Earlier text: THE HEALTH INSTITUTE.I have been shown that great caution should be used, even when it is necessary to lift a burden of oppression from men and women, lest they lean to their own wisdom, and fail to make God their only dependence. It is not safe to speak in praise of persons, or to exalt the ability of a minister of Christ. In the day of God, very many will be weighed in the balance and found wanting because of exaltation. I would warn my brethren and sisters never to flatter persons because of their ability; for they cannot bear it. Self is easily exalted, and in consequence, persons lose their balance. I say again to my brethren and sisters, If you would have your souls clean from the blood of all men, never flatter, never praise the efforts of poor mortals; for it may prove their ruin. It is unsafe, by our words and actions, to exalt a brother or sister, however apparently humble may be their deportment. If they really possess the meek and lowly spirit which God so highly esteems, help them to retain it. This will not be done by censuring them, nor by neglecting to properly appreciate their true worth. But there are few who can bear praise without being injured. Some ministers of ability who are now preaching present truth, love approbation. Applause stimulates186 them, as the glass of wine does the inebriate. Place these ministers where they have a small congregation, which promises no special excitement, and which provokes no decided opposition, and they will lose their interest and zeal, and appear as languid in the work as the inebriate when he is deprived of his dram. These men will fail to make real, practical laborers until they learn to labor without the excitement of applause. Brethren C and D failed in some respects in their management of church matters at Battle Creek. They moved too much in their own spirit, and did not make God their whole dependence. They failed of doing their duty by not leading the church to God, the fountain of living waters, at which they could supply their want and satisfy their soul-hunger. The renewing, sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, which would give peace and hope to the troubled conscience, and restore health and happiness to the soul, was not made of the highest importance. The good object they had in view was not attained. These brethren had too much of a spirit of cold criticism in the examination of individuals who presented themselves for church membership. The spirit of weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice, was not in the hearts of these ministering brethren as it should have been. Christ identified himself with the necessities of his people. Their needs and their sufferings were his. He says, “I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” God’s servants should have hearts of tender affection and sincere love for the followers of Christ. They should manifest that deep interest that Christ brings to view in the care of the shepherd for the lost sheep; they should187 follow the example given by Christ, and exercise the same compassion and gentleness, and the same tender, pitying love that he has exercised toward us. The great moral powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love. If these are inactive, a minister may be ever so earnest and zealous, but his labor will not be accepted of God, and cannot be productive of good to the church. A minister of Christ who bears the solemn message from God to the people, should ever deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God. The spirit of Christ in the heart will incline every power of the soul to nourish and protect the sheep of his pasture, like a faithful, true shepherd. Love is the golden chain which binds believing hearts to one another in willing bonds of friendship, tenderness, and faithful constancy; and which binds the soul to God. There is a decided lack of love, compassion, and pitying tenderness among brethren. The ministers of Christ are too cold and heartless. Their hearts are not all aglow with tender compassion and earnest love. The purest and most elevated devotion to God is that which is manifested in the most earnest desires and efforts to win souls to Christ. The reason ministers who preach present truth are not more successful is, they are deficient, greatly deficient, in faith, hope, and love. There are toils and conflicts, self-denials and secret heart-trials, for us all to meet and bear. There will be sorrow and tears for our sins; there will be constant struggles and watchings, mingled with remorse and shame because of our deficiencies. Let not the ministers of the cross of our dear Saviour forget their experience in these things; but let them ever bear in mind that they are but men, liable to err, and possessing like passions with their brethren; and that if they help their brethren, they must be persevering in their efforts to do them good, having their hearts filled with pity and love. They must come to the hearts of their brethren, and help them where they are weak and need help the most. Those who labor in word and doctrine should break their own hard, proud, unbelieving hearts, if they would witness the same in their brethren.188 Christ has done all for us, because we were helpless; we were bound in chains of darkness, sin, and despair, and could therefore do nothing for ourselves. It is through the exercise of faith, hope, and love that we come nearer and nearer to the standard