools
seemed too great a task to the majority of our people at
that time. It was like the conquest of Canaan to the
children of Israel. Many children from Adventist homes
were taken out of the worldly schools, but the church
lacked faith to establish schools and to grasp the Lord's
p romise to provide Ch ristian teachers. So, for a time, the
children were left without any school advantages. Parents
realized that something must be done, but as they had
not faith to obey the word of God in this matter, they
gradually returned the young people to the worldly
schools. Thus began the wanderings of Seventh -day Ad­
ventists in the wilderness of worldly education. They
failed to understand "the true science of education." The
work was retarded, and "because of this we are far behind
where we should be in the develop-merit of the third angel's
message." This experience came about the year 1860 ; in
the year 1 90 1 , forty years later, when Battle Creek College
was moved to a farm, this word came : "It is the beginning
of the educational reform."
The following instruction came during this wandering
in the educational wilderness : "There should have been
in past generations provision made for education upon a
larger scale. In connection with the schools should have
been agricultural and manufacturing establishments.
There should have been teachers also of household labor.
There should have been a portion of the time each day
devoted to labor, that the physical and mental might be
 CHRISTIAN EDU CAT I O N 85

equally exercised. If schools had been established on the

plan we have mentioned, there would not now be so many
unbalanced minds . . . . Had the system of education
generations back been conducted upon altogether a dif­
ferent plan, the youth of this generation would not now be
so depraved and worthless." (C. E. , p. 18) .
From the pages of the Review and Herald we gather
that there was considerable agitation over educational
matters until the founding of Battle Creek College in
1874. By this time many of the leaders began to under­
stand more fully the results of the terrible mistake made
by not following the instruction given in the fifties con­
cerning education.
The need of schools was apparent. B!"other A. Smith,
writing for the Review and Herald (Vol . 40 , No. 2 ) , said :
"Any one at all acquainted with our common schools is
aware that the influences of their associations is terrible
upon the morals of our children . . . . I do not know why
young ladies could not qualify themselves by a course of
study at Battle Creek to serve as teachers of select schools
in our large churches." This is a suggestion for church
schools.
A Church School was established in Battle Creek about
this time. The teacher, Professor G. B. Bell, who was
the prime mover in this enterprise, was an educational
reformer, and if the reform that he advocated had been
favorably received and intelligently practiced, Seventh­
day Adventists would have come out of the educational
wilderness long before they did. The ideas on educa­
tion which this man held were similar to the reforms
taught prior to 1844. God desired that when educational
work did begin among Seventh -day Adventists, it should
be on a basis at least equal to th e educational reform
movement before 1 844. God had sent Seventh - day
Adventists an educator who had accepted the third angel's
message and who was ready to begin the educational
work among us at the point where the educational re­
forms ceased before 1 844. Acceptance of this reform work
would have placed Seventh-day Adventist educational
work in a position before the world corresponding to that
86 STU D I ES I N

held by Seventh-day Adventist sanitarium work. The

first Seventh-day Adventist sani tarium came quickly into
line with all of the advanced ideas taught and practiced
before 1844. And if there is one thing above another that
has distinguished Seventh-day Adventists before the world,
it has been their health-reform principles and sanitarium
work. They had an equal chance in the educational world.
The following words show what a serious mistake was
made when this educational reformer who had come
among us was criticised and h is reforms rejected : "The
present age is one of show and surface work in education.
Brother possesses naturally a love for system
and thoroughness, and these h ave become habits by life­
long training and discipline. He has been approved of
God for this. His labors are of real worth because he
will not allow students to be superficial. But in his very
first efforts toward the establishment of church schools
he encountered many obstacles. . . . Some of the parents
neglected to sustain the school, and their children' did not
respect the teacher because he wore poor clothing. . . .
The Lord approved of the general course of Brother -­

--- , as he was laying the fo unda tion for the school

which is now in operation." (T., Vol. S , p. go) . This
church school developed into Battle Creek College.
Battle Creek College Should Have Been Esta blished on
the La nd.- The promoters of Battl e Creek College were
instructed to establish the school on a large tract of land
where various industries might be carried on and the
school made a manual training institution, and conducted
according to educational reform ideas. The following
statement, which appears in the General Conference Bul­
letin, IgO I , page 2 1 7 , was mad e by Elder Haskell, regard­
ing the founding of Battle Creek College : "I remember
the time when th e present site was selected for the loca ­
tion of the College here in Battle Creek. . . . Sister White,
in talking to the locating committee, said : "Get the school
on some land outside of the thickly-settled city, where the
students can work on the land.' '' In the same General
Conference Bulletin, pages I I S and 1 16, is the following
s �atement from Mrs. E. G. White concernin1 the location
 CHRISTIAN EDU CAT I O N 87

of Battle Creek College : "Some may be stirred by the

transfer of the school from Battle Creek, but they need
not be. This move is in accordance with God's design for
the school before the institution was established, but men
could not see how this could be done. There were so
many who said the school must be in Battle Creek. Now
we say that it must be somewhere else. The best thing
that can be done is to dispose of the school's buildings
here as soon as possible. Begin at once to look for a
place where the school can be conducted on right lines . . . .
Get an extensive tract of land, and here begin t he work
which I entreated should be commenced before the school
was established here. . . . Our schools should be located
away from the cities on a large tract of land so the stu­
dents will have opportunity to do manual work. "
From the above, w e see that when Battle Creek College
was established, there was not enough faith and courage
among Adventists to build up an educational institution
in the country on a farm as the educational reformers
prior to 1 844 located their schools. This inability to ap­
preciate the system of education for which God was call­
ing was due to the fact that the leading men of the
denomination had received their education in schools that
had repudiated the reform ideas advocated before 1 844.
The importance of manual training and kindred reforms
had not been impressed upon their minds as Oberlin,
during her reform experience, had stamped those ideas
into the minds of her students.
Then, too, Seventh-day Adventists, a number of years
before the establishment of their first college, la.cked the
faith to obey God in establishing simple schools on the
right plan for educating the children that should have
been taken out of the public schools. Those Adventist
children whose parents, for lack of faith, failed to take
them from the public schools, were now among the leaders
of the denomination. Their faith and courage in the edu­
cational reform were weak, and their eyes were as blind
to the true science of Christian education as were the
eyes of their parents who had failed to provide Christian
schools for them. The idea is thus expressed : "If min-
88 STU DIES I N

isters and teachers could have a full sense of their responsi­

bility, we should see a different state of things in the
world today ; but they are too narrow in their views and
purposes. They do not realize the importance of their
work or its results." (C. E., p. 2 4) . And so, because of
unbelief, the first college was established where God said
it should not be, and in place of the reform principles and
methods of Christian education, there were introduced the
principles, methods, ways, studies, and ideals of the col ­
leges of the Protestant denominations round about them.
Therefore, under these circumstances, in this institution,
were to be trained the future missionaries for the denomi­
nation-those missionaries who should avoid the mistakes
in preparing for the loud cry that ensnared the young
people of the Protestant denominations before r844 when
approaching the midnight cry.
Results of the Fa ilure .-Our first college soon began to
bear an abundant crop of worldly educational fruit and
the Lord gives plainly His estim�te of this fruit and the
system that produced it, and some sound advice as to the
best course to pursue. "If worldly influence is to bear
sway in our school, then sell it out to worldlings, and let
them take entire control ; and those who have invested
their means in that institution will establish another
school, to be conducted, not upon the plan of the popular
schools, nor according to the desires of principal and
teachers, but upon the plan which God has specified. . . .
Our college stands today in a position that God does not
approve. " ( T . , Vol. 5, p. 2 5 ) .
A Cha nce for Reform.-It is not our purpose to enter
into the history of Battle Creek College. It did much
good ; but its location and the system first adopted made
it difficult to carry out Christian educational reform.
However, at different times, strong efforts were made to
bring about reforms. The following statement tells con ­
ci sely the entire history of Battle Creek College : "Our
institutions of learning may swing into worldly conform­
ity. Step by step they may advance to the world ; but
they are prisoners of hope, and God will correct and en-
 C H R I STI AN E D U C AT I O N
89
lighten them and bring them back to their upright
4�.Sl
I
. _

tion of distinction from the world." (T., Vol. 6, p.

