Testimonies to the Church Regarding our Youth Going to Battle Creek to Obtain An Education

A Solemn Caution

A solemn responsibility rests upon those who have had charge of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Will they build up in Battle Creek a mammoth institution, or will they carry out the purpose of God by making plants in many places? I pray God that a work may be done that will be for the best interests of the work and cause of God. I know that the plea will be made, Should the Sanitarium be established in some other place, it would not receive the patronage that it would receive were it rebuilt in Battle Creek. But the question has been asked by One of authority, What has been accomplished by this large patronage, to win souls to the truth? SpTB06 9.1

Light has been given me that a great reformation must take place in the lives of the managers of the Sanitarium before the institution can be conducted wholly as God desires it to be. For some time it has been deteriorating. Little burden is felt by many to make it a medical missionary center, a place where the truth shall be clearly and distinctly proclaimed. SpTB06 9.2

The half-hearted service offered to Christ by so many is not accepted by him. We need to be more in earnest. The Lord uses only vessels that are cleansed from defilement. Christ can not put his Spirit into impure, unsanctified hearts. He calls upon us to put away the unchristlike traits of character that we have cherished. SpTB06 10.1

Wake up, my brethren and sisters. We have no time to spend in wringing our hands and in mourning that the Sanitarium has been destroyed. A wider outlook has been given us. Let us inquire of the Lord his mind and will. Will not the managers of the institution make thorough self-examination? Attempt after attempt has been made to burn the Sanitarium. Do not these things speak to the managers, telling them to look back at the way in which they have carried out their plans? Again and again reproof has come to them from God, but these messages have not led them to take heed. Message after message has been sent that plants shall be made in many places. A most solemn review should now be made. God has been speaking, sometimes by unacknowledged mercies, oftentimes by threatened judgments. By blessings bestowed and blessings removed he has sought to bring about the needed change of action. Well may he say, “What could have been done more in my vineyard that I have not done in it?” Shall the word be spoken, “Ye would none of my counsel, ye despised all my reproofs. Ye would not come unto me that ye might have life”? SpTB06 10.2

Ellen G. White