Interview/The Nashville Sanitarium
NP
January 14, 1912
Previously unpublished.
Sister White (after reading a statement prepared by W. C. White concerning a conversation he had with her Sabbath morning, January 13): 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 1
That last is just the conclusion from the light that I have had from the beginning to the end, of that very work of these very institutions—that the temptation would be that because they met with difficulty, they must give it up. Why, that is not the time to give it up. If they give it up at all, it should be when it is in the very height of its prosperity, and then you know it is not a failure. It is never when a thing is weakening, that we have had evidence of the Spirit of God that is in connection with it, and because discouraging things will come up, why, then drop it. That is the last time to drop it. The time is when they can withdraw some of their strength, when it is going in its very best strength. To have failure planted on any of our enterprises is a dishonor to God. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 2
W. C. White: Is this statement correct enough so that we could put it out as your words? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 3
E. G. White: Yes, yes; that work—never think of giving up. Hold on, just as fast as you can see a possibility of doing anything that is reasonable, and never to give up. The Lord has people in places, that if we would have been led to give up, why, we never should have been in the prosperous condition we are now. But we were determined to make a success, and we did do it. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 4
W. C. White: You have confidence that if our brethren hold on, the Lord will send them managers and physicians that will make that work a success? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 5
E. G. White: Yes. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 6
W. C. White: Last night I got a letter from Dr. Rand. He says he is already engaged in work in Los Angeles and he does not want to leave it. He practically refuses to go to these Conferences in the South. Now shall we try to wait and get him to go to Nashville later, or shall we let him stay, and try to find somebody else? Dr. Thomason thinks that Dr. Kress and his wife would do quite as well in Nashville as Dr. Rand. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 7
E. G. White: Well, then, I would have them; I would please them. Let him do it. It is of no use to force a man. Let the man force himself. Let the man view all the difficulties, and then say, I will try it, in the name of the Lord. That is the way I have kept up, and you know it, all the way through. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 8
W. C. White: If we give up the matter of trying to get Rand there, we might talk with the Kresses, and then if they refuse to go, we will have to try somebody else. There is a young man down there in Loma Linda, a Dr. Truman. He is real good for a young man, but, of course, he could not carry the weight with him that some older ones would. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 9
E. G. White: Well, if there are young men. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 10
W. C. White: How would it do to get a young man that we know would work steadily in the harness for a long series of years; and then let the Drs. Kress go with him, and let them lecture, and hold series of meetings, and break down the prejudice, and the young man be in the institution and work in it? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 11
E. G. White: That would be a splendid thing. There are more ways than one to get in, and there are more ways than one that the devil will work to keep out; and we have got to consider that the devil is working. There are so many of our brethren that—or quite a number of our brethren—you know, like A. T. Jones, and these other men, that have gone off; they need not have gone. They took themselves off. Nobody drove them away. Well, we will do the best we can. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 12
W. C. White: No, nobody drove them away. Well, we will do the best we can. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 13
E. G. White: Do the best you can, and leave the events with God. Where is this place you are talking about? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 14
W. C. White: Nashville, Tennessee. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 15
E. G. White: Well, there has been a good deal of work done in Nashville, hasn't there? Well, you should not think of giving up Nashville, not by a good deal. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 16
W. C. White: Well, the thought of the brethren was that if they could sell this sanitarium, and pay the debt, then the work could be carried out to Madison. You know at Madison they have a little sanitarium, and it is full to overflowing, and they thought the work could be carried out there. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 17
E. G. White: And not keep both institutions in exercise? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 18
W. C. White: Yes, that is what some of the brethren thought. But yesterday you expressed opinion that there was work enough for the two. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 19
