Our Roots, Pt. 31

(The College Library Address, Concluded)

There are to be no kings in our work, no man who will put out his hand and say to God's workmen, "You cannot go there; we will not support you if you go there." "We!" What have they to do with the supporting? Is the means of support theirs? The money comes from the people, and God has instructed me to tell those who are working in destitute fields to go to the people and tell them their necessity. They are to draw from the people means to build up the work in the field where they are.

There is a world to be warned. Are we to have committees which will bind about the work? As we look over the cities of America, where are the monuments for God? Where are the churches to glorify His name? I thank God for the medical missionary work. God will call for every soul who is educated to work in this line in connection with the gospel ministry. He has places for them. Let not one stone be placed in the way of those who are striving to teach our youth how to do this work. The Lord will show that He will work with those who will work. He says, "Ye are laborers together with God."

My heart ached when I was in California. There are there young men laboring among the churches, but where is the power to open new fields? Where are those who will say, "We are not to stay with those who know the truth, but are to go to new fields"? There is a world to be saved, as far as men and women will yield to the claims of truth. The seeds of truth must be sown. "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields," Christ said, "for they are white already to harvest." He wants us to see the condition of the field. And then you are to feel at ease and travel from place to place visiting the churches? No, no! God help you by giving you the spirit of the message, that you may yearn after souls and not let go until they are converted. This is the work God desires to see done, and till this spirit takes hold of every man and every conference, the work cannot go forward in power. The Lord desires His people to adopt the light on health reform, leading out in paths of self-denial and self-sacrifice.

Oh, how it has hurt me to have blocks thrown in my way in regard to this subject. Some have said, "Sister White eats cheese, and therefore we are at liberty to eat cheese." I have tasted cheese once or twice, but that is a different thing from making it an article of diet. Once when at Minneapolis, I sat down at a table on which there was some cheese. I was quite sick at the time, and some of my brethren told me that they thought if I ate a little cheese, it might do me good. I ate a small piece, and from then it has been reported in large assemblies that Sister White eats cheese.

I have not had meat in my house for years. But do not give up the use of meat because Sister White does not eat it. I would not give a farthing for your health reform if that is what it is based upon. I want you to stand in your individual dignity and in your individual consecration before God, the whole being dedicated to Him. "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

I want you to think of these things. Do not make any human being your criterion. You have a body which is fearfully and wonderfully made. That body should be most carefully dealt with. The physical system must be kept in perfect order, that the brain power may be keen and strong.

Any unnecessary burden placed on the stomach will becloud the brain. Come to a meeting like this, eat a hearty meal, take no exercise, and your ideas are good for nothing. You are sleepy. You do not really understand the propositions to which you assent. Bring your diet into conformity with natural laws, and a great change will be seen.

Do not refer to what Sister White has said. I do not ask you to do this. God has told me that my testimony must be borne to this conference, and that I must not try to make men believe it. My work is to leave the truth with the people, and those who appreciate the light from heaven will accept the truth. God wants you to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame shall be turned out of the way.

The Lord desires that with the conference shall be connected the ability He has given Dr. Kellogg. He wants His people to make the most of the ability He has bestowed on His servants. He did not wish the medical missionary work to be separated from the gospel work, or the gospel work separated from the medical missionary work. These are to blend. The medical missionary work is to be regarded as the pioneer work. It is to be the means of breaking down prejudice. As the right arm, it is to open doors for the gospel message.

God wants His workers to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Kellogg, who at times has been almost desperate and has almost lost his reason because of the positions taken by some. Many have thrown stones before the car to hinder its advance, when they should have realized that God wants the medical missionary work to go forward.

Before I came to this conference, I was in doubt as to where to stay during the meeting. Dr. Kellogg had courteously invited me to make his house my home. The question arose, "It will be said that Dr. Kellogg has influenced me." But I thought, "Let people say this if they wish to. They have said it before, when there was no more reason for it than there is now." Still, as I wished to remove every possible excuse for talk, I decided not to go to the doctor's. On Friday evening, at our season of worship, [AT HER ELMSHAVEN HOME IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.] I was asking the Lord to direct me where to stay. I had been sick, and was still sick. I did not wish to attend the conference at all, because I knew that the exertion would be a terrible strain on me.

