What Hath God Wrought

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 30, 1906

“What Hath God Wrought”

There is probably no other work being carried on by the people of God in these last days which is of so much importance, and upon which the progress of this message so largely depends, as the educational work. “Our youth are our hope for missionary labor.” Many and many a time have we read those sentences dictated by the Spirit of the Lord which place before us the fact that the youth of to-day who are coming upon the stage of action are to bear the heavy burdens in the front of the battle which have in the past been carried by our aged pioneers. “Upon Christian youth depend in a great measure the preservation and perpetuity of the institutions which God has devised as means by which to advance his work.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. IV, page 434; see also Vol. V, pages 128, 129.

Through the spirit of prophecy the Lord has said concerning his schools in general, “One great object of our schools is the training of youth to engage in service in our institutions and in different lines of gospel work.” These youth are to be “trained according to his plan of growth and development.”—Id., Vol. VI, pages, 133, 127. These thoughts should ever be kept in mind by those who have to deal with the younger members of the Lord’s family.

Probably there is no other school in our ranks to which the Lord has given so much instruction concerning what it should be and how it should be conducted, as to the Avondale school. It is a well-known fact that his specially ordained servant was in the field when the school was established. The Lord especially directed in the selection of the site; and as the years come and go, we who are here on the ground can see more and more wisdom in the selection. The Lord has given abundant evidence that no mistake was made.

A few statements from unpublished Testimonies might not be out of place in this connection, to reveal to us God’s designs for this school: “The school instituted in Cooranbong is to be a pattern school.” “God designs that this place shall be a center, an object-lesson. Our school is not to pattern after any school that has been established in America, or after any school that has been established in this country.” “This school is to be a shining light, a blessing to others.” “Missionary work is to be done on this ground; for this is missionary soil.” “In this school, if all will act a part in sustaining it, a missionary work will be done, the far-reaching influence of which few can realize.” In other places Avondale is spoken of by the spirit of prophecy as the Lord’s farm, “his own schoolroom.”

During the early part of this present school year, considerable time was spent by the teachers and students in studying these Testimonies, and deep impressions were made upon the minds of many as to the responsibilities which rest upon us as teachers and students connected with an institution of the Lord’s own planting. It certainly does inspire our hearts to greater earnestness when we ponder such statements as have been cited, and also when we contemplate that “God’s Spirit moves upon persons to come here to make something of them. . . . God wants to do something for each of us. This work is an individual work, a personal work.”

One very interesting feature connected with this study was to note how fully the words of the Lord have been fulfilled in the preparation of laborers for the field. It is the object of this article to review some of these facts, as we believe that our people throughout the entire field will appreciate them.

Of the six hundred and ninety students who have been or are in attendance at the school since its first year, 1897, we find just about fifty per cent in the field at work, or seeking further preparation. This percentage does not include those who are doing an excellent work in connection with their home churches and neighborhoods, neither those who have in the past been engaged in the work, but have dropped out. Thirty per cent of the old students are actively engaged in the work, some as ministers of the gospel, some as State canvassing agents, and others as nurses, teachers, tract society secretaries and accountants, stenographers, canvassers and foreign missionaries. From the information we have at hand, fourteen of our students are in office, tract society, and publishing work; about forty are canvassing and doing a very successful work; twelve are engaged in evangelical work in the home fields; forty-three are engaged in medical study and nursing; twenty-one are teaching in the home fields; and twenty-two are engaged in various lines of work in foreign fields.

As an illustration of the work done by our students in the canvassing field, I will refer to the canvassing reports for November of last year, this month being the first month of the summer vacation. Of the ninety-one canvassers in the field, thirty-six were former students. Our students obtained orders valued at about $5,090 (£1,018), leaving the value of orders obtained by the remaining canvassers as $4,585 (£917). Brethren Harold Harker and A. G. Mackenzie, two of our former students, are now acting as State canvassing agents in Victoria and New Zealand respectively.

