Kellogg, J. H.
NP
February 23, 1899
This letter is published in entirety in 21MR 40-50. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.
Dear Brother:
We received your telegram in due time, and we felt grateful for the prospect of $5,000 in about three months’ time. This will be a help indeed, for it is very much needed. You speak of Sister McCamly giving $10,000 for the work of rescuing souls from the lowest depths, and securing a home for them in Colorado, and that she is going to raise this sum to $50,000. This is where America has the advantage. There you have those who will make large donations, but we have no such standing. We are yet in the A B C of the work. It makes me sad when I think of all the donations poured into established homes in America, and remember that we have not been able to raise from any source whatever money enough even to make a respectable beginning. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 1
I wish you could have had the picture before your own eyes, then you could better understand how much we need means. We would praise God for the possibility of obtaining means with which to work. In every line we are pressed for means with which to make a start. What can we possibly do in regard to manufacturing health foods? We have a building, a sawmill, which can be fitted up for this work. We have secured this from the school, but how to obtain means to commence manufacturing the foods is more than we know. We have no outlook yet, but we must have facilities to work with. Here are medical men, and workers are being educated in this line. We must start without delay. Can you give us any light? We want to do the work that must be done. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 2
This country is a new world, and I have invested everything as fast as I have obtained anything to invest. I have stood back of every new enterprise that the Lord has indicated [should be] started since coming to this field. We do not want to be far behind the providence of God, lest the favorable opportunities will pass by and never come again. The Lord wants us to be minutemen, right on hand, that we may go to work with all the powers we can command. Then He will work with us. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 3
When I heard that one sister would give $10,000 to the institution in Colorado, I was relieved, for from the light given me by the Lord, wherever there is a sanitarium established, there should be a building separate from the other buildings where consumptives can be cared for. Such cases should be kept away from other patients who are in poor health. It is not right to allow consumptives to mingle with patients who are being treated for local difficulties. As rational beings, we must exercise care in separating the consumptives from those who have not the disease, but who have weak lungs. They should not all be crowded into one building. The building in Colorado should be at a distance from the building we may call our sanitarium hospital, and far greater precautions must be taken with consumptives, lest the disease be communicated. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 4
We know that faith is a mightier conqueror of the world than even death. What ever the diseases and afflictions humanity is subjected to in this period of the world’s history, they are the result of the wickedness of the inhabitants of the earth. Their course of action has brought its sure result, until the very earth, the very cattle, are consumed with disease. But all we can do is to alleviate suffering, and to bring a balm, a solace, a hope, to those ready to perish. The fact that Christ when He was on this earth was a healer of all manner of disease is an encouragement and hope amid the moral sickness and evil that prevails, and we should do far more as physicians and nurses, as ministers of righteousness, if, instead of looking down into the grave, we fixed our gaze upon the mighty Healer. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 5
Whatever the disorder may be, the glories of the heavenly will do more for the saving of body and soul than all the drug medication in the world, than all the terrors of the grave will do if kept before the helpless and apparently hopeless. Why is the sanitarium at Battle Creek in so much repute? Why has it been successful? It is because God presides, because heavenly intelligences are there, because truth and righteousness have opportunity to be all-pervading. The poor souls that are lost Christ came to pardon and to relieve. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 6
You need, my brother to place burdens and responsibilities upon others, while you preside. You can be worked by the Holy Spirit to devise and plan after the order of God. But trust not to your own human wisdom. Trust not to poisonous drugs, that will interfere with nature’s work, and leave their cruel trail behind. Work away from drugs, and never, never advise one under your influence to go to Ann Arbor or any place to obtain the education supposed to be essential for the perfection of the medical practitioner. The stamp left upon them by such places is almost ineffaceable. Educate, educate, educate, by placing yourself and others in the closest connection with the greatest Healer the world has ever know. Keep in view the better world, which is attracting to itself all who are receiving the grace of God in this world. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 7
The purity and holiness of entire consecration to God, entire conformity to His mind, His spirit, His will, is essential. You need not be ever dwelling on doctrinal subjects, but on that character all must have in order to please and glorify God. Do not be afraid that you will lose your influence. No one who is balanced by the Holy Spirit of God, who moves considerately, who sits with Christ in heavenly places, will lose the influence of any person, high or low, whose influence is worth having. You need never try to shape your religious experience in order that you may be a great man before the world. Your greatness depends upon your humility. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 8
Place yourself more habitually in that part of the temple of inspiration where the Holy Spirit of God will lavish upon you the richest currents of wisdom, which will then flow forth from you to others, magnifying God and increasing your love and hope and joy in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Make no special effort, thinking by outward display to attract. Just work out the principles of the Word of the living God; this will be your wisdom and your greatness and your strength. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 9
