Selected letters of 1908
Lt 3, 1898
Brethren
February 2, 1898
My Brethren:
The Lord has given light in regard to the building of the school in Cooranbong. But Satan came in with his temptations, and the trials he brought upon us have caused him to triumph. At the first, through the united influence of Elders Rousseau and Daniells, the school was hindered for two years. These brethren had had no experience in this line of work, and they took their position on the side of unbelief and doubt. They acted the part of unbelievers. They trusted to their own human wisdom, and left God out of their counsel. This led to entanglements.
These men had worked the rich soil of Iowa, and because this did not appear so rich in color, they united in saying that it was not the land we should have. They telegraphed me to come to Sydney. When I arrived, I found these two brethren determined not to accept the land in Cooranbong. They said they would search for better land.
Brother Reekie was then in the mission in Sydney. The bargain for the land had been made, and I told them to take the land, and if they decided that it was not the place they should have, I would purchase it myself, and make settlements for the poor families upon it. But nothing we could say made the least impression on their minds. They would not accept the land. My testimony was of no account with them. They were so strong and firm, that W. C. White was afraid to venture. This union of sentiment between these two men brought upon us a great burden and hindrance.
If the work had been carried forward according to the light God had given, if the place had been purchased, and the deeds made out in my name, as I told them, we should not have had to sustain the losses that have come to us. The mistake has not been in the devising of the work on the land, the planting of the orchard, the draining of the swamp. None too much land has been cleared. All this was necessary. We were in need of the produce of the soil for the support of the school. We were not too early in setting the trees; but so much complaint was made of the means invested in the land, that the work that was needed to be done to the orchard was not accomplished, and the second year proved a partial failure. I did what I could. Had they been faithful, my hired workmen might have done much more than they did; but I did all in my power, in accordance with the light God had given. I had full confidence that if the land was properly worked, it would yield its treasures.
The criticizing and false reports carried to Melbourne, to Africa, and by letter to other places round, were pleasing to the enemy, but they did not please God. They left the impression on minds that Brethren Hare and White had proved themselves a failure. No man has a right to pronounce judgment upon things which he simply “supposes,” when he knows nothing of the possibilities and probabilities of the work. They would do no better were they in responsible places. Men should not decide upon this question within the narrow compass of a three-years’ test. He who knows the end from the beginning has laid no censure upon these men for a foolish outlay of means.
The Lord calls upon those on this ground—even if mistakes which have been made in this new enterprise are apparent—to attach no blame to any soul until they know that God Himself condemns. Say to all complainers and criticizers, Had you been on the ground in responsible positions, you might have made many more blunders than have been made.
The work that should be done by those who love to criticize is to study the Bible, as well as read it. The truth is represented as treasure hid in a field, and in order to discover and come into possession of it, there will need to be a most careful, diligent search. Mere surface work is not enough. But little more than this has been done on these grounds. Minds must bend to the task of ascertaining from the Word the thought of God. There must be a taxing of the intellect in dependence upon the Holy Spirit to open the understanding. “If thou thirst [criest] after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding: if thou seek after her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” [Proverbs 2:3-5.]
This earnestness and diligence and persevering labor is to be put forth in our regular labor also. In felling the trees, in breaking the soil preparatory to sowing the seed, every toiler has a lesson to learn. And just in the way in which the land is treated, will be the spiritual work on the human heart. Those, who by vigilant, intelligent, persevering effort would be benefitted by the tilling of the soil, must break up the fallow ground of the heart, with the help of the softening, subduing influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus the cultivation of the soil will prove the education of the soul.
If properly managed, the cultivation of the soil will not be considered drudgery. The work is to be done intelligently. Study to begin the training process in the work done on the land. That which is done should be explained to the worker, just as in any trade. And the blessing of the Lord will rest upon those who are working upon the land, and learning spiritual lessons from nature. In cultivating the soil, the student little knows what treasures will open up before him. While he is not to despise the instruction he may gather from minds that have had an experience, and from the information that intelligent men can impart, he should gather lessons for himself. This is a part of his education.
In tilling the soil, one will propose that the work be done one way, another will suggest that some other plan be adopted, and while there should be minds to advise and plan, we are all to gather all the knowledge possible. We must not despise counsel, but accept all the help that can be brought in.
The Lord designs that the school shall also be a place where a training may be gained in women’s work—cooking, house-work, dressmaking, bookkeeping, correct reading and pronunciation. They are to be qualified to take any post that may be offered—superintendents, Sabbath school teachers, Bible workers. They must be prepared to teach day schools for children.
Agencies of every kind are to be brought to bear upon the poor around us. Bible classes should be held in different localities. Medical missionary work will do much for those places where there is so little knowledge of how to care for the suffering. Counsel must be given to those who are in difficulties, relief to the more serious cases. A mission house must be built as soon as possible; then if any are sick at the school, they can be taken away to the mission house. There must be missionary nurses. There will be hospital duties to perform.
Let all bear in mind that the tree of life bears twelve manner of fruits. This represents the spiritual work of our earthly missions. The Word of God is to us the tree of life. Every portion of Scripture has its use. In every part of the Word is some lesson to be learnt. Then learn how to study your Bibles. This book is not a heap of odds and ends. It is an educator. Your own thoughts, students, must be called into exercise before you can be really benefitted by Bible study. Spiritual sinew and muscle must be brought to bear upon the Word. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the words of Christ. He will enlighten the mind, and guide the research.
Some may be perplexed to know the real purpose of every book in the Bible; but as they make it their book of study, the conviction will grow that the divine Intelligence has prepared that book for the education of the human race, to express His own thoughts and intentions concerning the children of men.
The Word of God is a complete body, pervaded by one divine life, just as the tabernacle of flesh, our outward form, is a complete structure, every part united to and dependent for life upon the other. Each member has its special office, each is connected with the other to form a complete whole. So every book of the Bible is adapted to the human being in every phase of life, to secure a special result—to make the human family complete in Christ.
The appreciation of the Bible grows with its study. It has a wonderful self-preserving power. The testimony of every true searcher of the Word of God is, “I had no knowledge of the treasures, the depths of instruction in all essential lines, that the word of God contains.” The wealth of that hidden treasure is inexhaustible. Which ever way the student may turn, he finds displayed the infinite wisdom and glory of God.
moral image of God in men.
Lt 4, 1898
Brethren
February 20, 1898
My Brethren:
Our work is to watch and wait and pray. Search the Scriptures. Christ has given you warning not to mingle with the world. We are to come out from among them and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing; “and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you; and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” [2 Corinthians 6:17, 18.] Whatever the opinions you may entertain in regard to casting your vote in political questions, you are not to proclaim it by pen or voice. Our people need to be silent upon questions which have no relation to the third angel’s message. If ever a people needed to draw nigh to God, it is Seventh-day Adventists. There have been wonderful devices and plans made. A burning desire has taken hold of men or women to proclaim something, or bind up with something; they do not know what. But the silence of Christ upon many subjects was true eloquence.
My brethren, I have a message for you. The Lord would have you put your trust in Him, and every day, from sunrise until sunset, consider your individual responsibility. The responsibility resting upon every individual, if at all realized, makes his life a very solemn one. Consider what is truth. “Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. … And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” [John 17:17, 19.] I set myself apart to the entire service of God, that I may leave others an example that they may safely follow. The perfection of Christ’s character is what we should struggle for earnestly.
You may ask, as did Cain, Am I my brother’s keeper? I answer, “No man liveth to himself.” [Romans 14:7.] Remember that every move you make is in the full sight of the heavenly universe. Impulsive movements may be made, which will make a wrong impression on human hearts. Thus seeds of evil, which will bear their harvest, are sown. After ministers or those in responsible positions make remarks, they cannot gather up the thoughts they have planted in human minds. Under Satan’s temptations they have expressed that which has set in operation a train of circumstances that lead to results they never thought would occur. An act, a thought, a word, when cast into the minds of the great concourse of humanity, if it bears the heavenly endorsement, will yield a harvest of precious fruit. Then with what watchful care should we guard every talent of influence, and study and practice the life of Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 2:5.]
In every movement made, prayerfully ask, “Is this the way of the Lord?” because you may start many persons in the right way, and encourage them by your example. You are in the service of God, to do His will and His way. In all that you do, you are influencing others, and eternity alone will reveal the results. Let us devote more time to prayerfully studying from cause to effect. “Lift up the hands that hang down,” either in discouragement or through yielding to temptation to engage in wrong actions. “And the feeble knees.” [Hebrews 12:12.]
There are many souls looking to those whom they suppose have light and faith. These persons are responsible for their influence, for many are weak in moral courage. They are by no means firm, steadfast, courageous Calebs, but they are inclined to walk away from right into false paths. What is our individual duty, we, who have been long in the truth, who have had a large experience? “Make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. But rather let it be healed.” [Verse 13.] This is the work of all who have been placed in positions of responsibility. If you have the mind of Christ, you are your brother’s keeper.
Christ has taught us by precept and example to walk in all lowliness of mind, striving to reach all who need help, and seeking to restore them. All self-exaltation must die. Only beneath the cross is found the precious grace that is to be cultivated and nurtured.
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, (wholeness for God) without which no man shall see the Lord.” Consider these words, “Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness, springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” [Verses 14-16.] What was the matter with Esau? He had no respect for sacred things. He sacrificed spiritual things for the gratification of appetite, for the love of selfish indulgence, pleasure and gain.
Christ has brought within reach, and secured for every man, high and temporal and spiritual blessings. This is the birthright of every soul born into the world. Esau represents those who have not tasted of the privileges which are theirs, purchased for them at infinite cost, but have sold their birthright for some gratification of appetite, or for the love of gain.
Esau cherished a reckless spirit. How many, although professing to be Christians, are doing the same thing, selling their souls for the gratification of selfish indulgence? A heavy burden has rested upon my soul in regard to the demonstrations made by those who should have been close to the cross of Christ, and leading others there. An enthusiasm is shown which God’s Spirit has not inspired. How did the heavenly universe look upon the demonstrations made by Seventh-Day Adventists, as others of the same faith zealously advocated an opposite worldly policy? What impression was left on the minds of unbelievers? Were they favorably impressed in regard to our faith and the testing proof of God for these last days?
My brethren, will you not remember that none of you have any burden laid upon you by the Lord to publish your political preferences in our papers, or to speak of them in the congregation, when the people assemble to hear the word of the Lord?
“Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. … But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and unto an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” [Verses 15, 22-29.]
Let the words in this chapter have some weight upon your course of action. Those who move heedlessly forward may start a train of circumstances leading to evils that they cannot control. They have thrown into the mass of humanity a grain of thought which Satan will take care shall live and do its work by causing the root of bitterness, which means any kind of evil, to spring up, whereby many will be defiled. Then shall ministers and the stewards of God’s grace in any line of His service mingle the common with the sacred? If they do this, many are defiled, and the result is charged to them.
Esau did not look upon it as so momentous a matter to sell his birthright. But afterwards, “when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” [Verse 17.]
“Let brotherly love continue.” [Hebrews 13:1.] Let it. If the human brotherhood in Christ Jesus will contemplate their Saviour, they will not only receive Christ, but will receive from Him power and grace that will cause them to be recognized in heaven as the sons of God. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” [Verse 2.] Here is a truth I wish to present before you. Angels in person have been guests in the dwellings of humanity. Apostate angels have also come in person into families. Where they were entertained, they have dropped seeds of doubt and unbelief which have started a fatal train of circumstances. Parents and children have accepted the temptations of Satan to their ruin.
“Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God: lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” [Hebrews 12:15.] Read and consider these words. A man claiming to be a Christian may entertain one temptation from the devil. That temptation leads him to work in the same lines, because he has entertained and nourished the dangerous root. And many are defiled. And how much larger number have that “many” poisoned.
