p. 19 | Review and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 43. (8/31/1916)

Seventh-day Adventists and Medical Education

By Newton Evans, M. D.; Percy T. Magan, M. D.

SCATTERED throughout the writings of the Spirit of prophecy are a number of statements to the effect that medical missionaries will fill a large and important place in the closing work of mercy which God is carrying on in the earth. The idea is there set forth that this class of laborers will be permitted to carry on their work long after all others have been compelled to cease their efforts.

The colossal upheaval of the human race which at the present time is convulsing the world, is the greatest “pentecost of calamity” which has been visited upon the earth since the days when God destroyed the inhabitants of the world by the flood. There is a welter of war which verily is bleeding Europe white. On the battle fields, men by the hundreds of thousands suffer indescribable tortures. In the homes which they have left, there is sorrow so great that it cannot be pictured, want so terrible that it cannot be portrayed, and in many places, famine so awful that it makes the heart shudder to think of it.

Such conditions will continue with but little respite till the Son of man comes again in the clouds of heaven. Viewed from one angle of vision, it would seem that, in a certain sense, these judgments are God’s mighty call to his people to prepare men and women whose especial work will be to minister to the suffering and to heal the sick. Because of its woes, the world will permit laborers skilled in this line to follow their vocations even if their religious views are not in harmony with those of the majority of mankind.

Seventh-day Adventists have built up a more thorough and complete educational system than any other religious denomination on earth. Provision has been made for training the children and youth in our own church institutions, from their earliest school years until they complete the college courses; and the judgment alone will reveal the number of young men and women who have been saved to the kingdom of God by these instrumentalities. Few indeed are the Adventist youth in worldly colleges and seminaries.

Turning now to the training of laborers in medical missionary lines: For a long time the idea seems to have prevailed that such work would have to be done in institutions conducted by those not of our faith. Only in recent years has an attempt been made to conduct a Seventh-day Adventist medical college. The pathway of this institution has been beset with difficulties and discouragements. The educating of physicians is very complex, exceedingly costly, and is regulated by civil law to a greater degree than any other branch of learning. Only the faith which the Seventh-day Adventist people have in the Word of God and in the Spirit of prophecy could ever have led them to undertake such an enterprise. An unflinching faith that God is calling for medical evangelists and physicians, and calling upon us to train them in our own school, alone will enable this institution to fill the place which God designs it should in the world.

The instruction which has been sent upon this matter is clear and plain, and the following words illustrate well the goal to be aimed at:—

“As pointed out about the time this school was founded, we must provide that which is essential to qualify our youth who desire to be physicians, so that they may intelligently fit themselves to stand the examinations required to prove their efficiency as physicians. They should be taught to treat understandingly the cases of those who are diseased, so that the door will be closed for any sensible physician to imagine that we are not giving in our school the instruction necessary for properly qualifying young men and women to do the work of a physician. Continually the students who are graduated are to advance in knowledge, for practice makes perfect.”

“The medical school at Loma Linda is to be of the highest order, because those who are in that school have the privilege of maintaining a living connection with the wisest of all physicians, from whom there is communicated knowledge of a superior order. And for the special preparation of those of our youth who have clear convictions of their duty to obtain a medical education that will enable them to pass the examinations required by law, of all who practice as regularly qualified physicians, we are to supply whatever may be required, so that these youth need not be compelled to go to medical schools conducted by men not of our faith. Thus we shall close a door that the enemy would be pleased to have left open; and our young men and women, whose spiritual interests the Lord desires us to safeguard, will not feel compelled to connect with unbelievers in order to obtain thorough training along medical lines.”—“Counsels to Teachers,” pp. 480, 481.

To those who are acquainted with the pitfalls and temptations which beset the Seventh-day Adventist youth in worldly medical colleges, this quotation will appeal with much force. In the first place, the Adventist student in attendance upon a worldly medical college is at once brought face to face with the question of Sabbath classes. Nearly all, if not all, the medical colleges of the land conduct class work and clinics on Saturday. In order to secure his grades, the student must be present at eighty per cent of all lectures and laboratory periods. In many instances, if he is not present on Saturdays, this is impossible.

