[READ TO THE REVIEW AND HERALD BOARD IN
NOVEMBER, 1901.]
To the Managers of the Review and Herald--
Dear Brethren: God's design in the establishment
of the publishing house at Battle Creek was that from it light
should shine forth as a lamp that burneth. This has been kept
before the managers. Again and again they have been told of the
sacredness of God's office of publication and of the importance
of maintaining its purity. But they have lost true understanding
and have united with the force of the enemy by consenting to
print papers and books containing the most dangerous errors that
can be brought into existence. They have failed to see the evil
influences of such erroneous sentiments on typesetters, proofreaders,
and all others engaged in the printing of such matter. They have
been spiritually asleep.
By some of the outside work brought into
this institution the science of Satan has been presented to the
minds of the workers. The printing of such matter is a dishonor
to God. It has done its part in deteriorating the minds of the
workers. The managers have agreed to print it at a low figure.
The gain would have been loss if the very highest figure had
been asked for the work.
I have received a letter from Elder Daniells
regarding the addition of another building to the Review and
Herald office. The answer I make to this is: No, no, no. Instead
of making any additions to the buildings already erected, cleanse
the office of the trash of satanic origin, and you will gain
room in every way.
God is not pleased with the congested state
of things in Battle Creek. If the workers were divided and plants
made in other places, God would
be better pleased, and the standard of truth would be planted
in regions which have never heard the message. Before you add
another building to the office in Battle Creek, make thorough
restitution to the Southern field. This has not yet been done
as it should be done. Every step has been forced.
The five thousand dollars which would be
used in adding to the Review and Herald buildings should now
be invested in the work in other places where the gospel of truth
has not yet been preached.
I feel a terror of soul as I see to what
a pass our publishing house has come. The presses in the Lord's
institution have been printing the soul-destroying theories of
Romanism and other mysteries of iniquity. The office must be
purged of this objectionable matter. I have a testimony from
the Lord for those who have placed such matter in the hands of
the workers. God holds you accountable for presenting to young
men and young women the fruit of the forbidden tree of knowledge.
Can it be possible that you have not a knowledge of the warnings
given to the Pacific Press on this subject? Can it be possible
that with a knowledge of these warnings you are going over the
same ground, only doing much worse? It has often been repeated
to you that angels of God are passing through every room in the
office. What impression has this made on your minds?
You have given matter containing Satan's
sentiments into the hands of the workers, bringing his deceptive,
polluting principles before their minds. The Lord looks upon
this action on your part as helping Satan to prepare his snare
to catch souls. God will not hold guiltless those who have done
this thing. He has a controversy with the managers of the publishing
house. I have been almost afraid to open the Review, fearing
to see that God has cleansed the publishing house by fire.
The Lord has instructed me that those who
cannot see the wickedness of co-operating with Satan by publishing
his falsehoods might better seek some work in which they will
not ruin our youth, body and soul. There is danger that the standard
of truth and righteousness will be so lowered that God will bring
His judgments upon the wrongdoers.
It is high time that we understood what
spirit has for years been controlling matters at the Review and
Herald office. I am horrified to think that the most subtle phase
of spiritualism should be placed before the workers, and that
in a way calculated to confuse and perplex the mind. Be assured
that Satan will follow up the advantage thus given him.
The Review and Herald office has been defiled
as the temple was defiled, only the result has been tenfold more
disastrous. Overturning the tables of the money-changers, Christ
drove the sheep and cattle from the precincts of the temple,
saying: "It is written, My house shall be called the house
of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." Matthew
21:13. Worse even than the defilement of the temple has been
the defilement of the publishing house by the printing of matter
which should never have been placed in the hands of the workers
in God's institution.
God's law has been transgressed, His cause
betrayed, and His institution made a den of thieves. The work
of printing and circulating stirring appeals for the truth, which
should have been placed first, to which the time and the talent
of the workers should have been devoted, has received little
or no attention. The commercial work, some of it of a most objectionable
character, has gradually assumed the supremacy. This work has
absorbed the energies which should
have been devoted to the publication of literature of the purest
quality and the most elevating character. Time has been wasted,
talent misapplied, and money misappropriated. The work which
ought to have been done has been left undone. Satan's sentiments
have been exalted. His theories have been printed by presses
which should have been used to prepare the truth of God for circulation.