The Lord says through Paul, You are to look diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. If he does fail, he leads many others, by precept and example, to fail of fixing their eyes on the Lord Jesus. I beseech you as men in responsible positions, to keep your eyes upon your leader, the Lamb of God. Then you will learn of him. You will not only profess to believe the truth, but you will practice the Word of God most diligently. You will have neither time nor disposition to come in touch with the champions of evil, which will be abundant in these last days.
The work God would have us individually do is to voice His mission and do His works, keeping Christ as the living center before all minds. Just as soon as those who claim to believe present truth feel at liberty because of the example given them by ministers and men who are supposed to be stewards of sacred trusts to mingle with the world and take part in its politics, they have awakened a spirit of strife and a burning enthusiasm that quenches the Spirit of God in the human heart, and opens the door wide for the enemy of all righteousness to take possession.
Controversies will spring into life. The third angel’s message, where is it, and what part does it act in the experience of those who do not give evidence that they are the people of God? They are not compassionate, they are not amiable or gentle. And those who were once witnesses for Christ will lose their hold on Christ. They will climb out of the cleft of the rock, and in process of time will reveal the class of education they have been receiving, which has made them hardened sinners.
“If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” [2 Corinthians 4:3.] The god of this world has blinded their minds, obscured their fine perceptions of righteousness and true holiness. They may boast of riches in the knowledge of the Scriptures, but they are poor and wretched, miserable, blind, and naked. They have need of inward purity.
The Lord Jesus is dealing with us individually. I raise my voice in warning my brethren in the ministry and the lay members of the church. Seek the Lord in the most earnest, heartfelt, thorough manner. We must have an experimental knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Inquire in the light of the Word of God, Am I a friend of God, or am I an enemy of God? Am I gathering with Christ, or am I scattering from Christ? The soul is too precious, of altogether too much value for its salvation to be risked on supposition. The Lord Jesus leaves no soul without light sufficient to test him, and to prove whether he is obedient or disobedient. The true light will shine into all hearts directly from God.
A response from the heart to the gospel message means life and hope and restfulness and peace. He who is imbued with the love of Christ is one with Him. He is drawn out in communion with Jesus. He abides in Christ, and Christ abides in him. Christ is formed within, the hope of glory.
I urge upon all who open the Scriptures to others to read carefully and with a heart to understand the words found in the second epistle of Timothy, chapter two, verses four to eight. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. … No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for the mastery, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruit. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. … Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.” [Verses 2, 4-7, 14.]
This is a terrible responsibility. In the place of being a savor of life unto life, many are a savor of death unto death. They subvert their hearers and ruin their faith by inculcating ideas and principles which are received from the councils of Satan, and which turn their hearers away from the truth.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” [Verse 15.]
“But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to the more ungodliness.” [Verse 16.] Please read to the close of this chapter. If the men selected to stand in positions of truth do not seek wisdom from God, if they open their hearts to the temptations of the enemy at a time when right actions mean so much to the kingdom of God, and if they set in operation through careless counsel plans that cause the ruin of souls, are they not responsible for the result of their course of action? If human laws do not condemn them, they will be held responsible by the divine law of God.
I again repeat, Come out from among them, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. There are forces at work in our world that will not be checked or stayed. “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” [1 Corinthians 6:15-17.]
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” [2 Corinthians 6:14-18.] Please read the entire chapter.
“Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” [2 Corinthians 7:1.] The office of the ministry is a sacred office. “We then as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. … Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.” [2 Corinthians 6:1, 3.] Read this Scripture carefully and may the Spirit of God reveal to you the necessity of meeting a higher standard. We need to watch and pray and purify our hearts through the grace given us by Jesus Christ.
My brethren who believe the truth. I tell you that division will constantly arise. Unholy principles will be brought to the front. All classes will be called upon to take their stand on one side or the other. Christ says of one class, Let them alone. Men who have so long trampled upon the rights of God, who have accepted the idol Sabbath will accept very strong and unreasonable beliefs.
The Lord is not in the alliances that are being formed with political movements. They are bound to bring confusion and great entanglement. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, … and touch not the unclean thing.” [Verse 17.]
The Word of the Lord is to be studied. It contains lessons for nations, for churches, for individuals. Warnings are given us in this Word, that we may learn clearly the way of safety for the soul. The greatest thing each human agent is to study is, How shall I save my soul? God has given to every man his work. Do you stand under God’s colors, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ? Those who would be overcomers are to make it their first work to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all other things shall be added unto them. We are not as a people to become mixed up with political questions. All would do well to take heed to the Word of God, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers in political strife, nor bind with them in their attachments. There is no safe ground on which they can stand, and work together. The loyal and the disloyal have no equal ground on which to meet.
He who breaks one precept of the commandments of God is a transgressor of the whole law. Keep your voting to yourself. Do not feel it your duty to urge every one to do as you do. That one rotten plank is in every platform. Men trample under their feet the holy law of Jehovah. “What communion hath light with darkness? … Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” [Verses 14, 15.] I tell you in the name of the Lord, You cannot bind up Christ with Belial. The elements will never mingle. The Lord tells His people the conditions of their prosperity and the continuance of His favors and blessings. There must be no intercourse with idolaters. It was a violation of this contract on the part of the Jewish nation that led to their overthrow. No man can possibly serve two masters. He cannot enter into partnership with Christ and with Belial.
The Lord Jesus is desirous to find persons who are trustworthy, those who will wear His yoke and lift His burdens. He has been crucified afresh and put to open shame by those who should have proved Calebs in His cause. Those who will so quickly go out of the way to bind up their influence with those who are at enmity with God know not what they are doing. They are making a record that they will be ashamed to meet in that great day when the Judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, and every case will be decided according to the things written in the books.
We have no more strength and grace given us than we can wisely appropriate. If God has a work for any of His commandment-keeping people to do in regard to politics, reach the position and do the work with your arm linked in the arm of Christ. The salvation of your souls should be your greatest study. All for whom Christ has died are to become familiar with His life. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Satan has many subjects of interest and these he lays before the minds of those who need to know more of Christ. If a man should gain the whole world and yet build upon the foundation hay, wood, and stubble, all will be consumed by the fires of the last day. But the man who has committed the keeping of his soul to God can repose in faith, assured that He is faithful who has promised. It is life, eternal life, to be true and loyal to Christ.
Brethren at the heart of the work, enter not into Sodom. Be willing to suffer inconvenience, if you can remain far from Sodom. The idols of gold and silver will very soon be cast to the moles and to the bats. Be content to live where you can have the bread of life, that living bread that came down from heaven. Keep holy the Sabbath day. We need to be much more particular than we are in regard to the Lord’s institution. Bind about the edges of the Sabbath. Let us study the prospect. Let us all allow our workers, if possible, the hours from noon on Friday until the beginning of the Sabbath. Relieve them, that they may prepare to meet the Lord’s day with quietude of mind. Let all the work of preparation, cleansing the body, blacking the boots, be finished early, and the family assemble early to read the Word, to sing and pray before the Sabbath shall begin. You will be no losers temporally. Let us study this, for we have all been remiss. We need to confess to God and to one another, and begin anew to make special arrangements, that every member of the family may be prepared to greet the Sabbath, with every preparation made, to honor the Lord’s day, that He has sanctified and blessed.
Let us study this subject. I know that the Lord has been greatly dishonored by those who have claimed to be Sabbathkeepers, but who have not kept the Sabbath in spirit or in precept. Please read carefully the fifty-eighth of Isaiah. This Scripture may be studied with profit by our people. God calls upon us all, ministers and people, to be re-converted in regard to [the] observance of the Sabbath day. The whole of the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah will bear more attention and closer study. Shall we not take these things to heart? Shall we be remiss in our duty? Shall we not confess our neglect, the want of reverence we have shown for the Sabbath, by bringing in our own work, our own words, and our own unsanctified thoughts?
Lt 31, 1898
Smith, Uriah
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
January 12, 1898
Dear Uriah Smith:
I am pleased that the Lord is in mercy again visiting the church. My heart trembles as I think of the many times He has come in and His Holy Spirit has worked in the church; but after the immediate effort was over, the merciful dealings of God were forgotten. Pride, spiritual indifference, was the record made in heaven. Those who were visited by the rich mercy and grace of God dishonored their Redeemer by their unbelief.
When Christ was upon the earth, He used every means possible to gain admission to the hearts of those whose doors should have been thrown open to receive Him. He came to His vineyard seeking fruit. He dug about the vine He had planted. He pruned it and dressed it. But when He looked for grapes, behold, only wild grapes rewarded His care. The people disappointed the Saviour.
How earnestly and untiringly Christ labored to reach the most lowly, as well as those who occupied higher positions. Hear Him saying to His disciples, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” [Matthew 26:36.] What an example He gave them of His prayers in their behalf, that their faith should not fail, but increase.
Christ’s heart was ever touched by human woe. He walked and worked in the streets of the cities, teaching the weary, inviting them to come to Him, crying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28-30.] Christ employed every means to arrest the attention of the impenitent. How tender and considerate were His dealings with all. He longed to break the spell of infatuation upon those who were deceived and deluded by satanic agencies. He longed to give the sin-polluted soul pardon and peace.
Christ was the mighty Healer of all spiritual and physical maladies. Look, O look upon the sympathetic Redeemer. With the eye of faith behold Him walking in the streets of the cities, gathering the weak and wary to Himself. Helpless, sinful human beings crowd about Him. See the mothers with their sick and dying little ones in their arms pressing through the crowd that they may get within reach of His notice and touch. Let the eye of faith take in the scene. Watch these mothers pressing their way to Him, pale, weary, almost despairing, yet determined and persevering, bearing their burden of suffering in their arms.
As these anxious ones are being crowded back, Christ makes His way to them step by step, until He is close by their side. Tears of gladness and hope fall freely as they catch His attention, and look into the eyes expressing such tender pity and love for the weary mother as well as for the suffering child. He invites her confidence, saying, What shall I do for you? She sobs out her great want, Master, that Thou shouldest heal my child. She has shown her faith in urging her way to Him, though she did not know that He was making His way to her; and Christ takes the child from her arms. He speaks the word, and disease flees at His touch. The pallor of death is gone; the life-giving current flows through the veins; the muscles receive strength.
Words of comfort and peace are spoken to the mother, and then another case just as urgent is presented. The mother asks help for herself and her children, for they are all sufferers. With willingness and joy Christ exercises His life-giving power, and they give praise and honor and glory to His name who doeth wonderful things.
No frown on Christ’s countenance spurned the humble suppliant from His presence. The priests and rulers sought to discourage the suffering and needy, saying that Christ healed the sick by the power of the devil. But His way could not be hedged up. He was determined not to fail or become discouraged. Suffering privation Himself, He traversed the country that was the scene of His labor, scattering His blessings, and seeking to reach obdurate hearts.
That Saviour has oft visited you in Battle Creek. Just as verily as He has walked the streets of Jerusalem, longing to breathe the breath of spiritual life into the hearts of those discouraged and ready to die, has He come to you. The cities that were so greatly blessed by His presence, His pardon, His gifts of healing, rejected him; and just as great, yea, greater evidence of unrequited love has been given in Battle Creek. Has Christ not loaded down His church with benefits and blessings? Has He not sent His servants with messages of pardon and righteousness, to be given freely to all who will receive them?
Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to receive and walk in the light that God had given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depository of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all entreaties and warnings. They would not respect His counsels. The temple courts were perverted with merchandise and robbery. Selfishness and love of mammon, envy and strife, were cherished. Every one sought for gain from his quarter. Christ turned from them, saying, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how can I give thee up? How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.
