Failing to Count the Cost
233
places have been presented to me. I have been instructed that the
liberal offers made on these places should be carefully considered....
It may sometimes be necessary, however, to select a site on which
no improvements have been made and no buildings erected. In such a
case, we must be careful not to select a place which will of necessity
require a large outlay of means for improvements. Through lack of
experience, and miscalculation, we may be entrapped into the incurring
of large debts, because the buildings and improvements cost two or
three times as much as was estimated.—
Manuscript 114, 1902
.
Counting on Money Only in Prospect
The president and the business manager are to work unitedly to-
gether. The business manager is to see that the expenditure does not
exceed the income. He is to know what there is to depend on, so that
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the work here shall not be burdened with debt as it is in Battle Creek.
The condition of things there need never have existed. It is the result
of men not being under God’s rule. When men are under God’s rule,
the work moves harmoniously; but when men of strong temperament,
who are not controlled by God, are placed in responsible positions in
the work, the cause is imperiled; for their strong temperaments lead
them to use money which is only in prospect.—
Manuscript 106, 1899
.
Premature Enterprises Without Wide Counsel
Special talent is required to start a sanitarium and place it in running
order, even though the enterprise be a private one. Before starting
out in such an enterprise, our brethren should ask the advice of wise
counselors.-----must be worked; but it must be worked in the right way.
Were enterprises started that would prove a disappointment, were the
one who had taken the responsibility of the work upon himself, to fail
in his enterprise, it would be very difficult to overcome the impression
thus made against the truth.
Whoever has in view the starting of a sanitarium should consult
those of his brethren who carry the burden of the work in fields nigh
and afar off. We cannot afford to have any impression made by our
medical work in the cities other than that God is our leader and our
defense....