p. 31 | Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 48. (11/26/1908)

Earlier text: First-Fruits in German East Africa

Schools and Missions

By Frederick Griggs

THE heathen world is awakening to the benefits of Christianity, but it is to be questioned whether in this it is not looking more to temporal than to spiritual benefits. The uplift of the heathen, however, depends upon his grasp of the principles of Christianity. Fundamental among these is unselfish intelligent service. The Christian religion seeks to develop the whole man,—to restore in him the lost image of his divine Maker. In this work, education plays a most important part. The object of the Christian in all matters of education should be to prepare for intelligent service in gospel work. Consequently every Christian should seek to give his child an education of which pure religion is the warp and woof. It is only by recognizing God’s hand in all things that the facts of knowledge can be properly interpreted, and given their true setting; and thus only can skepticism be avoided, and a pure, saving faith established.

Believing this, Seventh-day Adventists have developed a system of education which takes the child at the primary school, and conducts him through a systematic course of study, embracing all grades to the completion of a college course. It is the earnest endeavor throughout the entire curriculum to hold before the child, as he grows to manhood, the one only true ideal,—that of Christian service. To this end the students are educated for the ministry, to be teachers, physicians, nurses, editors, musicians, and for all lines of business work necessary to the carrying forward of the great enterprises of gospel work. In this system are about five hundred fifty primary schools, doing work up to and completing the grammar grades, and nearly seventy-five preparatory schools and colleges. After finishing a course of study at an academy or college, special courses of instruction are offered in the Foreign Mission Seminary, located at Washington, D. C., to those purposing to do mission service in heathen lands.

This system of schools extends into all portions of the world. There are advanced schools for the training of Christian workers in England, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore, South Africa, West Indies, and the South Pacific Islands. At nearly every mission station operated by the denomination, a well-organized school is established, generally of an industrial nature. In all grades of these schools, exclusive of those at the mission stations, there are nearly fifteen thousand pupils, about one third of whom are in the colleges and preparatory schools. Industrial education is a prominent feature of all the courses of instruction, over seven thousand acres of land being connected with these schools for the purpose of teaching agriculture. Many other enterprises, such as bakeries, broom factories, printing plants, carpenter shops, apiaries, and the like, are also connected with these schools. The total property value of the schools is about two million dollars.

GIRLS' SCHOOL, CANTON, CHINA
AVONDALE SCHOOL, N. S. W. — GIRLS' SCHOOL, CANTON, CHINA AVONDALE SCHOOL, N. S. W.

More than half of this world is in ignorance of Christ, but as God is no respecter of persons, the souls of those who know him not are valued as highly by him as are those who know and appreciate his great sacrifice of love, and they should have the most intelligent service possible given them. Consecrated, native-born evangelists and teachers are absolutely necessary for the maintenance and advancement of the gospel in heathen lands. But consecration is not all that is necessary. These natives, in order to do efficient work, must be intelligent. This requires schools especially adapted to their needs. An essential feature in the education of many heathen is manual work. Generally speaking, these peoples do not appreciate the value and dignity of labor; by many it is even looked upon as menial and degrading. Industrial education assists them in the development of strong, well-balanced characters. It teaches them the great principles of sacrifice and service.

UNION COLLEGE,
COLLEGE VIEW, NEB. — UNION COLLEGE, COLLEGE VIEW, NEB.

A great educational reform movement is sweeping over the Orient. This is particularly manifested in China. Three years ago the empress dowager, by one stroke of her pen, changed the entire educational system of China. The hoary chains of conservatism, which for thousands of years had held four hundred million people in the bondage of superstition and stagnation, were thus snapped asunder, and the gates opened to the highway of freedom and progress. Without doubt national and commercial motives almost wholly inspired this great change; but he who views the affairs of nations with the clear eye of faith sees in this and in

similar movements in other lands most glorious opportunities for the development of native-born gospel workers by means of a Christian education. The purposes of a Christian education and of gospel work are one, and they must be united in mission work.

FREDERICK GRIGGS, Chairman Educational Department.

The Foreign Mission Seminary

By H. R. Salisbury

The belief that the gospel of the kingdom must go to all the world in this generation has made Seventh-day Adventists a people of great missionary activity. The rapid development of the foreign mission movement among this people has resulted in sending hundreds of their representatives to the regions beyond. In nearly every country of the globe they have mission stations well-manned and in active operation.