The superintendent of the North Queensland Mission, Pastor G. A. Wantzlick, spent a short time at the school in its early days, and Brother A. H. Piper, superintendent of our Cook Island Mission, no doubt often calls to mind his experiences in the pioneering days of the Avondale school. Among our students are numbered Brother Thorpe, who is now in charge of our mission in Tonga; also Brother and Sister E. C. Davey, who have been conducting the medical branch of our work in Singapore during the past year. Sister Davey, writing recently, speaks of conducting a small school of seventeen Chinese and Japanese children.

The names of two of the members of the Avondale school faculty for the past two years find a place among the six hundred and ninety students. Church-schools are being conducted very successfully by our former students in the following places: Wellington and Napier, N. Z.; Launceston and Hobart, Tasmania; North Fitzroy, Victoria; two in West Australia; one in South Australia; Stanmore, Bathurst,

Eugowra, New South Wales. Miss Ella Boyd has a school of about thirty pupils in Tonga, and Brother Mark Carey is now conducting the school in Rarotonga formerly taught by Miss Evelyn Gooding, who was also one of the first students of our school, her failing health making it necessary for her to leave Rarotonga for a time. Brother S. W. Carr and his wife and Miss Sybil Read are doing a good work in connection with the school in Fiji for the training of native workers for the islands to the north of that group. He reports an enrolment of fifteen at the present time.

Many of the regularly employed nurses in the Sydney Sanitarium began their nurse’s training course at the Avondale school. Others are engaged in our cafés and treatment rooms, and some as evangelistic nurses.

The school has recently been called upon to supply a worker in literary lines to act as proof-reader and assistant editor of The Signs of the Times, in their new office at Warburton. We are glad to report that we were able to answer this call. In addition to these already mentioned, ministerial laborers, Bible workers, and colporteurs are to be found doing faithful service in almost every conference in the union, and stenographers, secretaries, and accountants, numbering from one to ten in each State.

I will quote further from the Testimonies of God’s Spirit: “From this center we are to send forth missionaries. Here they are to be educated and trained, and sent to the islands of the sea and other countries. The Lord wants us to be preparing for missionary work. . . . Some who are here may feel that they must go to China, or other places, to proclaim the message.”

It is with feelings of thankfulness to God that we are able to bear testimony to the fulfilment of these words. The names of some who are in the islands of the sea have already been mentioned. Among others we find the name of Brother Wm. Meyers, who has in charge the canvassing work in Ceylon, India, and Burma. He reports good success in reaching the people of these lands with literature containing present truth, and is hopeful that ere long some will decide to follow in the footsteps of our Saviour. Brother and Sister Albert White are to be found in the heart of Africa, assisting in the training of native workers in the Somabula Mission. At the time of writing two more of our students, Brother Arthur Allum and his wife (nee Miss Eva Osborne) are on the broad ocean sailing to their field of labor in Honan, China, the field for which their hearts have yearned so long. No doubt the Lord saw these two young people in this school with the desire they had, when he dictated the words quoted above. At the time these words were spoken, neither of them had visited the school.

Brother Fred Parker has now been in Singapore about two months. The Lord is indeed blessing his efforts to bring the truth as contained in Brother Uriah Smith’s book on Daniel and the Revelation before the people of that great and important center. He reports an average of sixty orders a week for the first three weeks’ work. During the first eight and one-half days he gave one hundred and thirteen canvasses, taking eighty-eight orders, valued at £64 16s. 6d., five orders to every six canvasses, and this in the midst of very bitter opposition on the part of the local missionaries. Most of his work is done in the early mornings before breakfast, and in the evenings. Brother Robert Caldwell, for several years State canvassing agent in West Australia, has also done an excellent work with our health books and “Desire of Ages” in Singapore, Siam, the Philippines, and Hongkong.

Thus we see that our students are located in every conference in this union, and also in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Rarotonga, Singapore, the Philippines, Ceylon, China, Africa, England, and the United States. Our hearts are full of gratitude to God that he has given us a part in the training of these faithful young people, and it gives us great encouragement to see them leaving our shores from time to time to enter the ripening harvest-fields. Truly, it can be said of this school, as was said of Jacob and Israel of old, “What hath God wrought!” “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” To his name be all the glory.

Avondale, Cooranbong, N. S. W., Australia.