of perfect holiness. Our brethren feel the same pitying need of help that we have felt. We should not burden them with unnecessary censure, but should let the love of Christ constrain us to be very compassionate and tender, that we can weep over the erring and those who have backslidden from God. The soul is of infinite value. Its worth can be estimated only by the price paid to ransom it. Calvary! Calvary! Calvary! will explain the true value of the soul. Vital godliness is a principle to be cultivated. The power of God can accomplish for us that which all the systems in the world cannot effect. The perfection of Christian character depends wholly upon the grace and strength found alone in God. Without the power of grace upon the heart, assisting our efforts and sanctifying our labors, we shall fail of saving our own souls, and of saving the souls of others. System and order are highly essential, but none should receive the impression that these will do the work without the grace and power of God operating upon the mind and heart. Heart and flesh would fail in the round of ceremonies, and in the carrying out of our plans, without the power of God to inspire and give courage to perform. The Sabbath-school at Battle Creek was made the one great theme of interest with Bro. E. It absorbed the minds of the young, while other religious duties were neglected. Frequently, after the Sabbath-school was closed, the superintendent, a number of the teachers, and quite a number of scholars, would return home to rest. They felt that their burden for the day was ended, and that they had no further duty. When the bell sounded189 forth the hour for public service, and the people left their homes for the house of worship, they would meet a large portion of the school passing to their homes. And however important the meeting, the interest of a large share of the Sabbath-school could not be awakened to take any pleasure in the instruction given by the minister upon important Bible subjects. While many of the children did not attend public service, some that remained were not advantaged by the word spoken; for they felt that it was a wearisome tax. There should be discipline and order in our Sabbath-schools. Children who attend these schools should prize the privileges they enjoy, and should be required to observe the regulations of the school. And even greater care should be taken by the parents to see that their children have their Scripture lessons, than is taken to see that their day-school lessons are prepared. Their Scripture lessons should be learned more perfectly than their lessons in the common schools. If parents and children see no necessity for this interest, then the children might better remain at home; for the Sabbath-school will fail to prove a blessing to them. Parents and children should work in harmony with superintendent and teachers, thus giving evidence that they appreciate the labor put forth for them. Parents should take special interest in the religious education of their children, that they may have a more thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. There are many children who plead a lack of time as a reason why their Sabbath-school lessons are not learned; but there are few who could not find time to learn their lessons if they had an interest in them. Some devote time to amusement and sight-seeing; others to the needless trimming of their dresses for display, thus cultivating pride and vanity. The precious hours thus prodigally spent are God’s time, for which they must render an account to him. The hours spent in needless ornamentation, or in amusements and idle conversation, will, with every work, be brought into judgment. Those in the Office who profess to believe the truth should show the power of the truth in their lives, and prove that they are working onward and upward from the basis of principle. They should be molding their lives and characters after the perfect Model. If all could look with a discerning eye into the tremendous realities of eternity, what a horror of condemnation would seize some in the Office, who now pass on with seeming indifference, although separated from eternal scenes by a very small space. Many warnings have been given, and urged home with intense feeling and earnest prayers, every one of which is faithfully registered in Heaven, to balance the account of each in the day of final investigation. The unwearying love of Christ has followed those engaged in his work in the Office. God has followed them with blessings and entreaties, yet hating the sins and unfaithfulness that cling to them as the leprosy. The deep and solemn truths to which those in the Office have had the privilege of listening, should take hold upon their sympathies, and lead them to a high appreciation of the light that God has given them. If they will walk in the light, it will beautify and ennoble their lives with Heaven’s own adornment, purity and true goodness. A way is opened before every one in the Office to engage from the heart directly in the work of Christ and the salvation of souls. Christ left Heaven and the bosom of his Father, to come to a friendless, lost world, to save those who would be saved. He exiled himself from his Father, and exchanged the pure companionship of angels for that of fallen humanity, all polluted with sin. With grief and amazement, Christ witnesses the coldness, the indifference and neglect, with which his professed followers in the Office