So Christ sorrows and weeps over our churches, over our institutions of learning, that have failed to meet the demand of God. He comes to investigate in Battle Creek, which has been moving in the same track as Jerusalem. The publishing house has been turned into [a] desecrated shrine, into [a] place of unholy merchandise and traffic. It has become a place where injustice and fraud have been carried on, where selfishness, malice, envy, and passion have borne sway. Yet the men who have led into this working upon wrong principles are seemingly unconscious of their wrong course of action. When warnings and entreaties come to them, they say, Doth she not speak in parables? Words of warning and reproof have been treated as idle tales.
When Christ looked down from the crest of Olivet, He saw this state of things existing in every church. The warning comes down to all that are following in the tread of the people of Jerusalem, who had such great light. This people is before us as a warning. By rejecting God’s warnings in this our day men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem. The Lord sees what the human agent does not see and will not see—the outcome of all the human devising in Battle Creek. He has done all that a God could do. He has flashed light before the eyes of the people, that their sins might not reach the boundary where repentance cannot be felt. But by a long process of departure from just and righteous principles, men have placed themselves where light and truth, justice and mercy, are not discerned. This course has become part of their very nature.
I call upon all who have united in a course of action that is wrong in principle to make a decided reformation, and forever after walk humbly with God. The world is soon to be judged. A righteous God must avenge the death of His Son. Today men are choosing Barabbas, and saying, Crucify Christ. They will do this in the person of His saints. They will go over the same ground that the Jewish priests and rulers did in their treatment of Christ. He, the Son of God, and an innocent man, was murdered because He told men truths that it did not please them to hear. Yet He was the Son of the infinite God.
Those who today despise the law of Jehovah, showing no respect for His commandments, are taking sides with the great Apostate. They proclaim to a sin-corrupted world that the law of God is null and void. Those who declare this as truth deceive the people, and have virtually nailed the law of Jehovah to the cross between two thieves. What a thought!
Before the worlds unfallen and the heavenly universe, the world will have to give an account to the Judge of the whole earth, the very One they condemned and crucified. What a reckoning day that will be! It is the great day of God’s vengeance. Christ does not then stand at Pilate’s bar. Pilate and Herod and all that mocked, scourged, rejected, and crucified Him will then understand what it means to feel the wrath of the Lamb. Their deeds will appear before them in their true character.
What a terrible deception is upon the minds of those who think that the world is growing better. Christ declares, “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” [Luke 17:26.] “For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark; and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” [Matthew 24:38, 39.] To just such a pass will the world come in rejecting the law of God.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” [Revelation 14:9-11.]
John was called to behold a people distinct from those who worship the beast and his image by keeping the first day of the week. The observance of this day is the mark of the beast. John declares, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” [Verse 12.]
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Revelation 12:17.] We are plainly shown that two parties will exist at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In which party do we wish to be found? “Behold, I come quickly,” Christ says, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city.” [Revelation 22:12-14.] This is the destination of commandment-keepers. Should we not all wish to be among that number who have the right to the tree of life, and who enter through the gates into the city?
Adam and Eve and their posterity lost the right to the tree of life because of their disobedience. “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God. This made it necessary for them to be driven from Eden and be separated from the tree of life, to eat of which after their transgression would perpetuate sin. “Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the soil from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” [Genesis 3:22-24.] Man was dependent on the tree of life for immortality, and the Lord took these precautions lest men should eat of that tree and “live forever”—become immortal sinners.
Death entered the world because of transgression. But Christ gave His life that man should have another trial. He did not die on the cross to abolish the law of God, but to secure for man a second probation. He did not die to make sin an immortal attribute; He died to secure the right to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. He suffered the full penalty of a broken law for the whole world. This He did, not that man might continue in transgression, but that they might return to their loyalty and keep God’s commandments, and His law as the apple of their eye.
The sign of obedience is the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. If men keep the fourth commandment, they will keep all the rest. It was no human voice that spoke to Moses, giving him the Sabbath as a sign. “The Lord spake to Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” [Exodus 31:12-14.]
The Lord does not leave so important a precept as this without definite specification. “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant.” [Verses 15, 16.]
Human philosophy declares that an indefinite period of time was taken in the creation of the world. Does God state the matter thus? No; He says, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days (not six indefinite periods of time, for then there would be no possible way for man to observe the day specified in the fourth commandment) the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested and was refreshed.” [Verse 17.] Please read carefully the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. God says again, “Remember (do not forget) the Sabbath day, to keep it holy … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.” [Exodus 20:8, 11.]
Yet with the living oracles before them, those who claim to preach the Word present the suppositions of human minds, the maxims and commandments of men. They make void the law of God by their traditions. The sophistry in regard to the world being created in an indefinite period of time is one of Satan’s falsehoods. God speaks to the human family in language they can comprehend. He does not leave the matter so indefinite that human beings can handle it according to their theories. When the Lord declares that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day He means the day of twenty four hours, which He has marked off by the rising and setting of the sun.
God would not pronounce the death sentence for a disregard of the Sabbath unless He had presented before men a clear understanding of the Sabbath. After He had created our world and man, He looked upon the work that He had done, and pronounced it very good. And when the foundation of the earth was laid, the foundation of the Sabbath was laid also. When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. In giving man the Sabbath, God considered his spiritual and physical health.
God made the world in six literal days, and on the seventh literal day He rested from all His work which He had done, and was refreshed. So He has given man six days in which to labor. But He sanctified the day of His rest, and gave it to man to be kept free from all secular labor. By thus setting apart the Sabbath, God gave the world a memorial. He did not set apart one day and any day in seven, but one particular day, the seventh day. And by observing the Sabbath, we show that we recognize God as the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
There is nothing in the Sabbath that restricts it to any particular class of people. It was given for all mankind. It is to be employed, not in indolence, but in the contemplation of the works of God. This men are to do that they may know “that I am the Lord that do sanctify them.” [Exodus 31:13.]
The Lord draws very nigh to His people on the day that He has blessed and sanctified. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” [Psalm 19:1, 2.] The Sabbath is God’s memorial, pointing men to their Creator, who made the world and all things that are therein. In the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in every opening bud and blooming flower we may behold the work of the great master-artist. All speak to us of God and His glory.
Every loyal heart will study to know the truth. John states the truth so plainly that a child may understand it. “If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” [John 14:15-17.] Do we choose to be numbered with those who cannot discern the truth, who are so blinded by the deceptive power of the enemy that they see not Him who is the express image of the Father’s person?
The followers of Christ are of another class altogether. “But ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also.” “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. … If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings, and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” [Verses 17-19, 21, 23, 24.] The word of a human being is not to be received and believed without question. We must first ask, Do they speak in harmony with the world? Do they refuse a plain “Thus saith the Lord” because they see that it involves a cross?
Are we on the side of those who refuse to be loyal to God? They have no interest in knowing God. They reject the divine Son of God, the personification of all human goodness. They place themselves with those who, although no fault could be preferred against Christ, chose instead a thief and a murderer. This testifies to the moral taste of the world. Shall we be on the side of the world, or on the side of Christ, who declared, I have kept my Father’s commandments?
The word of Jehovah will stand forever. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not. … He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” [John 1:1-5, 10-14.]
Those who receive Christ by faith as their personal Saviour cannot be in harmony with the world. There are two distinct classes. One is loyal to God, keeping His commandments, while the other talks and acts like the world, casting away the Word of God, which is truth, and accepting the words of the apostate, who rejected Jesus.
On whose side are we? The world cast Christ out, the heavens received Him. Man, finite man, rejected the Prince of life; God, our sovereign Ruler, received Him into the heavens. God has exalted Him. Man crowned Him with a crown of thorns, God has crowned Him with a crown of royal majesty. We must all think candidly. Will you have this man Christ Jesus to rule over you, or will you have Barabbas? The death of Christ brings to the rejector of His mercy the wrath and judgments of God, unmixed with mercy. This is the wrath of the Lamb. But the death of Christ is hope and eternal life to all who receive Him and believe in Him.
God will most assuredly call the world to judgment to avenge the death of His only begotten Son, the One who stood at the bar of Pilate and Herod, that One is now in the heavenly courts, making intercession for the people who refused Him. Shall we choose the stamp of the world, or shall we choose to be God’s separate, peculiar people? Shall we receive a “Thus saith the Lord,” or the “Thus saith” of man? The Lord says, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. The Papal power, the man of sin, declares that the Roman Catholic church has changed the law of God. In the place of the seventh day, they have baptized and presented to the world a child of the Papacy, the first day of the week, to be observed as a holy day of rest. The Protestant world has received this child of the Papacy, has cradled it, and given to it the honor that God has placed on the seventh day.
“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons and thy sons’ sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them bear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. … And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” [Deuteronomy 4:5-10, 13.]
“Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sitteth in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” [Deuteronomy 6:4-9.]
“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand. … Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.” [Deuteronomy 7:6-8, 11.] Please read carefully the whole of the seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, and think upon the Word of the Lord.
Will you turn from a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” after reading the history of Adam’s sin and fall? He fell because he discarded the words of the Lord, and heeded the words of Satan. Will it pay to transgress? By transgression Adam lost Eden. By the transgression of God’s commandments man will lose heaven, and an eternity of bliss. These are no idle tales, but truth. Again I ask, On which side are you standing? “If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” [1 Kings 18:21.]
Lt 35, 1898
White, J. E.
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
January 1, 1898
Dear _____:
I wish you a happy New Year. 1897 with its burden of record has passed into eternity. Today W. C. White spoke to the people here in Cooranbong. The discourse was, I understand, appropriate for the occasion. The ordinances were administered. The meeting was a profitable one.
It has been very warm here today. We have had some thunder and lightning, and some refreshing showers.
The same interest is still manifested in the meetings in Stanmore. During the coming week, there is to be [a] baptism. Since the camp meeting I have visited Stanmore often, and have spoken eight times, on Sabbath and Sunday afternoons. The interest is wide and extended. Brother Wilson and wife, Brother Starr and wife, and Brother Haskell and wife are all working in the mission, educating workers to give Bible readings. Brother Baker has the care principally of the churches in Ashfield, Parramatta, and other places. Two men are employed to care for the tent in Stanmore. There is quite a large family in the mission. One room, a large front parlor, is a meeting room. One room has been fitted up very pleasantly for me. I furnish it.
The workers in the mission cannot go out husband and wife together. There are so many to visit that they have to divide. Satan works very earnestly through the ministers to keep the people bound in error, but continually we hear of one and still another deciding to take a stand for the truth.
On Sunday or Monday the baptism will take place. They are expecting me to be present, but I do not think that I can be. I weary much more easily than formerly, especially during the hottest part of the season. It is midsummer now, and the most debilitating part of the year.
There is need of fifty laborers now in Melbourne and Sydney. We have not enough efficient workmen, and there is also a dearth of means to carry forward the work essential to be accomplished for this time. If those who knew the truth, the present truth for this time, would individually realize that a responsibility rests upon them to communicate to those who know not the truth, the light the Lord has graciously given them, they would more nearly meet the mind of Christ. They would be His light, penetrating the darkness of error which covers the religious world, and which is as dense as the darkness that enveloped the Jewish nation in the days of Christ.
Shall Seventh-day Adventists walk in the same path as did the Jewish nation? Shall the message to the Laodicean church be applicable to this people? Shall those who have seen great light, who have had large opportunities and many privileges, cease to do service as witnesses for Christ? Those who know the truth, but who feel no special burden to reveal corresponding works, will be like that servant who knew his Master’s will, but did it not.
The Lord has appointed every converted soul to witness for Him. The light that has been given to the individual members of His church is to shine forth, not merely in much talk, but in good works. Every talent entrusted to every soul is to be traded upon. The talents that might have been put out to the exchangers by those who have done nothing in the service of God will be required again with the improvements that the Lord required His stewards to make. Every jot of light, of ability, of influence, is to be used, not for self-pleasing, but for the Lord. We are to be yoked up with Christ in perfect obedience to the Lord [our] God, who is holy, just, and good. Thus God’s people may develop characters of increasing consecration, efficiency, and tact, and act their part as laborers together with God.
