A thorough work is to be done in Washington, D. C. The time is long past that should have seen this field faithfully worked. This last message of warning must be carried to those who need the truth. Men of God who have this message in their hearts, should be chosen to carry it to people of Washington, and neighboring towns. One of authority was represented to me as standing before our people, and pleading that workers be sent to Washington, and I was instructed to urge this subject upon the minds of our laborers.
Brethren and Sisters, God has given to every man his work. He calls upon church members in every place to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to His service. Let us go forth and present the truth to souls who are starving for the bread of life. We must come into line. Then, “pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” These words teach us how the field is to be supplied with workers who will labor for the salvation of souls. When the precepts and example of Christ are brought into the life practice, when church members, instead of gossiping and accusing one another, confess their sins to one another and offer up prayer to God, God will graciously manifest His power through them.
It is no time now to establish large restaurants at great expense; but in every possible way humble efforts should be made to win souls to the truth. The third angel’s message is to be proclaimed all through the suburbs of Washington. The people living in these suburbs are precious to God. A special work should also be done in this city in the establishing of schools that the people may be educated along Christian lines.
Ellen G. White.
THE WORK IN WASHINGTON, D. C.
I have a message to bear to our people throughout the field. There is a decided and thorough work to be done in Washington, D.C. The time is long past that should have seen this field faithfully worked. The last message of warning must be carried to those who need the truth. Men of God who have this message in their hearts, should be chosen to carry it to the people of Washington and neighboring towns. One of authority was represented to me as standing before our people, and pleading that workers be sent to Washington; and I was instructed to urge this subject upon the minds of our laborers.
Brethren and sisters, God has given to every man his work. He calls upon church-members in every place to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to his service. Let us go forth, and present the truth from house to house, to souls who are starving for the bread of life. We must come into line.
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” These words teach us how the field is to be supplied with workers who will labor for the salvation of souls. When church-members bring the precepts of Christ into the life practice; when they confess their sins to one another, and offer up prayers to God, he will graciously manifest his power through them.
In every possible way, humble efforts should be made to win souls to the truth. The third angel’s message is to be proclaimed all through the suburbs of Washington. The people living in these suburbs are precious to God. Those who believe the truth for this time must now arouse and earnestly take hold of the work that needs to be done. We must be wide awake to the needs of the situation, and perform the work with wisdom.
There should be no cramping of the sanitarium work at Takoma Park. I have been shown that the national capital should have every advantage. The workers there are to bring the truth before the ruling powers, and means must flow into that field in order that the work there shall make a presentation26that will commend it to those who are accustomed to refinement and plenty. No mean impression must be given to these statesmen, whose only knowledge, perhaps, of this people and the third angel’s message, may be received through the sanitarium work. It will be very essential that the means expended for the work in Washington shall be economically handled.
We need to realize that we are living in critical times. There is no time to be lost if we would make the right impression regarding the work. Satan is making every effort possible to undermine the confidence of men in the law of God, causing them to regard it as of little importance. But men should remember that the God of heaven proclaimed his law from Mount Sinai with his own voice, that men might realize its importance. The Lord does not want the people who stand for his law in the earth, and who are to accomplish his closing work in the world, to represent that law and that work in a cheap manner. God's purposes in guiding us to Washington, the capital of our nation, was that we might represent his work there in a sensible way. In connection with his work he would not have anything of a cheap and faulty character. . . .
From the light the Lord has given me, I know there is a great work to be accomplished in Washington, and every laggard power must be aroused to act its part. A special work should also be done in this city in the establishing of schools, that the people may be educated along Christian lines. In our schools established in this city, the Word of God is to be exalted as the study book, and the law of God is to be honored and obeyed. The discipline of our schools is to be of the highest type.
God calls for us to advance step by step in the building up of his work. We are now doing what should have been done twenty years ago. Some have thought that we as a people were unable to stem the current of inquiry and criticism. But I have been shown that if we had advanced in the way of reform as the light came to us, we would have a very different showing than now appears. In following the instruction of our Great Leader, difficulties would have been overcome; the consciousness of the approval of God would have made our ministers27and physicians and the teachers in our schools valiant men of God. In the fullest sense of the word, they would have been laborers together with God.
We must individually learn the lesson that the treasures of knowledge are with the Most High. The discourses of the men who profess to honor and reverence the law of God must be earnest, sincere, and solemn, as befits the time in which they live. Their appeals for temperance must speak powerfully to the senses of men. The love of God is to be expressed in word and action.
