Ellen White was a much-sought-after speaker not only for Sabbath-morning church worship services but also for special occasions marking church advance. As the time approached for the opening of the new hospital building at nearby St. Helena Sanitarium, she was asked to present the dedicatory address. She had been aware of its construction but had not seen the building, a four-story frame structure erected on land she had once owned adjacent to the Sanitarium. Only by a vision given to her twenty-four years earlier was the building site preserved for use when the hospital was needed. Here is the story:
The Building Site Preserved by a Vision
The first few years of the "Rural Health Retreat," as the Sanitarium was first known, were difficult ones. William Pratt, who in 1878 had given the land for the institution, thought it would be helpful if a little Adventist community could be built up around it. He reasoned that by persuading some Adventist families in San Francisco and elsewhere to come and build their own homes, this could be accomplished. But perched as it was on the side of Howell Mountain, in close proximity to the bounteous Crystal Spring, there was not much room for homes.
He offered a half-acre of land to each Adventist who would come and build. Zack Thorp, a carpenter in San Francisco, accepted, and built a modest home on a beautiful site near the Retreat. So did Elder St. John. Then Pratt approached Ellen White, who was living near the college in Healdsburg. She told Pratt she wanted to think about it. The next day she told him that she could not accept his generous offer but that she wanted to buy ten acres adjacent to the institution, embodying the land he proposed to give for building sites.
"Why, no, Sister White," he replied, "that will spoil my plan."
"That is exactly what I want to do," she answered, and added, "The time will come when the institution will need this land."
Reluctantly Pratt agreed, but he hated to see his plan upset. He sold Ellen White eight and one-half acres to the southeast of the Retreat. And she did build on this tract, a three-story residence not far from the main building. She called it "Eliel," and promised that it would be available when needed for sanitarium work.
Healdsburg College, thirty-five miles to the north and west, was just commencing its work and getting well under way. Sister Mary Scott had given $5,000 to this project and she wished to make her home near the school. But W. C. White, chairman of the board, was not eager for her to live in Healdsburg, for his experience had taught him that there was grave danger of a donor's feeling that he should have considerable say in the management of an institution that had been the recipient of large gifts. The anticipation of this good woman's mothering the college did not appeal to him, so he thought of a scheme.
"Sister Scott," he said one day, "why don't you make your home at the Retreat? It is an excellent place; Mother owns a piece of land there and I am sure she will give you a site on which to build."
This proposition appealed to her, and apparently the plan was working well. Some days later while at the Retreat, Sister Scott approached Elder White with the question: "Do you think your mother would sell me a bit of land here so I can build a home?"
Confident that his mother would gladly give her a building lot, he replied, "Most assuredly, Sister Scott. You select what you wish and then we will look it over." Nothing was too good for this generous woman who had helped establish the new college.
The following day Elder White was informed that the selection had been made and it was suggested they bring Sister White so they might look over the site together. The trio walked to the southeast and halted on the hillside. Mrs. Scott spoke:
"If you will let me have a piece of land here, Sister White, I will build a home. Just look at that beautiful view."
Elder White was startled and Mrs. Scott disappointed when Sister White, looking over the valley and then back at the hillside, said, "No, I can't let you have this piece, Sister Scott. I have been shown there will be other buildings here someday."
Elder White, who was eager not to offend this good woman and who thought that there was plenty of room for all the buildings that would be needed, could hardly understand this. But the word was final, and Sister Scott built on another location, "Simonnetta," overlooking the valley, to the north of and close to Sister White's "Eliel."
The incident was forgotten. Twenty-four years passed by. "Eliel" was needed for the growing sanitarium work. Ellen White made it available, and at this writing it is still in use.--As told to the author by WCW. The time came also when the Sanitarium needed the 8 1/2 acres Ellen White held, and she sold it to the institution.
Dedication of the Hospital
Now on October 20, 1907, a beautiful fall day, she and her son were at the dedication of the new hospital building. The service was well attended by Sanitarium workers, business and community people, and members from surrounding churches. Ellen White described the hospital structure:
It has four stories, but there is no staircase in the building, the different floors being reached [by covered ramps] from the outside. Each room is so arranged that a bed can be rolled from it through the open window onto a spacious veranda, without the patient in the bed being at all disturbed.--Letter 350, 1907.
The surgery unit was on the top floor.
Seating for the guests was provided on the wide porches and the hillside. The program was conducted from a stand near the building. The program included singing and band music, speeches, and the dedicatory prayer. Ellen White was allotted twenty minutes for the dedicatory address. Not accustomed to being restricted in time, she wondered how she could include what she felt she should say in the time allowed.
She held to the time, speaking slowly and distinctly on the topic "Why We Have Sanitariums."
