Who Should Attend the Healdsburg School?
By S. N. Haskell
THERE is at the present time no question of more importance than this. We are not looking forward to the future like those who do not believe in present truth. Our school is a missionary school, and its object is not merely to throw good influences around our children and youth, but to educate men and women to labor in the cause of God. There are scores of persons who feel the burden of the work of God upon them—those who have borne the responsibilities of life, and have matured judgments—who should attend the school at Healdsburg. A special course of instruction is given for the benefit of that class. It is not expected that such will take a regular course of study in common text-books, like the youth and ordinary students, but they will be instructed how to hold Bible-readings, and to do colporteur work. Instruction will also be given in the home missionary work, such as will be adapted to the wants of the people. As far as possible the school will be patterned after the school of the prophets. There persons received instruction for a short period, and then went out to labor. If they found themselves deficient and unqualified, they returned to the school. Priests, ministers, and prophets were connected with that school. It is such a school that is designed, with the help of God, to be held at Healdsburg. Habits of industry, the art of reaching the hearts of the people, and the best manner of instructing them in the things of God, will be taught. While at Reno, Nevada, a few weeks ago, two brethren spoke of attending the school for the objects above mentioned. We believe that this is right, and that God will bless them in it. There should be not less than fifty men and women of the same class from California, and half as many more from Oregon and Washington Territory at the school this coming winter. The next spring they should go forth to labor in the great harvest-field. The judgments of God are already in the earth, and when they begin to come they will not return. The prophet says: "Behold, the plagues are sent, and shall not return again, until they come upon the earth. Like as an arrow which is shot of a mighty archer returneth not backward; even so the plagues that shall be sent upon the earth shall not return again. Behold, famine and plague, tribulation and anguish, are sent as scourges for amendment." The present season has been especially marked by the judgments of God. Not a week passes during which some terrible calamity does not come upon some portion of this country, by cyclones, tornadoes, and storms, upon land and sea. A captain who has followed the sea from his youth said last spring in New York that there never had been a time in his experience when he dreaded to cross the Atlantic Ocean as now. The earthquake in Oceanica exceeded in destruction any of which we have any record. It is now estimated that the number of lives lost will reach one hundred thousand. The effect of the tidal wave accompanying it was felt in the Bay of San Francisco six thousand miles distant. This has followed close upon the destructive earthquake which occurred upon the Island of Ischia a few weeks ago. These indications of God's wrath increase in terribleness and frequency. What we do for the salvation of our fellow-men must be done quickly, and God's providence has given us a place and teachers to qualify men for this work. We have no time to lose. If we had fifty years in which to labor, we could wait until ordinary circumstances would lead individuals to attend the school. But men are wanted who can appreciate the importance of the present work, men who will make circumstances conform to the duties of the present hour. Teachers are also needed in our various churches, to take our children and lead them to a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and educate them for Heaven; also to give instruction in the missionary work. The common schools of the present day, where the Bible is excluded, cannot meet our needs, neither can the teachers who are educated in them appreciate our wants, without special training. It is the instruction received from a school adapted to this special work which is needed to qualify men and women for usefulness in a time like this. We should feel the importance of availing ourselves of these privileges, and engage in the work of enlightening others. We are thankful to see a school established on the principles that govern the school at Healdsburg.