Because of this many of our youth have compromised with worldly custom and broken the fourth commandment. They quiet their conscience by telling themselves that they will return to their allegiance to God when they shall have finished their course. But the seed has been sown, the twig has been bent, and the tree of their life is thereafter marked by a carelessness, if not by an utter disregard, of the claims of God’s sacred law. Many times students will manage to get along with this matter during the first two years of their course, and then will be confronted with the alternative of breaking the Sabbath or leaving school. Can Seventh-day Adventists be clear before God and permit their sons and daughters to be put into the position where they are led into such almost overmastering temptation?

Because of this state of affairs, many of our youth who started out with the intention of fitting themselves for the service of God, have not only abandoned this idea, but have given up their faith. Out of seventeen Seventh-day Adventist medical students who were classmates in the same school, only three are now keeping the Sabbath. Three brothers entered another medical school. Their mother was a most godly woman whose prayers had followed them from their earliest years that they might become laborers in the Master’s vineyard. All three are today out of the truth. A letter received

not long ago from a Union Conference president states that every Seventh-day Adventist medical student in one of our largest cities is attending Sabbath classes.

Training in worldly schools is likely to place a wrong mold upon those of us who are physicians, and this, in turn, may bring in principles and practices to our medical work which are not in harmony with the mind of God. Warnings have been sent us concerning this danger:—

“This proposed school at Loma Linda must be molded by the early spirit of the message. . . . We are now farther from the pattern than when our medical work first started.”—Medical Evangelistic Library, No. 4, p. 32.

“I was shown how that now in a special sense we as a people are to be guided by divine instruction. Those fitting themselves for medical missionary work should fear to place themselves under the direction of worldly doctors, to imbibe their sentiments and peculiar prejudices, and to learn to express their ideas and views. . . .

“It is a dangerous thing to catch the spirit of the world; the popularity which such a course invites will bring into the work a spirit which the Word of God cannot sanction.”—The Medical Evangelist, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 1, 2.

“Some have advised that our students should, after taking some work at Loma Linda, complete their medical education in worldly colleges. But this is not in harmony with the Lord’s plan.”—Id., Vol. I, No. 5, p. 6.

There is great danger that the “popularity” which a medical course invites will lead our youth astray. The practice of medicine is about the only one of the distinctive lines of our work from which money can be readily and easily made. Because of this it is all the more necessary that our medical workers should be trained by men who will constantly impress upon their students the importance of the spirit of self-sacrifice which ever characterized the life of the Master.

NEWTON EVANS, M. D., Pres. College of Medical Evangelists. PERCY T. MAGAN, M. D., Dean.

Walla Walla College

By E. C. Kellogg

Walla Walla College was opened Dec. 7, 1892. It is located on an electric interurban line about two and one-half miles west of Walla Walla, a city of 22,000 inhabitants, situated in the celebrated Walla Walla Valley, justly noted for its orchards and gardens. The climate is mild and healthful. Seven splendid mountain streams and countless spring brooks flow through the valley to water its luxuriant vegetation. From these sparkling and musical streams the name “Walla Walla” is derived, meaning “many waters.” The college may be reached by two systems of railway: the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co., and the Northern Pacific Railway. A macadamized road has been constructed from Walla Walla through College Place.

Buildings and Grounds

The college building is a substantial brick structure of four stories, at the rear of an elevated campus comprising about ten acres, and commands a pleasing view of the Blue Mountains lying to the east and south. Connected with the main buildings are two brick dormitories with rooms and dining-room capacity for more than one hundred students. A little to the south of this structure is a neat and well-equipped normal building. A little to the north is the Walla Walla Sanitarium, a well-equipped medical and surgical institution built on the college campus, and conducted by the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This institution is of inestimable value to the school.

Adjacent to the campus, extending to the west and south, is the college farm, a fifty-acre tract of fruit and garden land, which supplies the home with an abundance and variety of produce for the table. Just north of the college building a six-inch well has been drilled to a depth of six hundred feet. This furnishes in an ever-flowing stream all the water that is needed about the buildings and farm.

WALLA WALLA COLLEGE, COLLEGE PLACE, WASH.

In connection with these important and necessary features, the college also conducts a food factory, a general merchandise store, and a printing office.

Religious Basis of Instruction

The college is under the control of the North Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It is the purpose of the managers that the work in various lines of study shall be conducted in such a manner as to inculcate confidence in the Bible, and lead as many as possible to the practical enjoyment of a genuine Christian experience. Accordingly, the study of the Holy Scriptures and of history interpreted in the light of prophecy, is made a prominent feature of the school. Each day religious services are held in the chapel, at which attendance is required. Morning and evening worship is also conducted in the home. Sabbath school is held every Sabbath, and the weekly prayer meeting is of especial interest. The Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Society is a strong organization. The Foreign Mission Band has a large membership.

