EGW WritingsIsaiah 58

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 192, 1905

Los Angeles, California

August 13, 1905

Previously unpublished.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 1

Isaiah 58:1-3. Now the answer. You see they are accusing God unjustly. “Behold in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors.” Now, you can see there are two sides to the question. They say one side, God shows them the other side.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 2

Verse 4. ... “wickedness.” We had better not do that any more. We had better make a change in all these things. We had better not be accusers, but we had better take care of individual self, to see that we are walking in the footsteps of the Lord. Shall we not have the strife and debating put away, and come straight to a “Thus saith the Lord”? We are under control of God. We are not amenable to the opinion of men, but what is the opinion of God concerning us individually.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 3

Verses 4, 5, 6. Now turn over the picture. That is God’s plan. Verse 7. When you see the necessities of those who need help, relieve them. Do not hide away. Do not go away where you do not come in contact with them, fearing that your conscience would rebuke you.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 4

Verse 8. ... “as the morning.” Is not that a wonderful thing? Verse 8. Thy rearward is the glory of God, when you acknowledge your brotherhood, when you are not so selfish as to bring yourself up with your own ideas and your own plans. This is a recipe for sickness, for despondency. It is a recipe for evil surmisings. It is a recipe for all that are inclined to speak works that will impress their neighbor of their friend. Shall we take it?

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 5

Verse 9. Shall we not hear Him? I am ready to hear you. Seek, said Christ,—it is just in harmony with what Christ said, “Ask and ye shall receive.” [John 16:24.] There are no ifs or ands about it, “Ye shall receive.” Do you do it? Or do you go and tell your neighbor of all your troubles and all your difficulties? Can they help you? You want to be educated that you have got a promise from the Lord God of hosts, and you are going to take that promise and you are going to depend upon it, and you are going to ask, for He has said, “Ye shall receive.” He still goes on to give us the promise threefold. “Seek, and ye shall find ... opened unto you.” [Matthew 7:7.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 6

Then I ask you, Why are you in such a poverty-stricken spiritual condition in the church? I ask you why you do not come right to the help of the Master in taking Him at His word and be co-laborers together—together. You forget the together, don’t you? You forget, when you have your burdens to bear, that there is a together. “Laborers together with God.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 7

What we want is to stir up the gift of faith that is within us. We want to take God at His Word, and we want to rely upon Him as a little child. He calls you His little children, and we want to depend upon Him. We do not need to be barren and unfruitful, mourning and grieving, and sitting in dust and ashes. God did not tell us to do that. He has told some that they had better be sitting in dust and ashes to repent of their hard-heartedness and of their sins. Now, if we will put that away, we do not need to sit in sackcloth nor ashes, for God wants His people to come up on vantage ground. He wants them to stand as the light of the world. And that is what He wants of us. Gathers the divine rays of light, and scatter them in the pathway of others.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 8

[Isaiah 58] Verses 6, 7. Let us work on the right side. Verse 8. There is health in working in that way. As you try to help others, the blessing of God comes upon you. The health springs forth speedily.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 9

Then He tells you to call, and He will answer. “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke.” [Verse 9.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 10

Verse 10. Will you try the recipe? Verse 11. What, I ask you could not our churches do if they would come into this position. They would be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. What is the matter with the church? They are shut in with themselves, and they do not get out of self. “And they that be of thee.” (Verse 12)—“waste places.”

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 11

What is that? Every one of you will see the light that there is in the law of God. Every one who wants the light and will come right to the Bible will see that the Sabbath—it is the Sabbath of the Lord—that He made for every one of us to be observe. It is the man of sin that has put his false day where God’s law should be. It is the man of sin that instituted the Sunday; it is not God.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 12

Verse 12. You read the thirty-first chapter of Exodus, beginning with the twelfth verse and you will see what it means to be a restorer of paths to dwell in. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath ....” [Isaiah 58] Verses 13, 14.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 13

Is that not plain enough? Let us think of these things. We do not want to come up to the judgment keeping a day of man’s invention, when God has given a day for us to perpetuate until He comes to take us to Himself, and then even in the new earth, He says, From Sabbath to Sabbath ye shall come up before the Lord. You will keep the Sabbath there. We do not leave it behind; we keep it in the new earth, the day that He created for man and all that was upon the earth.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 14

Isaiah 59:1. Why then do you act as though it was? Why do we act so faithless? Why do we not take right hold? The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save. We have the right; He has told us to go forth in His name. He has told us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and to preach His gospel.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 15

Now when they rise up out of the water, they represent Christ rising up out of the sepulcher to proclaim over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, “I am the resurrection and the life.” [John 11:25.] Thank God! Thank His holy name! We will praise Him that there is a resurrection, and as we are raised up out of the water, what do we profess? We are dead unto the world. “If ye then be risen with Christ ... hand of God.” [Colossians 3:1.] And you can bring light, and you can give Him power, and you can bring holiness and purity and love, if you will only do just as God tells you to do.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 16

There is so much misery in our world because the commandments of God are trampled upon. It is high time that we take our position more steadfastly in favor of God and His righteousness. The Lord will help every one that will come to Him as learners, as His little children. And if you come as little children, He can give you His wisdom so that He can entrust with you the highest kinds of talent, that you can trade on those talents and increase these talents to the glory of God to the salvation of souls that are ready to perish.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 17

Our life will be filled with light and power, and we shall not be destroying ourselves in any way with the use of tobacco to benumb our brain sensibilities. We do not have one particle of brain to spare. We want every power of our brain organ, that we may use it to be wise in judgment, to teach transgressors the way of life, and to help them in every way to plant their feet on the commandments. Do you think if this world were obedient to the commandments of God that they would be in the condition of strife and adultery and thieving and robbery and every kind of evil influence? It is the result of the transgression of the law of Jehovah. If they had obeyed the law of God, they would have ridden upon the high places of the earth, and they would have been fed with the heritage of Jacob our father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 18

Isaiah 59:1. What is the matter? You do not ask Him? You carry you own will to the Lord and you make a few words of prayer, and instead of saying, Lord, I have asked Thee and now believe Thou wilt give me judgment and wisdom and correctness of ideas, and that I shall not listen to the devil’s sophistry, which is just now coming in. And mark my words, it will come in a hundredfold more than you have ever thought of, to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Now the elect had better be sure, in the place of thinking they are the elect, to know that they are the elect, because they keep the commandments of God.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 19

Then you cannot afford to sell your brain into the liquor saloon. You cannot afford to take a glass of liquor, and then you go reeling around. Who are you? Are you the light of the world? No, you are a nuisance in the sight of God when you are in that condition. You have taken the vitality out of your limbs and out of your brain, and that sets your limbs staggering about, and how do you look before men? You do not care. You have the appetite, and you mean to keep it, many of you.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 20

Now, consider there is a world to be saved, and the money, that is God’s that you have put into the liquor. You will see it one day just as it is, and that day is fast approaching upon us, when it is said, let him alone. He is joined to his idols; let him alone.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 21

But we do not want to let anyone alone. We want now to let the light of truth come into your mind, that you may see, that you may be saved, that you can take right hold of the name of Jesus Christ, because His “hand ... face from you.” verses 2, 3, 4. We cannot afford to give the least countenance by keeping open the liquor saloons, and giving license by law for them to deal in liquor, when they know what it does. Anciently God says, If a man keeps an animal that he knows pushes with his horns and he is not restrained but kills a man, that man’s life is something before God. Christ bought that with an infinite price, and that life is not to be thrown away. He gave His own life that every one of us might have that life which measures with the life of God.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 22

Now, the Lord said, speaking right from the holy mount, if it is known that this animal pushes with its horns, is vicious, and kills a man, that man shall lose his life, and the beast too. Now think of it.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 23

Lawyers, senators, judges, if they are here today, I want you to think of it when you give a vote that the liquor shall be sold, and you are guilty with the liquor seller of all the consequences that grow from the disposing of that liquor to human beings. And for what they do under that liquor you will have to give an account to God in the judgment. It will not pay.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 24

What we want now in this world in the little time we have is to make it just as near heaven as we can, and we are to put away every vicious habit. We have none too much brain that we would stupefy it with tobacco or with liquor. We want all the brain nerve power we have, to glorify the Lord God of heaven. We want to learn the best way to reform those that are in sin and iniquity. We want to find out what we can do in the redemption line.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 25

The Lord God of Israel has a tender regard for us, and He gave His precious life, you will read in John 3:12. How did Jesus treat that?

