It is a pleasure as well as a privilege to join the friends of these graduates in congratulating them as they receive their degrees tonight. For fourteen years I have been the chairman of the Seminary board, and in a few weeks from now my tenure will be at an end. Then all these years of labor and association with the work of the Seminary will be but a memory. But that memory will be a joyful and happy one.
When I first came to Takoma Park, forty years ago, I heard the brethren talk about the need of an advanced school where our men could secure training under godly instructors. During these passing years we have seen certain accomplishments that are worthy of mention. The first of these has to do with the establishment of the Seminary. During the summers of 1934,- 1935, and 1936, a series of twelve-week summer courses were given on the campus of Pacific Union College. Then, in 1937, a summer course was given in Washington.
By this time it had become the conviction of the brethren that the school should be located here at headquarters. Temporary quarters were obtained by using the upper floor of the Review and Herald Cafeteria building. The present Seminary building was begun in 1940 and was ready for use in January of 1941.
Like all new enterprises, there was a time of trial and test. Tonight I thank God for what I have lived to see. It has now grown out of those primitive days when we had to move forward largely by faith.
A second matter of special interest to me has been my association with the men who have served as president of the Seminary. There are two of these—Professors M. E. Kern and D. E. Rebok. I take this occasion to pay to these good men a tribute of deep appreciation for their untiring- labors. To work and plan with these brethren has been to love and admire them for their Christian fortitude and consecrated zeal. To this I would also add a tribute of appreciation to the members of the faculty who have served and are now serving this institution. They rightly deserve a place in the esteem of all who support the work of this institution.
A third matter of interest is to have seen, and become acquainted with, the fine men and women who have come here as students. To have watched them as through the years they have come and gone is to have watched the world pass by in review, for all parts of the world have sent students to study in these halls. Like the movement this school serves, it is a world institution, and its benefits and accomplishments are worldwide.
I wish to reiterate with emphasis that this is a world institution. In this connection it can be stated that by no means the least of its accomplishments has been to help lay a sure foundation for the unity and stability of our worldwide work. And in addition to the work accomplished here in the Seminary itself there have been ex tension courses given in other parts of the world. One of these was held in England; and another was held recently in Montevideo, Uruguay. I arrived in South America just in time to participate in the closing exercises of the Seminary extension course there. It was a thrilling sight to see eighty men, including conference presidents, treasurers, administrators, school men, ministers, and evangelists, earnestly applying themselves in the work of this exten sion course. Other of these courses are projected for the future.
Perhaps it would be proper and fitting that I should regard this address as my last will and testament to the Seminary students. Therefore I shall leave a legacy to you. This I do by emphasizing some important facts that should be reiterated continually.
Seventh-day Adventists are a unique and distinct people in this world. Not only must we be a unique and distinct people, but our purposes, objectives, aims, teachings, methods, and principles must also be unique and distinctive. No other group of people in all this world makes any attempt to do or has any interest in doing the work that has been laid out for us by the Lord. We cannot look to the world or to any other religious or secular group to help us in doing our God-appointed work.
As long as time shall last, and as long as this school shall function, let it never happen that any here, either of the faculty or of the student body, shall turn to the -world for example in method, in purpose, objectives, or aims. It is of the utmost importance that our lives, beliefs, methods, and practices should be entirely consistent with our objectives. In order, under God's blessing, to accomplish our objectives we must ever maintain such a consistency. That can be done only by faithfully applying all our energies and talents to the special work God has committed to us. This is made plain by the following statement:
"A great work is to be accomplished in setting be fore men the saving truths of the gospel. This is the means ordained by God to stem the tide of moral corruption. This is His means of restoring His moral image in man. It is His remedy for universal disorganization. It is the power that draws men together in unity. To present these truths is the work of the third angel's message. The Lord designs that the presentation of this message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in the world at this time."—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. ii.
My legacy to this class and to all those who follow, is that you dedicate all you have and are to carrying on this highest and greatest work.
As you go forth to teach and to preach to men, let me commend to you the example and practice of the greatest of all preachers—Jesus. Of Him it has been written:
"The world's Redeemer did not come with outward display, or a show of worldly wisdom. . . . Christ reached the people where they were. He presented the plain truth to their minds in the most forcible, simple language. The humble poor, the most unlearned, could comprehend, through faith in Him, the most exalted truths. No one needed to consult the learned doctors _as to His meaning. He did not perplex the ignorant with mysterious inferences, or use unaccustomed and learned words, of which they had no knowledge. The greatest Teacher the world has ever known, was the most definite, simple, and practical in His instruction."— Gospel Workers, pp. 49, 5°.
As men acquire higher degrees there is some times a tendency to lift their vocabularies above the comprehension of ordinary humanity. But our greatest success will be in keeping our teaching and preaching, as did Jesus, on the level of the common people so that they may understand us.
Now, dear graduates, you are about to receive your diplomas and to have conferred upon you the degrees you have earned here in this institution. May God greatly bless you and send you forth newly equipped and prepared with the Holy Spirit's power for the work to which God calls you. Remember that Jesus in sending forth His twelve disciples, told them, "And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 10 7. So likewise as you go forth, preach the nearness and the certainty of Christ's coming. For it was He who declared, "Surely I come quickly." May each of these graduates and all of us tonight respond by saying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
