Advent Movement Survey 7

Education

Study given by W. D. Frazee - February 7, 1962

Today we are going to study about the beginning and development of the educational work
among Seventh-day Adventists. We have been told that we have nothing to fear for the
future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us and His teachings in our past
history.

As Seventh-day Adventists developed their system of doctrine in the 1840s, the early 1850s,
they were expecting, of course, that Jesus would come very, very soon. And for a number of
years their minds were not impressed especially with the need for education, either of their
children or of workers, for they expected that the second advent of Christ would take place
speedily. We mustn’t blame them for that. The Lord did want things to wind up in a hurry,
didn’t He? Yes, and of course, they could only see a step at a time.

As the work developed and the doctrines were welded together, and the organization was
accomplished, and our health work was started, there gradually came to be more and more a
realization that our children and youth needed a training different from that which they were
receiving in the schools of the world.

In Volume 3, you will note a wonderful chapter on education, published in the early 1870s.
This chapter in Volume 3, on proper education, is a broad comprehensive vision on education
similar to the broad comprehensive vision on health, given a decade before.

In looking at that chapter you will observe that Sister White called for the training of the
muscles as well as the mind, and for the heart as well as the head. It was a combined training
of the spiritual and the physical as well as the mental.

During the early 1870s our educational work was beginning in a very embryonic form to take
place in Battle Creek. Perhaps one of the most interesting places to begin is in the year 1866
at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, the Western Health Reform Institute as it was known at that
time.

To that little health institution came a man by the name of Bell, Goodloe Bell. He came
accompanying a patient. He came the next year, 1867, as a patient.

Bell was an educator; somewhat self-educated. As a young man he had spent some time as a
student at Oberland College. If you know the name of Oberland, you know it was connected
with educational reform. However, he was not able to be there long because of conditions in
his father’s family. He was the oldest of a large family of children. They moved on to
Michigan and he later became a teacher there, a teacher that was well recognized in the state
of Michigan, but he didn’t have any college degree.

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So this teacher came to Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1866 and 1867. While there as a patient,
he was assigned, as part of his treatment, to do light work in the garden and on the grounds.
That was a very interesting thing. We know that that’s a good prescription for many patients,
don’t we? And thank the Lord they knew it in that early health institution in Battle Creek.

While there, he manifested his interest in some of the boys of the neighborhood with whom
he got acquainted, there on the grounds. And among them were Edson and Willie White and
also the Kellogg boys. As he talked with these boys he found some of their problems in
grammar and arithmetic, and helped them with them. They reported enthusiastically to their
parents and the upshot of it was that before long Goodloe Bell was installed as a teacher for a
number of the Seventh-day Adventist children in the west end, as that part of Battle Creek
was called.

Bell by this time had accepted the Seventh-day Adventist faith. So thus was developed
through the medical missionary work, our first outstanding educator. Presently his little
school was taken under the wing of the General Conference. And by 1874 we see the
educational work of the Seventh-day Adventists taking shape in an incorporated society, and
the starting of Battle Creek College. Battle Creek College was dedicated (the building was
dedicated) on January 3 of 1875. So we think of 1874-1875 as starting that college.

Now to go back a little. Sister White, of course, had sought to give guidance through the
Spirit of Prophecy to these early endeavors, and she urged that the school be located in the
country. But men could not see as God sees nor as the prophet saw. While Sister White
suggested a definite location out in the country, they felt it was too far. She suggested
another one closer in. That was considered too far. Finally, while Sister White was away on
a trip, they bought twelve acres directly across the street from the Battle Creek sanitarium,
presently sold off five of that for lots for houses, and they had seven acres left to start a
college.

Sister White wept as she heard what had been done, but (and this is an important point to
note), she didn’t withdraw her support. She didn’t go off into a cave somewhere and say,
“You didn’t do what you should have done, so I can’t help you any.” No. She and James
White both did all that they could to encourage the beginning of this college, and tried to help
them to minimize the perils and dangers which they had brought upon themselves by their
location in the outskirts of the little town of Battle Creek.

