I have been shown that in our labor for the enlightenment of the people in the large cities the work has not been as well organized or the methods of labor as efficient as in other churches that have not the great light we regard as so essential. Why is this? Because so many of our laborers have been those who love to preach (and many who were not thoroughly qualified to preach were set at work), and a large share of the labor has been put forth in preaching.
(MM 301.1)
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More attention should be given to training and educating missionaries with a special reference to work in the cities. Each company of workers should be under the direction of a competent leader, and it should ever be kept before them that they are to be missionaries in the highest sense of the term. Such systematic labor, wisely conducted, would produce blessed results.
(MM 301.2)
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Something has been done in this line, but too frequently the work has dwindled down, and nothing permanent has been accomplished. There is need now of earnest labor. The young men who go forth in the employ of the General Conference are to understand that they are not merely to preach, but to minister, to act like men who are weighted with solemn responsibility to seek and to save that which is lost.
(MM 301.3)
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It should not be the object of the laborer to present a large list of sermons he has preached, but what has he done in the work of saving souls, of training workers? This requires earnest labor in personal effort. It requires that the workers shall be often with God in earnest prayer, and that they seek wisdom through diligent searching of the Scriptures.—Letter 34, 1892.
(MM 301.4)
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The importance of making our way in the great cities is still kept before me. For many years the Lord has been urging upon us this duty, and yet we see but comparatively little accomplished in our great centers of population. If we do not take up this work in a determined manner, Satan will multiply difficulties which will not be easy to surmount. We are far behind in doing the work that should have been done in these long-neglected cities. The work will now be more difficult than it would have been a few years ago. But if we take up the work in the name of the Lord, barriers will be broken down, and decided victories will be ours.
(MM 301.5)
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Let companies now be quickly organized to go out two and two, and labor in the Spirit of Christ, following His plans. Even though some Judas may introduce himself into the ranks of the workers, the Lord will care for the work. His angels will go before and prepare the way. Before this time, every large city should have heard the testing message, and thousands should have been brought to a knowledge of the truth. Wake up the churches, take the light from under the bushel
(MM 303.1)
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Where are the men who will work and study and agonize in prayer as did Christ? We are not to confine our efforts to a few places. “If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another.”Matthew 10:23. Let Christ’s plan be followed. He was ever watching for opportunities to engage in personal labor, ever ready to interest and draw men to a study of the Scriptures. He labored patiently for men who had not an intelligent knowledge of what is truth. While we are not awake to the situation, and while much time is consumed in planning how to reach perishing souls, Satan is busy devising and blocking the way.
(MM 303.2)
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In view of the many neglected cities from one end of the United States to another, I am free to say that too much labor has been put forth in the plants in a few favored localities. Let not so large an expenditure of means and of time as has been devoted to ----- be given to other places; for it will be used as an evidence that we do not really believe that the end of all things is at hand. Satan knows how to make use of every inconsistency, and he will influence men to point at us and say, “They do not believe the things they teach.”— Manuscript 21, 1910.
(MM 303.3)
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In every city there should be a city mission, that would be a training school for workers. Many of our brethren must stand condemned in the sight of God because they have not done the very work that God would have them do.
(MM 303.4)
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If our brethren will use their God-given ability to warn the cities, angels of God will surely go before them to make the impression upon the hearts of the people for whom they labor. The Lord has many thousands who have never bowed the knee to Baal. Let not our ministers and our physicians fail nor be discouraged.—Letter 56, 1910.
(MM 303.5)
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