From time to time, I have felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord to bear a testimony to our brethren in regard to the necessity of procuring the very best talent to work in our various institutions and in the numerous other departments of our cause. Those who are thus connected with the work must be trained men, men whom God can teach and whom He can honor as He did Daniel, with wisdom and understanding. They must be thinking men, men who bear God’s impress, and who are steadily progressing in holiness, in moral dignity, and in the excellence with which they labor. If they are growing men, if they possess reasoning minds and sanctified intelligence, if they listen to the voice of God, and seek to catch every ray of light from heaven, and they will, like the sun, pursue an undeviating course, and they will grow in wisdom and in favor with God....
(2SM 190.1)
Those who are placed in leading positions in connection with our institutions should be men who have sufficient breadth of mind to respect those of cultivated intellect, and who will recompense them proportionately to the responsibilities they bear. True, those who engage in the work of the Lord should not do so merely for the wages they receive, but to honor God, advance His cause, and to obtain imperishable riches. At the same time we should not expect that those who are capable of taking hold of a work that requires thought and painstaking effort, and of doing it with exactitude and thoroughness should receive no greater compensation than the less skillful workman. A true estimate must be placed upon talent. Those who cannot appreciate true work and mental ability should not occupy the position of managers in our institutions, for their influence will tend to bind about the work, to erect barriers to its progress, and to bring it down to a low level.
(2SM 190.2)
If our institutions are as prosperous as God designs they shall be, there must be more thoughtfulness and earnest prayer, mingled with unflagging zeal and skillful labor. To connect this class of laborers with the work may require a greater outlay of means. But while it is essential that economy be exercised in everything possible, it will be found that the efforts of some narrow minds to save means by employing those who will work cheap, and whose labor corresponds in character with the cheapness of their wages, will result in the end in their loss. The progress of the work will be retarded, and the cause belittled.—Letter 63, 1886.
(2SM 191.1)
Wages for Institutional Workers
The publishing work has been founded in sacrifice; it has been maintained by the special providence of God. We started it in great poverty. We had scarcely enough to eat and wear. When potatoes were scarce, and we had to pay a high price for them, we supplied their place with turnips. Six dollars per week was all we received for the first years of our labor. We had a large family; but we brought our expenses within our means. We could not purchase all that we desired; we had to bind about our wants. But we were determined that the world should have the light of present truth; and spirit, soul, and body were interwoven with the work. We worked early and late, without rest, without the stimulus of wages and God was with us. As prosperity attended the publishing work, the wages were increased, as they should be.
(2SM 191.2)
A Wage Scale, but with Equity
While I was in Switzerland, word came to me from Battle Creek that a plan had been formed by which none working in the office should receive more than twelve dollars per week. I said, This will not work; it will be a necessity for some to receive higher wages than this. But double this amount should not be awarded to any man connected with the office; for if a few take from the treasury so largely, justice cannot be shown to all. Large wages afforded to a few is the world’s plan; while others in every way as deserving receive far less. This is not justice.
(2SM 192.1)
The Lord will have faithful men who love and fear Him connected with every school, every printing office, health institution, and publishing house. Their wages should not be fashioned after the worldling’s standard. There should be, as far as possible, excellent judgment exercised to keep up, not an aristocracy, but an equality, which is the law of heaven. “All ye are brethren” (Matthew 23:8). A few should not demand large wages, and such wages should not be presented as an inducement to secure ability and talents. This is placing things on a worldly principle. The increase of wages brings with it a corresponding increase of selfishness, pride, display, self-gratification, and needless extravagance that the people who do their utmost to pay their tithes and present their offerings to God do not have. Poverty is seen in all their borders. The Lord loves the one just as much as the other, with the exception that the self-sacrificing, humble, contrite souls who love God and strive to serve Him, are ever kept nearer to the great heart of infinite Love than the man who feels at liberty to have all the good things of this life.
