It was the divine plan that the midnight cry and the third angel's message should be carried to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. God wanted an army trained to carry forth this practical religion to a world which had been educated away from the gospel order by the pagan and Papal systems of education.
We have seen that Christian education, as developed by the educational reformers in every Protestant denomination, made possible a mighty laymen's movement. We can understand how these self-supporting missionaries could quickly carry the message to the world. It was Satan's studied effort to thwart this self-supporting laymen's movement. He accomplished his desired results by exalting worldly literature to a place above the Bible; by consuming practically all the student's time in mental effort, and leading him to depreciate the practical in education; by leading to a gradual substitution of athletics, sports and games for manual labor. Satan is endeavoring to deceive the very elect, the remnant church.
The Protestant denominations could not "carry the message of present truth in all its fullness to other countries," because they did not "first break every yoke" of worldly education; they did not "come into the line of true education;" they did not educate to prepare a people to understand the message, and then give the message to the world." (Madison School, p. 28).
SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS AND TEACHERS:-- prophets sustained themselves by tilling the soil or in some mechanical employment... Many of the religious teachers supported themselves by manual labor." (C. E., p. 61). "Schools are to be established away from the cities where the youth can learn to cultivate the soil and thus help to make themselves and the school self-supporting... Let means be gathered for the establishment of such schools." (T. Vol. 7, p. 232). "The presentation in our schools should not be as it has been in the past in introducing many things as essential that are only of minor importance." (U. T., Jan. 9, 1909).
"Your school is to be an example of how Bible study, general education, physical education, and sanitarium work may be combined in many smaller schools that will be established in simplicity in many places." (U. T., Jan. 6, 1908). "We need schools that will be self-supporting, and this can be if teachers and students will be helpful, industrious, and economical... Sacrifices must be made on every hand."
(U. T., Jan. 24, 1907).
WORK FOR THE SELF-SUPPORTING LAYMEN:--"The time is coming when God's people, because of persecution, will be scattered in many countries, and those who have received an all-round education will have great advantage wherever they are." (Appeal for the Madison School). The apostle Paul "illustrated in a practical way what might be done by consecrated laymen in many places... There is a large field open before the self-supporting gospel worker... From heaven he receives his commission and to heaven he looks for his recompense when the work entrusted to him is done." (Acts, pp. 355-356).
Many educational reformers prior to 1844 were impressed by the Spirit of God to give a practical education in order that their students might be free to carry the truth to any field to which God might call. These reformers saw that the educational system in vogue in the Protestant churches was totally inadequate to prepare a missionary to dare to carry an unpopular truth contrary to the will of the leaders in those denominations. "Professor Finney of Oberlin College said, 'We have had the facts before our minds, that in general, the Protestant churches of our country as such were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age... The churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself from them.'" "The churches generally did not accept the warning. Their ministers ... had failed to learn the truth either from the testimony of the prophets or from the signs of the times... The fact that the message was to a great extent preached by laymen was urged as an argument against it... Multitudes, trusting implicitly to their pastors, refused to listen to the warning." (G. C., 376. 380).
HUNDREDS OF SELF-SUPPORTING. MISSIONARIES were sent out by this same President Finney of Oberlin who "laid down the somewhat ultra and startling dictum that nobody was fit to be a missionary who was not willing, with but an ear of corn in his pocket, to start for the Rocky Mountains." (Oberlin, p. 328). This was the spirit of faith and daring awakened in the hearts of students who were taught to make their way from the soil.
THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY was the educational department of the Congregational denomination, and its work was to superintend all the educational institutions of that denomination. Oberlin was established by godly men in the Congregational church who desired to make their school a means of training Congregational missionaries. "Some of the candidates for the ministry made application to that organization for financial help ... which step the trustees refused to countenance, but afterward, though grudgingly and unhandsomely allowed...
Oberlin entered into a prolonged tilt with the American Educational Society of which the provoking cause was contained in certain pet ideas of the founders, notably, the one with regard to self-support to be made easily possible through the sovereign virtues of manual labor."
OBERLIN'S EFFORT TO TRAIN SELF-SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES, was attacked by Hudson College, a Congregational school which attempted to injure the influence of Oberlin in the denomination. "Here was too good an opportunity for Hudson to miss." In January, 1837, came this unjust criticism from Hudson, "When Oberlin started it was said that students would support themselves, thus not needing help. It operated against the Educational Society, and many refused to contribute, so when Oberlin became convinced that its scheme was visionary, and sought aid for students, the Board asked them to say frankly that Oberlin was not self-supporting, in order to disabuse the public of that notion.
