The Chair: A small meeting was held here last evening to consider some matters; and while the question was being considered, it was decided to adjourn the meeting until this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. It was thought that during the interval we ought to counsel with Sister White regarding the situation at the present time, and give her an invitation to be present and place before us any light that she might have for us. It was also thought that it would be well to enlarge the meeting, and invite others who are bearing responsibilities, that they might be present with us. During the forenoon, Brother Irwin, Brother Haskell, Brother Olsen, and myself have had some counsel with Sister White, and she has consented to be present with us and lay some matters before us that have been opened up to her mind. We are very thankful indeed to have her present, and will invoke the blessing of our Father upon her during this occasion.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 3

Mrs. E. G. White: I did not expect to lead out in this meeting. I thought I would let you lead out, and then if I had anything to say, I would say it.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 4

A. G. Daniells: Well, it seemed to me (and I think to all of us who counseled with you this morning) that we had said about as much as we wished to until we heard from you.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 5

Talk of Mrs. E. G. White.

I would prefer not to speak today, but still not because I have not anything to say, because I have. I have something to say, and the state of things as has existed in our Conference and the leading responsibilities are not really understood in their influence by themselves or by those that are taking responsibilities in the work. The work has been increasing. It has been growing, and from the light that I have had for some time, has been expressed, has been expressed over and over again—not to all there are here—but has been expressed to individuals, and the plans that God would have all to work from, that never should one mind or two minds or three minds or four minds, or a few minds, I should say, be considered of sufficient wisdom and power to control and mark out plans, and let it rest upon the mind of one or two or three in regard to the field—this broad, broad field that we have; that we are not coming up to reach that high standard with the great and important truths which we are handling, that God expects us to reach.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 6

There are minds which must be brought into altogether more lively action than they are at the present time; and in reference to our Conference, it is repeated o’er and o’er and o’er again that it is the voice of God, and therefore everything must be referred to the Conference, and have the Conference’s voice in regard to permission or restriction, or what shall be and what shall not be done in the various fields.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 7

Now, from the light that I have, as it was presented to me in figures, there was a narrow compass here [drawing a circle on a book with her hand]. There within that narrow compass in a kingly, ruling power; here the outlets are locked, and the work carried on all over our field demands an entirely different course of action than we have had. That there needs to be the laying of a foundation that is different from what we have had. We have heard enough, [an] abundance, about “Everything must go around in the regular lines.” When we see [that] the regular lines are impressed and purified and refined, and the God of the heavens’ mold is upon the regular lines, then it is our business to establish the regular lines.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 8

But when we see that message after message that God has given, has been taken and accepted, but no change—just the same as it was before—then we know that there is new blood [that] must be brought into the regular lines. The managers of the regular lines, they must have an entire change, an entire new organization, and have a committee that shall take in not merely a half a dozen that are to be a ruling and a controlling power, but it is to have the voice of those that are placed in responsibilities in our educational interests, in our Sanitarium that is working, and the life in them constantly at work, constantly broadening, constantly giving to the field the talent that has come to it. The comparison has been presented to me: Where are the fields that have been opened? Where are the new fields that have been opened here in America? Where is it in California? Where is it here at the great heart of the work? And here are the two great centers: where is the wrestling to get into fields, whether it costs or does not cost, whatever way it shall be?16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 9

God has His treasures that He has given to our world. He has His treasure in the hills; He has His treasure in every district, He has His treasures in every place and in every country, and all these countries, and all these countries far and near, He wants to be a widening, broadening, enlarging power. And the management is becoming confused in itself—not that anyone means to be wrong or to do wrong. But the principle is wrong, and the principles have become so mixed and so foreign from what God’s principles are, and the message has been going constantly in regard to principles, sacred, holy, elevated, ennobling, in every institution, in the publishing house and in all the interests of the General Conference—everything that concerns the handling of the work requires minds that are worked by the Holy Spirit of God. Unless that evidence is given, unless that it is, or something that there is a power that shows that they are accepting from God to impart to the responsibilities that have to be handled, then there should be a renovation without any delay.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 10