(2SM 192.2)
Not to Copy the World’s Standard
I have had many testimonies in regard to the point that we are not to copy the world’s standard. We are not to indulge our inclination to grasp all we can possibly obtain, to spend our means in dress and luxuries of life as do the worldlings. It makes us not one jot happier to live to please ourselves. The unnecessary outlay of means is robbing the treasury of God; and someone has to supply the deficiency. The facilities for building up the kingdom of Christ in this world are greatly limited because men rob God in tithes and offerings.
(2SM 192.3)
Let not the idea prevail for a moment that a man’s power to command high wages is a measure of his value in the sight of God as a worker. In the eyes of the world a man’s value is estimated by, “How much is he worth in property?” But heaven’s books register his worth in proportion to the good he has accomplished with the means he has had entrusted to him. In the fear and love of God, with his talents wholly sanctified to advance the glory of God, man can and will show his true value. Only when the reward is given to every man as his work shall be estimated in the judgment, can it be known how much he has sent before him to heaven.
(2SM 193.1)
For years my testimony has been borne against the meager sum paid to some of our ministers. Inquire, search into the books, and you will find that there has been very close dealing with some of our ministers. The auditing committee need to understand their business and have the mind of Christ. There are some men of narrow minds on this committee, men who have not a true idea of the self-denial and self-sacrifice required of the minister of God. They have no true estimate of what it means to leave home, wife, and children, and become missionaries for God, to labor for souls as they that must give an account. A true minister of God will turn his whole life into a sacrifice.
(2SM 193.2)
The Warning at Salamanca
While at Salamanca, New York, in November, 1890, there were presented to me many things. I was shown that there was coming into the office a spirit that God did not approve. While some accept large wages, there are others who have labored at their post faithfully for years, who receive very much less. I have been repeatedly shown that God’s order is not to be broken down and the missionary spirit extinguished....
(2SM 193.3)
I know there are those who practice much self-denial to pay their tithes and make offerings to the cause of God. Those who stand at the head of the work should take such a course that they can unblushingly say, “Come, let us act mutually in this work which was commenced in sacrifice, and is supported by continual self-denial.” The people should not excel those who stand at the head of our institutions in practicing economy, and binding about their wants.—Manuscript 25a, 1891.
(2SM 194.1)
A View of Threatening Dangers in 1890
I am alarmed at the outlook both for the sanitarium and the publishing house at Battle Creek and our institutions generally. A spirit has been manifesting itself, and strengthening year by year in the institutions, that is of an entirely different character from that which the Lord has revealed in His Word should characterize the physicians and workers connected with our health institutions, and the work of publishing. The idea is entertained that the physicians at the sanitarium and men in responsible positions in the publishing house are not under obligations to be controlled by self-denying, self-sacrificing principles of Christianity. But this idea has its origin in the councils of Satan. When physicians make manifest the fact that they think more of the wages they are to receive than of the work of the institution, they show that they are not men to be depended upon as unselfish, God-fearing servants of Christ, faithful in doing the work of the Master. Men who are controlled by selfish desires should not remain connected with our institutions....
(2SM 194.2)
God will require a return from men in proportion as they set a value upon themselves and their services, for they will be judged according to their deeds, and by no less a standard than they themselves have established. If they have accounted their talents of so great value, and placed a high estimate upon their abilities, they will be required to render service proportionate to their own estimate and demands. Oh, how few have any real acquaintance with the Father or with His Son Jesus Christ. If they were imbued with the spirit of Christ they would work the works of Christ. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
(2SM 194.3)
Talents Belong to God
He who judgeth righteously has said, “Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). All talents, great or small, have been entrusted to men by God, to be employed in His service, and when men use their ability simply for themselves, and have no special care to work in harmony with those in medical practice, who are of the same faith, they reveal that they are inclined to judge these men by themselves; they do not seek to answer the prayer of Christ, that they may be one as He is one with the Father. When they demand exorbitant prices for their services, God, the Judge of all the earth, will hold them to the measure of their own overrated estimation, and require of them to the full extent of the value they put upon themselves.