This has not been done... We are sorry they do not say right out 'We are not self-supporting.' So now it seems that Oberlin students cannot earn any more than others and need as much help. Thus Oberlin manual labor is no better than it is elsewhere." (Oberlin, pp. 249-250).
Oberlin was not always a favorite with sister institutions, and "was made to appear as a troubler in Israel, an Ishmaelite. Lane and Hudson had a grievance. Here was a shameless trespasser, a poacher upon their preserves." (Oberlin, p. 150). This was felt because of the "wholesale exodus of students who had flocked to Mr. Shipherd's school." The faculties of Lane and Hudson felt that "in all things, while Oberlin was radical, they were conservative. Yes, and Oberlin was overrun with students." and this in spite of the fact that "Oberlin wrought with all her might to restore to the churches the purely democratic polity of New England. Therefore, by a multitude of the good, Oberlin was abhorred and cast out as vile." "Oberlin is said to be manual labor, but so is Hudson. It is said that the students come from the east, but why should they come away from the excellent, long-tried, richly endowed, and well officered institutions in the older states to get an education in a meager and poorly furnished institute in the wilds of Ohio? Why should students be importuned to leave institutions where they are to go to Oberlin, as I understand has been extensively the case in this region?" So said Oberlin's critics.
THE MANAGERS OF OBERLIN FELT KEENLY THESE THRUSTS from their own brethren who occupied leading positions. The accusations were not true. Oberlin was sending hundreds of self-supporting missionaries to the Indians, the mountaineers of the South, to the freedmen, and to other needy fields. It aroused President Mahan to reply, "We do not feel called upon to say or do anything. We do not much care whether the Society aids our students or not. If we want help we can get it." "Thus stigmatized and cast out, what could Oberlin and her friends do but organize an educational society of her own? ... Oberlin was charged far and wide with the sin of schism, with being the foe to church union, with tugging with might and main to overthrow the ecclesiastical status quo... It was presently Oberlin's lot to be cast out as vile, and but for the existence of the association and other subordinate bodies affiliated with it, Oberlin's students would have been unable to secure either license or ordination."
In 1839, the Congregational church put this query in their church paper regarding Oberlin: "Shall young men go there expecting to get a thorough, classical, and theological education? Will such be received by the churches as pastors or missionaries? Is there any obligation to aid Oberlin as now constituted?"
In 1840, two Oberlin students "asked to be licensed, and their case was referred to a committee, which without the least questioning, simply asked if they believed in the doctrines taught at Oberlin and their way of doing things. Declining to answer such an inquiry, it was finally changed to this, 'Do you believe on the whole, that Oberlin is a good institution, or is it a curse to the world?' They then confessed that they thought it was good, and also believed the committee would think so too if they would spend a week there." The license was refused these Oberlin students. (Oberlin, pp. 251-255).
THE CONGREGATIONAL CONFERENCE then took this action toward Oberlin, "We deem it inexpedient for our churches to employ ministers known to cherish Oberlin ideas." In 1841, this question was raised by the Conference of Ohio, "Will baptism pass muster as valid if administered by an Oberlin man?" The question was referred to a committee which reported, "Oberlin ideas are exceedingly dangerous and corrupting, and these preachers should not be received by the churches as orthodox ministers, nor should their members be admitted to the communion." "In 1944, the General Conference of New York condemned the heresy and censured the Genessee Conference for winking at it... The American Board discharged two noble missionaries, Bradley and Casswell in Siam for the same reason... The Cleveland convention was held this year, but the conference with which the Oberlin church was connected was not invited to a share in its deliberations. Mr. Finney and President Mahan were present, but a motion that they be invited to sit as corresponding members was voted down, by a considerable majority as one delegate testifies. But much of the time was spent in denouncing Oberlin, and the chief object of the convention seemed to be to destroy its influence, and exclude it from the pale of orthodoxy.