Why are so many so slow in recognizing the work they ought to do in seeking to save that which is lost? Consider prayerfully what is to be done. Kill indolence. Lay hold of personal labor. Too much labor is done by those who minister in word and doctrine in behalf of churches that should be set to work themselves. The church members should carry a weight of responsibility. They should keep their own souls in the love of God by exercising all the powers they have. By precept and example they should bear witness of the power of the truth and grace of Christ upon human hearts. This will commend the truth that the seventh day Sabbath is a sign between them and their God. Obedience in the observance of the Sabbath testifies of the sanctification received through its observance.
In many of our organized churches the banner of truth is trailing in the dust because the members are not doing service to God, but are serving their own pleasure. They work through the influences that surround the soul. By precept and example, in self-indulgence, in their worldly habits of dress, in their words and actions, they testify against the truth, against self-denial, against the meekness of Christ. They are cold spiritually, and far separated from Christ. If they followed in the footsteps of Christ, they would be partakers of His self-denial, of His self-sacrifice, that they might lift up and save the souls that are ready to perish.
The talents entrusted to men may be used in an unconsecrated manner, by doing a good action from impulse, in a haphazard way, refusing to see opportunities that are close by, and that should claim the attention. Many practice self-denial and self-sacrifice by fits and starts. They need to seek the wisdom that comes from God alone. They need to consult their Leader. They need to do much praying, much trusting in Jesus Christ that His Holy Spirit may work in them, revealing a straightforward course of service which God will approve, and which will be a benefit and blessing to many souls. The consecration of all our words and actions to God makes us His witnesses. It develops a character that is the result of cherishing the truth in all its principles. Truth is not a cheap commodity; it is as precious gold, tried in the fire.
We pass through this world but once. Let every step taken by those who claim to be sons and daughters of God be forward. Listen to the words of Christ: “He that will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” [Mark 8:34.] This alone will designate each of us as His disciples. Are we witnessing before the angels of heaven and before the worlds unfallen that we as human beings recognize that we understand what this means, “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”? [1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.] Entire consecration to God, living an undivided heart-life of service, this is a living testimony to the world that you recognize your accountability to improve.
Every entrusted talent is to be treated as absolutely and really belonging to Him whose you are by creation and redemption. Consecration of words, of voice, or every work, is needed. This act of sanctification of soul, body, and spirit, is not an act on the part of the human agent of creating anything and rendering it to God. All we have is from God and by Him. It is just as much His if we do not recognize it thus, and take some credit to ourselves. By consecrating all to God, you are simply showing the angels of heaven that you recognize that soul, body, and spirit belongs to the Lord, and are to be devoted to His service.
The talent given to the unprofitable servant, which he wrapped in a napkin and buried in the earth, was the Lord’s own, entrusted to the servant for use. It was to be so used that it would gain other talents. Our life is to be a life of earnest, thoughtful service to God. Those who feel no real obligation to represent the truth in life and character, who do not testify to the power of the grace of Christ by revealing the reformation it has wrought in them, fail to exalt the law of God before those whose characters are demonstrated in making that law void by their wrong principles.
The true commandment keeping people of God show to the world a character of unspotted integrity, testifying by their own course of action that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Thus the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, through His obedience to the law of God, exalted and made that law honorable. God will surely condemn every member of every church claiming to be Seventh-day Adventist, who is not doing Him service, but through pride, selfishness, and worldliness is showing that the truth of heavenly origin has not worked a reformation in his character.
Please read carefully Revelation 3:15-18. The voice of Jesus Christ is heard. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore (not half-hearted) and repent. Behold, I (your Saviour) stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne.” [Verses 19-21.]
Will the churches heed the Laodicean message? Will they repent or will they, notwithstanding that the most solemn message of truth—the third angel’s message—is being proclaimed to the world, go on in sin? This is the last message of mercy, the last warning to a fallen world. If the church of God becomes lukewarm, it does not stand in favor with God any more than do the churches that are represented as having fallen and become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Those who have had opportunities to hear and receive the truth and who have united with the Seventh-day Adventist church, calling themselves the commandment-keeping people of God, and yet possess no more vitality and consecration to God than do the nominal churches, will receive of the plagues of God just as verily as the churches who oppose the law of God. Only those that are sanctified through the truth will compose the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those that love Him and keep His commandments.
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” [1 John 2:4.] This includes all who claim to have a knowledge of God, and to keep His commandments, but who do not manifest this by good works. They will receive according to their deeds. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” [1 John 3:6.] This is addressed to all church members, including the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches. “Little children, let no man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the work of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” [Verses 7-10.]
All who claim to be Sabbath-keeping Adventists, and yet continue in sin, are liars in God’s sight. Their sinful course is counterworking the work of God. They are leading others into sin. The word comes from God to every member of our churches, “And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornication or profane person among you, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully and with tears.” [Hebrews 12:13-17.]
This is applicable to many who claim to believe the truth. Rather than give up their lustful practices, they venture on in a wrong line of education under Satan’s deceiving sophistry. Sin is not discerned as sinful. Their very consciences are defiled, their hearts are corrupted, even the thoughts are continually corrupt. Satan uses them as decoys, to a lure souls to unclean practices which defile the whole being. “He that despised Moses’ law, (which was the law of God) died without mercy under one or two witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be found worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” [Hebrews 10:28-31.]
Lt 39a, 1898
Advisers of Medical Students
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
October 26, 1898
To the Advisers of Medical Students:
There is a burden upon my soul. There are young people who are encouraged to take up a course of study in medical lines who ought to be preparing themselves to proclaim the third angel’s message. It is not necessary for our medical students to spend all the time that they are spending in medical studies. Their work should be more decidedly combined with a study of God’s Word. Ideas are inculcated that are not at all necessary, and the necessary things do not receive sufficient attention.
A Danger to Be Guarded Against
While students are being educated in this way, they are being made less able to do acceptable work for the Master. The taxation that they undergo to obtain an extended knowledge in medical lines unfits them to work as they should in ministerial lines. Physical and mental weariness come because of the overstrain of study, and because the students are encouraged to labor unduly for the outcasts and the degraded. Thus some are disqualified for the work that they might have done had they begun missionary work where it was needed and let the medical line come in as an essential part, connected with the work as a whole as the hand is connected with the body. Life is not to be imperilled in an effort to obtain a medical education. There is danger, in some cases, of students ruining their health and unfitting themselves to do the service they might have done had they not been encouraged unwisely to take a medical course.
Often erroneous opinions are transcribed on the mind, and these lead to an unwise course of action. Students should have time to talk with God, time to live in hourly, conscious communion with the principles of truth and righteousness and mercy. At this time, straightforward investigation of the heart is essential. The student must place himself where he can draw from the Source of spiritual and intellectual power. He must require that every cause which asks his sympathy and cooperation has the approval of the reason which God has given him, and the conscience which the Holy Spirit is controlling. He is not to perform an action that does not harmonize with the deep, holy principles which minister light to his soul and vigor to his will. Only thus can he do God the highest service. He is not to be taught that medical missionary work will bind him to any living man, who shall dictate what his work shall be.
Medical missionary work is not to be drawn apart and made separate from church organization. The medical students are not to receive the idea that they may regard themselves as amenable only to the leaders in the medical work. They are to be left free to receive counsel from God. They are not to pledge themselves and their future to anything that erring human beings may outline for them. No thread of selfishness is to be drawn into the web; no scheme is to be devised that has in it one particle of injustice. Selfishness is not to control any line of the work. Let us remember that individually we are working in full view of the heavenly universe.
A High Standard
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself.” [Luke 10:27.] Just before He left His disciples to return to heaven, Christ declared, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Here we see the standard lifted higher and still higher. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.” [John 13:34, 35.] The disciples could not then comprehend Christ’s words, but after His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they understood His love as never before.
Be careful. Take heed. Let God enter to control the work. He will make His combinations and arrangements. The Lord has need of men of intense spiritual life. Are we prepared to do the work for this time? The Lord has declared the Source of the strength of His people. “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” [Zechariah 4:6.]
Teaching and Healing
The Lord’s people are to be one. There is to be no separation in His work. Christ sent out the twelve apostles, and afterward the seventy disciples, to preach the gospel and to heal the sick. “As ye go,” He said, “preach, saying, The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely give.” [Matthew 10:7, 8.] And as they went forth preaching the kingdom of God, power was given them to heal the sick and cast out evil spirits. In God’s work teaching and healing are never to be separated. His commandment-keeping people are to be one. Satan will invent every device to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. But the Lord will reveal Himself as a God of judgment. We are working under the eyes of the heavenly host. There is a divine Watcher among us, inspecting all that is planned and carried on.
Lt 42, 1898
Irwin, G. A.
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
May 19, 1898
Dear Brother Irwin:
In the last mail from America I received a letter from you. I was glad to read your letter, and the next American mail, which leaves here in about two weeks, will take you answers to your questions more to the point than I can now send. I have written largely upon some subjects, and have written some personal testimonies.
A most decided work needs to be done in our churches in Michigan. There has been a lack of co-operation and harmonious action, but if you will all draw steadily in Bible lines, a change will be wrought in the churches.
You cannot be surprised at the existing state of things when some of those who have been managers of our institutions have been representing self and selfishness in the place of representing Christ. They have co-operated with those who would not care if the institutions crumbled to pieces if they were separated from them. It is the connection of these men with our institutions, and their management on wrong principles, that has brought about the sad state of things that now exists.
How can we rightly consider the infinite sacrifice made in our behalf to serve us individually? Each one should realize that his salvation was purchased at an infinite cost, and then should appreciate the value of his own soul as costing the life of the Son of God. It is work, earnest work, that all are called upon to do. They are to cooperate with God in the salvation of their own souls. If they give up the work, leaving God to do it all, they will never know what it means to be co-laborers with Christ. God demands of all what all owe to Him—perfection of character, a life molded after the divine similitude.
I hope that now, as never before, you will all, ministers and church members, come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of darkness. But I have written so much matter that I need not write largely to you. I will inquire why some of our ministerial brethren are so far behind in proclaiming the exalted theme of temperance. Why is it that greater interest is not shown in health reform? There are many who nourish and keep alive a constant prejudice against Dr. Kellogg. He is doing a large work. Why do they not fill their places in the ministry as well, as zealously, as he is filling his place? Why do not the ministers of our churches do the very work that ought to have been done years ago? I am glad that someone has taken up the work which has been so neglected.
The complaint comes, Dr. Kellogg has gathered up all the young men he can get, and therefore we have no workers. But this is the very best thing that could be done for the young men and the work. To you, as president of the General Conference, and to Brother Evans, president of the General Conference Association, and to Brother Durland, as president of the Michigan Conference, I would say, Continue to work with tact and ability. Get some of these young men and young women to work in the churches. Combine medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel’s message.
Make regular, organized efforts to lift the churches out of the dead level in which they have been for years. Send out into the churches workers who will set the principles of health reform before every church in Michigan. See if the breath of life will not then come into these churches.
There are too many today who are merely human moralists. A new element needs to be brought into the work. God’s people must receive the warning and work for souls right where they are, for people do not realize their great need and peril. Christ sought the people where they were, and placed before them the great truths in regard to His kingdom. As He went from place to place, He blessed and comforted the suffering, and healed the sick. This is our work. God would have us relieve the necessities of the destitute. The reason that the Lord does not manifest His power more decidedly is because there is so little spirituality among those who claim to believe the truth.
