Strengthening the Hands of the Builders by Percy T. Magan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 16, 1916

Strengthening the Hands of the Builders

By Percy T. Magan

A Notable Meeting in Connection with the Founding of the Los Angeles Hospital and Dispensary

SOME time ago there came to our medical missionaries the message that their hearts must be “knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God.” And again it was written that “the medical missionary work is sick, and needs the restoring power of the Great Healer, before it can accomplish a work in harmony with his name.”

A number of those engaged in our medical work have been led of late to realize more and more the truths contained in both of these messages. Especially has this been true in Southern California, where there are probably more Seventh-day Adventist physicians than in any other area of similar size in the world. Many of these are not connected with our institutions, but are engaged in private practice. Quite a number were once in the service of our sanitariums or schools, and left these institutions for various reasons, some with a “root of bitterness” in their hearts. It is not necessary to discuss whether they or the institutions were in the wrong; the fact is mentioned only because of the happy circumstances about to be related.

Part of the work of the junior and all the work of the senior classes of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists is done in the city of Los Angeles. The instruction, to a very great extent, is given by these Seventh-day Adventist physicians who support themselves by their private practice, and give their services free to our medical college.

Very shortly after it had been decided by the fall council at Loma Linda that the denomination would do all in its power to put the College of Medical Evangelists on its feet, and that to the Seventh-day Adventist women should be given a commission to raise the sixty-one thousand dollars for the building and equipment of a hospital and dispensary in the city of Los Angeles, an informal meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist physicians and dentists practicing in Southern California was called.

This gathering convened in the office of one of our doctors, in one of the principal office buildings in the city. Although the call had been issued only two days beforehand, about thirty-five were present. This was a far larger attendance than those responsible for the call had dared to expect, and caused a feeling of courage and joy to pervade the assembly from the beginning.

Dr. Newton Evans, president of the College of Medical Evangelists, was chosen chairman, and the meeting opened with an earnest season of prayer. After this Dr. Evans recounted the divine providences which had been so manifest in the council at Loma Linda in regard to the medical school. He told of the deep perplexity of the brethren concerning the heavy indebtedness resting upon the institution,—how many feared that it would be impossible to support the enterprise, with its growing needs and the constant demands of the medical authorities for larger and more expensive equipment and facilities. He told how, when the billows of perplexity were rolling the highest, men who, under God, had piloted this cause through many a stormy sea had been moved to exhort to courage and hope. He related how Elder George I. Butler, stalwart still beneath his increasing burden of years, had rallied his brethren to carry out the counsel of the sleeping prophet of the Lord; how Elder S. N. Haskell had cheered and encouraged those present with his ringing testimony that the counsel of the Lord would stand, and that our eyes would see him do all his pleasure; and how Elders Daniells and Evans had declared that we must set ourselves more resolutely than ever before to carry out the instruction of God, and courageously meet this first great test since the passing away of the servant of the Lord. Next Dr. Evans told of the progress being made in the medical school,—how the blessing of the Lord had attended our students, and every one had been successful in the State board examinations.

Dr. George A. Thomason gave a most helpful talk. He exhorted those who had formerly been employed in institutional work, but who were now engaged in private practice, to bury all strife and bitterness of feeling, and unselfishly give their services to our medical school, to aid in training medical missionaries for the great fields of the Orient and the world. He spoke of the work as being all one, and of the need that those in private practice do all in their power to uphold the hands of those who are carrying heavy burdens in the medical college.

Another speaker told of lessons he had learned from the Bible, and how nearly all its great men had passed through experiences which at first seemed destined to separate them from their chosen work, and how God had wondrously used the very things which seemed to them calamities to carry out his greatest purposes in their lives. He referred to Joseph, and told how he had called his first-born son Manasseh [forgetting]: “For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Sorrow, trial, and affliction are oftentimes heavenly guests in disguise, through whose instrumentality God designs to draw us nearer to himself.

Dr. W. W. Worster spoke in a most touching manner of the sadness which had filled his soul when he understood that the medical college was to be closed, and of the joy which inspired him when he learned of the final action of the council in voting to sustain it.

Dr. Roy Clark told of some of the hard times which had come into his experience, but how he and his wife had decided that their lives, whether in institutional or in private practice, were the purchase of the blood of Christ, and that they would be true to the religious

and medical faith which had been committed to this people; and how God had blessed them in their work, though separated from those of kindred faith.

Dr. Abbie Winegar Simpson, of Long Beach, Cal., and Dr. Florence Keller, of New Zealand, told of their hopes, now that the work of the medical college was to go forward with new vigor. They felt a deep burden that many young women in our ranks should consecrate their lives to the work of the Christian physician. A number of others told of the wonderful workings of God’s providence which had led them to their life calling, and how they were resolved to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called.

Toward the close of the meeting it was decided to perfect a society of the Seventh-day Adventist physicians of Southern California, having in view by this agency spiritual and scientific advancement, and the forwarding of the work of the College of Medical Evangelists. The Spirit of God came into the hearts of those present in a marked manner. A movement was set on foot to raise the sum of ten thousand dollars among the physicians of the denomination, and to present it to the women’s committee, to cover the cost of the dispensary to be built in connection with the hospital in Los Angeles. There was deep enthusiasm and consecrated loyalty manifested in the action taken to assist in this matter. Dr. Thomason, although possessing but little of this world’s goods, took the lead by pledging five hundred dollars. Dr. Florence Keller followed with a similar amount, and she has since turned the cash into the treasury. Others made liberal promises, and steps were taken for a campaign to raise the money, so that, if possible, the dispensary may be completed by the fall opening of the school.

The meeting closed leaving a feeling of joy in every heart, and a belief that God was burying past differences, drawing his people together, and stirring up hearts to offer willingly for the upbuilding of his cause.

PERCY T. MAGAN.