Those who are engaged in the work for these last days must identify themselves with Christ. They must become partakers of the divine nature, and thus escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. . . .
One is standing back of the cause of present truth in Washington, who will be a present help in every emergency. Hold firmly to the principles of truth. Guard the soul vigilantly, that you may not be found warring against the Spirit of God. Gird on the armor of Christ’s righteousness. Be strong; yea, be strong.—Mrs. E. G. White in Review and Herald, Aug. 15, 1907.
TO OUR CHURCHES IN WASHINGTON, D. C.:
Dear Brethren and Sisters,—
God calls upon you to show yourselves steadfast, immovable, always abounding in faith and love. I am commissioned to say to you that if you will seek the Lord, you will find Him precious to your souls. Some have piled so much of the rubbish of self against the door of the heart that the Saviour can not enter. God calls upon them to clear away the rubbish, and let Jesus in.
Do not work in your own way, but in the Lord’s way. “Come unto Me,” He says. “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.”
I seemed to be standing among you, entreating you to come to Christ for cleansing of heart and mind, saying, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” If you will come to Jesus, He will put out His hand and touch you, saying, “I will, be thou clean.”
The Lord Jesus is grieved by the character that some are revealing. Unless they humble their hearts before God, He will set them aside. The One who was instructing us called several by name, and said: You are making trouble for yourselves. You are walking away from Christ onto the enemy’s ground, and are imperiling your souls. Unless you change, you will communicate to others the leaven of unbelief that is working in your hearts. You need Christ’s ministry of healing. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
I call upon the believers in Washington to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of darkness. Personal labor will be needed in this city and its suburbs. Clear the King’s highway. Lift up the standard higher and still higher. There is evangelistic work to be done in Washington and Baltimore and in the many other large cities of the29South and the East. Let the work of teaching and healing be combined. Let ministers and medical missionaries put on the whole armor of God, and go forth to proclaim the gospel message. A decided message is to be proclaimed in Washington. The trumpet is to be given a certain sound.
Close the door of the heart against Satan’s entrance. Let no one become an instrument in the enemy’s hand, used by him against Christ. When you come into working order, you will find what appeared to be mountains of difficulty will have shrunk into molehills. God calls upon you to live the Christ-life, to reveal this life to the world. When you do this, prejudice will vanish and difficulties will adjust themselves. You will gather about the Great Missionary, your hearts filled with gratitude and love. The searching truths of the Word of God will be as cool, refreshing streams to thirsty souls.
There is a work to be done both for the white and the colored people in Washington, and in the neighboring States. Many obstacles will arise to retard this work. Inconsiderate or premature movements would bring no real satisfaction, and would make it far more difficult to carry forward any line of work for the colored people. The work in behalf of this people has been sadly neglected, and the powers of darkness are prepared to work with intensity of effort against those who take up this work. From the light given me, I know that every injudicious movement made in or about Washington, or in other parts of the Southern field, to encourage the sentiment that the white and the colored people are to associate together in social equality, will mean more in retarding our work than any human mind can comprehend.
There is too much at stake, for human judgment to be followed in this matter. If the Conference should say that no difference is to be recognized and no separation is to be made in church relationship between the white people and the colored people, our work with both races would be greatly hindered. If it should be recommended and generally practised in all our Washington churches, that white and black believers assemble in the same house of worship, and be seated promiscuously in the building, many evils would be the result.30Many would say that this should not be, and must not be.
But who will press the question of entire exclusion?
Both white and colored people have the same Creator, and are saved by the redeeming grace of the same Saviour. Christ gave His life for all. He says to all, “Ye are bought with a price.” God has marked out no color line, and men should move very guardedly, lest we offend God. The Lord has not made two heavens, one for white people and one for colored people. There is but one heaven for the saved.
All who enter heaven will enter, not through their own merit, but through the merits of Christ, God’s gift to the world. By His sacrifice He has secured for us a probation, in which to form characters for the future, immortal life.
An Illustration
A lawyer came to Christ with the question, “What shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?” The question was asked before a large number of people, who listened with intense interest for Christ’s answer. The Pharisees, who had prompted the question, hoped that Christ would say something that they could use in securing His condemnation. Christ laid upon the lawyer the burden of answering his own question. “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” He asked. The lawyer answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus said, “Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live.”
