p. 18 | Foreign Mission Seminary Opening

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 13, 1910

Foreign Mission Seminary Opening

In connection with the opening exercises of the Foreign Mission Seminary, several short addresses were made regarding the work of the institution and the growing call for workers in the great world-field. From these addresses we present the following extracts:—

The Founding of the Foreign Mission Seminary

Prof. W. W. Prescott spoke of the conditions leading to the founding of the institution as follows:—

“This Foreign Mission Seminary was not established on theory, with the hope that possibly there might be a demand for such workers as would be prepared here to act a part in this closing message. It was the almost irresistible pressure from the field which led to the taking of the step which meant the opening of a school whose special purpose should be to prepare a class of workers to meet the demands that were upon the Mission Board.

“I remember very well the time, the place, and the circumstances which led up to this decision, and the part which I personally bore in it. To state in a clear way how this came about, I must give a little personal experience.

“Nearly four years ago the Mission Board asked me to go to the far East, to visit our mission work in Japan and Korea, and especially in China, and then to come on to Europe to join in the council which was to be held in Switzerland the following May. It was this experience on my own part which perhaps aided in coming to a decision concerning this Seminary. I spent some months in those countries, and for the first time in my experience was brought face to face with what seems to me the very large end of our work,—the carrying of the message to the millions and the hundreds of millions who know not God, and who know nothing of Christ.

“For several months I faced the question of how this was to be accomplished.

In traveling through Japan and Korea, and from north to south in China, and in attending the council meetings held in different places, I was amazed, and oft-times overwhelmed, with the situation before us,—a few workers and a tremendous field. People, people, people everywhere, hundreds of millions and hundreds of millions scattered over an immense territory; and yet the message must be given to these people in this generation. We studied the situation, and the least we could seem to do—and that seemed so little—was to request the Mission Board to send out at once five families for Japan, two families for Korea, and ten families for China,—seventeen families in all for the immense territory in the far East.

“I came to Switzerland from these meetings we had held. Brother G. B. Thompson came from his visit to India, and presented his calls; Brother G. A. Irwin came from his trip to South Africa, and presented his calls; a call by letter was made from Brother J. W. Westphal, of South America; and, knowing something of the condition, I began to fear for those seventeen families. What hope, after all, was there that even this small number could be secured and sent out? The fields were before me day and night, and I wondered how the thing could be accomplished.

“One day the committee met by itself in a tent apart from the main sessions of the council, and we began to study together seriously what we had to face. Almost a sense of depression rested upon our minds in view of those calls, which from the standpoint of the field seemed so small, and yet from the standpoint of the Mission Board, when they came together and took note of the resources, seemed beyond their power to meet. In our talk I stated before the brethren of the committee the urgent, imperative demand that there should be a special effort put forth to prepare workers to meet these pressing calls from the great fields. There was an immediate, almost a surprising, response; and as one after another spoke, all seemed to be deeply impressed that this was the step to take, and then was the time to take it, that we could no longer delay. Right there the decision was practically made that this institution should become at once, in spite of the announcement already made, such a training-school, to prepare those who should go into the fields.

“The brethren returned to this country, and carried out the decisions made at that council; and this institution was opened for this express purpose. That the step was justified, the experience of these three years, and the present situation, have demonstrated. Instead of the call growing less imperative, it is continually increasing, until from day to day we know not what to do or where to turn to find those who can fill the calls that come in from these fields.

“This Seminary ought to be the very place where the atmosphere of the outside fields shall be breathed constantly, and where the students become accustomed to the idea that they are foreigners and sojourners, that they are simply under call, ready for any place. The need of special preparation for such work, the need of something distinct and different in atmosphere and association, from that which can be obtained under any other circumstances, is apparent to any one who has studied this problem. This is a place for giving a training for a special work; this is a place for training, not simply in special doctrines, but for catching an inspiration and zeal for carrying forward such a work as is called for at this time.”

The Call of the Fields

Speaking of the call of the fields, Elder W. A. Spicer said:—

“September is a cheering month in our work; for hundreds of schools are swinging open their doors. It means thousands of young Seventh-day Adventists turning again to another year’s work of preparation for the missionary fields.

“We thank God for the sound of marching feet that comes to us from the church-schools, intermediate schools, and colleges. And we thank God for this little band in the Foreign Mission Seminary this morning. You are nearest of all, perhaps, to the mission fields; for this Seminary is a wide gate through which a stream of missionary recruits must keep pressing into the fields.

“The Lord told David that when he heard the sound of a going—of a marching—among the mulberry trees, it was a signal to him to go forth to battle. It was not merely the wind blowing in the trees; I think it was the sound of marching angels; it was the Lord himself leading the hosts of Israel on to victory. I thank God that to-day we hear the sound of marching; that the angels of God are all astir, and are leading the Lord’s people to arouse to the finishing of the work. I am sure the echo of the sound of this marching is heard across the seas in these different lands where they are praying for workers.

“The calls for recruits are coming by every mail from across every sea. Long-neglected calls are still insistent, and new ones are rolling in. Every land is a Macedonia, crying, Come over and help us.

“The calls are not to impossible tasks. The Lord wants men and women who know the way of forgiveness of sin, to go out and tell sinners the way of salvation. This Seminary must send forth help this year. I am not sure just how the classes in the Seminary will feel if the Mission Board keeps saying, Here we need help; you must let some of the class go at once. One of the best things in connection with the plan of the Seminary is that here we shall have a certain reserve ready to respond at short notice. A few days ago I was in Brussels, Belgium’s capital, which heard the booming signal of the guns that opened one of the world’s greatest conflicts, at Waterloo. You will remember that the generals who had the disposition of those armies on either side took pains to have picked regiments, not located at any definite place, but held in reserve, so that from whatever point there came the cry for help, they could respond immediately. Now this Seminary can not supply all the help needed; the workers must come from every side; but right here we shall have a little reserve of men and women ready to spring at the instant, to answer the call of emergencies away at the ends of the earth. I am sure every one of you came with the knowledge that the calls are coming, and that the next call may mean you. So let us get ready for it, by the grace of God.”