To the President of the Florida Conference
Importance of the Sanitarium Work
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[THE FOLLOWING TESTIMONY WAS WRITTEN IN 1902, AND WAS ADDRESSED TO ELDER IRWIN, WHO WAS IN AUSTRALIA AT THE TIME.]
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I will try to answer your question as to what you should do in the case of Sunday laws being enforced.
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The light given me by the Lord at a time when we were expecting just such a crisis as you seem to be approaching, was, that when the people were moved by a power from beneath to enforce Sunday observance. Seventh-day Adventists were to show their wisdom by refraining from work on that day, devoting it to missionary effort.
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To defy the Sunday laws will but strengthen in their persecution the religious zealots who are seeking to enforce them. Give them no occasion to call you law-breakers. If they are left to rein up men who fear neither God nor man, the reining up will soon lose its novelty for them, and they will see that it is not consistent nor convenient for them to be strict in regard to the observance of Sunday. Keep right on with your work, with your Bibles in your hands, and the enemy will see that he has worsted his own cause. One does not receive the mark of the beast because he shows that he realizes the wisdom of keeping the peace by refraining from work that gives offense, doing at the same time a work of the highest importance.
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When we devote Sunday to missionary work, the whip will be taken out of the hands of the arbitrary zealots who would be well pleased to humiliate Seventh-day Adventists. When they see that we employ ourselves on Sunday in visiting the people, and opening the Scriptures to them, they will know that it is useless for them to try to hinder our work by making Sunday laws.
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When a man, white or black, is arrested for Sunday breaking, he is placed at a great disadvantage. He is humiliated. And it is well-nigh hopeless for him to obtain a fair trial. Often when Sabbath-keepers in the Southern states are arrested for working on Sunday, they are sent to the chain-gang, where they are forced to work on the Sabbath. The Lord does not command them to place themselves where they are obliged to dishonor his holy rest-day.
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Our churches should understand the methods to be used in avoiding this difficulty. Sunday can be used for carrying forward various lines of work that will accomplish much for the Lord. On this day open-air meetings and cottage meetings can be held. House-to-house work can be done. Those who write can devote this day to writing their articles. Whenever it is possible, let religious services be held on Sunday. Make these meetings intensely interesting. Sing genuine revival hymns, and speak with power and assurance of the Saviour's love. Speak on temperance and on true religious experience. You will thus learn much about how to work, and will reach many souls.
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Let the teachers in our schools devote Sunday to missionary effort. I was instructed that they would thus be able to defeat the purposes of the enemy. Let the teachers take the students with them to hold meetings for those who know not the truth. Thus they will accomplish much more than they could in any other way.
RP.1907-12-03.009
The law for the observance of the first day of the week is the production of apostate Christendom. Sunday is the child of the papacy, exalted by the Christian world above the sacred day of God's rest. In no case are God's people to pay homage to it. But I wish them to understand that they are not doing God's will by braving opposition when he wishes them to avoid it. Thus they create prejudice so bitter that it is impossible for the truth to be proclaimed. Make no demonstrations on Sunday in defiance of the law. If this is done in one place, and you are humiliated, the same thing will be done in another place. We can use Sunday as a day on which to carry forward work that will tell on the side of Christ. We are to do our best, working with all meekness and lowliness.
RP.1908-09-15.001
Dear Brother: I have just read your article in the Review, and also your letter of June 18 to my son, regarding a place which you have found near Orlando where there is land and building that seems to be suitable for a sanitarium. I have no hesitancy in saying that I believe the time has come for Florida to have a sanitarium, so that the light which our sanitariums are established to reflect, may shine forth to the people of Florida, and to the many health-seekers who come from the Northern States.
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Our time is short in which to do the important work of giving the last gospel message to the world. Therefore if there is opportunity to purchase at a moderate price, buildings suitably located and well adapted to the work we wish to do, let us improve the opportunity, and save ourselves the time, the care, and the anxiety that would be required in the work of erecting the buildings ourselves.