Another interesting thing. Bell, in some ways, would have been the logical choice to be the
head of the school, but Bell lacked a degree. There were those who felt that to carry on a
college it was necessary to have a man with a degree. And as they felt, in the providence of
God, one appeared, by the name of Brownsburger. He had his training at the university of
Michigan at Ann Arbor. He was a good Seventh-day Adventist and so he was put in. And
Bell, to his credit, did not get rebellious or feel sorry for himself because he had been left out.
He accepted the leadership of the English department. He was very strong in the subject of
English and grammar, and composition and literature, and all that. So they went ahead.

However, it was evident that Brownsburger was seeking to put a mold upon the school after
the classical pattern. Naturally he would. He was trained in a university, and he felt that

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what the Seventh-day Adventist people wanted was a college, so he was going to give them
one.

Bell, on the other hand, sought to emphasize more definitely those things which had been
emphasized by the Spirit of Prophecy, such as thoroughness in the English language rather
than so much time spent on classical Greek and Latin, a use of inspired literature rather than
depending so much upon the polluted fountains that the world drinks from. He also sought to
give his influence in the direction of student industries, high standards of discipline, and so
forth.

Well, things went along, and more or less, the institution was blessed and thus proceeded for
about seven years. However, at the end of seven years, Brownsburger, recognizing, at least
to some degree, that he and Bell were not pulling in exactly the same harness, and also
affected somewhat by poor health, withdrew and went out to a farm. That left the school
without his leadership. What should they do?

Well, again it seemed to some, providentially a university man appeared. This time it was
Professor McLearn of whom we will hear more as we proceed in our study this evening. He
must have been a very interesting character. He’d only recently accepted the truth. He was a
university man, had a good deal of spirit and dash. And there was a large element in Battle
Creek that responded to his leadership in a strong way, but he was much further in the
direction of a worldly mold than Brownsburger had been. So the contrast between McLearn
and Bell was much greater than between Brownsburger and Bell.

Just at this time or about this time James White died. He died in the summer of 1881. And
Sister White, burdened with care and grief because of this closing sickness of James White,
and because of certain sad and disappointing conditions in the Battle Creek church, worn as
she was, she withdrew to Colorado for a period of rest after the funeral of James White.
There in Boulder, Colorado, she penned a message to be read at the Michigan camp meeting,
dealing with conditions in Battle Creek and Michigan at that time.

If you will open your Volume 5, now, to page 9, we will notice some very interesting things.
You will notice that this is titled “Campmeeting Address.” It is dated Boulder, Colorado,
September 25, 1881. This is the next month after the death of James White. It is addressed,
you see to: “Dear Brethren and Sisters who shall assemble to the Michigan camp meeting.”
Will you please note the little footnote in small type at the bottom of the page. What does it
say?

“This appeal was written for the Michigan camp meeting, but
being forgotten at that time, was read before the General
Conference, December 1881” Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 5, page 9.

About three months after it was written. That’s quite an interesting footnote, isn’t it? Can
you imagine a condition, my friends, in which a message from the prophet of God, the Lord’s
messenger, written expressly to be read at a camp meeting, would be forgotten? Forgotten!
Sister White felt grieved over this. As you notice it was read later in December 1881 at the
time of the General Conference.

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Now, I want to scan through this appeal that she wrote at this time, written in September,
finally reaching its listeners about three months later. I can only call attention to a few
points. I hope you will read every word.

At the bottom of page 10, she speaks about the fashions and the customs of the world coming
in among our people. The love of amusement, love of display, extravagance in dress, in
houses, in lands.

Later in this volume she speaks specifically of some of the residences which had been erected
about that time by some of our workers and people in Battle Creek. She said there were so
many evidences that they did not believe that Jesus was coming soon, and that even
worldlings were looking at those elaborately built homes, and scoffing at the idea that those
Seventh-day Adventists really believed that Jesus was coming soon.

Near the top of page 11, you will notice the statement:

“The old standard-bearers are fainting and falling” Testimonies

for the Church, Volume 5, page 11.

Her husband had passed away just a few weeks before the writing of this testimony. Other
workers had also passed away, Joseph Bates the decade before.

“We are not doing one-twentieth part of what God requires us

to do. There has been a departure from the simplicity of the
work, making it intricate, difficult to understand, and difficult
to execute. The judgment and wisdom of man rather than of
God has too often guided and controlled” Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 5, page 11.