treat the light, and the messages of warning and of love he has given them. Christ has provided the bread and water of life for all who hunger and thirst. The Lord requires all in the Office to labor from high motives. In his own life, Christ has given them an example. All should labor with interest, devotion, and faith, for the salvation of souls. If all in the Office will labor with unselfish purposes, discerning the sacredness of the work, the blessing of God will rest upon them. If all had cheerfully and gladly taken up their several burdens, the wear and perplexity would not have come so heavily upon my husband. How few earnest prayers have been sent up to God in faith for those who worked in the Office who were not fully in the truth! Who has felt the worth of the soul for whom Christ died? Who have been laborers in the vineyard of the Lord? I saw that the angels were grieved with the trifling frivolities of the professed followers of Christ, who were handling sacred things in the Office. Some have no more sense of the sacredness of the work than if they were engaged in common labor. God now calls for the fruitless cumberers of the ground to consecrate themselves to him, and center their affections and hopes in him. The Lord would have all connected with the Office become care-takers and burden-bearers. If they are pleasure-seekers, if they do not practice self-denial, they are not fit for a place in the Office. The workers at the Office should feel when they enter it that it is a sacred place,—a place where the work of God is being done in the publication of a truth which will decide the destiny of souls. This is not felt or realized as it should be. There is conversation in the type-setting department which diverts the mind from the work. The Office is no place for visiting, for a courting spirit, or for amusement or selfishness. All should feel that they are doing work for God. He who sifts all motives and reads all hearts is proving, and trying, and sifting his people, especially those who have light and knowledge, and who are engaged in his sacred work. God is a searcher of hearts and a trier of the reins, and will accept nothing less than entire devotion to the work and consecration to himself. All in the Office should take up their daily duties as if192 in the presence of God. They should not be satisfied with doing just enough to pass along, and receive their wages; but all should work in any place where they can help the most. In Bro. White’s absence, there are some faithful ones; there are others who are eye-servants. If all in the Office who profess to be followers of Christ had been faithful in the performance of duty in the Office, there would have been a great change for the better. Young men and young women have been too much engrossed in each other’s society, talking, jesting, and joking, and angels of God have been driven from the Office. Marcus Lichtenstein was a God-fearing youth; but he saw so little true religious principle in those in the church and those working in the Office that he was perplexed, distressed, disgusted. He stumbled over the lack of conscientiousness in keeping the Sabbath manifested by some who yet professed to be commandment-keepers. Marcus had an exalted regard for the work in the Office; but the vanity, the trifling, and the lack of principle, stumbled him. God had raised him up, and in his providence connected him with his work in the Office. But there is so little known of the mind and will of God by some who work in the Office that they looked upon this great work of the conversion of Marcus from Judaism as of no great importance. His worth was not appreciated. He was frequently pained with the deportment of F and of others in the Office; and when he attempted to reprove them, his words were received with contempt that he should venture to instruct them. His defective language was an occasion of jest and amusement with some. Marcus felt deeply over the case of F; but he could not see how he could help him. Marcus never would have left the Office if the young men had been true to their profession. If he makes shipwreck of faith, his blood will surely be found in the skirts of the young who profess Christ, but who, by their works, their words, and their deportment, state plainly that they are not of Christ, but of the world. This deplorable state of neglect,193 of indifference and unfaithfulness, must cease; a thorough and permanent change must take place in the Office, or those who have had so much light and so great privileges should be dismissed, and others take their places, even if they be unbelievers. It is a fearful thing to be self-deceived. Said the angel, pointing to those in the Office, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” A profession is not enough. There must be a work inwrought in the soul, and carried out in the life. The love of Christ reaches to the very depths of earthly misery and woe, or it would not meet the case of the veriest sinner. It also reaches to the throne of the Eternal, or man could not be lifted from his degraded condition, and our necessities would not be met, our desires would not be satisfied. Christ has led the way from earth to Heaven. He forms the connecting link between the two worlds. He brings the love and condescension of God to man, and brings man up through his merits to meet the reconciliation of God. