Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 76, 1899

Brethren in America

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

April 26, 1899

This letter is published in entirety in GCB 2nd Qtr 1899. +^Note

Dear Brethren in America:

We feel deeply grateful to our heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit has moved your hearts to action in regard to the work in Australia. The school work here is advancing. The first term of this year is now closing, the second term commencing. We humbly acknowledge the Lord as the first great Cause, standing behind the work which has been going on in Battle Creek. The Lord is the source of all power, all strength, all sufficiency. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 1

We see a great work to be done. We find no place where we can sit down and fold our hands. There are many places to be worked. Every town or village on the railway is to have the message the Lord has given us. We cannot stop to rejoice over a few victories. We must press the battle to the very gate. The Lord has never left Himself without a witness. The truth must be presented in the different suburbs of Newcastle. At times we may have to speak in the open air. I have done this on two Sunday afternoons with good results. Last Sabbath I spoke to a goodly number under the tent at Newcastle. The Lord gave me much freedom. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 2

On Sunday I spoke in Wallsend, a suburb ten miles from Newcastle. Notice had been given that I would speak there. A goodly number were present, and the Lord gave me a message for them. The people seemed to rejoice that they could feed upon the Word. This suburb has eight thousand inhabitants. Newcastle has only begun to be worked. We have not sufficient workers to take hold of the work. We are hoping and praying and waiting for earnest, devoted men and women. The work has been going forward in Hamilton, Newcastle, and most marked reformations have taken place. We are now planning to begin work in a different part of Newcastle. God will help us by raising up laborers for this field. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 3

Our brethren desired me to go to Newcastle last week to make a beginning in Wallsend. It was a question whether to commence the work there, but the people are intensely interested and have been saying, “We want meetings held at Wallsend.” This place is nearer Cooranbong by ten miles, and although the road is a mountainous one, we can reach it best with our horses and carriage. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 4

Then there is [Awaba], a place eight miles from Cooranbong, where they have secured a church in which I am to speak as soon as I can find time, which will be next Sunday, or one week from Sunday. If they had not given us permission to speak in the church, we should have held a meeting in the open air. Then there is Toronto, a pleasure resort. These places are all within ten and twenty miles of Cooranbong and must be entered as soon as we can find consecrated families whom we can locate there to hold the interest awakened. All these fields are white for the harvest, but we can do nothing without devoted workers, who can enter, and arouse and hold an interest. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 5

We look to God to lead us on. We need to feel a sense of dependence which will drive us to prayer. We shall then have the experience that He is the rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 6

When this ground was first brought to our notice, I was shown that there was a large work to be done in and around Cooranbong. Repeatedly companies had been presented to me, reaching forth their hands in supplication, and saying, “We are as sheep without a shepherd; come and open to us the Word of God.” This means much to us. God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent are to be kept before the people. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 7

The Lord designs that a new revelation shall come to them in the opening of His Word, showing His dealings with the world and with individuals in the working out of His great plan. He would have them realize man’s accountability and responsibility in view of the future judgment. Then our Redeemer and Advocate will be our Judge. We have a great work before us, and men and women must be prepared to communicate the knowledge they have of the infinite wisdom, love, and power of God. He who died to make it possible for the world to be cleansed from sin and keep the commandments of God would have believers meet and work harmoniously, one in the unity of faith, bound up with God, one with Christ as He is one with the Father. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 8

We must work our way very carefully in order to remove the prejudice we find in every place. We must have places in which the people can meet to worship God. Wherever a company is raised up, a chapel must be erected. Many of the people are quite poor. The indolent, the tobacco devotees and liquor drinkers, are many. But the truth must go to them. It has worked wonders in this very place, and will still do great things. Our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in present truth must not abide alone with those who receive Christ. Christ died to save the world, and we are to work more zealously in acting our part. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 9

We are to look upon fallen humanity as our field. God cares for them. They have been bought with a price. They are His special property, and upon every true believer in Christ rests the solemn responsibility of being a laborer together with God, of speaking the truth as it is in Jesus. All are to become messengers to proclaim the truth. Through the power and work of Satan, the world has mistaken and forgotten God, and is living in sin. Man’s influence works against God. His knowledge of God and His Word is perverted. His understanding is darkened. But the Lord speaks through His delegated servants. Not one soul is to be left in darkness. The Lord is not careless in regard to His work. He will not look upon the peril of men, and remain silent. He sends His warnings, and we must voice His words, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.” [Matthew 3:3.] 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 10

In this new world we feel intensely. We thank God every day for the increasing light. As we follow on to know the Lord, we shall know that His goings forth are prepared as the morning. The world is bearing its last message of mercy. This is a solemn thought. All must be willing now to take their place in the vineyard and cultivate every neglected corner. All our consecrated influence is needed. Every soul is to stand in his appointed place. There are to be no idlers. God calls for workers, for means, for men and women who will give the Word of life to those who are starving for food. The knowledge of God has long been perverted, and there must be no limit to our labor. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 11

There is nothing that will bring vitality into the church like the earnest work of those in the church. Those whose duty calls them to tarry by the home, to be home missionaries, revealing the truth in the character, are doing faithful work, and will be rewarded by God. But there is to be a much wider influence go forth from every true believer, who is a representative of the faith, and therefore a representative of Christ. He is to do the work that Christ did when He was in the world. Every self-sacrificing worker will have the witness in himself that there is a God, and that God is his God, his Father, his Helper, his Friend. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 12

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.” [John 17:3.] The Spirit of God within me draws my heart but in praise and thanksgiving because of the help we expect from America. We hope it will not be diverted into other channels. We must have the sanitarium erected here. This will give character to the work. We are working toward this. There is nothing that converts the people like the medical missionary work. This work makes the path straight before us, and bears the impress that it is of God. Jesus is in the work, and He cannot be hid. 14LtMs, Lt 76, 1899, par. 13