We ha �e seen that God sent cle � r and positive instruc­
.
tion to gUIde Seventh-day AdventIst leade rs in the loca ­
tion and establishment of their first college. Their faith
was not strong enough for them to carry out this and
other most important and furidamenta l principles of
Christian education, such principles as making the Bible
the basis of all the subjects taught ; the disca rding of
harmful literature ; the eliminating of traditional courses
and their degrees ; the making of physiology the basis of
every educational eft'ort ; manual training ; agricultural
work ; reform in buildings, diet, etc.
Seventh-day Adventists Cling to Papal Education.-Their
failure was due to the same experience that caused the
English Reformers to fail in laying a foundation for edu­
cational work that would have qualified an army of
Christian missionaries to give the first angel's message.
"The English Reformers, while renouncing the doctrines
of Romanism, had retained many of its forms." (G. C . .
p . 2 89) . While the English Reformers broke away from
papal doctrines, yet to a large extent through ignorance of
the results, they did not hesitate to adopt bodily the papal
system of education. They thought that sandwiching in
a little Bible, and flavoring their teaching with some
religious instruction, constituted Christian education.
They were mistaken. As a result of this ignorance, the
Protestant churches so closely resembled the Papacy it­
self that they were called Babylon. Our own Seventh -day
Adventist leaders left these Protestant denominations as
the English Reformers left the European papal churches.
They broke away from the papal doctrines held by the
Protestant churches ; but, like those English Reformers,
they carried with them, from the Protestant denomina­
tions, an educational system that was papal in spirit.
The English Reformers struggled for years to stem the
current of apostasy. They failed to understand the phil­
osophy of their declining religious experience. Neverthe­
less, the results came at last, dreadful but sure ; they were
morally ruined and cast aside because they had failed
90 STU D I ES I N

"to come into the line of true education." It was a beauti­

ful prospect destroyed by the wiles of the arch deceiver.
It was made possible through ignorance of the principles
of Christian education on the part of many great and
good men.
In these last days, Satan will, if possible, deceive the
very elect. Is there any reason why he should not use the
same method which has proved so effectual in his hands
through all the ages - in the overthrow of the Jewish
church and the apostolic church ; in neutralizing, through
the Jesuits, the great sixteenth century Reformation ; in
thwarting the efforts of the English Reformers who at­
tempted to establish on the shores of America the church
for its final struggle?
Let us again trace the present system of worldly edu­
cation to its source. The educational plan of our first
college was borrowed largely from the popular religious
colleges of the Protestant denominations. These denomi­
nations received their educational light from the older
educational institutions of this country, such as Harvard
and Yale ; Harvard and Yale borrowed theirs from Ox­
ford and Cambridge ; Oxford and Cambridge are daugh­
ters of Paris University ; Paris University, presided over
bv the papists, was wholly papal, and is the mother of
European universities ; she borrowed her educational sys­
tem from pagan Rome ; pagan Rome "gathered into its
p roms the elements of Grecian and oriental culture" ; Gre­
cian schools drew their wisdom and inspiration from
Egypt. "The ancients looked upon Egypt as a school of
wisdom. Greece sent thither her illustrious philosophers
And lawgivers-Pythagoras and Plato, Lycurgus and So­
lon-to complete their studies . . . . Hence, even the Greeks
in ancient times were accustomed to b'1rrow their politics
and their learning from the Egyptians." (Painter, pp. 32 -
34) ·
Egypt, the Source of All Worldly Wisdo m
.- This worldly
system of education from Egypt is certainly enduring, or
it would not have come down to us through these long
ages. It is this very Egyptian spirit of philosophy that
has made so-called classical literature so attractive to
 CHRISTIAN E D U C AT I O N 91

men of this world. The wisdom of Egypt has been kept

alive in the world by students, who, while in school, have
studied her philosophy and have caught their inspiration
from the classics. Strange to say, the most potent factor
in keeping this Egyptian education alive has been the
Christian church itself. For various reasons, at different
times, she has not only allowed but encouraged her
young people to study these writings. Again and again
the church has been deceived by this Egyptian wisdom
as Eve was deceived by the knowledge of good and evil.
Christians have clothed this subtle philosophy with a
Christian garb (Do you recognize the Papacy?) and scat­
tered it broadcast.
This Egyptia n philosophy ruined every chu:-ch up to 1844,
and Seventh-day Adventists have been told that "now as
never before we need to unders::and the true science of
education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never
have a place in the kingdom of God." It is a�ainst this
Egyptian philosophy that God warns us in the words
just quoted. It is this very philosophy, so subtle, tha t
God h a s i n mind when H e warns the church that "if
possible, 'he' [ Satan] shall de�eive the very elect." We
young Seventh-day Adventists should study the man
Moses, who, learned in all the wisdom 0 -: the Egyptians,
a graduate from the highest educational institution of the
world, and recognized as an intellectual giant, forsook all
the things that Egyptian education made it possible for
him to enj oy, and entered God's training school · in the
wilderness. " I t was not the teachings of the schools of
Egypt that enabled Moses to triumph over all his ene ­
mies, but a n ever-abiding faith, a n unflinching faith, a
faith that did not fail under the most trying circum­
stances." (T. E., p. 1 2 0 ) .
After spending forty years in forgettin,,: his worldly
education and obtaining the wisdom of God, l'/Ioses was
qualified to stand at the head of the largest industria1
school ever known. "What an industrial school was that
in the wilderness ! " (Ed., p. 37 ) .
I t took the students i n this school another forty years
to break the yoke of Egypt's educational system and to
92 STU D I ES I N