(2SM 195.1)
As they judge of their worth from a money point of view, God will judge of their works, comparing their services with their valuation of them. Unless converted, no one who thus overrates his ability, will ever enter heaven, for his personal influence in the service of Christ will never balance the scale of his estimation of himself or of his demands for his service for others....
(2SM 195.2)
He who is selfish and grasping, eager to take every dollar he can get from our institutions for his services, is binding about the work of God; verily he has his reward. He cannot be accounted worthy to be entrusted with the eternal, heavenly reward in the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those who deny self and take up the cross and follow Him. The fitness of men to enter the blood-bought inheritance is tested during this probationary life. Those who have the spirit of self-sacrifice manifested in Christ, when He gave Himself for the salvation of fallen man, are those who will drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism, and they will share in the glory of the Redeemer.—Letter 41, 1890.
(2SM 195.3)
The Importance of Self-Denial
I was shown that the office of publication should not be conducted on the same principles as are other publishing houses; for it is to be something after the order of a training school. Everyone connected with it is to be a true missionary, and work upon the same principles that brought it into existence. Self-denial should characterize all the workers....
(2SM 196.1)
Self-denial should characterize the men employed in responsible positions in the office, and they should be an example to all the workers. The office was brought into existence through self-denial, and the same spirit should be manifested and maintained. The great object must be kept in view. This is missionary work, and those who have no missionary spirit should not continue in the work.—Letter 5, 1892.
(2SM 196.2)
A Threat to All Our Institutions
Paul could see evils coming into the church, and he declared, “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3).
(2SM 196.3)
This is the evil which today threatens our schools, our institutions, our churches. Unless corrected, it will imperil the souls of many. One man will think that he should be greatly favored, because he is doing a line of work which among unbelievers would command large wages. Becoming dissatisfied, he will sell himself to the highest bidder. For the safety of the principles that should control all who labor in our institutions, the Lord bids me say to all who carry responsibilities, “Disconnect from all such without any delay; for this is the evil leaven of selfishness and covetousness.”
(2SM 196.4)
They are measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves. The worst thing you can do for them is to seek to retain them, even though they be editors or managers. God is not with such a man, and you cannot with any safety hold onto him. An atmosphere of unbelief surrounds his soul. The comparisons he has made have led him to double-dealing. He says to himself,“If such a one received such a sum, I should receive just as much.” He becomes wise above what is written in the law, and appropriates means for his own use. Thus he robs the treasury. God looks upon this as He looked upon the sin of Achan. He sees that such men cannot give the right mold to the work. They cannot supply the necessities of those who are laboring in hard fields, who have to give part of their wages to the needs of these fields. God sees every such case, and He will pass judgment on those who thus measure themselves, selfishly taking care that they receive all they think they should have.—Manuscript 97, 1899.
(2SM 196.5)
A Characteristic Feature of the Work Imperiled
In view of the large work that is to be done, our laborers should be willing to work for a reasonable wage. Even if you could obtain large wages, you should consider the example of Christ in coming to our world and living a life of self-denial. Just at this time it means very much what wages are demanded by the workers. If you require and receive a large wage, the door is thrown open for others to do the same. It was the demand for large wages among the workers at Battle Creek that helped to spoil the spirit of the work there. Two men led out in this movement, and they were joined by three or four others, and the result was a union in a course of action which, if followed by the majority, would have destroyed one of the characteristic features of the work of this message. The cause of present truth was founded in self-denial and self-sacrifice. This selfish, grasping spirit is entirely opposed to its principles. It is like the deadly leprosy, which in time will disease the whole body. I am afraid of it. We need to take heed lest we outgrow the simple, self-sacrificing spirit that marked our work in its early years.
(2SM 197.1)
You will not find it difficult to exert a wide influence in the sanitarium at_____. If you will act an unselfish part, not requiring the wages which you would naturally suppose you must draw, the Lord will sustain you in your work. If, on the other hand, you ask for a high wage, another, and still another, will think that they have a right to demand just as high wage as you; and by this means the money will be used that should be expended in building up the work of the cause of present truth in other places.
