Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 206, 1899

Kellogg, J. H.

Maitland, New South Wales, Australia

December 10, 1899

See also Lt 215, 1899. Portions of this letter are published in 5MR 406; 9MR 82-83. +^Note

My Dear Brother:

You speak as though you had no friends. But God is your Friend and Sister White is your friend. You have thought that I had lost confidence in you; but, my dear brother, as I have before written to you, I know that the Lord had placed you in a very responsible position, standing as you do as the greatest physician in our world, a man to whom the Lord has given understanding and knowledge, that you may do justice and judgment, and reveal the true missionary spirit in the institution which is to represent truth in contrast with error. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 1

My brother, the Lord has not left you to go on a warfare at your own charges. He has given you wisdom, and favor with God and man. He has been your helper. He has chosen you as His agency to exalt the truth in the Battle Creek Sanitarium as it is not represented in other medical institutions. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was to be known as an institution where the Lord was daily acknowledged as the Monarch of the universe. “He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and also among the inhabitants of earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” [Daniel 4:35.] 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 2

The Lord designs that the proclamation of the third angel’s message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in our world at this time. He honored you by placing you in a very responsible position. You were not to separate your influence from the ministry of the gospel. In every line of your work you were to understand and practice the truth. You were to make God first, and ever obey His Word. In this would be your strength. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 3

You were not faultless. Often you lost control of yourself. Then your words were not what they should have been. At times you were arbitrary and exacting. But you were striving for the mastery over self, and angels of God co-operated with you, because through you God was to work to exalt His truth, and cause it to receive honored recognition in the world. God gave you wisdom, not that your name should be magnified, but that those coming to the sanitarium in Battle Creek might carry away with them favorable impressions of Seventh-day Adventists. The honor given you did not come to you because you were righteous above all men, but because God desired to use you as His instrument. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 4

In His providence the Lord has drawn many to the sanitarium, that they may become acquainted with the truth and be converted, and then carry away with them the evidence of the miraculous power of God on body and soul. This has stirred the ire of Satan. It does not please him that it should be shown that God is working to magnify the truth. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 5

It was God’s purpose that the missionaries, teachers, and physicians in the sanitarium should become acquainted with the third angel’s message, which embraces so much. Angels of God were to be your strength in the work that was to be done in order that the Battle Creek Sanitarium might be known as an institution under the special supervision of God. The missionary feeling and the sympathy that prevailed in this institution was a result of the work of invisible heavenly agencies there. God said, “I thought it good to show signs and wonders. In My might I wrought to glorify My name.” Many have gone away from the sanitarium with new hearts. The change has been decided. These, returning to their homes, have been as lights in the world. Their voices have been heard saying, “Come, all ye that fear God, and I will make known to you what He hath done for my soul. I have seen His greatness. I have tasted His goodness.” [See Psalm 66:16.] 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 6

The medical fraternity has made many reforms, and they should rise still higher. Those who hold the lives of human beings in their hands should be educated, elevated, and sanctified. The work done in the Battle Creek Sanitarium is a great work, because there the Lord is the Master-worker. His power will accomplish the very thing whereunto it is sent. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 7

The Lord has appointed the physicians in the sanitarium to stand as faithful sentinels. Through them God desires to do the work that must be done. Through them impressions are to be made regarding the work of relieving suffering humanity. In the sanitarium the attributes of God are to be unfolded, and the glory and excellence of the truth are to be made more vivid. While doctrinal subjects are not to be presented to the sick, if these truths are lived out, the Spirit of God will bring conviction to hearts, and the faithful guardian of souls will understand when the time has come to present the seventh day as the seal of God, to show what has been done by priests and rulers to place a false rest day where the seventh day should be. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 8

Dr. Kellogg, you have not in all things been following the Lord’s plan. The medical missionary work should be as the right arm of the body of truth, but this work has been made to absorb so much that to all intents and purposes it has become the body. God did not design that this work should eclipse the work of the third angel’s message. This message is the gospel message for these last days, and in no case is it to be overshadowed by other interests and made to appear an unessential consideration. When in the sanitarium anything is placed before the third angel’s message, the gospel is not there the great, leading power. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 9

Because of sin the atmosphere of the world has become as the atmosphere of a pesthouse. Sin is the transgression of the law. “No man liveth to himself.” [Romans 14:7.] This is a law of God, in heaven and on earth. The gospel is the means ordained by God to restore His moral image in man, and to stem the tide of hostility against His law. It is His remedy for universal disorganization; it is the power which draws men together in unity. In the gospel the Lord uses different instrumentalities, and nothing is to be allowed to separate these instrumentalities. Selfishness introduced in any degree into ministerial or medical work is an infraction of the law of God. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 10

God’s benevolent designs embrace every branch of His work. The law of reciprocal dependence and influence is to be recognized and obeyed. No man liveth unto himself. The enemy has used the chain of dependence to draw men together. They have united to destroy God’s image in man, to counterwork the gospel by perverting its principles. They are represented in God’s Word as being bound up in bundles to be burned. Satan is uniting his forces for perdition. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 11

The unity of God’s chosen people has been terribly shaken. God presents a remedy. This remedy is not an influence among many influences, and on the same level with them, but an influence above all influences upon the face of the earth, corrective in its power, uplifting and ennobling. Those who work in the gospel should be elevated and sanctified, for they are dealing with God’s great principles. Yoked up with Christ, they are laborers together with God. Thus the Lord would bind His followers together, that they may be a power for good, each acting his part, yet all cherishing the sacred principle of mutual dependence on the great Head. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 12

Of himself, what can man accomplish in the great work set forth by the infinite God? Christ says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” [John 15:5.] He came to our world to show men how to do the work given them by God, and He says to us, “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 unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28-30.] Why is Christ’s yoke easy and His burden light? Because He bore the weight of it upon the cross of Calvary. 14LtMs, Lt 206, 1899, par. 13