Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 87, 1909

Talk/Words Addressed to the Workers at the Boulder Sanitarium

Boulder, Colorado

September 3, 1909

Portions of this manuscript are published in SD 268, 365; 6MR 286.

“I saw a new heaven, and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:1-4.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 1

“And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 2

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials filled with the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 3

“On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with a reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” [Verses 5-16.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 4

I will not read any further in this chapter, but I want to say to you this morning, The great provision has been made so that every soul may have the eternal blessings brought to view here. I greatly desire that every one of us shall seek to understand the Word of God. Let us not choose to spend our time in reading the daily newspapers and the frivolous and foolish novel. We can see evil enough without doing this. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 5

“And he shewed me a clear river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.” [Revelation 22:1-3.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 6

“And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever.” [Verses 4, 5.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 7

“And they shall see His face.” [Verse 4.] The request of Moses was that he might see God. “Shew me Thy glory,” he pleaded. [Exodus 33:18.] The Lord revealed Himself to Moses by a revelation of His divine attributes; but He said, “There shall no man see My face, and live.” [Verse 20.] But to the overcomers the promise is given, “They shall see His face.” 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 8

“And he said to me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.” [Revelation 22:6-12.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 9

The thought of this twelfth verse I wish to impress upon the mind of each one here. In view of the Lord’s soon coming, how earnest we should be in forming characters after the divine similitude. But if we stand at last among the redeemed, we cannot do in this life just as we please, gratifying our own desires and inclinations. If we are not following on day by day to know the Lord, we are losing ground. We are to learn that His goings forth are prepared as the morning. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 10

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city.” [Verses 13, 14.] Is not this worth striving for? If we lose heaven, we lose everything, and there are none of us who can afford to do that. If we keep in view the eternal joys awaiting the overcomer, and trust in Christ as we strive for perfection of character, do you think we shall be unhappy? Should it make us unhappy to imitate Christ’s example of self-denial and ministry? God gave His Son that the world through Him might understand the terms of man’s salvation. Let us study the works of Christ and His sufferings in our behalf. He will quicken the understanding of all who follow on to know the Lord. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 11

The Saviour, when He came to earth, did not take a high position among men; but He made Himself one with the people, that He might come in close touch with them in His work of teaching. He traveled on foot from place to place, teaching and healing the people. He did this that all might have an opportunity to hear His words and to follow Him. And large [crowds] followed Him from place to place. At one time the company numbered five thousand men, besides women and children. All day He taught the people and healed the sick, and those who were healed joined the crowds that were already following the Saviour. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 12

“And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came unto Him and said, This is a desert place; ... send them away that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. ... He said unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they said, Five, and two fishes. And He commanded to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets of the fragments, and of the fishes.” [Mark 6:35-36, 38-43.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 13

Three times this miracle was performed in different localities, so that people in different parts might learn the lessons He would teach thereby. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 14

“The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” [Revelation 22:17.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 15

We are to unite in giving the invitation to others. If we will come into right relation to God, He will let His blessing rest upon us, leading us to believe in Christ and to do His work. It is the privilege of every soul here to become a partaker of the divine nature, if he will follow the light God has given. We have a knowledge of Christ and of the way of salvation. We need to realize daily what a helper we have in Jesus. Let all understand that they can be co-workers with Jesus Christ. It is your privilege to receive grace from Christ that will enable you to comfort others with the same comfort wherewith you yourselves are comforted of God. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 16

It should be a great satisfaction to these workers to be in a sanitarium like this where each one is taught to take a part in the work of ministering to others. Let each one seek to do his work as he will wish he and done when the end of all things shall come. Let each try to help the next one. Thus you may have a little heaven here below, and angels of God will work through you to make right impressions upon the minds of those who come as guests and patients to the sanitarium. Christ wants to use you as His servants. Seek to help wherever you can. Cultivate the best dispositions, that the grace of God may rest richly upon you. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 17

Young and old may learn to look to God as the One who will heal, as One who sympathizes, who understands their necessities, and who will never make a mistake. Your humanity may lay hold of the divinity of Christ by living faith, and you may learn to carry out in this institution the principles of heaven. This will make you a blessing to all in the institution. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 18

Put away all that would hinder you from reaching the high standard set for you in the Word of God. Do not foster a spirit of jealousy or evil surmising or anything that would grieve the Spirit of God. There are those who have this evil in their natures;, and if they continue in it, Satan will work through them to spoil the influence of this sanitarium. We cannot afford to have such characters here. Every worker must stand on the platform of eternal truth. In manifesting a spirit of jealousy, we reveal a characteristic of Satan. We cannot afford to harbor one desire that has its origin in him. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 19

We are seeking for the life that measures with the life of God; therefore our natures must be brought into conformity with the will of God. We must so conduct our lifework that we can go to God in confidence and open our hearts before Him, telling Him our necessities and believing that He hears and will give us grace and strength to carry out the principles of the Word of God. What we want is heaven, the victor’s crown, an entrance through the gates of the city of God, the right to eat of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. We want to see the King in His beauty. Then daily let us keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, the perfection of human character, and laying hold of His divinity we shall have the strength of divinity to aid us in overcoming every evil tendency and desire. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 20

Christ came to earth to suffer and to die, that we might lay hold on eternal life. He gave Himself, that we might become partakers of the divine nature and overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust. If we have our reasoning faculties, we should know better than to follow a course of jealousy and evil surmising. The Lord bids us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. If we perfect a Christian character, we must put away from our lives every evil thing. There must be no evil surmising cherished in mind or heart. When we are truly converted to God, we shall hate these things that separate us from Him. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 21

I have a deep interest in this sanitarium. I was here when this institution was started, and when there were only a few believers here who were seeking to carry out the principles of the truth in this place. God would have this sanitarium and agency for the education of all who connect in any way with it, and we are without excuse if we carry on the work of the enemy here. Let us conduct ourselves free from everything that would spoil the influence of the institution; for one sinner in this line can do much harm. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 22

What we need is to be true Christians, to keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, and to follow His example. In His human life Christ’s character was perfect—just as ours may be. We can grasp the divinity of Christ by living faith and in our humanity reveal Christ to the world. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 23

Christ desires to give to all at His coming the crown of life. I pray that we who are gathered here today may be among those who will greet Him when He comes in the clouds of heaven, saying, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” [Isaiah 25:9.] 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 24

If we will let Him, the Lord will work in and through this institution. 24LtMs, Ms 87, 1909, par. 25