(2SM 198.1)
In making important decisions we should study every side of the question. We are ever to remember that we are given a place in the work to act as responsible agencies. Some would follow a worldly fashion in the drawing of their salaries; but the Lord does not view matters as these men view them. He views our duties and responsibilities in the light of Christ’s self-denying example. The gospel must be so presented to the world that precept and example will harmonize.
(2SM 198.2)
Our sanitariums are not to be conducted after the customs of the world. It is not to be considered necessary that even the medical superintendent shall draw a large salary. We are the servants of God.—Letter 370, 1907.
(2SM 198.3)
Physicians and Ministers Called to Self-Denial
I feel impressed to write to you this morning, and ask that you be sure to treat all men with equity. I have been instructed that there is danger of your taking a course with some physicians that will be an injury to them. We are to do all in our power to encourage ministerial talent, and also that of physicians, by giving them every consistent advantage, but there is a limit beyond which we should not go.
(2SM 198.4)
When we were trying to find a physician to act as medical superintendent of the Loma Linda Sanitarium, one experienced physician consented to come upon certain conditions. He stated a certain amount for his services, and said that he would not come for less. Some thought that, because it seemed so difficult to find anyone, we might invite this physician on his terms. But I said to Brother [J. A.] Burden, “It would not be right to employ this doctor, and pay him so much, when others who are working just as faithfully receive less. This is not justice, and the Lord has instructed me that He would not approve of such discrimination.”
(2SM 198.5)
The Lord calls for self-denial in His service, and this obligation is binding upon physicians as well as upon ministers. We have before us an aggressive work which requires means, and we must call into service young men to labor as ministers and as physicians, not for the highest wages, but because of the great needs of God’s cause. The Lord is not pleased with this spirit of grasping for the highest wages. We need physicians and ministers whose hearts are consecrated to God, and who receive their marching orders from the greatest Medical Missionary that has ever trod this earth. Let them behold His life of self-denial, and then gladly sacrifice, in order that more workers may engage in sowing the gospel seed. If all will work in this spirit, less wages will be required.
(2SM 199.1)
Some have failed on this point. God has blessed them with ability to do acceptable service, but they have failed to learn lessons of economy, of self-denial, and of walking humbly with God. Their demands for high wages were granted, and they became extravagant in the use of means; they lost the influence for good they should have had, and the prospering hand of God was not with them. Beware of placing too great confidence in those who demand high wages before they will engage in the Lord’s work. I write you this as a caution.—Letter 330, 1906.
(2SM 199.2)
Counsel to a Physician Regarding a Fixed Salary
The plan that you are to receive above your wages any money that you may make in certain lines of work, is opening a door of temptation which will lead to evil results. This is not discerned by you or by those who drew up these articles of agreement. But it will be the means of great injury to you, and will bring reproach upon the cause of God. There is in this plan an erroneous principle, which must be considered. Nothing is to be left at loose ends. Everything is to be bound off. You are to receive a definite sum as wages for your work, and live within that sum.
(2SM 199.3)
Something of this character has been carried on in the negotiations with Dr. U. It is a fraudulent transaction. God sees its tendency and its result. This method of remuneration is not to be carried out in the sanitariums that are to be established. This instruction must pay you a suitable sum for your services. And all who are connected with the institution must receive remuneration in proportion to their services.—Letter 99, 1900.
