Earlier text: REASONS WHY “MINISTRY OF HEALING” SHOULD BE SOLD

THE SANITARIUM.*

Our brethren say: “Sister White has confused us. She said that we must not let this Sanitarium go into the hands of worldlings. And she said also that we must try to place the Sanitarium upon a right foundation.” Yes, this I did say. Now I repeat it. For years light has been coming to me that we should not center so much in one place. I have stated distinctly that an effort should not be made to make Battle Creek the sign and symbol of so much. The Lord is not very well pleased with Battle Creek. Not all that has been done in Battle Creek is well pleasing to him. And when the Sanitarium there was burned, our people should have studied the messages of reproof and warnings sent them in former years, and taken heed. . . .

It has been stated that, when the Sanitarium was first established in Battle Creek, my husband and I endorsed it. Certainly we did. I can speak for my husband as well as for myself. We prayed about the matter a great deal. So it was with the printing office, which was first established in a little wooden building. As the work grew, we had to add to it, and later, when ambitious men came in to take part in the management, more additions were made than should have been made, because these men thought that the buildings would give character to the work. That was a mistake. It is not buildings that give character to the work of God, but the faithfulness and integrity of the workers.

The Sanitarium grew, and in 1887 Dr. Kellogg talked with me in regard to the necessity of having a hospital. I said, “Some months ago I was shown that we must have a hospital.” Our brethren did not know what had been presented to me about this, and the opposition came hard and strong. They sat right down upon Dr. Kellogg. I took my position close by his side, and told them that the light God had given me was that we should have a hospital in Battle Creek. The hospital was erected, and it was soon full of patients.

Understand, brethren, that at that time we had not numerous sanitariums, as in later years we came to have. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was almost our only place for the care of the sick.

After a time the question came, “Shall we build a small, neat chapel in which the patients and helpers can assemble to worship God?” As soon as I possibly could, I sent off a letter, saying, Yes. Wherever there is a sanitarium, there should be a church, to which the patients can go to hear the word of life, and God will soften their hearts, leading many to accept Christ as the healer of the soul. I was in perfect union with this move.

But of late some things have been brought in that I could not indorse, and one of these is the attaching of many enterprises and lines of medical work to the medical association in Battle Creek. The Lord showed me that this should not be done. Many here know what I said to them,— that we must not center so much in Battle Creek; that if we did not take heed, God’s judgments would visit Battle Creek. When I saw such an earnestness on the part of the leaders to connect all branches of the medical work with308 association at Battle Creek, I told the brethren that the instruction given me was that they should not make the scratch of a pen to bind themselves to the restrictions of the rules and regulations that were arranged for them to come under. God wants his institutions to stand in fellowship with one another, just as brethren in the church should stand in fellowship. But they are never to be bound by written contracts to any one man or group of men. They are to stand in their own individuality, accountable to God. The Lord of heaven is to be the leader and guide and counselor of his people. His institutions are to be managed under his theocracy. His people are to act as a chosen people, a people who are to do a sacred and an unselfish work.

When one institution gathers a large amount of responsibility and a large number of guests, the religious part of the work is in danger of being neglected. The managers of the Battle Creek Sanitarium have done nobly in the past in regard to trying to maintain a right religious influence in the Sanitarium. For a long time there were men connected with the institution whose work it was to hold Bible readings with the patients, as the way opened. Dr. Kellogg fully accorded with this. After the meeting at Minneapolis, Dr. Kellogg was a converted man, and we all knew it. We could see the converting power of God working in his heart and life. But as the institution has grown in popularity, there has been danger that the reason for which it was established would be lost sight of. Repeatedly I have given the instruction that was given to me,— that this institution should not be conducted after the manner in which worldly medical institutions are conducted;309 that pleasure-loving, card-playing, and theatrical performances should find no place in it. True piety was to be revealed in the lives of physicians and helpers. Everything connected with the institution was to speak in favor of the truth, and the truth in regard to the Sabbath would come to the patients.