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION FORMED:--"When Oberlin men would go as missionaries to the Northwest, it became necessary to bring into being, the Western Evangelical Missionary Society to send and support them, and when they undertook work in behalf of the negroes whether in Ohio, Canada or the West Indies or Africa, other organizations were required, which, in 1846, were united in the American Missionary Association, which also for years, with its operations, covered the home as well as the foreign field... The evil feeling which was very prevalent and widely extended found frequent expression in language like this: A delegate in the Cleveland Convention said, 'The influence of Oberlin was worse than that of Roman Catholicism.' The President of the Michigan University publicly avowed the belief that 'Oberlin theology was almost devilish.' Still another brother said, 'Brethren, I hate Oberlin almost as badly as I hate slavery, and you know I hate slavery as I hate the devil."
WHEN OBERLIN STUDENTS APPLIED TO THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY to be sent as missionaries to the Indians, the Society replied, "We cannot. You are good men, and we wish you well, but it will not do." At another time, "the Board instructed one of its missionaries to be careful how he associated with Oberlin men on terms of too great intimacy, lest they be poisoned by their influence." An Oberlin student had applied for a position as minister in a Congregational church. The examining board asked, "'If installed, will you allow President Mahan or Professor Finney of Oberlin to preach in your pulpit? And as he replied that he would, a half day was consumed in considering if they should proceed with the examination. When one spoke of the Oberlin brethren, another said, 'They are not brethren, they are aliens,' and almost the entire body was in sympathy with this statement." (Oberlin, pp. 249-265).
Oberlin was being baptized with fire. These experiences were taken, in the most part, in a kindly spirit. They attended to their own business, and sent out a constant stream of live, enthusiastic, successful, soul-saving missionaries. They were beginning to appreciate the truth of this wonderful statement concerning Christian education: "When we reach the standard that the Lord would have us reach, worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists as odd, singular, straight-laced extremists." (Mrs. E. G. White, R. & H., Jan. 9, 1894). "I want you to guard one point; do not be easily disturbed by what others may say. Know that you are right, and then go ahead... Do not be troubled by the opinions of those who talk for the sake of talking." (U. T., July 18, 1892). Remember that Mrs. E. G. White refers to Oberlin history when the institution was passing through these experiences by saying, "The churches generally are becoming sadly degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself from them." (G. C., p. 377)
Had Oberlin yielded to the demands of the church; had she not endeavored to obey God even under difficulties, she would never have accomplished what she did. For it was in the face of these experiences that she succeeded in placing more missionaries among the freedmen than all other American colleges combined. The spirit of the Lord helped Oberlin teachers to recognize under the conditions of that time, the principle in the following statement: "It is not the Lord's will that the work in the South shall be confined to the set, regular lines. It has been found impossible to confine the work to these lines, and gain success. Workers daily filled with zeal and wisdom from on high must work as they are guided by the Lord, waiting not to receive their commission from men." (-Selections from the Test., p. 62).
A MANUAL LABOR STUDENT OF OBERLIN BECOMES PRESIDENT:--The experience of Professor James H. Fairchild, who was connected with Oberlin for over sixty years, first as a student and then as a teacher, bears witness to the fact that Oberlin did make it possible for students to be self-supporting. Professor Fairchild writes, "A very obvious reason for choosing this institution was my financial limitations." Speaking of himself at seventeen, he says, "My parents could spare me from the farm, but could not furnish money even for tuition. Oberlin was a manual labor school, and my brother and myself, taking the first course together, were manual labor students. On our first arrival we were put in charge of the lath-sawing in the mill, four hours a day, five cents an hour. This provided for our expenses the first year. The next and following years we worked as carpenters and joiners on the college buildings and the homes in the colony. By such labor, re-enforced by the wages of teaching in vacation, we earned our way through the entire course, without any sense of want or weariness, or any hindrance to our studies, or to our general preparation for the work of life." (Oberlin, p. 290). This young man was a theological student, and with others from his class went out among the churches as a self-supporting minister. This was the preparation he received which fitted him to occupy a place first as instructor in Oberlin, and later as President of the institution with which he spent his life.
SALARY:--The character of the teachers that give students an inspiration to self-supporting work is thus described in the person of an Oberlin professor: "His piety is more like the divine Teacher's than usual; he labors with his might to do good in school and out; his education, though not collegiate, is sufficiently extensive; he is a manual labor man; he does not teach for money but to do good; he is deeply interested in the West." Concerning the wages of this man, a member of the Board wrote, "I advise that you offer him $400.00 with the use of a dwelling-house and a few acres of land, hay for his horse and two cows, and his wood." Of the founders of Oberlin it is said, "These unselfish and self-denying souls offered themselves to the institution without salary for five years." (Oberlin, p. 209). Oberlin was able to be self-supporting, partly because she reduced the size of her faculty by utilizing student teachers, and partly because the members of her faculty were willing to sacrifice in the matter of wages.