understand "the true science of education" so that they

might have a place in the land of Canaan.
Christ Calls Men Away From the Egyptian System of
Ed ucation.-But the most important thing for us Seventh­
day Adventist young people is to study the great Teacher,
of whom it is said, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son. "
So completely was the Son of God called out of Egypt
that as a child He was never permitted to attend even
the Jewish church schools, because they were so saturated
\7f·ith Egyptian worldly education. Seventh -day Adventist
children have an equal chance. Study the Master in the
humble home school at Nazareth, in the shop and on the
farm, on the hills and in the valleys. He grew in wisdom
until, at the age of twelve, he astonished the leaders of the
church with the fruit of Christian education. " Mark the
features of Christ's work. . . . Although His followers
were fishermen, he did not advise them to go first into
the schools of the rabbis before entering upon the work."
(T. E., p. 136 ) . Why ? , Because the schools of the rabbis
were filled with Greek and Egyptian philosophy, which
blinds the eyes to spiritual truth. It was to a teacher
from one of these schools that Christ said, "Ye must be
born again."
God pleads with us to establish schools for our chil­
dren that they may obtain His wisdom and understand­
ing even in their tender years. Seventh-day Adventist
'
students should forever turn their backs on this system of
worldly education - the wisdom of Egypt - that has
wrecked the prospects of every Christian church up to
the Seventh-day Adventist. And we, individually, are in
danger of this same Egyptian wisdom. "I am filled with
sadness when I think o f our condition as a people. The
Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of
continual backsliding has separated us from God . . . .
And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourish­
ing, and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her
borders. The church has turned back from following
Christ, her Leader, and is steadily retreating toward
Egypt." (T., No. 3 1 , p. 2 1 3).
Before 1 844 the Spirit of God sent messages to the
 CHRISTIAN E D U C AT I O N 93

Protestant denominations, telling them of their condition

in language very similar to that j ust quoted. They failed
to understand it, because, as we have seen, the papal
system of education, which they unwittingly introduced
into their church schools, had put out their spiritual eye­
sight, and had deafened their ears to the word of God.
They did not understand "the true science of education" ;
they did not "come into the line of true education" ; and
they were rejected.
The student of educational history knows the force of
the statement, "The church is steadily retreating toward
Egypt," for this papal system of education has its roots
in Egyptian learning and philosophy, away from which
God forever called His ancient people. Realizing the
results that have come to other Christian bodies, we might
be discouraged as we see our first school patterned largely
after the colleges of the popular churches, especially in
view of the fact that "the customs and practices of the
Battle Creek school go forth to all the churches, and the
pulse heart-beats of that school are felt throughout the
body of believers." (T. E., p. I8S ) . But we have the good
promise of our God : "Our institutions of learning may
swing into worldly conformity, but they are prisoners of
hope, and God will correct and enlighten them and bring
them back to their upright position of distinction from
the world. I am watching with intense interest, hoping to
see our schools thoroughly imbued with the spirit of true
and undefiled religion. When the students are thus im­
bued . . . they will see that there is a great work to be
done, and the time they have given to amusements will be
given up to doing earnest missionary work." (Mrs. E. G.
White, R. & H., Jan. 9, 1 894) .
Seventh-day Adventists Called to Be Reformers Every
.-

loyal Seventh-day Adventist, realizing the parentage of

our educational institutions, and the hope extended to
them, will endeavor to help bring to an upright position
every school found out of harmony with the divine plan.
Every method used in our schools should be subjected to
the divine test : "To the law, and to the testimony ; if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is
94 STU D I ES I N

no light in them." Everything should be discarded that

does not prove to be genuine. Instead of treating the
situation lightly or indulging in reactionary criticism, as
men have treated reforms of the past, epecially those
reforms of 1834- 1 844, let us study prayerfully the follow­
ing instruction : "We need now to begin over again.
Reforms must be entered into with heart and soul and will.
Errors may be hoary with age, but age does not make
truth error nor error truth. Altogether too long have the
old customs and habits been followed. The Lord would
noWi have every idea that is false put away from teachers
and students . . . . That which the Lord has spoken con ­
cerning the instruction to be given in our schools is to be
strictly regarded ; for if there is not in some respects an
education of an altogether different character from that
which has been carried on in some of our schools, we
need not have gone to the expense of purchasing land and
erecting school buildings." ( T . , Vol. 6, p. 1 42 ) .
Battle Creek College the Model for Other Schools.­
As Battle Creek College was the first school among us, her
example was followed by practically every other school
established by the denomination. They modeled their
schools after her course of study ; they imitated her meth ­
ods of teaching ; and to a large extent followed her plan
of location and patterned their buildings after hers. "The
customs and the practices of the Battle Creek school go
forth to all the churches, and the pulse heart-beats of
that school are felt throughout the body of believers."
(T. E., p. 1 85 ) . These facts should help us to better
understand the statement made when it was decided to
move Battle Creek College out of Battle Creek on to a
farm. "We are thankful that an interest is being shown
in the work of establishing schools on a right foundation.
as they should have been established years ago." (G. C.
Bulletin, 190 1 , p. 45 5 ) .
The second school established among Adventists was
located at Healdsburg, California. An attempt was made
by the promoters of this school to follow the Lord's in­
struction in the matter of location. While Healdsburg was
not located in the city as was Battle Creek College, yet,
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATI O N 95

l ike Lot, the founders begged to go into a little city.

I iealdsburg College was located on the edge of a small
town. While they endeavored to establish the manual
labor feature, their unfortunate location on a small piece
of ground, the retaining of traditional courses and degrees,
and the strong influence exerted by Battle Creek College,
soon swung Healdsburg into worldly conformity. But the
words of hope were spoken to her also : "Though step by
step they have advanced toward the world, they are pris­
oners of hope, . . . and God will correct and enlighten
them, and bring them back to their upright position of
distinction from the world." (T., Vol. 6, p. 145) . Over a
quarter of a century after her establishmen�, Healdsburg
College was moved to a large tract of land near St. Hel­
ena, California ; and the college in its new location was
in a position to begin its educational reform, as Battle
Creek College is said to have come to its upright position
when re-established on the land.
In Volume 6 of the Testimonies, page 139, our people
are told : "Schools should be established, not such elabo­
rate schools as those at Battle Creek and College View,
but more simple schools, with more humble buildings,
and with teachers who will adopt the same plans that were
followed in the schools of the pJophets."
Again, in the same volume we are told : "We need now
to begin over again. Reforms must be entered into with
heart and soul and will. " (p. 1 42 ) . We have seen the
necessity for Battle Creek College and Healdsburg College
to begin their work over again. The teachers in these
schools now have a chance to "adopt the same plans
which were followed in the schools of the prophets, " and
to enter the educational reforms "with heart and soul
and will."
Tra ditional Co u rses One of the leading reforms called
.-

for in the papal system of education deals with the ques­

tion of courses and their degrees, because the moral fall
of the Protestant churches can be attributed almost direct­
ly to the traditional courses offered in their schools and
the attendant degrees. As a rule, their ministers were
obliged to finish a course and obtain a degree, and this
96 STU D I ES I N

often affected their independence in following God's word ;