Men have coveted promotion when their principles were under the
ban of God's displeasure. Loss is infinitely better than dishonorable
gain.
Oh, what will God do with the timeservers?
Think you that Jesus will stand in the printing establishment,
to work through human minds by His ministering angels, to make
the truth coming from the press a power to warn the world that
the end of all things is at hand, while Satan is allowed to pervert
the minds of the workers right in the institution? The light
I have is: Refuse to print another line of this pernicious matter.
Those who have had to do with its introduction into the publishing
house need to repent before God in contrition of soul, for His
wrath is kindled against them. Let this class of work be forever
excluded from our publishing houses. Give more time to the publication
and circulation of the books containing present truth. See that
your work in this line reaches perfection. Do all in your power
to diffuse throughout the world the light of heaven.
The apprentices and the other workers must
not be so rushed and hurried that they have no time to pray.
The youth in our publishing houses should be educated as were
the youth in the schools of the prophets. They should be prepared
to take hold of the work in new places.
If the men who heard the message given
at the time of the Conference--the most solemn message that could
be given--had not been so unimpressionable,
if in sincerity they had asked, "Lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do?" the experience of the past year would have been
very different from what it is. But they have not made the track
clean behind them. They have not confessed their mistakes, and
now they are going over the same ground in many things, following
the same wrong course of action, because they have destroyed
their spiritual eyesight.
The message of the third angel is to prepare
a people to stand in these days of peril. It is to be proclaimed
with a loud voice and is to accomplish a work which few realize.
John writes: "I saw another angel
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to
preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,
and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment
is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another
angel, saying, Babylon is fallen is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of
her fornication." Revelation 14:6-8. How is this done? By
forcing men to accept a spurious sabbath. In the thirty-first
chapter of Exodus we are plainly told which day is the Sabbath
of the Lord. The keeping of the Sabbath is declared to be a sign
of the loyalty of God's people.
God means just what He says. Man has interposed
between God and the people, and the Lord has sent forth the third
angel with the message: If any man worship the beast and his
image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb." Verses 9, 10.
God's people are to keep His commandments,
discarding all worldly policy. Having adopted right principles
of action, they are to reverence these principles; for they are
heaven-born. Obedience to God is of more value to you than gold
or silver. Yoking up with Christ, learning His meekness and lowliness,
cuts short many a conflict; for when the enemy comes in like
a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him.
I address those who in accepting positions
of trust in the publishing house have taken upon themselves the
responsibility of seeing that the workers receive the right education.
Seek to realize the importance of your work. Those who show by
their actions that they make no effort to distinguish between
the sacred and the common may know that, unless they repent,
God's judgments will fall upon them. These judgments may be delayed,
but they will come. If, because your own minds are not clear
and elevated, you give the wrong bias to other minds, God will
call you to account. He will ask: "Why did you do the devil's
work when you were supposed to be doing a good work for the Master?"
In the great day of final accounts the
unfaithful servant will meet the result of his unfaithfulness.
I send you this because I am afraid for
you. Your continually increasing force of workers might better
be sent into the work in other places. In the night season I
have been talking earnestly to you in your meetings, presenting
the truth as it is in Jesus. But by some it was rejected. They
had passed beyond conviction. They had sinned against great light
and knowledge, stifling conscience until it could no longer penetrate
the callous heart.
Some have so long sacrificed principle
that they cannot see the difference between the sacred and the
common. Those who refuse to give heed to the Lord's instruction
will go steadily downward in the path of ruin. The day of test
and trial is just before us. Let every man put on his true colors.
Do you choose loyalty or rebellion? Show your colors to men and
an angels. We are safe only when we are committed to the right.
Then the world knows where we shall be found in the day of trial
and trouble.
If the work begun at the General Conference
had been carried forward to perfection, I should not be called
upon to write these words. There was opportunity to confess or
deny wrong, and in many cases the denial came to avoid the consequences
of confession.
Unless there is a reformation, calamity will overtake the publishing house, and the world will know the reason. I have been shown that there has not been a turning to God with full purpose of heart. The Lord is dishonored in the institutions erected for His honor. The marked disregard of God's commandments in the publishing house has placed its impress on the workers. God asks: "Shall I not judge for these things?" I saw heavenly angels turning away with grieved countenances. God has been mocked by your hardness of heart, which is continually increasing. According to their responsibility will be the punishment of those who know the truth and yet disregard God's commands.