Note the warning against listening to men instead of listening to God. Then at the bottom of
page 11 she comes specifically to our college showing that its purpose was to educate
laborers for God -that that was the object and that our brethren should feel a responsibility to
guard it, that it may not be turned away from its design and be molded after other institutions
of the kind. You can see the force of the warning in the light of the background I have given
you. Right at this time McLearn had taken the leadership of the school and was definitely
putting a worldly mold upon it.

Top of page 12:

“Much that has no part in Christ is allowed a place among us.

Unconsecrated ministers, professors, and teachers assist Satan
to plant his banner in our very strongholds” Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 5, page 12.

Quite a statement, wasn’t it? Imagine how you might have felt if you had been one of the
faculty or one of the board or one of the parents or one of the students there at that time.

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 “Some of the teachers have been scattering from Christ instead
of gathering with Him. By their own example they lead those
under their charge to adopt the customs and habits of
worldlings” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 12.

Then she speaks of linking the hands of the students with fashionable, amusement-loving
unbelievers, and carry them an advance step toward the world and away from Christ. You
can see page after page what she is getting at. There was a worldly trend there in the college,
and encouraged by some ministers and by some parents right there in the church at
headquarters at Battle Creek. Now you notice she said they were doing this in the face of
warnings from heaven:

“Not only those given to the people in general, but personal

appeals to themselves” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5,
page 12.

Had the Lord, then, sent personal testimonies to some of these people, that they were
disregarding?

“The anger of the Lord is kindled for these things” Testimonies

for the Church, Volume 5, page 12.

Now, before we get through this lesson, you will see that this was reaching into high places,
and that involved in it were some people of long experience and high position in the work.
That’s why this was so serious. Now on page 14:

“The Lord never designed that our college should imitate other
institutions of learning” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5,
page 14.

But that’s exactly what they were doing under McLearn’s leadership. You can imagine how
Bell was getting along in that atmosphere, because that wasn’t what he wanted. He was
trying to hold up the standards, to stand for the reforms, to stand for discipline, and there
came such conditions in the school that the son of McLearn kicked Bell down the stairs at the
college. That is how far things got. Bell was looked upon by some of the students and some
of the parents as a harsh, stern, difficult man, and McLearn was popular because he was easy
going, world loving, brought in worldly amusements, and allowed a letting down of the
standards.

While Bell was standing for truth and principle, he wasn’t always as kind as he might have
been. He had a number of handicaps. His health wasn’t the best. He had many burdens. He
was doing the work of three men, Sister White said, and he at times was irritable. He also
was very exact, thorough, a perfectionist, if you please. In fact, Sister White told him that he
carried the matter of grammar and thoroughness in English, too far. But she strongly
condemned those who criticized Bell and rallied around McLearn in accusing Bell and
making things hard for Bell. That was the situation.

Now, this gives you a little picture of this first testimony written in September, finally

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reaching the people in Battle Creek, as far as it being read is concerned, in December of
1881.

Turn to page 21 and you will come to the second chapter in this book. This is another
message from Sister White which was read at about the same time that the first one was. The
name of it, as you see, is “Our College.” The footnote says that this was read in College
Hall, December, 1881, before Conference delegates and leading workers in the Review and
Herald office, sanitarium, and college. Notice how she comes directly to the point and deals
with the current crisis there in Battle Creek:

“There is danger that our college will be turned away from its
original design” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page
21.

She shows what that design was, that there ought to be a place where our young people could
study the sciences, and at the same time learn the requirements of God’s Word. A study of
the Scriptures should have the first place in our system of education.

A careful study of these chapters will show that under McLearn’s influence there was a
tendency to reach out for world-loving students, and to make it rather a liberal college where
there was some Bible taught, of course, but where young people who wanted, shall we say,
ordinary education could get it.

The next paragraph contains one of the most astounding statements in the inspired writings. I
want you to look at it carefully. Consider the setting. Please note as you listen to this, as you
read it here, that at this time, Battle Creek was our only educational institution of any grade.
A young person who wanted to go to a Seventh-day Adventist school either must come to
Battle Creek or else he didn’t come to a Seventh-Day Adventist school. Keep that in mind.
Now with that in mind, listen:

“Students are sent from a great distance to attend the college at

Battle Creek for the very purpose of receiving instructions from
the lectures on Bible subjects. But for one or two years past
there has been an effort to mold our school after other colleges.
When this is done, we can give no encouragement to parents to
send their children to Battle Creek College” Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 5, page 21.

