NOTE:  You will see in some of the quotes I have provided below that SDA’s were supposed to “establish industries” such that people who wanted to “leave the cities” could afford to do so.

 

“More and more, as time advances, our people will have to leave the cities.  For years we have been instructed that our brethren and sisters, and especially [119] families with children, should plan to leave the cities as the way opens before them to do so.  Many will have to labor earnestly {WHO ARE THESE “Many” AND WHAT ARE THEY TO DO?  SEE OTHER INSTRUCTIONS BELOW} to help open the way.  But until it is possible for them to leave, so long as they remain, they should be most active in doing missionary work, however limited their sphere of influence may be.”  2SM:360 (1906); LDE:118.5.

 

“It was not God’s purpose that people should be crowded into cities, huddled together in terraces and tenements.  In the beginning He placed our first parents amidst the beautiful sights and sounds He desires us to rejoice in today.  The more nearly we come into harmony with God’s original plan, the more favorable will be our position to secure health of body and mind and soul.”  AH:135.3.

 

“Whenever possible, it is the duty of parents to make homes in the country for their children. {AH:141.1}

“Fathers and mothers who possess a piece of land and a comfortable home are kings and queens. {AH:141.2}

“Do not consider it a privation when you are called to leave the cities and move out into the country places. Here there await rich blessings for those who will grasp them.”  AH:141.1-141.3; 2SM:335-336 (1908); CL:14.5; LDE:97.2; Manuscript 85, 1908. 

 

“So long as God gives me power to speak to our people, I shall continue to call upon parents to leave the cities and get homes in the country, where they can cultivate the soil and learn from the book of nature the lessons of purity [147] and simplicity.”  AH:146-147.

 

“Parents flock with their families to the cities, because they fancy it easier to obtain a livelihood there than in the country.  The children, having nothing to do when not in school, obtain a street education.  From evil associates, they acquire habits of vice and dissipation.  The parents see all this, but it will require a sacrifice to correct their error, and they stay where they are, until Satan gains full control of their children.”  CL:5.2.

 

“He wants us to live where we can have elbow room.  His people are not to crowd into the cities.  He wants them to take their families out of the cities {WHY?}, that they may better prepare for eternal life.  In a little while they will have to leave the cities. {CL:17.1}

 

“These cities are filled with wickedness of every kind, -- with strikes and murders and suicides. {HERE IS WHY ALSO} Satan is in them, controlling men in their work of destruction.  Under his influence they kill for the sake of killing, and this they will do more and more. . . {CL:17.2}

 

“If we place ourselves under objectionable influences, can we expect God to work a miracle to undo the results of our wrong course? -- No, indeed.  Get out of the cities as soon as possible, and purchase a little piece of land, where you can have a garden, where your children can watch the flowers growing, and learn from them lessons of simplicity and purity.”  CL:17.1-17.3; General Conference Bulletin, March 30, 1903.

 

“Believers who are now living in the cities will have to move to the country {WHY?}, that they may save their children from ruin.  Attention must be given to the establishment of industries {WHO IS TO ESTABLISH THESE ‘industries?”} in which these families can find employment.  Those who have charge of the school-work at -- and -- should see what can be done by these institutions to establish such industries, so that our people desiring to leave the cities, can obtain modest homes without a large outlay of means, and can also find employment.”  CL:19.4.

 

“More and more, as time advances, our people will have to leave the cities.  For years we have been instructed that our brethren and sisters, and especially families with children, should plan to leave [25]

“the cities as the way opens before them to do so.  Many will have to labor earnestly to help open the way {WHO ARE THESE MANY?}.  But until it is possible for them to leave, so long as they remain, they should be most active in doing missionary work, however limited their sphere of influence may be.”  CL:24.4; RH, Sept. 27, 1906.

 

“Some have wondered why our office of publication should be moved from Oakland to Mountain View.  God has been calling upon His people to leave the cities.”  CL:29.1; Manuscript 148, 1905.

 

“As God’s Commandment-Keeping people, we must leave the cities.  As did Enoch, we must work in the cities but not dwell in them.”  CL:30.4; Ev. 77, 78, 79 (1899); LDE:96.3; Manuscript 85, 1899; 2SM:358. 

 

“The morning after the earthquake {San Francisco, 1906}, I said no more than that ‘the earthquakes will come; the floods will come;’ and that the Lord’s message to us is that we shall ‘not establish ourselves in the wicked cities.’ ”  LS:411.2.

 

AND HUNDREDS MORE.