Time must be redeemed from things which are seen and temporal to meditate upon things unseen and eternal. You must resist an encroaching world, which if allowed will so press upon you as to separate you from the source of your strength. Put on Christ. In the closest commune with Him who seeth in secret. Lay hold by faith on His might. Make peace with Him, and you shall make peace with Him. Nothing else will carry you through the closing scenes of this earth’s history, and give you the victory and the crown of life that fadeth not away. Press toward the mark of the prize. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 10
I am directed to impress upon you that you must have a stronger faith in God. Hold fast to the only source of strength, then right where you are you will be a living epistle, known and read of all men. Faith is not sight. God requires you to bring into every phase of your character and into your work all the attractiveness possible, and Jesus Christ, His meekness, His love, His unselfishness. Let not the thought come into your mind that your must do battle for yourself because you think that your brethren in the faith make wrong moves and do not appreciate your work. This opinion will not change God’s estimate of your character. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 11
If you have Christ as your defense, you have a mighty power behind all your efforts; but you have not yet attained. You much reach higher spirituality. You must care more, far more, for that wisdom, that holiness, and that fragrance, the glory which Christ longs to give every true heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. As long as no human agent can make one shade of your character darker or brighter, do not worry at all. The Lord has not appointed any man, even your brethren, to make you over. They cannot change one feature of their own characters without the co-operation of God, and neither can you. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 12
Concerning you and your associates God says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” [Isaiah 57:15.] Each one of your associate physicians has an individual work to do. The prayer of faith shall save the sick. This [is] a word from the Lord to you who have so much to do with the sick. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 13
The prayer of faith in the sickroom, short and right to the point, prepares the way for the grace of God to speak to the soul. Even unbelievers feel this—to them—strange and new influence, and realize that God can and will hear their prayers. You cannot know, you who pray in the sickroom, what will be accomplished, and what has been accomplished, by the prayer of faith. By the simple prayer the sick have been encouraged to believe that God will look with compassion upon them, else that prayer would never have been offered in their behalf. A ray of light penetrates to the hopeless soul and becomes a savor of life unto life. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 14
Pray with simple faith. In the future world we shall see what great victories have been won by the prayer of faith. Prayer has “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions (not only beasts of prey, but human beings), quenched the violence of fire, (we shall know what this means when we hear the reports of the martyrs who died for their faith and felt not pain), escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness was made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” [Hebrews 11:33, 34.] 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 15
We shall want to hear all about these victories, and shall hear when the Captain of our salvation, our glorious King of kings, opens it before those of whom John writes, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” [Revelation 7:14-17.] 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 16
Dr. Kellogg, there is a different, a more exalted, experience to be obtained by every worker in every phase of God’s work. This experience all will gain if they read the Word of God, and appropriate that Word as the living bread which came down from heaven. But not one in a hundred know the value of eating the bread of life. The directions given by Jesus Christ, the invisible Leader of Israel, in the Old Testament Scriptures are full of marrow and fatness. No soul will repine in spiritual hunger if they take these words and eat them. The words spoken in the sixth chapter of John have special reference to the spirituality of the Word. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 17
The living oracles are the flesh and blood of the Son of God, although He had not then been crucified among them. His work as the substitute for all sin was the only hope of ancient Israel, and after the plan of God had been fulfilled in the death of Christ, the New Testament was written by holy men as they were moved by the Spirit of God. This additional blessing, the New Testament Scriptures, was given, not that the Old might be cast aside, but that the light of the New Testament might be reflected back into past ages, giving significance to the whole Jewish economy. The directions so plainly laid down in reference to practical holiness should enter the life of every one who claims to be a Christian. All should fulfill the terms and conditions given to ancient Israel in regard to practical obedience. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 18
Let all remember that the mysteries of the kingdom cannot be learned by reasoning. True faith and true prayer—how strong they are! The prayer of the Pharisee had no value, but the prayer of the publican was heard in the courts above, because it showed dependence reaching forth to lay hold of Omnipotence. Self was nothing but shame. Thus it must be with all who seek God. Faith expressed by prayer are as the two arms which the needy suppliant lays hold upon the power of infinite love. Faith sees the advantage of making peace with God. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 19
Now, my brother, I have written you matters just as they were presented to me. You were devising and planning, and feeling that you must have the co-operation and sympathy of all the men standing with you; but, my brother, you cannot be supported in drawing from the Foreign Mission Board to sustain the workers in medical missionary lines who are working in America. You cannot depend on the Foreign Mission Board for means just as you choose. This is not as it should be. There must be a Foreign Mission treasury. But this must not be drawn upon so that when the missionaries in foreign countries look to America for help, they will find nothing there. The medical missionary work in America must not be launched out as largely as it has done, unless workers know where their means of support are coming from. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 20
