The Battle Creek University
By Editor
The announcement of “The Battle Creek Schools,” just issued, is a pamphlet of one hundred and twelve pages, profusely illustrated, and attractive in appearance. It is stated in the “Foreword” that “the real purpose of these schools, one and all, is to help forward the Christian altruistic movement of which the Battle Creek Sanitarium has been for more than a quarter of a century the acknowledged center.” It is further declared that “the return-to-nature idea dominates in every department of this educational system, and is accounted worthy of respect and recognition by all who attend these schools.” Many and varied courses are offered by “this educational opportunity, really a university, but bearing the simple title of ‘The Battle Creek Schools,’” and seven pages are occupied in listing the various faculties. The announcement declares that “no other school offers so large a variety of practical literary, scientific, and medical work from which may be made up a course leading to the degree of Bachelor or Master of Arts.” Of its Biblical course we are told that “it is safe to say that nowhere in America can new students receive more thoroughgoing instruction in Bible themes than in this course.” From the closing paragraphs of the announcement we quote the following: “The great purpose of this enterprise [the Battle Creek Sanitarium], which in forty years has grown from a small beginning to proportions which have given it world-wide recognition, is to lead those who are seeking for light and better things up to a higher, more wholesome, more spiritual, more natural life. To sober-minded young men and young women who are in sympathy with these purposes and ideas, we say, Come. We will give you a hearty welcome, and will do our utmost to help you to reach the highest usefulness which you are capable of attaining. Come prepared to work, to work hard, to make your whole business to embrace the great opportunities here afforded to prepare yourself for a happy, useful, and successful life. Nowhere else in the world, perhaps, are such splendid opportunities offered as here for a thorough and many-sided training.” We have made these quotations from this announcement in order that our people may read in their own words the statements of the managers concerning the nature and purpose of their educational movement. These statements are full of significance to those who desire to know whether this movement is in reality an integral part of the organized work of this denomination. It will be conceded, we think, without argument that the managers of this “university” movement entertain no mean ideas concerning “The Battle Creek Schools,” and that they have made such a pleasing announcement of their plans as is well calculated to draw young people to Battle Creek. If we knew nothing more about the influences which prevail there and their effect upon the young people who have been brought up to have confidence in the work and the leadership of this denomination than appears in this publication, we might easily be persuaded that Battle Creek was the best place in the world for Seventh-day Adventist young people. With our knowledge of the facts, however, we are prepared, in the face of this very attractive announcement, to advise the parents in this denomination, as well as the young people themselves, that it will be better to forego these “great opportunities” than to pay the price necessary to secure them. We know from personal experience something about the bitterness of the experience which results from listening to constant insinuations about the fundamental truths of this message borne to the world by Seventh-day Adventists. We know what it means to struggle with the doubts and fears aroused by skilful4misrepresentations of warnings and counsels given through the spirit of prophecy. We know the power of that influence, apparently gentle, but really tyrannical, which through favor, flattery, and misrepresentation tries to hold all in subjection to itself, disappoints oft-times every worthy ambition, and embitters the life. We have learned our lessons through an experience from which we would gladly protect others, and therefore feel justified in speaking plainly when we see the snare set so seductively. We regard confidence in the third angel’s message as God gave it to this people, a whole-hearted faith in the instruction which comes to this people through the spirit of prophecy, and an ambition to devote the life to labor in harmony with the work of this denomination as now organized, of infinitely more value than an education nominally free, but in reality purchased at the expense of all these. With young people of the world these considerations may have no weight, but to the young people of Seventh-day Adventists who do not wish to barter spiritual for intellectual life, they are big with meaning. The third angel’s message itself constitutes the greatest opportunity offered to young people in the world. In this crisis of the world an undimmed spiritual discernment is the pearl of great price. To be in harmony with God’s work in the earth is the greatest privilege afforded to young or old. Any proposal, however flattering it may be, which either lessens our estimate of these blessings or deprives us of them altogether, may well be disregarded. ‘And he led him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.’ When it was proposed to reopen the Battle Creek College in the summer of 1903, and an announcement to this effect was made by the board of trustees, we expressed in the REVIEW of Aug. 4, 1903, our view of this matter in an editorial which closed with the following paragraph:— Under all these circumstances we can but regard the reopening of Battle Creek College as an ill-advised move which will tend to confuse the minds of this people concerning the steps which have been taken under the counsel of the spirit of prophecy, and which will be likely to lead to many misunderstandings in the future. In response to this editorial a statement appeared in the REVIEW of Aug. 27, 1903, signed by Alonzo T. Jones, E. A. Sutherland, P. T. Magan, E. D. Kirby, and J. H. Kellogg, from which we quote the following:— From the preceding [statements and explanations] it will appear that the announcement of the opening of Battle Creek College does not mean the restoration or reopening of anything which has been closed. It does not mean the reorganization in Battle Creek of the educational work which was moved to Berrien Springs. The reopening is such only in a technical and legal sense, and the announcement was made for technical and legal purposes. No new educational work will be begun next fall, or at any other time, in consequence of the announcement which has been made. The educational work which will be done is simply the continuance of that which has been carried on ever since the Battle Creek College was announced to be closed, and since the opening of the work at Berrien Springs. The only difference will be that the work which has heretofore been done in private classes, and by tutors who are not legally qualified to give certificates which could be recognized by boards of regents and medical examining boards, will now be done by the same persons in the same way, but acting in the capacity of a legally constituted faculty who have the power to grant certificates and to confer degrees. So there is no occasion that any one should take alarm, or to suppose that there is any lack of faith on the part of anybody, or that any new or unexpected thing is being