A Remarkable Coincidence

It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that a few days after reading of the merging of the American Medical Missionary College with the state university of Illinois, because of the seemingly imminent closing of the former institution by the American Association of Medical Colleges, one might have seen in the denominational church paper a report beginning with these words:SHM 333.1

“September 29 [1910] was a red-letter day in the history of our medical missionary work. A new mile-stone was passed in the opening of the College of Medical Evangelists, our denominational medical college at Loma Linda, California.”—The Review and Herald, October 27, 1910.SHM 333.2

At the very time when the students who had begun their medical studies in the American Medical Missionary College were being transferred to the Illinois state university for the completion of their course, a group of about thirty-five Seventh-day Adventist youth were being enrolled in the new medical school at Loma Linda, California. A group of prospective cooks, bakers, and nurses raised the total enrollment of students to ninety-two.SHM 333.3

Well might one wonder if those promoting this new enterprise had counted the cost involved or had seriously faced the difficulties connected with the establishment of another small medical college at such an unpropitious time. Were they unaware of the purpose of the authorities that regulated the medical colleges to force small, meagerly equipped institutions to close their doors? How could they hope to forge ahead under the same circumstances that had led the board of the American Medical Missionary College to regard the future outlook as hopeless, and to discontinue their training course for physicians?SHM 333.4

The promoters of the enterprise at Loma Linda had counted the cost; they had, indeed, undertaken a formidable enterprise, but they had done so with courage because they were assured that they had been led by providential circumstances, and by the counsel that they had learned to regard as from One who not only calls His people to pass through the overflowing waters, but who opens those waters, as they by faith step their feet into the sea.SHM 334.1