Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)

Lt 46, 1903

Evans, I. H.

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

June, 1901

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother Evans,—

Elder Daniells has written to me in regard to an old wooden building used by the Review office as a storehouse. He says that you and he and others have considered the matter of removing this old building and putting up in its place a brick building. I have written a few words to Elder Daniells regarding this matter and will now write to you. I am much surprised that such a proposition should be made, after all that was said at the last General Conference. The buildings piled up in Battle Creek by our people stand as an offense to God. Much has been crowded into this city and has served as a decoy, while many other cities of America have been left unworked. This condition of things testifies to the unfaithfulness of the stewards to whom God entrusted the work of seeing that all parts of His vineyard received a proportionate amount of attention. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 1

The course of those who had the management of the work makes it hard for me to think that they see this matter as it is. It has cost me great pain of heart to look on these buildings, to think of their history for the past twenty years, and to realize how God regards some of the transactions that have taken place in connection with His work. I have been sorely grieved as I have seen God’s work tainted and corrupted with selfishness, until God has permitted prosperity to cease from His institutions. From the record they have made, it looks as if the blind had been leading the blind. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 2

Had those who listened to the message sent to the Lord’s people at the last General Conference cleared the King’s highway, had they confessed the sin that made the reproof necessary, how greatly the Lord would have blessed them. But they turned away from the truth to follow their own human wisdom. My brethren, your words and actions are recorded in the books of heaven. I tell you that the Lord will soon turn and overturn, and you will have evidence that He means what He says in the warnings that He sends. For Christ’s sake do not, I beg of you, add another building to the Review and Herald office. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 3

I dare not give you all the light given me. You could not bear it. The commercial work brought into the Review and Herald office is defiling the institution that God declared should be kept free from all moral and spiritual defilement. It is for the commercial work that more facilities and workers are demanded. You will surely have fewer buildings. Before you are aware, the Lord’s hand will be stretched out to destroy rather than to create and add to. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 4

For years the youth in the Review office have been treated in a way that is displeasing to God. These youth come to the office to be trained for service, to become masters of their business. Thoroughly trained, efficient printers can find employment in any country. But the slack, inefficient training given to the youth in the Review and Herald office is far from the training that God wants them to receive. Some of the matter they handle is of satanic origin and brings continual temptation to them. Thus Satan is sowing his seeds in their minds. The management has been destitute of proper discipline. Some of the language often used is a shame to any office. The harsh ordering that is heard, the masterly authority exercised, are giving the youth a terrible education. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 5

When a certain work is committed to a number of people, each should act his part in such a way that light will shine out amidst the moral darkness. Let each one guard himself strictly, standing in his lot and place, to do his appointed work. Let no hasty, condemnatory words be spoken in the Lord’s institutions. Let those for whom Christ has died respect and help one another, treating all with kindness and patience. This world is a school, in which we are to be prepared to enter the higher school in the courts above. If one forgets his place, and speak harshly to a fellow worker, let him remember that he has wounded Christ in the person of one of His children. Let not the one who has been hurt retaliate. Let him be so kind and considerate that the one who has spoken discourteously will feel ashamed of himself. “Greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” [Proverbs 16:32.] He has conquered self—the strongest foe with which man has to deal. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 6

The Saviour understands every feeling of the human heart. He hears every word uttered. He measures the temptation that one member of His family on earth places before another member. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 7

I wish to speak about the light given me after the General Conference. It was at the time of this Conference that those connected with the publishing work should have been thoroughly converted. Special heed should have been given to the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. Had there been a break at the time of the Conference, everything would have been changed. The Spirit of God would have worked upon hearts. But since the Conference, the evils that existed before have continued to exist, because in the changes made, men were placed in positions of influence who needed to be converted. Sins have been left unconfessed. The spirit manifested since the Conference has, in many respects, been as objectionable as the spirit manifested before the Conference. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 8

Commercial work, of a character that is displeasing to God, has been accepted and handled in the Review office. Matter containing principles that lead to false doctrines has been brought into the office. Stewardship of this kind shows that men are blinded, that they are lacking in spiritual discernment. The desecration that the printing of these sentiments has brought into the office has had an influence like the influence of the desecration of the temple in Christ’s day. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 9

The taking in of so large an amount of commercial work called for new presses and other facilities, which in turn called for more commercial work. And by some of this commercial work the minds of the workers have been poisoned. Some have left the office because their wages were not as high as they thought they ought to be. They asked, Why should not we receive the pay that the workers in the printing offices of the world receive when they do the work that we do. Would they have felt thus if there had been in the office the reformation that the Lord calls for? 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 10

Had the standard been kept as high as it ought to have been, nothing that militates against the truth would have been received into the publishing house. Angels of God are walking through every room of the office. Every worker in the institution should have been filled with the thought of the nearness of Christ’s second coming and the necessity of preparing for this event. It was to proclaim the message of His coming that our publishing houses were established, not to send out to the world errors that have a seductive influence on human minds. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 11

The spiritual atmosphere pervading a printing office will be of the same character as the matter brought into it. The matter received into our printing offices is to be the pure truth of God, cleansed from all heresy. It is an offense to God for the time and ability of the workers in our publishing houses to be given to printing error of Satan. When they do this, they are not laboring with God, but with the enemy of all righteousness. There are important, elevated themes upon which we are to dwell. The subject of the incarnation of Christ should receive more of our thought. Christ came to the world to stand at the head of humanity, that humanity might partake of divinity. The Majesty of heaven humbled Himself to teach His followers the lesson of humility. He was tempted in all points like as we are, that He might know how to succor them that are tempted. 18LtMs, Lt 46, 1903, par. 12