To have this Conference pass on and close up as the Conferences have done, with the same manipulating, with the very same tone and the same order—God forbid! God forbid, brethren. He wants every living power that has a knowledge of the truth, to come to their senses. He wants every living power to arouse, and we are just about as much dilly-dallying, and it is time that we arise and shine, because our light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon us; and until this shall come, we might just as well close up the Conference today as any other day; but what we must have is taking in of other minds. Why, there are minds here that have been at work, minds that have been at work in the same chain, in the same channel; they have become discouraged, and they have become confused. Well, now, we cannot trust to such as that in such tremendous responsibilities as have got to be handled here. Why, from the light that God has given me, everything about this Conference should be the most sacred. Why? Why, because it is to put ideas and plans and work upon its proper basis, and this thing has been acted and reacted for the last fifteen years or more, and God calls for a change.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 11

God wants that men of capabilities and of mind should understand there is a ladder for them to climb, round after round, and if they climb this ladder round after round, why, they will step off finally into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We want our course heavenward, and we want that all the selfishness, every thread of it, that has been woven into the pattern, every thread of this selfishness is to be cut out. And here is a work that, from the light that God has given me, it should stand, yes, a hundred percent higher than it stands today. Here are our enemies, here are those Satanic agencies that are at work with all their power and with all their capability to weaken and to destroy, and unless there is a wakening up from every working agency, let me tell you that the enemy is getting a victory all the time.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 12

God wants us to arouse. God wants us to take hold of this work—every human agency, and He wants us to work for time and for eternity. The treading over and over and over and over and over the same ground—here are our large churches, and they ought to be turning out men, educating and training and disciplining; and there ought to be those who should connect with the responsibilities, that shall go out into fields to carry the message, and the barren fields that have been, O, so barren, more especially in the Southern field, that is scarcely touched, notwithstanding the message has come from God for the last, I might say—well, I do not know how many years. It is quite a number of years that these things. Our standstill has got to come to an end; but yet every Conference, it is woven after the very same pattern. It is the very same loom that carries it, and finally it will come to naught.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 13

Now God wants a change, and it is high time, it is high time that there [be] ability that should connect with the Conference, with the General Conference, right here in its sitting—not wait till it is done, and then find—not wait till it is all done and over with, and then gather up the forces and see what can be done. We want to know what can be done right here, what can be done right now, and what power and intellect that there is that shall be brought into this work, and that they shall unite their powers and take hold of it intelligently, and that God can work with them. Now this is what we want, and we want that every institution, that bears a responsibility, bear a voice in the working of this cause which they have a decided interest in. And God wants that we shall every one come into a position where we shall work, that we will not lay off the burden on two or three men and let them carry it.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 14

Brother Irwin soon will be where he cannot work at all. He wants supporters, and he has been in this work of wrestling and discouragement till he should have a change. He should have some one come in his place, unless that you expect that he is going to give all out. It cannot be. We must have responsible men, and we want men that shall stand just as true as the compass to the pole; and God will test these men, and unless they can show a better idea of what principle is, what sanctified and Heaven and Christlike principle is, why then they will have to be changed, and try another. But God is going to have a change. He wants us to know what it means to work on the principles of Heaven. He wants officers know what it means for [them] to stand in their lot and in their place, and every soul that has had the responsibility, that they should have been guardians, that they should have been shepherds, that they should have had a patience, just as it is represented—“add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” [2 Peter 1:5-7.]16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 15

Brethren, we all need these letters written and hung into the chambers of the mind; and the one that doeth these things, if you will believe on this principle, you will “never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” [Verses 10, 11.]16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 16