it checked their individuality and their originality. The
school men are said to be "a stereotype representation of
what the course makes them ; if they [ the graduates J
raise a fellowman out of the mire. they never get him
nearer to heaven than the school where they were educated .
. . . They are content to share in the honor of repeating
the twaddle, true or false, which passes for truth, in the
school or sect which has made them what they are."
(Miller, p. 16).
The Primitive Christia ns carried the gospel rapidly and
effectively to the world. In their school they taught only
those subjects that would prepare the student to do the
Lord's work. By the world their educators were regarded
as "odd, singular, straight-laced extremists." Everything
was done by these Christian educators to prepare the
student quickly to act the part of a good soldier in the
battle. Students were not detained in the school to finish
a course or take a degree, a custom in vogue in the worldly
schools. Later, half-converted pagan-Christian teachers
introduced the course-and-degree idea , which developed
an educational trust controlled by the church leaders, and
no one was allowed to teach or preach until he had fin­
ished a course and received a degree.
"
One of the most serious objections brought against this
plan is that it closes the mind of the student to truth.
Practically every religious reform has come through
humble laymen, because the church leaders, as a rule, in
obtaining their education, have become conservative. Con­
servatism is the result of passing through a rigid, mechan ­
ical course of study for a degree. The student is held in a
rut, on a treadmill ; he is described as ever going and
never getting anywhere. Consequently, when the truth is
presented to these school men, especially if it is brought
by a layman, it is not looked upon with favor, as they
have come to regard themselves as the regular channel
through which light must come to the people. The truth
of this statement is borne out by historical facts. Motley,
giving the experience of reformers in Holland, writes thus
of the restriction placed on laymen by the papal system
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 97

of education : "We forbid all lay persons to converse or

dispute concerning the Holy Scriptures, openly or se­
cretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or
to read, teach, or expound the Scriptures, unless they have
duly studied theology and have been approved by some
renowned university." He adds, however, that "to the
ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state
here were men with little education, utterly devoid of
Hebrew, of lowly station-hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers
and the like-who began to preach, remembering unreas­
onably, perhaps, that the early disciples selected by the
Founder of Christianity had not all been doctors of
theology with diplomas from renowned universities. "
( Motley, pp. 2 6 1 , 533 ) .
The Lord sees that the rigid course with the degree
often brings into the church "many men after the flesh .
. . many mighty . . . many noble," instead of making
leaders who realize that "God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise . . . that no flesh
should glory in his presence." (I Cor. 1 : 2 7 -29) .
The most of the school men about 1844 rejected the
first angel's message because it did not come to them in
the regular way. "The fact that the message was, to a
great extent, preached by laymen, was urged as an argu­
ment against it. . . . Multitudes, trusting implicitly in their
pastors, refused to listen to the warning." (G. C., p. 380 ) .
Seventh-day Adventists Will B e Tried o n This Same Point.­
"As the time comes for it (the third angel's message) to
be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through
humble instruments, leading the minds of those who con­
secrate themselves to service. The laborers will be quali­
fied rather by the unction of the Spirit than by the train­
ing of literary institutions." (G. C., p. 606) .
Satan will work with all his power of deception to
have a company of men at the head of the Seventh-day
Adventist church at the time of the loud cry, who will
regard the work of humble instruments led by the Spirit
of God, who have not graduated from a literary institu­
tion, with the same disfavor as the leaders of the Protes ­
tant churches before 1 844 regarded such irregularities.
98 STU D I ES I N

God wants thousands of men trained in our schools ; but

He does not want them to receive such a training that
their attitude toward truth will be the same as that of
the school men of other denominations prior to 1844. The
question of most vital importance to Seventh-day Advent­
ists is : Can we obtain a liberal, practical education for
God ' s work without being spoiled in the training? There
must be some way to accomplish this.
When Battle Creek College was encouraging students to
ta ke courses leading to degrees modeled after the worldly
schools, it received the following instruction : "The stu­
dents themselves would not think of such a delay in
entering the work, if it were not urged upon them by those
who are supposed to be shepherds and guardians." This
system was described as "this long-drawn-out process
adding and adding more time, more branches." The Lord
expressed His disfavor in these words : "The preparation
of the students has been managed on the same principles
as have the building operations. . . . God is calling, and
has been calling for years for reform on these lines. . . .
While so much time is spent to put a few through an ex­
haustive course of study, there are many who are thirsting
for the knowledge they could get in a few months. One
or two years would be considered a great blessing. . . .
Give s tudents a start; but do not feel it is your duty to
carry them year after year. It is their duty to get out into
the field to work . . . . The student should not permit him ­
self to be bound down to any particular course of studies
involving long periods of time, but should be guided in
such matters by the Spirit of God. . . . I would warn
students not to advance one step in these lines-not even
upon the advice of their instructors, or men in positions
of authority-unless they have first sought God individ­
ually with their hearts thrown open to the Holy Spirit,
and obtained His counsel concerning the contemplated
course of study.
"Let every selfish desire to distinguish yourselves be
which caused them to enter school have gradually been
lost sight of and an unholy ambition to secure a high­
set aside. . . . With many students the motive and aim
 CHRISTIAN E D U CAT I O N 99

class education has led them to sacrifice the truth. There

are many who are crowding too many studies into a
limited period of time . . . . I would advise restriction in
following those methods of education which imperil the
soul and defeat the purpose for which time and money
are spent. Education is a grand life work. . . . After a
period of time has been devoted to study, let no one advise
students to enter again upon a line of study, but rather
advise them to enter upon the work for which they have
been studying. Let them be advised to put into practice
the theories they have gained . . . . Those who are direct­
ing the work of education are placing too large an
amount of study before those who have come to Battle
Creek to fit up for the work of the Master. They have
supposed it was necessary for them to go deeper and
deeper into educational lines ; and while they are pursu ­
ins various courses of study, year after year of precious
time is passing away.
"The thought to be kept before students is that time
is short and that they must make a speedy preparation
for doing the work that is essential for this time. . . .
Understand that I say nothing in these words to depre ­
ciate education, but to warn those who are in danger of
carrying that which is lawful to unlawful extremes. "
( T . E., pp. 105 - 1 46 ) .
T h e results of following this plan o f education i s well
illustrated by the experiences of Battle Creek College
when it was working hard to follow the traditional courses
leading to degrees, which her faculty hoped would be
looked upon with favor by the world. The following
words show the danger from receiving such an educa ­
tion : "The Holy Spirit has often come t o our schools,
and has not been recognized, but has been treated as a
stranger, perhaps as an intruder. " "Again and again the
heavenly messenger has been sent to the school." "The
Great Teacher Himself was among you. How did you
honor Him ? Was He a stranger to some of the educators ?'·
(T. E., pp. 5 1 , 82, 2 03) .
It is with shame and sadness that we are compelled
to acknowledge that we teachers were as dead, spiritually
1 00 S T U DI E S I N

to the heavenly Teacher as were school men to the first

angel before 1 844. The greatest objection raised against
the Holy Spirit instructing teachers as to the right ways of
conducting the school at the time was that it would take
students from their regular studies and disturb their plans
for finishing a course and receiving degrees.
Much instruction was sent to the school on the subject
of long and rigid courses, but the teachers and students of
Battle Creek College, to a large extent, turned away from
the instruction of the heavenly visitant. We must remem ­
ber that Battle Creek College had not been established
in the place that the Spirit directed. It did not follow the
pattern for its establishment ; it did not even attempt to
introduce and practice the important educational reforms
revealed by the Lord before 1 844, but was content to get
its ideas, life, and inspiration from the colleges of those
religious denominations that had rejected the first angel's
message.
We have already read that "the customs and practices
of the Battle Creek School go forth to all the churches,
and the pulse heart-beats of that school are felt through­
out the body of believers." We must, therefore, conclude
that as all the churches and believers were more or less
under the influence of Battle Creek College at this time,
at least a large percentage of Seventh-day Adventists
would have treated the heavenly visitant, had He come to
them suggesting reforms, as the Battle Creek College
teachers and students treated Him. Perhaps, then, we
can understand why God says : "The plan of the schools
we shall establish in these closing years of the work is to
be of an entirely different order from those we have estab
lished. . . . I have been shown that in our educational
work we are not to follow the methods that have been
adopted in our older established schools. There is among
us too much clinging to old customs ; and because of this,
we are far behind where we should be in the development
of the third angel's message." (Madison School, pp.
28, 29) .
The founders of Battle Creek College made their mis­
take when they did not follow the plan given them by the
 CHRISTIAN E D U CATI O N 101