It was the piety of the workers, not the largeness of the buildings that was to bring conviction to hearts. Many souls have been converted; many wonderful cures have been wrought. The Lord has stood by the side of Dr. Kellogg as he performed difficult operations. When the doctor was overwrought by taxing labor, God understood the situation, and he put his hand on Dr. Kellogg’s hand as he operated, and through his power the operations were successful.

I wish this to be understood. Over and over again I have encouraged Dr. Kellogg, telling him that the Lord God of Israel was at his right hand, to help him, and to give him success as he performed the difficult operations that meant life or death to the one operated upon. I told the doctor that before he took up his instruments to operate upon patients, he must pray for them. The patients saw that Dr. Kellogg was under the jurisdiction of God, that he understood his part to carry on the work successfully, and they had more confidence in him than in worldly physicians.

God has given Dr. Kellogg the success that he has had. I have tried constantly to keep this before him, telling him that it was God who was working with him, and that the truth of God was to be magnified by his position. God will bless every other physician who will yield himself wholly to God, and will be with his hand when he works.

This was the light given. God worked that the medical missionary work might stand on higher vantage ground; that it might be known that the Seventh-day Adventists have a God working with them, a God who has a constant oversight of his work.

God does not indorse the efforts put forth by different ones to make the work of Dr. Kellogg as hard as possible, in order to build themselves up. God gave the light on health reform, and those who rejected it, rejected God. One and another who knew better, said that it all came from Dr. Kellogg, and they made war upon him. This had a bad influence on the doctor. He put on the coat of irritation and retaliation. God did not want him to stand in a position of warfare, and he does not want you to stand there.

Those who have turned away from the Battle Creek Sanitarium to get worldly physicians to care for them did not realize what they were doing. God established the Battle Creek Sanitarium. God worked through Dr. Kellogg; but men did not realize this. When they were sick, they sent for worldly physicians to come, because of something the doctor had said that did not please them. This God did not approve. We have the authority of the Bible for our instruction in temperance.

But God has nothing to do with making every other institution amenable in some way to the work and workers in Battle Creek. His servants should not be called upon to submit to rules and regulations for their fellow-men. God’s hand must hold every worker, and must guide and control every worker. Men are not to make rules for their fellow-men. The Bible has given the rules and regulations that we311 are to follow. We are to study the Bible, and learn from it the duty of man to his fellow-man. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

You were surprised to hear me say that we were not to let the Battle Creek Sanitarium go into the hands of the world; that we are to make another effort to place our institutions on solid ground. If you will trust in the Lord, this institution can be placed on vantage ground. When the Sanitarium is placed on its proper foundation; when our people can see it as it was when it was first established; when they can understand that the institution belongs to the work of the Lord, and can see that no one man is to have the control of everything in it; then God will help them all to take hold with courage to build it up. To-day you do not know just where it is. But God wants us to know every timber of the foundation, where it is, and what it is; then he wants us all to put shoulder to shoulder, and labor understandingly. The Lord wants us to do our duty. He wants us to understand that Dr. Kellogg shall not be pushed out of his place, but that he shall stand acknowledged and supported in his God-given work. This he will be if his feet are planted on the truth of the living God. If they are not planted on this truth, specious temptations will come in through scientific problems and scientific theories regarding God and his word. Spurious scientific theories are coming in as a thief in the night, stealing away the landmarks, and undermining the pillars of our faith. God has shown me that the medical students are not to be educated in such theories, because God will not indorse these theories. The most specious temptations of the enemy are coming in, and312 they are coming in on the highest, most elevated plane. These spiritualize the doctrines of present truth until there is no distinction between the substance and the shadow.

You know that Satan will come in to deceive if possible the very elect. He claims to be Christ, and he is coming in, pretending to be the great medical missionary. He will cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men, to prove that he is God. We must stand barricaded by the truths of the Bible. The canopy of truth is the only canopy under which we can stand safely.

Our leading brethren, the men in official positions, are to examine the standing of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, to see whether the God of heaven can take control of it. When, by faithful guardians, it is placed in a position where he can control it, let me tell you that God will see that it is sustained.

