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

Unity of Effort

[Remarks by Sister White before the General Conference at Oakland, Cal., published in the General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903, 58, 59.]

God does not design that the Sanitarium that has been erected in Battle Creek shall be in vain. He wants his people to understand this. He wants this institution to be placed on vantage ground. He does not want his people to be looked upon by the enemy as a people that is going out of sight. SpTB06 14.1

We are now to make another effort to place our institution on solid ground. Let no one say, because there is a debt on the Sanitarium in Battle Creek, “We will have nothing more to do in helping to build up that institution.” The people of God must build that institution up, in the name of the Lord. It is to be placed where its work can be carried on intelligently. One man is not to stand at its head alone. Dr. Kellogg has carried the burden until it has almost killed him. God wants his servants to stand united in carrying that work forward. Because one man is one-sided and another man is one-sided, this does not show that the work of God should be one-sided. SpTB06 14.2

God's people are to place the Sanitarium in Battle Creek on vantage ground. How is this to be done?—I can not tell you. But I know that just as soon as the Holy Spirit shall come upon hearts, there will be unity in voice and understanding, and wisdom will be given us. [Instruction as to how this is to be done, will be found on pages 32 and 33.] SpTB06 14.3

I have given you these thoughts as suggestions, trusting that they will have some influence upon you in your councils and in the movements that you may make. It is not only for that little corner in Battle Creek that we are laboring. We must stand on vantage ground before our own people and before the world.... SpTB06 15.1

Because men have made mistakes, they are not to be uprooted. The blessing of God heals; it does not destroy. The mighty healer, the great medical missionary, will be in the midst of us, to heal and to bless, if we will receive him. John said of him, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” He is waiting to come to us, to take away our sins, and fill us with his Spirit. SpTB06 15.2

A mighty host is arrayed against us. But God is on our side, and he has all power. He has separated us from the world for himself, and he declares that we are a peculiar people, an holy nation, a royal priesthood. He tells us not to rely upon men, but to put our trust in the Lord God of Israel. Then we shall gain the victory. SpTB06 15.3