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I hope that this property which you have described, and which seems to have been brought within your reach by the providence of God, will become the means of strengthening the work in Florida, and that it will become an important center of influence from which many well-trained medical missionaries shall go forth with the message of mercy to the unworked parts of the Master's great harvest-field.
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Not long ago I wrote a letter to our people in Indiana regarding their effort to establish a sanitarium in Lafayette. I will send a copy to you, because I desire our people in Florida to have the same encouragement and counsel. Mrs. E. G. White. ---
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I have a message for our people in Indiana, and trust that it will be read to our brethren and sisters in every church in the conference. My heart is made glad as I hear of the efforts being made to establish a sanitarium in Lafayette. If the churches will unite heartily to carry to completion this good work that has been begun, very many will be benefited thereby.
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The blessing of the Word will come to God's people as they perform acts of self-denial and self-sacrifice in order to establish a place where the sick may be healed, and where they may also become acquainted with the principles of health reform. The Lord would have these suffering ones have every advantage of learning the truths concerning this subject.
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The message given to all our people regarding the "Extent of the Work," as published in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 7, pp. 51 - 59, I here repeat to you. Also a few words from page 62:-
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"God has qualified his people to enlighten the world. He has entrusted them with faculties by which they are to extend his work until it shall encircle the globe. In all parts of the earth, they are to establish sanitariums, schools, publishing houses, and kindred facilities for the accomplishment of his work. . . .
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"Christ co-operates with those who engage in medical missionary work. Men and women who unselfishly do what they can to establish sanitariums and treatment-rooms in many lands will be richly rewarded. Those who visit these institutions will be benefited physically, mentally, and spiritually,-the weary will be refreshed, the sick restored to health, the sin -burdened relieved. In far-off countries, from those whose hearts are by these agencies turned from the service of sin unto righteousness, will be heard thanksgiving and the voice of melody. By their songs of grateful praise a testimony will be borne that will win others to allegiance to and fellowship with Christ.
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"The conversion of souls to God is the greatest, the noblest work in which human beings can have a part. In this work are revealed God's power, his holiness, his forbearance, and his unbounded love. Every true conversion glorifies him, and causes the angels to break forth into singing.
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"We are nearing the End of this earth's history, and the different lines of God's work are to be carried forward with much more self-sacrifice than is at present manifest. The work for these last days is in a special sense a missionary work. The presentation of present truth, from the first letter of its alphabet to the last, means missionary effort. The work to be done calls for sacrifice at every advance step. From this unselfish service the workers will come forth purified and refined as gold tried in the fire. . . .
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"The Lord has signified that his work should be carried forward in the same spirit in which it was begun. The world is to be warned. Field after field is to be entered. The command given us is, 'Add new territory; add new territory.' Shall we not as a people, by our business arrangements, by our attitude toward a world unsaved, bear a testimony even more clear and decisive than that borne by us twenty or thirty years ago?
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"Upon us has shone great light in regard to the last days of this earth's history. Let not our lack of wisdom and energy give evidence of spiritual blindness. God's messengers must be clothed with power. They must have for the truth an elevating reverence that they do not now possess. The Lord's solemn, sacred message of warning must be proclaimed in the most difficult fields and in the most sinful cities,-in every place where the light of the third angel's message has not yet dawned. To every one is to be given the last call to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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"In proclaiming the message, God's servants will be called upon to wrestle with numerous perplexities, and to surmount many obstacles. Sometimes the work will go hard, as it did when the pioneers were establishing the institutions in Battle Creek, in Oakland, and in other places. But let all do their best, making the Lord their strength, avoiding all selfishness, and blessing others by their good works. . . .
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"Medical missionary work is the right hand of the gospel. It is necessary to the advancement of the cause of God. As through it men and women are led to see the importance of right habits of living, the saving power of the truth will be made known. Every city is to be entered by workers trained to do medical missionary work. As the right hand of the third angel's message, God's methods of treating disease will open doors for the entrance of present truth."
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"We have come to a time when every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work. The world is a lazar-house filled with victims of both physical and spiritual disease. Everywhere people are perishing for lack of a knowledge of the truths that have been committed to us. The members of the church are in need of an awakening, that they may realize their responsibility to impart these truths. Those who have been enlightened by the truth are to be light-bearers to the world. To hide our light at this time is to make a terrible mistake. The message to God's people to-day is, ' Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.'