Lord, but modeled the school after worldly schools about

them. In these last days our test will come. We are not
to pattern our schools after the older established Seventh­
day Adventist schools, but are to follow the divine model.
If we fail to understand this divine plan, we shall have
no place in the loud cry.
Reform Called For The teachers of Battle Creek Col ­
.-

lege at that time received this word : "A succession of

showers from the Living Waters has come to you at Battle
Creek. . . . Each shower was a consecrated inflowing of
divine influence ; but you did not recognize it as such.
Instead of drinking copiously of the streams of salvation
so freely offered through the influence of the Holy Spirit,
you turned to common sewers, and tried to satisfy your
soul thirst with the polluted waters of human science.
The result has been parched hearts in the school and in
the church. . . . But I hope the teachers have not yet
passed the line where they are given over to hardness of
heart and blindness of mind. If they are again visited by
the Holy Spirit, I hope they will not call righteousness sin,
and sin righteousness. There is need of heart conversions
among the teachers. A genuine change of thoughts and
methods of teaching is required to place them where they
will have a personal relation to a living Saviour . . . .
God will come near to the students, because they are
mi sled by the educators in whom they put confidence."
(T. E. , pp. 28, 2 9 ) .
T h e instruction which came t o Battle Creek College
for years shows that during all those years the institution
was unsettled on many of the important principles of
Christian education. She was born with false ideas of
education in her constitution, and she did not realize the
source of her weakness. She was drinking from streams
polluted more or less with worldly wisdom, but she did
not know her danger. She was an educational germ car­
rier, and failed to realize that, also. The straight testi­
monies sent to the institution must convince any believer
in the Testimonies that Battle Creek College was in great
need of educational reform.
Battle Creek College made rad ical reforms not long after
 1 02 STU DI ES I N

these words were sent. It dropped the regular degree

courses, and at the same time enriched the curriculum
wiLh a number of subjects very practical for the Seventh­
day Adventist missionary, and "liberty in the choice o�
st:udies was regarded as fundamental ." (Boone, p. 1 97 ) .
Each student, with the aid of the teachers, selected those
studies considered most essential to his life work. The
strength of the faculty was thrown heavily upon those
subjects that had been neglected and for which God had
been calling for years. When the school broke away from
the stereotype courses and degrees, it found itself much
more capable of following the instruction sent by the
Lord ; and the result was that in a short time Battle
Creek College was planted on a beautiful farm. It W3�
given an opportunity to get into an upright position, and
then this most remarkable statement came : "It is the
beginning of the educational reform." "No educational
institution can place itself in opposition to the errors ami
corruptions of this degenerate age without receiving threats
and insults ; but time will place such an institution upon
an elevated platform. " (G. C. Bulletin, 190 1 , p. 454) .
This subject has been treated so fully because some
students question why we do not arrange studies in courses
leading to degrees. You should know where you stand,
and why you stand there, and should ask : "Am I following
the plan instituted by Battle Creek College, which affecten
seriously every church in the denomination ; or am I
following that other plan, of which the Lord said, 'It is the
beginning of educational reform ?' "
 CHR 1STIAN EDUCATI O N 1 03

IV
EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES

"Before we can carry the message of present truth in

all its fullness to other countries, we must first break
every yoke. We m ust come into the line of true education,
walking in the wisdom of God, and not in the wisdom of
the world. God calls for messengers who will be true
reformers. We must educate, educate, to prepare a people \/
who will understand the message, and then give the mes- f�
sage to the world." (Madison School, p. 30 ) . The obj ect
of these studies has been to aid students to understand the
instruction in the paragraph just read, that you may
"come into the line of true education," and have a part in
carrying the message to the world.
We shall review briefly the subj ect, and list important
educational principles found in both systems. As these
are presented, determine your attitude to each one, and
ascertain your reason for taking that position. You are
asked to do this with the hope that it will strengthen your
position on educational questions, and aid you to "come
into the line of true education," and thus be better pre­
pared to carrry the message of Christ's soon coming. It is
done with the hope that you may more fully sense the
deep significance of the statement : "Now as never before
we need to understand the true science of education. If
we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place
in the kingdom of God." (Christian Educator, August,
1 897 ) .
1 . Protestants hold their children i n the church when
they receive Christian education. They lose these chil­
dren when they attend schools having a papal system.
Melanchthon said : "Religion cannot be maintained with­
out them (schools) ."
2. The papal system of education is not a fit model for
Protestant schools. Luther and Melanchthon recognized
this. Accordingly they reformed the school system, chang-
1 04 STU DI ES I N

ing the curriculum, textbooks, and methods of teaching.

3. Some schools, Christian in form, follow the papal
system, sandwiching in a little Bible, and flavoring the
course with Protestant theology. John Sturm did this.
So have some schools since the days of Sturm.
4. This combination educational system - Christian
and papal mixed--opens the way for hairsplitting theo ·
logical controversies, and students are neglected for heresy
hunting. It terminates in a victory for Papacy over
Protestantism.
5. The papal system of education makes a Moloch of
abstract subjects and worships at his shrine. I ts strength
lies in repeating meaningless forms, and "a dead study of
words takes the place of a living knowledge of things. "
Mental cramming and formal memorizing are popular
methods of its teachers. Emulation, prizes, and rewards
are needed stimulants for "a mechanical and compulsory
drill in unintelligible formulas," It is the SUbjugation of
human minds to the authority of someone above, the
stifling of free thought by unnatural, close supervision in
place of self-government. It leads away from nature.
nature's work, and nature's God, and centralizes in cities
and man-made institutions.
6. Protestant education allows the student freedom in
the choice of studies. This freedom from the stereotype
course bears fruit in a church which provides for differ­
ences of opinion without the cry of heresy.
7. There are but two systems of education, one in ­
spired by the Word of God and one by other literature.
The Christian school not only has Bible study in its cur ·
riculum, but Bible principles are the guide of the student's
life, and the spirit of the Bible is the inspiration of the
school. Oberlin, breaking from the papal system before
1 844. "restored the Bible to its place as a permanent tex �­
book," and pagan and infidel authors were thrown out.
8. Any system of education that exalts the Bible will
receive light on health reform, simplicity of dress, ann
country' living. Oberlin, preparing for the midnight cry
before 1 844, accepted light on these subjects. Students
discarded the use of flesh foods, tobacco, condiments,
 C H R 1 ST IAN ED U CATI O N 1 05

