My dear brother, I shall be glad to write just as definitely as I can. I thought I had done this in my former letter. I then presented the situation as plainly and frankly as I could do, and I am unable to write you anything more definite than was said in my letter, which stated the particulars to you.
The Lord does not give light in such a way as to leave the one addressed no chance to walk by faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). There is not a straight line marked out for any one of us. We need to pray and believe and watch unto prayer, ever praying and trusting. My brother, you must seek the Lord in order to know your duty...
Never have I been more sure of anything in any move we have made than that the Lord’s hand was in the selection of this land [for Avondale College]. We must now advance with the opening providence of God and erect our hospital. We must have a sanitarium built nearer Sydney, but not in the city. Hawkesbury is the place we are contemplating for its location. We do not propose to have an immense institution, but a plain, suitable building in some such place as Hawkesbury. Then we can have branches established in Sydney, Newcastle, and other places. This is the way the Lord would have us do. He does not design that we shall erect a colony of buildings in one center, as has been done in Battle Creek. Our work is to extend over a large territory. We must move forward slowly, surely, solidly. We are binding about the edges of everything. Economize we must, for it is our only way. The sanitarium in Sydney has been waiting to hear from you, but because of the way in which you have stated matters, we cannot say, “Come,” until you feel it your duty to come. When you can feel it your duty to loose yourself from Africa, we shall be prepared to receive you. The Lord is willing to hear our petitions, and we shall let Him work in His own way. We do not mean to wait for you or anyone if Providence opens the way for us to secure a site for our sanitarium, though as yet we have no means.
You say Dr. Kellogg writes that if I should authorize him to raise $5,000, he would do it. He wrote me that he could raise $5,000 besides the first $5,000, and why do I not say, “Do this”? I am not permitted to tell any man what he shall do or what he shall not do. I lay out our situation as the Lord has directed me to do, but I have no liberty to go farther.—Letter 63, April 4, 1899, to John Wessells and wife, early believers in South Africa.