Isn’t that an interesting statement? The parents might have said, “Well, Sister White, where
can we send them, then?” I don’t know what she would have said. But under the
circumstances, Battle Creek College was becoming so molded, so affected by this worldward
trend that the Lord’s messenger could not encourage the parents to send their children and
young people to Battle Creek College. Remember, this is only seven years after the
beginning of the Battle Creek College.

With that, you might want to put page 186, which was written about the same time. This is in
the chapter “Moving to Battle Creek,” warning our people against the influences which were
prevalent in educational circles there in Battle Creek at that time:

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 “The influence exerted by some who have long been connected
with the work of God is fatal to spirituality and devotion.
These gospel-hardened youth have surrounded themselves with
an atmosphere of worldliness, irreverence, and infidelity. Dare
you risk the effect of such associations upon your children? It
would be better for them never to obtain an education than to
acquire it at the sacrifice of principle and the blessing of God”
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page186.

I think of what one of the fundamentalist evangelists in another denomination said some time
ago. He said he would rather see his son have to learn his ABCs in heaven than to be able to
read Greek in hell.

Back now to page 21. We will note some of the points that Sister White pointed out that
should have been in the college, some things that were there that shouldn’t be.

Top of page 22:

“Too little attention given to the education of young men for

the ministry” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 22.

In other words, young men came there to be trained for the ministry, but under the influence
of certain worldly teachers they got their eyes on other things, and lost their burden for souls.
Some of those things that were put before them, it says, would occupy a number of years,
thus their minds were diverted from the Lord’s work.

“The study of books only cannot give students the discipline

they need. A broader foundation must be laid” Testimonies for
the Church, Volume 5, page 22.

So on page 23, she points out the need for industries, industrial reform:

“It would be well could there be connected with our college

land for cultivation, and also workshops under the charge of
men competent to instruct the students in the various
departments of physical labor” Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 5, page 23.

Then she points out the inevitable result of lack in this direction. You notice the rest of the
paragraph shows that the leisure hours of some of the students, since they weren’t occupied in
the farm and the workshop, were given to frivolous pleasures, leading to sensual indulgence
and the untimely excitement of courtship and marriage.

I want you to notice as we go through these various points, shall I say, there is nothing new
under the sun. Some of the very problems that are being faced today, were being faced back
there in old Battle Creek in 1881 and 1882.

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Page 24 begins a section on the Bible as a textbook. Page 25 shows that some urged that if
religious teaching is to be made prominent, our school will become unpopular. She said,
“very well then, let the ones that want something else go to some other college where they
will find a system of education that suits their taste.”

Then she makes another sweeping statement:

“If a worldly influence is to bear sway in our school, then sell it

out to worldlings and let them take the entire control; and those
who have invested their means in that institution will establish
another school, to be conducted, not upon the plan of popular
schools, nor according to the desires of principal and teachers,
but upon the plan which God has specified” Testimonies for the
Church, Volume 5, page 25.

That was pretty strong, wasn’t it? Again I ask, what would you have thought if you had been
the principal of the school, or one of the teachers, one of the board? This was strong meat.

Top of 26:

“When the Lord requires us to be distinct and peculiar, how can

we crave popularity or seek to imitate the customs and practices
of the world?” God has declared His purpose to have one
college in the land where the Bible shall have its proper place
in the education of the youth. Will we do our part to carry out
that purpose?” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 26.

Then on page 27 she comes out plainly and without any reservation and says:

“Our college stands today in a position that God does not

approve. ... If its responsible men seek to reach the world’s
standard, if they copy the plans and methods of other colleges,
the frown of God will be upon our school.

“The time has come for me to speak decidedly” Testimonies for

the Church, Volume 5, page 27.

And again, she points out the danger of young men being diverted into years of study when
they needed to get a brief, yet comprehensive preparation, as she speaks of it here, and get out
into the field.

On page 31, she puts a pinprick in the balloon of satisfaction that apparently was floating
around there in Battle Creek, because the school was popular and had a good attendance. She
says:

“If you lower the standard in order to secure popularity and an

increase of numbers, and then make this increase a cause of
rejoicing, you show great blindness. If numbers were evidence

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 of success, Satan might claim the pre-eminence” Testimonies
for the Church, Volume 5, page 31.

