viii
Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
as to how it should be conducted. “Proper Education” Is the title of the
thirty-page article setting forth the great basic vision on the training of
our youth. How could we compass the world with our message unless
we had an educated ministry? How could there be an educated ministry
unless we had a school? Rising to heed the instruction and meet the
challenge set forth so clearly in this volume in pages 131-160, our
forefathers established an educational system beginning with Battle
Creek College. Its main building was dedicated on January 4, 1875
.
Only a few months before this epic occasion, elder John N. An-
drews, one of our leading ministers, was sent to Switzerland to pioneer
the heralding of the message in Europe. In the counsels of a few
months earlier, Ellen White had written of the need of missionaries “to
go to other nations to preach the truth in a guarded, careful manner.”—
Page 204. With the sailing of Elder Andrews in the autumn of 1874,
Seventh-day Adventists began to turn their eyes to other lands
.
The timing of the messages of instruction and counsel which have
come to us down through the years is interesting. From the year
1859, Seventh-day Adventists had made advancement in assuming
their obligations to God as they discerned their stewardship in sys-
tematic benevolence; but they did not at the outset perceive the full
obligation of the tithe, the tenth of the income. Now in two articles,
in the heart of volume 3, the basis of reckoning the tithe obligation
[6]
was clarified as the messenger of the Lord wrote of a “tenth of the”
“income” and of the “nine tenths” which remained. Not until 1879
was this broader concept of systematic benevolence to become a part
of denominational policy, but that step which has done so much to
assure a steady and much-needed income for a growing work had its
roots in these counsels of the two chapters, “Tithes and Offerings” and
“Systematic Benevolence,” which were published early in 1875. The
fuller concept of true stewardship was discerned as we were led to see
that the calls for benevolence were designed by God, not merely to
raise money, but as a means of developing and perfecting character in
the giver
.
As might be expected, an aggressive evangelistic program led to
conflict with other religious groups, who often challenged us to debate
and argument. Ten years earlier Moses Hull, one of our ministers, had
lost his way in placing himself on the enemy’s ground by such discus-
sions. Now repeated counsels presented guidance as they pointed out