As I was praying, a soft light filled the room, bringing with it a fragrance as of beautiful flowers. Then a voice seemed to say, "Accept the invitation of My servant, John Kellogg, to make his house your home. I have appointed him as My physician, and you can be an encouragement to him." This is why I am staying at Dr. Kellogg's house. I wish in every possible way to treat Dr. Kellogg as God's appointed physician. This I am going to do. And I want my brethren to put their unjust sayings far away from them. Inquire, What saith the Lord? Go to Him for help. Depend not on the opinions of human beings, for they are liable to err. Go to the Lord God of Israel. He will give you understanding and knowledge. You are not to lean on any human being.

At our season of prayer that evening the whole family was broken down. Though they knew nothing of what I had seen, yet they realized that the Spirit of the Lord was among us. The blessing of God flowed through the room like a tidal wave. The Spirit took hold upon us, and Brother and Sister Druillard wept and praised the Lord. We did indeed have an outpouring of the Spirit. Such things are more precious to me than gold or silver.

I want to say to you, For Christ's sake, unify. We cannot reform ourselves by putting our fingers on the wrongs of someone else. Christ says that we must love one another, that we must deal honestly, justly, and truly with one another. He says, "I hate your false weights and measures." He knows every one of us, and He wants us to come into close connection with Him. He told Cornelius where to find Peter. He knew just where Peter was to be found. The angel of the Lord could have given Cornelius the message, but this is not God's way. He wished to bring about a connection between Peter and Cornelius. The light He had given Peter was to be given by Peter to Cornelius.

My brethren, let the Lord God of Israel in among you. Give Him room. Instead of manifesting hatred, manifest the love of God. God help us all to take a right position.

I believe that God is here today. If I did not believe this, I would not say what I have said. I believe He can send what I have said home to your hearts.

There is a work to be done, not by standing aloof from one another, but by working on God's principles. The Lord wants you to stand in His strength. He wants you to open the windows of the soul heavenward and close them earthward. He wants to reveal His salvation. He wants the medical missionary work and the gospel to be inseparably bound together. His work is to be a united whole. God wants the talents He has given Dr. Kellogg. He wants the talents that are in our institutions to be connected with the management of His work. Committees are to be formed which will have an interest in every part of the work. Then the work will be managed on a higher grade than it has yet been managed.

Medical missionary work opens the way for the gospel. I wish to say that God has not blessed the work as He would have blessed [it] had there been an appreciation of the work that he is carrying on. I thank God that Dr. Kellogg has not sunk into despair and infidelity, as I was afraid he would. Dr. Kellogg, it may be that I have written to you too strongly, but I felt that I must get hold of you, and hold you with all the power I had. I appreciate the work that is being carried on in medical missionary lines. How anyone can see this work, and not realize that God is working, is a mystery to me.

It is God's design that Dr. Kellogg shall stand in his place to give character to the work by reaching the higher classes. God's people ought to feel honored that He has given them instrumentalities whereby the higher classes may be reached.

I wish to say that I want to take hold of the medical missionary work to the utmost of my ability. We have done the best we could in this line of work in Australia. I thank the Lord that His blessing has accompanied our work. Christ's ministers must stand in an altogether different position. They must be evangelists; they must be medical missionaries. They must take hold of the work intelligently. But it is of no use for them to think that they can do this while they drop the work which God has said should be connected with the gospel. If they drop out the medical missionary work, they need not think that they can carry forward their work successfully, for they have only half the necessary facilities.

The Lord loves us yet. Let us praise Him for this. Let us take hold of the work in a new way, with heart, and mind, and strength. Do not any longer pick flaws in your brethren. I see enough vultures watching for dead bodies. Let us have nothing of this nature in our work. Let there be no picking flaws. Attend to yourselves, and you will have all you can do. When you purify your souls by obeying the truth, you will have something to impart.

May God help you all and help me. I want help and strength and power. But do not quote Sister White till you stand on vantage ground, where you know what you are doing. Take the Word of God. It is full of meat and drink. Study the Bible, and you will know more of God than you do now. You will have something fresh to impart to others. You will not go over the same ground again and again. You will realize that there is a world to save. I ask you to put on the whole armor, and be sure that your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. --Manuscript 43, 1901. (A talk presented by Ellen White in the Battle Creek College library, April 1, 1901.)

Next: Opening Day, 1901