Based on her writings, Ellen G. White gave strong and consistent support to the Madison school and its founders, Percy T. Magan and Edward A. Sutherland. She saw its mission and educational model as divinely inspired, even as it faced indifference and a lack of support from established church organizations. Here are the key points from her writings on the topic: ### Divine Approval and Endorsement Ellen White stated that the Lord had personally shown her the importance of the work at Madison. * "I am acquainted with the necessities of the work being done by Brethren Magan and Sutherland at Madison, Tennessee; for the Lord has presented this matter clearly before me" (SpM 425). * "The Madison School is in the very place to which we were directed by the Lord, in order that it might have an influence and make a right impression upon the people" (SpM 411.1). ### Praise for its Educational Model She highly praised the school's focus on practical, self-supporting education that combined manual labor with spiritual and academic training. * "The school at Madison not only educates in a knowledge of the Scriptures, but it gives a practical training that fits the student to go forth as a self-supporting missionary to the field to which he is called" (SpM 423). * "In their work at Madison Brethren Sutherland and Magan and their associates have borne trial nobly. They have taught the students to raise their own crops, to build their own houses, and to care wisely for cattle and poultry. The students have been learning to become self-supporting, and a more important training than that they could not receive" (SpM 425.5). ### Rebuke for Lack of Support A significant portion of her counsel addresses the "indifferent treatment" the school received from fellow church workers, which speaks to its independent nature. She saw this lack of support as dishonoring to God. * "The Lord has been dishonored by the indifferent treatment given to the workers in this school by their fellow workers. They need encouragement and good wholesome fellowship, and they are as verily deserving of it as are other workers in the Southern field" (SpM 411.1). * "There have been plenty of discouraging words spoken regarding the work at Madison, and compared with the importance of the work, very little help has been given" (SpM 425.6). * "The Lord has not been pleased with your indifference toward the school" (SpM 410.6). ### A Call for Financial Help She actively appealed to church members to provide financial assistance to the struggling school. * "I am instructed to say to those who have means to spare; Help the work at Madison. You have no time to lose" (SpM 423.4). * "I appeal to our brethren...to help in this emergency, and make a liberal gift to the Madison School, that they may erect a chapel and school building" (SpM 399.4). ### A Model for Other Schools She viewed the Madison school not as an anomaly but as a blueprint for how other schools should be established, particularly in the South. * "Every possible means should be devised to establish schools on the Madison order in various parts of the South; and those who lend their means and their influence to help this work are aiding the cause of God" (SpM 423.4). In summary, Ellen White was a staunch advocate for the Madison school. She endorsed its mission, praised its practical educational philosophy, rebuked those who failed to support it, and held it up as a model for future educational work in the church.