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. It is hard work to follow on, step by step, painfully and slowly, onward and upward, in the path of purity and holiness. But Christ has made ample provision to impart new vigor and divine strength at every advance step in the divine life. This is the knowledge and experience that the hands in the Office all want, and must have, or they daily bring reproach upon the cause of Christ. Bro. G is making a mistake in his life. He puts too high an estimate upon himself. He has not commenced to build in a right way to make a success of life. He is building at the top, but the foundation is not laid right. The foundation must be laid under ground, and then the building can go up. He needs a discipline and experience in the every-day duties of life which the sciences will not give; all his education will not give him physical exercise to become inured to the hardships of life. From what has been shown me, there should be a careful selection of help in the Office. The young, and194 untried, and unconsecrated should not be placed there; for they are exposed to temptations, and have not fixed characters. Those who have formed their characters, who have fixed principles, and who have the truth of God in the heart, will not be a constant source of care and anxiety, but rather helps and blessings. The Office of publication is amply able to make arrangements to secure good helpers, those who have ability and principle. And the church, in their turn, should not seek to advantage themselves one penny from those who come to the Office to labor and learn their trade. There are positions where some can earn better wages than at the Office, but they can never find a position more important, more honorable, or more exalted than the work of God in the Office. Those who labor faithfully and unselfishly will be rewarded. For them there is a crown of glory prepared, compared with which all earthly honors and pleasures are as the small dust of the balance. Especially will those be blessed who have been faithful to God in watching over the spiritual welfare of others in the Office. Pecuniary and temporal interests, in comparison with this, sink into insignificance. In one scale is gold dust; in the other, a human soul of such value that honor, riches, and glory have been sacrificed by the Son of God to ransom it from the bondage of sin and hopeless despair. The soul is of infinite value, and demands the utmost attention. Every man who fears God in that Office should put away childish and vain things, and, with true moral courage, stand erect in the dignity of his manhood, shunning low familiarity, yet binding heart to heart in the bond of Christian interest and love. Hearts yearn for sympathy and love, and are as much refreshed and strengthened by them as flowers are by showers and sunshine. The Bible should be read every day. A life of religion, of devotion to God, is the best shield for the young who are exposed to temptation in their associations while acquiring an education. The word of God will give the correct standard of right and wrong, and of moral principle. A fixed principle of truth is the only195 safeguard for youth. Strong purposes and a resolute will close many an open door to temptation, and to influences that are unfavorable to the maintenance of Christian character. A weak, irresolute spirit indulged in boyhood and youth, will make a life of constant toil and struggle, because decision and firm principle are wanting. Such will ever be trammeled in making a success of this life, and they will be in danger of losing the better life. It will be safe to be earnest for the right. The first consideration should be to honor God, and the second, to be faithful to humanity, performing the duties which each day brings, meeting its trials and bearing its burdens with firmness and a resolute heart. Earnest and untiring effort, united with strong purpose and entire trust in God, will help in every emergency, will qualify for a useful life in this world, and give a fitness for the immortal life. Love has a twin sister, which is duty. Love and duty stand side by side. Love exercised while duty is neglected will make children headstrong, willful, perverse, selfish, and disobedient. If stern duty is left to stand alone without love to soften and win, it will have a similar result. Duty and love must be blended in order that children may be properly disciplined. Anciently, directions were given to the priests, “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments.” “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Here the duty of God’s servants is made plain. They cannot be excused from the faithful discharge of their duty to reprove sins and wrongs in the people of God, although it may be a disagreeable task, and may not be received by the one who is at fault. But in most cases the one reproved would accept the warning and heed reproof were it not that others stand in the way. They come in as sympathizers, and pity the one reproved, and feel that they must stand in his defense. They do not see that the Lord is displeased with the wrong-doer, because the cause of God has been wounded, and his name reproached. Souls have been turned aside from the truth, and have made shipwreck of faith, as the result of the wrong course pursued by the one in fault; but the servant of God whose discernment is clouded, and whose judgment is swayed by wrong influences, would as soon take his position with the offender whose influence has done much harm, as with the