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 26

Christ went through the baptism, although He was not a sinner at all. He never committed sin. It was on our behalf, to set an example to every man living to come under the ordinance of baptism. He left us the example. There He goes on and reasons with Nicodemus, and then He tells him that “God so loved ....” [Verse 16.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 27

Now we have come here in this part of the country, and we have come here to seek in every way, that we may establish sanitariums, to obtain money for ourselves? No, not that. It is to educate those that are sick how to get well. Not to take drug medication; that only leaves the poison in your system, but it is to use the very methods that God wants you to use.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 28

Deny yourselves. Do not indulge in gluttony or in liquor drinking. You do not need it. Here is an education to be obtained—how to keep your bodies in the right condition of health. They take persons just on the borders of the grave, and do their best to save them. They put them under a close diet. These persons will recover, and they will thank God for their recovery, and what they have learned. We want to be health reformers and we want to be temperate in all things, that we may keep a level brain, and that we may know that when we see evil, we will not call evil good and good evil. We want to call righteousness righteousness, and we want to call evil just what it is.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 29

The Lord would have every one of us come under control to the Holy Spirit of God. And if you will do that, the money that you spend in liquor, millions and millions of dollars, you could feed the suffering, you could save that money and could help the poor. We read, and we have notices sent to us, of the sufferings of those that are in foreign countries starving to death. We try to help them all we can. But America and the Southern field demand our attention, and yet we have sent missionaries to other countries, to help them.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 30

I sent to one that was in Africa, a family that had a large amount of property, and they had the light of truth. I sent to them. Now, said I, you young people, I talk to you by letter, the money that you spend in indulgence in wine or any of these pleasure resorts, how much you might accomplish for the cause of God. I asked this son, ten or twelve years ago, I begged of them for Christ’s sake to come right out of Africa—the mother was a widow—to come with her children, grown up men and women, physicians among them, and see if it would not break the spell over the young members that were heirs to the large property.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 31

I told the young man, I will make you my agent. I want you, whenever you want to spend any money in liquor, to put it right into a box, a denial box that we have all through the South in every house, that when you want self-indulgence to remember there are souls to save, that we can carry on the missionary work among the colored people. I want you to consider this. Now I will make you my agent. I will ask you to save your soul in doing this thing. You are drinking and you are playing cards, and you are doing this and that and the other. He always claimed to be a friend of Mrs. E. G. White, and I dwelt upon that. You said if I would write to you, you would heed what I told you. Now, I tell you this: I wrote three times, and then I received no answer from him.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 32

About three weeks ago, I received a letter from him. O, he says, Mother White, if I had heeded what you said to me! I have lost nearly all my property, and now what will you say about my coming now? I wrote him a letter; said I, Come, come, it is not too late. If you have lost your money, perhaps you can save your soul. Your mother, yourself, your brothers, Come, said I, we will try to encourage you, to place you on vantage ground.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 33

Now what if he had taken that money and put it where it would have been of use in the place of encouraging other men? But he knew the truth. He repents of it now, and I hope that we shall see him in this country before long.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 34

I want to see those who are throwing away, and worse than throwing away their money for these indulgences—What are you doing? God has given you talents, every one of you, and now what are you doing with those talents? Are you using the talent of means and the talent of influence to lead others down to ruin? You cannot afford it.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 35

I want to say there had ought to be a temperance pledge circulated at every meeting that is held on the grounds where there is a camp-meeting or where there is a tent meeting, that they shall place their name on record to be temperate in eating and to be temperate in drinking, and give God His own means, and this temperance will preserve the health, and this temperance will preserve the mind.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 36

God gives to every man according to his several ability. Then if you have the ability, it is for you to exercise that ability to the honor and glory of God. We have a God, and we want to acknowledge Him. We want to do His will. We want to glorify His name. We want that every soul that shall come to the knowledge of the truth should become strictly temperate in all things.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 37

O how many times I have been called up to go and see a poor tobacco devotee. “Will you,” he said, “pray for me?” “Certainly,” said I, “I will.” I knelt down and prayed with him. The Spirit of God came in, and he was set free.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 38

In two weeks he sent again. “I have fallen again to the indulgence of appetite. Will you come and pray for me?” Said I, “Yes, I will.” Said he, “This is the last time.” It was the last.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 39

I saw, as I was standing in a congregation in Michigan, a man with a little soldier’s coat around him and all wizened up, and his wife by his side, and he had children. Someway the Spirit of God impressed me to speak to that man right in the congregation. “Now,” said I, “my friend with the soldier’s coat”—I could distinguish him. “I want to know if you will let alone that tobacco. If you don’t, you will go to liquor drinking very soon. You have gotten about to the point now. Will you let it alone? In the name of the Lord, will you let it alone?”

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 40

Well, he stood up before the congregation, and he said, “That is a hard question. I will take it up. I may fall, said he, but I will take it up.” I did not see that man there again. The next I heard he was a Sabbath school superintendent, and he was considered one that was doing an excellent work.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 41

One morning he came into my house at Battle Creek, Michigan, and walked up with the tears running down his face, and stretched out his hand to me. Said he, “Sister White.” “Why, I do not know you; you have the advantage of me.” “You do not know that man with the little drawn-up coat on? You do not know him, do you?” “No, I do not,” said I. “You are another man. Thank the Lord, you are born again, and you are another man.” “I am,” said he. He was dressed nicely, and it seemed as though he was a head taller than he was before.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 42

Now, that is what the reformation did for him, and we know that reformations can take place. But you must not let your appetite make you a slave.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 43

There is money enough here among those in this congregation that will support ministers in the field, and there are those that offer themselves for the ministry, but we give them all that we can, and that is all we can do.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 44

We are building sanitariums, and we are trying to bring these poor people, trying to break them off from these habits, and, thank God, we meet with success.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 45

But I am taking more time than I ought to. But I want to say, How much money can be devoted to the missionary work, to try and convert the poor souls that are now under the ban of Satan, and impossible to break away? Now, if we go right to them, and pray with them and for them, and they are converted, we shall see them and meet them in the kingdom of glory. These souls will cast their glittering crowns, if they are saved, at the feet of Christ. Then they will glorify Him, that have been washed in His blood, that they have been saved with the everlasting salvation, and they touch the golden harp, and fill all heaven with rich music and with songs to the Lamb.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 46

And there is nothing that enters into heaven that defileth. There is not a branch on the tree of life that bears tobacco, and hadn’t you better leave it off right here, because a perverted appetite can never enter the kingdom of heaven.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 47

We want you to have a place there. We want you to see the King in His beauty. We want you to behold His matchless charms. And we beg of you, for Christ’s sake, to be reconciled to God.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 48

Teach your children self-denial. Sabbath school teachers, or Sunday school teachers that have a pipe in their mouth or use tobacco, it is so disgusting with some of the children. I have known them to come home and vomit, because it had spoiled their stomach and sickened them. Now, these teachers, why not come right up to the help of the Lord to crush this demon appetite? God wants you in His kingdom. Christ paid the price for every soul there is here, and He wants you to be converted from all these sinful ways.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 49

And the money that you have used for tobacco, put it in the self-denial box, and send it to us at Nashville, where we are trying to educate the colored people, and send a little line that you have reformed. It would be worth more than twenty or forty or a hundred dollars a week if one soul was converted from these wrong habits. Talk it, and pray it, and seek to bring this reform right into your homes, and let your children know you are converted. And if it will not be the means of converting them, then it will be a new chapter in my experience.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 50

God wants you to come to the gates of the city of God with all your children, your little children, and He swings back the gates of the holy city. There He bids you welcome in through the gates, and He says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” [Matthew 25:21.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 51

Then who do these persons seek? They seek the very ones that gave them the straightest testimony upon rum and tobacco and all these selfish indulgences, and they clasp their arms right around their necks, and there with face all aglow they praise God for the testimony that they bore them.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 52

Let us wake up. Let us awake out of sleep. Said Christ, “Ye are the light of the world. A city .... Let your light ....” [Matthew 5:14, 16.]