In order to strengthen these outposts, to answer the great number of calls of those who desire a better knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to reach the millions who sit in darkness, it has been found necessary to establish an institution whose aim is to give the special training needed to prepare men and women for this great work. This institution, known as the Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, is located at Takoma Park, Washington, D. C., and is under the supervision of the Mission Board of Seventh-day Adventists. Into the Seminary are gathered young men and women from every part of the United States as well as from other countries, who wish to prepare for mission work. A thorough course is provided for those who are in training to go to foreign fields. This course includes those subjects, both theoretical and practical, which are necessary to give an all-round training, in order that the missionary, when he reaches the field to which he has been sent, may be able to adapt himself more readily to his new environment, and to the manners of a strange people with customs differing so widely from those of his native land, and master the language of the country. Of the subjects taught, the Bible is given the first place, and the student is encouraged to give much time to the study of this Book of books, that he may have a deep, reverent knowledge of the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. To this subject is added a course in the history of the Christian Church in its conflict in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The study in history also includes that of the nation to which the student is preparing to go, and the history of the religion that must be displaced in the hearts and minds of the people, in order that the gospel of Christ may reign supreme in its place.

SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND, AFRICA, AMERICA, AND NEW ZEALAND

Appreciating the fact that the fields yet unentered, or those in which the least work has been done, are the most unhealthful of mission fields, and lie mainly in tropical countries, much stress is laid upon the necessity of gaining a knowledge of simple treatments and tropical hygiene, that the health of the missionary may be preserved while living in an unhealthful climate, away from medical aid, and that he may intelligently deal with the diseases with which the natives suffer, that their bodies as well as their souls may be benefited by his ministry.

Aside from these regular courses in the Bible, history, tropical hygiene, and languages, there are also classes in pedagogy, music, public speaking, church organization, etc., that will equip the missionary to meet and overcome the many difficulties which beset him in his battle with superstition, vice, and ignorance, and that will enable him to establish in the hearts of his hearers an intelligent knowledge of the true God.

While pursuing these important studies, the volunteers for foreign missions are breathing a missionary atmosphere. The reports they receive from the mission fields afford an opportunity to study many of the great problems they will have to meet in the field. All this prepares the mind for the realities to be met when they begin actual work.

H. R. SALISBURY; President.

Our Missionary Volunteers and Foreign Missions

By M. E. Kern

The Young People's Society of Missionary Volunteers has for its motto, “The advent message to all the world in this generation.” Mission study has been a regular part of the work of our young people since the beginning of their organization, and missionary giving is one of the outlets for the interest thus created. About one half of the regular programs are devoted to missionary topics. The reading course conducted by this department is also strongly missionary in character.

Aside from the general offerings to foreign missions, the Missionary Volunteers of various sections have interested themselves in specific fields. For instance, the young people in one conference are supporting a dozen native workers; in another conference a society supports a Chinese native worker; a Nebraska society contributes fifteen dollars a week for the work in Nyassaland; and the young people of a Western conference provide for the support of a school in Rome. The reader need not be told that these young people are especially interested in these respective fields.

M. E. Kern, Chairman.

Illustrations of Gospel Work

By Editor

THE illustrations in this issue which deal with the different phases of gospel work have been furnished by our own representatives in the various fields, and represent work actually being done by Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. It seems necessary to state this fact in order to guard against the misapprehension that we have drawn from other sources in order to make a more favorable showing. Some illustrations of a general character have been used for the sake of variety, and to aid the reader in obtaining a more intelligent idea of the mission fields.

An Appeal for Missionary Help

In the year 1906 seventy-six new laborers entered our mission fields; in 1907, fifty-eight; and this year will very likely close with the largest number sent out by our Board in any one year. The workers this year have gone to strengthen the forces in Europe, South Africa, East Africa, Sierra Leone, Egypt, the Abyssinian border, Syria and Asia Minor, India, the East Indies, South America, China, Korea, Japan, West Indies, Mexico, and Central America. And every worker added abroad means added responsibility to pray and give at home.

The facts stated in this paper constitute in themselves an urgent appeal for help in carrying the advent message speedily to all the people of every nation. This great truth of the imminence of our Lord's return is being emphasized less and less, and seems to have been lost sight of entirely by many professed teachers of the gospel. Those who feel the importance of proclaiming throughout the world the nearness of the Saviour's coming may feel impressed to make donations for the benefit of this movement. The help thus received will be conscientiously used in the great effort to give the advent message to all the world in this generation.