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"On every hand we see those who have had much light and knowledge deliberately choosing evil in the place of good. Making no attempt to reform, they are growing worse and worse. But the people of God are not to walk in darkness. They are to walk in the light, for they are reformers."
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Self-Denial and Vigilance Erroneous opinions, arrived at because of faulty education in the home, have been handed down by children to children's children, and habits of indulgence have been fostered which have resulted in ruined health to thousands. Our sanitariums are to be places where correct education can be given to many on matters that pertain to life and health. The habits of eating should be carefully guarded, that none shall make themselves sick by indulgence of appetite. The Lord is not pleased when his people, bought by the sacrifice of his beloved Son, thoughtlessly injure themselves by wrong habits of living. As we pass through this world, we should seek to instruct all who will be taught how to avoid and how to overcome self-indulgent practices.
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If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we shall seek to become intelligent as to how to keep the brain clear and active, that not a tittle of our influence be lost. We should seek to become laborers together with God by keeping the system in such a condition that it can render perfect service. It is poor policy indeed to ill-treat the digestive organs, upon which the happiness of the whole being so largely depEnds. When the stomach is disturbed, the mind is disturbed, and the brain nerve power is weakened. It therefore becomes a religious duty with every soul to learn the science of healthful living, to keep the question of diet in mind, and to treat the matter conscientiously.
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The apostle Paul declares to us that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price. If we truly love the One who gave his life for us, we shall feel under solemn obligation to avoid disease. There is a solemn responsibility resting upon all, and especially upon our ministers and their families, to set a right example in the matter of healthful living. If our ministers would combine physical labor with their mental efforts, they would find great improvement in health and mental clearness.
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The strength of the temptation to indulge perverted appetite can be measured only by the long-suffering of Christ in his long fast in the wilderness. Christ knew that in order to carry out the plan of salvation, he must begin the work of redemption just where the ruin began. Adam fell on the point of appetite. Christ took up the work of redemption just where the ruin began. The same is true of our experience. We are to begin the work of reform just where the work of degeneracy is so keenly felt.
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To teach us how to overcome the temptations of appetite, Christ has given us the record of his own experience of nearly six weeks of fasting, followed by his wonderful victory over the power of Satan. In this experience Christ broke the power of appetite for all who will accept the aid of the divine power on which he relied. He made it impossible for Satan to destroy the human race through indulged appetite, and made it possible for men and women in his strength to live a Christian life. Those who believe in Christ must, like him, guard the appetite.
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Study again and again the counsel given in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, regarding "God's Design in Our Sanitariums." From pp. 224, 225, I copy the following: -
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"In the preparation of a people for the Lord's second coming, a great work is to be accomplished through the promulgation of health principles. The people are to be instructed in regard to the needs of the physical organism, and the value of healthful living as taught in the Scriptures, that the bodies which God has created may be presented to him a living sacrifice, fitted to render him acceptable service. There is a great work to be done for suffering humanity in relieving their sufferings by the use of the natural agencies that God has provided, and in teaching them how to prevent sickness by the regulation of the appetites and passions. The people should be taught that transgression of the laws of nature is transgression of the laws of God. They should be taught the truth in physical as well as in spiritual lines, that 'the fear of the Lord tendeth to life.' 'If thou wilt enter into life,' Christ says, 'keep the commandments.' Live out my law' as the apple of thine eye!' God's commandments, obeyed, are 'life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.'
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"Our sanitariums are an educating power to teach the people in these lines. Those who are taught can in turn impart to others a knowledge of health-restoring and health-preserving principles. Thus our sanitariums are to be an instrumentality for reaching the people, an agency for showing them the evil of disregarding the laws of life and health, and for teaching them how to preserve the body in the best condition. Sanitariums are to be established in different countries that are entered by our missionaries, and are to be centers from which a work of healing, restoring, and educating shall be carried on." Mrs. E. G. White.
