Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 90, 1900

Haskell, Brother and Sister [S. N.]

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

June 12, 1900

Portions of this letter are published in 4MR 420; CTr 26. +^Note

Dear Brother and Sister Haskell:

I am not fit to write at all, but will begin, and if I cannot finish I shall at least have made an effort. It is only two days since I have been able to trace my thoughts upon paper. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 1

Three thousand dollars of Sister Gotzian’s loan has come. Brother Jones would like me to leave the rest with the office to pay my indebtedness for the publication of The Desire of Ages, but I do not as yet know how to do this. All the money possible will have to be collected, because there is now a determination to arise and build a sanitarium. If all will have faith to act to the extent of their ability, the building will surely be finished. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 2

The light that I have is that we must walk by faith. All work required to be done in reformatory lines, for the prosperity of the cause of God, and as a blessing to those suffering with disease, is to be done according to the Lord’s plans, that it may be a witness to the people. Ministers of the living oracles of God must take in the situation. They must act as leaders and feel an intense interest in the various lines of the work. They must set such an example as may be safely followed. Every thing must be done according to the Lord’s devising. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 3

In erecting a sanitarium, the same methods that were used in building the church at Avondale will be essential and will be pleasing to the Lord. A plain, simple building, of suitable dimensions to accommodate the patients who shall come for relief should be erected, and persons of different trades and professions will be acceptable to have a hand in the labor. All who engage as workmen should make their charges as light as possible, putting in a full eight hours each day. Why? Because it is the Lord’s time. No one is to be urged to do his duty in this respect, but if there are those who want to make this offering to God, God will bless them in the noble part which they act, according to the spirit which they bring into their work. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 4

Jesus, our Redeemer, gave all there was of Him as a willing offering to God, that all who would come to Him might have eternal life through the sacrifice of Himself. We invite all who will, to act a part in donating according to their several ability. This erecting of a sanitarium is after the special order of the Lord, and is to be a means of reaching every class of people with the truth. We do not advise our people to open up a work in our cities, <to the extent of> erecting buildings to which they can invite the most depraved class of people to come and receive the food and beds and treatment without money and without price. None are required to establish a work in any city which gives to an indiscriminate class an invitation to be supported by the charities of the Seventh-day Adventist people, whose special work is to bear an unpopular message to the world. The commission is given to bear the message to all nations. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 5

God has His plans in the establishment of His work, and His Word is to be our guide; His practice, our practice. On one occasion Christ gave evidence of the source of His power in feeding the five thousand who had followed Him, eager to receive the words of instruction that He, the Source of all blessings, could give them. All who study the work of the Great Teacher will observe and, as near as possible, do as He did. He has specified His way and we are to follow His example. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 6

Just before the ascension of Christ, “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18-20.] This is God’s plan. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 7

We have received no light from the Lord to empty the Lord’s meat which is brought into His house, to support the promiscuous poor without money and without price. This would be a drain upon the Lord’s treasury that would make one city a receptacle for all the means possible to be obtained, and thus retard the work of the third angel’s message, and close the way so that the light and knowledge of the gospel which the commission of Christ embraces shall not go to all nations. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 8

But the work is to be carried proportionately in all cities. In His own way the Lord Jesus gives opportunities to reach the people nigh and afar off. In Mark we read, “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 9

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” [Mark 16:14-20.] 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 10

All the works of Christ, all His invitations, all His ways of reaching the people, are consistent and reasonable. “And he saith unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (That is, all must have the message.) “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.” [Verses 15, 16.] God’s work is definite; it is to put out, under the special influence of God’s spirit, the talents He has given in capabilities of speech, and in reasoning powers. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 11

These talents will produce other talents, which add to the efficiency of the worker to win to Christ those who will consecrate their talents to God by putting them out to the exchangers. Thus still other talents will be brought in, increasing the power and efficiency of the gospel in its sacred, exalted work. There will be ministerial talent which can be added to the force of workers; there will be teachers who will be educators of the youth; thus talent will be connected with the work to stand in moral dignity and sanctification and righteousness. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 12

To all who engage heart and soul in this work, Christ says, “I am with you in this work to guide, comfort, sanctify, and sustain you. I will render you successful in awakening the attention of men to a purpose. Your success will be of the Lord in convincing and convicting men of what constitutes sin, that they shall believe in Me, and know that all sin is the transgression of the law of God. Your work is to preach, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” [1 John 3:4.] “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ... If a man love me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.” [John 14:21, 23, 24.] 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 13

Nothing can do greater insult to Jehovah and our Redeemer Jesus Christ who came to our world to live the law of God, than to assume the generous attitude that God’s bounties are to be given alike to the most profligate, the most corrupt in soul, body, and spirit. This generosity should be exercised toward the worthy poor who have taken their position to obey God by becoming loyal to his commandments, and who for this reason have been cut off from their labor and their payroll. These are our brethren, to whom transgressors of the law of God are looking, saying, We will see how they come on. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 14

When so large draughts are made upon the treasury of God to support a work that God has not given us to do, draughts that should aid these who have lifted the cross under sore discouragements, there is nothing to supply their needs. Shall these families then be driven to despair, because hungry and suffering for the very necessaries of life, while the intemperate debauchers, the tobacco users, and the vilest of human beings shall be sustained, in receiving without price our generosity and benevolence? The house of faith, struggling to keep the Sabbath, is left to suffer, while the Lord’s resources are consumed upon a class that have made themselves vile; and what will be presented as the result of this expenditure of time and means and labor? 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 15

What shall be done? The Lord has designated what should be done. A people who are conscientiously keeping the commandments of God, and doing the very work the Lord has given them to do, will respond to the command, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:19, 20.] 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 16

In God’s Word we have a perfect rule of faith and practice. The living God alone who made heaven and earth can help and abundantly save His worshippers through the ways which He has ordained. God will not overlook the transgression of His own people who refuse to be corrected and receive His warning. He will visit their transgressions with the rod, until they learn that He is God, and will obey His voice. When they walk in God’s ways and not in ways of their own devising, the Lord will receive the repentance of His erring ones, as He has ever done. They must learn that only in obeying Him can they find rest and peace. 15LtMs, Lt 90, 1900, par. 17