Then I Knew by John Norton Loughborough

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 13, 1905

_Then I Knew_

By John Norton Loughborough

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

KNEW what?—“Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.” So said the prophet Jeremiah when a prediction which had been made through his testimony met its fulfilment. Of this we read, “Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.” Jer. 32: 6-8.

This conclusion made by the prophet is in harmony with what the Lord had given as the proof of a true prophet. In another place Jeremiah said, “The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.” Jer. 28: 9. Again, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read, “Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commanded it not?” Lam. 3: 37.

The test of a true prophet given through Moses was, “If thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Deut. 18: 21, 22.

If we apply these rules to the gift of prophecy, which for the last sixty years has been manifest through Mrs. E. G. White, we find that predictions made are most accurately fulfilled, and it is right for us also to say of this gift, Now I know that this is the word of the Lord. In the pamphlet, “Prophetic Gift in the Gospel Church,” and in the forthcoming book on “The Great Second Advent Movement,” there will be found a record of more than a score of definite predictions accurately fulfilled.

We wish here to call attention to some late occurrences of the same nature. On March 18 and 19, 1902, several leading brethren were called together in Los Angeles, Cal., to consider matters relative to sanitarium work in that city. The proposition was urged upon us to purchase a site near the corner of Hill and Third Streets. To secure this site, erect the necessary buildings, and furnish them for sanitarium work, would require an outlay of about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and this money would have to be hired.

A Testimony came to that meeting from Mrs. White, not to build a sanitarium in Los Angeles; while it might be right to rent buildings in the city for a restaurant and treatment rooms, the sanitarium should be out in the country, away from the noise and bustle of city life. It should be where the patients would be in contact with nature—fields, trees, and flowers. A caution was given against any hasty moves in paying large sums for a sanitarium. She went on to state what had been shown to her, that buildings and property suitable for our work, on which much money had been expended by those who had the money to spend, but who, by death or by other reason, had failed to carry out their plans, would be offered to us at very low figures, and some of these we ought to secure.

Let us now consider some things which have happened in line with this Testimony since 1902. The readers of the REVIEW are familiar with the special instruction which came from Mrs. White to the committee who were seeking a location for the Review and Herald, school buildings, and a sanitarium in the East, that they should “move carefully, and pray much,” and that “the Lord would guide them.” Again it was spoken in this particular case, that “property suitable for the work, and upon which much money had been expended, would be offered at low figures.” The result was the securing of the beautiful site in Takoma Park for six thousand dollars, about one tenth of the price at one time placed upon it.

At Glendale, eight miles from Los Angeles, our people are now carrying on the sanitarium work in a building just adapted to the work. This building is two blocks from the post-office. An electric street-car line from Los Angeles runs past the door. The house has seventy-five rooms, and cost, a few years ago, forty thousand dollars. The grounds connected with the building cost about six thousand dollars. Abundance of fine mountain water is piped to the grounds and building. Our people purchased this property in 1904 for twelve thousand five hundred dollars, about one fourth of its original cost.

At Paradise Valley, some six miles from San Diego, is a sanitarium in operation. Of this, we learn that about twenty years ago a lady physician, possessed of considerable wealth and enterprise, selected this commanding site for a sanitarium home, and expended fully sixty thousand dollars on the building and grounds. The building contains fifty rooms, and on the grounds purchased, near to the main building, is a six-room cottage and a good barn. There are twenty acres of land. The purchase price, including all the cost of transfer of title, was five thousand dollars, about one twelfth of the original cost of the property. This place was secured in January, 1904.

Several dry seasons had reduced the water-supply, and the property had greatly decreased in value. Some of our people objected to the purchase because of the failure of the irrigating system, and their doubt of getting an ample supply of water on the place. After Mrs. White saw the place, she was confident that it was one of the places which had been shown her in vision. From the first, she declared, “The difficulty about the water can be overcome.” The workmen began sinking a well upon the place. On Nov. 14, 1904, they struck such a flow of water that it rose fourteen feet in the well in one night. Of this success, Mrs. White, in an article in the REVIEW of March 16, 1905, said, “From the beginning [meaning beginning of negotiation for the property], I had felt the assurance that the Lord would open the way for our work to advance.”

In view of these facts, the question naturally arises, “How did Mrs. White know that such offers of property would be made?” Like Jeremiah, she made her statement from what the Lord had shown to her. We who see so clear a fulfilment of the word, do well to say, “Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.” Happy is it, and happy will it be, for those who acknowledge the instruction the Lord is giving his people through his humble instrument. This is one of the Lord’s special agencies in this time, to draw the attention of his people to his Word, and so instruct them that they may escape the wiles of Satan, and be of those who shall be kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, so soon to be revealed in this last time.

Mountain View, Cal.