God wants his people to place their feet on the eternal rock. The money that we have is the Lord’s money; and the buildings that we erect with his money for his work, are to stand as his property. He calls upon those who have received the truth not to quarrel with their brethren, but to stand shoulder to shoulder to build it up, not to destroy.

God would not have let the fire go through our institutions in Battle Creek without a reason. Are you going to pass by the providence of God without finding out what it means? God wants us to study into this matter, and to build upon a foundation in which all can have the utmost confidence. He wants the interests started to be conducted in such a way that his people can invest their means in them with the assurance that they are a part of his work. Let us313 labor intelligently and understandingly. There is altogether too little humiliation of soul.

The crisis is coming in Battle Creek. The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them and away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them. Because of these unions and confederacies, it will soon be very difficult for our institutions to carry on their work in the cities. Build no sanitariums in the cities. Educate our people to get out of the cities into the country where they can obtain a small piece of land, and make a home for themselves and their children.

TO A PHYSICIAN BEARING LARGE RESPONSIBILITY.

“ELMSHAVEN,” SANITARIUM, CAL., Aug. 6, 1902.

MY DEAR BROTHER: The Lord is our strength. Take hold of his strength, and make peace with him. In your human strength you are as liable as any other man to err in judgment. The Lord is merciful and gracious. He will give you wise counselors. If ever a man needed wise counselors, you need them,—men who will not receive your propositions or representations if they discern that they are not in harmony with the will of God, men who will not make things appear as they are not, who will abide by principles that will stand God’s test. The Lord wants you to make straight paths for your feet, for the sake of your own soul’s salvation, and to save other souls from following in false ways.

You regard too lightly the sacred truth for this time. You are not, in all things, walking in the light that God has sent you. Beware lest you confederate with unbelievers, accepting them as your counselors, and following their worldly policy; for this is dishonoring to God. The less you expect from the world, the less attention you pay to its flattery, the safer you will be and the surer of securing salvation. The less dependency you place in men who are wise in their own conceit, the better will be your standing before God. There is no safety in trusting in men who do not honor the Lord, who disregard his holy law. The less we expect of such men, whether315 of temporal help or inspiring example, the less bitter will be our disappointment.

And he who depends on his own strength leans on a broken reed. Put your trust in the Lord. Wait patiently for him, and he will cause his name to be magnified.

The Lord encouraged you, not because your ways had been perfect in his sight, but because he would not permit those who were opposing a good work to carry out their own ideas and plans, to the injury of his cause.

The word that God has chosen you as his physician should have been of sufficient encouragement to you to lead you to stand in hopefulness before him, to purify your soul from all unholy leaven, and to place you where God could be honored by you and through you, where he could sanctify you by the influence of the truth.

You are taking honor to yourself. You are in danger of placing yourself where God should be. Unless you change, the Lord can not sustain you in your exalted position of sacred responsibility. The Lord is proving you. Because it is more convenient, you have mixed with the truth that God commanded you to keep pure and holy, the very principles he forbade you to cherish. The principles of truth and righteousness have been turned aside. Unless you depend continually upon God, truth is no safer in your hands than in the hands of those whom you suppose to be your enemies. Some of these are as righteous as you are in practise. Had you made straight paths for your feet, God would have delighted to co-operate with you. At the last General Conference you stood on vantage ground. God called upon you to take316 a higher stand. But you misinterpreted his purposes.

God’s government extends to all the works of his hands. Nothing is so great or so exalted that it is above his direction and control. Nothing is so small and obscure that it is beneath his notice. Whatever, to short-sighted mortals, the present appearances may seem to be, all the ways of the Lord are truth and righteousness. The universal and perfect government of God is a source of unspeakable joy to those who love him and exalt his laws.

With great solemnity the following words were addressed to you: “The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble; he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy. The King’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.”

