I received your letters yesterday and read them with deep interest. I am always glad to hear from you concerning your family and the institution in which you are bearing responsibilities of no ordinary character. Your only safety is in obeying the word of the Lord, in walking in the light of His countenance. The enemy is continually seeking to devise methods by which he may steal a march upon us, and we need to pay strict heed to the cautions given by God.
(8T 145.1)
If those who in the past have been standard-bearers in the work of God had walked in the lines that He has marked out, they would better have honored Him and would have had increased usefulness. Some whose voices are now silent in death might have lived to warn, entreat, and advise. If those who in past years had been entrusted with large responsibilities had heeded the warnings and entreaties of the Spirit of God, they would now be walking before Him in strength and efficiency. When men educate others to rely on them and trust in them, when, by pen or voice, they dictate to others as to what they should do, they are teaching others to make flesh their arm, to give glory to human beings rather than to God.
(8T 145.2)
We are safe only as we exalt Christ, speaking in praise of His excellence. Isaiah says: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”Isaiah 9:6, 7.
(8T 145.3)
There is danger that men will receive the counsel of men, when by so doing they will discard the counsel of God. Oh, what lessons all must learn before they will understand that God seeth not as man seeth. The Lord says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”Isaiah 55:8, 9. Unless there is a decided reformation among the people of God, He will turn His face from them.
(8T 146.1)
My brother, there is need of constant watchfulness, lest, in Battle Creek, building shall be piled upon building and advantage heaped upon advantage. The means thus expended will testify against us. You should put wise plans into operation and scatter the influence that is centering in Battle Creek, diffusing the light that God has given you. Blessed are they that sow beside all waters. The more there is invested in Battle Creek, the greater will be the demand for additional investment; but this is not in the order of God, and before a very long period of time shall pass, the mistake of centering interests in Battle Creek will be made evident.
(8T 146.2)
In adding building to building in Battle Creek, we are encouraging neglect of other fields. Superabundant advantages there mean destitution elsewhere. Other parts of the vineyard are robbed of the means they should have. Means should be invested elsewhere in winning souls to the truth and in providing houses of worship for them.
(8T 146.3)
God has pointed out the fact that it is the duty of those in Battle Creek to help His institutions in other places. As a wise steward of means you should scatter your forces, using the power of your influence to help those in darkness to know God as He is.
(8T 146.4)
The Need of Broader Plans
How many towns and cities there are that are utterly neglected. Our people are injuring themselves by crowding into one place. When trees in a nursery are crowded thickly together, they cannot grow healthfully and sturdily. Transplant trees from your thickly planted nursery. God is not glorified in the centering of so many advantages in one place. Give room; put your plants in many places, where one will not lean for support upon another. Give them room to grow. This the Lord demands of you.
(8T 147.1)
The means expended in enlarging your advantages in Battle Creek, which are already overgrown and have passed reasonable limits, should be used in establishing missionary stations elsewhere. You should broaden your plans and widen the field of your operations. You should send wise men into the cities and towns that have not yet heard the gospel message. Pick out the best men you can possibly spare, and give them opportunity to become caretakers and burden bearers. Let them have opportunity to develop the talents that in the past have lain idle. Place them where they can use their God-given abilities in calling sinners to repentance. Let men who make it manifest that they love God have a chance to do something for Him.
(8T 147.2)
Let men learn to pray earnestly, and let them make their prayers short and right to the point. Let them learn to speak of the world’s Redeemer and to lift up the Man of Calvary higher and still higher.
(8T 147.3)
All the preaching in the world will not make men feel deeply the need of the perishing souls around them. Nothing will so arouse in men and women a self-sacrificing zeal as to send them forth into new fields to work for those in darkness. Prepare workers to go out into the highways and hedges. Do not call men and women to the great center, encouraging them to leave churches that need their aid. Men must learn to bear responsibilities. Not one in a hundred among us is doing anything beyond engaging in common, worldly enterprises. We are not half awake to the worth of the souls for whom Christ died.
(8T 147.4)
We need wise nurserymen, who will transplant trees to different localities and give them advantages that will enable them to grow. It is the positive duty of God’s people to go into the regions beyond. Let forces be set at work to clear new ground, to establish new centers of influence wherever an opening can be found. Rally workers who possess true missionary zeal, and let them go forth to diffuse light and knowledge far and near. Let them take the living principles of health reform into the communities that to a large degree are ignorant of these principles. Let classes be formed, and instruction be given regarding the treatment of disease.
(8T 148.1)
It is a fact that through the influence of the sanitarium the truth of heaven has come to the notice of thousands. Yet there is a work to be done that has been neglected. Money has been expended in enlarging facilities in Battle Creek, when the Lord desires the leaven to be introduced into the mass of meal, that the whole may be leavened. Instead of building after building being added to the sanitarium, there should be at this time many institutions fully equipped and in working order in other places.
(8T 148.2)
There are men who have been long connected with the sanitarium who will always be shadows of someone else, if they are retained there, when, if they were permitted to rely upon their own judgment, they would become deep, self-reliant thinkers, capable of giving wise counsel. Let these men have a chance to learn to bear responsibilities in the strength of God. Thus they will gain an experience that will enable them to impart the truth to others.