done. . . . The school at Battle Creek will be conducted in perfect harmony with the school at Berrien Springs. The president of the Emmanuel Missionary College is a member of the board of administration of Battle Creek College, and will take care to see that no steps are taken which could be detrimental to the interests of Emmanuel Missionary College. Certainly there is no member of the board of management who would willingly be connected with any such opposing movement. In the same issue the following extract from a communication from Sister White, dated Aug. 4, 1903, was printed:— There are many young men and young women among us who, if inducements are held out, would naturally be inclined to take several years’ course of study at Battle Creek. But will it pay? Has not the Lord some practical work to do in missionary lines? Manly young men will be needed to enter the printing-office when it is established in Washington, to learn the printer’s trade. Our publications are to be prepared to go forth to the world. Canvassers are to be educated to take up the work of circulating these publications. Our books and papers are to go to places that are still in the darkness of error. The Lord calls upon young men to enter our schools. Schools are to be established in which our youth can receive an education that will prepare them to go forth to do evangelical and medical missionary work. Let these schools be established out of the cities. . . . A school such as has been planned for should be in some place where the students would not be closely associated with the large numbers who are expected to patronize the sanitarium at Battle Creek. It is not wise to plan to maintain such a school in a place where a worldly element prevails to so great an extent as to counterwork that which the Lord has outlined should be done for our youth in our educational institutions. So many youth should not be brought together in Battle Creek. The Lord presented to us the reasons for removing the College from Battle Creek. This instruction should now be searched out and studied by those who are planning to organize another educational institution there. Let the light already given shine forth in its purity and beauty, that God’s name may be glorified. The first step toward making Battle Creek an educational center, which we openly opposed, was taken in 1903. At that time we were assured that ‘no new educational work will be begun next fall, or at any other time, in consequence of the announcement which has been made.’ Only two years have passed, and now this professedly innocent movement which disclaimed the possibility of its being ‘any such opposing movement’ as ‘could be detrimental to the interests of Emmanuel Missionary College,’ has developed into a self-styled university with forty courses leading to diplomas and degrees. We are not especially surprised, for we anticipated just such an outcome when the first step was taken. It is simply a part of the well-defined plan to make Battle Creek a center of influence and control in this denomination in spite of all the counsels and warnings to the contrary. Of course the managers of the Battle Creek Sanitarium are permitted to conduct their work according to their own ideas, and it is their privilege to disregard the instruction which comes to this people through the spirit of prophecy, but we purpose that our people shall understand these matters just as they are. When the true situation is clearly understood, then an intelligent choice can be made between denominational and undenominational work, and no one will be deceived. The time has come when those who desire that their sons and daughters should be helped to fill places of usefulness in the organized work of this denomination should know that they are not likely to attain this end by sending them to Battle Creek. There has been and there still is a strong, steady influence exerted from Battle Creek which tends to destroy confidence in, and respect for, the work and leadership of this denomination, and those who are held under this influence are likely to lose their desire to connect with the denominational work, or to make shipwreck of their faith altogether. It is high time that the parents and the young people of this denomination should be made acquainted with5these facts. Young people of the world who wish to avail themselves of the opportunities offered at Battle Creek to become nurses and physicians may do so without losing an experience which they never had, but, however great the facilities and opportunities offered for an education at little cost in money, we can not advise the young people who believe the truths of this message as they were given to this people, to go to Battle Creek for their training. These are plain words, but we know whereof we speak, and we speak thus plainly because the interests of this work and of this people demand it. The instruction which is now coming through the spirit of prophecy concerning this educational movement in Battle Creek is of the same nature as that which has come in the past. We quote the following paragraphs from a communication dated June 28, 1905:— I say to our churches, Beware of the representations coming from Battle Creek that would lead you to disregard the warnings given by the Lord about the effort to make that a great educational center. Let not your sons and daughters be gathered there to receive their education. Powerful agencies have been stealthily working there to sow seeds of evil. I must speak plainly. It is represented to me that the condition of things is just what we were warned that it would be unless the messages of heaven were received by the leaders of the medical work in Battle Creek. But notwithstanding the warnings given, some to whom they have been sent stand up in self-confidence, as if they knew all that it was needful for them to know. They claim that they are right in the sight of God, while they disregard the very warnings God has given, and deny every danger. Thus they show their need of turning away from the seductive spirit that is working to destroy faith in the messages of warning given in the past. Very adroitly some have been working to make of no effect the Testimonies of warning and reproof that have stood the test for half a century. At the same time they deny doing any such thing. Again I say to all, Keep your families away from Battle Creek. Those who have so often opposed the efforts to remove from Battle Creek will some of them be seduced from the truth. The warnings that have come were none too soon. The Lord will again visit Battle Creek in judgment. Those who wish to train their families to be workers in the cause of the Lord can not afford to place them under the seducing influences that will tend to spoil their faith and lead them to become infidels. I warn those who have acted and are acting a part in this seductive work, to break the spell that is upon them. There is no mistaking the issue. It is time for each one to make his choice. This message will neither be superseded by a new philosophy nor overthrown by the influences which have worked against it. Other movements have succumbed under just such experiences as this, but there is a vitality in this final message of preparation for the coming of the Lord. God gave this message to this people; God has preserved it thus far; and God will carry it through. ‘We have not followed cunningly devised fables.’ We urge all our people to follow the light which has guided us safely in all the trying experiences of the past. It will not mislead us.