Those who are connected with Christ, the chief worker, will represent his character in all their work. God is calling men, “Come to me as my helpers in the performance of my work.” Righteousness and truth are the habitation of his throne. No man can execute his will who has not surrendered himself to God, that God’s will may be done in him. “Come to me as my right-hand helper,” will be the message to the faithful of the land,—the men who are trustworthy, who will exalt the God of heaven, not merely in their words, but in their deeds; men who can be relied on to do their duty under all trials, and whatever the circumstances may be.

Righteous, high-principled, God-fearing men will stand before him as capable of receiving his orders and of executing them with exactitude. The work of such men will bear the similitude of heaven. They will choose as their counselors and helpers only the good and faithful. Our God is a jealous God, and those who fear him, who live as if in his presence, as they surely are, will choose as counselors those who are pure and righteous, who understand the will of God, and who refuse to uphold unrighteousness or selfishness in themselves or in any one else, who will not oppress their fellow-men because they have it in their power to build up or to tear down, but who treat the humble as God treats them, showing them favor. When the heart is purified, refined by the Spirit of God, there will be fewer judgments pronounced upon others, and far more meekness and lowliness will be revealed.

To all who obey him the Lord will say, “Dwell with me as my servants.” “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. . . . Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off, him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.”

Those whom God shall favor, exalting them to a high place before angels and before men, should ascribe to him all the glory, giving him the praise for their influence and their opportunities. Those whom God has made rulers in his stead, dishonor him when they put self into their work, which then bears the imperfections of the human agent. God demands that both in private and in public life men shall318 honor him, in the home, in the church, and in their daily business, setting an example which may be safely followed. Those whose hearts are fully with the Lord will not draw one thread of selfishness into the web. Not one jot or tittle of glory will they take to self.

The benefits that God bestows are daily renewed, and should be gratefully remembered and acknowledged. Should the Lord deal with men according to their sins, according to their underhand dealing, their departure from righteousness, how changed all would be. His blessings would be withdrawn; his indignation and wrath would be manifested. But he bears long. He allows misfortune and loss to come upon the wrong-doer. If this does not bring him to repentance, he comes close to him in affliction. If none of these things succeed in drawing him to the Saviour, he cuts down the fruitless tree.

God is plenteous in mercy. “He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.” Just as soon as men heed his warnings, and set their own hearts in order, he will make the rough places plain before them. It is God that is dealing with his people. Trials as well as blessings come from him. His hand is to be acknowledged in all.

The Lord permitted the Battle Creek Sanitarium to be consumed, but was it that you should erect in Battle Creek a larger sanitarium? I know that this is not the purpose of God. In making plans so large that in order for them to be carried to completion you will feel that means must be gathered from every possible source, you are not following God’s way. The plans are not his, but yours. Be assured that there needs to be a reformation before you can be an acceptable co-laborer with God.

The Lord sees the work that must be done in his vineyard. He sees the places in which there should be memorials for him, in order that the truth may be represented. He sees the fields that are unworked and destitute of facilities. He requires from all who serve him equity and just judgment. A large amount of means should not be absorbed in one place. Every building erected is to be erected with reference to the other places that will need similar buildings. It will not be pleasing to God for you to bind about the work of establishing small sanitariums. In many places sanitariums are to be established. These sanitariums are not to be large. In a mammoth institution, such as the Battle Creek Sanitarium has been, it is difficult to maintain the high spiritual standard that should be maintained; for it is hard to provide workers enough who have capabilities and talents that enable them to conduct the affairs of the institution in a way that is after God’s order. Let many small sanitariums be built. Let treatment-rooms be established in many cities. Let hygienic restaurants be started that people may learn what health reform really is.

God calls upon those who act a part in his service not to block the way of advance by selfishly using in one place or in one line of work all the means they can secure. In all parts of the world there is a work to be done that ought to have been done long ago. God forbid that you should make appeals to the people for means to complete the new Sanitarium in Battle Creek, when you already have many buildings in your possession, and when you have thousands of dollars in sight. Bring your building to your means. Give other parts of God’s vineyard a chance to have facilities. Let plants be made in other cities. ELLEN G. WHITE.

A WARNING AGAINST DECEPTIVE TEACHING.

