Early in May, 1905, Mrs. White, with other delegates, was en route to the General Conference session, to be held in Washington, D.C. During the brief time their train was standing in Los Angeles, some members of the committee who had just visited Loma Linda told her of the offer that had just been made, in which the price of the property had been reduced to $40,000. She was deeply interested and requested to be kept informed as to developments.
It would be hard to conceive of a situation in which it was more difficult to secure prompt action in a matter of this kind. The leading officers of the Southern California Conference were then in attendance at the General Conference 3,000 miles distant. Less than a month before this there had been a change in the leadership of the local conference, and the incoming president had been strictly enjoined that it was expected of him that he should work most earnestly to relieve the financial situation in the field. Having just come from another conference, he was not familiar with the background of messages regarding sanitarium work in southern California. The Glendale Sanitarium had been opened very recently, and there were still many calls for means to help get it started. Added to all this there was the conviction on the part of the General Conference administration, reflected in the union and local conferences, that the creation of further indebtedness must stop.
Elder Burden Acts
Such was the situation when, in answer to her request, Mrs. White received a letter from Elder J.A. Burden, giving a detailed description of the property, and asking, "What shall we do?" It added, "We must act at once as the company is anxious to sell, and there are others who want it." Elder Burden requested that the responsible brethren who had gone from California be consulted and that he might receive immediate instruction how to act in the matter. He did not know how long he could continue negotiations, but hoped that he might have time to hear from Washington by telegram before the property had passed into other hands. He also declared that he had found a few brethren with means who had sufficient faith to be willing to pay a deposit on the place, even though they might lose it, rather than to let the property pass out of their hands before they could hear from the brethren in Washington advising them what action to take.
Upon receipt of this letter, Mrs. White took prompt action. She directed her son, Elder W.C. White, to send a telegram to Elder Burden, instructing him to take such immediate action as would secure an option on the Loma Linda property. She realized that delay might result in the loss of the place, and that the necessary steps should be taken to hold it until the whole question could be carefully studied and a decision reached. Writing more fully of her positive conviction in the matter, she said in reply to Elder Burden's letter:
"Secure the property by all means, so that it can be held, and then obtain all the money you can and make sufficient payments to hold the place. Do not delay, for it is just what is needed. I think that sufficient help can be secured to carry the matter through. I want you to be sure to lose no time in securing the right to purchase the property. We will do our utmost to help you raise the money. I know that Redlands and Riverside are to be worked, and I pray that the Lord may be gracious and not allow anyone else to get this property instead of us."--Special Testimonies, Series B, 3:8.
A Call to Faith
The letter concluded with the following call to faith and an assurance of God's help: "Here is the Word of the Lord. Open up every place possible. We are to labor in faith, taking hold of a power that is pledged to do large things for us. We are to reach out in faith in Los Angeles and in Redlands and Riverside."--Ibid., 9, 10.
During the next few days several letters and telegrams were sent to Elder Burden from Washington by Mrs. White, and to him from officers of the Southern California Conference. The latter, in looking at the purchase of the Loma Linda Sanitarium as a purely local conference enterprise, were naturally alarmed at the thought of adding to their already heavy load of conference indebtedness. They urged Elder Burden to delay action till their return, and when this seemed impossible, they telegraphed him that they could not thus obligate the Southern California Conference.
Mrs. White could appreciate the attitude of these brethren, and she wrote to Elder Burden that she could "not ask the conference to invest" in the sanitarium, for they had "enough responsibilities to carry without taking upon them other responsibilities." (E. G. White Letter 145, 1905.) However, with her positive conviction that it was the Lord's will that the property be secured, and learning that delay would result in the loss of the opportunity to purchase it, she confidently assured Elder Burden that some means of paying for it would be found, and finally wrote positively:
"In regard to the purchase of Loma Linda I will say, Go ahead. ... I am well satisfied that the place is one we ought to have. It is cheap at forty thousand dollars. We will not leave you, but will stand back of you, and help you to raise the means."--E. G. White Letter 155, 1905.
Elder Burden's Decision
The terms offered to Elder Burden were the payment of $5,000 down, and a like amount in August, September, and December. The balance of $20,000 would come due in three years. He conferred with the agents of the property, hoping that they would extend the time for the payment of the option deposit till the delegates would return from the General Conference. But the only concession he could obtain was the immediate payment of $1,000, which might be counted as part of the full option payment, but which would be forfeited if the deal was not carried through.
Faced with the grave responsibility of immediate decision, Elder Burden decided to borrow the $1,000 on his personal note.
