The Missionary Acre Fund.
By S. H. Lane
It has been arranged that all the money that can be raised through the Missionary Acre plan shall for the present be devoted to the aid of the American Medical Missionary College and Training School for Nurses. The Sanitarium was not, and certainly is not now, able to purchase the old Battle Creek College property for the use of the medical college. Though the visible building through which it operated largely is now in ruins, the Sanitarium still lives. Its principles are active. Thousands are earnestly devoted to these principles. The buildings of the Battle Creek College are now the principal headquarters for the scores of patients at the Sanitarium. These buildings exist, the property can be paid for, and the medical school carried on to accomplish more good than it has in the past. The nurses and young doctors that are sent forth from the Sanitarium are certainly doing a good work in the world, and it is now time to come to the aid of this school. As the writer stood upon the ground and saw the Sanitarium and Hospital go down, section after section, men and women not of our faith, with tears in their eyes and with faltering voices, said, “The noble institution has gone.” Three of the city’s ministers declared that although an institution which was a benefit to Battle Creek, to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, and to the world is vanishing rapidly, and the news of its destruction will bring sorrow to many, yet thousands of individuals who have learned its principles, and have been benefited by them, will come to its rescue; and they further declared that they would use their influence to rebuild it, for they highly appreciated its powerful influence for good in the world. What will be received on the Missionary Acre Fund is not, at present, expected to rebuild the institution, yet every dollar received on the Missionary Acre Fund will go to help purchase the property of the Battle Creek College to aid the Sanitarium in its work. Reader, will you not help now as never before? God is in this work, and noble young men and women from the different States are being trained to carry the grand principles of health reform everywhere. Will you not plant an acre, perchance two, three, or five, and let the proceeds of that planting go to help this work? If not able to do so, will you not plant a garden, or can you not raise some poultry, and give the proceeds? Some parents have given a brood of chickens to their children, that they might have a part; the chickens have been fed, and the proceeds from the sale of the eggs sent in. A good many dollars have been received in this way. Some have given the proceeds of all the eggs laid on the place on the Sabbath day. Others have given one week’s wages, and some their earnings for a longer period of time. Reader, will you not do something to aid this work? Now as never before we should not allow ourselves to falter. We have reached a crisis for good in this cause. God lives and reigns, and His principles are eternal. We should begin to plan now to plant and sow, that we may reap for the Lord next autumn. As the spring work opens, will not our young men and women send in means which they have earned, donating a portion of their time for this work? Last year one church in Kansas farmed five acres, and have sent in quite a good many dollars. Who will begin this year to plant? All who will co-operate, please drop a card to me, at Battle Creek, Mich., that I may know what each is willing to do. I expect to take the field in a few days, and I wish to visit many of the churches throughout the country and lay this matter before them. We are in earnest and we believe that the friends everywhere will take hold of this plan for helping a worthy institution. Let none for a moment be discouraged, for all connected with it are of good courage. Hundreds of young men and women are declaring that they are in this work for life, or until the Master shall come. Shall there not be one grand, hearty response from the pine-clad hills of Maine to the golden shores of the Pacific Coast, and from Alaska’s northern boundary to Florida’s southern point? Reader, what say you? Now, now, is the opportune moment. Who will respond? S. H. Lane.