Nashville, Tenn., June 23, 1904.

Before leaving Washington for Berrien Springs, I was instructed upon some points regarding the work at Battle Creek. In the night season I was in a large meeting. The one who has stood for many years as the leader in our medical work was speaking, and he was filled with enthusiasm regarding his subject. His associate physicians and ministers of the gospel were present. The subject upon which he was speaking was life, and the relation of God to all living things. In his presentations he cloaked the matter somewhat, but in reality he was presenting as of the highest value, scientific theories which are akin to pantheism.

After looking upon the pleased, interested countenances of those who were listening, One by my side told me that the evil angels had taken captive the mind of the speaker. He said that we were to stand as guardians of the churches, but that we were on no account to enter into discussion with those who hold pantheistic theories, on these subjects. He said that just as surely as the angels who fell were seduced and deceived by Satan, so surely was the speaker under the spiritualistic education of evil angels.

I was astonished to see with what enthusiasm the sophistries and deceptive theories were received. The influence of this talk gave the speaker encouragement to call for a council of our brethren at Battle Creek, for a further examination of these seducing sentiments.

I was bidden to warn our people on no account to send their children to Battle Creek to receive an education, because these delusive, scientific theories would be presented in the most seducing forms. The matter has been working in his mind in such a way that he thinks he is to be the channel to infuse other minds with great light regarding certain scientific problems. Words and sentiments from my books will be taken and presented as being in harmony with his theories. But the Lord has forbidden us to enter into any discussion with him. . . .

I am bidden to tell our ministers to enter into no discussion over these theories, but to let them alone. When engaged in discussion over these theories, their advocates will take words spoken to oppose them, and will make them appear to mean the very opposite of that which the speaker intended them to mean. . . .

The night interviews held by the leader in this work are one of his most effective means of gaining his point. His constant stream of talk confuses the minds of those he is seeking to influence. He mistakes and misquotes words, and places those who argue with him in so false a light that their powers of discernment are benumbed. He takes their words, and gives them an impress which makes them seem to mean exactly the opposite of what they said.

If permitted, the evil angels will work the minds of men until they have no mind or will of their own. They are led as the angels cast out of heaven were led. Under Satan’s influence these angels uttered sentiments directly opposite to loyalty to God. Thus the family of God in heaven became corrupted. And thus will it be with physicians or ministers who continue to bind up with the one who has had light, who has had warnings, but who has not heeded them.322 At the Oakland Conference I was forbidden to have any conversation with him. I was not to place any writings in his hands; for he would read from these writings what I had not written, bringing in his own sentiments.

God has given him opportunity after opportunity to place himself on vantage ground. As his feet were slipping down a precipice, Christ grasped his hands, saying, “Do not struggle. Hold fast to me.” Thus the Saviour has done again and again, to save him from making shipwreck of the faith.

At the Berrien Springs meeting the Lord showed him special favor. God gave me power to present messages of admonition and encouragement. The two forces met, the Satanic influences and the influence of Christ. But Satan fought hard to hold his advantage, and he whom Christ sought to rescue is now in a more dangerous condition than before the meeting. Every ray of light rejected leaves him more surely fastened in Satan’s toils.

I have no charge to make, no judgment of my own to give. I speak the word of the Lord. Our people are not to become entangled with the present leader of the medical work in Battle Creek, in sanitariums which are to be established or in sanitariums that have already been established. As a people, we are to make sure that the Lord’s money is invested wisely. We are not to take on any additional burdens of debt unless it is made plain that we should do this.

Let the world go into spiritualism, into theosophy, into pantheism, if they choose. We are to have nothing to do with this deceptive branch of Satan’s work. The pleasing sentiments of pantheism will lead many323 souls into forbidden paths. God forbids his servants to leave their fields of labor to enter into a discussion of these sentiments. The last testimony published opens to our people the danger of these theories, and the testimonies published in the future will urge still more strongly the necessity of lifting up and carrying high the banner on which are inscribed the words, “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” God’s people are to let no one take this banner from their hands. I am instructed that false theories will be presented, and that some in the medical missionary work, who have been wavering, will yield up the faith, and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

The only hope for our people now is to take their stand on the true foundation. Higher and still higher they are to raise the banner of truth. Not for one moment are they to give place to the enemy. ELLEN G. WHITE.