(2SM 200.1)
A Percentage Proposition Counseled Against
In regard to the proposition made by Brother V., [A $25-a-week salary, 30 per cent on the operations, with a five-year contract, and one month a year off for study and improvement at his own expense.—Compilers.] I look at the matter as you do. We cannot afford to start out on the high-wage plan. This was the misfortune of the people in Battle Creek, and I have something to say on this point. We have before us a large field of missionary work. We are to be sure to heed the requirements of Christ, who made Himself a donation to our world. Nothing that we can possibly do should be left undone. There is to be neatness and order, and everything possible is to be done to show thoroughness in every line. But when it comes to paying twenty-five dollars a week, and giving a large percentage on the surgical work done, light was given me in Australia that this could never be, because our record is at stake. The matter was presented to me that many sanitariums would have to be established in Southern California; for there would be a great inflowing of the people there. Many would seek that climate.
(2SM 200.2)
We must stand in the counsel of God, every one of us prepared to follow the example of Jesus Christ. We cannot consent to pay extravagant wages. God requires of His under-physicians a compliance with the invitation, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29, 30).—Letter 309, 1905.
(2SM 200.3)
“Do Not Exact a High Salary”
I would be very pleased to see and converse with you. I have an intense desire that you shall copy the pattern given in the Word of God. . . .
(2SM 201.1)
Dr. W, I entreat of you that you do not exact a high salary. If you do this, others will follow your example; and if this is allowed, we shall soon find that the sanitarium income will all be absorbed for the payment of salaries, and that there will be none to carry on the missionary work to be done in foreign countries.
(2SM 201.2)
I write you this because I understand that whereof I am speaking. The Lord is testing His people. My husband and I have passed over this ground, and because we did not ask a high wage, but were willing to work in self-denial and self-sacrifice, the Lord blessed us with His rich grace. If you will pursue a course of self-denial, you will be an example to others that will be a blessing to the work. In your work in _____, the most effective sermon you preached was when you lived the principles of the truth in your own family and revealed your earnest devotion to the work. I know what I am talking about when I say this.
(2SM 201.3)
There should be more equality between the wage of the minister and the physician than there has been. Our ministers are expected to set an example of liberality to the church members, and their salary should be such that they can make many donations.—Letter 372, 1907.
(2SM 201.4)
Extravagance and Influence
Among our ministers, physicians, teachers, and canvassers, there is need of an entire surrender of the mind, the heart, and the soul to God. . . . Neither dress, expensive homes, nor stylish living gives character to the work. But a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great value. Religion does not make a man course and rough. The true believer, realizing his own weakness, will guard himself at every point, and place his whole confidence in God. True Christian godliness cannot be forced; it is the outflowing of an honest heart....
(2SM 201.5)
God calls for minute men, praying men, practical men. Expensive outward show does not elevate men and women in the eyes of sensible people. It is not right for a physician to make an extravagant outlay of means, and then charge exorbitant prices for performing small operations. God looks at all these matters in their true light.—Manuscript 34, 1904.
(2SM 202.1)
An Important Interview Regarding Physicians’ Wages
[On the morning of December 4, 1913, the leading brethren of the Pacific Union Conference conferred with Mrs. E. G. White at her Elmshaven home in regard to the remuneration of our sanitarium physicians. A stenographic report of the interview was made and the ribbon copy bears a handwritten note of endorsement by Mrs. White in these words: “This is correctly presented, and I repeat this for the benefit of others. May the Lord help us and teach and guide us at every step in our difficulties.” Essential portions of the report of this interview follow.—Compilers.]
(2SM 202)
Present: Ellen G. White, Elders F. M. Burg, G. W. Reaser, W. M. Adams, J. H. Behrens, C. L. Taggart, A. G. Christiansen, W. C. White; also C.C. Crisler.
(2SM 202.2)
After introductions and greetings, Elder W. C. White said in part:
(2SM 202.3)
All day yesterday we were considering the interests of our various schools in the Pacific Union Conference. In these schools located at Angwin, Lodi, Fernando, Armona, and Loma Linda, there are between six and seven hundred students in training. We were encouraged as we took counsel together regarding these schools.