THE STUDENTS who sought an education in such an institution were as strongly characteristic as the teachers. Of Oberlin students it is said, "With their own muscle, they were working their way into the ministry. Most were of comparatively mature years, while some were past thirty... It was a noble class of young men, uncommonly strong, a little uncivilized, entirely radical, and terribly in earnest." (Oberlin, p. 132).
SELF-SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES:--These schools which were wrestling with the problems of true education, were all of them, training missionaries and evangelists. They held a definite object before their students, a life work which called for self-sacrifice and devotion. This in itself put zeal and life into the work of teachers and students. The world was approaching one of the most momentous years in its history. The judgment message was due. Intensity was taking hold of men in every station of life. Students in these schools were alive to the great social questions of the day, and instead of spending their time and energy in the study of dead classics, and other impractical subjects which have little or no value in the training of Christian workers, they were dealing with live problems which called for activity as well as thought. For instance, Oberlin students were devoting themselves to mission work among the Indians. They were educating the colored people; they were sending workers into the mountain districts of the South, and even into the islands of the sea. "Every long vacation numbers of Oberlin students made their way to Southern Ohio wherever the poor colored were gathered, and lavished upon them sympathy and compassion, receiving only their bare living."
"In 1836, Hiram Wilson, a Lane student, proceeded to upper Canada to work among the twenty thousand freedmen who had fled from slavery to that place of refuge. They were in deepest poverty and ignorance. To the task of Christianizing and educating them, he devoted his whole life. At the end of two years fourteen teachers from Oberlin were assisting him. In 1840 no less than thirty-nine were teaching colored schools in Ohio, half of them young women, receiving their board only, and as many more in Canada." It was such experiences that prepared these young people to do a most efficient work for the freedmen.
MUCH OF THIS WORK WAS ON A SELF-SUPPORTING BASIS. "The great body of young men who went out from Oberlin to preach in the early days, went as home missionaries--with this exception, that they looked to no society to aid the churches in paying their salaries. It was not difficult to find needy churches to welcome them... Such was the prevalent ignorance and misapprehension in regard to Oberlin, that the most they could look for was the privilege of working in some needy field without molestation. Each man was obliged to find a place for himself, and slowly secure recognition. Under these conditions. Oberlin men found their work and waited for a brighter day."
MISSIONARIES TO CUBA:--IN 1836 a student seeking a warm climate for health's sake, went to Cuba. "Being a skilled mechanic he found self-support easy, and while there conceived the idea of a mission to the blacks of Jamaica to be carried on independent of any outside assistance." One of the missions started in Cuba was named Oberlin. "For fifteen Years the call for recruits continued, and was responded to, until in all, thirty-six had gone forward. For several years, these much enduring men and women, aside from the pittance which the ex-slaves could bestow, de- pended almost wholly upon the labor of their own hands. In addition, they built their own dwellings as well as chapels and school houses."
OBERLIN WAS TRAINING MEN TO PROCLAIM AN UNPOPULAR MESSAGE, and these experiences were a part of their training. "A year or two of self-denying and efficient labor with some needy church without aid, was the usual probation to a recognized ministerial standing. Theological students going out to preach found no missionary society to guide them to open doors, and to secure them compensation for the service. They went where preaching seemed to be needed, and often returned as empty handed as they went, except for the friendship and gratitude of those to whom they carried the work of the gospel." One today might wonder how they lived, but the writer goes on to say, "They were manual labor students and could make their way in Oberlin another year. The situation had its advantages. The Oberlin man secured a theological standing of its own--a birth-right of liberty. This freedom may have come at a heavy price, but it was worth the having." (Oberlin, pp. 322-325).
This is an illustration of the great principle given us: "Culture on all points of practical life will make our Youth useful after they leave school to go to foreign countries. They will not then have to depend upon the people to whom they go to cook and sew for them, or build their habitation. They will be much more influential if they show that they can educate the ignorant how to labor by the best methods and to produce the best results... A much smaller fund will be required to sustain such missionaries ... and wherever they may go, all that they have gained in this line will give them standing room." (Christian Schools, p. 47).
