Chapter 54—In Southern California
“All our medical institutions are established as Seventh-day Ad-
ventist institutions, to represent the various features of gospel medical
missionary work, and thus to prepare the way for the coming of the
Lord,” (
Testimonies for the Church 7:107
) wrote Mrs. White in 1903,
when the development of medical missionary work in southern Cali-
fornia was under consideration.
“If we are to go to the expense of building sanitariums in order
that we may work for the salvation of the sick and afflicted, we must
plan our work in such a way that those we desire to help will receive
the help they need. We are to do all in our power for the healing of
the body; but we are to make the healing of the soul of far greater
importance. Those who come to our sanitariums as patients are to be
shown the way of salvation, that they may repent, and hear the words,
Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace and sin no more.”
Testimonies
for the Church 7:96
.
It was because of extraordinary opportunities presenting them-
selves for the winning of souls, that Mrs. White bore a decided
testimony in favor of establishing a group of medical institutions in
southern California. “From the light given me when I was in Australia,
and renewed since I came to America,” she wrote in 1902, “I know
that our work in southern California must advance more rapidly. The
people flocking to that place in search of health must hear the last
message of mercy....
“From many places in southern California the light is to shine forth
[400]
to the multitudes. Present truth is to be as a city set on a hill, which
cannot be hid.
“In southern California there are many properties for sale on which
buildings suitable for sanitarium work are already erected. Some of
these properties should be purchased, and medical missionary work
carried forward on sensible, rational lines. Several small sanitariums
are to be established in southern California for the benefit of the multi-
tudes drawn there in the hope of finding health. Instruction has been
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