Letters to Physicians and Ministers

The Need of Earnest Effort

There is a great work to be done. Are you doing all that you can to help? God has given us a commission which angels might envy. The church has been charged to convey to the world, without delay, God's saving mercy. This is the trust that He has given us, and it is to be faithfully executed. Medical missionary work is to be done. Thousands upon thousands of human beings are perishing in sin. The compassion of God is moved. All heaven is looking on with intense interest to see what character medical missionary work will assume under supervision of human beings. Will men make merchandise of God's ordained plan for reaching the dark parts of the earth with a manifestation of His benevolence? Will they cover mercy with selfishness, and then call it medical missionary work? SpTB01 19.1

Medical missionary work is a sacred plan of God's own devising. After Adam's transgression, a costly price was paid to rescue the fallen race. Those who will co-operate with God in His effort to save that which was lost, those who will work on the lines on which Christ worked, will be wholly successful. SpTB01 19.2

John writes, “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth.” Revelation 14:6. This represents the speed and directness with which the church is to prosecute her work. In the medical missionary work done by His followers, Jesus is to behold the travail of His soul. Human beings are to be snatched as brands from the burning. SpTB01 19.3

All heaven is watching with intense anxiety to see what is to be the outcome of the work that is so large and so important. God is watching, the heavenly universe is watching; and souls are perishing. And a change has come that has hindered the work which God designed should move forward without a trace of selfishness. Is the enterprise of mercy through which in the past God has manifested His grace in rescuing the ignorant, the sick, and the sorrowing, to become a matter of selfish merchandise? Shall God's agency of blessing be used by those who profess to believe the truth, in buying and selling and getting gain? SpTB01 20.1

The experience of apostolic days will come to us if men will be worked by the Holy Spirit. The Lord will withdraw His blessing where selfish interests are indulged; but He will put His people in possession of good throughout the world, if they will unselfishly use their ability for the uplifting of humanity. His work is to be a sign of His benevolence, a sign that will win the confidence of the world and bring in resources for the advancement of the gospel. SpTB01 20.2

God will test the sincerity of men. Those who will deny self, take up the cross, and follow Christ, will have a continual work to do in the line of restoring. Those who sacrifice for truth make a deep impression on the world. Their example is contagious and convincing. Men see that there is in the church that faith which works by love and purifies the soul. But when those who profess to be working only for God seek to benefit themselves, they greatly retard the work, and cast reproach upon it. SpTB01 20.3

My brother, use every advantage possible to secure the salvation of souls. Never forsake the true standard, even though to cling to it makes you a beggar. God has set up a high standard of righteousness. He has made a plain distinction between human and divine wisdom. All who work on Christ's side must work to save, not to destroy. Worldly policy is not to become the policy of the servants of God. Divine authority is to be acknowledged. The church on earth is to be the representative of heavenly principles. Amidst the awful confusion of injustice, deception, robbery, and crime, she is to shine with light from on high. In the righteousness of Christ, she is to stand firm against the prevailing apostasy. SpTB01 21.1