There are in our world many Christian workers who have not yet heard the grand and wonderful truths that have come to us. These are doing a good work, in accordance with the light they have, and many of them are more advanced in knowledge and practical work than are those who have had great light, great opportunities.
The indifference among our ministers in regard to health reform and medical missionary work is surprising. Even those who do not profess to be Christians treat the subject with a greater reverence than do some of our own people, and they are going in advance of us. The word given to me for you is, “Go forward.” “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18-20.]
The message has been given to those in Battle Creek to move into places where they could do this very work in connection with their temporal business. Had they moved out by faith, they would have obtained a rich experience in the things of God. But they thought they would find things a little less taxing in Battle Creek than elsewhere. Many crowd into Battle Creek who get no good there because they make no use of the knowledge they receive. They do no good in Battle Creek, and are only swelling the number who need conversion. They have no spirit of sacrifice. They have a great deal of self and a little bit of Christ, a little faith, and a few good works, and they think that they have religion. But it all amounts to nothing.
What do we read in the seventeenth chapter of John? “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely (by experimental knowledge) that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.” [Verse 8.] Please read this chapter; for it is full of richness. “As thou hast sent me into the world,” Christ continued, “so have I sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” [Verses 18-20.] Are we voicing the words of Christ? Are we sanctifying ourselves through obedience to the truth?
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” [Verses 20-23.]
Apply these words to the members of our churches, and see if they are teaching the plan of salvation as Christ has appointed. Are they seeking for that perfect oneness that Christ prayed they should have? Have they indeed kept the words of the living oracles of God? I tell you, my brother, that there is a work to do besides preaching—the work of ministering.
When any one in Battle Creek or in any place shall speak words which depreciate the medical work, ask them what they are doing to perform the work God has given them to do. Let them take up the work just where they are.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy, by his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus.” [Ephesians 2:1-7.]
We are assured that we may be so identified with Christ, the Son of God, as to be wholly one with Him, as He was one with the Father. Who can comprehend this? These words place on us a great responsibility. They are the highest measure of character, and contain the richest blessings that it is possible for any human being to enjoy.
Brother Irwin, take hold of the work of health reform. If any of the ministers have the idea that the medical missionary work is gaining undue preponderance, let them take the men who have been working in these lines with them into their fields of labor, two here and two there. Let the ministers receive these medical missionaries as they would receive Christ, and see what work they can do. I do not think they will find them dwarfs in religious experience. See if, in this way, you cannot bring some of heaven’s vital current into the churches. See if there is not a class who will grasp the education they need so much, and see if they will not bear the testimony, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (not aside from Christ,) (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together (not in independent atoms,) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” [Verses 4-6.]
Suppose that the degrading influence of jealousy and evil surmising, which is death to all spiritual life and symmetrical growth, should be crucified instead of being retained. Would it not be better to do this crucifying, than to do the work that many have been doing—crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to open shame? Suppose that individually you take hold of this work and begin to crucify the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the love of the world. Forget every other person but yourself, until you decide that you will no longer pierce the Son of God afresh by serving divers lusts and seeking only your own pleasure. Cease to worship idols, and continue no longer in bondage—degraded slaves to Satan and to sin.
Talk this to our ministers, pray it, and work in Christ’s lines. Think of the blessings brought to all who believe in Jesus. What tongue can express God’s love? It would not satisfy His heart of infinite love to let those who believe in Him occupy any lower place than that of His own sons. Can we wonder at the language of the inspired apostle as, in view of this stupendous grace, he exclaimed, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” [Ephesians 1:3-7.]
Shall we not arise to our high privilege? Shall we not labor as we have never before? Shall we not seek as did Jacob, for the blessing, saying, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”? [Genesis 32:26.] Oh, what a depth of love, what fulness and completeness there is in Christ Jesus. It is the purpose of God to exceed all our highest imaginations by glorifying His name, through the endless ages of eternity, in the redemption and glorification of the sons and daughters of God.
But here I must stop. I have written as fast as my pen could move over the paper, today and yesterday and for days before, to get the matter, which I shall send in this mail before you. I desire that the churches should have this; for the Lord has strengthened me and imbued me with His spirit to write it. Educate the churches in every possible way to deny and sacrifice self. Teach them that they must forsake their idols and cherish supreme love for God, and then they will love their neighbor as themselves.
With much earnest prayer in behalf of our churches, I remain,
Your sister in the blessed hope.
Lt 43, 1898
Gage, W. C.
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
May 19, 1898
Dear Brother:
I have received your letter of inquiry as to whether you are standing in such a relation to God and His cause that your judgment would be acceptable to Him. I am very glad that you express the idea [that you] should not accept the position on the board if, spiritually you were not in a condition to serve.
I will now write you some things that have been presented to me in reference to the matter of principle. The method which some have adopted of gathering up the proxies, and using them to carry their own plans, is not prompted by correct principles. It is using a power to oppose the decisions of a people who are properly instructed in regard to matters which require an intelligent conviction of right and wrong. For any person to obtain proxies and use them to accumulate votes is a fraud. Those votes speak, and under certain circumstances produce a power to bring into important positions of trust, unworthy, unreliable persons.
Satan is watching every avenue, that he may divert the minds of those who believe present truth, and steal a march upon them by introducing his subtle workings. And more can be done through those who claim to believe the truth but do not obey it, than through those believers who are not wide awake to the situation. Every advance step in the straight and narrow path prepares the way for another step.
Those who attempt to use proxies place themselves in a very precarious position. If I send my proxies to Battle Creek, I cannot be there in person to see and become intelligent in regard to circumstances and the relation that one proposition may have to another phase of the work. Were I on the ground myself, I could handle my proxies. But some plan must be instituted to use no proxies for the purpose of securing the majority of votes unless the one who has these proxies is present to know personally and intelligently what use will be made of the votes they give to the questions that are brought before them. If by fair means, or by misrepresentation, men have secured proxies to add numbers to their own schemes, those placed in position by these votes will, if they are anxious to do the right thing, refuse to accept the nomination. They should give no influence to the votes obtained by proxies.
The important work of God will go forward although the Lord has been greatly dishonored by men who have had no connection with God and have put their mold upon the work. Let great vigilance be exercised at this time that men who would control the various lines of the work, in their selfish, authoritative manner, may have no standing or place, for in such men heavenly angels cannot find appropriate channels through which to work. Hard and unimpressible [men] have been prepared to say Yea to things to which they should have said Nay with decision.
I have written this because there is danger now from men who become offended as did the disciples who walked no more with their Master.
Brother and Sister Gage, I would gladly be released from addressing you at this time, but I dare not refrain. The warning which has been given you both in connection with Mary Roth has not been heeded, and you are both in a dangerous condition spiritually. You and she must answer to God for walking directly contrary to the light which He has given. You are gaining nothing in spiritual efficiency, or in the experience you might have if you were taking heed to the warning. You have not been conducting your life in lines that are most favorable to the high development of mental and moral capabilities. The springs of your mental and spiritual activity do not find their source in Jesus Christ. Your influence is not such as the true children of God can respect—a mind that is led captive by Satan at his will.
“Why then is the children of Jerusalem slidden back by perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit. They refuse to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the swallow observeth their coming, but people know not the judgment of the Lord. How do ye say, We are wise? and the law of the Lord is with us?
“Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain: the wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them? … For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? nay, they were not at all ashamed: neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall, in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.” [Jeremiah 8:5-9, 11, 12.]
This is the word I am commissioned to bear unto you: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are these; for if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgment between man and his neighbor: if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I appoint you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.
“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I even I have seen it, saith the Lord. … But this thing commanded I to them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded, that it may be well with you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.” [Jeremiah 7:3-11, 23, 24.]
“Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money: come, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” [Isaiah 55:1-3.] Read also Isaiah 6, 7.
On a certain night I was unable to sleep. A voice said to me, “Look ye,” and some matters were presented before me, which I was able to understand. But I have so little confidence that you will see, that you will understand. You are both sustaining each other. Sister Gage is as blind in discernment as if the darkness of the earth and the gross spiritual darkness of the people were in covering her like a pall. There is no more hope for either than for the veriest sinner unless you are born again. You have corrupted your ways before the Lord, and your spiritual blindness must be removed. You must see your condition as it is. Your intellectual accomplishments are tainted and corrupted, and have become the instruments for the gratification of your heart’s imaginings, your appetites and desires. Your intelligence should teach you that it is wise for you to restrain yourselves, rather than to place yourselves in channels where Satan can lure you and gloss over evil as righteousness.
The Lord sees you, and is acquainted with all your doings. You are not progressing in grace or in the knowledge of the truth. You demonstrated how difficult it was for you to change or modify your habits when you allowed your mind to run in a certain channel. You were presented to me as standing up before intelligent minds, and in a most decided manner expressing your opinion, just as freely as though, like Daniel, you were receiving your light from God. It is not safe for you to be connected with any of our institutions. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.
“So that because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor, and blind and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.” [Revelation 3:15-18.] This seventeenth verse gives an accurate description of your condition. Will you heed the counsel given to the Laodicean church?
Your association with Mary Roth is working to her soul’s injury, and to the ruin of your own souls. The warning has been given you, and you are indeed in a most pitiable state of darkness, unfit to hold forth the Word of life to others. You may preach, no one can hinder you, but your words will be like your prayers; you will give lip service when your heart is far from God. Your own son has justified his errors by the example you have given him.
“So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” [Verse 16.] Your labors in connection with the work and cause of God in any line are described in the words of Christ as nauseating to Him. The figure of spewing out of His mouth means that He cannot offer up your prayers or your expressions of love to God. He cannot endorse your teaching of His Word or your spiritual work in any wise. He cannot present your religious exercises with the request that grace be given you, because there is a dead fly in the ointment of your religious services. “And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” [Verse 17.] O that there might be a turning away from the idols that you love and worship to the living God.
Sister Gage also is destitute of discernment and spiritual perception as to the propriety of her course of action. By speaking smooth words and fair speeches to her husband regarding his course of action, she makes herself a partaker of his defects and sins. Your folly is made manifest, and there is no excuse for this species of idolatry. God says to you both, as He said to Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at thy door.” [Genesis 4:7.] You cannot incorporate light with darkness. Christ with Belial, purity with impurity, good with evil. You will receive the sure result and penalty of transgression. You will lose your sensitiveness of conscience, and become indifferent to the religious experiences.
Genius, a bright intellect, has been entrusted to you, but you have cherished such a selfish indulgence, that to gratify your own unsanctified appetite, bearing no genuine responsibility in your enjoyment. Some time [ago] Sister Amadon wrote to me that she thought your intelligence and capabilities were not appreciated as they should be. I made no response; I should not encourage the idea of giving you influence, for this would have been giving my voice to your leading souls astray by loose, unprincipled ideas and habits.
Genius can be perverted. Prosperity can deceive and ruin the soul. I would warn all who would obtain the hope set before them in the gospel not to follow your example, but counterwork your influence. I would warn poor souls that they are to beware of all that would endanger the purity and simplicity of our faith and religious character. If God has entrusted wealth, prosperity, or talent to any, let them beware how they prostitute the gifts of God to their own spiritual ruin. These precious blessings of God are not to be tampered with, for they are the divine safeguard to ensure peace and to elevate and ennoble the entire man. If you refuse to hear and obey the caution given by God, if the warning, Come out from among them and be separate, is not received and acted upon, the door is opened and kept open for you to invite the devil’s temptation which you have become fearless to resist.
Had you spiritual discernment to see your own case, could you see the influence of your course of action, and how offensive this course is to God, what carefulness would you exercise in the formation of friendships and companionships of men or women! How careful you would be to avoid lowering by your influence the standard of religious principle or sapping the foundation of religious faith of those who are looking at you. You are a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. Unsanctified, frivolous connections will produce fatal results to spirituality. By such connections you show that the word spoken of Solomon, “His heart was not perfect with the Lord his God,” are true of you. [1 Kings 11:4.]
