Spalding and Magan Collection

Opposition Against Making Nashville a Center

In a meeting presented before me for three successive nights while I was in Fresno, I saw that there was a confederacy, as it were, of men in Nashville who were united in sentiment, and who were sustained by some of the brethren in Graysville. The wicked work of this confederacy was laid open before me. There are several who have never been reconciled to the plan of making Nashville a center. I could mention names, but will not do so now. The Lord knows their names, and he can not endorse their works. SpM 287.4

There were no good or justifiable grounds on which to work this confederacy against the establishment of the work in Nashville. The Lord bids me stand at my post against this movement. Not one of those men in opposition know what they are doing. They have had very little experience in pioneer work in the South. They might have entered new fields years ago. They would thus have gained an experience that they do not now have. The Lord bids them stand aside, if with humbled hearts they will not come into line and acknowledge the wickedness of the raid they have tried so hard to make against the work centering in Nashville. Who could have the courage to stand as targets for the words of criticism and condemnation hurled by those whose minds are leavened with the misrepresentations of the ones who choose to stand in opposition to God's work in this city? If those who have confederated against the work in Nashville refuse to repent, the sooner they separate from the work in the South the better it will be for this field. The Lord has marked every impulse that has led from cause to effect. None could have done a better work than have the laborers in Nashville. SpM 287.5

It is truly amazing to see what gross misrepresentations can be conjured up, and what the results of these misrepresentations are. To cherish feelings of bitterness and hatred because certain suggestions and plans have not been adopted, is not in accordance with the principles of sound reason or Christianity. How foolish it is to try to hedge about a work that God had bidden us to carry forward and sustain. These false statements have done their evil work. Those who have used the talent of speech to tear down a work that God commends, have revealed that they can not be trusted to establish missionary centers. SpM 288.1

The assailing element is strong, but it can not prevail. If it were to prevail, the result would be the worst chapter in the experience of our people. Notwithstanding this opposition, Nashville is being made a center. How much this effort has cost the ones whom God appointed to do this work, I can not tell. The record is in the books of heaven, and words traced by angels can not be perverted into a lie. SpM 288.2