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 53

If you are lost, it is because you have ruined yourselves. God has done all He could. He has given you His Son, His only beloved Son, to die a most cruel death. What for? To pay the price for your souls. Now He wants every one to repent, to search the Scriptures. Put away your novels. Put away your romance. Put away all frivolity of conduct. There is a heaven to win, and a hell to shun. And we want to stand right by your side, that you may win heaven.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 54

We want you to save your means that you devote to ruining yourselves, and send it where we can labor for the colored people in America, for they are a legacy to every person that is in America. And means are needed to establish schools to educate and train the colored people to work for the colored people. It is to train the people that we must walk in all humility before God, and to stand in your God-given humanity, and say, I have overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of His testimony.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 55

What a work is to be done for us! Will you take hold of it? Will you help one another, and help in every way possible that you may have a right to the tree of life? Christ will give you the leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations right here. What do you mean? I mean the Bible. I mean the words of promise. He will give you the leaves of the tree of life that will heal you from every false habit, and He will open a way where the peace and glory of God shall be revealed in you.

20LtMs, Ms 192, 1905, par. 56

Now let every one of us see what we can do in standing up in noble dignity to glorify the God of heaven that has given us power—“to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” [John 1:12.] The Lord help every one of us. My very heart knows not how to let go of you. My very heart yearns after you, and I pray that the Lord will open your understanding to keep as far away from the liquor saloons as possible, and put that money into the treasury, and let me tell you, those that are with you here will let you know just where to put it, so that it will have a converting power to spread the gospel all through our world. We want to send it to the foreign missions. I have been sending to these foreign missions all the royalty on my books that are sold in the foreign countries, thousands and thousands of dollars, and send them the means of these royalties in America that are sold in order to translate into different languages the many books that God has given me to witness before the world of what is truth.

Loma Linda Messages

A Reform Needed

LLM 127.4

There is now a large number of believers in Los Angeles. Many of these should be fitting themselves to work for the Master, that the truth may go forth as a lamp that burneth. Read the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Read it over many times, and you will receive a deeper impression each time.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to Br. & Sr. S. N. Haskell, 1905 (H.-277’05)

LLM 144.6

When Christ shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then will all men be convinced of the truth that God hath set apart Him that is godly for Himself. But the words of Isaiah will come to many minds. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah gives a wonderful presentation of truth.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to Br. & Sr. S. N. Haskell, May 20, 1907 (H.-176-1907.)

LLM 205.6

Seats were arranged under the pepper trees at the back of the Sanitarium. It was an interesting occasion. The Lord blessed me in speaking from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Before I closed, I made a strong appeal to those who had means to help in the Lord’s work, and I presented the needs of the Loma Linda Sanitarium. I urged them not to spend all their efforts merely in commercial lines, but to lay up treasure beside the throne of God.

Loma Linda Messages

The Conference President

LLM 325.5

Read and study carefully the whole of the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. If positions of responsibility are entrusted to men who are distrustful of self, and fear the Lord God, they will understand that it is a matter of great importance that they walk humbly before God, and that they do not become careless, or inattentive to His word.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to Eliza Morton, Apr. 12, 1909 (M. 70, 1909)

LLM 404.3

We are about to leave Loma Linda for our journey to College View, Nebraska. I have spoken once while here. Last Sabbath the patients and church members assembled on the beautiful grounds of the sanitarium, and I spoke to them from the 58th chapter of Isaiah.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to Leading Ministers in California, Dec. 6, 1909 (B. 178, 1909)

LLM 463.1

Let the instruction given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah be studied in connection with these Scriptures. Wonderful would be the results if ministers and church members would be converted, and adopt Christ’s manner of witnessing to the power of the Lord.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 21, 1905

20LtMs, Lt 21, 1905, par. 8

Put these decided statements of the law on the first page of the Review, and let them remain there for a time, speaking to the people. Then let some one search out all the scriptures where the Sabbath is spoken of, such as the fifty-eighth of Isaiah. Point out the wonderful promises made to those who obey God’s law.

20LtMs, Lt 21, 1905, par. 9

Get together the plain scriptures bearing on the Sabbath question, and put them in tract form. Make it clear and plain that no change has been made by God in His day of rest. The fifty-eighth and the fifty-first chapters of Isaiah should be doing their important work in the hearts of the people. Now is the time when these scriptures should be brought to the front. Now is the time when every worker must draw nigh to God, by faith laying hold of the hand of infinite power. Now is the time when all should have the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 305, 1905

20LtMs, Lt 305, 1905, par. 3

From Loma Linda we went to San Diego. I was still sick with influenza, yet on Sabbath I stood before a large congregation and spoke to them from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. I talked for an hour and a half on the restaurant work and the danger of this line of work’s becoming so enlarged, that those who should be engaged in giving the gospel to souls starving for the bread of life would be occupied in serving tables. This was my message, and the Lord strengthened me in a most remarkable manner.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 162, 1905

20LtMs, Ms 162, 1905, par. 28

This part of the experience of the people of God I have acted a part in. As a messenger of God, I have participated in giving to the people the special truths that are still being proclaimed. This great work we are to continue till the close of this earth’s history. The message must go to every nation, tongue, and people. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sin.” [Isaiah 58:1.] The work specified in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is to be carried forward with zeal, sanctified earnestness, and determination. There is a special work to be done, in which the people of God are to act a decided part.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 277, 1905

20LtMs, Lt 277, 1905, par. 34

When Christ shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then will all men be convinced of the truth that God hath set apart him that is godly for Himself. But the words of Isaiah will come to many minds: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” [Isaiah 58:1.] The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah gives a wonderful presentation of truth.

Loma Linda Messages

A Message for Our Time on Medical Missionary Work

LLM 473.2

Isaiah 58, 55. These two chapters describe in a special sense our condition, our work, and its possibilities under God in Southern California.

LLM 473.3

First, let us note the message to us describing our condition and the causes that have brought it. Isaiah 58:1-6. “Cry aloud and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. My people, even the faithful ones in the church are guilty, for all have sinned. The real trouble is between their way and God’s way. The difference in the two ways is of such a nature that they cannot be united. Isaiah 58:8, 9. Our only hope is to give up our way and accept God’s way. Isaiah 55:5-7.

LLM 473.4

God’s way as compared with the results under our way. Isaiah 58:6-14; 55:10-13. The one is mercenary and disappointing in results, even to ourselves. The other is missionary and full of blessing to us and to others, and is crowned with everlasting success.

LLM 473.5

Such is the work to which God has called us in Southern California. The appeals to this people show that God would have us give to the world a living representation of Isaiah 58:6-14. He is calling for such a representation of medical missionary work in this field as the world has not seen since the days when Jesus of Nazareth walked among men and ministered to their necessity.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 21 (1906)

Ms 21, 1906

21LtMs, Ms 21, 1906, par. 20

The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah contains instruction for today. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin.” [Verse 1.] God does not accept Dr. Kellogg as His laborer, unless he will now break with Satan. The work would not have been hindered, as it has been for the past several years, if Dr. Kellogg were a converted man. “Come,” I call, “come ye out and be separate from him and his associates whom he has leavened.” I am now giving the message God has given me, to give to all who claim to believe the truth, “Come ye out from among them, and be separate,” else their sin in justifying wrongs and framing deceits will continue to be the ruin of souls. [2 Corinthians 6:17.] We cannot afford to be on the wrong side. We cannot afford to cover the truth with scientific problems. We urge that decided changes be made and no more stumbling blocks be placed before the feet of the people of God. Let every soul put on the gospel shoes. Let every soul pray and work, placing their feet upon the foundation Christ laid in giving His life for the life of the world.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 116, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 116, 1907, par. 15