Now God is in earnest with us, and He has seen the close—O, I cannot tell how it is. It is contemptible in the sight of God, contemptible. It is so close, for fear I shall not get all I ought to have, and it leaves the man where that he cannot, if that he considers is the principles of Heaven—why, it leaves the man where he will never get into heaven; he could not get in there. The nobility, the generosity, the tenderness, the compassion, the love of Christ—why, they are as destitute of it as the hills of Gilboa that had no dew nor rain—just as destitute of it; and you could not arouse them to it. Enough has been said; enough has been said over and over and over again, but it does not make any difference; they go right on just the same, professedly accepting it, but they do not make any change.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 17

Well, now that is what burdens me; that is what burdens me. It burdens me because that I see unless there is more tenderness, more compassion, more of the love of God—the Lord knew what He was talking about when He gave the message to Daniel—“You have lost your first love,” you have lost it. [Revelation 2:4.]16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 18

S. N. Haskell: It was John.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 19

Mrs. E. G. White: He tells you to repent speedily, or He will remove the candlestick out of his place, and regain the first love. What you want is to study all through John, and see what was said about the love of God, and the love that we should express; and that love has not been cultivated, and if it is not cultivated, the opposite attributes are cultivated. Well now, it has not been cultivated in our institutions of publication, and in the little sharpness that can be exercised, that they think they are going to gain a little something—they lose fourfold, yes, tenfold in that little transaction, until the light is ruled out of his place. They do not know when it is for the interests of the institution to act nobly. Every time act nobly, and to come up to the help of the Lord, to have a new creation of sentiment. Well, now, God never will acquit us until that is there, until it is right in our institutions, every one of them; and God means just what He says. He wants a change here.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 20

Well, to think that this same thing is going over the very same ideas, the same committees, and here is a little throne, the king is reigning in here, and others, why, they are all secondary; when there are minds that are as much sharper, because they have not been working on this narrow, conceited plan. Why, I feel intensely. I did not want to talk so, but I dare not hold my peace. I feel this business, and if you should melt under the tenderness of God and break your hears before Him, and ever come where you can see things clearly, you will see God hates selfishness, and when you bring it into His cause, O, it makes the crime a hundredfold greater when you bring that selfishness in, as though you were going to benefit the cause. You do not benefit a particle. It makes God ashamed of you.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 21

Well, what are we? We are to be representatives of Jesus Christ. We are to be representatives of his character. We are to show that we are carrying out the living principles in every line, in action, in every country everywhere, and in every place that has anything to do with God’s service. He will not accept your common fire. He wants you to take the sacred fire that He kindles on the divine altar, and He wants you to walk, and that fire to consume all your commonness, all your intemperance, all your selfishness, all your cheap ideas, all licentiousness—O, this lust, He wants it taken away from all people that are trying to fashion a people to stand in the last great conflict which is just before us. Self must be hid in God. When self is hid in God, then will the Lord God appear, and not self. He will appear as the great Worker, that when you think to improve on God’s plans by your narrowness, by your conceited ideas, and by your planning and grasping and thinking you are going to gain something, why, if you have not learned now, you will have to learn; and we want that these—God wants, I should say, that these committees that have been so long handling the same things, should be relieved of their command, and have a chance for their life, and see if they cannot get out of this rut that they are in, which I have no hope of their getting out of—not a bit, because the Spirit of God has been working and working, and yet it clings there still. Now the Lord wants His Spirit should come in. He wants the Holy Ghost to come in. He wants everything of this sharpness, that it shall not be exercised toward outsiders, it shall not be exercised toward the strangers that are within our gates; that it shall not be exercised toward one that is trying to serve God and trying to exercise all his power to serve Him, that is bringing in the tithes here to sustain the ministry. He has a treasury, and that treasury is to be sustained by the [tithe] and that tithe is to be a sacred tithe, and it is to be God’s tithe, and that tithe is to be so liberal that it will sustain the work largely, and they are to act in their capacity in such a way that the confidence of the whole people will be established in them, and that they will not be afraid to open everything just as light as day to all that are in connection with the work of God and the people.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 22