tea and coffee, rich pastries, hot breads. They used Gra ­
ham flour, they discarded expensive dress and jewelry,
and accepted country living as God's plan for man. These
same reforms will be accepted by those who are preparing
for the loud cry.
g. Christian schools are content with simple, modest
buildings and equipment, but must give great and mighty
truths. J efferson, and others dealing with big truths,
caught the idea of simple buildings. The loud cry will
be ushered in by schools content with simpl e buildings and
equipment, but they will be doing a great work.
1 0. Christian education is not content with merely
learning things in the mind. What is studied must be put
into practice. Manual training should be a part of every
Christian school curriculum. Before 1844, reformers in
education established many manual training schools,
where students were taught agriculture, horticulture, gar­
dening, various trades, such as blacksmithing, carpentry,
manufacture of cloth, printing, domestic science, dress­
making, and the care of the sick. They were breaking
away from the Papacy, and were coming "into the line
of true education." Since the loud cry will find many
schools that have carried these reforms farther, the results
will be greater.
I I . Christian training schools make provision for
physical culture and healthful exercise by providing
plenty of useful labor, in place of athletics, sports, games,
and gymnasiums, the artificial substitutes for God's plan
for physical exercise. One characteristic of schools pre­
paring students for the loud cry will be their productive,
manual labor program.
1 2 . Christian schools have, as an outstanding objective,
the training of students to be self-governing, prepared to
'
take their places, not as dependent and devitalized mem­
bers of the church, but as independent and original work ­
ers, under the direction of God's Spirit, a l l co-operating
in harmony with divine principles. Self-government ap­
peared as an integral part of educational reform before
1 844. Is it appearing in our school ?
13. Every Christian missionary should be a producer.
 1 06 STU D I ES I N

In other words, he should be self-supporting. No great

religious movement can be started, or successfully carried
forward. that has not an army of lay members who are
active, self-supporting missionaries. Christian schools have
no greater obj ect than to train such an army. Christian
schools before 1 844 adopted this method of training mis­
sionaries for the midnight cry, but frequently church lead­
ers suppressed this reform. Christian schools before the
loud cry will tum out an army of self-supporting workers.

1 4. The needy places of the world are calling for self­

supporting missionaries. When the church opposed Ober­
lin's training missionaries, and refused to give them a
place in the regular work, thousands of them went to the
Indians, to the freedmen, to the mountain whites, and to
foreign countries, under the direction of the American
Missionary Society, an organization created by self­
supporting workers.

IS. Oberlin teachers, in order to make their school a

success, sacrificed heavily in the matter of wages. Her
students were encouraged to go where God called, with
little concern over the question of remuneration. Oberlin
considered it her duty, as well as her pleasure, to assist
students to find their life work.

16. Oberlin teachers shortened the time students spent

in school, and made their study practical by correlating
class work with the reforms they desired their students to
accept.

1 7 · Opposition to Oberlin, while she was in the line of

true education, brought to her friends with their means,
and her attendance increased.

18. Outside opposition is a serious matter to a Chris­

tian school, but as long as the school keeps in "the line of
true education," the opposition will only strengthen the
reform. But long-continued internal opposition is destruc­
tive. It was responsible for the downfall of the sixteenth
century Reformation ; it ruined the movement in 1844.
 CH R1STIAN E D U C AT I O N 1 07

19. The spirit of a parent is necessary for the prosperity

and continued success of educational reforms. Oberlin
had this blessing in a marked degree. Consider the ad­
vantage of having one teacher, strong as a reformer, on a
faculty for fifty years.
1 08 STU D I ES I N

v
PRACTICAL SUBJECTS FOR THE
C URRICULUM

"The students are in our schools for a special training,

to become acquainted with all lines of work, that, should
they go out as missionaries, they could be self-reliant and
able, through their educated ability, to furnish themselves
with necessary conveniences and facilities." (T., Vol. 6, p.
2 08 ) . "Studies should generally be few and well chosen,
and those who attend our colleges are to have a different
training than that of the common schools of the day."
(C. E., p. 47 ) .
I n addition to those subjects usually considered es ­
sential, we have the following which our schools should
teach, so that the student, leaving the institution, is
equipped not only to teach them to others, but to use them
for his own support :
C arpentry an d Bui ld ing .-"Under the guidance of ex­
perienced carpenters . . . students themselves should erect
buildings on the school grounds . . . learning how to build
economically." (T., Vol. 6, p. 1 7 6) .
Agriculture. Fruit Raising . Gardening.-"Study in agri­
cultural lines should be the A, H, and C of the education
given in our schools. . . . Small fruits should be planted,
and vegetables and flowers cultivated. . . . [ Students ] are
to plant ornamental and fruit trees." (Idem, pp. 179, 182 ) .
Various Tra d es.-"Preparation should be made for teach­
ing blacksmithing, painting, shoemaking, cooking, baking,
laundering, mending, typewriting, and printing." (Idem,
p. 182 ) .
Stock an d Pou l try Raising.-"Students have been taught
. . . to care wisely for cattle and poultry." (An Appeal for
the Madison School) .
N ursing.-"Training for medical missionary work is
one of the grandest objects for which any school can be
established." ( Idem ) .
 C HR1 S T I A N EDU CATION 1 09

Household D uties.-"Boys as well as girls should gain a

knowledge of household duties. . . . To make a bed and
put a room in order, to wash dishes, to prepare a meal,
to wash and repa ir his own clothing, is a training that
need not make any boy less manly . . . . Let girls, in turn,
learn to harness and drive a horse, and to use the saw
and hammer as well as the rake and the hoe." (Ed. , p. 2 1 6) .
Cooking a nd Sewing .-"There should have been experi­
enced teachers to give lessons to young ladies in the cook­
ing department. Young girls should have been instructed
to manufacture wearing apparel, to cut, make, and mend
garments." (C. E., p. 1 9 ) .
Se l f-support.-Students "have been learning to become
self-supporting, and a training more important than this
they could not receive." "The lesson of self-help learned
by the student would go far toward preserving institutions
of learning from the burden of debt." (Ed., p. 2 2 1 ) .
Hand Wor k .-There i s a science i n hand work which
Christian educators must recognize. It is a brain devel ­
oper as well as a way to physical support. Scientists
have found that symmetrical mental development is im­
possible apart from this physical training, for by the usc
of the hand an important area of the brain is developed.
Again, a time of trouble is ahead of us when those who
are in "the line of true education" will not have access to
machinery which is so common today, and much now
done in factory and shop will of necessity be done by
hand. But success in this, as in every reform, will be in
proportion to one's love of the cause. The educator who
spoke of manual training 8S "hoe-handle education" came
from a school whose Board had provided facilities for
teaching agriculture and various trades, but these had all
been neglected. That teacher's attitude made the students
feel that these important subjects were only secondary.
A Changed Program N ec�ssa ry.-Many of the subjects
in the curriculum, the Lord has said, are not essential,
and should be weeded out. These practical studies, He
says, are essential, but they cannot find their proper place
by . the side of the intellectual subjects until the program,
followed for years and adapted to the old order, is radi -
1 10 STU D I ES I N