The prophet Isaiah, in the fifty-eighth chapter of that book, delineates the case of these men. They need to repent and afflict their souls before God. Now is their time to contemplate the Saviour’s life of humiliation and His death of suffering. The cross of Christ was needed to bring salvation within our reach and to make our redemption certain. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 364, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 364, 1907, par. 7

Yesterday we had a thundershower at the time appointed for me to speak in the assembly hall on the hill. I was well wrapped up and taken in a wheel chair to the place of meeting. The Lord helped me in speaking from the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth, and fifty-eighth chapters of Isaiah. The Lord is sustaining me wonderfully, for which I praise His holy name.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 366, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 366, 1907, par. 3

In the afternoon I spoke again to a large congregation. Elder Reaser opened the service with prayer, and after he had prayed I offered a petition to God. O how my soul yearned after Him! My heart was deeply burdened as I thought of how rapidly time was passing and how little understanding many seem to have of what needs to be done in right lines. I read the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth, and fifty-eighth chapters of Isaiah. The Lord gave me strength to speak distinctly, while I made the application of these chapters to our own experience. At the close of my remarks, the congregation sang with good effect, “The Lost Sheep.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 224, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 224, 1907, par. 12

We need to study carefully the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen,” the Lord through His prophet asks, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” [Verse 6.] It is time to break every yoke with which Satan has sought to bind God’s people and to let the work of reformation go through our midst. It is time that there was a turning unto the Lord.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 374, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 374, 1907, par. 8

In the afternoon of the same day, I spoke again to a large congregation from the fifty-fifth, fifty-sixth, and fifty-eighth chapters of Isaiah. I felt a heavy burden resting on my soul as I opened before the people assembled the necessity of our arousing ourselves to give the last note of warning to save a perishing world.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 176, 1907

22LtMs, Lt 176, 1907, par. 7

Seats were arranged under the pepper trees at the back of the sanitarium. It was an interesting occasion. The Lord blessed me in speaking from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Before I closed, I made a strong appeal to those who had means, to help in the Lord’s work, and I presented the needs of the Loma Linda Sanitarium. I urged them not to spend all their efforts merely in commercial lines, but to lay up treasure beside the throne of God. In the evening, Brother Nichols came to my room, his face aglow with happiness, and said, “I want to tell you what your words today have accomplished. A sister came to Brother Burden and gave him ten dollars, and a gentleman has offered to lend him a thousand dollars for a year without interest.” I thank the Lord for this response.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Ms 186, 1907

Loma Linda, California

May 18, 1907

Previously unpublished.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 1

Isaiah 58:1-3. Are any of us in the position that we claim great things, and yet selfishness, thread after thread, is drawn into the web, which God will not acknowledge at all?

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 2

Verses 3-6. Now that is a work that belongs to every soul that claims to be a partaker of the divine nature. It is to rid themselves of everything like selfishness.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 3

Verse 6. They have got to see it. They must be wide awake to observe it.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 4

Verse 6. Now that is just the reproof they needed because they were not doing it. God required them to do a work that they were shunning to do, and if any of us consider that we are serving the Lord with full purpose according to His requirements, please read the work that Christ accomplished when He came into our world. The whole burden of the oppression of the people was what called Him from the heavenly courts, that He might adjust wrongs that were prevailing everywhere.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 5

Verse 6. Now, if we will be watching, if we will have the burden of the work that Christ had laid upon us, if we will take that burden as He has appointed us to do, we shall find that we will have a great deal more to accomplish in showing our religious faithfulness than we accomplish today. We cannot afford to have our Saviour present before us such an example of His life character and we stand back, when he has given the work into our hands, the hands of His disciples, to be co-laborers with Jesus Christ, to carry the work intelligently that he had begun.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 6

Verses 4, 5. They are mistaken. Verse 6. God has appointed and chosen His people, and given them an example in His life of what they could be. The should carry out the very principles of the life that He had given them. They should be interested in the unfortunate. There is a work that rests upon every church that claims to be following Jesus Christ, that they shall do these very things, to break every yoke.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 7

Verse 7. Now, every soul that claims to believe in Christ is to be a partaker of the divine nature, His nature which they accepted when they were led down into the water, when they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? They have extended their service. They here were led down into the water, and three great heavenly powers were vouched to care for them, to work for them, if they carry out the principles, come out from the world and be separate, and do not be just as they were before they professed to be followers of Christ. What evidence has He given you of the work that He requires every one of us to do?

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 8

He requires that we are softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit, and that we study how we may work the very works that Christ has worked. He went with His disciples from place to place. Wherever He went He was attentive to those that came, that needed attention. They had not any sanitariums as we have here, but they needed the sanitarium that it shall grant them what they need in Jesus Christ. He was their sanctuary, He was their helper, He was the great leading Physician in our world. Wherever He went the followed Him.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 9

And there would be five thousand on one occasion, and more on other occasions; some were fainting, and He looked around upon them. There He had been leading to a grassy plot, that He could have them seated. Now, what have you got for them to eat? He says. Here are five loaves and a few small fishes. Bid them all sit down. And there He took the five loaves and divided them with His disciples, and told them to distribute to the multitude. And there was enough to pass to all those five thousand besides women and children. Now you just think of what the word was. Do you not think that if we dedicate ourselves to the Lord God of heaven that He will give us of His Holy Spirit, so that we can communicate to those that are in necessity?

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 10

We have studied various missions. We spent ten years lacking two months in Australia to make the first track, to break the first ground in the woods. 1500 acres for what? Why don’t you go into the cities? Because they are corrupted, because we wanted to get the youth out into the country—just as we have been trying to get a place here for our school—and that we might give opportunity for the sick and suffering ones to go cured without drug medication, which kills more than it cures. We wanted them to receive health from the natural sources. We wanted to teach them what self-denial was, that they did not need the tea nor the coffee, nor the flesh meats, nor these multitude of things that without any kind of consideration they introduce into their stomach. They cannot open a door here and see what is going on in that stomach.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 11

Here is the truth. It is to contemplate that many of the things they have put into their stomach quarrel. They do not agree, and after a time they wear out the life forces and bring sickness. You will hear over and over again, of the great men, they came from a large dinner and they were having a great time there eating and drinking and drugging themselves with liquor, and they dropped down, dead, just as soon as they got to the cars. Who is accountable for that? It is the ignorance of the people. And what we have been trying to labor for with all our mind and soul is to get the right principles before the people, that they may educate their children and teach them that this stomach can wear out.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 12

We want not to take into our stomach a great heterogenous mass that poisons the blood. And you read that this one died right after a dinner, and the other one died right after their supper, and thus you will see in the paper of death after death. God does not want you to kill yourself in this way. God wants you to become intelligent, and therefore we have in the name of the Lord tried to establish our health institutions that they may give an education.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 13

We want a school wherever there is a sanitarium. We want the students to be educated, to be trained in the right methods of eating, in the right methods of drinking. And we want that everything should be done for the health to train them that they may see the necessity of carrying out the principles of righteousness.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 14

Verses 7, 8. There is a work of righteousness that they are doing constantly. And that is that. Now just think what it will be. “The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” Now if we want to be happy men and women, and to be wealthy, we had better study the Word, and see what it means to be a Christian.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 15

Verses 9, 10. That promise is given us by one that never makes a mistake.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 16

Verses 11, 12. Now we can see that there is a power for us; for there are angels, abundance of angels, if you will only recognize that there are angels of God, and when you are in a strait place, if you would look right to the Lord for help, you will have it.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 17

We do not pray half enough. We just offer a prayer now and then, but we want more praying.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 18

Verse 11. Now take all these things in. But we must relate ourselves to God to follow out the Word instead of having our tables piled up with a great lot of magazines and novel stories. I forbid their putting them upon my table in my office and in my parlor. I tell our family we cannot afford it. We want no love story ditties on our table for our youth to ponder over, and their life take on a phase that we do not want them to. We have got the Word, and we can present the Word in so attractive a manner that they will be pleased to hear it. We want everything done for our children that fathers and mothers and relatives can do. And we want to cling close to the mighty One. We do not want to let go, and go to this party of pleasure and take our children, to that party of pleasure, and have them to lose all sense of what their duty is. O, we have got lots to do.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 19