“ELMSHAVEN,” SANITARIUM, CAL., Aug. 13, 1903.

My Dear Brethren: I understand that efforts are being made to establish a college in Battle Creek, after the Lord has plainly stated that there should not be a college there, giving the reasons. He said that the school was to be taken out of Battle Creek, to remove one excuse for so many crowding into Battle Creek, and settling there. . . .

The establishment of a college in Battle Creek18 is contrary to the Lord’s direction. The Lord does not look with favor upon this plan, or upon those who devised it. It is a plan of human devising.

The Lord does not require his people to give of their means for the establishment of a college in Battle Creek; for he has declared that a college shall not be established there. He has declared that his people are not to settle in places where for so long the light of truth has been shining. . . .

By written messages and by fire the Lord has declared that he wants his people to move out of Battle Creek. May God help us to hear his voice. Does it mean nothing to us that our two great institutions in Battle Creek were swept away by fire? You may say, “But the new Sanitarium has many patients.” Yes; but if there were many thousand patients there, this would be no argument in favor of our people building homes in Battle Creek, and settling there.

Temptations are increasing. Men are rejecting the light that God has sent in the Testimonies of his Spirit, and they are choosing their own devising and their own plans. Will men continue to separate themselves from God? Must he reveal his displeasure in a still more marked manner than he has already done?

“CARRY THE LIGHT TO MANY PLACES” SANITARIUM, CAL., Aug. 17, 1905.

God has not given us the work of erecting immense sanitariums to be used as health resorts for all who may come. Neither is it his purpose that medical missionary workers shall spend a long term of years in college before they enter the field. Let the young men and women who know the truth go to work, not in places where the truth has been proclaimed, but in places that have not heard the message, and let them work as canvassers and evangelists. Let the teachers of these youth take them away from the place where God has indicated by his judgments that they should not be.

To build up a school in Battle Creek would place our young people under influences that would counteract the influence that God has declared should be exerted on his people in the last days of this earth’s history.

I am obliged to say that the making of so large a plant in Battle Creek, calling together those who should be engaged in medical missionary work in many places, is doing just what God has specified should not be done. In the Battle Creek Sanitarium the nurses will be brought into close contact with men and women of the world, who are not inclined to piety or religion. The erection of large buildings in Battle Creek is not according to the light that for years the Lord has been giving. For years God has shown me by revelation that it is a mistake to make326 Battle Creek a great center. If schools are to be established, let it be out of Battle Creek. And let these schools be carried forward, not after worldly wisdom, but in harmony with the directions that God has given.

The interests that the Lord has declared should not be in Battle Creek are not now to be brought back and re-established in Battle Creek. The force that would be needed in Battle Creek to carry forward the work of these interests, should be used in doing gospel missionary work in the various cities of America.

“Break up the large centers,” has been the word of the Lord. “Carry the light to many places.” The nurses should understand that the Sanitarium will be conducted too much like an institution of the world to fit them for medical missionary work.

The work of proclaiming the truth in all parts of the world calls for small sanitariums in many places, not in the heart of the cities, but in many places where city influences will be as little felt as possible.

The fact that many patients are coming to the new Sanitarium in Battle Creek is not to be read as a sign that it was right to rebuild the Sanitarium in Battle Creek. Many men and women will come who are not really sick. Workers will be required to wait on them. But this is not the work that God has given his medical missionaries. Our charge has been given us by the greatest Medical Missionary that this world has ever seen. Standing but a step from his Father’s throne, Christ said to his disciples:— “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.” He did not tell them327 to establish a seminary in Jerusalem, and gather together students to be instructed in the higher classics. “Go ye into all the world,” he said, “and preach the gospel to every creature,” “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.” . . .

