Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Ms 199, 1899

Diary/Warnings to Dr. Kellogg

NP

Circa 1899

Previously unpublished.

When running short of funds for different devisings, most stirring speeches are made at our camp meetings of a most magnified representation of the work which should have been most thoroughly investigated with prayer for discernment to understand. What means this class of labor? What means all this employment and consumption of means? Is it [increasing] how many are being added to the church of such as shall be saved? And what has been added to the strength of the Lord's work to keep it in its various branches in a healthful condition? Was this robbery of the Lord's vineyard being carried in God's order, or [was it] a plan of the devil to use up all available means that should be employed to carry forward the work of God solidly—that the cause of God should stand throughout the world in poverty and a languishing condition, that the wily foe should use the poverty in fields that might and should have been worked as he interpreted the fast of Christ in a desolate wilderness as an evidence that He was not the Son of God? 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 1

The denominational churches of today are pointing with a sneer to the few Seventh-day Adventists, poor and cheap in their appearance before the world, to make them a byword and a hissing. And who has this sin to answer for in America? Who has gathered in donations from every source available, absorbing means? The true revealing, the true state of matters in the result of the work done, is largely exaggerated—far from the representations that have been made. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 2

That which grieves me to the heart [is that] the testimonies of the Spirit of the Lord have been misinterpreted and misapplied to sustain the work that God never meant it should strengthen. This is the work of the wily foe, to turn away means from the cause of God where it should go, to sustain the work where God's servants were trying to make headway under pressure for that very means. The Lord's money should have been entrusted with those whom God has led in America and whom God has guided to establish the work in California. Never has God directed such a work for Seventh-day Adventists to do as has been done to erect memorials of Dr. Kellogg's ample means. This presentation was similar to that of Hezekiah, after God had raised him up from sickness and added fifteen years to his life. [See] 2 Kings 20; Isaiah 39. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 3

“Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done of the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” 2 Chronicles 32:31. “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” Deuteronomy 8:1, 2. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 4

The Lord has not led thee any more than He led Hezekiah in [your] showing strangers the riches of the Lord's Sanitarium. Those testimonies published in the New York Observer are an exhibition of being left of God, to prove thee, and to try thee, to see what is in thy heart. Men are exalted, but the Lord God of Israel is left out of the question. Just as surely as the Lord tried Hezekiah, so he has tried Dr. Kellogg. He was weighed in the balance and found wanting. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 5

You have measured your good works and have pronounced yourself unselfish, and have said the things I have written you were not true. They are verity and truth, and only a small portion of the truth was stated in so mild a way that you should not take offense. Exaltation and pride in yourself and your achievements had been marked of the Lord; He left you, removing from you your wisdom, that the indulgence of self-will has led to strange actions. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 6

The question was asked, What right have you to invest the proceeds of the Sanitarium in the work you had devised? It was not faithful stewardship, and for this reason letters have been written to you of warnings in regards to your demeriting of ministers and setting your judgment above God's servants. Why did you not respond to the calls of necessities in other places, to create facilities where there was nothing? Why have you poured [means] into one place among a class that could be in no way a class to represent the work given the Lord's people to do? You are not to act in connection with the work of God as owner of the whole concern. You have no moral right to disperse the means profusely as you have done in a work that will not advance the cause of God or elevate and enlarge and ennoble a people to stand in the Lord's truth. [Instead of] setting in operation facilities that will be under God's blessing, tributaries to advance the work which you know will increase more and more, you linked up with A. R. Henry and set in operation a Sanitarium which was a draining of funds that leaves that institution heavily in debt. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 7

[You] link up with unbelievers or men who have evidence having no connection with God, obtaining through pressure the assent to erect a building in Boulder that could not be paid for, and yet you continue to run the work in Chicago which God has never advised you to do. Then there are censures and condemnation poured out upon the board because they do not help you in draining the endless load that you have attached to yourself. But the Lord does not look upon the ministers in the light J. H. Kellogg looks at them. How is the world to receive the gospel message [when] you place ministers in public meetings in a most depreciative condition? Christ says, “It was Me that was humiliated.” [See Matthew 25:40.] God has been looking and has been insulted in the persons of His saints. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 8

I have written letters upon letters as matters have been presented to me of the Lord, which no one is any of the wiser for. I have held them until the Holy Spirit of God shall subdue and soften your heart and make your heart new. It needs converting and for you to become as a little child, else the Lord will leave you to yourself as one who will not receive counsel or reproof. Is it not time you received the operation of the Holy Spirit? You must have the implanting of a new nature. The influences of grace are so much needed on your own heart and on your mind, whereby your heart is purified and daily strengthened and renewed in righteousness and true holiness. You need the counsel of men who will not hold their peace if they see you moving or acting unwisely. When you rebuff what they say with a sharp retort they become discouraged and let you state what you will. As silence gives consent, they have done you a serious wrong and are accountable for all the injury [along with] yourself because of their unfaithfulness. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 9

