Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 207, 1903

Brethren and Sisters

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

August 13, 1903

Portions of this letter are published in SpTB #6 44-45; 6Bio 57. +^Note

My dear brethren and sisters,—

I understand that efforts are being made to establish a college in Battle Creek, after the Lord has plainly stated that there should not be a college there, giving the reasons why. He said that the school was to be taken out of Battle Creek, to remove one excuse for so many crowding into Battle Creek and settling there. He said, also, that Seventh-day Adventist schools were not to be like the schools of the world, but like the schools of the prophets. 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 1

The establishment of a college in Battle Creek is contrary to the Lord’s directions. The Lord does not look with favor upon this plan or upon those who devised it. It is a plan of human devising. 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 2

The Lord does not require His people to give of their means for the establishment of a college in Battle Creek; for He has declared that a college should not be established there. He has declared that His people are not to settle in places where for so long the light of truth has been shining. 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 3

We are trying to establish a memorial in Washington to represent the truth, and means will be needed for this work. We shall be obliged to depend on our people to furnish means with which to purchase the land on which to erect this memorial. We shall have to call on them also to furnish means to provide facilities for the carrying forward of the work there. 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 4

I would say to our people, The Lord has warned me in the night season that efforts will be made to obtain means for the carrying forward of certain interests, when the Lord has declared that means should be used in other ways. If you have money to lend or to give to the Lord’s cause, will you not remember the work in Washington? 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 5

By written messages and by fire the Lord has declared that He wants His people to move out of Battle Creek. May God help us to hear His voice. Does it mean nothing to us that our two great institutions in Battle Creek were swept away by fire? You say, But the new Sanitarium has many patients. Yes; but if there were many thousand patients there, this would be no argument in favor of our people’s building homes in Battle Creek and settling there. 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 6

Temptations are increasing. Men are rejecting the light that God has sent in the testimonies of His Spirit, and they are choosing their own devising and their own plans. Will men continue to separate themselves from God? Must He reveal His displeasure in a still more marked manner than He has already done? 18LtMs, Lt 207, 1903, par. 7