(2SM 202.4)
Today we must enter into consideration of sanitarium problems, particularly the question of the wages we should pay to physicians and surgeons. We have in our _____ Sanitarium a God-fearing physician who has won the confidence of all his associates—A man whom God has blessed greatly in his ministry to the sick. He wants to remain, and everybody wants him to remain; and he feels that it would be right for him to remain if his brethren could grant him a wage about twice as large as that paid to our average workers. He loves to give freely, and he wishes to have funds with which to live and to use for this purpose. We are much perplexed, and we would be glad to know if you have any light on this matter.
(2SM 202.5)
Sister White: If he is granted considerably more than other physicians, they will come to believe they are not treated right unless they have more also. We must move cautiously and understandingly, and not allow wages to creep so high that many will be tempted. There may have to be a coming down rather than going up, in physicians’ wages, because there is a great work to be done. Unless you have some clear light from the Lord, it is not advisable to pay one man considerably more than another doing a similar work. For, if you do, the others will think it perfectly proper to expect similar high wages. We must look at all things on all sides, and it is of no use for us to think that we can offer a successful worker a high wage simply because he may demand it. We must, rather, consider what we can afford to do at the present time, when the fields are opening upon which we shall henceforth have to expand much more means than we have spent hitherto. These are matters that will test the faith of our people.
(2SM 203.1)
W. C. White: They do test our faith, mother—especially when a group of workers have labored with a man until they have learned to love him and admire him, and they believe that he can do better work than any other man. Then it is natural for them to think that it is wrong for the brethren to withhold from him that which he might use to advantage. They think, “What is a thousand dollars, or fifteen hundred dollars, extra, when life is involved?” They say, “Here is such and such a case that he has just brought through, and there is another whose life he has saved”; and they feel as if it would be awfully mean of us not to meet his requirements. They say, “There is no one who has to work and suffer as does a surgeon. Think of the hours of arduous labor, of anxiety, of mental anguish he has to endure, when a precious life is hanging by a slender thread.”
(2SM 203.2)
But, on the other hand, in considering this matter, we must remember that other institutions are influenced by our action. We see a poor struggling sanitarium situated in a beautiful place, in a position to do a large business, and with every prospect of making money if only they can have a brilliant physician; and they can get a good physician if they are encouraged to pay only three or five hundred dollars more than the wage scale recommended. They say, “If you will only let us pay a few hundred dollars more than you have advised, we can gain five thousand dollars to cover this small additional expense for wages.” And thus it seems—when we look at it from a business point of view.
(2SM 204.1)
Sister White: You see there is a selfishness that underlies that, that the Lord is not pleased with. We must work harmoniously. It is through harmonious action that our work is to be carried forward, and some will have a very hard time. Some will have an easier time. But all these things will have to be taken just as they come, and the workers must remember what Jesus gave in coming to our world. I think of it over and over and over again, and it seems to me that we can do an excellent work if we set a right example. But if we desire that which the most of our brethren cannot receive, this injures our influence. One brother says, “Such and such a brother has a certain wage, and I must have a wage to correspond.” And so the wages will climb, and keep climbing, higher and still higher. The fact is, that the wages of some may have to be lower and still lower in order that we may meet the extensive requirements of the work that is before us in warning the world....
(2SM 204.2)
In years past, when this subject of wages has been under consideration, I have told my brethren that the Lord knows all about the spirit that prompts us to action, and that He can turn matters in our favor at times when we do not expect it. As we set a right example, the blessing of the Lord will rest upon us. I have seen the Lord work in many ways and in many places to help the very ones that view these matters in the right light and set a self-sacrificing example. And, brethren, as you labor earnestly, prayerfully, humbly, in the spirit of Christ, God will open doors before you. The people will see your self-denial.
(2SM 204.3)
At times when my brethren have come to me, seeking advice as to whether they should demand a higher wage, I have told them they might gain a little means by asking for higher wages, but that the blessing of God will accompany those who follow a different course. God sees the self-denial; the Lord God of Israel sees every motive; and when you come into a hard place, the angels of God are there to help you, and to give you victory after victory.