Objects of the School

The objects for which Walla Walla College was founded are as follows:—

1. To serve as a training school for the education of young people from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

2. To help young men and women develop symmetrically their physical, mental, and moral natures, and to assist them in acquiring culture, refinement, and a Christian character.

3. To train laborers for the ministry, missionary teaching, and other branches of Christian work.

The Outlook for the Future

We believe the outlook for the college is the most favorable it has been during the history of the institution. This is not said because it is generally best to take an optimistic view of matters, but because we believe conditions are such as to warrant us in entertaining bright hopes for the future.

The college has an excellent faculty. The several members are well qualified for efficient work in their respective departments. They work together with the utmost unity and feeling of good will. This means much for the upbuilding of the school.

The institution likewise has an excellent class of students. They have high ideals. They are earnest, enthusiastic, and loyal to the college, and to the principles for which it stands. This also means much for the advancement of college interests.

There is an educational awakening throughout our field. More people are interested in advanced learning, more individuals are favorable toward the college, more brethren are praying for the institution, and more prospective students are planning to attend the school than ever before in its history. An unusually large number of letters have come to the college during the summer, stating a definite purpose of individuals to attend the coming year.

The leading men of the denomination look with appreciation upon the work of the school. Their words of commendation are reacting favorably for the advancement of the college. They look to the institution for laborers, and are not disappointed. Those taking positions have performed their work in a creditable way. This, too, gives added impetus to the onward movement.

Probably the greatest reason for expecting rapid advancement of the college in the future is the fact that it is a part of a rapidly advancing movement. The work of the third angel’s message is developing with great celerity. It is to be completed in a little while. In fact, it is to be cut short in righteousness. But it is a great work. Now, if the denomination

is to do much greater work during a very short time in the future than it is doing at present, it must increase its efforts with marked acceleration; and the college, as an important part of the great plan, must advance in its place in sympathy with the whole.

E. C. Kellogg, Pres. Walla Walla College.

Union College

By H. A. Morrison

A Record of More than Five Hundred Graduates

YOUNG men and women of today cannot hope to enter upon the duties of life and be victorious and eminently successful unless they have made for themselves, or have taken advantage of, opportunities for the receiving of a higher education. This fact is verified and emphasized by the statistics given in “Who’s Who in America.” In 1900 forty-six per cent of the individuals listed in this book were college graduates, while in 1914 seventy-two per cent were college graduates. This shows the rapidity with which college graduates are entering into the leadership of the world.

We have, however, a different work to do in the world; but it is a more important one, and should therefore merit as much or more effort in preparation. The world recognizes strong and efficient service. God’s cause demands consecrated, strong, and efficient service. Union College was founded that young men and women might be prepared for just such service. In the accomplishment of this purpose in many lives she has been successful.

It has been old Union’s privilege to train seven of the ten men at the head of our ten junior colleges, seminaries, and colleges. Three of the ten Union Conference presidents in the United States are former students of Union College. Aside from these this school has furnished a very large number of local conference presidents. Some of the teachers in all our colleges and in most of our academies received their training here.

If we should enter the mission fields of China, Japan, Korea, India, Africa, South America, or the islands of the sea, we should find men and women holding responsible places who received their ideals, their equipment for service, and their inspiration from this institution. Some who are in the New Hebrides, among the uncivilized and cannibalistic people of the world, belong to this group.

The great majority of the 545 graduates of Union College are engaged in the organized work of this denomination, and are using all their energy to bring the knowledge of Jesus and his coming to men and women who are in darkness. Their lives are consecrated to the giving of the third angel’s message to a dying world. In all, more than fifteen hundred have gone out from the doors of this well-known college to assist in proclaiming the gospel of peace and in finishing the work. We meet them in every conference, in every land, at every camp meeting, and find them rapidly entering into the leadership of this great movement.

During the past year the debt of Union College was entirely removed. To look back upon the great work this school has accomplished under hampering conditions of debt, only emphasizes the possibility that is hers in her new freedom. The board, faculty, students, and former students are praying that God will richly bless her endeavors as she moves forward in the training and developing of young people for his service.

