MR No. 428—Previously Released as No. 304
MR No. 429—Labor Unions
I have received and read your letter. I can sympathize with you in your perplexity. I wish that I could see you and talk with you. Do not suppose, from my letter, that I think you have changed in regard to economy. I think no such thing. But I know the danger of those who have not had the experience that you have had, and you will need to guard constantly against the introduction of this and that, which, though seemingly harmless, would lead to the sacrifice of principles that should ever be maintained in our restaurant work.7MR 55.1
Recipes that are formed on the old plan of preparing food are gathered up and put into our health papers. This is not right. Only recipes for the plainest, simplest, and most wholesome food should be put into our health journals. We must not expect that those who all their life have indulged appetite will understand how to prepare food that will be at once wholesome, simple, and appetizing. This is the science that every sanitarium and health restaurant is to teach.7MR 55.2
We are to teach the people how to prepare dishes that are not expensive but wholesome and palatable. And never is a recipe to appear in our health journals that will injure our reputation as health reformers. If the patronage of our restaurants lessens because we refuse to depart from right principles, then let it lessen. We must keep the way of the Lord, through evil report as well as good report.7MR 55.3
I present these things to you in my letters to help you to cleave to the right and to discard that which we can not bring into our sanitariums and restaurants without sacrificing principle.7MR 55.4
I wish you could read the daily papers of this country, and notice the accounts of how men in responsible positions have dropped dead while traveling or while at some entertainment. Never have the deaths of wealthy men in high life been so frequent as of late. This is the result of a violation of nature's laws. Cause is being followed by effect. The life-forces are extinguished by indulgence. “Heart failure,” say the physicians who attended these men at their death. Poor souls! They abused the Lord's wonderful machinery until it could endure no longer, and gave up the conflict. God does not work a miracle to keep in motion the machinery that is worn out by the abuse put upon it.7MR 56.1
In His warning message our Saviour has told us how it will be in the end of the world. “As the days of Noah were,” He says, “so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”7MR 56.2
Very plainly Christ saw what the condition of society would be in the future. He saw that self-indulgence would control men and women. What of the marriage relation today? Is it not perverted and defiled, made even as it was in Noah's day? Divorce after divorce is recorded in the daily papers. This is the marriage of which Christ speaks when He says that before the flood they were “marrying and giving in marriage.”7MR 56.3
Before the flood there was violence in the land—heart-sickening violence. What is acted out constantly in our cities today? Men are killing women and women are killing men. Young girls fifteen or sixteen years old are killed because they refuse to be the wife of some man.7MR 57.1
The same state of things exists today that existed before the flood, and the nearer we get to the large cities, the worse the evil is. My message is, Do not build up sanitariums in the cities. The laws of the land will become more and more oppressive, as in the days of Noah.7MR 57.2
How long will the Lord suffer oppression of the poor that rich men may hoard wealth? These men are heaping together treasures for the last days. Their money is placed where it does no one any good. To add to their millions, they rob the poor, and the cries of the starving are no more to them than the barking of a dog. But the Lord marks every act of oppression. No cry of suffering is unheard by Him. Those who today are scheming to obtain more and more money, putting in operation plans that mean to the poor starvation, will in the last great day stand face to face with their deeds of oppression and injustice.7MR 57.3
Those who claim to be the children of God are in no case to bind up with the labor unions that are formed or that shall be formed. This the Lord forbids. Can not those who study the prophecies see and understand what is before us? The transgressors of the law of God have taken sides with their Leader, the General of rebellion. He understands how to devise his Satanic schemes and through whom to work for the carrying out of them. He is striving to lead every soul to take sides with him, and under the influence of his temptations, thousands are binding themselves up in bundles, ready to be consumed by the fires of the last day. Those who yield to his temptation become in their turn tempters, standing among the ablest of his helpers.7MR 57.4
In the time of the harvest the Lord will say to His reapers, “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into My barn.” God has a people on the earth who will see the evil of every phase of oppression, and will refuse to unite with the enemy in carrying out his plan.7MR 58.1
My brother, we must not become too deeply involved in responsibilities of a commercial character. Thus we place ourselves where we become unfitted to do the special work that in this last time is to be carried forward. Our hearts must not be pressed beneath burdens of a financial character. We must not spend our time and energy in a work which, upon critical examination, is found to yield but little result in the salvation of souls. If the work in which you have been engaged brings a harvest of souls, this will certainly be seen. Do not allow a load of perplexing business to bind you and your family to close, hard labor in a work in which soul-saving is not the main feature. Do not incur a heavy debt in an effort to carry forward lines of work that do little to bring souls to the truth, lines of work in which the commercial interests are the main feature.7MR 58.2