E. G. White: Yes, there is work enough for the two, and there are those, plenty, that you can call on from different places, to come and say, Take hold of this work, and carry it through in the name of the Lord. And wherever they are, and whatever place they are, if they won't rob that place too much, why, call them right there until that one gets so that it can breathe a full breath of encouragement and of the Spirit of the Lord with them. But to go into a place, and then give up, it is a discouragement all their lives, and they always regret it. They may stick to it with prayer, night and day, for the Lord to make the impression. It is not us that makes the impression. It is not us individually, it is the Spirit of God. And they must come in right relationship to God, and as soon as they come in right relationship to God, why the Lord puts His Spirit right upon them. Unless you can see something that is certain that you should give it up, don't give it up. Hold right to it; because those that are there, you know, will then have discouragement. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 20
W. C. White: Well, in this case it would be a discouragement to all our brethren, because they raised $50,000 all over the field, and sent it down there, and then to have that thrown away, it would make our people feel bad everywhere. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 21
E. G. White: There is no sense in it. Is there not a man that can be selected to go right in there and fight the battle right through? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 22
W. C. White: Well, that is the question. We hoped that Dr. George would do it, but he made a failure of it. Now they have asked for Rand, and he does not want to go. The question is, Who will do it? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 23
E. G. White: Well, I am sure I cannot say that; but Dr. Rand ought to go there; that is what he ought to do. He could arrange it through; he could do it. If he would just take the burden on, the Lord would work with him, and go through with the matter. But what is the matter with him? That [where] he is doing—to what place is it? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 24
W. C. White: You remember that new building we visited? Well, they have begun meetings in the classrooms, and Dr. Rand is their dependence, you know, to carry forward that educational line of work, and he does not want to leave it. Of course, it is an important work, and we wish it well. And we would like to see him right there, if it was not for the great necessity of Nashville. I think if we could select some young man from Loma Linda, one who knows the experience, the breadth, of the Loma Linda work, I think it would be well. Then if we could get the Kresses to go with him and work with him, a while, to get things started, I think that would work well. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 25
E. G. White: They ought to work in anywhere where they can get hold and not give up. You do not want to get any of these things started, and then have to back down. You don't want that. But if they could only know how in Bible times, how the people worked, how hard and what discouragements they had. But they had a hold that it was a life and death question, and they kept right at it; they never would let go. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 26
W. C. White: The honor of the cause was at stake. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 27
E. G. White: The truth, the precious truth of God, would be demerited if they should give up a place after they had started it, and the Lord had worked for them, and then [give it up], because some other things had come in and diverted the strength. Why, they have got to get a strength and hold it, somebody that has got a determination. I should tell them, hold right to it till you get somebody that will carry the burden. Somebody can carry that burden; and if our brethren that it seems to us could carry it if they would, don't carry it, why, we have got to study and find out [the] capabilities of some others to come in [who] will take it and carry it through nobly and manfully. It makes me sad to feel that anything like Nashville [is] being given up. Why, you have got to rally men and put them there. You have got to get them in some other part of the country, and if Rand will not go in—what is his excuse? 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 28
W. C. White: For a long time the brethren in Los Angeles have been wanting to have a medical evangelistic work, and now they have rented that beautiful building right by the part they have in the meeting-hall, the bath-rooms, [and] the Conference offices. They want to have health lectures and try to unite the medical and the evangelistic work. Dr. Rand has had his heart on doing that kind of work. Now he has made a beginning and he feels that he ought not to leave it. He thinks that what he does there will be an example and object-lesson to our sanitariums in other places. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 29
E. G. White: Well, he is not the only man that can carry the work. There are others that you must select, and tell them—those that will hold to it—the Lord is not dead. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 30
W. C. White: It is a good thing He isn't. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 31
E. G. White: He is alive to work in every place. He doesn't want any of these places that we have built up to go into the hands of unbelievers. He wants that there are men that shall be appointed to go there and carry the work. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 32
...
Well, I say, Hold on. Get someone there that can act as old Brother Haskell is acting, and keep something going all the time. I would not question going there, not at all, if it was the right season of the year. I would not question going there.... Well, I am too old; I cannot say, you know, anything about what is what. 25LtMs, Ms 83, 1912, par. 33