A General Survey of the Field

Survey of Our Mission Fields — The Support of Missions ........4, 5

China

Missionary Operations in China — Advancement — An Evangelist’s Experience — The Sign Over the Door — A Providential Opening ........6, 7

Japan and Korea

The Advent Message in Japan — A Blaze of Light in Korea ........8, 9

India

A Great Empire — A Leper Who Was Healed — On the Edge of Famine — India Astir — Heard Among India’s Women ........10, 11

The Levant

The Levant Union Mission — In a Typical Armenian Village — In Catholic Europe — The Jerusalem Sanitarium ........12, 13

Russia and Siberia

The Russian Empire — Progress Amid Trial — Tribes of the Caucasus — How Liberty Was Proclaimed — At the Foot of Mt. Ararat ........14, 15

The Gospel of Health

The Medical Missionary Work — The Place of Health Institutions in Gospel Work ........16, 17

South America

“The Neglected Continent” — Our Work in South America — A Medical Missionary’s Letter ........18, 19

Mexico

Montezuma’s Country — Encouraging Experiences — Selling Literature ........20, 21

Missionary Literature

One Million Dollars’ Worth of Gospel Literature a Year — Literature as a Pioneer in Establishing Modern Missions — The Power of the Printing-Press in the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century — Luther’s Ink-Bottle ........22, 23

Between Two Continents

The Islands of the West ........24, 25

The Dark Continent

On the Altar of Africa — In Matabeleland — Our African Stations — First-Fruits in German East Africa ........26, 27

Australia and Polynesia

In the Pacific — The Island Fields — Battakland — The Island of Java — The New Printing-Office — The Buresala Training-School ........28, 29

Education

Schools and Missions — The Foreign Mission Seminary — Our Missionary Volunteers and Foreign Missions ........30, 31

General Articles

The Development of the Advent Movement ....................

A Statement of Belief ....................

Religious Liberty ....................

The Trumpet That Awakes the Saints

“WHERE is the trumpet to be found that shall sound a loud enough and long enough peal to awake God's sleeping saints?”

Mission Stations in East Africa

THIS month our vice-president in Europe, L. R. Conradi, is doubtless visiting the mission stations in British and German East Africa. It is planned to open a new station in the German territory, on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza.

Gifts for Foreign Missions

GIFTS for foreign missions may at any time be sent to the treasurer of our Mission Board, I. H. Evans, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C., and will be thankfully acknowledged, and forwarded to the needy fields. Week by week the mails bring to our Board news of advance in every quarter, and appeals for more missionaries and more means with which to enter wide-open doors.

The Printing Press as a Preacher

THE printing-press is the greatest of preachers, and the figures found in the article on the twenty-second page, furnished by E. R. Palmer, the secretary of our Publishing Department, bear testimony to this fact. It seems like a loud voice when “one million dollars’ worth of gospel literature a year” relating to the advent message is scattered in fifty-four languages.

Sabbath-School Offerings for Missions

MORE than twenty years ago the suggestion was made that the weekly collections made in the Sabbath-schools of this denomination should be devoted to evangelistic work outside of America. The plan was adopted, and during the first year the offerings amounted to something over $16,000. Year by year the donations have steadily increased until in 1907 the total sum thus donated was $71,475.59. This is a practical illustration of a very important principle in raising funds for mission work; namely, that a steady, constant stream of small donations will result in a substantial amount at the close of each year.

To the Public

By I. H. EVANS

All the proceeds derived from the distribution of this issue, are dedicated to Foreign Missions. The distributors who carry with them official solicitors' cards are authorized to solicit donations in behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission Board, and we assure the donors that the funds contributed to such persons will be transmitted through the regular denominational agencies to the treasurer of the Mission Board, and by him applied for the advancement of mission work in those fields in which such work is carried forward by this denomination. Funds designated as being donated to specific fields will be applied in harmony with the expressed wishes of the donors.

I. H. EVANS, Treasurer.

A Perpetually Conquering Church

By Pierson

A CHURCH universally witnessing to the gospel; a church systematically giving; a church perpetually praying—that is the church perpetually conquering, before whose banners every stronghold of Satan must fall.—Pierson.

Missionary Training School in Russia

We see by the report of a General Conference Committee meeting in Europe, that it is hoped next year to have a missionary training-school established in southern Russia. We in America will be expected to help our Russian brethren in this enterprise.