Bear in mind [that the] doctrines held by Seventh-day Adventists are the gospel that Christ said must go to all people, tongues, and nations. Righteousness through a crucified and risen Saviour, the third angel's message, and the faith of Jesus are broad outlines of eternal truth. You have been trailing your banner in the dust of the earth. It is no honor to God that you have created objects to eat up the revenue which should be appropriated to plant the standard of truth—a testing message which will decide every case for life or death. These important testing truths are not detached doctrines, no loose, unconnected units and sentiments. The truth, the Word of the living God, is the bread of life. The truths form one string of varied precious gems. The person and work of Christ is a complete system of truths. Christ being its living center, they are linked in one grand, practical, essential, whole—the salvation of the soul by faith in Christ Jesus. That faith in Jesus sinks self into the small dust of the balance. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 10

You need that faith that works by love and purifies the soul, because you are in a responsible position. You need holiness of character and entire obedience to the commandments of God. There is no truth like this. God does not call for you to expend labor and money on those cases which will prove the least in development of character while that same money [could have been] expended economically in many cities and places where they have no opportunity to be enlightened, yet are praying and entreating the Lord for light. Thus it has been represented to me. Schools and meetinghouses of worship I have seen have been built, whole neighborhoods converted and the truth going forth to other places as a lamp that burneth. There is a church raised up, tithes are being paid, the poor are looked after and helped, and souls are converted through the mission efforts put forth. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 11

Eternity will reveal the correct way of doing missionary work and the incorrect way. I want you to think before you go any further how the work you have entered upon is to be sustained. The Lord has opened to me that there is a wise way to do missionary work and an unwise way. There is a way that will make the receiver dependent for their food but in no way contributing to the general funds. Now I beseech of you, for Christ's sake, to stop and consider the fall of man by nature and the just condemnation of a holy God. If those you administer unto make little show of true conversion, something is out of the way. The Lord has pointed out to me so distinctly that your methods were not after the gospel order of Jesus Christ. Means and large labor have been expended which, if properly and wisely used, would have revealed memorials in a large number of cities and communities and built up the work of God, not in a beggarly fashion, but in a way to properly represent our faith to do honor to God and give character to His work and remove the reproach from His people. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 12

The best means is through camp meetings. God has surely blessed every one of these meetings that are followed up with thorough after-work. From seventy-five to one hundred have been converted. A few came from the churches, but most, by their testimony borne, stated they had not entered a church for years. They could obtain no [spiritual] food. Young men and young women, people of promise, are added to the church of such as shall be saved, if they continue steadfast in the faith. Oh, I am so thankful to see talent coming into the church through God's appointed agencies. Our great want has been more workers and money to carry forward the work in establishing memorials of the true Sabbath of the Lord our God in new fields. I give my books to those, rich or poor, who are battling with the powers of opposition from the clergy. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 13

You want to stand under the yoke of Christ. You want to work after Christ's order and not work out plans of your own. You have not had God to plan with you. You have supposed your capabilities were capable of any stretch or strain, but if you fall—as you may be assured—it is not because you have walked and worked in God's appointed way, after His will. You [must] then move intelligently and not be afraid. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 14

Men must not now hover over the churches, for every soul must learn to do their work for other souls. Preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Why, if men would only first talk with God, [even] if they can do no more than pray the Lord's Prayer when walking the streets or when working with their hands! The Lord taught these words to His disciples, to ascend to the throne of God. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 15

There need not be large display in building our meetinghouses, but everything should be done firmly and solidly, for it is an object lesson on the building of character. The thorough conversion of the soul is to be kept before the people. When there is a genuine forgetfulness of self, depending by faith on Jesus Christ, everything may be done to His name's glory. In presenting the living oracles, the divine theme thoroughly takes possession of the speaker—the heart, the mind, the speech. His faith in the Word, the message of truth, he presents in fervency of the Spirit. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 16

There is One who hath said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:19, 20.] This work has been neglected in a large measure and the result is that the much labor and many plans to keep the church alive have proved to weaken them in the place of benefitting them. Now how shall the state of things be broken up? [Read] Mark 16:15-18. “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs following.” [Verses 19, 20.] When the Holy Spirit bears the confirmation of the truth at the time of the ministration of the Word, working under the supervision of God, the work will be accompanied with results. The Word of God is then quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The promise of God is sure. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 17

[Two pages missing.]