The Bible department is the most popular one in the college, and a very large number of young men and women are availing themselves of the special opportunities offered for the training of ministers, Bible workers, and foreign missionaries. Having several returned missionaries on our faculty and in our student body is a means of great benefit and inspiration to our students. Last year we had the largest foreign mission band ever organized in Union, and we are looking forward to still greater interest the coming year. Though we have already sent out nearly two hundred into foreign fields, we know that many more are to be called into this service from this place in the near future. A large number have consecrated their lives to this special phase of the Lord’s work.

Prof. W. W. Prescott, first president of Union College, meeting with Unionites at South American Union Conference, La Plata, Argentina

The students who enter Union are an earnest and sturdy class of young people. Many of them earn their own way during either the vacation period or the school year. Last year forty-five earned all or part of their way in connection with the college, while more earned their way by canvassing. The inspiration, enthusiasm, and courage in this line of work enabled many of our students to earn their scholarships for the coming year in less than three weeks.

Aside from instruction in sewing, cooking, engineering, carpentry, etc., the college operates a printing plant, a commercial laundry, and a bakery. These departments provide a large amount of work for students. Last year the three together did $31,812 worth of work. A new dairy barn and milk house, with modern conveniences and sanitary equipment, is being erected. A herd of high-grade, registered Holstein cows is maintained. This department is worthy the effort put forth, both from the financial and from the educational point of view.

The college is well equipped with laboratories and library. More than six thousand volumes have been specially selected with the needs of our students in view. We shall be able to add more than one thousand books this coming year. In addition to this, our students have access to the State Library, Lincoln City Library, and the libraries of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln being a city of many colleges, the last two libraries consist of books specially chosen for students and for research work, and the general testimony is that they are among the best libraries of their kind.

The acquaintances that one makes here, and the friendships that one forms during college life, will be an inspiration and strength throughout the years to come. Its value cannot be measured. Those who go from Union College to enter upon their life work, go forth knowing that hundreds of strong, energetic, pure, true men and women have the same hope and faith, and are praying for their success as they enter the work of the Master, whether in foreign or home fields.

The universal testimony, both from the one who has a college education and from the one who has been deprived of it, is that no sacrifice is too great to make and no task too hard to undertake in order that one may avail himself of the opportunities offered in one of our colleges this coming year.

Union College has had the honor of training hundreds of men and women for a noble and grand service in the Master’s cause. Many are today planning to grasp the opportunities she holds out to those who will enrol with her for 1916-17.

It takes only desire, decision, and determination.

Young men and women need the power, inspiration, backing, and high ideals which Union College has for them.

Her high standing will become their high standing if they desire, decide, determine.

H. A. MORRISON, Pres. Union College.

The Reward of Fidelity

“Every time we do a thing carelessly, failing to put our highest thought and our greatest skill into it, we are lessening our ability to do good work. This is the penalty that unfaithfulness to duty carries with it. But whenever we put our best into our work, exercising care in the slightest detail, we are adding to our powers. This is the reward of fidelity to each opportunity.”

Channels of Blessing

“CHANNELS only, blessed Master, Yet with all thy wondrous power Flowing through us, thou canst use us. Every day and every hour.”

Emmanuel Missionary College

By L. H. Christian

The General Outlook

THE summer school of the Emmanuel Missionary College, at Berrien Springs, Mich., closed on August 3. This session was one of the best the school has ever enjoyed. There was an attendance of eighty-four, all but six of whom were teachers. Nearly every one was present from the first day to the last. The students and teachers did very efficient work. Several instructive lectures delivered during the school term were much appreciated. There was an excellent spiritual interest.

Immediately after the summer school a teachers’ institute was conducted for three days by the college president, Prof. O. J. Graf, and the Union educational secretary, Prof. C. A. Russell. Prof. W. E. Howell was present and rendered excellent help. Many vital school problems were carefully studied. The teachers of the Lake Union Conference are desirous of having our schools conform to the light given us in the Testimonies. Following the institute, two days were spent in a principals’ council. There are seven academies, one seminary, and one college in the Lake Union. At this council the leading teachers of these schools met for mutual study and planning.

