In the south there are some places where work can be done. But the neglect of our people to respond to the light of God has given has closed some openings which it will now be very difficult for them to enter, I inquire, What do our people mean by this neglect to work the Southern field? True, it is not a desirable field; and unless the Lord shall inspire with His love the hearts of His people, they will not succeed. They are not to begin by publishing the great and wonderful things they are going to do. Cannot they see that if they do this, the gate will be closed against them? That which might have been done years ago in the South cannot now be done.
(SW 88.1)
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When the children of Israel were encamped on the other side of the Jordan, “the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel.” Read this history, contained in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Numbers. When the evil report brought back by the spies was received, God was displeased, and declared His determination concerning the people. For forty years they were to wander in the wilderness. After He had said this, the people decided to go up. But the favorable time had passed. The news of their coming had been circulated, and their enemies were prepared to resist them. And Moses said, “Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.” But they presumptuously went to the hilltop to be defeated by their enemies.
(SW 88.2)
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Thus it is now with some places in the South. The doors are closed. Yet there are other places where prejudice has not been excited, and where work may be done. I write this to our people that they may see that it is not knowledge that they need, but new hearts, cleansed from all selfishness and covetousness. Those who have had every facility and convenience have shown their neglect for fields which have had so little. In some parts of the Lord’s vineyard nothing has been done. Money has been raised and appropriated, although not for personal advantage, yet in distinct disobedience to the Lord’s requirements. Those parts of His great vineyard where the least has been done were to be worked; but methods were used to divert the means for this purpose into other channels. Through misrepresentation and misinterpretation the Southern field has been robbed. That field has not received from the Lord’s treasury its meat in due season.
(SW 88.3)
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