This theme cannot be treated indifferently, for just as surely as it is, the scenes of your misspent lives will be held before you both. When it is too late to redeem the failure, you will review with bitterness the loss you have sustained by living a superficial life, frittering away in frivolous excitement and selfish pleasure the hours which belong to God, not to yourself. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.” [1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.]
The Lord takes no pleasure in you. Your influence, all three of you, is of a character to counterwork the work of God. O, how much more valuable to you than all else is the wealth of clean hands and the golden treasures of a pure, undefiled heart. The nobility of the soul for whom God has given His [Son] to save it from corruption, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. These you can render to God for all His benefits.
Bear in mind the perpetuating power of evil influences. Shall the sad state of apostasy from correct, elevating, ennobling influences be laid at the feet of Satan? The question, “Who made Israel to sin?” will have to be answered. Talk not of taking part in board meetings or councils, for you have no true, genuine connection with God. You have talents, but they are tainted and corrupted, and for their misuse you must answer in the judgment. Is your influence a blessing or curse to your children? Shall your name be whispered with saddened looks and tearful eyes? Shall your children say, “His influence, irreligious when he claimed to be religious, ruined me,” or, shall they say, “His piety, his elevated, noble principles, saved me from ruin”?
This warning now comes to you, and what will you do with it? Will you say, “Have no fear of me?” But beware of that which the old writers called the world’s trinity—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If you trifle and tamper with these, they will prove your ruin. Unless you are born again, unless your objectionable hereditary tendencies are changed, unless purity and sanctification work a transformation in your lives, your barque will be shipwrecked, your souls lost.
Take a retrospective view of your life, [to see] if you have followed Him who said, “He that will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” [Mark 8:34.] “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” [John 14:6.]
Lt 51, 1898
Brethren
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
June 6, 1898
Dear Brethren in Battle Creek:
There are times when the truth must be spoken, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The Lord is greatly dishonored when those who claim to believe the truth make their appeals to lawyers. Will you read your Bibles, and practice the Word of God on this point? The interests of the cause of God are not to be committed to men who have no connection with heaven.
Matters have been presented before me that have filled my soul with keen anguish. I saw that men are linking up arm in arm with lawyers, but God was not in their company. I am commissioned to say to you that you are not moving under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.
Brother Smith, have you not been united with W. C. Gage long enough to know that his counsel and influence are misleading? Is it necessary for the Lord to come to you with a rod to show you that you need a higher experience before you can be fitted for connection with the family above? Will you link up with men who have a faculty of accusing, and thinking and speaking evil of the things that God approves? In the name of the Lord, I tell you that you need clear discernment and spiritual eyesight.
Again and again the Lord has pointed out the work which the church in Battle Creek and those all through America are to do. They are to reach a much higher standard in spiritual advancement. They are to wake out of sleep, and go without the camp, working for souls that are ready to perish. Doctor Kellogg is doing the very work which God has given to the church in Battle Creek—the last call to the supper He has prepared.
The many interests centering in Battle Creek should be divided and subdivided and placed in other cities. You who think you are wise men may say, It will cost too much. We can do the work here in Battle Creek at less expense. Well, does not the Lord know all this? Is He not a God who understands all your unbelieving reasoning that holds so many interests in Battle Creek? He has revealed to you that centers should be made in all the cities. This would call many out of Battle Creek to work in other places. In order to be carried forward aright, the medical missionary work needs talent, wise discrimination, but can this work be done while those in responsible places, presidents of conferences and ministers, bar the way? I say to the president of the Michigan [Conference], to Elder Smith, and to others, Remove the stumbling block that you are surely placing before the people.
The people in Battle Creek have not exercised their talents in devising and planning how they may plant the standard of truth in regions where decided efforts should be made, and the Lord has moved upon Doctor Kellogg to do the work offered to those in Battle Creek, which they did not choose to accept. The work which God has given to the Battle Creek church has not been done, and while some of you are repeating the very work that has been done over and over again, the work of blinding the spiritual eyesight, God has placed His work in the hands of those who will take it up and carry it forward.
God is in His holy place, and He dwells also with him that is of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Those who are doing medical missionary work in Battle Creek should have the full sanction and cooperation of the church. If they do not have this, they are bound about. Nevertheless, they will advance, though without the cooperation of those who refuse to help. There will be two churches in Battle Creek in regard to principle of action.
If the workers engaged in medical missionary work will carry this special line into the churches, if they will work in the fear of God, they will find doors opened before them. But how much better it is to seek for unity of action.
If no help is given, by the presidents of our conferences and ministers to those engaged in our work, Doctor Kellogg will no longer pay in the tithe from the workers in the Sanitarium. They will appropriate this to carry forward the work that is in harmony with the light of God’s Word.
Please read the invitation to the supper, and the last call made. Study to see what is being done to meet the command of Jesus. I cannot understand why this indifference is manifested, why you should stand off and criticize and draw away. The gospel net is to be cast into the sea, and it draws both good and bad. But because this is so, shall men and women ignore the efforts made to save those who will believe, and who will unite in the work of reaching that class of which Christ spoke in His rebuke to the Pharisees? “Sinners and harlots,” He said, “go into the kingdom before you?” [Matthew 21:31.] Will you not see that in every church there are those who have no connection with God? But Christ says, “Let the tares and the wheat grow together until the harvest, then I will send my angel to gather out the tares and burn them, but the wheat will I gather into my barn.” [See Matthew 13:30, 39.]
When the Lord moves upon the churches, bidding them do a certain work, and they refuse to do that work, and someone consents to reach to the very depths of human woe and misery, God’s blessing will rest upon him. Even though but few souls accept the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, His work will not be in vain; for one soul is precious, very precious in the eyes of God. Christ died for that soul, in order that he might live through eternal ages.
Please read the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. The whole chapter should be an eye opener. “Take heed,” said Christ, “that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, He rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” [Verses 10-14.]
There are many souls that are being rescued, wrenched from Satan’s hand by faithful workers. Someone must have a burden of soul to find the souls that have been lost to Christ, and one soul redeemed, over whom Satan has triumphed, causes joy among the heavenly angels. There are those who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves. The gospel net must gather in these poor outcasts. Angels of God will co-operate with those who are engaged in this work, who make every effort to save perishing souls, to give them a chance which, perhaps, they have never had.
There is no other way to reach them but by the medical missionary work. Only thus can they be taken from the depths of hell. The workers must do their work in love, feeding, cleansing, and clothing them. In this way these outcasts are prepared to know that someone cares for their souls. The Lord has shown me that many of these poor outcasts from society will, through the ministration of human agents who co-operate with the divine, seek to restore the moral image of God in others for whom Christ has paid the price of His own blood. They will be called the elect of God, precious, and will stand next to the throne of God.
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with the sound of a great trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. … Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, who his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [Matthew 24:30, 31, 42-51.]
Brethren, be careful, very careful. There is a work being done in Battle Creek which answers to the description given in Matthew 24:48-51. The Lord is working to reach the most depraved. Many will know what it means to be drawn to Jesus Christ, but will not have moral courage to war against appetite and passion. There are those in the ministry who have had light and a knowledge of the truth, but who will not be overcomers. They will not restrict their appetite or deny themselves for Christ’s sake, and many poor outcasts, even publicans and sinners, will grasp the hope set before them in the gospel, and go into the kingdom of heaven before the ones who have had great opportunity and great light, yet who have walked in darkness. In the last great day, many will say, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But the door will be shut, and their knock will be in vain.
I feel deeply over these things, for they are truth. If you have an estimate of the value of truth and of your own souls, for Christ’s sake I beg of you to come to your senses and walk circumspectly with God. Time is short, and there is a great work to be done. If you feel no interest in the work that is going forward, if you will not encourage medical missionaries to work in the churches, they will do it without your consent, for this work must and will be done. Brother Smith, Brother Durland, Brother Evans, Brother Irwin, in the name of the Lord, I call upon you to take your position on the Lord’s side. Do not be found fighting against God.
Lt 51a, 1898
Smith, Uriah; Irwin, G. A.
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
June 6, 1898
Dear Brother Smith and Brother Irwin:
This day the mail goes to America by the Vancouver boat. I arise at 2 o’clock a.m. to write that which will accompany this letter. I have had represented to me that you need so much the working of the Holy Spirit in your midst. Neither Brother Durland, yourself, Brother Nicola, William Gage, Brother Howe, nor Brother Evans sees things “eye to eye” with God. There is to be a decided change in your lines of work; and the very best thing you can do is to cleave to the Word of God, and not let the work God would do for the saving of souls, be hindered. All our churches are in need of a great revival.
Why, I ask you, have not special efforts been made to employ medical missionary workers in our churches? Dr. Kellogg will make some moves that I would feel sorry to have him feel compelled to make. He says if no means is allowed to carry the message by medical missionary laborers into the churches, he shall separate the tithe that is paid into the Conference, to sustain the medical missionary work. You should come to an understanding, and work harmoniously. For him to separate the tithe from the treasury would be a necessity I greatly dread. If this money in tithe is paid by the workers into the treasury, why, I ask, should not that amount be apportioned to the carrying forward of the medical missionary work—a work which our people greatly need to have done for them, and they become vitalized by the Holy Spirit’s power as they work in our churches?
Why, I ask, do you not make God your Counselor? Why do you link up with those who have had the weakness so often to be found on the wrong side, who have evidenced that they are not following our Leader? You [who] are engaged in opening the things connected with our work to lawyers, will realize that those who trust the things connected with our work to those who know not God will be left to trust to the law, and have all the law they want until their souls are satisfied. God will not be their Counselor. They have chosen their help from parties that are represented as the murky waters of the valley, in the place of drinking of the pure waters of Lebanon.
I would write further, but cannot. I have now spoken, in eight days, before students in the school chapel, and before all the church assembled in church chapel, before the small companies in six o’clock meeting, and at Dora Creek—fourteen times in eight days; and the Lord has sustained me. I thank His holy name.
I send you, Brother Smith and Brother Tenney, these enclosures. After you have both read them, you can … [Letter ends here.]
Lt 51b, 1898
Brethren in Battle Creek
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
June 6, 1898
Dear Brethren in Battle Creek:
There are times when the truth must be spoken, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. The Lord is greatly dishonored when those who claim to believe the truth fail to harmonize among themselves, and make their appeals to lawyers. Will you study the Word of God, [and] heed its instruction on this point? The interests of the cause of God are not to be committed to men who have no connection with heaven.
Matters have been presented before me that have filled my soul with keen anguish. I saw men linking up arm in arm with lawyers, but God was not in their company. Having many ideas regarding the work, they go to the lawyers for help to carry out their plans. I am commissioned to say to such that you are not moving under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.
“Is it because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to the god of Ekron?” [See 2 Kings 1:3.] Men in responsible positions are uniting with those in the church and out of the church, whose counsel is misleading. Is it necessary for the Lord to come to you with a rod to show you that you need a higher experience before you can be fitted for connection with the family above? Will you link up with men who have a faculty for accusing, and thinking and speaking evil of the things that God approves? In the name of the Lord, I tell you that you need clearer discernment and spiritual eyesight.
If the light which God has given you over and over again, that missionary centers should be established in many cities, and that the labor and the means centered in Battle Creek should be divided and planted in many places, had been followed, the present state of confusion and dearth of means would never have been.
Men located in Battle Creek have disregarded the counsels of the Lord, because it was more convenient for them to have the work centered there. God has left these to the results of their human wisdom, and its fruit is seen in the present perplexities. “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourself about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” [Isaiah 50:10, 11.]
“Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask ye now among the heathen who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up.” [Jeremiah 18:11-15.]