OBERLIN HELPS STUDENTS FIND THEIR LIFE WORK:--Oberlin "never stood so exclusively as did the old-fashioned colleges for a culture purely scholastic in its nature for book learning. More emphasis was laid upon the practical side. Knowledge was good through its uses... Oberlin has always been impressed by the fact that what the world most needs is character, men and women of genuine worth and power whose aims are unselfish and noble, who count service a delight." The teachers "were overflowing with stimulus to thought and enthusiasm... The superficial, the namby-pamby, has been held in contempt... The mightiest questions were daily brought up for discussion." (Oberlin, p. 400). Oberlin "was composed wholly of elect persons, who came on a mission, with a burden, a definite purpose... One of the early graduates used to tell how, as he bade the class goodbye when he had completed his course in an eastern academy, the principal commiserated them upon the fact that they had been born so late in history that all the really important tasks had been performed, so that nothing remained for them but the ignoble work of helping to keep the wheels of progress moving along in the old ruts! But, entering the little clearing in the forest (Oberlin) he soon discovered that the universal conviction there was that a multitude of mighty questions were yet calling for solution; that the world's redemption was only just fairly begun."
TEACHERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT TO INSPIRE STUDENTS. "Among Oberlin's leaders were men of remarkable power who uttered their convictions in such a masterful fashion as to make them deeply felt far and wide. Moreover, these men were of an intensely practical make. Thought, investigation, opinion found their fitting goal only in volition and action. Their definition of Christianity was broad enough to include every matter connected with human welfare. Every year they arouse and inspired hundreds of most impressible minds and hearts." (Oberlin, p. 298). "Say not, 'We cannot afford to work in a sparsely settled field, and largely in a self-supporting way... God desires that every man shall stand in his lot and in his place and not feel as if the work was too hard." (Words of Encouragement to Self-supporting workers, pp. 10, 14).
OBERLIN'S INFLUENCE FELT:--The historian gives the effect of such training in the following words: "It would be hard to overestimate the part in this work which was taken by Oberlin missionaries. Remember that they numbered hundreds at an early day, and soon exceeded thousands... They scattered westward, eastward, and even southward, always pushing, debating inquiring, agitating. It bubbled from their lips as naturally as their breath, and they could not refrain from it... Oberlin is peculiar among all the learned institutions of the land in having so large a constituency of temporary students inculcated with her spirit, but not having her diploma; the bone and sinew of the country wherever they are; active and influential in their modest spheres, and always ready to second the efforts and sustain the work of her more authoritative representatives whenever they appear... There is hardly a township west of the Alleghenies and north of the central line of Ohio, in which the influence of Oberlin men and Oberlin opinions cannot be specifically identified and traced. It was the propaganda of a school of thought and action having distinct characteristics." (Oberlin, pp. 314-315).
Perhaps there is no other one experience that better illustrates the great power of Oberlin people, and their daring in taking the initiative against popular opinion, than their attitude toward the slavery question, and the freedmen. When we see the work done along this line, we can better appreciate the value of Oberlin's system of education along the lines of Bible study, the discarding of injurious literature, her indifference to school honors, her manual training, self-government and self-support. Without such training, it would have been difficult for Oberlin students to pursue the course they did on the slavery question. It brought them in conflict with the laws of the land, but the students obeyed the laws of God rather than the laws of men. The following statement was addressed by a civil judge to an Oberlin man who was on trial for assisting a slave to escape: "A man of your intelligence must know that if the standard of right is placed above and against the laws of the land, those who stand up for it are anything else than good citizens and good Christians... His conduct is as criminal as his example is dangerous. (Fairchild, p. 125).
DESIRE TO REFORM AROUSED BY CORRELATION:-- The secret of the success of Oberlin teachers in arousing students to take a stand on this debated question, and put themselves where they became leaders in a practical movement to arouse the minds of the people to the terrible wickedness of slavery as an institution, lay in the fact that Oberlin did not conduct her class work and her lectures along the regular stereotype lines of the schools about them. On the contrary, Oberlin on every occasion correlated this subject with the daily work in the classroom. One of Oberlin's enemies understood this secret at the time, and wrote, "With arithmetic is taught the computation of the number of slaves and their value per head; with geography, territorial lines and those localities of slave territory supposed to be favorable to emancipation; with history, the chronicles of the peculiar institution; with ethics and philosophy, the higher law and resistance to federal enactments. Hence, the graduates of Oberlin are masters of art in abolitionism, and with the acquirement of their degrees are prepared to go a degree or two further if occasion requires... They imagine that they are doing God's service. There may be some excuse for them (the students) but there is none for their instructors. We doubt if there is for either. So long as Oberlin flourishes and educates 1250 students per annum, male and female abolitionists will continue to multiply." (Oberlin, p. 265).