Basing her remarks on texts in Revelation 22, and beginning with verses one and two with their "pure river of water of life" and the "tree of life," she declared:
The great reason why we have sanitariums is that these institutions may be agencies in bringing men and women to a position where they may be numbered among those who shall someday eat of the leaves of the tree of life, which are for the healing of the nations....
Our sanitariums are established as institutions where patients and helpers may serve God. We desire to encourage as many as possible to act their part individually in living healthfully....
Our sanitariums are to be centers of education. Those who come to them are to be given an opportunity to learn how to overcome disease, and how to preserve the health. They may learn how to use the simple agencies that God has provided for their recovery, and become more intelligent in regard to the laws of life.--Manuscript 115, 1907.
As she closed her remarks, she stated that this was her first opportunity of seeing the new building and that she was "pleased with it, very much pleased with it."
The Very Spot Shown in Vision
The people seemed pleased with her words. W. C. White followed with some remarks. After the dedicatory prayer, the building was open for inspection. In time he and Mr. Greenfield, St. Helena's lumber merchant, with whom W. C. was well acquainted, found themselves on the hillside just back and to the west of the hospital. As they gazed to the southwest Greenfield spoke: "Mr. White, look at that view! What a site for a hospital! People could not help but get well here!"
Then it occurred to W. C. that they were standing on the very spot where, twenty-four years earlier, he had stood with Mrs. Scott and his mother. Sister Scott had asked for the very site where the hospital now stood and Ellen White had said: "No, I can't let you have the piece, Sister Scott; I have been shown that there will be other buildings here someday."--As told to the author by WCW.
The hospital building on the brow of the hill, connected by a covered walk with other Sanitarium buildings, served for half a century. Then it gave way, following general reconstruction plans, to provide for hospital facilities in close conjunction with the main plant.
As the Sanitarium church outgrew the chapel that adjoined the original Sanitarium buildings, the uncluttered site just across the road from where the hospital had been--where Ellen White refused Mrs. Scott's request for a spot for her home--became the location for a beautiful house of worship for the Lord. Overlooking Elmshaven, it was named the Elmshaven church.
The Difficult Task of Warning Church Leaders
One of the very difficult tasks given to the prophet of God was to bear Heaven's messages of reproof and correction to the leaders of God's people. It was so in times of old, and it was so in Ellen White's day. Church leaders were called of God or appointed by Him to their positions of trust and duty. They were for the most part unselfish individuals, Bible Christians, God-loving, dedicated, and hard-working, and often times quite certain that they were performing their administrative duties well.
The occasion for a testimony of reproof was usually not to point out some gross sin, as was the message God charged Nathan to give David, but rather to call attention to defects in character, faulty concepts, or poor administrative policies. It was in the field of the latter that Ellen White was at times called upon to bear messages of correction to those with whom she worked and whom she held in esteem. This was particularly so in 1907, in its closing months.
The reading of many testimonies dealing with this period, published and unpublished, reveals the very fine line between wise and understanding administration and the assumption of dictatorial or kingly authority. The testimonies also reveal that this matter is to be understood by all persons carrying responsibilities, whether in an institution or a conference office, and particularly by presidents of all conferences, from the local to the general.
As noted in a preceding chapter, the year 1907 was not much more than an hour old when a vision was given to Ellen White at Elmshaven concerning situations in medical institutions in southern California and particularly at Paradise Valley Sanitarium. The nature of the problem is revealed in the testimony written to the matron, a woman of pronounced convictions--yes, the very woman who had unselfishly matched funds with Ellen White to finance the purchase of the property. Here are a few sentences written to her:
I wish to say to you, my sister, Do not make perplexities for yourself by trying to make everyone see as you see, and follow the plans you have devised. I have told you that you do not view everything in a correct light. Your ideas are not always pleasing to others. Your strong traits of character lead you to seek to mold and fashion others according to your ideas.
I must speak plainly to you, my sister. Let others act upon their individual merit and intelligence. God expects them to do this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To every man and woman God has given a work, and He would have every mind so well balanced that the work can be done after the divine similitude. You, my sister, must not seek to put your mold upon other minds. You must not feel that your mind and judgment is to be the criterion for other minds. The Lord has given to each capability and tact, and if we will be guided by His wisdom, the minds of the workers will blend, and the work be carried on harmoniously.
Your way is not the way that would be wisest to follow in every instance.--Letter 54, 1907.
It was not long until the president of the California Conference had to be reminded of these principles. Four Ellen G. White messages were read at the conference session held at San Jose in late January, one of which, "Individual Responsibility and Christian Unity," consisted of twenty-one pages of counsel on relationships of conference administrators to their workers and church members. In this she pointed out that there was danger of the executive, "instead of acting as a wise counselor," assuming" the prerogatives of an exacting ruler" (Special Testimonies, Series B 9:21; [Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 491]). This was published at the request of the California Conference with the other E. G. White messages read at the session. (The particular article appears in full in Ibid., 485-505.)