Verses 12-14. Now we want to understand many things. Jesus, our precious Saviour presented Himself in the heavenly courts as one that would be the redemption price for every soul that lives upon the earth. Will we understand that? They would not all accept it. No. They preferred to have their own way, and their own will, and to do as they pleased, but here we are on test and trial whether we will be accounted worthy to unite with the holy heavenly family in the courts of the Lord. We are fitting up, for there is a change that is to take place in our world very soon, and we are to form a character now that will give us a fitness for the society of the family in the heavenly courts. For there is to be a family there. The gates of the city of God are to be thrown back upon their glittering hinges, and the nations that have kept the truth are to enter in.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 20

Here is the Word of truth. And it rests wholly with us whether we will take that truth and make the Word of the Lord our counselor and teach it to our children and educate and train our children for the future immortal life. The glory of the Lord, He says, shall go before us. Yes, it shall go before us, and there will be a light that shall emanate from every one of us that will make God our Counselor, and will make the Word our counselor, that we will follow it.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 21

Now God calls for you to give some attention to your children. They are God’s property. He redeemed them. Every soul of them He redeemed, and the fathers and mothers are to take their children and never to scold, never to fret, never to keep up a bickering all the time, but lead the children in obedience. They must be obedient. Eli chose to let his children have their own way, and do just as they pleased, and what was the result? God said He would not forger that sin, now or forever, of leaving them to attend to the courts of the Lord. The wickedness that they carried on in connection with the work of God spoiled the distinction between the truth and holiness. I was a terrible work.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 22

“I know Abraham, said the Lord, that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment.” [Genesis 18:19.]

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 23

Some fathers seem to think that the mechanical business is about all that they are to live for. Here the house demands them. Fathers, you are to consider that you are priests in your own family, to be reverenced and respected, and to educate and train your children in the way of the Lord. The mother, what is she? She is the queen in the household. She is one that is to be honored. In the place of this the mother is made the slave. The little children are left to do as they please.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 24

I began to educate my children, as soon as they could know anything to keep busy. They would say, Mother, can I help you? Now won’t you take out all this? Children, I tell you, you help me in more ways than one. If you make a mistake, I can correct that mistake, I can take it out, and still keep you learning all the time. I cannot tell you that your work is perfect yet, but you keep learning. I would keep their hands busy as I could. But yet they had their opportunities to work on the land, and to amuse themselves, but never, would I allow a cross word spoken from one to the other. I would not allow it in myself, nor would I allow the children.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 25

But now the children are brought up to play, play, play everywhere. Their life is given to play and amusement. Then what? They seek any society that will amuse them. We cannot afford it. It is at the sacrifice of eternal life in the kingdom of glory. And life is given to business, buying and selling and gambling and racing, and then buying and selling and losing, that is the way the world is.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 26

Who is it that purchased man? Here it is: Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father that says, I will give My life for the redemption of the race. He laid off His royal crown. He laid aside His royal robe and His magisterial dignity there over the angels. He gave it to the Father, and He came into our world as a little child with poor parentage. Why? He might have had legions of angels that would have come with Him, but that was not the way. He would come to humanity; He would work out humanity as humanity to the perfection that God requires. His divinity clothed with humanity was constantly working in behalf of men even from His childhood. He was carrying out the pattern of perfection. That was our Saviour. He was rejected and despised of men, and He went right through with His work until He was betrayed and hung upon the cross. His own disciples, members of His own family, said, “If thou be the Christ, show Thyself to the world,” and then is added, “Neither did his brethren believe in Him.” [John 7:4, 5.] That was the cruelest thing. Neither did they believe. Go up, He tells them, to Jerusalem; I will come up afterward. If they should see Christ in that company with His own brethren, they would know that He was the one that they wanted to take and to kill. Said he, It is not safe for me to go up now, but He could go on afterward, so that with the multitude nobody distinguished Him, for He had lessons to give to the people.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 27

Now see Christ as He made this sacrifice for us, and you have it in the Bible, and have no reason, one of you, to be ignorant in regard to the footsteps that point heavenward, and the preparation that is essential if you shall enter the courts of the Lord. There is no excuse for one of us who have the Word. We are to take the Word, we are to believe and become a part of Christ in appreciating His love and His character and imitate that character. This is our work today in this world.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 28

And I want to state that it has been a hard battle to find out what we could, as Seventh-day Adventists, do to reach the people. And we could think of no way but to erect a sanitarium in Battle Creek many, many years ago. We had none among us. There were two or three established in different places, but then we began. O what self-denial, O what self-sacrifice we have to make! We had a family, and my husband for long time earned four dollars a week. Why? Because we wanted to build up the work. We wanted then to take hold and get the self-sacrificing spirit. We were doing the work, printing the paper, trying in every way by holding meetings to create an interest.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 29

Well, I am laboring alone now. I have been laboring alone for 24 years, except my two sons, who were laboring with me. But the Lord understands every case. When they said I must die; I could not live but a few weeks in my girlhood, the Lord has seen fit to preserve me till I am nearly eighty years old, and yet there is more freedom from pain that I have now than I have ever had in my life before. But I never regretted the pain. I took up the health reform. I have done nicely—two meals a day for forty years. Sometimes, of course, I could get my dinner, and I would have to take a little something before I slept when traveling. But this was a life of self-denial, and I want to say I do not regret one step that I have taken in the past of self-denial.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 30

I thought I should die if I left off my meat. But where did my instruction come from? It came from the God of heaven. It was that the flesh diet was weakening my whole physical constitution? I left if off immediately, and I have eaten a plain and simplest food, no tea, no coffee, or anything of that kind, and the simplest food that mortals could put in their stomach, and yet I have stood and talked to twenty thousand people in Groveland, Massachusetts. Twice I did that there. Well, I know there is a power from above that sustains me in trying to carry out the principles of health reform. And I have worked at it, and when I came from Australia I had my lessons.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 31

I had taken hold of it there, and we had worked on that naked ground of 1,500 acres. We had our schoolhouses, and one thing after another they would come with a beehive and say, Will you take our children into the school, etc.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 32

What we are establishing our schools for is to send forth missionaries. They are calling for us from all parts of the land. We are sending out missionaries to put the gospel in the hands of the people and in the minds of the people. That is what our work is today. When we came back here there was opened before me that we must have our sanitariums. We must place them in different parts of the country. But where can we get them? Where is the money? Well, then the light came, There are buildings that are waiting for you. There are buildings in different places that are waiting. So it was when we established our school here, and took them out of Los Angeles. We would get them out of the city, we will not build out sanitariums in the city.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 33

This is a place just such as one was presented to me. Well, I thought we may try to approach such a place, but we cannot do it for years, and then there came a letter. This place was for sale, Brother Burden wrote me. I wrote to him, Take hold of it at once. But others thought I was wild, and they said, Don’t get that on your hands. It will be an elephant. We do not mean it shall be an elephant. We mean that the glory of God shall be revealed, as this is established, and that the sick will be treated with rational means. What we mean is that the drugs shall be dispensed with.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 34

Then another institution was purchased for a school, and I went to see it, at Fernando. A beautiful school there. They wrote up, Sister White, Do you advise that we get the buildings here? And then they put in considerable objections: one building was built for a school and had not been occupied for years. I wrote back to them, Get it just as quick as you can get it. And they got the building, and they have it there, and are educating children and youth in order to send them out. Well, it takes something to create buildings from the very foundation, but they are prepared all ready for us, and the Lord makes it so we can get them. And we have got several. I thank the Lord with heart and soul and voice that He has let me have a part in the establishment of His work in this country, in Australia, and in Europe, and in different places. He has given me a part to act in it. I praise His holy name.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 35