There are other lines of work, my brother, that you have not discerned and estimated as you should have done. They have been out of your sight. You need to see afar off, as well as near. You need to consider carefully how the workers in other parts of God’s moral vineyard are to be assisted. The places where the work is new, where prejudice and opposition abound, where there are no Seventh-day Adventist churches to which the workers can appeal, need help. You have just as little consideration for foreign missionary labor and the work to be started in new fields as you suppose the Foreign Mission Board has for your work. You receive large donations in the medical missionary work. You receive a large amount of money in the sanitarium. Light has been given me that you are planning to use means in various ways which will absorb more than the treasury can afford. You cannot do this unless you shall interest outside parties to furnish you means. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 21
I am authorized to call for means from the treasury to advance the work in this country. I should have done it long ago for the establishment of a sanitarium here in Australia. But your demands have been too readily made. You, as well as I, need to exercise care in the outlay of every penny. God’s work has not yet been established in New South Wales, and this must be done. If we had received that help which we ought to have had years ago from the resources in America, we should now have institutions on paying bases. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 22
I have just been reading over the testimony written when the sanitarium was started in Battle Creek. The entreaties and supplications made then for help for that sanitarium and for our school were just as strong as the entreaties I am making now for the help I ought to have had here. In the establishment of the work in Oakland, California, I felt the same distress of mind. I have spent many sleepless nights over the establishment of work in these places. Now they stand on vantage ground, and the workers in them should have understood the situation without compelling me to plead in behalf of a field where there is nothing to give character to the work. It makes me ashamed to think they have not. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 23
My brother, you are on test and trial, and if you throw your arms about so many responsibilities that are unending in their duration, and make them first, you will not do right. You must consider that it absorbs means to sustain the increasing demands which your devising creates. To whom shall those who are in hard and trying fields look for strength and financial support. If they could receive anything approaching to the donations that you have received, they would be able to work with far more courage and, having facilities, could accomplish far more work. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 24
All these things need to be considered. There is the sanitarium in Battle Creek—a place of great influence. You have been honored by God; and I do not want you to increase and increase a certain line of work that absorbs so much that other fields are left with little or nothing. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 25
You have represented the case to me as you view it, saying that you do not have the sympathy of many of your brethren. Do not suppose that, because you are not upheld in all you propose to do, you can invest means in various ways and then feel hurt if you are not sustained. If you were not bound about in some way, all missionary work in foreign countries would be so handicapped for want of financial aid that the workers might better leave the field. You exaggerate in your statements to me, for in your imaginations the matter looks so to you; but it is not a correct representation. You must be just as willing that your voice and your judgment shall [not] have all the preference. The very exaltation God has given you, as you will see by my letters He has given you, should make you afraid. Temptations have come to you, and will come to you more and more. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 26
The Lord has placed you in a position of great responsibility, but He can remove you at any time. We do not want you to be removed, and I am now commissioned to give you warning that you are certainly in danger. It is just as much your duty to draw nigh to your brethren and help them and sympathize with them in the difficulties which have come into the conference, which is a most humiliating, heart-sickening matter, as it is for them to help you; yea, more, for you are looked up to by many of the so-called great men of the world. You have their confidence, and they honor you. The position that you are in is not so very trying if you would be candid and not view matters in a distorted light. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 27
The Lord has given you great blessings. Will you then show that you appreciate your position of trust, as not created by yourself, but by the Lord God of heaven? My brother, you can pursue a course that will deprive you of the wisdom God has given you; but I do not want you to do this. I want you to remain as true as steel to your God and to your brethren. Just as soon as you begin to show a sense of superiority and a masterly spirit, the Lord will work to show that He is God and not man. Walk humbly with God. Bear in humility all the honor God has seen fit to give you. Do not exalt yourself and demerit your brethren, for then you show distinctly that the Spirit of the Lord is departing from you, and that you will be left to your own wisdom. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 28
Never has there been a physician who has not had his trials. The very work in which you are engaged makes you a target for the enemy. It is becoming to you to hide yourself in God. Let him place you in the cleft of the rock, and cover that rock with His hand, that you may see His glory. Never must you show overmastering passion. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 29
Do not think that in giving success to the sanitarium, God is dependent upon any one man. The heavenly intelligences have in God’s plan appointed the sanitarium as a place where His name shall be magnified. He would make it a place where He can use men as His agencies to co-operate with Him in exalting the truth, giving strength and beauty to the column, building as workers who follow His directions. Thy mysteries so precious and essential that it is God’s purpose to reveal—His eternal truths—He will make known to the world in a most simple manner. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 30
The grace of God has been viewed from the outer court. It is the Lord’s purpose to rend away the veil. The revelation of His own glory in the form of humanity hid in Christ will bring heaven so near to men that the beauty adorning the inner temple will be seen in every agent in whose heart Christ abides. Hearts will be captivated—not by the glory of the man, but by the inward adorning of an abiding Christ. It is the revelation of Christ in the man that captivates the hearts of men and women. They behold the beautiful character of Christ, revealed by good works. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 31
