Divine Counsel Reverses Human Judgment

A few days later, a letter was received from Mrs. White, stating that she had spoken according to her own judgment in agreement with the presentation we had made to her. But she was now instructed by the Lord to tell us that she had been wrong in giving this counsel, and that the printing house in the South should not be closed. Plans must be laid to prevent further indebtedness, but we were to move forward in faith. She assured us that as we followed in the counsel of God, He would give success.AGP 326.4

As an illustration of the manner in which instruction was frequently given to her through symbols, I quote from the manuscript written on the morning of October 20, just twenty-four hours after our interview with her:AGP 326.5

“Last night I seemed to be in the operating room of a large hospital, to which people were being brought, and instruments were being prepared to cut off their limbs in a big hurry. One came in who seemed to have authority, and said to the physicians, ‘Is it necessary to bring these people into this room?’ Looking pityingly at the sufferers, he said, ‘Never amputate a limb until everything possible has been done to restore it.’ Examining the limbs which the physicians had been preparing to cut off, he said, ‘They may be saved. The first work is to use every available means to restore these limbs. What a fearful mistake it would be to amputate a limb that could be saved by patient care! Your conclusions have been too hastily drawn. Put these patients in the best rooms in the hospital, and give them the very best of care and treatment. Use every means in your power to save them from going through life in a crippled condition, their usefulness damaged for life.’

“The sufferers were removed to a pleasant room, and faithful helpers cared for them under the speaker’s direction; and not a limb had to be sacrificed.” E. G. White Letter 162, 1902.

In the same letter, the interpretation of this symbolic representation was clearly given. Instead of closing up the publishing house at Nashville, we were to study diligently to save it and to restore it to life and efficiency. “Let the Southern field have its own home-published books,” she said. “There is need in the Southern field of a publishing house for the publication of the truth for this time.”AGP 327.1