Now we want that every one that has money in the banks that they are not using to let us hire it of you. We want to clear the debt on this house; we want to clear the debt on these premises. We had to put on an addition in order to treat the sick properly. We want an elevator, and we want improvements that must be made for the sick. And we want that if any one has means that he is laying aside, doing nothing, it is God’s property. The gold and the silver is mine. But here is the work; His work is to be advanced. He wants every one to take an interest in it, that you shall feel that you have acted something toward the establishment of the work for a school and for the sick, and we want everything to be done that can be done to relieve many. We are not ashamed at all, nor do not think that we are out of order to ask those that have God’s money, and God’s means, to help to do God’s work. That is what we ask you in the name of the Lord God of Israel.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 36

Well, now I must prepare to stop. I have a great deal more to say, but I do not know that it is best for me to talk any longer.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 37

We are waiting for the coming of the Son of man. I have been in San Francisco, I have spoken there four times. Of all the wickedness that is going on there, it is tremendous. The life of a person is not worth anything if they are crossed. Why? Because the liquor saloons are all opened, and the liquor is drugged and it makes men mad; therefore when they use this liquor, they do not know what they are doing, and they will bring in their plea every time, “I was drunk,” and they take that plea into court to relieve them from the penalty of death. How about these saloons there? It is the leading men, the very men that God will bring to account at last. What we want is to abolish all these saloons, everything like a saloon. It makes men mad, and they cannot resist temptation.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 38

What we want is to see the glory of God revealed. And, O, this beautiful place! I feel thankful to have the privilege now and then of coming in and speaking a few words of encouragement to them. And I want to say to every one of you, There is a heaven to win and a hell to shun. And we have our privilege of choice. We are not forced to go to heaven, but if we will accept of the infinite sacrifice that was made in our behalf by Jesus Christ, if we will accept it, as we claim many to have done by baptism, we come up out of the water, and then what is said? Ye are dead; buried with Christ in baptism, risen with Christ from the grave as you arise out of the water. Then “seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” [Colossians 3:1.] And He will take you and let His blessing rest upon you. Now I am going to read a few words, then I will stop. Daniel 1:3-8. “Purposed in his heart.” Christ wants every man to purpose in his heart that he will not soil his brain power on any account whatever, but cherish it, that he may do the work of the Lord.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 39

Verse 9. So He will bless all of us if we will only educate ourselves to kindness, to tenderness, Christian politeness, so we shall have a great many more friends than if we take the opposite course.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 40

Verses 10-17. The works that every one ought to do, to do their best for themselves.

22LtMs, Ms 186, 1907, par. 41

Verses 17-20. Now there is the Bible testimony. I have tried to bring you Bible testimony on every point. I have not advocated anything but that which I know. I have proved the Lord on these points, and the Lord has strengthened and blessed, and I ask you every one to consider, Ye are laborers together with God. You are to bring about reformations to meet the mind and the will of a holy God, and your life is in His hands. Will you have an entrance within the gates of the city of our God, to become members of the royal family, and children of the heavenly King? Will you choose this day whom you will serve? May God give you intelligence to take your position fully on the Lord’s side. Temperance every day, self-denial, is required. The glory of the Lord shall go before us, and we shall see of His salvation.

Loma Linda Messages

E. G. White to J. A. Burden, Sept. 4, 1910 (B. 76, 1910)

LLM 558.3

I am at the Pacific Union College, attending a council meeting of the church school teachers. Yesterday, Sabbath, I spoke in the chapel. The room was filled. A larger place will have to be provided in which to hold meetings. I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. I had some very important instruction to give to those present regarding the necessity of our working intelligently, and the Lord gave me strength to speak.

Australasian Union Conference Record

February 15, 1904

AUCR February 15, 1904, par. 4

Let every one study the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. What is the great work before us?—The proclamation of the gospel, with its life-saving principles, to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Let no one remain in idleness because he can not do the same class of work that the most experienced servants of God are doing. Because you cannot be in the highest place, will you do nothing? Because you can not trade upon pounds, will you refuse to trade upon one pound? Because you have not five talents, will you put your one talent in a napkin, and hide it in the earth? Because you cannot work for the multitude, will you refuse to work for individuals? Do the smaller duties waiting for you. Thus you will help those who are bearing heavy responsibilities. Use your talents, be they ever so few. God has certainly given you a work to do for Him. In all that you do, keep the Lord Jesus before you. Do all to the glory of His name. You belong to God, and you are to do His work. Your life is sustained by the Giver of life. Your every capability, therefore, is to be put to use in His service. By using your talents wisely and faithfully, you are gaining power to do better work, to bear heavier responsibilities.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 5 [Nos. 260-346]

MR No. 268—Social Work and the Three Angels’ Messages

5MR 33.2

The special work of God’s people for this time is brought before us in the words: “They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father” [Isaiah 58:12-14].

5MR 33.3

Our great need as a people is that we come into right relation to God. We cannot afford to let one day pass in which we have not laid hold by living faith on the God of Israel. We need the clear light of the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon us. This light is given to those who keep holy the Lord’s Sabbath; but we cannot keep this day holy unless we serve the Lord in the manner brought to view in the scripture: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” [Isaiah 58:6, 7]. This is the work that rests upon every soul who accepts the service of Christ.

5MR 36.1

Isaiah 58: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God: they ask of Me the ordinance of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” They seek Christ just the same as though they had not forsaken Him. This is a people that seek God as though they were seeking Him in obedience to Him. That is just how they seek the Lord. “They ask of Me the ordinance of justice.” That is the danger, and that is where the Pharisees stumbled. They looked at their outward forms and ceremonies, and their outward performances of worship. And the Pharisees expected that those outward ceremonies would certainly recommend them to Christ, but He showed them that they did not have the spirit of meekness and lowliness that Christ had.

5MR 47.2

God help us that our eyes may be anointed with the eyesalve that we may see. He will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob thy father. Let us hide under the promise, and let us find refuge in Jesus Christ. He will establish us in truth and righteousness and the glory of the Lord shall be our rereward.—Manuscript 11, 1894, 1-14. (“Isaiah 58.” Sermon, February 10, 1894.)

Ellen G. White in Europe 1885-1887

Elevating the Standard of Piety

EGWE 105.1

“But I wish to speak as the Spirit of the Lord shall impress me,” she wrote in her diary. “The Lord knows best what this people needs.” And when she preached the next morning in church on Isaiah 58, she “did not round the corners at all” (Manuscript 26, 1885).

Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

Visit to Sweden

3BIO 320.5

That it would please the people if I speak less about duty and more in regard to the love of Jesus. But I wish to speak as the Spirit of the Lord shall impress me. The Lord knows best what this people needs. I spoke in the forenoon from Isaiah 58. I did not round the corners at all. If this is Brother Matteson’s work, let him do it, but it is not my work. My work is to elevate the standard of piety and true Christian life, and urge the people to put away their sins and be sanctified through the truth. I tried to impress them with the necessity of strictly observing the Sabbath according to the commandment.—Ibid.

Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

The Remarkable Revival in Battle Creek

3BIO 422.6

I spoke in afternoon from Isaiah 58 upon the Sabbath and the many ways the Lord could be robbed. Read in regard to robbing God in tithes and offerings. Called the people forward for prayers.—Manuscript 25, 1888.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 85, 1908

23LtMs, Lt 85, 1908, par. 4

The Lord has strengthened me to speak to a very crowded house. Every compartment was used—turned into one large room. The Lord gave me strength of voice to speak distinctly and clearly upon the 58th chapter of Isaiah. I thank the Lord that I had strength of voice to speak, and clear ideas. I shall speak twice more: once in Berkeley in the new hall Sunday, and again in Oakland church Monday, and Tuesday will return to St. Helena.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Ms 126, 1908

23LtMs, Ms 126, 1908, par. 14

Last Sabbath I spoke to the assembly in Berkeley from Isaiah 58. I had a message for those who assemble in Berkeley. The appointment had been circulated, and there were more present than we expected. I had a burden to speak to those who would come out to hear me. I wished to meet those whom I hoped would be impressed with the message that the Lord gave me to give to the people who would hear and profit thereby. If they would receive the Word of the Lord, there would be a decided change in the experience of those who would heed the message. I had an intense burden to speak the Word to all who would assemble to hear. Isaiah 58:1-4, quoted.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 342, 1908