I know my husband used to work hard every way. He would sit down with this man that he thought had good judgment, and that man, and the other man, and the other man—that was when the cause was young. He did not feel that he was capable of carrying the Conference when it was young, but he had these men, these committees that were brought in from places all around. It was not just in Battle Creek, but it was in places, in different places that those who felt the responsibility of the work would go home and feel a larger responsibility of the work to carry it on in right lines, in even lines, in purity, in holiness, in uplifted uprightness, in solidity, so that the cause of God should be that which would make every one of us joyful and proud that God had given us the privilege to be colaborers with Jesus Christ. Now there is all that power that was pledged to us when we pledged ourselves to God. That power, that all the provision was made in heaven, all the facilities, all the riches of the grace of God were to be imparted to every worker that was connected with the cause; and every one of these is wholly dependent upon God; and when you leave God out of the question, and Jesus Christ out of the question, and let the hereditary and cultivated traits of character come in, let me tell you, we are on very slippery ground; we are making not straight paths for our feet, but crooked paths, that the lame shall be turned out of the way; and we cannot afford it, we cannot afford it. It has cost too much to Heaven to give us Jesus. It has cost too much to Heaven for Christ to lay aside His royal robe, to lay aside His royal crown and to step down from His high command, the Prince of Life from glory, in order that he might make himself in humanity and divinity combined a steppingstone for man to step on. It was not humanity, but humanity and divinity combined, and that man could step on that steppingstone, and that he will be on vantage ground with God, because the perfume, because the sanctified and holy character of God imbues the life of every soul that eats of the bread of life and drinks of the water of salvation; and every one that eats of Christ, that takes His Word and practices it, hath eternal life; it is in him, because he is in Christ and Christ is in him.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 23

Now here is the way the matter is represented; but when there is “I do not care,” and going right contrary to the light that God has given in His Word—I do not ask you to take my word; I do not ask you to do it; lay Sister White right to one side; you lay her right to one side. Do you not—never quote my words again as long as you live, until you can obey the Bible. When you take the Bible and make that, make that your food, your meat, and your drink, and make that the elements of your character—when you can do that, then you will know better how to receive some counsel from God. But here the Word, the precious Word, I exalt it before you today; and do not go and repeat any more what Sister White said—“Sister White said this,” and “Sister White said that,” and “Sister White said the other thing;” you say, “What saith the Lord God of Israel?” and then you [not] do just what the Lord God of Israel does and what He says. Christ says: “I do the works of my Father; the works that I see Him do I do.” [John 5:19.] Well now, the works and sentiments and the principles that you have seen, that God has manifested in dealing with one another, the purchase of the blood of Christ—why, only think of it. Here we are the purchase of the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You just think of it. We cost His life. He was crucified for us, and yet here are the very instrumentalities that God would have stand next to Heaven, that God would have stand where the light of His glory can shine upon them in unmistakable rays, and they know that the light of Heaven is with them. It is no emotion, it is a living faith that is founded on the living words of a living God, of a Saviour that proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life” [John 11:25]; and here He wants you to eat His principles, to live His principles; but those that are now there never will appreciate it. They have had their test; they have had their trial; they have had their warnings.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 24