cally changed to meet the new demands. Again, it is

necessary to make a number of radical reforms before a
program can be arranged which gives students an oppor ­
tunity to earn their school expenses while stUdying. "We
need schools that will be self-supporting, and this can be
if teachers and students will be helpful, industrious, and
economical." (T., Jan. 24, 1 907 ) . We must hav:: schools
of this character to train the missionaries that God calls
for in the loud cry.
Schools of a New O rde r
.-" The plan of the schools we
shall establish in these closing years of the work are to be
of an entirely different order from those we have insti ­
tuted. . . . There is among us too much clinging to old
customs, and because of this we are far behind where we
should be in the development of the third angel's message_
Because men could not comprehend the purpose of God
in the plans laid before us for the education of workers,
methods have been followed in some of our schools which
have retarded rather than advanced the work of God,'''
(Madison School, pp 28, 29) .
In the school with the new order of things we shall
find that, in addition to other essential studies, "the stu­
dents have been taught to raise their own crops, to build
their own houses, and to care wisely for cattle and
poultry. They have been learning to become self­
supporting, and a training more important than this they
could not receive. Thus they have obtained a valuable
education for usefulness in missionary fields.
"To this is added the knowledge of how to treat the
sick and to care for the injured. This training for medical
missionary work is one of the grandest objects for which
any school_ can be established. The educational work at
the school and the sanitarium can go forward hand in
hand. The instruction given at the school will benefit the
patients, and the instruction given to the sanitarium pa­
tients will be a blessing to the school. . . . The class of
education given . . . is such as will be accounted a treasure
of great value by those who take up missionary work in
foreign fields. If many more in other schools were re-­
ceiving a similar training, we as a people would be a
 CHRISTIAN E D U CAT I O N III

spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. The message

would be quickly carried to every country, and souls now
in darkness would be brought to the light . . . .
"The time is soon coming when God ' s people, because
of persecution, will be scattered in many countries. Those
who have received an all-round education will have great
advantage wherever they are. The Lord reveals divine
wisdom in thus leading His people to train all their facul ­
ties and capabilities for the work of disseminating truth.
. . . You have no time to lose. Satan will soon rise up to
create hindrances ; let the work go forward while it may .
. . . Then the light of truth will be carried in a simple and
·effective way, and a great work will be accomplished for
the Master in a short time. . . . We are to learn to be
content with simple food and clothing, that we may save
much means to invest in the work of the gospel." (An
Appeal for the Madison School) .
There is Hope.-It is your duty as students to seek to
discover what God's plan is for our schools, and may this
brief history enable you to better unders - and the kind of
education that existed in our older schools so that you
may avoid it. Remember that you must seek God for help
to keep you from having worldly yokes of education placed
<>n your necks, even by your teachers. God has sent
these pointed words to us as teachers and students : "We
are in positive danger of bringing into our educational
work the customs and fashions that prevail in the schools
of the world." (Madison School, p. 2 8 ) .
W e have spent years wandering i n the wilderness of
worldly education. If we lack faith and courage to enter
into this reform, God will raise up men who will do it.
Already we know of worldly educators who look with
favor upon the plan of education that has been delivered
to us. For instance, the present United States Com­
missioner of Education, Doctor P. P. Claxton, like Horace
Mann of old, is in sympathy with it ; and, after visiting
a number of schools that are striving to work out these
reforms, he expressed to a company of teachers his ap­
preciation o f the system of education in the following
words :
1 12 STU D I ES I N

"I wish very much it were possible for me to be present

at the meeting of teachers and nurses of the hill school�
which you are holding this week. I am greatly interested
in the work which these schools are doing. The work
which you are doing at Madison is remarkable and worthy
of high praise. If you succeed permanently in maintaining
the school on its present basis, it cannot fail to accomplish
great good. The work which you are doing is highly
practicable, and seems to me to be based on important
fundamental principles of education. The same is true of
the small schools which I visited, and I shall watch their
progress with the greatest interest. I believe that you will
succeed in accomplishing what you have in mind.
"All education must grow out of the life of the people
educated. You and the teachers you are sending out are
wisely recognizing this principle. In order to educate chil­
dren, parents must be educated also. All real education
must be education of the whole community, and it must
take hold of the life which the people live, making them
more intelligent about this life. It is difficult and practi­
cally impossible to attain better conditions until existing
conditions are understood."
Have we the Caleb-and-Joshua spirit, and will we say,
We are well able, by God's help, to build up a school "in
the line of true education" ? We must remember the
promise that our schools "are prisoners of hope, and God
will correct and enlighten them and bring them back to
their upright position of distinction from the world." If
we are willing and obedient, God will give us the victory
we need.
"Let not managers, teachers, or helpers swing back in
their old customary way of letting their influence negative
the very plans the Lord has presented as the best plan for
the physical, mental, and moral education of our youth.
The Lord calls for steps in advance." (Dec. 2 7 , 1901 ) .
"Teachers, trust in God, and go forward. 'My grace is
sufficient for you, ' is the assurance of the great Teacher.
Catch the inspiration of the words, and never, never talk
doubt and unbelief. Be energetic. There is no half-and-half
service in pure and undefiled religion." (T. E. , p. 30 ) . "Be-
 CHRISTIAN EDUCATIO N 1 13

-fore we can carry the message of present truth in all its

fullness to other countries, we must first break every yoke.
We must come into the line of true education, walking in
the wisdom of God, and not in the wisdom of the world.
God calls for messengers who will be true reformers. We
must educate, educate, to prepare a people who will under­
stand the message, and then give the message to the
world. (Madison School, p. 30) . "Now as never before we
need to understand the true science of education. If we
fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the
kingdom of God." (Christian Educator, August, I897 ) .
 I N DEX 1 15

Ag ric u lture E l e c tive c o u rs e s , 23-29

I d e a s of H o ra ce M o n n , 3 3 E m u l a ti o n , d e g rees, e t c . , 29- 3 0
E m p h a s ized a t Emory & H e n ry , I n h e r ited fro m E u ro p e , 4
45 J e s u i t schools, 9 - 1 1
M ost esse n t i a l , 3 4 L u t h e r a n d M e l a n c h th o n , 5
S c h o o l g ro u n d s a pa ra b l e , 3 4 M a n u a l tra i n i n g , 4 1 - 50
T h e A, B, & C , of e d u ca t ion , N e w o rd e r of s c h oo l s , 1 09
1 08 N i netee n e d u c a t i o n a l p r i n c i p l e s ,
1 03 - 1 0 7
American Education Society
Practic a l s u bj e c ts , 1 08 - 1 1 3
Favored stu d e n t s e l f-s u p po rt, 6 1
Protesta n t i s m d ecl i n es, 1 3 , 1 4
O be r l i n a m e m be r, 6 I
R u ra l l o c a tio n , 3 3 - 3 6
Am erica n Missionary Association S a x o n y p l a n of M e l a n c h t h o n , 5
Covers home a nd fo re i g n fi e l d s , Seve n t h - d a y Adve n t i st educa-
b4 tio n a l h i sto ry , 82- 1 02
Stu d e n t se lf-g overn m e n t, 52 - 59
Athletics, 50, 5 1 S t u r m ' s syste m , 7, 8
Tra i n i n g s e l f- s u p po rti n g m i ssi o n ­
Bible, place i n c u rriculum, 1 8·23
a ri e s , 59-74
Christia n schools, effect of, S, 6 Tra i n i n g tea c h e rs , 74- 7 5