(8T 148.3)
But instead of men being sent from Battle Creek, as God has directed in the pointed testimonies that have been given, thousands of dollars have been devoted to enlarging the institutions and increasing the facilities in Battle Creek. And the call comes from Battle Creek for more conveniences and more workers. But there must be a change.
(8T 149.1)
We are encouraged as we see the work that is being done in Chicago and a few other places. Years ago the large responsibilities centering in Battle Creek should have been distributed. You may look with satisfaction at the widespreading growth of the sanitarium at Battle Creek, but God does not look upon it with the same approval that you do. If institutions had been built up in other places, if men had been given responsibilities to bear, there would have been far more strength, far more efficiency in our work, and we should have moved more nearly in accordance with the mind and will of God than we have. As it is, a few men are carrying heavy responsibilities. A few wield an influence that has a controlling power in the management of the work far and near, while there are many who carry no burdens.
(8T 149.2)
Many of those carrying heavy responsibilities need to be converted. Christ says to them as He said to Nicodemus: “Ye must be born again.”“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”John 3:7, 3. Many are controlled by an unchristian spirit. They have not yet learned in the school of Christ His meekness and lowliness, and unless they change, they will yield to Satan’s temptations. Year after year they carry sacred responsibilities, yet prove themselves incapable of distinguishing between the sacred and the common. How long shall such men continue to wield a controlling influence? How long shall their word be permitted to exalt or to cast down, to condemn or to lift up? How long shall they hold such power that no one dare make a change in their methods?
(8T 149.3)
Build Up New Centers
People are encouraged to settle in Battle Creek, to give their influence to the building up of a modern Jerusalem. This is not after God’s order. Thus other places are deprived of facilities that they should have. Enlarge ye; spread ye; yes, but not in one place only. Go out and establish centers of influence in places where nothing, or next to nothing, has been done. Break up your consolidated mass; diffuse the saving beams of light into the darkened corners of the earth. A work similar to that of an eagle stirring up her nest needs to be done.
(8T 150.1)
“Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.”Jeremiah 48:11. This is true of many of the believers who are coming to Battle Creek. Many have a spasmodic zeal in battle, but their light is like that of a meteor that flashes across the heavens and then goes out.
(8T 150.2)
Let God’s workmen who have the interests of His cause at heart do something for the colored people in the Southern field. Let not God’s stewards be content merely to touch this field with the tips of their fingers. Let those at the heart of the work plan in earnest for this field. Many have talked about it, but what are they doing as the stewards of God’s means? Why do they feel at liberty to bind up God’s capital of means in Battle Creek? Why do they do the very things that they have been warned not to do? The matter is becoming serious, for warnings and entreaties have been given in vain. The arms of power in Battle Creek are being extended more and more widely, seeking to control the work far and near, and to crush that which they cannot control. I lift my voice in protest. The spirit that now controls is not the Spirit of the Lord.
(8T 150.3)
The Lord has blessed Battle Creek again and again by pouring out His Spirit upon the church and the workers, but how few have cherished the influence of the Spirit. How few have expended their money as God has directed. Means has been expended in educating those who knew the truth, while fields that are wholly unenlightened have been neglected. Had ministers gone out as Christ has commissioned them, had they used the gifts entrusted them to carry the light to those in darkness, they would have obtained far more knowledge of God and of Christ than they have obtained by seeking additional education in our schools.
(8T 151.1)
A Failure to Appreciate God-Given Responsibilities
Has not God given us a work to do? Has He not bidden us go among opposing influences and convert men from error to truth? Why have not those who have so frequently gathered in the large assemblies in Battle Creek put into practice the truth that they have heard? If they had imparted the light that they have received, what a transformation of character would have been seen. For every grace imparted, God would have given grace. They have not prized as they should the work that has been done for them, or they would have gone forth into the dark places of the earth, to shed abroad the light. They would have given to the world the message of righteousness by faith, and their own light would have grown clearer and clearer; for God would have worked with them. Many have gone down into the grave in error because those who know the truth have failed to communicate the precious knowledge they have received. If the light that has shone so freely in Battle Creek had been diffused many would have been raised up to become laborers together with God.
(8T 151.2)
Oh, that our brethren and sisters might value aright the truth! Oh, that they might become sanctified by it! Oh, that they might realize that upon them rests the responsibility of communicating this truth to others! But they do not feel the importance of living the truth, of being doers of the words of Christ. Many are self-sufficient. They are not filled with the missionary spirit that should animate the disciples of Christ. If they knew what it means to have travail of soul for others, angels of God would work through them to communicate a knowledge of the truth. They would know the truth, and the truth would make them free. Money would no longer be expended in adding building to building in one place, but would be used in opening new fields, in planting the standard of truth in cities that have not yet been worked. The elevating, purifying, ennobling principles of heaven would be introduced into society and would work like leaven.
(8T 151.3)
Extract from a letter written in 1899, from Cooranbong, N. S. W., Australia—It is God’s design that those fields which have abundant facilities shall share their advantages with more needy fields. The principle is ever to be followed in all our institutions. God requires that there be less planning for buildings in places where the work is already established, and that means be sent to fields where, for lack of facilities, the laborers work at a great disadvantage.
(8T 152.1)