Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 13 (1898)

Lt 123, 1898

Kellogg, J. H.

Balaclava, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

[March 3,] 1898

Portions of this letter are published in 8T 158-165. +^Note

Dear Brother:

Special light has been given me that you are in danger of losing sight of the work that is to be done for this time. You are erecting barriers between your work and those you are educating, and the church. This must not be. Those who are receiving instruction in medical missionary lines are to be taught to realize that their education is to fit them to do better work in connection with the ministry of the Word. You are to remember, my brother, that the Lord has a people on the earth whom He respects. But your words, and the way in which you express them, create unbelief in the position we occupy as a people at the present time. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 1

You will remember that I wrote you that the banner you should hold firmly was being taken from your hand, and a banner with a different inscription put into it. You remember the warning given you that you were in danger, as was Nebuchadnezzar, of exalting yourself. Other symbols have been given me which lead me to write to you now. You are in danger of not holding fast the faith once delivered to the saints, of making shipwreck of your faith. The words were spoken: “A very small leak will sink a ship. One defective link makes a chain worthless.” 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 2

I feel pained to the heart. Remember, my brother, that the medical missionary work is not to take men from the ministry, but to place men in the field. Young men should receive an education in medical missionary lines, and then go forth to connect with the ministers who are laboring with the churches. You are not to bind them in any way to connect only with the work of rescuing the fallen and degraded. That work is to be found every where and is to be combined with the work of preparing a people to make Bible truth their defense against the sophistries of worldlings and the fallen church. The third angel is to go forth with great power to reach the people united with the apostate churches. We are not to ignore this work or make it the least. This will displease God. The truth is to be proclaimed to the world, that they may see the light. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 3

What saith the Lord in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah? This whole chapter is of the highest importance. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” God asks, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 4

“If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” [Verses 6-11.] 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 5

After specifying the work He requires His people to do, God says, “And they that be of thee shall build the old waste places, and thou shalt raise up the foundation of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Verses 12-14.] 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 6

This is our work. The light that we have upon the third angel’s message is the true light. The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. All in regard to this matter is not yet understood, and will not be understood until the unrolling of the scroll; but a most solemn work is to be accomplished in our world. “Cry aloud; spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sin.” [Verse 1.] A message is to be given to arouse the churches. Every effort is to be made to give the light not only to our people, but to the world. I have been given light that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation are to be printed in small books, with the necessary explanations, and sent all through the world. Our own people need to have the light in clearer lines before them. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 7

There is to be no change in the features of our work. It is to stand as clear and distinct as prophecy has made it. We are to enter into no confederacy with the world, supposing that by so doing we could do more work. If you stand in the way, to hinder the advancement of the work in the lines that God has appointed, you will displease God. The work of warning is to be done, and after you have faithfully accomplished your part of the work, you are not to bind or hinder any of the Lord’s servants from going forth to do the very work that should do. The work of laboring for the degraded and fallen is not to be made the principal and all-important line. This work is to be combined with the work of interesting and instructing the churches. The people are to be taught to help the needy and outcast. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 8

No line of our faith that has made us what we are is to be weakened. We are bound to stand firmly in defense of our principles, in full view of the world. With intense interest and solicitude we are to strive to give the invitation to those in the highways and byways. But this is one line of the special work that is to be done, and seeking the outcasts is not to be made all and in all, the body of the work, but is to be as the hand connected with the body. Although there may be unworthy ones connected with the ministry, yet no one can ignore the ministry without ignoring Christ. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 9

Dr. Kellogg, something is the matter. You are represented to me as being in danger of standing apart from our people, feeling that you are a complete whole. But if you bind yourself up with yourself, you will make a confederacy that will be broken to pieces, for no confederacy can stand but that which God has framed. Those who are receiving an education hear insinuations from time to time which demerit the church and the ministry. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 10

These insinuations are seeds which will spring up and bear fruit. The students might better be educated to realize that the church of Christ on earth is to be respected. All your medical students need to have a clear knowledge of the reasons of our faith. This knowledge they must have. Line upon line, precept upon precept, they must receive the Bible evidences of the truth as it is in Jesus. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 11

Do not, I beg of you, instill into the minds of the students ideas that will cause them to lose confidence in God’s appointed ministers. But this you are most certainly doing, whether thou are aware of it or not. In His providence the Lord has placed you in the position where you now stand, that the truth may be brought before a large number who otherwise would not become acquainted with it. And He will certainly be with you if you are with Him. Temptations will come to you [to think] that to carry forward the medical missionary work you must stand aloof from church organization or church discipline. This will place you on a footing that is unsound, and not after the order that God has established. The work done for those who come to you for instruction is not complete unless they are educated to work in connection with the church. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 12