Then on page 33, again she speaks of a specific detail. This deals with the matter of
amusements:

“The object of God in bringing the college into existence has

been lost sight of. Ministers of the gospel have so far shown
their want of wisdom from above as to unite a worldly element
with the college; they have joined with the enemies of God and
the truth in providing entertainments for the students”
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 33.

What was being brought into the school? Worldly entertainment. Could that danger be
present today? Would it be any better today than it was eighty years ago?

Then, on page 35, she begins to deal with the unfeeling criticism against Brother Bell. The
blank, (Brother ───) there in the middle of page 35 is Brother Bell. I might say, I have one
of the original testimonies for the Battle Creek church in which the names of all these blanks
are printed right out. This was printed in Oakland in 1882. So you will find that’s Brother
Bell.

“Many have strong feelings against Brother Bell. They accuse

him of unkindness, harshness, and severity. But some of the
very ones who would condemn him are no less guilty
themselves. ...

“This unfeeling criticism of one another is wholly satanic. I

was shown Brother Bell deserves respect for the good which he
has done. Let him be dealt with tenderly. He has performed
the labor which three men should have shared” Testimony for
the Battle Creek Church, pages 18, 19.

You know they went so far that they actually had inquisition meetings and some of those who
were opposed to Bell brought in students and got them to testify against Bell. And I might
say that Bell finally recognizing that he was being backed into a corner, and that he didn’t
have the support of the administration and of many of the parents, resigned, which, of course,
made some of them very happy and they were pleased. We will see more reference to that a
little further on.

Now in the next chapter, Sister White deals with parental training. The one we have just
looked at is on the school, but Sister White is dealing here with parental training, and I’ll
explain why.

This wasn’t just a college problem. It was a family problem in a number of families in Battle
Creek. One man, a very leading man, a man that had done a great work among Seventh-day
Adventists was really a sort of Eli. He allowed his wife and children to influence him. He
was one of the principal supporters of McLearn, and one of the principal opposers of Bell.

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His children were some of the problems in the college at this time. He, as well as other
fathers and mothers in Battle Creek, greatly needed this chapter on parental training.

She speaks of the importance of the parents silencing criticism of their teachers. Instead of
the parents listening and gathering up information against the teachers, they ought to
cooperate with the teachers in discipline.

On page 40 and 41 she speaks again of the danger of worldly amusements in Battle Creek at
that time, and what mingling with the world in worldly amusements was doing to the young
people in the homes and in the schools. It was taking away their spirituality and leading them
out into the world. In fact, at the bottom of page 41, she speaks of it as the great adversary
planting his hellish banners close by their sides, and that they are so blinded they think it is
the banner of Christ. That is a tremendous statement. And when you think of the inroads of
worldly amusements brought into the church under the guise of trying to save and help our
young people, you can’t help but think of this page:

“Parents do not discern that the great adversary is planting his

hellish banners close by their sides. They are so blinded, they
think it is the banner of Christ” Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 5, page 41.
Then on page 42, she speaks in contrast of the example of Jesus as a youth, His patient
burden bearing in the home and in the shop at Nazareth, and presents Him and (on the next
page) Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego as examples for young people to follow.

Then on page 44, she speaks of Elisha calling for those bears to do some disciplining of those
idle, dissolute, disrespectful youth at the gate at Bethel. She says:

“The idea that we must submit to ways of perverse children is a

mistake” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 44.

And it’s in that setting that she makes this statement which has been quoted many times, and
deserves to be quoted many more times, at the top of 45:

“Even kindness must have its limits. Authority must be

sustained by a firm severity, or it will be received by many with
mockery and contempt. The so-called tenderness, the coaxing
and the indulgence, used toward youth by parents and
guardians is the worst evil which can come upon them.
Firmness, decision, positive requirements, are essential in every
family” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 45.

Now, if these Testimonies had been heeded, and others similar that had gone before this, there
would have been no occasion for the next testimony. But they were not heeded. Definitely
they were not heeded and things went on as I have described, until finally poor Brother Bell
was pressed out, pressured out. He gave up his work, and there was a seeming lull in the
conflict because the worldly element had the upper hand. And I suppose some thought that
now they had peace. But as Elijah shattered the peace of apostate Israel, so from across the
continent came the shattering thunderbolt of the testimony of Jesus. And here you have from

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Healdsburg, California, an important testimony dated March 28, 1882. This is way over in
the spring, you see, of the following year, after Bell had been so pressured that he gave up,
and the worldly element was more or less in control of the school.

