Triumphant Close of the School Year

The close of the school year for Battle Creek College was right upon them. Ellen White had been anxious for those students who were either unconverted or backslidden. She had desired to speak to them, but felt too feeble to undertake labor; the experience at Goguac Lake provided evidence that God would sustain her in working for the salvation of the students. Meetings were held, and she devoted a week to revival and instructional efforts. Of this she wrote:3BIO 63.2

I tried to impress upon them that a life of purity and prayer would not be a hindrance to them in obtaining a thorough knowledge of the sciences, but that it would remove many hindrances to their progress in knowledge.... I sought to impress upon the students the fact that our school is to take a higher position in an educational point of view than any other institution of learning, by opening before the young nobler views, aims, and objects of life, and educating them to have a correct knowledge of human duty and eternal interests.—Ibid., 4:273, 274.3BIO 63.3

As the closing exercises of the college were to be held at Goguac Lake, it was decided that a baptism should be a part of the program. Four hundred people assembled in the grove by the lake. James White led fourteen students into the water and buried them with their Lord in baptism. Ellen White gave an address, later reported in Signs of the Times, February 7, 1878The Signs of the Times, February 14, 1878.3BIO 63.4