Why did you not stop and consider before you built your towers, whether you would be able to finish them? There was your Orphan's Home and Old People's Home, and the Sanitarium—were these not enough? Certainly [these were] all you should have had to care for. You have taken on you a work which God did not set you to do. There are boundaries and limits to everything. One line of work is connected with another line of work, which draws big responsibilities upon somebody, and that somebody God would have using their powers and their monies in other lines of work. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 18

That article in the New York Observer explains why the Sanitarium is in debt, as you have stated to me. One hundred thousand dollars was donated to the work of your creation in Chicago, and that paper states that such a work you were to create in cities everywhere. Could you not be sensible and sit down and count the cost of this work? You have lost the spirit of the gospel in your distracted efforts to keep the work going that you, J. H. Kellogg, have taken upon yourself irrespective of the real gospel work that was to be carried to all parts of the world. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 19

Sinners of every stripe and type may come to the Lord Jesus and believe, but there are a class to work for that must be producers as well as consumers, else our work will be left in poverty and disgrace. How much revenue comes to the Lord's treasury in these experiments? You were represented to me from time to time as creating things that would ruin you financially, and worse, you would just as surely make shipwreck of your faith. You are offended if any words or hands are outstretched to bar your way. You load yourself down as a cart beneath sheaves and it is not with work God has given you, grasping burdens God has not laid upon you. Some good will come out of this work, but that means employed in the very work that was needed to be done that would fertilize the barren fields to plant the standard of truth, would have produced an hundredfold and presented to the world a showing that God's truth will become a triumph. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands will fill the whole earth. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 20

That means is invested, as your reporter gives it, to a work created that consumes thousands of dollars per month. Who laid this upon you? Not the Lord. If you fail and lose your life, it is not Sister White that is the reason of it. It is the creation of a work that blocks the way so that God's money will be invested by you in places where it will bring very little glory to God, when that same means expended in the gospel ministry—serving the bread of life to souls that are starving for the truth—would raise memorials in many places that would bring the knowledge of the truth to many dark corners of the earth. The people that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death will see a great light and will receive the truth gladly. Plants will be made all over the earth. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 21

I have had respect for you and love for you because the Lord was working with you in the work He has appointed you—the Sanitarium in Battle Creek. In your dealing with the sick God was with you, right by your side. But when you load yourself down with responsibilities God has not laid upon you, then it wears and tears the brain power and you wrench yourself one way and the other way to relieve yourself of the sin of this accumulation of continually sapping the means you have created yourself, smarting under the load alone. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 22

The ministers of God's appointment are more in the line of their God-given work than yourself and those you place on the stand at our large gatherings—men who will begin a tirade of the ministers—[men] who are undisciplined, uncouth, and unconverted. They are from the sloughs of Chicago and say after their drunken sprees, “I am saved.” 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 23

I may expect anything after you read this letter, but when you gave yourself up to such extravagant grief because Sister White had left you, my dear brother, Sister White has not left you, but you have determined not to heed her words and to do as you please. Well, in doing as you please, the result will surely come and you will be one and alone. If you would have counseled with your ministering brethren in all these enterprises, you would have followed the rule marked out by our Lord. When you take yourself in your own hands, you have a tyrannical master and he will lead you into a warfare you little dream of. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 24

Those who have come to this field have begun just in the way they have been educated. I have watched them right and left. When we had no sturdy ground, when we were pressured on every side, right and left, Dr. Caro considered it was a part of his work to institute a home for babies, and whenever I go into Sydney, there is a paper passed to me to contribute to the Orphanage Home. And there is a home for abandoned women, yet we have no standing, no means. I talked with him very seriously and had to tell him that the Lord was not leading him in the line of work he had taken up. He had given him his appointed work and it needed all the calm, religious element to be cultivated to do the work in the Sanitarium, to be sharp, clear, and discerning, to take advantage of circumstances, to train and educate the helpers, and to win souls to Jesus Christ. That is what our Sanitarium is for. Then the truth will do its work in restoring, and the reputation of the Sanitarium will be preserved. But today it is far from being what it should be and doing the work it should do. You have instituted so many things, dividing the work between Chicago and Battle Creek institutions, that the legitimate work God has appointed you to do, you cannot do because you have taken up work that has not been appointed to you to do. Now you come here with misconceived ideas and attempt to run things on the same principles. It is the same pattern that God has opened before me, that was not God's way of working. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 25

These things are cropping out and I will not permit it. I stand in God opposed to a work the world can and will do if it is not taken out of their hands. The devil would be pleased to close every avenue left us here in this hard field, where a class of people shall be reached and brought to the platform of eternal truth, to give character and influence on the Lord's side, in the place of centering so much money in a class that will scarcely—any of them—be an honor to the cause of God, but must be watched always. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 26