Now, before we look at this testimony, I want you to see a very interesting statement over on
page 62. This is dated June 20, 1882, three months later. It, too, is addressed to Dear
Brethren and Sisters in Battle Creek. Notice her opening sentence:

“I understand that the testimony which I sent to Brother ───,

with the request that it be read to the church was withheld from
you for several weeks after it was received by him” Testimonies
for the Church, Volume 5, page 62.

The first testimony had been forgotten and read about three months later, but this one wasn’t
just forgotten. It was definitely withheld and the man that withheld it was a leading officer in
the great Battle Creek church, a man of long experience and high position in denominational
circles, the head of the college Bible department. He was one whose children were involved
in some of these disciplinary problems. So you can, perhaps, see why, when he got this
testimony that we are about to look at beginning on page 45, instead of reading it to the
church as he was requested by the prophet to do, he simply laid it aside for some weeks.

Now, as we shall see, he took the position, and this is the point I want you to see. He took the
position, that while Sister White was a prophet all right, in fact, he had written a great deal on
spiritual gifts (this man had definitely defended the Spirit of Prophecy), he took the position
that in this particular case, Sister White was influenced by certain ones. She wasn’t on the
grounds, and the people in Battle Creek knew better what was going on than she did. In other
words, he took the position that while the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy, that
this particular letter was not a testimony. And as we shall see in the following chapter, Sister
White said to him, “You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God.”

And let me tell you, friends, that for some time in Battle Creek, there was a real crisis over
this. In fact, the entire college was closed the next year. There was no college there for the
year 1882-1883. McLearn went out and left the truth entirely, joined the Seventh-day
Baptists, spoke against our message on a number of points. In the meantime, thank the Lord,
Bell had gone East and started South Lancaster Academy, which eventually became Atlantic
Union College. Out in California, the brethren had started Healdsburg College, and called
Brownsburger, who had now recovered his health. So, while Battle Creek was tied up in this
crisis, why, two others were starting. Both of them started with the avowed intention of
having industries as part of their curriculum, and of following the Testimonies.

God was leading as He has led this movement all down through the ages. But you can see
something of the setting of this testimony, coming March 28, 1882:

“Dear Brother ───:” Testimonies to the Church, Volume 5,

page 45.

And remember, this is the head of the college Bible department, a man of long experience in
our denomination as a preacher, as a writer, and as a member of the General Conference

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committee.

“Dear Brother ───: Your letter was received in due time.

While I was glad to hear from you, I was made sad as I read its
contents. I had received similar letters from Sister ─── and
from Brother ────. But I have had no communications from
Brother [Bell] or anyone who sustains him” Testimonies to the
Church, Volume 5, page 45.

Brother Bell, bless his heart, was suffering in silence. And neither Brother Bell, nor anybody
who sustained him wrote to Sister White. But these people that were opposing him, and that
were afraid that Sister White would take the wrong position and support him, they were
writing her.

I want to read you something interesting written about this Sister _____ here on page 45.
Here it is in this Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, page 47 as published in Oakland in
1882. This is the same, much of it word for word, as here in Volume 5, but it has the names
in it, and also has some little details that aren’t in, but I want you to get the picture here:

“I was most astonished to read a letter from Sr. Amadon”

Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, page 47.

(This is the blank here on page 45.)

“I was most astonished to read a letter from Sr. Amadon--a

collection of partial disclosures, and dark hints of terrible
things that could not be revealed. Then she remarks: ‘Sr. White,
be careful how you slay.’ As though God's messenger was
doing a work independent of the Spirit of God! Thus Ahab
thought when he met Elijah, and said, ‘Art thou he that
troubleth Israel?’ Elijah throws back the imputation firmly and
decidedly: ‘I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father’s
house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of God, and
thou hast followed Baalim.’ Those who bear the warnings of
God, are often regarded as the offending party, whereas, the
whole blame rests with those who have alienated themselves
from the Lord by transgression. Elijah does not offer one
excuse for his work” Testimony to the Battle Creek Church,
page 47.