reprover of wrong and of sin, and in so doing he virtually says to the sinner, “Do not be troubled, do not be cast down; you are about right after all.” These say to the sinner, “It shall be well with thee.” God requires his servants to walk in the light, and not cover their eyes that they may not discern the working of Satan. They should be prepared to warn and reprove those who are in danger through his subtlety. Satan is working on the right hand and on the left to obtain vantage ground. He rests not. He is persevering. He is vigilant and crafty to take advantage of every circumstance and turn it to his account in his warfare against the truth and the interests of the kingdom of God. It is a lamentable fact that God’s servants are not half as much awake to the wiles of Satan as they should be. And instead of resisting the devil that he may flee from them, many are inclined to make a compromise with the powers of darkness. There are serious objections to having the school located at Battle Creek. The church is large, and there are quite a number of youth connected with it. If the influence which one member has over another in so large a church were of an elevating character, leading to purity and consecration to God, then the youth coming to Battle Creek would have greater advantages than if the school were located elsewhere. But if the influences at Battle Creek shall be in the future what they have been for several years past, I would warn parents to keep their children from Battle Creek. There are but few in that large church who have an influence that will steadily draw souls to Christ; while there are many who will, by their example, lead the youth away from God to the love of the world. With many of the church at Battle Creek there is a great lack of feeling their responsibility. Those who have practical religion will retain their identity of character under any circumstances. They will not be like the reed trembling in the wind. Those situated at a distance feel that they would be highly favored could they have the privilege of living in Battle Creek, among a strong church, where their children could be benefited by the Sabbath-school and meetings. Some of our brethren and sisters in times past have made sacrifices to have their children live there. But they have been disappointed in almost every case. There were but few in the church to manifest an unselfish interest for these youth. The church generally stood as Pharisaical strangers, aloof from those who needed their help the most. Some of the youth connected with the church, who were professedly serving God, but loving pleasure and the world more, were ready to make the acquaintance of youthful strangers who came among them; and to exert a strong influence over them to lead them to the world instead of nearer to God. When these return home, they are farther from the truth than when they came to Battle Creek. Men and women are wanted at the heart of the work, who will be nursing fathers and mothers in Israel, who will have hearts that can take in more than merely me and mine. They should have hearts that will glow with love for the dear youth, whether they are members of their own families or children of their neighbors. They are members of God’s great family, for whom Christ had so great an interest that he made every sacrifice that it was possible for him to make to save them. He left his glory, his majesty, his kingly throne and robes of royalty, and became poor, that through his poverty the children of men might be made rich. He finally poured out his soul unto death that he might save the race from hopeless misery. This is the example of disinterested benevolence that Christ has given us to pattern after. In the special providence of God, many youth and also those of mature age, have been thrown into the arms of the Battle Creek church, for them to bless with the great light God has given them, and that, through their disinterested efforts, they might have the precious privilege of bringing them to Christ and to the truth. Christ commissions his angels to minister unto those who are brought under the influence of the truth, to soften their hearts and make them susceptible of the influences of his truth. While God and angels are doing their work, those who profess to be followers of Christ seem to be coolly indifferent. They do not work in unison with Christ and holy angels. Although they profess to be servants of God, they are serving their own interest and loving their own pleasure, and souls are perishing around them. These souls can truly say, “No man careth for my soul.” The church have neglected to improve the privileges and blessings within their reach, and through their neglect of duty have lost golden opportunities of winning souls to Christ. Unbelievers have lived among them for months, and they have made no special efforts to save them. How can the Master regard such servants? The unbelieving would have responded to efforts made in their behalf, if the brethren and sisters had lived up to their exalted profession.199 If they had been seeking an opportunity to work for the interest of their Master, to advance his cause, they would have manifested kindness and love for them, they would have sought opportunities to pray with and for them, and would have felt a solemn responsibility resting upon them to show their faith by their works, by precept and example. Through their instrumentality these souls might have been saved