Many are utterly discouraged. Because they have been despised and forsaken they have become stoical. They are looked upon as unable to comprehend or to receive the gospel of Christ. Yet by the miracle of divine grace they may be changed. Under the ministration of the Holy Spirit the stupidity that makes their uplifting appear so hopeless will pass away. The dull, clouded mind will awake. The slave of sin will be set free. Spiritual life will revive and strengthen. Vice will disappear, and ignorance will be overcome. Through the faith that works by love the heart will be purified and the mind enlightened.
There are others among the colored people who have quick perceptions and bright minds. Many of the colored race are rich in faith and trust. God sees among them precious jewels that will one day shine out brightly. The colored people deserve more from the hands of the white people than they have received. There are thousands who have minds capable of cultivation and uplifting. With proper labor, many who have been looked upon as hopeless will become educators of their race. Through the grace of God the race that the enemy has for generations oppressed may rise to the dignity of God-given manhood and womanhood.
-230-
The Lord desires the desert places of the South, where the outlook appears so forbidding, to become as the garden of God. Let our people arouse and redeem the past. The obligation to work for the colored people rests heavily upon us. Shall we not try to repair, as far as lies in our power, the injury that in the past has been done to these people? Shall not the number of missionaries to the South be multiplied? Shall we not hear of many volunteers who are ready to enter this field to bring souls out of darkness and ignorance into the marvelous light in which we rejoice? God will pour out His Spirit upon those who respond to His call. In the strength of Christ they may do a work that will fill heaven with rejoicing.
“Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out…. So will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day…. I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick…. And I will make with them a covenant of peace…. And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing…. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them…. And ye My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.”
-231-
Chapter 45—Centers of Influence
A good beginning has been made in the Southern field. In the forward march of events the Lord has wrought most wonderfully for the advancement of His work. Battles have been fought, victories won. Favorable impressions have been made; much prejudice has been removed.
In the night season I was taken by my Guide from place to place, from city to city, in the South. I saw the great work to be done—that which ought to have been done years ago. We seemed to be looking at many places. Our first interest was for the places where the work has already been established and for those where the way has opened for a beginning to be made. I saw where there are institutions for the advancement of the Lord’s work. One of these places was Graysville, and another, Huntsville, where we have industrial schools. These schools are to receive encouragement and help, for the Lord led in their establishment. Each has advantages of its own.
From the light given me I know that the work at Hildebran, if properly managed, will be a great blessing to the surrounding country. I have been instructed that we must establish schools in just such districts, away from the cities and their temptations.
Eternity alone will reveal the work accomplished for the colored people by the small schools at Vicksburg, Yazoo City, and other points in the South. In this field we need many more such schools.
We must provide greater facilities for the education and training of the youth, both white and colored, in the South. 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. In connection with these schools all the different lines of work, whether agricultural or mechanical, that the situation of the place will warrant are to be developed. Let means be gathered for the establishment of such schools. In them students may gain an education that, with God’s blessing, will prepare them to win souls to Christ. If they unite with the Saviour they will grow in spirituality and will become valuable workers in His vineyard.
-232-
With our larger schools should be connected small sanitariums, that the students may have opportunity to gain a knowledge of medical missionary work. This line of work is to be brought into our schools as part of the regular instruction. Small sanitariums should be established in connection with the schools at Graysville and Huntsville.
Nashville as a Center
As a people we should take a special interest in the work at Nashville. At the present time this city is a point of great importance in the Southern field. Our brethren selected Nashville as a center for work in the South because the Lord in His wisdom directed them there. It is a favorable place in which to make a beginning. Our workers will find it easier to labor in this city for the colored race than in many other cities of the South. In this city much interest is taken in the colored people by those not of our faith. In and near the city are large educational institutions for the colored people. The influence of these institutions has prepared the way for us to make this city a center for our work.
-233-
Into the institutions of learning at Nashville the truth is to find entrance. There are those in these institutions who are to be reached by the third angel’s message. Everything that can be done to interest these teachers and students in the message of present truth should now be done, and it should be done in a wise and understanding manner. From the experienced teachers may be learned precious lessons regarding the best ways of helping the colored people.
The truth is also to be brought before those who have given of their means and influence for the benefit of the colored race. They have taken a noble stand for the uplifting of this people. They are to see a representation of our work that will be to them an object lesson. We are to do all we can to remove the prejudice that exists in their minds against our work. If the efforts we put forth are in accordance with God’s will, many among them will be convicted and converted. The Lord causes light to shine on the pathway of those who are seeking for light.
Nashville is within easy access of Graysville and Huntsville. By the work in Nashville, the work at Graysville and Huntsville is to be confirmed and settled. Graysville and Huntsville are near enough to Nashville to strengthen the work there and to be strengthened by it.
It was in accordance with God’s purpose that the publishing work was started at Nashville. In the Southern field there is need of a printing office for the publication of the truth for this time, and especially for printing reading matter suitable for the different classes of people in this field. And there is no city in the South better suited than Nashville for the carrying forward of publishing work. The establishing of such an institution is an advance movement. If rightly managed, this institution will give character to the work in the South and to many souls will be the means of imparting a knowledge of the truth. The Nashville publishing house will still need to be assisted for a time by gifts and offerings.
-234-
Sanitarium work also has been begun in Nashville. This must be wisely managed and given support. Medical missionary work is indeed the helping hand of the gospel ministry. It opens the way for the entrance of truth.
I am instructed to caution my brethren in the Southern field not to move hastily in establishing large enterprises and new centers just now, in a way that will divide their workers and their means, thus weakening their forces at this critical time in their work. Let them wait until some of the interests that have been started approach more nearly to perfection. Let them not rush into new enterprises before the institutions at Graysville and Huntsville are more firmly established and the interests centering in Nashville are strengthened.