Now there must be a change. Give them an opportunity to go out and see what it means to wrestle in the cause of God as some of His workmen have. Let them see what it means to build up. Let them go in the waste places of the earth. Let them begin to see what it means to establish things out of nothing. When they do this, they will understand that God means that His servants shall be linked in one, that every part of the work—one part has connection with another part, and another part, and another part, and another part; and there it is joined together by the golden links of heaven, and there are to be no kings here ruling at all. There is to be no man that is going to put his hand out and say, “No, you cannot go there; we cannot support you if you go there.” We ask, Have we to do with their supporting? Did they create the means? The means come from the people, and those that are in the destitute fields, the voice of God has told me to instruct them to go to the people, and to tell them their necessities, to draw from the people, and to work just where they can find a place to work, to build up the work in every place that they possibly can. There is a world to be saved, and we want to know if we have got our committees that have got a bind about the work? And we look over the cities—where are the monuments? Where, I ask you, are the churches that were left to glorify God? Where are the workers? I thank God that there is a work going on, and I thank God for the medical missionary work, and every soul that shall obtain that education in connection with the gospel of Jesus Christ, God will call for you; God has a place for you; and those who are laboring for the youth in any line in our schools, in the Sanitarium, and wherever they are at work, don’t you put one stone in their way. The Lord will reveal that He will work with those who do work. “Ye are laborers together with God.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] Here are the churches. My heart ached when I was in California. There are young men treading right round and round in the churches; but where’s the power? Where’s the power to open the fields for them, and to say, “Here, we are not to stay here with the people that know the truth.” Here is a world that knows nothing about it, and this world is to be converted and educated just as far as they will yield to the truth; but the seed of truth must be sown. Lift up your heads, said Christ, for the fields are all ripe to harvest. Well, He wanted them to look at it, and He wanted them to see it, and He wants every one of you to see it; and to fold your hands and to feel at ease, and to travel from place to place, and place to place, to look after the churches—God help you by giving you the spirit of the message, that your soul shall yearn after other souls, and you will not let go until they are converted. This is the work we want to see done, and until that spirit comes in and takes hold of every man in every Conference, that they are educated, that they are adopting the very light, that should be health reform, that they are living out in paths of self-denial and self-sacrifice. O, my soul, how it has hurt me to have the blocks thrown in the way in regard to myself! They will tell, “Sister White said this.” “Sister White ate cheese, and therefore we are all at liberty to eat cheese.” Well, who told them I ate cheese? Who told them? I never have cheese on my table. There was but one time—I was at Minneapolis—one or two times I have tasted of cheese. That is a different thing from making it a diet, entirely different thing. I have tasted of very bitter herbs on special occasions, when I would not make it a diet. But there was a special occasion in Minneapolis where that I could get nothing, and there were some little bits of cheese cut up on the table, and the brethren were there, and one of them had told me, “If you eat a little of that cheese, it will change the condition;” and I did. I took a bit of that cheese. I do not think that I touched it again the second time. Another says: “Sister White drinks tea, and you can drink tea.” Who of my brethren has ever made that statement? Who has ever heard it, to ever made it of me? I never have tea in my house, and I never set it before any one. Sister White has not had meat in her house or cooked it in any line, or any dead flesh, for years and years. And here is the health reform. “Now I have told you Sister White did not eat meat. Now I want you not to eat meat, because Sister White does not eat it.” Well, I would not give—I would not care a farthing for anything like that. If you have not got any better conviction—you won’t eat meat because Sister White does not eat any—if I am the authority, I would not give a farthing for your health reform. What I want is that every one of you should stand in your individual dignity before God, in your individual consecration to God, that the soul-temple shall be dedicated to God. “Whosoever defileth the temple of God, him will God destroy.” [Verse 17.] Now I want you to think of these things, and do not make any human being your criterion.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 25

What you want—you have got a body here wonderfully made, and you want that that body should be O so carefully dealt with. I have seen, or it has been represented to me, the finest machinery was in the body, and a good thing you can carry too far, like inhaling too much and swelling out. God did not make these precious organs to be swelled like a balloon. He never made it for that, and He wants nobody to be presumptuous on any of these things; and He wants every living soul to deal with His machinery as God’s machinery, that they must keep in perfect order to keep the brain nerve power all right. The brain must work, and every burden that you put upon your stomach, which should not be in your stomach, will just becloud the brain. You come into a Conference like this, you sit down, and you eat too hearty meals, and not exercise, and then go into the meeting, and you are all sleepy. Your ideas are not good for anything, and you do not really know what you are sent to.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 26