23LtMs, Lt 342, 1908, par. 2

Instruction was given me to speak to the people the words of the prophet Isaiah found in the fifty-eighth chapter. Here is light and life, goodness and truth, for all who will receive the words of warning and encouragement and will apply the truth to their individual case. We are to let the Word come to every appointed agency, for there is a crisis before the people of God. It is not position and rank that the church of God is to rely upon, but the power of God. The favor of God and the power of His Spirit are of more value than gold or silver.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Ms 43, 1908

Oakland, California

March 14, 1908

Portions of this manuscript are published in OHC 15; CD 309; 4BC 1151-1154; 5MR 82-83; 11MR 188. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 1

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 2

“Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” [Isaiah 58:1-6.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 3

Men have no right to place yokes on the necks of their brethren. They have no right to exercise a power so dominating that their brethren will look upon them with fear, instead of looking unto the Lord God of Israel and fearing Him and doing His will.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 4

“To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed to free, and that ye break every yoke”—this is the message that the Lord has given me to bear to those assembled here today. [Verse 6.] There is to be a reformation all through these cities, that the inhabitants of these crowded centers may know what it means to serve the Lord God of Israel and to glorify His name.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 5

We continue reading. Seventh verse: “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 6

All about us in Oakland and San Francisco, and in every other city of this land, there are many who have been so blinded and bound about by the enemy of their souls, that they cannot recognize the Lord God of heaven and His will concerning them. They seem unable to realize the times in which they are living. And yet here we are, professedly the Lord’s people, with the accumulated light of centuries shining along our pathway. What are we doing for those who are groping their way in the mists of error? The coming of the Lord is near. It hasteth greatly. The Lord is coming in such a time as many look not for Him, and who is prepared for His coming? What are we doing to warn our friends and neighbors? Are we faithfully doing all in our power to let our light shine out into this moral darkness and illuminate the pathway of those who are seeking to find the way of life eternal?

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 7

Note the inspired promise of the prophet to those who do all in their power to relieve distress, both physical and spiritual. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.” [Verse 8.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 8

As Christians we are to have a righteousness that shall be developed and seen—a righteousness that represents the character of Jesus Christ when He was in our world. He came and died in order that we might live. He gave His life to purchase every soul of the human family. But only those who come to Him in faith, nothing wavering, will be granted the boon of life eternal.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 9

The Christian life does not call for undue suffering and hardship. We are not asked to sit in sackcloth and ashes; but we are asked to recognize God as our helper, and to co-operate with Him in doing His will, so that He may bless us and enable us to live the Christian life. He is our strength, our frontguard, and our rereward. And whatever our estate, we may be assured that Christ has lived and suffered in our behalf, and that by His grace we may be strong to prevail. The King of glory, He stooped low to rescue humanity. Laying aside His royal crown and kingly robe, He came to this earth in the likeness of humanity, as the poorest of the poor. By personal experience He knew what it meant to be poor and oppressed. And in the busy years of His ministry, when surrounded by crowds seeking to be healed of their infirmities, He never turned one away. Although oft faint with hunger and weariness, He attended to the needs of all who sought His help.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 10

At times His friends and relatives feared for His life, the pressure was so great. On one occasion when His mother and His brethren begged Him to rest, and He saw how concerned they were over His welfare, He called for a boat and went to the other side of the sea, away from the press of the throng. But only for a little while did He remain, and then He was once more back with the multitude. He could not turn aside from suffering humanity unless first He had helped them escape from their afflictions.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 11

We read further: “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually.” [Verses 9-11.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 12

A follower of Christ is one who lives a Christlike life. In his association with the sick and the suffering, the unconverted and the backslider, he does all in his power to help. His light is ever bright, and many are blessed through the influence of his helpful ministry. God desires that every soul shall become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 13

We are now preparing for eternity. Time will not last much longer; for we are living in the closing days of this world’s history. Satan knows that his time is short, and he is now at work with all his masterly power. We need to be instant in prayer; for in communion with God we shall find strength to resist the enemy. If we are not watchful, we may be ensnared, and yet not realize our condition.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 14

It is our privilege to live in the light or in the darkness. Our spiritual condition is dependent on our consecration of soul, body, and spirit to Him who has purchased us by the sacrifice of His own life. We are the property of Christ. We have been bought with a price—and what a price! We can acknowledge God’s ownership by walking in accordance with a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” advancing step by step in faith. In the light of the infinite cost of our redemption, how essential it is that we have keen spiritual discernment! Never should we lose sight of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Oh, the suffering, the agony, endured by Him! He died to save a lost world. If we choose, we may blind our eyes to His sacrifice in our behalf; but in the way of unbelief there is naught but darkness and death.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 15

In our world there are two classes. One is made up of those who behold a crucified and risen Saviour. The other includes all who have chosen to look away from the cross and to follow the leadings of satanic influences. The latter class are busily engaged in putting stumbling blocks before God’s people, to cause them to fall, and turn from the path of obedience into the broad way of disobedience and death. Evil angels are striving to obscure the clear vision of commandment-keepers, and to darken the understanding that they will not be able to discern between righteousness and unrighteousness.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 16

Many choose unrighteousness because Satan presents it in such a way that it seems attractive to those who are not on guard against his wiles. And he works in a special manner through unsanctified men and women who profess to be children of God. In some way or other the enemy will seek to deceive all, even the very elect. Only as we are partakers of the divine nature can we escape the corrupting influences that are brought to bear upon us by the enemy of our souls.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 17

As Satan seeks to break down the barriers of the soul, by tempting us to indulge in sin, we must by living faith retain our connection with God and have confidence in His strength to enable us to overcome every besetment. We are to flee from evil and seek righteousness, meekness, and holiness. Rightdoing develops strength of character and begets confidence in our Christian integrity on the part of those who are watching us to see whether the Christian religion is really a molding power in our lives. We are to obey the injunction, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” [Matthew 5:16.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 18

Of him who walks in the way of life everlasting, using his blessings to bless others, the prophet Isaiah declares: “The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” [Isaiah 58:11.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 19

These blessings we need. We need the water of life that flows from Jesus Christ, which will be in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. “The Lord shall guide thee continually.” [Verse 11.] When we are guided by the Lord, we shall have clear discernment. We shall not call righteousness unrighteousness, nor think that things that the Lord has forbidden are right. We shall understand where the Lord is working.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 20

Many have not understood this. There are some whom I know have been led astray by the enemy. But God wants to make you a partaker of the divine nature. He wants no yoke of human authority on your neck, but that you shall look to Him who is able to save to the uttermost every one that comes to Him in righteousness and truth. We have no time to tamper with the enemy; for we are very near the close of this earth’s history.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 21

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” [Verse 12.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 22

A breach has been made in the law of God, and He is calling for a people that will repair this breach. A spurious Sabbath has been exalted instead of the Sabbath of Jehovah. Soon laws will be passed, compelling all to observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh. We must meet this difficulty, and we shall find trouble enough, without stirring up contention among those who profess to be keeping God’s commandments.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 23

“Thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thin own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 24

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” [Isaiah 58:12-14; 59:1, 2.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 25

God wants us to be in a position where we may do real missionary work. We should feel for our fellow men the same sympathy that Christ felt for humanity. His sympathy led Him to redeem them, even at the cost of His own blood. If we would carry out the principles of the law of God, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 26

The Lord is calling upon His people to finish His work in the earth. As for me, I purpose to stand in my lot and place; and wherever the Lord bids me go, I shall raise the note of warning. He requires of us that the divine impress shall be upon all our words, upon all our business transactions. Wherever we go, we are to let our light shine in the community around us. We are preparing to enter the pearly gates of the city of God.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 27

But many of you are not ready for the coming of Christ. The Lord has bidden me bear to this people the message, Prepare to meet thy God. There is earnest work before you. There are hundreds even in this vicinity who should be converted, and who might even now be rejoicing in the knowledge of the truth, if all had done their duty faithfully. There is a world to hear the message, yet some of our ministers have been hovering over small churches, when the members of these churches themselves ought to be active in spreading the knowledge of the truth to those around them.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 28

