Manuscript Releases, vol. 17 [Nos. 1236-1300]

MR No. 1241—Week of Prayer in San Francisco; Experienced Ministers to Teach Younger Workers; the Importance of Character

Here I am in San Francisco. Two weeks ago Elder Corliss came up to St. Helena and urged me to go to San Francisco and help in the meetings during the Week of Prayer. 17MR 47.1

A few weeks ago I visited this place, and spoke to a church full of people who had ears to hear and hearts to understand. They seemed to be hungering for the word of the Lord, and we believe they heard to a purpose. As I spoke in plain, simple language the word of life, I knew that Christ was with us, softening and subduing hearts. The Holy Spirit was evidently at work. Oh, how my heart yearned for the precious souls whom I was inviting to look and live. 17MR 47.2

After the meeting Elder Corliss invited all who wished to give themselves to Jesus to come forward. There was a quick and happy response, and I was told that nearly 200 people came forward. Men and women, youth and children, pressed into the front seats. This is a work the Lord would have done in every church. 17MR 47.3

Many could not come forward because the house was so crowded, yet the animated countenances and tearful eyes testified to the determination, “I will be on the Lord's side. From this time I will seek earnestly to reach a higher standard.” 17MR 47.4

The most earnest efforts should be made to lead the older and younger members of our churches to take hold of the work where they are. The Lord will use all who will give themselves to Him in deed and in truth. The young men and women who give themselves to the work of teaching the truth and laboring for the conversion of souls should first be vitalized by the Holy Spirit, and then they should go forth without the camp into the most unpromising places. The Lord has not given to those of little experience the work of preaching to the churches. The message is to be proclaimed in the highways and hedges. 17MR 47.5

Where are the men who know how to organize? You are needed just now. Only those who are themselves guided by the great principles of the truth, who have themselves felt the power of the grace of God, can be a blessing to others. These are the ones who can labor for church members who are living in carelessness. Those who on their knees and with the Bible before them seek for a living connection with the Source of all power, will gain an experience which will be of more value to them than gold. 17MR 48.1

Careful management on all points is needed, so that we shall neither run into the fire of fanaticism nor drift into formalism, which will freeze our own souls and the souls of others. We need more of the good, old-fashioned religion which leads a man to walk humbly before God. He who possesses this religion brings into his work an awakened intellect. He grasps the theory of truth, but he does not stop there. He cooperates with God by using in His service all the capabilities and gifts entrusted to him. He spends much time searching the Scriptures and with God in prayer, and divine power comes to him, enabling him to understand the sacred art of saving souls. 17MR 48.2

There is no need of our making continual blunders in the work of the Lord. Ministers need the guiding philosophy which gives them strength to save souls ready to perish. This philosophy is necessary in the work of God, but how little effort is put forth to educate the youth before they go out into God's vineyard. Little genuine zeal is shown in the work of educating and training the inexperienced disciple to seek for souls as they that must give an account. 17MR 48.3

I beseech those who have received the light of truth to do all in their power to carry out the commission given by Christ to His disciples. Let ministers understand that they are to impart that which they receive. Let them remember that their success comes from God, who is always ready to give a fresh supply of grace to the humble and contrite ones. Let them live in the light and love of God, improving the opportunities presented to them, and drawing into the web threads which will help to make the perfect pattern. Each human being is weaving his own web, and each throw of the shuttle helps to decide his own soul's destiny and the souls of others by his consistent, godly life. 17MR 49.1

The church is in great need of purification. There are sins which are unrepented of and unconfessed. The poison of sin must be cleansed from the church. Many have been so deceived, their principles are so corrupted, that they have no pleasure in the word of God, and it has no power over their lives. God will test character. In the day of final judgment, when every man shall be judged according to the deeds he has done in the body, nothing will seem to have existence but character and the law of God. Man will be stripped of everything but the character he has formed. All will be seen to be either righteous or unrighteous. 17MR 49.2

Now pretense and semblance reign in the world. But God's law calls for more than words. An imperative voice says, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” God calls for works. Our future happiness depends on our active faith in the Word of God, including His will. 17MR 49.3

Christ created human beings, and then, by a life of suffering and humiliation and a death of agony and shame, He redeemed them from sin. O, sinner, the Saviour endured all this for you. He died that you might be led to see the sinfulness of sin and come unto Him that you might have life.—Manuscript 3, 1901. 17MR 49.4

Ellen G. White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

April 6, 1987.

Entire Manuscript.