Now God wants every soul here should sharpen up. He wants every soul here shall have His converting power. You need not refer once to what Sister White has seen. I do not want you to do it. God has told me that my testimony must be borne straight to this Conference, and that I am not to try to make a soul believe it; that my work is to leave the truth with human minds, and those that can have the truth in the Word of God and will appreciate it, will appreciate every light that God has given for poor lame souls, that they should not be turned out of the way; and He wants you to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame shall be turned out of the way.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 27

Now we want that in the Conference we shall have, that the ability that God has given to Dr. Kellogg—I do not suppose he is here, I do not know that he is, but at any rate—16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 28

A. G. Daniells: Yes, he is here.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 29

Mrs. E. G. White: Well, I cannot see. I have to have congregational glasses that I can discern the faces; but I cannot see; but I want to say that the Lord wants you to make the most of the capabilities that He is using in every part of the work. He does not want the medical missionary work separated from the gospel work, nor the gospel work separated from the medical missionary work. He wants them to build up together, and He wants that this, the educating power of the medical missionary work, should be considered as the pioneer work, the breaking-up plow, the breaking down of prejudice that has existed; and nothing will break it down like it; and God wants every soul to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Kellogg. He has become all but desperate, and come nearly, I might say, losing his life, because of the positions that have been taken, and every one throwing a stone right before the car, so that it should not advance. Now God wants the health and missionary work to advance. He wants God’s work to be carried on.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 30

I did not know, really, when I came here, I did not know what to do. Courteously, Dr. Kellogg had asked me to come to his house and let them give me treatment a week or two before the Conference, that I should be able to enter the Conference. Then comes up the question, Here, what about—they will say, “Well, Dr. Kellogg has manipulated you.” Let them say it if [they] want to. They said it enough when there was not a particle of ground for it, so now let them say it. But I was going to give them—I was going to take all difficulty out of the way, so I sent word, Find me a place somewhere. Dr. Kellogg has opened kindly to me, but to remove all occasion for talk, I decided that I would not go there. Now find me a place.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 31

Friday night I was kneeling down praying. “O Lord, tell me where to go and what to do.” There I have been sick, and was still sick, and—why, I did not choose to come to Battle Creek. [For] I knew that it would be a terrible trial to me. This is the third winter I am passing through. I passed through one in Australia, I have passed through one in California, and I am passing through the third here; and now you can judge that all this tells upon my system. And then the heated houses, when there is no more need of having it heated in California—but there is the house heated, and here I was brought down in a terrible condition of malaria, and I have had it ever since Christmas upon me; and then the very crisis came when I was at Los Angeles, and there I knew nothing—after I had spoken on Sabbath I did not know anything about it, and then it was that this awfulness that I had had in my head passed through the whole channel of the body, and that brought on the bloody flux, and I have been traveling all this time up to the time I came here, with that terrible disorder, the bloody flux—could not sit up at all hardly—had to lie all the time. And yet I have not disappointed a single place; but once in Los Angeles I got up and stood on my feet in the strength of God. At Vicksburg I spoke twice, and at Nashville I spoke twice, and at Memphis I spoke once, and at Chicago I spoke twice; and God helped me to speak. And then I came here, and I have been speaking ever since I have been here, nearly all the time and at every place.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 32

Now you see I was afraid of all this, and I did not want to sacrifice my life, and so I said I could not come here. I could not come across the plains there. I could not do it. I was afraid. I nearly melted my kidneys when I went in cold winter, and there were coils right under where I was lying, and I never got over it to this day—and that is when I went to Texas on my way to Australia. And there I was afraid, and so I said I could not come; and they said then they would have the Conference in Oakland. But in the night season I was talking to you just as I am today. I was bearing a message night after night, and night after night, and then I would get up and write it. I would get up at one o’clock, and would get up at twelve o’clock; I would get up at two o’clock, and I would write out the message that I had, and it was then, while I was considering these things, came the messages from London, how that they hoped that they could—would see me and meet me, but now they could not come so far, and cost so much; and I heard it would cost from five to eight thousand dollars, the difference; and then I said, We have got no such money to spare, and if I sacrifice my life, I will try it. I will try it, anyhow.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 33