RP.1913-10-16.001
As Noah's descendants increased in number, apostasies soon led to division. Those who desired to forget their Creator, and to cast off the restraint of his law, decided to separate from the worshipers of God. Accordingly they journeyed to the plain of Shinar, on the banks of the River Euphrates. Here they decided to build a city, and in it a tower reaching unto heaven,-so high that no flood could rise to the top, so massive that nothing could sweep it away. Thus they hoped to make themselves independent of God.
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But among the men of Babel there were living some God-fearing men who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly, and drawn into their wicked schemes. These men would not join this confederacy to thwart the purposes of God. They refused to be deceived by the wonderful representations and the grand outlook. For the sake of these faithful ones the Lord delayed his judgments, and gave the people time to reveal their true character. They heeded not the counsel of the Lord, but carried out their own purposes. The great majority were fully united in their heaven-daring undertaking. Had they been permitted to go on unchecked, they would have demoralized the world by their wonderful plans.
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This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self exaltation, and not for the glory of God. Had they succeeded, a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness and inaugurating a new religion. The mixture of certain religious ideas with a mass of erroneous theories would have resulted in closing the door to peace, happiness, and security. These suppositions-erroneous theories-carried out and perfected, would have banished a knowledge of the law of Jehovah from the minds of men, who would not think it necessary to obey the divine statutes. These statutes, which are holy, just, and good, would have been ignored. Determined men, inspired by the first great rebel, would have been urged on by him, and would have permitted nothing to have interfered with their plans, or to stop them in their evil course. In the place of the divine percepts they would have substituted laws, framed in accordance with their selfish hearts, in order that they might carry out their purposes.
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But God never leaves the world without witnesses for him. Those who loved and feared him at the time of the first great apostasy after the flood, humbled themselves, and cried unto him. "O God," they pleaded, "interpose thyself between thy cause and the plans and methods of men." "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower [the great idol building] which the children of men builded." He defeated the purpose of the tower builders, and overthrew the memorial of their rebellion. God bears long with the perversity of men, giving them ample opportunity for repentance; but he marks all their devices to resist the authority of his just all holy law. As an evidence of his displeasure over the building of this tower, he confounded the language of the builders, so that none could understand the words of his fellow builder.
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Principles have been perverted. Men have been departing from right principles, for the promulgation of which these institutions were established. They have failed of doing the very work God ordained should be done to prepare a people to "build the old waste places," and to stand in the breach, as is represented in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.
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In this scripture the work we are to do is clearly defined as being medical missionary work. This work is to be done in all places. God has a vineyard; and he desires that this vineyard shall be worked unselfishly. No parts are to be neglected. The most neglected portion needs the most wide-awake missionaries to do the work portrayed in the fifty-seventh chapter of Isaiah:-
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"Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
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"When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; and shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."
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"For their spirit should fail before me, saith the Lord, if I were to deal with my people in accordance with their perversity. They could not endure my displeasure and my wrath. I have seen the perverse ways of every sinner. He who repents and does the works of righteousness, I will convert and heal, and restore unto him my favor."
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I am instructed to say that in his judgments the Lord will remember mercy. For his own name's sake he will not permit the froward and independent to carry out their unsanctified plans. He will visit them for their perversity of action. "There is no peace, saith my Cod, to the wicked."
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Concerning those who have been deceived and led astray by unconsecrated men, the Lord says: "Their course of action has not been in accordance with my will: yet for the righteousness of my own cause, for the truth's sake, for the sake of those who have preserved their fear and love of God, I, who create the fruit of the lips, will put my message in the lips of those who will not be perverted. Although some may be deceived and blinded in their ideas of men and the purposes of men, I will heal every one who honors my name. All penitent Israel shall see my salvation. I, the Lord, do rule, and I will fill with praise and thanksgiving the hearts of all who are high and afar off, even all the penitent of Israel who have kept my way."
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When iniquity abounds among the nations; when multitudes are honored by great festivities; when all are interested in making everything possible of men, and are seeking their own pleasure-and we see all these things taking place now - then we may know that the condition of things is similar to the condition that existed in the days of Noah, when the Lord called the inhabitants of the earth to drink the waters of the flood.