Buildings a n d e q u i p ment, 36·4 1 Elective system, its v irt u es, 23-29

Cotta ges at U .V . , 3 8 C o rn e l l U n ive r s i ty a d o pts, 26
Oberl i n ' s p l a n . 3 9 H a rva rd U n ive rsity, 2 5
Og l e t h o r p e ' s p l a n , 3 9 J effe rso n a n d U n ivers i ty o f V a . .
P ro mo t i n g h e a l t h , pea c e , 24, 27, 28
s e c u r i ty , 38 Johns Hopkins, 26
S i m p l i c ity e n jo i n e d , 3 7 , 95 Randolph-Macon , 24
U n iversity o f M ic h ig a n , 26, 2 8
Ed ucational histo ry, 1·16
Y a l e U n iversity, 25
A t h l et i c s d is p l a c e m a n u a l l a bor,
50- 52 Em ulation , prizes, d eg re es, 27·30
Bible in e d u c a t io n , 1 8-2 1
H e a lth, to be sacredly g uard e d ,
C h a n g e in p rog ra m n ecessary,
31
1 08
Cook i n g , 1 08
C l a ss i c s , a n c i e n t a n d modern ,
Diet refo r m , 3 0 - 3 3
2 1 -2 3
Expe rience of va rious schoo l s ,
C u rric u l u m . 1 08- 1 1 3
3 1 . 32
D i et refo r m , 3 0 - 3 2
E d u c a t i o n a l refo r m befo re Loud cry, prepa rafon for, 1 4· 1 6,
1 844. 1 7, 18 55
1 16 I NDEX

M a n u a l la bor a n d practical e d u­ Ba ptis m of fi re , 64, 65

cation, 4 1 -52 Bible, place in c u rric u l u m , 20.
A p" n a cea " m ig h ty to h e a l , " 21
48 B i rt h p l a c e of refo r m , 72
Adva n t a g e s of, 47 B u i l d i n g s , 38, 39
Ath letics displace l a bor, 47 C l a ss i c s , 22
Ba ptist s c h o o l s " dopt, 45 C ritici s m , decline u n d e r, 76
C a r p e n try, 1 08 Diet refo r m , 3 0 - 3 2
D ec l i n es u n de r o p positio n , 49 Fath e rs of O b e rl i n , 78-80
I m po rta n c e of h a n d work, 1 09 H e a lth h a bits, 3 1 -3 2 , 4 3 , 44
J effe rson p r o m otes i n d u stries, I nfl u e nce, 66
42 Loca t i o n , 3 5
Lea d i n g d e n o m i n a ti o n s fa v o r Manual l a bor, i n d i s p e n s a b l e ,
m a n u a l la bor, 4 5 42, 4 3
M a n u a l l a bo r a n d s c i e n c e o f M ission fie l d s f o r stu d e n ts , 6 7
t r u e e d u c a ti o n , 4 7 M ot h e r of c o l l e g e s , 4 8
M a n ua l l a bo r for g i r l s , 42 S e l f- s u p p o rt i n g m issi o n a ry stu--
M e rc e r Col l e g e , 46 d e nts, 68
N u m e ro u s m a n u ,, 1 l a bo r s c h o o l " S t u d e nts, c h a ra ct e r of, 67, 69
44 Tra i n e d for l ife work, 69
O b e rl i n , " m oth e r of c o l l e g e s , " Work i n g for colored ra c e , 47,_
42 , 43 , 4 8 , 67
Society f o r p ro motion of m a n ­ Pa p ,, 1 schools, 4- 1 3
ual l a bor, 42
Rural Living, 33-36
School fa rm a lesson boo k , 3 4
M id night cry, e d ucation for, 2 6,
School g ro u n d s a living p" r­
27
a bl e , 34
A w a v e swe e ps t h e wori d , 52,
Va rio u s schools on fa r m s , 3 5 , 3 6 ,
53
Thwa rted by p a p a l sc hool s y � ­ Self-support, tra i n i n g lay mission­

tem, 1 3- 1 5 a ries, 59-74, 1 08

C h u rc hes a pa t he t i c , 60, 6 1
O be rlin College Co n g re g a tio n a l co n fe re n c e ,
A sc hool of t h ou g h t and a ct i o n , 63 , 64
71 Fa i rc h i ld a self-su p po rti n g stu­
Adva n ta g e of s e l f- s u ppo rti n g d e nt, 6 6
work, 69 O b e r l i n tra i n s fo r self- s u p p ort,
-Ag ric u l t u re a n d rura l l i vi n g , 6 1 , 62 , 64-67
35 Pa u l a s e l f- s u p p o rt i n g m i s s i o n -­
Atte n d a n c e l a rg e , 7,-+ a ry, 60
 I N D EX 1 17

S c h o o l s c a n be se lf-su p porti n g , Stu dent self.govern ment, 52.59

60 C h a ra cter devel oped by, 54
S c h o o l s of t h e prophets, 79 H o ra c e M a n n ' s testi m o n y , 58
Tea c h e rs i n self-supporti ng
J effe rson ' s p l a n a t U .V., 38, 56
s c h oo l s , 1 03 , 1 04
O b e rl i n a dopts, 57

Seventh- d a y Adventist ed ucation­ O p po se d by p a p a l s c h oo ls , 9

al system, 82- 1 02 Prepa res stu d e nts for l e a d e r-
B i rt h of d e n o m i nation , 83 s h i p , 56
B a t t l e C r e e k C o l l e g e , e rror in W i l l ia m M i l l e r ' s testi m o n y, 54,
l o c a tion , 8 6 , 8 7
55
Batt l e C re e k Col l e g e , i n fl u e n c e ,
94 Teachers, inQ uence of, 76
Battle C�eek College, made As m i s s i o n a r i e s , 67-70
ra d i c a l refo r m s , 1 0 1 - 1 02
In d e m a n d for home a nd fo r -
B a i t l e Creek C o l l e g e , moved to
e i g n fi e l d s, 4 8
l a rg e tra ct of l a n d , 8 7
D r . Fin ney, 7 9
B a t ; I e C re e k C o l l eg e , p a tte r n e d
Sa l a ry, 6 6 , 7 8
a ft e r other s c h o o l s , 8 8 -94
Tra i n i n g self- s u p porti n g m i s s i o n -
C a l le d from Egyptia n syste m ,
a ries, 64-67
92, 93
W h e r e i n O b e r l i n fa i l e d , 80
C a l l e d t o b e refo r m e rs , 8 3 , 9 3 ,
1 00 Wide I n fl uence 70,
C h i l d e n ta k e n from p u b l i c Wi l l i a m M i l l e r, 80

s c h oo l s , 8 4 Wor l d l y c l a ss i c s , 2'1, 2 3
Fi rst c h u rc h s c h o o l , 8 5
U n iversity of Vir9inia
Healdsburg Col leg e , 9 5
I m porta nce o f e d u c a ti o n a l re- Error in c ho i c e of tea c h e rs, 7 6

form, I S, 1 6 J e ffe rson as fou n d e r a nd fa -

I n structed to c o n d u c t c h u rc h t h e r , 56, 7 8
s c h o o l s , 84 Loca tion o n fa r m , 3 5
Lay m e n , lea d e rs i n refo rm, 9 6 M a n u a l tra i n i n g , 42
S p e e d y prepa ration u r ge d , 9 6 - Stu d e n t se lf-g overn m e n t , 3 8 , S 6
99 Type of b u i l d i n g , 3 7 , 3 8 , 40