Well, Dr. Kellogg never persuaded me at all to come. When I told him the particulars—the cold weather, “Why,” he said, “would it make any difference if”—the only, the only word he spoke to me, “would it make any difference if the time could be changed a few weeks.” Said I, It would. Then I began to think upon that plan after he had gone. Well now, what I want to say, what we want is to be sensible people.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 34

W. C. White: You started to tell about your prayer Saturday night.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 35

Mrs. E. G. White: O yes! We knelt down to pray, and I was asking the Lord where I should go and what I should do. I was for backing out and not going. I knew—Sara says, “You are not fit to go anywhere. You should not go anywhere; and O,” says she, “I dread it for you.” Well, while I was praying and was sending up my petition, there was, as has been a hundred times or more, a soft light circling around in the room, and a fragrance like the fragrance of flowers, of a beautiful scent of flowers; and then the voice seemed to speak gently and said that I was to accept the invitation of My servant, John Kellogg, and make his home my home. Then the word was, “I have appointed him as My physician. You can be an encouragement to him.”16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 36

That is why I am here, and that is why I am there at [his] home. Now I want in every way possible, if I can, to treat Dr. Kellogg as God’s appointed physician, and I am going to do it. And I want that my brethren where they have had “They say, they say, they say, they say, they say,”—you just put the “they says” right straight away from you. You inquire, “What saith the Lord?” and you look to the Lord, and don’t you look to any human power and get their mind, and they are nothing but human, they are nothing but failing [humans]; but you just look to the Lord God of Israel, and He will give you understanding, and He will give you knowledge. But you are not to lean your helpless soul on any other human being. You have got a character to form for your individual self, and God has given you ample encouragement that character should be after God’s order.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 37

Now in addition to this that I tell you, the next night—no, that night, I went to sleep very happy. I was—the whole family was melted and broken down. They knew nothing what I had in my mind, nothing at all what I had seen; but the Spirit of God was there. There they were all weeping, all broken, and the blessing of God was flowing right through our room like a tidal wave. Why, the Spirit of God had taken hold upon us, and Sister Druillard was just weeping and praising God, and Brother Druillard was praising God, and we all there had an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Such things are more precious to me than the gold of Ophir. O, I appreciate the movings of the Spirit of God.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 38

Now I want to say, Let us, for Christ’s sake, unify. Let us put away—we cannot reform ourselves by putting our fingers upon somebody else’s wrong, and think that is going to cover our wrong. God says we must love one another. God says we must deal gently and justly and righteously with one another. He says, “I hate your false weights and your false measures.” He tells us that He knows us in the very testimony that He has given in other cases. The Lord wants us to come into close connection with Him. You know He told Cornelius all about [sending for Peter]; He knew just where Peter lived, and He told him all about these things, every particular, how he was with one who was a tanner, and here it was all worked up. The angel of God could have told Cornelius all about this message. But no. God’s church must connect together, and the light that God had imparted to Peter was to be imparted to Cornelius and all his family.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 39