The lawyer knew that he had kept neither the first four nor the last six commandments. He was convicted under Christ’s searching words, but instead of confessing his sin, he tried to excuse it. Rather than acknowledging the truth, he endeavored to show how difficult of fulfilment the commandment is. Thus he hoped to parry conviction, and to vindicate himself in the eyes of the people. The Saviour’s words had shown that his question was needless, since he had been31able to answer it himself. Yet he put another question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Christ answered the question by relating an incident, the memory of which was fresh in the minds of His hearers. “A certain man,” He said, “went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment, and departed, leaving him half dead.”
In journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho, the traveler had to pass through a portion of the wilderness of Judea. The road led down a wild, rocky ravine, which was infested with robbers, and was often the scene of violence. It was here that the traveler was attacked, stripped of all that was valuable, and left half dead by the wayside. As he lay thus, a priest came that way; he saw the man lying wounded and bruised, weltering in his own blood. He “passed by on the other side.” Then a Levite appeared. Curious to know what had happened, he stopped, and looked at the sufferer. He was convicted of what he ought to do, but it was not an agreeable duty. He wished that he had not come that way, so that he would not have seen the wounded man. He persuaded himself that the case was no concern of his, and he too “passed by on the other side.”
But a Samaritan, traveling the same road, saw the sufferer, and he did the work that others had refused to do. With gentleness and kindness he ministered to the wounded man. “When he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, “Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” The priest and the Levite both professed piety, but the Samaritan showed that he was truly converted. It was no more agreeable for him to do the work than for the priest, but in spirit and works he proved himself to be in harmony with God.
In giving this lesson, Christ presented the principles of the law in a direct, forcible way, showing His hearers that they had neglected to carry out32these principles. His words were so definite and pointed that the listeners could find no opportunity to cavil. The lawyer found in the lesson nothing that he could criticize. His prejudice in regard to Christ was removed. But he had not overcome his national dislike sufficiently to give credit to the Samaritan by name. When Christ asked, “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” he answered, “Him that showed mercy on him.”
“Then said Jesus, Go, and do thou likewise.” Show the same tender regard to those in need. Thus you will give evidence that you keep the whole law.
It costs something to live the Christ-life in this world; but it pays, yes, it greatly pays.
The Lord hears every word that is spoken, and sees every movement that is made. He knows the motives that prompt us to action. --E.G.White Letter 304, 1908.
TIME TO WORK THE EASTERN CITIES
For many, many years the cities of America, including the cities in the South, have been set before our people as places needing special attention. A few have borne the burden of working in these cities; but, in comparison with the great needs and the many opportunities, but little has been done. Where is your faith, my brethren? Where are the workmen? In many of our large cities the first and the second angel’s messages were proclaimed during the 1844 movement. To you, as God’s servants, has been entrusted the third angel’s message, the binding off message, that is to prepare a people for the coming of our King. Time is short. The Lord desires that everything connected with His cause shall be brought into sacred order. He desires that the solemn message of warning and of invitation shall be proclaimed as widely as His messengers can carry it. The means that shall come into the treasury is to be used wisely in supporting the workers. Nothing that would hinder the advance of the message, is to be allowed to come into our planning.
Night after night, night after night, I have lain awake, weeping, and pleading with God, because of the seeming inability of some to discern opportunities for extending our efforts into the many unworked places close by--places that might have been warned years ago, had we chosen to do a broad work, rather than to hover around a few centers. We need to cultivate a spirit of self-sacrifice, and of constant devotion to the needs of a lost world. All about us are souls that are perishing for lack of the knowledge that we might bring to them, if faithful to our mission. Both men and women can work faithfully.
For years the pioneers of our work struggled against poverty and manifold hardships, in order to place the cause of present truth on vantage ground. With meager facilities, they labored untiringly; and the Lord blessed their34humble efforts. The message went with power in the East, and extended westward, until centers of influence have been established in many places. The laborers of today may not have to endure all the hardships of those early days. The change of conditions, however, should not lead to any slackening of effort. And now, when the Lord bids us to proclaim the message once more with power in the East; when He bids us enter the cities of the East, and of the South, and of the North, and of the West, shall we not respond, as one man, and do His bidding? Shall we not plan to send messengers all through these fields, and support them liberally? Shall not the ministers of God go into these crowded centers as Portland and as Baltimore, and there lift up their voices in warning to multitudes? What are our conferences for, if not for the carrying forward of this very work? At such a time as this, every hand is to be employed. New York City and all our cities are to be worked. The Lord is coming. The end is near; yea, it hasteth greatly! In a little while from this we shall be unable to work with the freedom that we now enjoy. Terrible scenes are before us, and what we do we must do quickly. We must now build up the work in every place possible. And for the accomplishment of this work we greatly need in the field the help that can be given by our ministers of experience who are able to hold the attention of large congregations. . . .
