The Removal to Washington by Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1903

The Removal to Washington

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

(Concluded.)

As we found nothing in the vicinity of New York City to meet the instruction in the second communication, and as we were directed in both letters to study the advantages of Washington, some members of the committee decided to go to that city. Before going to Washington it seemed almost impossible to the committee that that city possessed the advantages required for our headquarters. Our eyes were fixed on New York City, and, although our search had greatly disappointed us, yet we could not think Washington could be the right place. But we had purposed in our hearts that in this important step of moving from Battle Creek, we would follow strictly the counsel of God. Therefore some members of the committee went to Washington.

We had not looked about the place long before there began to steal over us a conviction that, after all, Washington might be the place for our headquarters. The longer we continued our search, the deeper this conviction grew. We found conditions here far more in harmony with the counsel we have received than we had found anywhere else. Soon after this visit we received a third letter from Sister White. This letter gives additional light, as will be seen from the following statements:

We have been praying for light regarding the location of our work in the East, and light has come to us in a very decided way. Positive light has been given me that there will be offered to us for sale places upon which much money has been expended by men who had money to use freely. The owners of these places die, or their attention is called to some other object, and their property is offered for sale at a very low price.

In regard to Washington, I will say that twenty years ago memorials for God should have been established in that city, or rather, in its suburbs. It was in the providence of God that our people were offered the church that they recently purchased there. I am glad that this church is so nearly paid for.

We are many years behind in giving the message of warning in the city that is the capital of our nation. Time and time again the Lord has presented Washington to me as a place that has been strangely neglected. There should be a sanitarium in Washington. The people in the nation's capital should know what we are doing. Let the work stand high upon its eternal foundation as gospel medical missionary work. Why should not this work be carried forward in Washington? Why should not the leaders of the American people have the privilege of learning the Lord's will?

If there is one place above another where a sanitarium should be established, and where gospel work should be done, it is Washington. We can not estimate how great an influence would have gone forth from Washington in favor of the truth had a sanitarium been established there twenty years ago. Above all places, this place should now be worked. Satan is working there against Jehovah with all his might.

I present this to you as a matter that is stirring me mightily. One thing is certain: we shall not be clear unless we at once do something in Washington to represent our work. I shall not be able to rest until I see the truth going forth as a lamp that burneth.

I dare not now write all the words that have been given me on this subject. In the future I may feel free to write them.

From the light given me, I know that, for the present, the headquarters of the Review and Herald should be near Washington. If there is on our books and papers the imprint of Washington, D. C., it will be seen that we are not afraid to let our light shine. Let the publishing house be established near Washington. Thus we shall show that we are trying to do what God has bidden us do to proclaim the last message of mercy to a perishing world. We should begin our work there in a limited way at first, and increase as the Lord may favor us.

The Lord is good. He is going before us. The Lord has been striving with me, and I say to you, We must make decided moves, and quickly bring things into order, that God may see a different representation, lest his wrath come upon us, and we be not able to escape. The Lord calls for sanctified minutemen. He has no use for men who try to serve God and Baal. Let us pray much, and let us refuse to say one word that will irritate a fellow-worker. We are to provoke one another to love and to good works, not to anger.

Let us take hold of the arm of infinite power. Let us walk humbly before God, but let us be giants in meeting discouragement and difficulty. We must have increased faith. Let us praise God. He is our strength, our shield, and our defense, our front guard and our rearward.

This letter was followed a few days later by another, giving clear, definite counsel. Among the statements made are these:—

Our people far and near need to ask themselves how the Lord regards their neglect of important centers in America. There are many places in this country in which the truth has never been proclaimed. Many years ago there should have been a sanitarium in Washington, D. C. But men have chosen their way in many things, and the places to which the truth should have found entrance, by the establishment of medical missionary work, have been neglected.

The Lord has opened this matter to me decidedly. The publishing work that has been carried on in Battle Creek should for the present be carried on near Washington. If after a time the Lord says, Move away from Washington, we are to move. We are pilgrims and strangers in this earth, seeking a better country, even a heavenly. When the Lord tells us to move, we are to obey, however inconvenient and inconsistent such a command may seem to us to be.

These letters settled the question as to the general location. When we started out, none of the committee was favorable to Washington, and the Lord's servant had no definite light as to the city we should select. Now the Lord had given his servant clear, direct light, and those who had come face to face with the conditions in and near Washington, felt clear in their own minds as the result of their personal observation. At the beginning of our search we were instructed to give different places diligent and prayerful study, and were assured that the Lord would make the way plain. This was fulfilled. The conditions saw convinced

our judgment, and at the same time the Lord gave definite light through the spirit of prophecy. This removed all uncertainty regarding the question of location. It now remained for the committee to go to Washington to purchase land for building purposes, and to make necessary arrangements for removing the general offices to that city.

