The Removal To Washington

A few details in the story of the removal of the general headquarters to the East will serve to illustrate the helpful guidance of the Lord by the gift of the Spirit of prophecy. As so many times through the years, the voice of the Lord was heard in this gift, saying again, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”SPIAM 106.1

The 1903 session of the General Conference met in California, a few months following the burning of the Review and Herald office. The question of rebuilding came before the delegation. The Bulletin of that Conference reported Mrs. White as giving counsel:SPIAM 106.2

“In reply to the question that has been asked in regard to settling somewhere else, I answer, Yes. Let the General Conference offices [which were in one of the outer Review and Herald buildings that was not burned] and the publishing work be moved from Battle Creek. I know not where the place will be, whether on the Atlantic Coast or elsewhere; but this I will say: Never lay a stone or a brick in Battle Creek to rebuild the Review office there. God has a better place for it.”—Page 85.SPIAM 106.3

Action was taken by the Conference looking toward finding a site for the headquarters in the Atlantic States, close to the country’s more populous areas. Later counsels from the Spirit of prophecy mentioned New York and Washington as centers where much more should be done to represent the advent message. A committee of search was appointed. While they were going over the environs of New York, a message came from Mrs. White, saying that any place “within thirty miles” of the great city would be too near. The same message added: “Study the surroundings of other places. I am sure that the advantages of Washington, D.C., should be closely investigated.”—The Review and Herald, August 11, 1903.SPIAM 106.4

It was with misgivings, I remember, that some of us thought of Washington, the government headquarters. It hardly seemed our simple kind of gospel work would fit into the great capital of the nation. But the search for the site turned toward Washington. Then quickly came the definite counsel from Mrs. White’s home in California:SPIAM 106.5

“We have been praying for light regarding the location of our work in the East, and light has come to us in a very decided way. Positive light has been given me that there will be offered to us for sale places upon which money has been expended by men who had money to use freely.... Their attention is called to some other object, and their property is offered for sale at a very low price.SPIAM 107.1

“In regard to Washington, I will say that twenty years ago memorials for God should have been established in that city, or rather, in its suburbs....SPIAM 107.2

“From the light given me, I know that, for the present, the headquarters of the Review and Herald should be near Washington. If there is on our books and papers the imprint of Washington, D.C., it will be seen that we are not afraid to let our light shine. Let the publishing house be established near Washington.”—The Review and Herald, August 20, 1903.SPIAM 107.3

So the new headquarters was established in Washington, D.C., in the suburb of Takoma Park.SPIAM 107.4

Just over the border, in the State of Maryland, improved land was secured for the school and sanitarium work which the instruction said should be established near the nation’s capital. And exactly as the message quoted above had said, the property was secured at “a very low price,” after others had spent thousands of dollars upon it.SPIAM 108.1

Newspapers and public men of affairs congratulated the leaders of the church on their wisdom and good judgment in choosing the national capital as the general denominational headquarters.SPIAM 108.2

The leaders knew very well that any credit the world was ready to give belonged to that gift of the Spirit of prophecy which had guided the searchers to this place, rather against their own first judgment and inclination. It was after the gift had definitely spoken that the searchers began to see how truly providence had prepared the place.SPIAM 108.3

And out over the world, in many a far land where men were inclined to give scant liberty to a religious movement that appeared inconvenient to them, the fact that the world headquarters was in Washington has given our work the very prestige mentioned by the counsel we have quoted.SPIAM 108.4