The Nashville Sanitarium

The Nashville Sanitarium—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.... SpTB18 4.1

Sanitarium work ... has 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 [Testimonies for the Church 7:232, 234. These words, written in 1902, were read by Mrs. White to the delegates assembled in General Conference in 1893.] SpTB18 4.2

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Are there not some nurses and doctors who will go to the Southern States, and devote their energies to helping those who are so greatly in need of help? SpTB18 4.3

Health reformers are needed—men and women who are as true as steel to principle. Nurses are needed for the sanitarium in Nashville. [From letter written “To those who stand at the head of the medical missionary work,” July 24, 1901.] SpTB18 4.4

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Some may say, “If the Lord is coming soon, what need is there to establish schools, sanitariums, and food factories? What need is there for our young people to learn trades?” It is the Lord's design that we shall constantly improve the talents he has given us. We can not do this unless we use them. The prospect of Christ's soon coming should not lead us to idleness. Instead it should lead us to do all we possibly can to bless and benefit humanity. No idler is guiltless in the Lord's sight.... SpTB18 4.5

There is a work to be done for all classes of society. We are to come close to the poor and the depraved, those who have fallen through intemperance. And at the same time, we are not to forget the ministers, lawyers, senators, and judges, many of whom use strong drink and tobacco. Leave no effort untried to show them that their souls are worth saving, that eternal life is worth striving for. Present the total abstinence pledge to those in high positions. Ask them to give the money they would otherwise spend for the harmful indulgences of liquor and tobacco, to the establishment of institutions where children and youth can be prepared to fill positions of usefulness in the world. [From letter written “To those in positions of responsibility in the Southern field,” February 5, 1902.] SpTB18 5.1

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Long years of neglect make the work in the Southern field far harder than it would otherwise have been. Obstructions have been accumulating. Great progress might have been made in medical missionary work. Sanitariums might have been established. The principles of health reform might have been proclaimed. This work is now to be taken up. And into it not a vestige of selfishness is to be brought. It is to be done with an earnestness, perseverance, and devotion that will open doors through which the truth can enter, and that to stay. [Ms., December, 1901.] SpTB18 5.2

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God has given our sanitariums an opportunity to set in operation a work that would be as a stone instinct with life, growing as it is rolled by an invisible hand. Let this mystic stone be set in motion. If ever a place needed medical missionary work, it is the Southern field. [Ms., May 20, 1902.] SpTB18 6.1

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Those living in places where the truth has been long established should remember the needs of the preparatory work to be done in Nashville. This place has been selected as a center because of the large educational institutions situated in and near it. In these institutions there are those who are doing a noble work for the people of the South. They must be given opportunity to hear the message that is to prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord.... SpTB18 6.2

My brethren, what are you going to do in regard to the Southern field? With earnest effort you are to strive to establish memorials for God throughout the Southern States. SpTB18 6.3

A great work is before us in the South. The brethren there need means to erect inexpensive buildings that are necessary for the carrying forward of the work that must be done speedily. 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. [From “An Appeal for the Southern Work,” addressed “To our churches in America,” written May 18, 1902.] SpTB18 6.4

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It was in the order of God that Seventh-day Adventists should enter Nashville. I was instructed that memorials for God were to be established in this place, not only right in the city, but at a little distance from it. Efforts were to be made to reach both the white and the colored people. The medical missionary work was to be established there; for it is the right hand of the gospel. But the work would have to move slowly; for there was not much means with which to carry it on.... SpTB18 7.1

A deep interest should be shown in the building up of the work in and around Nashville. A sanitarium should be established. If possible, a building already erected should be secured, if a suitable one can be found in a favorable locality. As soon as possible, steps should be taken to advance this work. When this institution is established, it will have great influence among the people. Let us ask the Lord to open the way for this work, and to lead us in its advancement. We have a God who hears and answers prayer. SpTB18 7.2

In this work, one man's mind is not to control. The work is to be done in the fear of the Lord. All the brethren are to have a voice in the final decision. SpTB18 7.3

The Lord in his providence will work on minds as he has worked in the past, leading men to favor our people by offering them property at low prices. [Ms., May, 1902.] SpTB18 7.4

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Medical missions should be opened as pioneer agencies to prepare the way for the proclamation of the third angel's message in the cities of the South. Oh, how great is the need for means to do this line of work! Gospel medical missions can not be established without financial aid. Every such mission calls for our sympathy, and for our means, that facilities may be provided to make the work successful. Separate sanitariums for both races should be established. [MS., 1902.] SpTB18 8.1

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There is a vast amount of work to be done in Nashville and vicinity. Workers can go into the suburbs and do excellent work. There must be sanitariums in Nashville, one for the white and one for the colored people. This will make the work more expensive, but its importance can not be estimated. [Ms., 1903.] SpTB18 8.2

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I was instructed by the Lord that the Southern field was to be given every advantage. Especially was Nashville to be worked. Special plans were to be taken to reach the students and teachers of the large schools and colleges in and near Nashville.... SpTB18 8.3

Great care must be exercised in regard to appropriating to the institutions already established in the South the means raised in other fields for advance work in this field. Something should be done toward the establishment of a school and a sanitarium near Nashville. Efforts must be put forth to advance the work in places in which hardly anything has been done. [From a letter to the president of the Southern Union Conference, July 3, 1903.] SpTB18 8.4

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The cause of God is in need of every dollar that you can spare. There are many places where money is greatly needed to help; places which the Lord desires to see provided with facilities for the proclamation of the truth for this time. SpTB18 9.1

The Lord has plainly specified that in Nashville, memorials for him should be erected. A sanitarium is needed in that place, and a school should be established there. [Ms., OCTOBER 19, 1903.] SpTB18 9.2

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I am in full sympathy with you in urging our churches in the North and the South, the East and the West, to immediate action in supplying the present needs of the work in the South. Let all now take up in earnest the work of helping to relieve the pressing necessities of the work at Nashville. SpTB18 9.3

Nashville has been presented to me as the most favorable center from which to do a general work for all classes in the Southern States. In and near Nashville there are established institutions of learning, which should be respected by our people. Their influence has helped to make it possible for us to carry forward successfully, many lines of work from that center. [From a communication addressed “To our ministers and other workers in the Southern states,” November 24, 1903.] SpTB18 9.4