6T 187
(Testimonies for the Church Volume 6 187)
Let the lands near the school and the church be retained. Those who come to settle in Cooranbong can, if they choose, find for themselves homes near by, or on portions of, the Avondale estate. But the light given me is that all that section of land from the school orchard to the Maitland road, and extending on both sides of the road from the meetinghouse to the school, should become a farm and a park, beautified with fragrant flowers and ornamental trees. There should be orchards, and every kind of produce should be cultivated that is adapted to the soil, that this place may become an object lesson to those living close by and afar off. (6T 187.1) MC VC
Then let everything not essential to the work of the school be kept at a distance, that the sacredness of the place may not be disturbed through the proximity of families and buildings. Let the school stand alone. It will be better for private families, however devoted they may be in the service of the Lord, to be located at some distance from the school buildings. The school is the Lord’s property, and the grounds about it are His farm, where the Great Sower can make His garden a lessonbook. The results of the labors will be seen, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:28. The land will yield its treasures, bringing the joyousness of an abundant harvest; and the produce gathered through the blessing of God is to be used as nature’s lessonbook, from which spiritual lessons can be made plain and applied to the necessities of the soul. (6T 187.2) MC VC