It has always been God's plan as illustrated by the schools of the prophets, that the Christian school should be the nursery in which reformers are born and reared reformers who would go forth from the school burning with practical zeal and enthusiasm to take their places as leaders in these reforms. He intends that the teachers shall be leaders in reform, and possessed of sufficient ingenuity and adaptability to make a vital connection between every lesson and reforms. It was this method that made Wittenberg the center of the 16th century Reformation.
FEAR TO ACCEPT AND ACT REFORMS A MARK OF PAPAL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION:--It has ever been the policy of the Papacy to sterilize the brains of teachers so that they cannot be impregnated with reform ideas. The Papal system of education makes them content to repeat set lessons to their students, as they themselves learned them in school, with no thought of making practical application. The students, in turn, go out to teach others the same rote they have learned, and thus the endless treadmill goes on, ever learning, but never getting anywhere.
Macaulay thus describes this system: "The ancient philosophy was a treadmill not a path. It was made up of revolving questions of controversies which were always beginning again. It was a contrivance for having much exertion and no progress... The human mind, accordingly, instead of marching, merely marked time. It took as much trouble as would have sufficed to carry it forward, and yet remained on the same spot. There was no accumulation of truth... There had been plenty of plowing, harrowing, reaping, threshing. But the garners contained only smut and stubble." (M. B., p. 380).
Any school which, like Oberlin, has power to arouse its students to carry out a reform for which God is calling, must expect to meet with the same bitter opposition from those who are content with the mere form of Christian education without the power of the Spirit. These are wells without water; clouds without rain, words without ideas, lamps without oil.
OPPOSITION AROUSES INVESTIGATION LEADING TO FRIENDSHIP:-- In the days when Thomas Jefferson was meeting with the keenest criticism because of the reforms in education which he advocated, he found friends for his reforms even in the more conservative schools. For instance, Professor George Ticknor, a member of the Harvard faculty, made a careful study of Jefferson's views of education. He surprised his friends by traveling six hundred miles by stagecoach and the slow conveyance of that period, and endured with patience the annoyance of bad roads and the discomfort of bad inns. What was he thinking of in such a long journey southward? He was going to see Jefferson's new university fairly opened, and of it he wrote, 'that he found the system more practical than he had feared; he found an experiment worth trying.'" (Jefferson, p. 129).
OBERLIN'S ATTENDANCE A MYSTERY:--We have seen the jealousy and critical attitude of many of the leaders toward Oberlin. It was difficult for Oberlin to bear the irritation that was so constantly kept up, but God looked with pleasure upon the manner with which Oberlin met this persecution. "For the most part, little pains have been taken to forge or wield weapons of defense. She had gone forward patiently and persistently, minding her own business and doing her own work in her own way, assured that full vindication would eventually come. For one thing, all along she had the comfort of knowing that devoted and admiring friends were not wanting, and could see that a phenomenal success at many points had been achieved. With students of both sexes, she was fairly flooded. This same surprising and unprecedented growth in spite of extreme poverty, in spite of some serious errors and blunders, in spite of hosts of foes whose united strength seemed overwhelming, constituted a mystery which the most sapient of her calumniators was unable to solve. One of these expressed the perplexing fact to Mr. Finney something like this: 'It has always been understood that no institution could prosper or achieve success without having the sympathy and cooperation of both churches and ministers. In your case the multitude of these have either stood aloof, or have been actively hostile; and yet you secure students, teachers, buildings, and endowments far beyond the most fortunate of your neighbors. We cannot understand it at all.'" (Oberlin, pp. 263). "No educational institution can place itself in opposition to the errors and corruptions of this degenerate age without receiving threats and insults. But time will place such an institution upon an elevated platform having the assurance of God that they have acted right." (Mrs. E. G. White, G. C. Bulletin, 1901, p. 454).