All the self-exaltation of man, his high estimate of himself, are not of the least value in God’s sight. If man has that faith which in its simplicity works by love and sanctifies the soul, Christ says to him, Ye are a laborer “together with God; ye are God’s husbandry; ye are God’s building.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] Man must be worked by God, builded by God. Material of the first quality must be used in the character building. You know that poor timbers have been put into your building. God has been working to remove these timbers. Do not build yourself after your own model. Let God make you a holy temple for Him. He has loved you. He is proving you. Make no failure. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 32
You are not to suppose that you are superior to your brethren, but God has given your every capability, your every success. You have made many mistakes, yet the Lord uses you still. Do not take credit to yourself. All that you are comes from God. It is the heavenly intelligences that work through human agents, and when you take any glory to yourself by exalting yourself, you greatly dishonor God; for you reveal a disposition that shows you are not yoked up with Christ, but are drawing a load on your own account. Many do this. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 33
I feel the deepest interest in you. In the letters I sent in the mail before last, a few days before your letters arrived, I stated facts plainly. In a few days another mail came, the last. Well, I have not dared to withhold the light, for things are constantly opening before me. For some time now, excepting three nights, I have not slept after two o’clock. Some nights I awake at half past one, and the night before last I awakened at twelve o’clock, and commenced writing to you. I wrote as fast as my pen could travel over the paper. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 34
Walk softly before God, not in the strength of Dr. Kellogg. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord that exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” [Jeremiah 9:23, 24.] The Lord has kept you by His power, and He will still keep you if you do not try so hard to keep and run yourself. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 35
God can guide you, my brother, beautifully, and in perfect consistency in all things; but just as soon as you feel yourself superior to your brethren, and criticize them, you are out of your place, as they are out of their place in criticizing you. My brother, you must strive to work in perfect harmony with your brethren. The work is one the world over. Do not suppose that every man is to be as interested to the same degree in the medical missionary work as you yourself are. They cannot be; for God has laid upon them the work of ministry. This is fully as essential as any work you have been carrying on. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 36
The ministry and the medical missionary work must be combined. Never lose sight of this. There must be no alienation among brethren. If our brethren have ought against us, the first missionary work to be done is to be reconciled to our brother or brethren. God has pointed out the path we must follow. He has shown us that we must love one another. When the love of Jesus Christ pervades the soul, many words that you now speak to those who love God and keep His commandments just as conscientiously as you do, you will not speak. They are not in a position where they can be honored and exalted as you are. Let not this be a snare to you, for as the Lord has presented matters to me, the spirit you have manifested toward your brethren must be different from what it has been in the past. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Christ died to save your brethren as surely as He died to save you. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 37
He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is in the heart of every man. There must be a decided change in your attitude toward your brethren. Be assured that when this change takes place, you will see a decided change in your brethren. I feel so sorry for my Saviour. I feel such longing of soul that Christ shall mellow and change the soul temple of His people. You need to soften. You need not feel that your brethren are all in the wrong, because they are not. You need the working of the Holy Spirit on your heart as much and even more than many of your brethren need it. When you become one with your brethren, as is represented in the seventeenth chapter of John, you may expect the love and power of God to flow in rich currents into your soul. The work of God is not divided; it is one, and if there is any separation between the medical missionary work and the ministry, it will be because the Holy Spirit is not working upon hearts. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 38
Come, brethren, the Angel of the covenant is working by His intercession, even the Lord Jesus Christ, to prevent the very thing which will take place unless there is complete unity in your work. Christ is opening His lips in supplication. He is pouring out His petitions to God for you who claim to believe in Him and yet are not living in unity. You are jealous and suspicious of one another. Your Redeemer would restore to His people healthful heartbeats for each other. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 39
This passing judgment upon one another prevents the working of the Spirit of God. Christ is not divided. God wants to give an enlarged current of His love to His people. “And the Spirit helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; for the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because it maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” [Romans 8:26, 27.] 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 40
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.” [Jude 20-25.] 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 41
My brethren, I write these things to you because they are truth, and you all need them. All faultfinding, all criticizing, all envy, jealousy, and evil surmising, must be put away with all evil-speaking. You are to prepare the highways of the Lord. You are to strive to be one with Christ in God. Then there will be given to the world an evidence of the great goodness of God in sending his son to die for men. True, genuine love will be expressed, for Christ is abiding in the heart. Then your prayers will be offered in the spirit and power of God, and God will be revealed. Where you are now standing, in disunion, the atmosphere about your souls is of Satan’s creating. It is his own breath. Obey the Word, and love as brethren, and God will bind you together with the great love wherewith He loved His Son. This is the love you each are to express to the world. 14LtMs, Lt 40, 1899, par. 42