The medical missionary work is not to be made all and in all. You are carrying things to extremes on this point. There is a large work to be done. Publications teaching the truth are to be circulated everywhere. Be careful that you are not found working out your own plans to the disregard of God’s plans. The students cannot, should not, be encouraged to bind themselves to circulate the books published upon health reform, and only those. Take heed lest there be a selfishness shown that God cannot approve. Plans have already been laid that are not right. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 13

Brisbane, Queensland

October 26, 1898

There is a burden upon my soul. There are those who are encouraged to take up a course of study in medical lines who ought to be preparing themselves to proclaim the third angel’s message. The time that is taken in this study is not necessary. It should be combined with a study of the Word of God. Ideas are inculcated that are not at all necessary, and the necessary things do not receive sufficient attention. While students are being educated in this way, they are being weakened to do acceptable work for the Master. The very taxation undergone to obtain a knowledge in medical lines unfits them to work as they should in ministerial lines. Physical and mental weariness comes from the overstrain, from being encouraged to work unduly for the outcast and degraded. This pulls them to pieces and disqualifies them for the work they might have done had they commenced missionary work where it was needed and let the medical line come in as connected with the work as a whole, as the hand is connected with the body. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 14

Both the understanding and the heart need to maintain the most intimate and conscious connection with the pure, sacred springs from which they derive their light and inspiration. Our schools are to be made more like the schools of the prophets. But erroneous opinions are maintained in regard to many things. Safeguards are not properly prepared. Students are not urged to take care of the health they already have. Life is not to be imperilled in an effort to obtain a medical education. There is danger of students ruining their health and unfitting themselves to do the service they might have done had they not been encouraged to obtain a medical education. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 15

Often erroneous opinions are transcribed on the mind that lead to an unwise course of action. The only hope is to educate in such a thorough manner that students will have time to consult God, time to live in hourly, conscious communion with the principles of truth, righteousness, and mercy. At this time straightforward investigation of the heart is essential. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 16

The student must place himself where he can draw from the deep Resource of all moral and intellectual power. He must require that every cause which asks his sympathy and co-operation has the approval of the reason which God has given him, and the conscience, which the Holy Spirit is controlling. He is not to perform an action which does not harmonize with the deep and holy principles which minister light to his soul and vigor to his will. Only thus can he do the living God the highest service. He is not to be taught that medical missionary work will bind him to any living man, who shall dictate what his work shall be. For if the Lord has ever spoken by me, it is that many of the methods and plans devised, although all are not made plain before me, are not in accordance with correct principles. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 17

Medical missionary work is not to be drawn apart and made separate from church organization. The medical students are not to receive the idea that they may consider themselves as amenable only to Dr. Kellogg. The students are to be left free to seek counsel from God. They are not to pledge themselves and their future to anything. No thread of selfishness must be drawn into the work; no scheme must be devised that has in it a particle of injustice. Selfishness is not to control in any line of the work. Let us remember that individually we are working in full view of the heavenly universe. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 18

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself.” [Luke 10:27.] But Christ, just before He left His disciples, declared to them, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Here we see the standard is lifted up higher and still higher. “By this shall all men know that ... ye have love one for another.” [John 13:34, 35.] The disciples could not then comprehend His words, but after His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension they understood His love as they had never understood it before. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 19

Be careful. Take heed. You are to let God in. He will make His combinations and arrangements. The Lord has need of men of intense spiritual life. How are we prepared to do the work for our time? The Lord has declared the source of the strength of His people: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” [Zechariah 4:6.] Zechariah 4:10-14. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 20

The Lord’s people are to be one. There is to be no separation in His work. Too much time and means is being absorbed in a work which is being carried forward too earnestly in one direction. The Lord has not appointed this. He sent out the twelve apostles and afterward the seventy to preach the Word to the people. The news of the kingdom of God was preached, and power was given to them to heal the sick and cast out devils, because their work was done in the name of Jesus. The two influences must not be separated. God’s commandment-keeping people must be one. Satan will invent every device to break up and separate those whom God is seeking to make one. But the Lord will reveal himself as a God of judgment. We are at this time working under the eyes of the heavenly host. There is a Watcher in our midst, inspecting all that is planned and carried on. 13LtMs, Lt 123, 1898, par. 21