Solemn Admonitions

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, N. S. W., Australia,

March 15, 1897.

Now I wish to state to you that the Lord is opening before me that great weakness has come upon our people by the various ways that lead men to so thoroughly look to and depend upon his fellow men, that the Lord is left out of the question. As the glory of the good tree testifies of its value by the fruit it bears, so also the genuine Christian is known by his usefulness. He does not merely blossom out with a pretentious show in professing godliness, but he bears fruit, with all his might and main. There is not a dying twig or a barren bough on the whole tree which grows by the rivers of waters of the grace of Christ. The fruit is yielded in varieties. They may be in foreign mission fields or in home missions; the fruit appears ripening under the sunshine of the righteousness of Christ. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”SpTA11 28.2

How can a Christian sleep in such an age as we are now living in? Knowledge is increased, and facilities are increased for attaining great results for God and humanity. Then we see so many harvest-fields of labor opening before us, inviting those of strong faith and hope and courage to enter them. To sleep now is a fearful crime. The Lord is coming. We are appointed to prepare the way for his coming by acting our part to prepare a people to stand in that great day. Is there one Christian whose pulse does not beat with quickened action as he anticipates the great events already opening before us? We hear the footsteps of an approaching God to punish the world for their iniquity.SpTA11 29.1

There is a work to be done, and let every hand as well as heart be engaged to do the work. When men and women go to the Lord Jesus Christ for their individual selves, and are not educated to look to and trust in man, there will be fewer and fewer committee meetings; for all will be instructed of God. Men and women will understand thoroughly their personal responsibilities and the important results of personal effort. Nothing in the way of barriers will be erected to keep men from their fellow men. The work of saving souls will be the first great work. The individual believer reaches the individual sinner. We shall all kindle our tapers from the divine altar. All have a lamp, and that lamp filled with the golden oil emptied from the heavenly witnesses that stand before the throne of God, will shed the most precious, strong, pure, clear rays of light on the sinner's pathway. The word is given from the throne of God. “Every man to his work, each to do his best.”SpTA11 29.2

The long sessions of committee meetings have confused the senses with words of great things to be done, which have not been done at all. We want the mind of Christ, and then each one will indeed become a partner in the great firm with an invincible Jesus. There have been altogether too many looking in upon their own trials and difficulties; but when they forget self, and look upon the suffering necessities of others, there is no time to magnify their own griefs. Earnest work for the Lord is a recipe for mind ailments, and the helpful hand to lighten in lifting the burdens Christ has borne for all his heritage, will lessen our burdens, so they will not be worth mentioning.SpTA11 30.1

True, honest work will give healthy action to the mind by giving healthy action to the muscles. It is the constant manufacturing of ills and burdens that kills. We are to be content to bear the strain of daily duties, and leave the great pressure of tomorrows liabilities for the time when we must take them. We are called now to be educated, that we may do the work God has assigned to us, and it will not crush out our life. The humblest can work and have a share in the work, and a share in the reward when the coronation shall take place, and Christ, our Advocate and Redeemer, becomes the King of his redeemed subjects.SpTA11 30.2

We must now do all in our power to seek a personal consecration to God. It is not more mighty men, not more learned men and smart men, that we need in the presentation of the truth for this time, but men who have a knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. Personal piety will qualify any worker; for the Holy Spirit takes possession of the worker, and the truth for this time becomes a power because his every-day thoughts and all his activities are running in Christ's lines. He has an abiding Christ, and the humblest soul linked with Jesus Christ, is a power, and his work will abide. May the Lord help us to understand his divine will, and do it heartily, unflinchingly, and then there will be joy in the Lord.SpTA11 31.1

Mrs. E. G. White

*****

“We are assured that we may be so identified with Christ, the Son of God, as to be wholly one with him, as he was one with the Father. Who can comprehend this? These words place on us a great responsibility. They are the highest measurement of character, and contain the richest blessings that it is possible for any human being to enjoy.”SpTA11 31.2

*****

“As diligent students, read the word, be doers of the word, and the Holy Spirit will be close by every worker, and the love of God will be kindled in the soul of the one who is ministering, in doing the very work the Lord has appointed to be done in missionary lines.”SpTA11 31.3

“I have been shown that the medical missionary work will discover, in the very depths of degradation, men who once possessed fine minds, richest qualifications, who will be rescued, by proper labor, from their fallen condition. It is the truth as it is in Jesus that is to be brought before human minds after they have been sympathetically cared for and their physical necessities met. The Holy Spirit is working and cooperating with the human agencies that are laboring for such souls, and some will appreciate the foundation upon a rock for their religious faith. There is to be no startling communication of strange doctrine to these subjects whom God loves and pities; but as they are helped physically by the medical missionary workers, the Holy Spirit cooperates with the minister of human agencies, to arouse the moral powers, the mental powers are awakened into activity, and these poor souls will, many of them, be saved in the kingdom of God.”SpTA11 32.1

*****

“Nothing can, or ever will, give character to the work in the presentation of truth to help the people just where they are, so well as Samaritan work. A work properly conducted to save poor sinners that have been passed by the churches, will be the entering-wedge whereby the truth will find standing-room. A different order of things needs to be established among us as a people, and in doing this class of work, there would be created an entirely different atmosphere surrounding the souls of the workers; for the Holy Spirit communicates to all those who are doing God's service, and those who are worked by the Holy Spirit will be a power for God in lifting up, strengthening, and saving the souls that are ready to perish.”SpTA11 32.2