The New Headquarters of the General Conference
By L. A. S.
At the Tabernacle, last Sabbath, July 25, the time of both the forenoon and afternoon services was devoted to the presentation of facts pertaining to the removal of the denominational headquarters from Battle Creek to a place on the Atlantic coast. Many very interesting facts had been gathered by those having this important matter in charge, during the past few weeks, partly from their experience in searching for a new location, and partly from recent communications received by them from Sister White. The Tabernacle was well filled, and the large assembly listened with deep interest to the things presented. Elders Daniells and Prescott conducted the services. Preparatory to a statement of the results obtained by the committee of location on their recent trip, extracts were read from recent communications on the subject from Sister White, pointing out the dangerous position of those who stood in opposition to the counsel of God, and what would follow if they persisted in this course, and other extracts bearing on the question of the proper location of the new headquarters. When the committee left Battle Creek the first time, they went to New York City, fully expecting that the new location for a headquarters would be in the vicinity of that great city. In a letter from Sister White, however, they were told to move very cautiously, and that it was not clear in her mind that any place in that vicinity would be the right one. The results of their investigations there failed to bring to any the conviction that the right location was near New York City. On the contrary, a feeling of discouragement began to come over some who had begun the search with much enthusiasm. The country was thickly populated, prices were high, and the rural location which they were seeking in accordance with the instructions God had given, was not to be found near the nation's commercial metropolis. Only one place was found which appeared to be at all suitable, and the chief advantage there was the good railroad facilities, but it was felt that such a consideration was very far from being the chief one which they should have in view. Meanwhile instruction had come to them that in their investigations they should not overlook the city of Washington. Accordingly, members of the committee went to Washington to compare the advantages there with those of localities farther north. They found Washington to be altogether different from the great commercial center which had been their first objective point. The advantages were found which they had not met with in the district first explored. Before they had been long in Washington, the conviction began to come over them individually that they were on the ground where the right location was to be found. After the conviction had come to the committee that the vicinity of Washington afforded the advantages sought, a letter from Sister White came, saying she had clear light that Washington was the city where the new headquarters should be fixed. These letters, however, were entirely independent of any statements or representations made to Sister White by members of the committee. Nothing whatever from any member expressing any opinion or preference in the matter had been written her, yet the instruction received through her at frequent intervals exactly fitted in with the experience of the committee in the course of their search, affording them light and encouragement at every step, and showing the guiding hand of God over the important enterprise which they had in hand. Northwest of the city of Washington, just outside the District of Columbia, but within the limits of the town of Takoma Park, a tract of land comprising fifty acres was found, which is in every way suitable as a location for the institutions which it is desired to establish at the new center of our work. Some years ago it had been purchased by a physician at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, with the intention of making it the site of a sanitarium. Financial difficulties, however, obliged him to mortgage the land, and the land passed to the mortgagee, and the sanitarium project was abandoned. The holder of the land had much other land in that vicinity, and desired to sell this fifty-acre tract. Through a friend of his who was desirous that we should locate there, the fifty acres was obtained for the sum of six thousand dollars. This fifty-acre tract lies within the limits of the suburban town of Takoma Park, and will have the advantages of good roads, sewerage, gas, electricity, and free mail service. It is elevated, being about three hundred and fifty feet above the level of the city. The main line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway runs through Takoma Park, and a trolley line affords rapid transfer between it and Washington. A beautiful creek called the Sligo, runs through the fifty-acre tract; and though only seven miles from the Capitol building, it is entirely rural, being well covered with chestnut, oak, hickory, pine, and other trees common to that locality. The soil is well suited to agriculture, and the place is very quiet, there being no large business enterprises in the vicinity. Looking at the matter in the light of the experience now gained, it is easy to see that the move to Washington is in the providence of God; that as, of old, Jerusalem, the center of influence in the days of the apostles, was the place from which the truth went with mighty power under the first outpouring of the Spirit, so now the city of Washington, the nation's capital and the center of its educational influence, is the fit place for the truth to go forth under the final outpouring of the Spirit, which is now due. We are of good courage and joyful in the Lord, believing that as by the transfer from Rochester to Battle Creek in the early days of the message a new impetus was given to the work which brought prosperity to the cause then, so now from this transfer of our headquarters a new impetus is to come which will bring in the loud cry of the third angel and the latter rain. L. A. S.