Before leaving home I promised the Lord that if He would spare my life and enable me to come to this Conference, I would deliver the message He had repeatedly given me in behalf of the cities in which thousands upon thousands are perishing without a knowledge of the truth. As I have borne this message to the people, the blessing of God has rested on me richly. I have been sustained. And now, my brethren, I appeal to you in the name of the Lord, to do your best, and to plan for the advancement of the work in God’s appointed way.
A little has been done in Washington, and in other cities of the South and the East; but in order to meet the mind of the Lord we shall have to plan for the carrying forward of a far-reaching and systematic work. We must enter35into this work with a perseverance that will not allow of any slackening of our efforts until we shall see of the salvation of our God. This will give us confidence to continue the work in still other places.
All these cities of the East where the first and the second angels’ messages were proclaimed with power, and where the third angel’s message was preached in the early days of our history as a separate, peculiar people, must now be worked anew. There is Portland, Maine; there is Boston, and all the many towns round about; there is New York City, and the populous cities close by; there is Philadelphia and Baltimore and Washington. I need not enumerate all these places; you know where they are. The Lord desires us to proclaim the third angel’s message with power in these cities. We cannot exercise this power ourselves. All we can do is to choose men of capability, and urge them to go into these avenues of opportunity, and there proclaim the message in the power of the Holy Spirit. As they talk the truth, and live the truth, and pray the truth, God will move upon hearts. We cannot make the proper impression ourselves, but God can move upon hearts with the words uttered by His messengers, so that men and women will be affected, and will see of the salvation of God. As we work with all the strength that God grants us, and in humility of heart, putting our entire trust in Him, our labors will not be without fruit. Our determined efforts to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth for this time will be seconded by holy angels, and many souls will be saved. The Lord never forsakes His faithful messengers. He sends to their aid heavenly agencies, and accompanies their labors with the power of His Holy Spirit to convict and to convert. All heaven will endorse your appeals.
Oh, that we might see the needs of these great cities as God sees them! We must plan to place in these cities capable men who can present the third angel’s message, shorter discourses, and more personal efforts, in a manner so forceful that it will strike home to the heart. Men who can do this we cannot afford to gather into one place to do a work that others might do. Can we expect the inhabitants of these cities to come to us and say, “If you will come,36to us and preach, we will help you to do thus and so”? They know nothing of our message. The Lord desires us to let our light so shine before men, that His Holy Spirit may communicate the truth to the honest in heart who are seeking after truth. As we do this work, we shall find that means will flow into our treasuries, and we shall have means with which to carry on a still broader and more far-reaching work. Shall we not advance in faith, just as if we had thousands of dollars? We do not have half faith enough. Let us act our part in warning these cities. The warning message must come to the people who are ready to perish, unwarned, unsaved. How can we delay? As we advance, the means will come. But we must advance by faith, trusting in the Lord God of Israel.
Night after night I am unable to sleep, because of this burden resting upon me in behalf of the unwarned cities. Night after night I am praying, and trying to devise methods by which we can enter these cities and give the warning message. Why, there is a world to be warned and saved, and we are to go East and West and North and South, and work intelligently for the people all about us. As we undertake this work, we shall see of the salvation of God. Encouragement will come.
If the Lord continues to strengthen me, I expect to visit some of the places where I labored in my early youth during the 1844 movement, and soon after the passing of the time. I should like to visit Portland, Maine, once more, where in my childhood, as it were, the Lord gave me a message that bore everything before it. In those days it was not the testimony of a young girl that had a telling effect; it was the power of the Holy Spirit accompanying the message, that touched hearts. Angels of God were with us in the rooms where we met, working, working, working upon human hearts, and thus it is today. Not the messenger, but the power accompanying His God-given message, impresses hearts, and leads to an acceptance of the words that are spoken. God lives and rules today, and He works through His appointed agencies, to the37saving of many precious souls.