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Lot's Experience The state of the world now is similar to that which existed in the days of Lot, when Sodom's corruption called for the angel's visit to that wicked city, to see whether the cries coming up before heaven were of such a character that the inhabitants of beautiful Sodom - a city that had been so highly favored of God - had so corrupted their ways before the Lord that there was no hope of their redemption. God's wrath was revealed so signally because the corruption of the Sodomites was so deep. The heavenly visitants could see for themselves that the Sodomites had passed the limits of divine forbearance.
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The angels took Lot and his wife and daughters by the hand, to hasten their flight from the city, lest the storm of divine judgment should break upon the place they hesitated so much to leave. They were solemnly commanded to hasten, for the fiery storm would be delayed but a little longer. But one of the fugitives presumptuously ventured to cast a regretful look backward to the doomed city, and she became a monument of God's judgement,-showing how he regards unbelief and presumptuous rebellion.
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This visitation of God's wrath upon Lot's wife hurried the remaining three on their way from the city. But Lot, not desiring to flee to the mountains, had pleaded with the Lord to spare a smaller city a few miles from Sodom to which he could flee. What unbelief he manifested! His faith was very weak. But God in his mercy spared Zoar, in answer to Lot's petitions.
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The result of their going to Zoar is plainly recorded in the Scriptures. All the cities surrounding Sodom were corrupted with the sins of the Sodomites.
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When iniquity abounds in a nation, there is always to be heard some voice giving warning and instruction, as the voice was heard in Sodom. Yet Lot could have preserved his family from many evils had he not made his home in that wicked. polluted city. All that Lot and his family did in Sodom could have been done by them, even if they had lived in a place some distance from the city. Enoch walked with God, and yet he did not live in the midst of any city, polluted with every kind of violence and wickedness, as did Lot in Sodom.
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I have not time now to present all that I hope the Lord will strengthen me to present to his people in regard to this matter. Mrs. E. G. White.
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At this time, Jude's testimony is of great force to all who desire to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
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Jude bears his message to guard believers against the seductive influence of false teachers, men who have a form of godliness but who are not safe leaders. In these last days, false teachers will arise and become actively zealous. All kinds of theories will be presented to divert the minds of men and women from the very truth that defines the position we can occupy with safety in this time when Satan is working with power upon religionists, who make a pretense of being righteous, but fail of placing themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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False theories will be mingled with every phase of experience and advocated with Satanic earnestness in order to captivate the mind of every soul who is not rooted and grounded in a full knowledge of the sacred principles of the Word. In the very midst of us will arise false teachers, giving heed to seducing spirits whose doctrines are of Satanic origin. These teachers will draw away disciples after themselves. Creeping in unawares, they will use flattering words, and make skilled representations with seductive tact.
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A Message to Church-Members The only hope of our churches is to keep wide awake. Those who are well grounded in the truths of the Word, those who test everything by a "Thus saith the Lord," are safe. The Holy Spirit will guide those who prize the wisdom of God above the deceptive sophistries of Satanic agencies.
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Let there be much praying, not in human lines, but under the inspiration and love of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The families who believe the truth are to speak words of wisdom and intelligence,- words that will come to them as the result of the searching of the Scriptures. Now is our time of test and trial. Now is the time when the members of every believing family must close their lips against speaking words of accusation concerning their brethren. Let them speak words that impart courage, and strengthen the faith which works by love and purifies the soul.
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Christian fathers and mothers are now called upon to fulfil their duties in the home. They must try to advise their children unto eternal life.
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"There were false prophets also among the people," says the apostle Peter concerning the church anciently, "even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
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The Lord is guarding his people against a repetition of the errors and mistakes of the past. There have always abounded false teachers, who advocating erroneous doctrines and unholy practises, and working upon false principles in a most specious, covert, deceptive manner, have endeavored to deceive, if possible, the very elect. They bind themselves up in their own fallacies. If they do not succeed, because their way becomes hedged by warnings from God, they will change somewhat the features of their work, and the representations they have made, and bring out their plans again under a false showing. They refuse to confess, repent, and believe. Confessions may be made, but no real reformation takes place, and erroneous theories bring ruin upon unsuspecting souls, because these souls believe and rely upon the men advocating these theories.