(2SM 205.1)
I have been very clear in counseling my brethren not to demand large wages, for this is not the impelling motive that leads us to spend our energies in the work of soulsaving.
(2SM 205.2)
We are not to let the wage question stand in the way of our responding to the call of duty, wherever our service may be required. The Lord can bring matters around so that a blessing will attach to our labors far exceeding any compensation we may or may not receive; and He will give to His servants words to speak that are of the highest consequence to perishing souls.
(2SM 205.3)
The people are hungering and thirsting for help from Heaven. I have tried to put in practice these principles of self-sacrifice, and I know whereof I speak when I say that the blessing of God will rest upon you when you make the call of duty first. I am glad for this privilege of testifying before you this morning that the Lord has turned matters, over and over again, in such a way as to give us more than we could possibly ask for.
(2SM 205.4)
The Lord will prove His servants; and if they prove true to Him, and leave their cases with Him, He will help them in every time of need.
(2SM 205.5)
We are not laborers together for God for the wages we may receive in His service. True, brethren, you must have wages with which to support your families; but if you should begin to stipulate as to just how much you shall receive, you may prove a stumbling block to someone else who does not have the disposition, perhaps, that you have to be liberal; and the result will be confusion. Others will think that all are not dealt with on an equality. You will soon find that the cause of God will become cramped; and this result you do not desire to see. You wish to see the cause of God placed on vantage ground. By your example, as well as by your words, the people are to have a living assurance that the truth received into the heart begets the spirit of self-denial. And as you go forward in this spirit, there are many that will follow.
(2SM 205.6)
The Lord desires His children to act in that self-denying, self-sacrificing way that will bring to us the satisfaction of having performed our duty well because it was duty. The only-begotten Son of God gave Himself to an ignominious death on the cross, and should we complain at the sacrifices we are called upon to make?
(2SM 206.1)
During my wakeful hours through the night season, I have been pleading with the Lord to guard our brethren against the tendency to promise to go here or there on the stipulation that they are to have a little higher wage. If they go in a spirit of self-sacrifice, trusting in Him, the Lord will grant sustaining power to mind and character, and success will be the result.
(2SM 206.2)
In the future, our work is to be carried forward in self-denial and self-sacrifice even beyond that which we have seen in past years. God desires us to commit our souls to Him, that He may work through us in manifold ways. I feel intensely over these matters. Brethren, let us walk in meekness and lowliness of mind, and put before our associates an example of self-sacrifice. If we do our part in faith, God will open ways before us now undreamed of....
(2SM 206.3)
If someone proposes something that is not in accordance with self-sacrificing principles on which our work is based, let us remember that one stroke of God’s hand can sweep away all seeming benefit because it was not to His name’s glory.—Manuscript 12, 1913.
(2SM 206.4)
Meeting an Emergency
If, when cramped for means, you let your competent workers go, to set up business for themselves, you will in a short time wish you had them back. The question of finance can be managed nicely, if all the workers will be willing when there is a pressure for means, to accept less wages. This was the principle the Lord revealed to me to be brought into our publishing institutions. There will be plenty to do, and your work will need these very men. Should we not all be willing to restrict our wants at a time when money is so scarce?
(2SM 207.1)
My husband and I worked on this principle. We said, “The publishing house is the Lord’s institution, and we will economize, reducing our expenses as far as possible.” The Lord requires self-sacrifice of all His servants to advance His work and make it a success. Let every worker now do his best to sustain and guard our publishing institution in -----. Do you not think that the Lord will be pleased to see this spirit control in all our institutions? We are to bring principle into the work. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Are we ready to follow Christ?—Letter 25, 1896.
(2SM 207.2)
Our institutions are to be entirely under the supervision of God. They were established in sacrifice, and only in sacrifice can their work be successfully carried forward.—Letter 129, 1903.
(2SM 207.3)
Human wisdom will lead away from self-denial, from consecration, and will devise many things that tend to make of no effect God’s messages.—The Review and Herald, December 13, 1892.
(2SM 207.4)