As yet there are comparatively few places in the South that have been worked. There are many, many cities in which nothing has been done. Centers of influence may be established in many places by the opening up of health food stores, hygienic restaurants, and treatment rooms. Not all that needs to be done can be specified before a beginning is made. Let those in charge of the Southern work pray over the matter, and remember that God is guiding. Let no narrowness or selfishness be manifested. Plan to carry forward the work simply, sensibly, economically.
-235-
Chapter 46—Instruction to Workers
Slowly but surely the wheel of Providence is turning. We know not how soon our Lord will say: “It is done.” His coming is drawing nigh. Soon our opportunities for work will be forever past. Only a little while longer shall we be permitted to labor. My brethren, will you not strive with earnest effort to establish memorials for God throughout the Southern States? Churches should be raised up; houses of worship should be built; small schools and sanitariums should be established; and the publishing interests should be strengthened.
The lines of work to be established in different places in the South will need men and women of wisdom and prayer, men and women who will carry the work forward from stage to stage soundly, intelligently—toiling, praying, working economically, as laborers of God’s appointment. The situation calls for personal, untiring, united effort.
One brick upon another, and the highest wall is made; One flake upon another, and the deepest snow is laid.
Patient continuance in well-doing—this is to be our motto. We are to put forth persevering effort, advancing step by step until the race is run, the victory gained.
When the publishing work at Nashville was started, it was the avowed purpose of the workers to keep out of debt; but in their desperate effort to make brick without straw, our brethren were led to depart from this purpose, and, as the result, the work has become involved in difficulty. But God’s workmen at Nashville are not, because of this, to become discouraged. The work must not cease. Let all now seek most earnestly to avoid the mistakes of the past. Let them guard themselves as with a fence of barbed wire against the inclination to go into debt. Let them say firmly: “Henceforth we will advance no faster than the Lord shall indicate and the means in hand shall allow, even though the good work has to wait for a while. In beginning in new places, we will labor in narrow quarters, rather than involve the Lord’s cause in debt.”
-236-
Let not those become disheartened who have labored so earnestly to bring the work in the Southern field to its present state of advancement. Let all do their best to place the work at Nashville on a solid basis. The Lord has in charge those who have striven valiantly to do that which so greatly needed to be done. In His pity and kindness and love, the Lord has mercy on them. He still accepts them as His co-workers. He knows all about every one of them. They have had to pass through the fire of affliction, as they have done the breaking-up pioneer work. God will be glorified in those who have been laborers together with Him in breaking up the ground in fields that have never before been worked.
Brethren, we have a great work before us in the Southern field, a work that as yet we have only begun. We must not continue to stand as we have stood for years, dreading this work. There are those who have done stern, hard labor, and the Lord recognizes and commends their self-sacrificing efforts. He has blessed them. They have received their reward by seeing those they helped placing their feet on the Rock of Ages and in turn helping others.
My brethren in the Southern field, I ask you, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, to quit you like men. The Lord is at the helm. He will give His servants grace and wisdom. It is God’s purpose that men entrusted with responsibility should counsel and pray together in Christian unity. In unity there is a life, a power, that can be obtained in no other way. There will be a vast power in the church when the energies of the members are united under the control of the Spirit. Then will God be able to work mightily through His people for the conversion of sinners.
-237-
God lives and reigns. He will open the way for the neglected Southern field to be cultivated for Him. Let the workers there come up to the help of the Lord and with joy proclaim His truth. The Lord is soon coming. Talk it, pray it, believe it. Make it a part of the life. You will have to meet a doubting, objecting spirit, but this will give way before firm, consistent trust in God. When perplexities or hindrances present themselves, lift the soul to God in songs of thanksgiving. Gird on the Christian armor, and be sure that your feet are “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Preach the truth with boldness and fervor. Remember that the Lord looks in compassion upon this field and that He knows its poverty and its need. The efforts you are making will not prove a failure.
Our churches in the South are to have a spiritual resurrection. A great and solemn work is before the members of every church. They are to come close to Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice, their one aim being to give God’s message of mercy to their fellow men. Let them labor guardedly and with humility, each having respect for the work of the others. Some can labor in one way and some in another, as the Lord may call and lead them. But let none mourn that they cannot glorify God in the use of talents that He has not entrusted to their keeping. God holds us responsible only for the work that He has placed in our hands. One thing all can do: They can avoid making the work of others unnecessarily hard by criticizing their efforts, putting stones in front of the car their brethren are trying to push uphill. If any are unwilling to put their shoulder to the wheel, let them at least refrain from hindering those who are working. God calls for laborers who will refuse to discourage their fellow laborers.
-238-
As God’s people labor earnestly, humbly, self-sacrificingly, they will gain the rich reward of which Job speaks: “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; … the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy…. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.” Job 29:11-16.
The blessing of good works will follow into the eternal world those who deny self for the sake of their Saviour. When the redeemed stand around the throne of God, those who have been saved from sin and degradation will come to those who labored for them, with the words of greeting: “I was without God and without hope in the world. I was perishing in corruption and sin. I was starving for physical and for spiritual food. You came to me in love and pity, and fed and clothed me. You pointed me to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”
My brethren in the South, be strong, yea, be strong. The hand of oppression and robbery shall not afflict you if you will exalt the holy principles of God’s law. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard for you against him. You are engaged in an important work, and you are to take heed, to watch and pray, to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. Work with an eye single to the glory of God, with a sense of your individual responsibility. Remember that the Lord alone can make your efforts successful.
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 7 pp. 229-238