There is [much] work to be done to establish something. Whenever this is mentioned, you rush off on a tangent against the gospel ministers and show very little Christian courtesy and respect. When you have done this, you get worked up and you say things that make the angels of God ashamed of you. When the Lord has done so much for you to give you influence, it becomes you to cooperate with God and seek by Christian courtesy to maintain that influence with your brethren that will recommend to them your work in the Sanitariums. In our large gatherings, these men are looking for you to do and act in accordance with the light God has given you. When the Lord counsels and reproves you, you act like an unsubdued, fractious child. Then how can you maintain your influence and the confidence of your brethren? You declare the things spoken by Sister White are not the truth. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 27

The Lord has another work for you; you have lost your bearings. Dr. Caro thought he should be the president of the mission. I could see it would be appropriate in order to be recognized among the people to whom he should come to give his lectures. Then the question arose in our council meeting in regard to our manager. Should the president's position be front, and should it not be first and highest? I said I thought it would, but that night I was enlightened that the manager's position was equal to the president and was even more responsible. The next day I related the light given me. I said to Brother Caro, “My brother, your judgment is not always reliable. Your standing in the highest authority will, I fear, be an injudicious movement, for you need guarding on many points. You cannot follow in this place the things that have been done and are being done in Battle Creek or Chicago. You must counsel with your brethren at every step.” 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 28

One man's mind is not to sway things according to his ideas or notions. Ideas and plans at every step need investigation and looking into. We cannot afford [unwise] expenditures; if we had as much money to handle as they have had at Battle Creek be assured it would be just as severely [mismanaged] as the misapplication of means have been in Battle Creek. We have a work to do and that work must be done intelligently. There must be openness and everything laid out before those in responsible positions for their inspection, reproval, or condemnation. The Lord would not have one man's mind swaying the work as if he was God. There are men who have keen perception and all matters must be managed as open as the day. There is to be no course of action among the people of God in any city or in any place that shall invest means so much larger in proportion to that which is carried out in other parts of the Lord's vineyard, for the Lord's ways are equal. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 29

Our Lord will never encourage in any man—whatever his responsible position may be—the appropriation of large means, [resulting in] only consuming and no producing. In every city in our world there is a class of men who would live on food provided for them free, without money and without price, which would make that enterprise non-producing. The [institutions] are not to encourage laziness and intemperate practices by having men spend all their earnings to gratify their intemperate appetites and then be fed and clothed and [given] sleeping quarters free. The Lord would never encourage dependence upon others, and the course that has been pursued in Chicago, is not to be repeated in this country or any country in our world, because it is a wrong precedent. There is not to be, in the use of God's money, a mercy for the shiftless class that would make mercy and compassion foolishness. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 30

Again, there is not to be placed before any sanitarium [worker] the inducement of giving to the poor by not eating a meal themselves. This is carrying matters too far altogether, when means is lavishly spent in lines which God has not called them to work. Let the reform and self-denial begin at the right place and reformation be wrought that will be sensible and will bring about results. There are conscientious souls who use plain, simple food, and who need the strength that food affords to accomplish their work. Let them eat their two or three meals with singleness of heart to the glory of God. I know that there is such a thing as carrying matters to extremes, and extremes in the outlay of means—when it is not carefully considered and demanded—will lead to extremes in requirements of self-denial where poor souls will injure and have injured their health, “To save something to give to the poor.” 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 31

Then again, in the Sanitarium are those who work hard and should not be deprived of their wages to fill up the vacuum of means that has been abundantly invested in various enterprises, all called benevolent, self-denying work. Every man and woman should have their regular wages and then have something in their hand to help the very cares that will come before them that they may be filled with compassion and give when they shall see the poor saints need and not withhold from them to give to the somebody needy poor who may not be worthy of one penney and would not be in any way helped in the way of charity if ever so much was given to them. Give to every man and woman their due, and give to everyone their wages proportionate to their work. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 32

God wants true, intelligent, discerning stewardship. There is a passing by of our duty to help those who are sinning against God and that continually. All wisdom—hath I left the world, selfishly creating necessities for many that will leave barren the unworked fields where the gospel should go forth decidedly? What necessity [was there] to invest thousands of dollars in that building in Boulder, when with proper economical planning, one-third would have accomplished that which was essential? God's means misappropriated there has been monies [needed] to establish the work in Australia. I had a right to call for it and to have it. I was the Lord's commissioned messenger to come to this place where there was nothing except in a few places in Melbourne. But something was done and selfish, covetous hearts wanted to make a place for everything in America and would not permit means to come to this place where we are working with all self-denial and with “might and main,” to get some memorials established here in this destitute country. The word comes, “You have means thus and so.” Yes, we have some of the Lord's money from His treasury and ought to have all that means that were so abundant that things were created that God did not inspire. God will just as surely bring our people in America where there will be a dearth of means. Look at Europe, London. Had the means that went into that Sanitarium in Boulder been properly used, London would have been in a different condition than it is now. 14LtMs, Ms 199, 1899, par. 33