The Lord gave you your work, not to be
done in a rush, but in a calm, considerate manner. The Lord never
compels hurried, complicated movements. But you have gathered
to yourself responsibilities that the Lord, the merciful Father,
does not place upon you. Duties He never ordained that you should
perform chase one another wildly. Never are His servants to leave
one duty marred or incomplete in order to seize hold of another.
He who labors in the calmness of the fear of God will not work
in a haphazard manner, for fear that something will hinder an
anticipated plan.
Not all the burdens that you have been
carrying have been laid upon you by the Lord. The result of your
carrying these extra burdens is felt all through the field. If
you had kept at your appointed work, laboring for the class of
people whom the Lord desired, by means of the sanitarium, to
reach with present truth, with the message that God has given
His people to give to the world, much more would have been accomplished
to bring the chosen people of God before men of high standing.
Much more would have been accomplished to
show forth the ways and works and power of God. The sanitarium
was to be His witness in behalf of truth--elevated, sanctifying
truth. The Lord made you, my brother, His honored instrument.
He never required from you one task that would crowd out your
work in connection with the institution that was to stand for
the truth, to do a certain work for God, flashing light upon
the pathway of thousands.
You have a great and sacred work to do.
If you hold faithfully to the part assigned you, through the
skill given you you will be enabled to work swiftly, though never
appearing to be in a hurry. When your eyes are opened, you will
see the deep poverty of the mission fields. You will see that
the workers there are hampered at every step, while the Lord's
money is being used to sustain home enterprises and institutions,
so that the message which should be given to the world is lost
sight of.
God impresses different men to be laborers
together with Him. One man is not authorized to gather too many
responsibilities upon himself. The Lord would have the physician
upon whom so much depends so closely connected with Him that
his spirit will not be irritated by little things. The Lord desires
you to be one of the most efficient workers in the medical profession,
slighting nothing, marring nothing, knowing that you have a Counselor
close by your side, to sustain and strengthen you, to impart
quietness and calm to your soul. Feverishness of mind and uncertainty
of spirit will make the hand unskillful. The touch of Christ
upon the physician's hand brings vitality, restfulness, confidence,
and power.
I write to you as a mother would write
to her son. I would help you if I could. I would go to see you
if I could feel it my duty to leave the work here in Australia,
but I dare not do this. You have built up hopes and nurtured
plans without due consideration
of how the tower is to be completed. As one who knows, as one
who has been permitted to see the results of the work that you
have taken upon you, I call upon you to stop and consider. God
knows your frame. He knows that you are but dust. You will certainly
need the counsel, not only of those who have encouraged you to
go on in the work which you deem so important, but the counsel
of men who, at the present time, are able to see more clearly
than you do the results that will follow certain undertakings.
Cast not behind you as of no consequence
the warnings that as yet you do not understand. If you receive
the messages of warning sent you, you will be saved from great
trial.
Extract from a letter written in 1899 from
Wellington, New Zealand--We are not to allow our perplexities
and disappointments to eat into our souls and make us fretful
and impatient. Let there be no strife, no evil thinking or evil-speaking,
lest we offend God. My brother, if you open your heart to envy
and evil surmising, the Holy Spirit cannot abide with you. Seek
for the fullness that is in Christ. Labor in His lines. Let every
thought and word and deed reveal Him. You need a daily baptism
of the love that in the days of the apostles made them all of
one accord. This love will bring health to body, mind, and soul.
Surround your soul with an atmosphere that will strengthen spiritual
life. Cultivate faith, hope, courage, and love. Let the peace
of God rule in your heart. Then you will be enabled to discharge
your responsibilities. The Holy Spirit will impart a divine efficiency,
a calm, subdued dignity, to all your efforts to relieve suffering.
You will testify that you have been with Jesus.