Again and again the Lord has pointed out the work which the church in Battle Creek and those all through America are to do. They are to reach a much higher standard in spiritual advancement. They are to awake out of sleep, and go without the camp, working for souls that are ready to perish. The medical missionaries are doing the long-neglected work which God gave to the church in Battle Creek—they are giving the last call to the supper which He has prepared.
My brethren, why do you keep so many things bound up in Battle Creek? Why do you not take the tract and missionary work into other cities, where there is much missionary work to be done? The many interests centering in Battle Creek should be divided and subdivided, and placed in other cities. You who think you are wise men may say, It will cost too much. We can do the work here in Battle Creek at less expense. Well, does not the Lord know all this? Is not He a God who understands all the unbelieving reasoning that holds so many interests in Battle Creek? He has revealed to you that centers should be made in all the cites. This would call many out of Battle Creek to work in other places.
In order to be carried forward aright, the medical missionary work needs talent. It requires strong and willing hands, and wise, discriminating management. But can this be while those in responsible places, presidents of conferences and ministers, bar the way? The Lord says to the presidents of conferences and to influential brethren, Remove the stumbling blocks that have been placed before the people.
The people in Battle Creek have not exercised their talents in planning and devising how they may plant the standard of truth in regions where the message has not been proclaimed, and where decided efforts should be made. And the Lord has moved upon Dr. Kellogg and his associates to do the work which belongs to the church, and which was offered to them, but which they did not choose to accept. Some in Battle Creek, instead of taking up the work given them of God, have, by following their own selfish way, blinded their spiritual eyesight and the eyesight of others; and God has placed His precious work in the hands of those who will take it up and carry it forward.
God is in His holy place, and He dwells also with him who is of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Those who are doing medical missionary work should have the full sanction and co-operation of the church. If they do not have this, they are hindered. Nevertheless, they will advance. It is not God’s plan that there be two churches in Battle Creek because of the want of cooperation in this line. How much better it is to seek for unity of action.
If the medical missionary workers will carry this line of effort into the churches everywhere, if they will work in the fear of God, they will find many doors opened before them, and angels will work with them.
Please read the invitation to the supper, and the last call made. Study to see what is being done to meet the command of Jesus. I cannot understand why this indifference is manifested, why you should stand off, and criticize, and draw away.
The gospel net is to be cast into the sea, and it draws both good and bad. But because this is so, shall men and women ignore the efforts made to save those who will believe, and who will unite in the work of reaching that class of which Christ spoke in His rebuke to the Pharisees? “Sinners and harlots,” He said, “go into the kingdom before you.” [See Matthew 21:31.] Will you not see that even in the church there are those who have no connection with God? But Christ says, Let the tares and the wheat grow together until the harvest; then I will send my angel to gather out the tares and burn them, but the wheat will I gather into my barn.
When the Lord moves upon the churches, bidding them do a certain work, and they refuse to do that work, and when some, with their human efforts united with the divine, endeavor to reach to the very depths of human woe and misery, God’s blessing will rest richly upon them. Even though but few souls accept the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, their work will not be in vain; for one soul is precious, very precious in the [eyes] of God. Christ died for that soul, in order that he might live through eternal ages.
Let us study the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. This chapter should enlighten our eyes. “Take heed,” Christ [said], “that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye, If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which was gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, He rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” [Verses 10-14.]
There are many souls being rescued, wrenched from Satan’s hand, by faithful workers. Someone must have a burden of soul to find those who have been lost to Christ, and one soul redeemed, over whom Satan has triumphed, causes joy among the heavenly angels. There are those who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves. The gospel net must gather in these poor outcasts. Angels of God will co-operate with those who are engaged in this work, who make every effort to save perishing souls, to give them opportunities which many never have had. There is no other way to reach them but in Christ’s way. He ever worked to relieve suffering and to teach righteousness. Only thus can they be taken from the depths of hell.
The workers must labor in love, feeding, cleansing, and clothing those who need their help. In this way these outcasts are prepared to know that someone cares for their souls. The Lord has shown me that many of these poor outcasts from society will, through the ministration of human agencies who co-operate with the divine, seek to restore the moral image of God in others for whom Christ has paid the price of His own blood. They will be called the elect of God, precious, and will stand next to the throne of God.
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels with the sound of a great trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. … Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
“Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler of all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” [Matthew 24:30, 31, 42-51.]
Brethren, be careful, very careful. There is a work being done by the medical missionaries which answers to the description given in Matthew 24:48-51. The Lord is working to reach the most depraved. Many will know what it means to be drawn to Jesus Christ, but will not have moral courage to war against appetite and passion. But the workers must not be discouraged at this, for it is written, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” [1 Timothy 4:1.] Is it only those rescued from the lowest depths that backslide?
There are those in the ministry who have had light and a knowledge of the truth who will not be overcomers. They will not restrict their appetite and passions, or deny themselves for Christ’s sake, and many of the poor outcasts, even publicans and sinners, will grasp the hope set before them in the gospel, and will go into the kingdom of heaven before the ones who have had great opportunities and great light, but who have walked in darkness. In the last great day, many will say, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But the door will be shut, and their knock will be in vain.
We should feel deeply over these things, for they are truth. We should have a high estimate of truth and of the value of souls. Time is short, and there is a great work to be done. If you feel no interest in the work that is going forward, if you will not encourage medical missionary work in the churches, it will be done without your consent; for it is the work of God, and it must be done. Brethren and sisters, take your position on the Lord’s side, and be earnest, active, courageous co-workers with Christ, laboring with Him to seek and to save that which is lost.
Lt 53, 1898
Teachers and Students in Our Schools
June 12, 1898
To the Teachers and Students in Our Schools:
There are many in our world who think that to learn a trade would be lowering to their dignity. Such have an incorrect idea of what constitutes true dignity. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud Jesus Christ, one with the Father, and Commander of the heavenly hosts, led the children of Israel in their journeyings through the wilderness. To this encampment of more than a million people He gave special direction that every youth should learn a trade and gain a knowledge of practical life, that he might be self-supporting.
The great work essential for parents to do is to find some employment for their children which will involve the bearing of responsibilities proportioned to their age and strength. The active brains and hands of children must be employed, and if parents neglect this work, they do their children great injury, for they leave the way open for Satan to find them something to do. But by giving children something to interest them and keep them busy, fathers and mothers carry out the requirements of God.
The mother is to teach her children that as members of the household they are to act their part in cheerfully carrying the burdens of the home. She is also to explain to them the construction of the muscles of the body, and their connection with the nerves, which our wise heavenly Father has provided us the means whereby the human machinery is kept in motion. Every organ of the body is a servant to the mind, and has its part to perform. David exclaimed, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”; and yet how few have any special interest in the construction of the human habitation. [Psalm 139:14.]
Every mother should be the first teacher of her children. The home should be the place where every child receives its first lessons. The custom now followed is for children when very young to begin to take music lessons. Even though the parents are poor, they will pay a music teacher. Everything is made secondary to this object. This is not wise. It is not the best thing for a nervous child’s health to set him at music when he is young. Let the mother teach her children how to use their muscles and nerves, and to make music in the home by doing acts of usefulness, but relieving her of some of her burdens. Let her teach them to use the needle, to keep their clothing in repair, to cook their food. Accustom them to bear burdens. Then intellect is strengthened by use. The perception is taught by seeing what needs to be done. The memory is helped by acting a faithful part. The best music children can learn is to know how to save their mother’s steps.
The mother may feel that it would be easier to avoid the duty of educating her children to find their chief exercise and recreation in bearing burdens. She may think it hard to open before them the knowledge of their own bodies. But she does her children great harm if she neglects to give them this education. Their Creator furnished them with this wonderful machinery that it might be exercised, and strengthened by use. The muscles are dependent on the brain and nerves for the power of action. The mind wills to move the limbs. To keep this machinery in working order, it is essential that brain, bone, and muscle be brought into action. The exercise of the muscles quickens the circulation of the blood. How important then that parents understand the philosophy of the healthful action of brain, bone, muscles, and nerves, and how needful that they educate their children in this line.
Simple lessons in the use of the various organs of the body should be given to children to commit to memory. The idea that it is physical exercise that strengthens every organ and gives new life and nourishment to every part of the living machinery, should be firmly imprinted on the mind. This is the law that God has ordained shall govern the body. Every part must be exercised. The harmonious working of the whole is required in order for the members of a family to do service in the home, and help each other to acquire education and discipline. The brain must plan and devise, and the muscles must carry out the will of the brain.
If in early years children were thus trained to habits of usefulness in the home, they would obtain an education far superior to that gained by close confinement in the schoolroom. But if part of the muscles are unused, it will soon be seen that the blood does not nourish these muscles. The limbs do not increase in size and strength as they would if they were used. Students who have but little exercise in the open air soon grow weak and lose flesh. The brain is overworked, while the physical organs are left to rust with inaction. Inactivity is not the law the Lord has ordained for the human body; and if this law is followed, feebleness, debility, and disease will come as the result. But nerves and muscles will increase and strengthen if they are exercised.
We lose or gain physical strength just in accordance with the way in which we treat the body. When the largest portion of time is devoted to brain work, the organs of imagination lose their freshness and power, while the physical organs lose their healthy tone. The brain is morbidly excited by being constantly exercised, while the muscular system is weak from lack of exercise. There is a manifest loss of strength and increase of debility, which in time makes its influence felt on the brain. As far as possible, harmony should be preserved between the mental and physical powers. This is necessary for the health of the entire system.
Parents should realize that they are the guardians of their children, and that they are to give these children occupation for mind and body that will interest them, and at the same time give them the satisfaction that they are helping to bear the burdens of the home. The exercise gained in mere play does not give the inspiration that quickens every organ of the body. Exercise merely for exercise soon becomes uninteresting. Let children take exercise by performing the duties of the home, thus relieving the overtaxed mother. If daughters would follow this plan, instead of allowing their time to be occupied by a round of selfish pleasure, they would enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they had done their duty and borne their share of the home duties.
Children and youth, young men and young women, should be ambitious to do something that will be beneficial to others, as well as to themselves. They should seek to prolong the life of their mother by giving her pleasure. This they cannot fail to do if they engage in useful domestic exercise. Such efforts will be rewarded with health of body and peace of mind, for the approval of God rests with loving assurance upon children who strive to share in the duties of the home.
Thus children may be educated to minister in the home, and at the same time obtain the exercise so essential to their health. As they increase the enjoyment of the family circle by bearing their share of the burdens that some one must bear, they carry with them a fragrant atmosphere, and the mother, as well as the children, is blessed by their faithful performances of home duties.
By precept and example children should be taught to be truthful and unselfish. They should not be allowed to cherish habits of indolence. Their hands should not be folded in idleness. We may overcome selfishness by accustoming ourselves to think of and care for others. This closes the door to many temptations. Wise instruction on this point, given in a calm, decided manner, will bring its returns. Angels of God co-operate with parents who strive to do this God-given work, imparting to them strength and efficiency. Heavenly satisfaction is the fruit of virtuous industry and of the cultivation of habits of loving to do good.
Carefulness in Diet Essential
When parents realize their responsibilities, far less of the training of their children will be left for the teachers in the day school and Sabbath school. Far more vigilant work will be done in the home. Parents are to carefully consider the question, What kind of food shall be placed on my table? for on this question depends the health of their family. The knowledge of how to cook is a very important matter. If children were thoroughly educated in the skillful preparation of bread and other wholesome food, if they were taught to depend on the exercise of their own wisdom in this matter, with guidance as the case demanded, this alone would secure for them positions of trust and influence; for there are few thoroughly qualified housekeepers.
