The Work Among the Colored People

(From article in «Review and Herald,» Sept. 21, 1908.)

-Dear Brethren and Sisters: I greatly desire to impress your minds with the importance of doing what you can to help forward the work for the colored people in the Southern states. In this field there are thousands and thousands of negroes, many of whom are ignorant and in need of the gospel. Upon the white people of the United States the Lord has laid the burden of uplifting this race. But, as yet, Seventh-day Adventists have done comparatively little to help them.

There are many, many places in the South in which no earnest Christian effort has been made for the colored people. These unentered fields, in their unsightly barrenness, stand before heaven as a witness against the unfaithfulness of those who have had great light. When I think of the way in which this line of work has been treated, there comes over me an intensity of feeling that words cannot express. Like the priest and the Levite, men have looked indifferently on a most pitiful picture, and have passed by on the other side. For years this has been the record. Our people have put forth only a hundredth part of the earnest effort that they should have put forth to warn the indifferent, to educate the ignorant, and to minister to the needy souls in this field. . . .

The Lord has been working with and for the tried laborers in the South. Many are preparing to put their shoulders to the wheel, to help advance the work. The cloud of darkness and despondency is rolling back, and the sunshine of God’s favor is shining upon the workers. The Lord is gracious. He will not leave the work in the South in its present condition. The people living in this great field will yet have the privilege of hearing the last message of mercy, warning them to prepare for the great day of God which is right upon us. Now, just now, is our time to proclaim the third angel’s message to the millions living in the Southern states, who know not that the Saviour’s coming is near at hand. . . .

The Establishment of Schools

No line of work will be of more telling advantage to the colored people in the Southern field than the establishment of small schools. Hundreds of mission schools must be established; for there is no method of giving the truth to these people so effectual and economical as small schools. This line of work has been specially presented before me. But the work is almost at a standstill for lack of money to provide facilities for training teachers, for building school houses, and for paying the wages of teachers.

There are many who cannot even read the divine Word; many are slaves of superstition; and yet through divine power, these poor, ignorant beings, degraded by sin, may be saved, elevated, sanctified, ennobled. And in the Lord’s estimation every soul saved is worth more than the wealth of the whole world. Those who are ignorant must be educated; and this means much. Instead of making superabundant provision for educating a few, we should devise ways and means of helping the many who are neglected and oppressed.

So far as possible, these mission schools for colored people should be established outside the cities; but in the cities there are many children who could not attend the schools established out of the cities, and schools should be opened for them.

The colored people need simple books. They have been left in ignorance, when they should have been taught; left unconverted, when every effort possible should have been put forth to rescue and save them.

This work will require talent, and above everything else, the grace of God. The colored youth will be found to be far more difficult to manage than the white youth, because they have not been taught from their childhood to make the best use of their time. Many of them have had no opportunity to learn how to take care of themselves. Those who for years have been working to help the colored people, know their needs; and they are the best fitted to open schools for them. Colored teachers must work for the colored people, under the supervision of well-qualified men who have the spirit of mercy and love. How important it is, then, that we place our training school at Huntsville on vantage ground, so that many may be educated to labor as teachers of their own race!