The school work in the Lake Union Conference is progressing. Last year we had 132 church schools, an increase of forty over the previous year. In these schools we employed 145 teachers. Many more churches are desirous of having a school this year, but we are greatly hindered by the lack of teachers. There is a strong normal department at the college, under the direction of Miss Myrta M. Kellogg. It has been planned to strengthen this department for the coming year, and to secure, if possible, a large attendance. Many young people in the Lake Union who attend high schools or who teach in the public schools ought to take this advanced normal course at the college. Our need of educated workers in this Union is increasing every day, and our leaders are urging all our young people to attend our schools.

The Emmanuel Missionary College has an ideal location. Situated near a trolley line between two large cities, it is yet in a quiet country place. The college owns a large farm of 270 acres. We wish it were larger. The school ought now to secure more land. This, together with other enterprises, would give work to many students. Last year the students earned more than $20,000 on their tuition. In this Union we have many young men and women of limited means. Such youth will find it possible to secure an education at the college.

The Emmanuel Missionary College stands for Christian education and gospel simplicity. The work of the college is fully up to date. The academic work is placed on the credit list of the Ann Arbor University, one of the best universities in America. The dean of the graduate school of the university has made an investigation of the college faculty, library, and laboratory equipment. As a result, the university has decided to accept the four-year college course, and to enter our graduates in the university graduate school. While this shows that the college is fully up to the standard in the eyes of the world, it is not our purpose to urge students to work for a degree at any worldly school. We wish to train them only for the work of the Lord. The outlook for the college this coming year is very encouraging.

L. H. CHRISTIAN, Pres. Board of Managers.

Training Workers for God

By R. B. Thurber

Emmanuel Missionary College is advancing into the fulness of its work this year as never before. True to its name, it is coming more and more to be an institution of learning in which God dwells, and which trains for service at home and abroad. This year there is being established a ministerial department, which aims to correlate closely class and field work in evangelical lines. The writer well remembers the time some years ago when the faculty of one of our training schools very seriously questioned the advisability of permitting the formation of bands by students for the purpose of learning to preach by preaching, while yet in school. That situation we meet no more, and we have reached a point in our progress where we consider the field work of great importance in a ministerial course. Heretofore this laboratory work in the science of soul saving has been carried on in a more or less disorganized way, yet with considerable success.

EMMANUEL MISSIONARY COLLEGE, BERRIEN SPRINGS, MICH.

During the last two years hundreds of people in the vicinity of the college have heard the witness of this truth, several have joined our ranks, and the institution has grown much in favor with its neighbors,—all through the consecrated efforts of student activities in schoolhouses and homes.

Now it is planned to thoroughly organize and carefully direct this work, correlating the class work in Bible, history, and public speaking with the public efforts of student bands. Credits to apply on the ministerial and Bible workers' courses will be given to students who do acceptable field work. There are exceptional opportunities in the country near-by to conduct series of meetings. In classroom and field a member of the faculty will have special supervision of this work.

Already well represented by its former students in all parts and departments of the home work, and having gone far in supplying recruits for the foreign fields, Emmanuel Missionary College will this year give more attention to the inspiration and training of those who have distant lands in view. R. B. THURBER.

The Educational Outlook in the Lake Union Conference

By C. A. Russell

The varied educational interests in the Lake Union Conference are showing encouraging growth. Never were our people more awake to the demands of the hour in the training of our children and youth; and never were there more urgent demands that they should be awake. The trend of modern education, and the growing sentiment in favor of military training in the public schools, to say nothing of the ever-increasing demand for trained workers, are causing our people to heed the call which has been coming for so many years to place their children under the instruction and influence of Christian teachers in our schools.

Last year the number of church schools increased to 136. This year we could easily have 150 were it possible to secure competent teachers to answer the calls.

Nearly all of our seven academies were well patronized, one of these, Adelphian Academy, enrolling 120 students above primary grades.

Emmanuel Missionary College, our missionary training school, has enjoyed a liberal patronage. The pressing demand for normal-trained teachers is causing this department of the college to come in for a large share of attention. It is hoped that it will be filled to its capacity this year.

In our various schools there were enrolled last year 2,500 students. This represents about three fifths of our young people of school age. While this is encouraging, our hearts go out to the nearly 2,000 who are still in the schools of the world. What can be done to extend our school work so as to reach this army of recruits training for the world's work, and enlist them in the army of the Lord? This is our problem. "All the Children of All the Churches" is our goal, and we must never cease to pray and plan and work until the benefits of a Christian education are brought within the reach of all. C. A. RUSSELL,

Ed. Sec. Lake Union Conf.

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