The Nashville Sanitarium

A Proposed Plan of Co-operation

College View, Neb.,

September 21, 1904.

Dear Brethren Hayward and Hansen,

I have received your letters, and there are some things that I wish to say in response. I wish to speak of some things presented before me concerning the establishment of the school, [Reference is here made to the Madison school, the site for which had just been selected.] and the sanitarium that is to be established near Nashville. Careful attention is to be given to the advantage that may be gained in locating these institutions near each other. In regard to the institutions to be established in Takoma Park I was shown that the Lord would certainly be honored were these institutions placed near enough together to be a help and a blessing to one another. SpTB18 12.1

The students who will attend the Nashville school will be helpful to the sanitarium, and the sanitarium will be a blessing to the school. Of course, circumstances must determine the arrangements that it will be best to make. The workers in each institution must help one another, and the blessing of the Lord will surely rest upon both institutions. SpTB18 12.2

This is the plan that it is proposed should be followed in Takoma Park, and the light given me is that this plan would work beneficially if applied to the institutions to be established near Nashville. If the school buildings and the sanitarium buildings are placed within reach of each other, a blessing will come to both institutions. If the sanitarium building is erected on part of the land that has been purchased for school purposes, each institution will be a help and an encouragement to the other. SpTB18 12.3

I wish you to consider these suggestions, brethren, for I regard this as the Lord's plan. The teachers in the school can help the workers in the sanitarium by their advice and counsel, and by sometimes speaking to the patients, and those who have charge of the sanitarium can return the compliment. In time a church building can be put up within easy access of these institutions, where all can meet together for the worship of God. SpTB18 13.1

On the school farm the patients will have abundance of room in which to roam about in the open air. The beauty of the scenery will attract them, and the truth will take hold upon their minds. SpTB18 13.2

Let these two lines of work be carried on in close proximity, yet as far distant from each other as the judgment and wisdom of those in charge shall determine. One institution will give influence and strength to the other. Money will be saved; for both institutions can share the advantages that they will each need. SpTB18 13.3

I have written this in great haste, and must now leave it with you, asking you to consider the suggestions made. SpTB18 13.4

*****

I must speak in behalf of the work in the Southern field. The message of the soon coming of our Saviour must go to all its cities. We must wake up, and consider what this means to us individually in the matter of consecrated effort.... SpTB18 13.5

There is a great work to be done. Some will ask, What can be done to work the city of Nashville effectively? One way to success is to get a place a few miles out of Nashville, and there establish a school and a sanitarium, and from these institutions as a working center, begin to work Nashville as we have not worked it yet. [Portion of a talk at College View, Neb., September 25, 1904.] SpTB18 13.6

*****

I have been hoping that you would see the advantage of establishing the sanitarium on the school farm that has been purchased near Edgefield. The reason given me for saying that this would be an advantage, is that the school to be established there would be an encouragement and help to the sanitarium, and the sanitarium to the school. The matter has been presented to me this way several times, and I know that the sanitarium should not be permanently established in buildings in Nashville. If there could be found, four or five miles from the city, buildings which could be secured for a low price, and which could readily be adapted to sanitarium work, it might be well to secure them. [Inasmuch as, about a year and a half later, a property suitable for sanitarium work was found within this distance of the city, this passage is worthy of careful notice.] But such buildings have not yet been found, and as a large tract of land has been secured for school purposes, I can not see why there should be any hesitation in regard to establishing the sanitarium somewhere near the school. SpTB18 14.1

The school buildings will go up as soon as money can be raised, and the sanitarium should also be erected soon. It should not be built too near to the school. But you could suit yourselves as to the exact location on the school land. SpTB18 14.2

I can see much advantage in the two institutions being close enough together to be able to co-operate with each other. Instruction similar to this was given me when we were making decisions in regard to the location of our buildings in Takoma Park. Whenever it is possible to have a school and a sanitarium near one another, let this be done; for the institutions will be a blessing to each other in more ways than one. [From a letter to Brethren Hayward and Hansen, November 8, 1904.] SpTB18 15.1

*****