But you can see some of those dear people, they thought that they needed to write Sister
White and tell her, “Now, Sister White, be careful how you slay, be careful.” But did Sister
White accept her counsel? No, she had revelation from the skies. So she said, “I haven’t
heard anything from Brother Bell or those who stand by him. But from your letter and from
the Sister’s letter and from another brother, those who were opposing Bell:

“From your own letters I learn of the course which you have
pursued in the proceedings against Brother Bell. ...

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 “I am not surprised that such a state of things should exist in
Battle Creek, but I am pained to find you, my much-esteemed
brother, involved in this matter on the wrong side with those
whom I know God is not leading” Testimony to the Battle
Creek Church, page 20.

This was a man that had been linked with James and Ellen White since early in the work. He
had shared many of their problems and difficulties. In fact, Sister White in a number of these
testimonies, comments on this fact, that this man was a very kind, affable, and gentle
character. In fact, he was so much that way that they hadn’t been able to get him to take hold
of things in the publishing house as he should have, and James White had to come in and do
the disciplining work through the years.

But now she says: “When it comes to a crisis like this it is found that those firm traits of
character that you lacked in standing for the right you seemed to have developed in standing
for the wrong. You didn’t have what it took to stand up and demand that things be done right
in the publishing house, but now you’ve had the courage and the strength and the backbone to
stand up in this college crisis against the man that God has been trying to use.”

Isn’t that an interesting thing, friends? That’s an interesting trait in human nature. It crops
out again and again and again. Aaron, you remember, was so soft and easy that he couldn’t
withstand the pressure of the people on the golden calf, but once he got into that he became
an enthusiastic and aggressive leader. You remember that? Yes. Let’s not be misled,
friends. Let’s not be misled.

Page 46:

“I knew that a crisis must come” Testimonies for the Church,

Volume 5, page 46.

Then she points out that they had had testimonies which, if they had followed them, would
have avoided the crisis.

Page 48:

“Many of you are seeking honor of one another. But what is

the honor or the approval of man?” Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 5, page 48.

Page 51:

“I wish my position to be clearly understood. I have no

sympathy with the course that has been pursued toward Brother
[Bell]. The enemy has encouraged feelings of hatred in the
hearts of many. The errors committed by him have been
reported from one person to another, constantly growing in
magnitude, as busy, gossiping tongues added fuel to the fire”

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 Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 51.

Did he, Brother Bell, make some mistakes? Yes, but they were multiplied, magnified, added
to.

“Parents who have never felt the care which they should feel
for the souls of their children, and who have never given them
proper restraint and instruction, are the very ones who manifest
the most bitter opposition when their children are restrained,
reproved, or corrected at school. Some of these children are a
disgrace to the church and a disgrace to the name Adventists”
Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page 51.

I ask again as I did earlier, do you think any of these problems exist today?

Page 52:

“In the school Brother [Bell] has not only been burdened by the
wrong course of the children, but by the injudicious
management of the parents, which produced and nurtured
hatred of restraint” Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, page
52.

Imagine the poor man in the schoolroom, with children that would carry tales home, and then
when they got home the parents would egg them on, to be even more defiant and rebellious,
joining in the criticism of the teachers. May I say to every parent, even if you care nothing
for the teacher, care enough about your children never to do that. Don’t forget this man had
some mistakes, but it wasn’t the place for the parents to criticize him before the children, or
to allow their children to criticize him at the home.

Now she goes on on Page 52, and shows that some of these professed Sabbath-keepers, while
they didn’t really believe the Testimonies, they didn’t come out in the open and say they
didn’t. This is a very important point. They were leaning toward the world on the side of no
discipline, and yet they didn’t come out boldly and say “We don’t believe the Testimonies.”
They claimed to believe the Bible and the Testimonies.

Now, I see that our hour is coming to a close and I am just part way through this study, so we
will continue it next week. I want you to make a very earnest study of these early pages of
Volume 5. If you have time you may read on ahead, for we will be studying the first 94
pages of this book, the first 94 pages of Volume 5. But at least be sure to make a very careful
study of the first 52 pages which we have gone over today.

If you have access to Spaulding’s wonderful book, Captains of the Host, read the history of
this time in the chapter “Building the Educational System.” It starts on page 439. If you will
read that entire chapter it will give you a very good background on this subject.

And I appeal to you, dear class, study some of these things on your knees. Think of their
lesson for you personally as a student, as a young person, or as a parent. Think of what these

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things mean in the present hour.

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