Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 8, 1909

McReynolds, C.

St. Helena, California

January 5, 1909

Portions of this letter are published in Ev 463. +^Note

Elder C. McReynolds
Grand Rapids, Wisconsin

Dear Brother:

I have received and read your letter in reference to the purchase of the Doswell farm in Virginia. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 1

I am deeply interested in what you have written, but I do not feel free at present to say decidedly what your duty is in reference to the matters of which you write. I have for many years kept before our people the importance of doing a great work in the southern field, but the efforts put forth have not been so great as the importance of the field demands. Therefore I can look only with favor upon any enterprise that will be a means of spreading the message of truth in any of the southern states. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 2

We rejoice that the Lord is working and going before our laborers in many new fields. Our work has extended into all parts of the world. We know that the expense of maintaining our foreign missions is so great that our General Conference brethren find it difficult to meet the expense of a large work in the needy South. Our brethren need great wisdom to know how to apportion the means in the treasury in order to get the truth before men of all nationalities. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 3

Sometimes we must walk by faith and not by sight. When the Lord calls decidedly for the doing of a certain work, we cannot always wait until all the necessary means is in the treasury. If the Master calls us, we are to obey as faithfully as did the disciples whom Jesus called from their vocations. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 4

“The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sit in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 5

“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 6

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” [Matthew 4:15-25.] 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 7

For twenty years it has been kept before our people that they must do a special work in the southern states. When the Lord repeatedly sends messages to His people, it is because He desires them to follow the light He gives. We are not to work in the same place over and over again, leaving unworked many places where the last message of warning has not yet been proclaimed. Those who believe the truth should earnestly seek to give the light to those who are unwarned. They should extend their labors into the great cities and make them radiant with the light of truth. Memphis, New Orleans, and other cities in the South are calling for workers filled with the power of the Spirit. I cannot roll off the burden of these great unworked cities, and the many places where help should be given. Often I am unable to sleep at night. I am writing this letter by lamplight in the early morning. My left eye is bandaged. The strain of using my eyes so much at night has been such that I must now give them a rest. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 8

But I must do my best in bearing to our people the message that the Lord has honest souls in all our cities, and that they must be sought out. The Lord is not pleased with the showing we have made. Many cities still remain practically untouched. Those who engage in the work of warning the inhabitants of our great cities will obtain an education in winning souls to Christ. The Lord will go before them as He went before Israel, when He was enshrouded by day in the pillar of cloud and by night in the pillar of fire. During all the journey of the Israelites, they were receiving an education. The character was to be molded according to God’s plan, and they were individually to become an educating power. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 9

Our people have not yet done their full duty by the southern field. The work that must be done there has only begun, as it were. Many who ought to understand the workings of divine providence seem to be unable to comprehend God’s will and way. As a people, we need yet to learn what it means to fill our place as missionaries among a people who know not the truth for this time. The Lord Jesus has done His part. He has died for the souls of men, but how shall they hear of His saving grace unless through the messengers of Jesus Christ? How shall they be converted unless they have truth set before them diligently, line upon line, precept upon precept? Every city in the southern states, and every town and village, must have earnest work done for it. That field will be missionary soil until many churches are raised up. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 10

The workers must not spend their time in going over and over the ground among churches that are already confirmed in the truth, while on every hand are many who have never had the truth explained to them. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 11

I have received words of encouragement for our workers at Madison who are trying to give their students a practical education, while establishing them in the principles of our faith. The students are learning how to till the soil and how to build plain, simple houses. And these students are encouraged to go out and establish other industrial schools, where they in turn can educate their students how to plant and how to build. 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 12

My brother, I would counsel you to continue to seek the Lord earnestly, and then to walk in the best light you have. There is today in behalf of the southern field an urgent call for workmen who will “come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” [Judges 5:23.] 24LtMs, Lt 8, 1909, par. 13