Thus matters stood when the representatives of the Southern California Conference returned from Washington. They called for a full conference committee session to consider what should be their attitude toward the purchase of the Loma Linda property. The difficulties were so real that it seemed hazardous to proceed with the enterprise, but in view of Mrs. White's apparent certainty that they should go ahead, they could not agree to follow what otherwise seemed to be the reasonable course. So no final decision was reached, and they adjourned to meet at Loma Linda at the time when Mrs. White should arrive from the East.
And so it was that when, on Monday morning, June 12, 1905, Mrs. White drove onto the grounds, from Redlands, there was quite a large company gathered to look over the property and to consider what should be done. As she was taken through the buildings and over the grounds, she repeatedly said that she recognized this as the very place she had seen in vision four years before. And as she sat down in the recreation center, she spoke of the educational work that was to be carried forward there, urging that men be connected with the institution who had had an experience in the early development of the work, and who would help to establish the enterprise in harmony with the plan that had been divinely set forth for medical missionary work.
Mrs. White's Talk
After dinner Mrs. White spoke in the commodious parlor on "The Great Medical Missionary." She then retired for rest, while the large committee met for counsel as to what should be done with the new sanitarium. It was evident that Mrs. White most earnestly desired to see the property secured at once, yet the insuperable difficulties loomed up. After long deliberation it was decided that before a decision should be made, there should be wider counsel, and a meeting was arranged for the Los Angeles church the following morning.
Notwithstanding the brief notice for the meeting, the large church building on Carr Street, Los Angeles, was well filled with church members when the hour appointed for the meeting arrived. Mrs. White set forth the Lord's providences in the securing of sanitarium properties, and her hopes for Loma Linda as a place where medical workers might be trained after the divine pattern.
After listening to her powerful address, someone moved that the Southern California Conference be encouraged to secure the Loma Linda property. However, some felt reluctant to obligate the entire conference on the vote of one church, and decision was therefore postponed until there could be a meeting at which a delegation of all the conference churches could be present.
On June 20, 1905, the delegates assembled, and Elder Burden gave a description of the property and read some of the letters received from Mrs. White while she was in Washington. Mrs. White again spoke at some length, seeking to encourage the people to secure the Loma Linda property as a sanitarium.
The Southern California Conference president then spoke of the importance of the decision that was to be made. In an official report of this meeting, it is recorded: "He then stated that Sister White had said that this sanitarium should be the principal training school on this coast. At this point Sister White interrupted him and said, 'This will be.'"--Minutes of Southern California Conference, June 20, 1905.
A letter adverse to "voting a debt for someone else to pay" was received from one church, in lieu of a delegate, and from a council of churches in the vicinity of San Diego came a recommendation that "the property be owned by individuals on the Paradise Valley Sanitarium plan."
"To Be to the Glory of God"
The current of opinion seemed to be going in an unfavorable direction, when Elder G.A. Irwin, vice-president of the General Conference, arose. He had just returned from a visit to Loma Linda and arrived while the Los Angeles meeting was in progress. We quote again from the official minutes of the meeting: "Elder Irwin stated that in Australia the school was held back for years by the unbelief of those in positions of responsibility. He said, 'I am in favor of your undertaking the Loma Linda property as a conference, because there have been evil results from institutions being separated from the conference. Although the conference is heavily in debt, I believe it to be the glory of God that this conference should assume the responsibility.'"--Ibid.
This expression of confidence was made more effective by the narration of personal experiences where great blessings had resulted through following counsels given by Mrs. White when, to all human appearances, they seemed contrary to reason. Elder Irwin did not minimize the perplexities with which they were now confronted, but he assured them that God would open the seas of difficulty before them as they advanced by faith.
No sooner had Elder Irwin taken his seat than there arose a lady, the daughter of General Otis, manager of the Los Angeles Times, a recent convert to the Seventh-day Adventist faith. She expressed her confidence that God was leading in this move, and stated that she had $10,000 invested in worldly enterprises, which sum, if the Lord would help her to secure its release, she would gladly invest in Loma Linda. She had been praying, she said, that she might be a pioneer in some truly worthy enterprise.
Although later this lady was not successful in securing the release of this money, yet her public statement helped to turn the tide in favor of securing the institution by the Southern California Conference. Others in the congregation pledged moral and financial support to the enterprise, and the resolution for the property to be secured and controlled by the Southern California Conference was passed by an overwhelming vote of the delegates from the twenty-two churches represented in the general meeting.