Temperance is to be practiced in eating as well as in drinking. Many people eat more food than nature requires. The vital powers are exhausted in the effort to throw off the excess. The liver and kidneys become diseased. Less food would have nourished the system, and its powers would not have been taxed by overwork. The gastric juice works on the amount that the system can assimilate, and the surplus remains undigested, to decay, making the breath offensive, and causing a disagreeable taste in the mouth.
“Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” [1 Corinthians 10:31.] We all need to use wisdom in eating. A sufficient quantity of wholesome food to properly nourish the body should be eaten. But appetite becomes a dangerous element if cultivated by indulgence. Those who provide for themselves every luxury that the heart can wish are in danger of becoming gourmands. The table is spread with a variety of dishes. Course after course is spread before the guests, and the food designed to minister to happiness becomes, through ignorance and want of self-control, an injury to the physical, mental, and moral powers. The whole being is unfitted for God’s service.
The elaborate preparations made to gratify perverted taste often bring disease and suffering of every type. If only two or three varieties of food were provided for the meal, few would be guilty of burdening the stomach with too large an amount. The dessert should be placed on the table and served with the rest of the food; for often, after the stomach has been given all it should have, the dessert is brought on, and is just that much too much.
The children of wealthy parents seem to think that because they are blessed with an abundance of money, it is their duty to eat as long as they retain a relish for food. Some have so indulged their taste that unless they have the very article of food it calls for, they find no pleasure in eating. If condiments and spiced foods are placed before them, they make the stomach work by applying this fiery whip; for it has been so treated that it will not acknowledge unstimulating food.
Wealth cannot secure a relish for food that is eaten at irregular periods, when the system does not require it. The stomach is taxed with the effort to grind up this food. It has no time to rest. Often when a large variety of food is placed before the people, they eat because the food tastes good. The blood is called from all parts of the body to dispose of this food, and cold hands, cold feet, and cold limbs are the consequence. The digestive organs are deprived of their power to do good work. They have used the full amount of food demanded by the system, and the remainder is left to decay. Sugar, candies, and cakes supply no nourishment to the body. They are dangerous dainties, which disorder the stomach and weaken the constitution, preparing the way for dyspepsia and fevers.
How much more sensible it would be for people, instead of gratifying appetite, to study the relation of eating to health. The nourishment received from food is carried to all parts of the body. On the power of the system to appropriate the food eaten, our strength depends. Nature will use all that the system requires, to strengthen each nerve and muscle. But that for which the system has not need is simply left to decay.
Too often the rich live in what is supposed to be genteel idleness, eating without taking the exercise necessary to keep them in health. Much suffering and many deaths are caused by overeating, when the stomach demands entire rest. God would have the rich remember that their property makes them responsible and accountable stewards. They are not to use their treasures in self-indulgence. Idleness and self-gratification make invalids.
Christ Our Example
Christ, the Majesty of heaven, was rich in treasures. The gold and silver were all His. The world was His, for He made it. But for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. That He might reach fallen humanity, that He might associate with men, reaching their hearts through the common avenue of sympathy, He clothed His divinity with humanity. He who had lived amid the glories of heaven was found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, working for the recovery of the human race by adapting Himself to the situation.
Then how foolish it is for man, who has nothing he can call his own, to exalt himself and walk haughtily. God has lent him what he has, that he may impart to those who are in need. How inappropriate and entirely out of place to act as did Nebuchadnezzar, who made the proud boast, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” [Daniel 4:30.] Because of his proud boasting, the king of Babylon was humbled by the God who gave him all he had. His reason was taken from him, and for seven years he lived among the wild beasts of the field.
God has not surrounded any human being with blessings to curse them with the sure result of idleness, and deprive them of the blessings which come from a wise improvement of the talents. The children of the wealthy should not be deprived of the great blessing of having something to do. It is their privilege to enjoy God’s blessing by devoting their mind and strength to His glory. To every man, woman, and child, God has given a work. He gave Adam and Eve a beautiful garden to tend; and this work was to them a pleasure. Work would never have been anything but pleasure and happiness had not Adam transgressed God’s commands.
Christ, the Example for all the human family, learned the carpenter’s trade, and in His home life He was ever obedient to His parents. He was not content to be a defective workman, even in His trade of handling tools. He was a perfect workman, as He was a perfect character. He did not use His physical powers recklessly. Every organ was kept in the best condition to do the most acceptable work in every line. And as He worked, He was being educated. He studied most diligently the Scriptures and the book of nature. His habits and practices were in harmony with God’s Word.
Of His childhood we read, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” [Luke 2:40.] When He was twelve years old, His parents lost Him as they were returning from the Passover. They found Him sitting among the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. He asked these questions as a learner, but in each question there were gems of light that gave His hearers thoughts concerning the Messiah that they had never before had. “All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers.” [Verse 47.]
“Son, why hast thou dealt thus with us?” His mother asked. “Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” He answered, “How is it that ye sought me?” Pointing upward He continued, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” [Verses 48, 49.] The work He was then engaged in was the work He had come to this world to do.
“And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.” [Verse 51.] This is a lesson for all children and youth. Christ did not, as many today do, devote all His time to amusement. He studied the Word of God, and became better and better acquainted with the truths it contains. He delighted in the beautiful things of nature, and when talking to the people, He drew His illustrations from the great treasure of household affection, and from the things of nature with which they were most familiar. He plucked lilies and, placing them in the hands of children said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow [in their natural simplicity and loveliness]; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” [Matthew 6:28, 29.]
With His own youthful face aglow with the sunlight of His Father’s countenance, He continued, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” [Verse 30.] These words were spoken not only for children and youth, but for everyone whose life is full of worry and perplexity, who is bowed down with disappointment and sorrow. Christ says to them, “Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? … for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” [Verses 31-33.]
The simplest truth unfolded by Christ is full of the richest treasures of truth. He revealed knowledge that was not perverted by the sayings of men, knowledge that always led heavenward. His words were to His hearers as a new revelation. He could speak of the things He Himself had made, of properties and qualities peculiarly His own. He could make nature speak in shrub and flower, in seedtime and harvest. Divine, momentous truths, bound up with natural things, were laid open by Him.
Rightly studied and interpreted, nature is but an extended page of God’s Word. To Adam and Eve Eden was teeming with instruction, and vocal with wisdom that they were attentive to hear, for they conversed with God in His created works. And to every student of Holy Writ nature reflects like a mirror the different aspects of truth.
Lt 54, 1898
Brethren in the Ministry
June 15, 1898
An Appeal to Ministers
Dear Brethren in the Ministry:
There is a most decided work that needs to be done in our churches throughout the field. There has been in many places a lack of co-operation and harmonious action, but if the workers will now lay aside their personal ambitions and prejudices, and will all draw unitedly in Bible lines, a change will be wrought among our people.
Why do not all our ministers heartily co-operate with those who are carrying forward the medical missionary work? Why do they not follow the example of Christ, and carefully study His life, that they may know how He would have them labor? Is it for you, the appointed ministers of Christ, who have His example before you, to stand off and criticize the very work which He came among men to do?
Christ sought the people where they were, and placed before them the great truths in regard to His kingdom. As He went from place to place, He blessed and comforted the suffering, and healed the sick. This is our work. God would have us relieve the necessities of the destitute. The reason that the Lord does not manifest His power more decidedly is because there is so little spirituality among those who claim to believe the truth.
In the time of Christ, the appointed leaders of the people had settled down to work upon set lines, and they were displeased with those who would work differently from themselves. They were content to teach the law, without bringing into their lives its living principles. As Jesus saw the ambition and self-esteem which prevented them from understanding the principles of His kingdom, He gave them this parable:
“When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher; then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” [Luke 14:8-11.]
Let us study diligently this parable, for it teaches the esteem in which we should hold our fellow workers, and the attitude which we should maintain toward them.
This is followed by another parable, showing that our first attention should be given to those who are most needy: “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makes a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be blest; for they cannot recompense; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” [Verses 12-14.]
One of the Pharisees present, hoping to turn the conversation into another channel, exclaimed with a sanctimonious air, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” [Verse 15.] His remark was designed to turn away the minds of the guests from the subject of their practical duty. He thought to turn their minds from the work of the present life to the time of the resurrection of the just. But Jesus read the heart of the pretender, and fastening His eyes upon Him opened before the company the character and value of their present privileges. He showed them that they had a part to act at the present time in order to share in the blessedness of the future. He would have them understand that the privileges of service which they lightly regarded, and the invitation which they were slighting, would be sent to those whom they despised as of little value in the sight of God.
“Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” [Verses 16-20.] None of those who were bidden are represented as making a flat refusal to come to the wedding; but all gave frivolous excuses. Other things absorbed their attention, and they said, “I pray thee, have me excused.”
It was a great condescension for Him who had prepared this supper to extend this invitation to those who were bidden, and they had insulted Him by offering these frivolous excuses. “And the lord said unto his servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.” [Verses 23, 24.]
Have our ministers and our churches understood this parable? Was it not the outcasts, the publicans and sinners, the despised of the nations, that Christ called and by His loving kindness compelled to come in. Has not this class been overlooked by us, as though they were not worthy of our efforts?
“Verily I say unto you,” Christ said to the Pharisees, “that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him, and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” [Matthew 21:31, 32.]
This is applicable to many in our day. Light—clear, gospel light—has been given, but many of those occupying the highest positions of trust in connection with the work of God have not received the heaven-sent message. Having taken the place of instructors, they are not willing to humble themselves, and occupy the place of learners. There are too many today [who] are merely human moralists. A new element needs to be brought into their work. God’s people must receive the warning, must listen to His commands, and go and labor for souls right where they are; for the people do not realize their peril and their great need of help.
The ministers to whom have been committed the oracles of God should have the most intense interest and travail of soul to see the Master’s table filled, but they have not felt this burden as they ought. The command has come, “Go into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” [Luke 14:23.] In obedience to this, we must go to the heathen who are near us, and to those who are afar off. The “publicans and harlots” must hear the Saviour’s invitation, which, through the kindness and long-suffering of the messengers bringing the invitation, becomes a compelling power to lift and elevate those who are sunk in the lowest depths of spiritual wickedness, without God, and without hope in the world.
“Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” [Ephesians 2:11, 12.]
What is the message that we are to give? “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
“Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and an commander to the people. Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy …, and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:1-7.]
To my ministering brethren I would say, prosecute this work with tact and ability. Set to work the young men and the young women in our churches. Combine the medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel’s message. Make regular, organized effort to lift the churches out of the dead level into which they have fallen, and have remained for years. Send into the church workers who will set the principles of health reform in their connection with the third angel’s message before every family and individual. Encourage all to take a part in work for their fellow men, and see if the breath of life will not quickly return to these churches.
Study faithfully the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel. The work which is being done in medical missionary lines is the very work which Christ commanded His followers to do. Can you not clearly see that those who are engaged in this work are fulfilling the Saviour’s commission? Can you not see that it would please your Saviour if you would lay aside all false dignity, and learn in His school how to wear His yoke and carry His burdens?
The world needs evidences of sincere Christianity. Professed Christianity may be seen everywhere, but when the power of God’s grace is seen in our churches, the members will work the works of Christ. Natural and hereditary traits of character will be transformed. The indwelling of His Spirit will enable them to reveal Christ’s likeness, and in proportion to the purity of their piety will be the success of their work.
There are in our world many Christian workers who have not yet heard the grand and wonderful truths that have come to us. These are doing a good work in accordance with the light which they have, and many of them are more advanced in the knowledge of practical work than are those who have had great light and opportunities.
The indifference which has existed among our ministers in regard to health reform and medical missionary work is surprising. Some who do not profess to be Christians treat these matters with greater reverence than do some of our own people, and unless we arouse, they will go in advance of us.
The word which the Lord has given me for our ministers and our churches is, “Go forward.” “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18-20.]