Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 10 (1895)
Ms 56, 1895
The General Conference and the Publishing Work
Sunnyside, Cooranbong, Australia
September 1, 1895
Previously unpublished.
The assuming of the publishing interests by the General Conference does not purify your committee meetings or your council meetings. In these meetings there has been devising and planning that is not after the Lord’s order or direction. Will this act sanctify the cleanse the publishing office of its corruption? No, this action does not sanctify the hearts of those who have been leading workers in the publishing interests, but who are not sanctified through the truth. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 1
The consolidation problem will not make more successful the interests in the publishing line. It is the men who are handling these responsibilities that need to be daily converted. The resolution for consolidation will never be blessed of God, for it is to bring about things that God will not endorse. Those who adopt it know not what they are doing. They are not walking in the counsel of the great I AM. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 2
There is a consolidation these men can enter into with safety. Christ speaks. Hear what He says: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5; verses 6-13, 15; John 17:21-23. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 3
This union accomplished, there will be cooperation with the workers in the publishing institution in Battle Creek, which is the sign that God is among them, and His Holy Spirit leads to harmony of action. The publishing institution on the Pacific Coast and the publishing house in Battle Creek are to be in Christlike harmony. The Pacific Coast is not to lose its individuality and submerge itself in the publishing house in Battle Creek, but is to maintain its individuality. The publishing interest in Battle Creek is not to loose its individuality. Each has its respective field to do its respective, individual work. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 4
The Battle Creek institution is in no degree to obscure the institution on the Pacific Coast. There has been altogether too much extending and engrossing of responsibility in Battle Creek, for too many responsibilities have been centered in a few men in Battle Creek. These were not men who looked in faith to God to be qualified to do a sacred work, for they have not God-given ideas or the sacred character of the work. Selfishness and self-superiority were abundant. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 5
The General Conference is not to be burdened, shouldering indebted institutions on the Pacific Coast or in any country. God is about to work. He will depose the institution in Battle Creek from its supposed supremacy and its absorbing power. God will take it by the hand and assign it its proper place and its duties as a subject under God’s control and not under the jurisdiction of men. He would weed some out of that institution, separating from it those who have been connected with it so long they feel that they can control as they choose, whose uplifting has been in the large outlay of means invested in buildings, supposing these would give character to the work. But the principles which the Lord prizes most highly are of that character which will expel sin from the heart and enthrone Christ where sin has been. Then with the love of God taking the place of love for self, there will be an end to the overbearing lording it over their brethren as despots. They will go on to perfection if they seek God with all their heart. The dishonest, unfair embezzlement of means by some in one place and then in another place, has brought in oppressive exactions upon others to do the self-denying and self-sacrificing. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 6
The prevailing inordinate working to bring means into the office of publication by robbery of other men’s rights has removed the blessing of God. God sees, and God will not have it thus. There are plans that have been coming in for years, and working up a tyrannizing power over the human agencies, and by mingling with this element the work has been losing its sacred, holy character. The very General Conference has become tainted and corrupted in sustaining principles which are the methods, plans, ways, and inventions of men. God is not in them. These principles are contrary to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 7
Daniel and his three fellows were true to principle. Early education was to Daniel of great value, for he became acquainted with God. It was revealed that the early training of these four Hebrew youth, from childhood to youth, was their preservation in the time of test and trial. It was necessary to store the mind with pure, sound, honest principles. Truth was engraved upon the tablets of the soul. Memory’s hall was stored with the precious truths of the Word. These truths, but dimly comprehended in the past, were made use of as essential when the youth were brought into captivity. In time of need, the truth, like concealed treasure, will flash and shine like some newly discovered jewels, revealing all their beauty. 10LtMs, Ms 56, 1895, par. 8