The latter part of July the following brethren came together in Washington: W. W. Prescott, H. W. Cottrell, W. C. White, I. H. Evans, O. O. Farnsworth, C. H. Jones, R. A. Underwood, S. N. Curtiss, and A. G. Daniells. We were assisted in our work by J. S. Washburn, L. C. Sheafe, Dr. Neal, Dr. Howard, A. Kakstrom, and W. M. Lewis, who were living in the city.

Each morning before going out to look at properties, we met for a season of earnest prayer for divine guidance. According to the Testimonies sent us, we were to be located where we could have the Washington, D. C., imprint on our books and papers, and yet we were to be in a rural place, where we could have land enough for sanitarium and agricultural school purposes. We were not a little perplexed to know how to combine all these points with our limited resources. But we told the Lord that it was he who had directed us to leave Battle Creek, that when he did so, he knew the city to which we should go, that he had revealed this to us, and that he knew the very spot on which we should locate, and we earnestly prayed him to guide us to it, and make us know when we had found it.

We proceeded to inspect every part of the District of Columbia accessible by train or street-car lines. This was not a very great undertaking, as the District is small. It would not be profitable to relate in detail what we saw that would not meet the needs. After looking the District over, we all agreed without dissenting vote that Takoma Park was the suburb in which we ought to locate. The points considered in our investigations were climate, altitude, quality of land, water, rural conditions, railway and street-car advantages, prices, the general character of the place, etc., etc. While we could not say that Takoma Park fulfilled all these features perfectly, it came nearer to it by far than any other part of the District.

When the decision was made to settle at Takoma Park, we began at once to reach a decision regarding the exact spot. At this point, some of us, if not all, were well-nigh overwhelmed. We found no land in the District of Columbia that could be purchased for less than one thousand dollars an acre. Land that could be purchased for that price was of very poor quality, and too inaccessible for our use. The cheapest ground in Takoma Park inside of the District line was two thousand dollars an acre. We felt that we must have not less than thirty acres, and we needed fifty. But the thought of paying from sixty to one hundred thousand dollars for a small tract of land staggered us.

But we were not left in perplexity long. The providence of God opened the way before us. We found a tract of fifty acres just outside the District, but within the city limits of Takoma Park, that we could purchase for six thousand dollars, or at the rate of one hundred and twenty dollars an acre. We gave this place thorough examination. We found that some years ago it was selected by a Boston physician for a sanitarium site. He is said to have expended about sixty thousand dollars in the purchase price and in clearing it of all the underbrush, logs, and rubbish. Financial difficulties prevented him from carrying out his plans, and the tract passed into the hands of a gentleman who held a mortgage on it, at a cost to him of fifteen thousand dollars.

The land is seven miles north of the Capitol building. It is about a mile from the Baltimore and Ohio Railway station at Takoma Park, and the same distance from the electric and street-car line, running from the city to Takoma Park. It has an altitude of about three hundred feet above the Potomac. The tract is within the city limits of Takoma Park, and thus it will have the advantages of the postal service, gas, water, sewerage, and streets, yet it is cut off from dwellings, and everything of a city appearance. It is covered with trees and underbrush. The latter is not very heavy, as it has all grown up during the last few years. There are hundreds of nice shade trees on the ground. Some are chestnuts, some are oaks, and some are pines. A beautiful stream of water runs across the entire tract near the boundary line. This stream is called Sligo Creek. It is fed by living springs. The water supply for Takoma Park is obtained from this stream, the pumping plant being located but a few rods above our upper boundary line. All the water flowing from the pumping station is ours, and can be used for an artificial lake, and for power purposes. The land itself is as good, we believe, as any we saw anywhere in the District.

After visiting the place three or four times, and giving every feature as critical study as we knew how, we decided that this was the place the Lord would have us take, and that we ought to purchase it at once. Although this tract is outside of the District of Columbia, it is so near that we can establish the printing plant inside the District, and have it within easy access of this place.

This will place us within seven miles of the nation's Capitol, with both railway and street-car advantages. It will give us the Washington imprint, and a thoroughly rural location, with land enough for a sanitarium and a school. The citizens of Takoma Park, as represented by the mayor and some of the leading men, gave us a very hearty welcome to the place, and assurances of friendly co-operation in carrying out our plans.

In all our travels and searching, we found no other spot that filled so fully the specifications of the Testimonies as this one. We believe the providence of God has led us to the place he would have us occupy. As we study the surroundings, advantages, and possibilities of Washington as a place in which to operate, the conviction grows upon us that the Lord is preparing the way for the accomplishment of a great work. In one of the Testimonies sent to us regarding the location, there is pointed out the similarity between the conditions existing in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and those existing in Washington at this time when the latter rain should be poured out. Surely the time has come for the Lord to do great things in the earth. It is our fervent desire and most earnest prayer that this move may mark a new era in the history of this cause. We are looking to the Lord for this, and we believe that it will be even so. God has set his hand to finish the work. He is leading on to victory.

We have felt it proper to lay these facts at once before our brethren, for we know that all are deeply interested in this move. We earnestly appeal for co-operation and help from all, in the effort to follow the instruction that God has given.

In behalf of the committee, A. G. DANIELLS.