Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Lt 304, 1906

Burden, Brother and Sister [J. A.]

St. Helena, California

September 14, 1906

This letter is published in entirety in LLM 185-187. +^Note

Dear Brother and Sister Burden:

I cannot sleep after one o’clock. We left St. Helena on Friday morning to spend Sabbath and Sunday in Oakland. I spoke both afternoons in the tent. On Sabbath afternoon the tent was filled, mostly with our own people; and all present were interested. I had special freedom in speaking from the seventh chapter of Revelation. This is a most interesting chapter. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 1

The only place that could be obtained for the tent was a lot of ground close by the car line, where the cars are coming and going all the time. You can see that this would not be the most favorable place for speaking. The interest was good; but I would not dare to attempt to speak in so high a key as would be necessary in this tent and shall not venture to do this. Apart from this disadvantage the location is excellent. After awhile we may get a better location. The Lord has graciously strengthened me to stand before the people. Souls are becoming interested in the truth. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 2

I am in good health now, and I praise the Lord with heart and soul and voice. I would like to see you and to converse with you. Be of good courage in the Lord. I received your letter; and although it was short, I was glad to have it. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 3

September 28, 1906

I have been writing from two this morning until six, when W. C. White left for his journey to Washington. I had written eighteen pages of letter paper for him to take with him. I could not get the matter copied at so early an hour, but thought he could take it with him in the original writing. After he had gone, I wrote eighteen pages more. Before he left we had a season of prayer, and the Lord gave us His peace. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 4

Brethren Burden and Howell, the work of the school and the sanitarium will be a blessing, the one to the other. Each must act its individual part, but both must blend together; then the interests of both will be advanced. If there is co-operation between the educational work and the work of the sanitarium, we can heartily recommend that the higher education be carried on in the sanitarium grounds; for this is the Lord’s plan. If the men at the head of this enterprise plan for the usefulness of these institutions, each helping the other, there is nothing to hinder the operations of the school. As the work grows, buildings may have to be prepared. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 5

Brother Burden, I have written a great deal of late in regard to the subject of food manufacture. We are not to allow Dr. Kellogg’s plans in regard to the corn flakes cause a large investment of money that should be invested in less-expensive preparations of food. We will deal in foods that will not require such an outlay of means in order to secure the privilege of using them. I will send to you copies of some things I have written on this subject. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 6

Time is very short; and cities and towns are to be visited with judgments. Fire and water will work with their destructive forces. We should not make the food business a straining for high profits. We should work in connection with the great food Manufacturer, Christ Jesus, who fed five thousand people with five loaves and two small fishes. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 7

“When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He said unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” This question was asked simply to see what Philip would say; for Jesus knew what He would do. Philip answered, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.” [John 6:5, 7.] 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 8

Christ might have said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?” or, as the Lord answered Moses in a similar case, “Is the Lord’s hand waxen short?” [John 14:9; Numbers 11:23.] In our feeble faith we are likely to distrust God’s power and believe no further than we can see. After seeing the miracle of Christ, Philip could readily have answered, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst exert Thy power for this hungry multitude;” but now he asked, “What are they among so many?” [John 6:9.] 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 9

“Bid the men sit down,” Christ commanded; for the grass was abundant in that place. [Verse 10.] A blessing was asked upon the food, and thanks was offered for it; and never did food taste sweeter. The seemingly meager supply was passed from the hand of Christ to the disciples, and it multiplied as it was passed to them. “He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.” [Verse 11.] 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 10

There might have been questioning among the multitude how they might entertain their Benefactor and His disciples; for many of the people were rich, and they knew that Christ and His disciples were poor. But Christ would give these men a lesson; He entertained the hungry crowd by working a miracle. In this way He teaches that spiritual gifts are not to be bought, but are the free gift of God. Having fed their souls with the precious Word, the Bread of life, He supplies their temporal necessities, and thus encourages a manifestation of the grace of thankfulness. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 11

When all had eaten, the word went forth from lips that had blessed the bread, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” “Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten.” [Verses 12, 13.] Then leading the minds of the miracle-fed men from the temporal to spiritual food, Christ represented Himself as the Bread of eternal life. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 12

The food provided was not especially inviting, and by many would be considered coarse. This does not signify that we should confine ourselves to a coarse fare, when Providence supplies us with better. But when necessity demands, and the blessing of the miracle worker is upon the food, even the coarsest fare will become palatable. To those hungry men, the meal composed of barley bread and fish was the most palatable they had ever eaten. 21LtMs, Lt 304, 1906, par. 13