Well now, that is the way God works, and He expects everyone of us to come to Him; and why we are all weak as we are, is because we are [crippled] over somebody else. Now let the Lord God of Israel come into our midst. Give Him room, give Him place, and let us begin to exercise the love of God in our hearts, instead of hatred. Just as soon as you begin to build up yourself, you begin to hate others. God help us to come into right positions; and I believe He is here today. If I did not believe He was here, I would not want to say the things I have said; but I believe He can set these things home to hearts, and there can be a heart work done here—not of your standing right off and doing nothing, but you work right on Christ’s principles, and when you work on the principles of heaven, you will see the salvation of God revealed. And God wants you to stand in His strength; He wants you to have open the windows heavenward, and close them earthward. He wants the salvation of God should be revealed. He wants the medical missionary work and the gospel bound up together just as fast together and inseparable, and He wants that this work shall blend, and that they should be a united whole with this people. He wants the talent that is in Dr. Kellogg, He wants the talent that is in the school, He wants the talent that is in every institution, to be connected with the management of His work, of His churches. He does not want two or three minds to sit as kings, and the rest of them, why, they must be amenable to these two or three minds. He wants that there shall be committees that are holding a part of every part of His work; and then the foreign missionary work, you will understand, will be worked upon a higher grade than it ever has been working yet. God wants it worked.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 40

I have seen the people ready to impart. Why, some say, why they have had more than their proportion, [more] than others have, in Australia. We have had none too much, only we ought to have had ten times [as much] to begin with, that we could establish something that would be an entrance, something that would be a pioneer to the work, that will take everywhere. No use to shut down [something] that it will take everywhere. There is no place but what the missionary work, the medical missionary work, will take, and it will open the way for the gospel.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 41

Now, I want to say, God has not blessed as He would have blessed had there been an appreciation of the work that He is carrying on. I thank God that Dr. Kellogg has not sunk into despondency and infidelity. I have been afraid of it, and I have written some very straight things to him, and it may be, Dr. Kellogg (if he is here), that I have written too strong; for I felt as though I must get hold of you and hold you by the power of all the might I had. But I have seen the work, I see the work that is being carried on, and how can anybody see it and not see that God is at work? That is the mystery to me. I cannot understand it. I cannot explain it, that those that shall have any knowledge of work here, right here—where God designed that he should be, that he should stand to give character to the work, and the higher classes, that they might be reached; and every soul of you ought to feel honored before God, that He has given you instrumentalities that the higher classes could be reached, and that the wealthy classes should be reached. You should feel to thank God for the honor that He has bestowed; and I want to say that I want to take hold to the very utmost of my ability. Well, I have done the very best I could do in the medical missionary line. I have helped at the right hand, I have helped at the left. I have clothed—well, I will not tell of it; no, I will not say anything about it more; but I want to tell you we have found poverty, we have had to relieve clear up to the last moment when we left Australia. It was poverty, poverty, poverty all the way through that we meet with everywhere; but I thank God that His blessing has accompanied it.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 42

And now I think for the present I may have said enough. But God’s ministers must come in altogether a different position. They must be evangelists, they must be medical missionaries, they must take hold of the work intelligently. They must press the work in the places—and it is no use to think of their doing it, if God has given some a work to connect with the gospel, and they drop that work and take up the gospel, why, then you need not expect that you are going to be full men to do the work, because you have not got more than half the facilities that God wants you to have.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 43

But the Lord loves us yet. Now let us praise God for that. Now let us take hold of the work in a new way. Let us take hold of the work with heart and mind and soul. Do not pick flaws any more. O, I see enough buzzards, and I see enough vultures that are trying and watching for dead bodies; but we want nothing of that. We want no picking and picking and picking of flaws in others. Attend to Number One, and you have got all that you have got to do. If you attend to Number One, and if you will purify your souls by obeying the truth, you will have something to impart, you will have a power to give to others. God help you! I beseech of Him to help you, every one of you, and to help me. I want help. I want strength. I want power. But don’t you ever quote Sister White. I do not want you to ever quote Sister White until you get up on vantage ground where you know what you are about. Go quote the Bible. Take the Bible. It is full of meat, it is full of fatness. Carry it right out in your life, and you will know more of the Bible than you know now. You will have fresh matter. O, you will have precious matter. You won’t be going over and over the same ground, and you will see a world to save. You will see souls for whom Christ has died; and I ask you to put on the armor, every piece of it, and be sure that your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel.16LtMs, Ms 43a, 1901, par. 44

Ms 43, 1901

Ms 43b, 1901