Believers are not to colonize in any place. It is a sin in the sight of God for those who know the truth to settle down as has been done in Battle Creek, and then refuse to see that the time has come to change the base of operations, because there are other parts of the vineyard in need of help.

As the Lord has presented these things before me, I have presented them to those for whom they were given. The stand that has been taken against God’s plain warning may make it very hard to move away from Battle Creek. But I give the warning that just as surely as men stand in the way of God’s providence, so surely will the rod of his providence fall again in Battle Creek.

PLANS FOR MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK.

Young men who have a practical knowledge of how to treat the sick, are now to be sent out to do gospel medical missionary work, in connection with the more experienced gospel workers. If these young men will give themselves to the study of the Word, they will become successful evangelists. The ministers with whom these young men labor are to give them the same opportunity to learn that Elijah gave Elisha. They are to show them how to teach the truth to others. Where it is possible, these young men should visit the hospitals, and in some cases they may connect with them for a while, laboring disinterestedly.

The purest example of unselfishness is now to be shown by our medical missionary workers. With the knowledge and experience gained by practical work, they are to go out to give treatment to the sick. As they go from house to house, they will find access to many hearts. Many will be reached who otherwise would never have heard the gospel message.

Much good can be done by those who do not hold diplomas as fully accredited physicians. Some are to be prepared to work as competent physicians. Many, working under the direction of such ones, can do acceptable work without spending so long a time in studying as it has been thought necessary to spend in the past.

Many will go out to labor for the Master who have not been able to take a regular course of study in school. God will help these workers. They will obtain329 knowledge from the higher school, and will be fitted to take their position in the rank and file of workers as nurses. The great Medical Missionary sees every effort that is made to find access to souls by presenting the principles of health reform.

Decided changes are taking place in our world. The Lord has declared that he will turn and overturn. Humble men, who hitherto have been in obscurity, must now be given opportunity to become workers.

To those who go out to do medical missionary work, I would say, Serve the Lord Jesus Christ with sanctified understanding, in connection with the ministers of the gospel and the great Teacher. He who has given you your commission will give you skill and understanding as you consecrate yourselves to his service, engaging diligently in labor and study, doing your best to bring relief to the sick and suffering.

To those who are tired of a life of sinfulness, but who know not where to turn to obtain relief, present the compassionate Saviour, full of love and tenderness, longing to receive those who come to him with broken hearts and contrite spirits. Take them by the hand, lift them up, speak to them words of hope and courage. Help them to grasp the hand of Him who has said, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.”

“Behold,” Christ declares, “I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” God calls upon us to voice the words, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” God will do much more for his people if they will have faith330 in him. Infidelity is stalking abroad through the land. Satan has laid his plans to undermine our faith in the history of the cause and work of God. I am deeply interested as I write this. Satan is working with men in prominent positions to sweep away the foundations of our faith. Shall we allow this to be done, brethren?

My soul is stirred within me. I shall trust in God with heart and soul. I shall proclaim the messages that he has given us to proclaim. I testify in the Lord that our youth should not be encouraged to go to Battle Creek to be made infidels. God will help us to see what can be done to prevent this. We are now to work earnestly and intelligently to save our youth from being taken captive by the enemy.—Review and Herald, 1903, No. 46.

AN EDUCATIONAL CENTER.

The Lord is not pleased with some of the arrangements that have been made in Battle Creek. He has declared that other places are being robbed of the light and advantages that have been centered and multiplied in Battle Creek. It is not pleasing to God that our youth in all parts of the country should be called to Battle Creek to work in the Sanitarium, and to receive their education. When we permit this, we are often guilty of robbing needy fields of their most precious treasure.

Through the light given in the Testimonies the Lord has indicated that he does not desire students to leave their home schools and sanitariums to be educated in Battle Creek. He instructed us to remove the College from this place. This was done, but the institutions that remained failed of doing what they should have done to share with other places the advantages still centered in Battle Creek. The Lord signified his displeasure by permitting the principal buildings of these institutions to be destroyed by fire.— Review and Herald, 1903, No. 49.

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