The Lord desires us to be sensible and to reason from cause to effect. Wherever a sanitarium is established, facilities are to be provided, to a greater or smaller extent, as the case may demand, for the preparation of health foods. In the future it will be impossible to transport the health foods from America. And for other reasons, it will be better to make your foods where you are, as far as possible. We are living amidst the perils of the last days, and the Lord desires His people to establish industries in the different countries. Industries should be established in connection with the Wahroonga Sanitarium, but at the present time it is impossible to define exactly what these should be. This will open before you as you advance in your work.7MR 58.3
The Sanitarium at Wahroonga is to be furnished with help of no ordinary character. If Dr. Caro had learned the lessons that he ought to have learned after he came to Australia, he would today be where the Holy Spirit would work through him. But it is now a very doubtful question in my mind whether he should be connected with the Sanitarium. For this institution there is needed an economical, God-fearing physician, who will link up with Dr. Kress and his wife, standing with them shoulder-to-shoulder and heart-to-heart.7MR 59.1
Dr. Caro needs a re-conversion. This he must have in order to understand his imperfections of character, and to shape his character-building after the divine similitude. Without re-conversion, he can not please the Master.7MR 59.2
While he was in Maitland, he took steps that greatly injured his influence, and showed him to be a man who could not be depended on. Again, in Parramatta and in Sydney, he showed that he was inclined to make a great display over nothing. He separated himself from his God when he attempted to gain recognition from the world. He had been acknowledged by God. The Lord has declared that He desired him to stand in His strength. He had an influence that if kept up to the true standard, would have made him a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. But he turned from the power of God to human recognition, and in the estimation of the men with whom he linked himself, he spoiled his influence as being a man chosen for a special work. They no longer looked upon him in the same light in which they had hitherto regarded him. His striving to be first and greatest brought him to the place where he was last of all.7MR 59.3
God did not want Dr. Caro to mingle his small, commercial affairs with the great, grand truths that he was handling. But this is the great mistake that he made, and unless he is changed in heart, he will repeat it, if he has opportunity to gain means for his own benefit, that he may shun economy and launch out in self-gratification, to make a great display.7MR 60.1
With regard to your work, my dear brother, I can not specify what your duty is, but I can tell you what it is not. It is not your duty to carry so many burdens that you will lose health and courage and faith in God. Refuse to dwarf yourself by overwork. May the Lord help you to plan so wisely that you will increase in spiritual, mental, and physical power.7MR 60.2
It is your privilege to have the higher life, even the life of God. The first chapter of Colossians says much that I would say to you. “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.... For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”7MR 60.3
I hope, Brother and Sister Burden, that you will not place yourselves where you will be over-worked. Your particular work can not now, perhaps, be defined. But the Lord can and will designate what you shall do to bring forth fruit that will in its turn bring forth more fruit unto eternal life.7MR 61.1
I have much more to say to you, but have not the time, being pressed with many things. I have written plainly in regard to Dr. Caro, lest, when in a strait place for help, you might link up with one who is not fitted to build up, in the Lord's way and according to His methods, an institution that is to stand as a memorial for the truth. The Lord designs that all His institutions—sanitariums, publishing-houses, and schools—shall be a means of preparing a people to stand in the day of God. We have a decided evangelistic work to do in the cities, and we must not tie our hands, so that we can not do this work. We are to have faith in God. We are not to link up with men who would put self in front and all else in the background.7MR 61.2
Do not think that I have given up hope for Dr. Caro. I have not; but I know that if he is placed at the head of any institution, with the experience that he now has, he will cause great confusion and perplexity. He needs to see his need of the heavenly anointing, and to humble himself before the Lord. The Sanitarium needs not his extravagant ideas. Everything about the institution is to be neat and tasteful, but no extravagance is to be shown in the furnishings.7MR 61.3
God help us to walk and work as men and women on the border of the eternal world. Soon an awful surprise will come upon the inhabitants of this earth. Suddenly, and with power and great glory, Christ will come. Then there will be no time to prepare to meet Him. Now is the time for us to get ready. When I see my brethren walking and working as men in a dream, I feel as if I must do something to arouse them. May the Lord help me to do all my duty; for there must be no delay. We are nearing the last great conflict.7MR 62.1