There is a large work to be done here in the city of Washington, that still remains undone. There is a large work to be done in the South, and in the East; and our General Conference is to do its share in supplying the men that shall go out into these fields. And as men and women are brought into the truth in the cities, the means will begin to come in. As surely as honest souls will be converted, their means will be consecrated to the Lord’s service, and we shall see an increase of our resources. Brethren, let us work intelligently. May God help us, and strengthen our faith.--E. G. White MS 53, 1909.
(Talk by Mrs. E. G. White before Gen. Conf. Committee, June 11, 1909).
THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES
There are important cities needing labor, that are near by Washington—our next door neighbors, as it were. If our brethren and sisters will do earnest missionary work for all with whom they come in contact, new fields of labor right around us will be opened up. The burden to labor for souls will come to many of those settled here, and they will desire to take an active part in the proclamation of the truth.
We plead that those settled in Takoma Park shall become laborers together with God in planting the standard of truth in unworked territories. Let a part of the large donations called for, be used to furnish workers in our cities close by Washington. Let faithful house-to-house work be done. Souls are perishing out of the ark of safety. Let the standard of truth be lifted up by the church-members in their neighborhoods. Let ministers pitch their tent, and preach the truth to the people with power, and then move to another vicinity, and preach the truth there. I pray that many at the close of this meeting may take their stand to work as they have never worked before for the spread of a knowledge of present truth.
My brethren, lose no time in giving the message in the Southern field. Dwell upon the word of God. Let every statement be in harmony with a plain “Thus saith the Lord.” Exalt Bible truth. Show forth its beauty and holiness. None who work in the South can proclaim the truth as boldly and fearlessly as in the North. Men are to labor with watchfulness and much prayer. Be guarded in what you say regarding the work of other denominations; for there are some who would be quick to retaliate. Let no words be spoken against the white people.
The Lord has seen the struggles and untiring efforts of men in the South to teach the truth. He has counseled these workers in their necessity, and has enabled them to work with safety in times of peril, as they have sought Him in39earnest prayer, and have gone forward with unwavering faith.
God looks with sadness upon the unworked cities. The message has come to us, Work the cities quickly. The Lord would be pleased to see His messengers go forth as Christ the Son of the living God went forth. He is our example. He would be pleased to see our conferences laying plans for progressive work in our cities, to build up the old waste places. He would be pleased to hear the truth proclaims wisely by every believer.. Lack of faith has greatly hindered the work of God. There are decided reformations to be made. Our cities East and West and North and South are to be given the message of present truth. Companies are to go forth into the highways and the hedges searching for the scattered sheep.
A mighty work is to be done by the people who observe the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. The Sabbath truth is to be presented in clear lines. Our platform is to be the law of God. We are to call attention to the Sabbath as the holy of the Lord, honorable. The Sabbath day is set apart by Jehovah as a sign between the Lord and His people. “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep,” He says, “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.” Ex. 31:13.
There has been some talk of putting up a large building here. The Lord does not want us to erect large buildings. He wants converted men with converted hearts more than anything else. I urge you to go to the places that have been neglected, and give the message of warning to the people. The Lord is coming soon, and many are unready, unready. Here is territory all around you where thorough work should be done to interest souls in the truth for this time. Some can take our books and learn what it means to go to the highways and hedges with the message of truth. Use the gift that you have; impart the light you have received. Repeat the truth over and over again to the people in simplicity and love. Such labor will be greatly appreciated. Do not try to weave in a spirit of human wisdom. Do not try to find something new and strange to40bring to the people, but speak the truth as it is in Jesus. When the doctrine is presented in the simplicity of true godliness, it will speak to hearts.
There is need that all have opportunity to labor for souls. Then their ability will be increased, and they will be qualified to do a greater work.—E. G. White
Letter 94a, 1909.
IN EVERY PART OF THE CITY
In the city of Washington zealous, earnest work should be done. In every part of the city chosen men should be set at work to give the message of warning.
Let every effort possible be made for the conversion of unbelieving friends and neighbors. Talk with them about the truth for this time; pray with them.
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto you, I never knew you.” Matt. 7:21-29.
I urge our ministers in Washington to labor as much as possible in the field, where they can give the message to men who know not the Scriptures.—
E. G. White Letter 162, 1909.