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Words of Caution I am instructed to charge parents to take heed to keep their children guarded. Let all take heed how they hear. Many things are reported in regard to Sister White. Some say one thing and some say another. To those who know the messages from the Lord, I would say, Hold fast; for soon all will be fulfilled. Hold fast to the Bible. "Search the Scriptures," Christ said, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
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Many will become so pleased with erroneous sentiments that they will engage in the promulgation of those doctrines and of specious, deceptive theories. And more than this, they will liberally pay any one who will assist in promulgating these sentiments.
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Let our churches beware of any effort made to draw our youth from their home churches to unite with an institution in order to wait upon worldlings. I call upon those in charge of our churches to beware. You are shepherds, set to watch over the sheep and lambs of Christ's flock.
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Our churches who have a deep interest in the children and youth, and in the work of training workers to carry forward the work essential for this time, need not blunder; for God will open ways before all who are perfecting Christian characters. He will have places ready for them in which to begin to do true missionary work. It was to prepare workers for this work that our schools and sanitariums were established.
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Let us make no mistakes. The Word declares, "Many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ." "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Shall we receive these into our confidence? No! No! We are to receive only those who give the surest evidence that they are doing the work appointed them by God.
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The Work Before Us I say to our people, Let not those upon whom we must depend to do gospel missionary work in places where the truth should be represented, be drawn away by any pretense from their work. The cause of God needs the very best workers. God's workers are ever to cherish a clear idea of what constitutes pure and undefiled religion. In the cities where the truth is to be established there will be needed workers of Bible faith and practise. The work of God is to be carried forward in the South, and the youth whose talents make them the most desired are to be ready to step into the places prepared for them in institutions where they can obtain a training for work without being thrown into the companionship of worldly people, who know not God, and whose wrong sentiments will leaven the minds of those with whom they are brought in contact. We can not afford to allow the minds of our youth to be thus leavened; for it is on these youth that we must depend to carry forward the work in the future.
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The work at Washington will demand the best and most earnest missionaries. This place, the headquarters of the nation, is a most important field, and there must be those there who are able to state wisely the reasons of their faith. There will be needed young men and women of capability, who can take up the work as pioneers, and carry it forward in the strength of the Lord.
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God's people are to keep their lamps trimmed and burning amid the moral darkness and the unbelief of the world. Colporteur evangelists are needed to circulate the publications containing the messages of warning for this time.
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I call upon the presidents of our conferences to exert their God-given influence to open the fields that have never yet been worked. These fields stand as a reproach to our people. Organize your work intelligently, and then proceed to action. Let your simplicity of speech, and your simplicity and neatness of dress, speak of your work as missionaries. Educational advantages will be provided, and the Lord will go before those who will take up the work in the spirit of self-sacrifice.
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Study the life and teachings of Christ. Many may bid for your services, offering large inducements. Remember that Christ paid for you the price of his own life, and that you are not your own. You are to glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are his.
RP.1913-10-30.019
Humility and benevolence are traits of character that God acknowledges. The Word of God inculcates humility and encourages benevolence. Humility places man on vantage ground through the grace of Christ. Christ came to this world to reveal who are to be received as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.
RP.1913-10-30.020
To all Christ says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest [in the daily experience] unto your souls." Rest will come to all who follow the example given them in the life of Christ. The one whose life practise shows that he has savingly embraced the gospel of Christ, will gain access to many souls. This is true of both men and women, and especially of the youth.
RP.1913-10-30.021
"Of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
RP.1913-10-30.022
Professed Christians who are being transformed into the likeness of Christ, and who love him with all the heart, will earnestly labor to establish the truth in many places. This is the very work that the great Medical Missionary has given us to do. Steadfast faith and perseverance in practical godliness will open the way before every true Christian. And when souls are converted through the instrumentality of such workers they will give all the glory to God, and will rejoice with exceeding great joy. Ellen G. White