Be of good courage, and make the Lord your Counsellor. Trust in Him. Make Him first and last and best in everything.—Letter 201, 1902. (.)7MR 62.2
I have a message for you. The Lord is in earnest with His people. I expected that great humiliation of heart would follow the manifestation of the Lord's displeasure in the destruction of the principal buildings of our two largest institutions. But how little influence this has had to bring humiliation and repentance. God's people have dishonored Him, and their hearts have become so unimpressible that even when He speaks in judgment, they make no decided change.7MR 62.3
Evil entered the heavenly courts through the angel who, next to Christ, occupied the most exalted position. Lucifer was the first of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. Of him it is said, “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering.... Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee.”7MR 62.4
But though honored above the heavenly host, Lucifer was not content with his position. He ventured to covet the homage due alone to the Creator. He cherished feelings of envy, and these feelings he communicated to the other angels. It was his endeavor to secure to himself their service and loyalty. In so deceptive a way did he [Lucifer] work that the sentiments that he inculcated could not be dealt with until they had developed in the minds of those who received them.7MR 63.1
The influence of mind on mind, so strong a power for good when sanctified, is equally strong for evil in the hands of those opposed to God. This power Satan used in his work of instilling evil into the minds of the angels, and he made it appear that he was seeking the good of the universe. As the anointed cherub, Lucifer had been highly exalted; he was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. Many of them listened to his suggestions and believed his words. “And there was war in heaven; Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”7MR 63.2
Cast out of heaven, Satan set up his kingdom in this world, and ever since, he has been untiringly striving to seduce human beings from their allegiance to God. He uses the same power that he used in heaven—the influence of mind on mind. Men become tempters of their fellow-men. The strong, corrupting sentiments of Satan are cherished, and they exert a masterly, compelling power. Under the influence of these sentiments, men bind up with one another in confederacies, in trades-unions, and in secret societies. There are at work in the world agencies that God will not much longer tolerate. In a milder form the same evil and the same spirit has been introduced into our institutions. The Lord opened the matter to me, showing me that the wrong was of the same character as that introduced into heaven. It was Satan who was working to bring in certain influences to bind different interests under one control. This was not in harmony with God's will, and He declared that He would not sanction anything of the kind.7MR 63.3
This work was first started in the Review and Herald office. Things were swayed first in one way and then in another. It was the enemy of our work who prompted the call for the consolidation of the publishing work under one controlling power in Battle Creek.7MR 64.1
Then the idea gained favor that the medical missionary work would be greatly advanced if all our medical institutions and other medical missionary interests were bound up under the control of the medical association at Battle Creek.7MR 64.2
I was told that I must lift up my voice in warning against this. We were not to be under the control of men who could not control themselves, and who were not willing to be amenable to God. We were not to be guided by men who want their word to be the controlling power. The development of the desire to control has been very marked, and God sent warning after warning, forbidding confederacies and consolidation. He warned us against binding ourselves to fulfill certain agreements that would be presented by men laboring to control the movements of their brethren.7MR 64.3
Light has been given me that there are papers that have been drawn up by lawyers that are blinding the eyes of the simple people of God. Men have means that they are willing to lend at interest, and these papers, signed by those to whom the money is lent, are given as security. But if those receiving the money should change leaders, if they should turn away from straightforward principles, they could, because of the wording of the papers, take advantage of those whose money they have received, and bring in oppression. We are to guard against the things that tempt men to hurt their fellow-men. We are to guard against the acceptance of documents framed in language that is confusing to minds. We have no need of such documents. They are a snare, and our people are warned to beware of them.7MR 65.1
Warnings against these things were given me in Australia. The word of the Lord came to me, “Say to My people, Put not your trust in writings drawn up by lawyers, filled with technicalities and conditions and restrictions, which blind the minds of those who have to do with them. God wants those who believe the truth to take their stand against everything of the kind.”7MR 65.2
We are church members, believers in the Bible, and we are not to make the Lord Jesus ashamed to call us brethren, because we have no confidence in one another. We are to be afraid of those who have little confidence in their fellow-workers, and who demand that they should be bound about by agreements and restrictions, which can be misinterpreted and used to do harm. Should they in the future be turned from their integrity, they would take advantage of some wording that those who signed the documents did not at the time comprehend.7MR 65.3