to be as stars in the crown of their rejoicing. But, in many cases, the golden opportunity has passed never to return. The souls that were in the valley of decision have taken their position in the ranks of the enemy, and become enemies of God and the truth. And the record of the unfaithfulness of the professed followers of Jesus has gone up to Heaven. I was shown that if the youth at Battle Creek were true to their profession, they might exert a strong influence for good over their fellow-youth. But a large share of the youth at Battle Creek need a Christian experience. They know not God by experimental knowledge. They have not individually a personal experience in the Christian life, and they must perish with the unbelieving unless they obtain this experience. The youth of this class follow inclination rather than duty. Some do not seek to be governed by principle. They do not agonize to enter in at the strait gate, trembling with fear lest they will not be able. They are confident, boastful, proud, disobedient, unthankful, and unholy. Just such a class as this lead souls in the broad road to ruin. If Christ is not in them, they cannot exemplify him in their lives and characters. The church at Battle Creek have had great light. As a people, they have been peculiarly favored of God. They have not been left in ignorance in regard to the will of God concerning them. They might be far in advance of what they now are, if they had walked in the light. They are not that separate, peculiar, and holy people that their faith demands, and that God recognizes and acknowledges as children of the light. They are not as obedient and devotional as their exalted position and sacred obligation as children walking in the light require200 them to be. The most solemn message of mercy ever given to the world has been intrusted to them. The Lord has made that church the depositaries of his commandments in a sense that no other church is. God did not show them his special favor in trusting to them his sacred truth that they alone might be benefited by the light given; but that the light reflected upon them from Heaven should shine forth to others, and be reflected again to God by those who receive the truth glorifying him. Many in Battle Creek will have a fearful account to give in the day of God for this sinful neglect of duty. Many of those who profess to believe the truth in Battle Creek contradict their faith by their works. They are as unbelieving, and as far from fulfilling the requirements of God and from coming up to their profession of faith, as was the Jewish church at the time of Christ’s first advent. Should Christ make his appearance among them, reproving and rebuking selfishness, pride, and love of the friendship of the world, as he did at his first advent, but few would recognize him as the Lord of glory. The picture he would present before them of their neglect of duty they would not receive, but would tell him to his face, “You are entirely mistaken; we have done this good and great thing, and performed this and that wonderful work, and we are entitled to be highly exalted for our good works.” The Jews did not go into darkness all at once. It was a gradual work, until they could not discern the gift of God in sending his Son. The church at Battle Creek have had superior advantages, and they will be judged by the light and privileges they have had. Their deficiencies, their unbelief, their hardness of heart, and their neglect to cherish and follow the light, are not less than those of the favored Jews, who refused the blessings they might have accepted, and crucified the Son of God. The Jews are now an astonishment and reproach to the world. The church at Battle Creek are like Capernaum, which Christ represents as being exalted unto heaven by the light and privileges that had been given them.201 If the light and privileges with which they had been blessed had been given to Sodom and Gomorrah, they might have stood unto this day. If the light and knowledge which the church in Battle Creek have received had been given the nations who sit in darkness, they might have been far in advance of that church. The Laodicean church really believed, and enjoyed the blessings of the gospel, and thought they were rich in the favor of God, when the True Witness called them poor, naked, blind, and miserable. This is the case with the church at Battle Creek, and with a large share of those who profess to be God’s commandment-keeping people. The Lord seeth not as man seeth. His thoughts and ways are not as our ways. The words and law of God, written in the soul, and exhibited in a consecrated, holy life, have a powerful influence to convict the world. Covetousness, which is idolatry, and envy, and love of the world, will be rooted from the hearts of those who are obedient to Christ, and it will be their pleasure to deal justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. Oh, how much is comprised in this, walking humbly before God! The law of God, if written in the heart, will bring the mind and will into subjection to the obedience of Christ. Our faith is peculiar. Many who profess to be living under the sound of the last message of mercy, are not separated in their affections from the world. They bow down before the friendship of the world, and sacrifice light and principle to secure its favor. The apostle describes the favored people of God in these words: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”