We cannot give this solemn warning unless we ourselves are partakers of the light and grace and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let it be known that there is a God in Israel. We are to lift up our voice like a trumpet, and show God’s people their transgressions. If we do this faithfully and fearlessly, many will take heed and will seek the Lord and find Him.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 29

I would ask you, Have you done the work of the Lord in meekness and in sanctification of the Spirit? In the visions of the night I have seen some of the baneful results of unsanctified minds influencing other minds. Some have placed yokes on the necks of their brethren, and God now demands that these yokes shall be broken. Let every one realize that there is freedom in Jesus Christ. He loves you, and He desires to reveal Himself unto you, that you may reveal Him to the world. He desires you to tell others of His love and of His willingness and power to save. Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness, will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rereward.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 30

I ask you to search well your own hearts. Put away the evil speaking that has been weakening the faith of some of God’s people. We must have a living faith in God. We cannot afford to go backward. We must press forward in the footsteps of our Redeemer, even though we are led through a cloud.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 31

In the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of the mission of our Saviour. He says:

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 32

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” [Verses 1, 2.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 33

The Lord is not pleased to have His people a band of mourners. He wants them to repent of their sins, that they may enjoy the liberty of the sons of God. Then they will be filled with the praises of God, and will be a blessing to others.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 34

The Lord Jesus was anointed also “to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that the might be called Trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” [Verse 3.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 35

“That He might be glorified”—O that this might be the purpose of our lives! Then we should have regard to the expression of our countenance, to our words, and even to the tone of our voice when we speak. All our business transactions would be wrought in faith and integrity. Then would the world be convinced that there is a people that are loyal to the God of heaven.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 36

So long as God gives me strength, I shall endeavor faithfully to bear to His people the messages of warning that He gives me. It pains me to think of the loss of souls. I find no pleasure in thinking that there are some who have seen great light, and who have enjoyed wonderful privileges, but who are still in the darkness of error. God calls for all to come into harmony with Himself. He will receive them if they will put away their evil actions. By a union with the divine nature of Christ, they may escape the corrupting influences of this world.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 37

It is time for every one of us to decide whose side we are on. The agencies of Satan will work with every mind that will allow itself to be worked by him. But there are also heavenly agencies waiting to communicate the bright rays of the glory of God to all that are willing to receive Him. It is truth that we want, precious truth in all its loveliness. Truth will bring liberty and gladness.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 38

We are to take a special interest in those who know not the special truths for this time. Had faithful work been done in Oakland during the past few years, hundreds more would have been converted. Will those whose eyes have been blinded, now seek earnestly for a clear spiritual vision, that a new order of things may be seen.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 39

In the following verses our work is pointed out: “And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen, and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” [Verses 4-6.]

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 40

We are all amenable to God for the character of the influence we exert. Are we preparing for the day of our God which is soon to burst upon us, or are we closing our eyes, and blinding the eyes of others, that they shall not discern where the enemy is working?

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 41

We plead for temperance in all points. I remember how the temperance question forty years ago was all alive. My husband was living then, and as we went from place to place, we would advocate the principles of temperance in all things. There must be temperance in eating as well as in drinking. Our appetites are to be under a sensible control. The Lord is not pleased when we load our digestive organs with the flesh of dead animals, or with a large variety of foods at the same meal. It is well to eat one class of foods at one meal, and other kinds of food at a different meal. Fruit we would especially recommend as a health-giving agency. But even fruit should not be eaten after a full meal of other foods.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 42

We may preserve our health if we will use good common sense. That is why we have established sanitariums in so many places, that a proper education might be given. But notwithstanding all the light that God has given on this subject, there are some who will eat anything and everything that they desire.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 43

God is willing to work with everyone who will seek for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But if you turn away from that righteousness, if you refuse to heed the light that God has given, you cannot claim His promises.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 44

May the Lord bring into our ranks the spirit of freedom. He is coming soon, to take to Himself those who are tried and proved. But what a loss will come to those who have not purified their souls through obedience to the truth. They will lose eternal life, an eternal life free from pain and suffering, a life where sin is unknown. This reward Christ has provided for all who will receive and acknowledge Him.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 45

May the Lord help us to humble our souls before Him, and learn of Jesus Christ as little children, that we may practice the truth in righteousness. If we do this, we may rejoice in the Lord. We may be happy and joyous in our God.

23LtMs, Ms 43, 1908, par. 46

I want you all to be saved in the kingdom of glory. As I see how much Christ has done for you, I am determined, so long as I have strength, to extend the invitation to come up on the platform of eternal truth, where you may know that you are experiencing the keeping power of God, and that there awaits you in the kingdom of God the life eternal.

Ellen G. White: The Progressive Years: 1862-1876 (vol. 2)

The Tide Begins to Turn

2BIO 52.4

With President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, the tide in the war began to turn. When a national fast was appointed for April 30, 1863, Seventh-day Adventists felt they could join in its observance, for the government was lining up more in harmony with the testimony of Isaiah 58. In early July a decisive battle was fought at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with the Union forces gaining the victory.

The Review and Herald

August 16, 1881

RH August 16, 1881, par. 20

Read Isaiah 58, you who claim to be children of the light. Especially do you read it again and again who have felt so fearful to inconvenience yourselves by favoring the needy; you whose hearts and houses are too narrow to make a home for the homeless, read it. You who can see orphans and widows oppressed by the iron hand of poverty, and bowed down by the hard-hearted worldlings, read it.

The Review and Herald

October 3, 1893

RH October 3, 1893, par. 13

In the example of Moses pleading for the children of Israel, is represented the position that we should take in regard to the people of God, however erring, or weak, or defective they may be. By the mighty cleaver of truth, the Lord has brought out a people from the quarry of the world, as he brought out of Egypt a people to keep his commandments, and at every step he has shown them that he is leading them in paths of truth and righteousness. He has sent his light and his counsels, instructing them to build institutions of learning, to provide sanitariums and publishing houses, and success has attended the carrying out of these plans. The money of the Seventh-day Adventists has not been hoarded in order that they might live delicately, but self-denial and self-sacrifice have marked their history, and still their work is to make progress, and to be aggressive. The world have a light constantly shining upon them, because this people honor God in keeping his commandments. Now can we expect that a message would be true that would designate as Babylon the people for whom God has done so much? Hell would triumph should such a message be received, and the world would be strengthened in iniquity. All the reproaches which Satan has cast upon the character of God, would appear as truth, and the conclusion would be made that God has no chosen or organized church in the world. O, what a triumph would this be to Satan and his confederacy of evil! God does not work in this way. He does just what he said he would do in the 58th chapter of Isaiah:

The Review and Herald

August 21, 1894

RH August 21, 1894, par. 11

How is it with my brethren and sisters in America? How much do you practice self-denial in order that you may show liberality to the needy cause of God at this time? We are doing our work here under great pressure for the want of the very money that many of the members of our churches are expending upon their own fancies, in pleasing and gratifying themselves. If they had accepted the testimonies I have borne to them concerning the great want in these regions beyond, they would not be found expending one dollar in following the example of those who are multiplying pictures of themselves and their families. You would not be purchasing bicycles, which you could do without, but would be receiving the blessing of God in exercising your physical powers in a less expensive way. Instead of investing one hundred dollars in a bicycle, you would consider the matter well, lest it might be at the price of souls for whom Christ died, and for whom he has made you responsible. Please read Isaiah 58, and see what is a sure remedy for poor health. Satan will contrive to bring about many devices to absorb the means which should be devoted to the cause of God at this time. We cannot open new fields in regions beyond, for want of the very means that is used up in various ways, which might be given to destitute missions. God would have you invest in a fund to erect humble houses of worship for those who have newly come to the faith, who cannot possibly command means to do this, on account of their great poverty. Their souls are just as precious as your soul; and could you pass through the experience through which we have passed since coming to this country, you would bind about your supposed wants, and would be ready to help to build humble houses of worship in regions beyond. You would have the satisfaction of denying inclination in thus investing means in the cause of God. Night after night, we have studied the perplexing problem of how we should obtain the means to advance the work of God. It rests with you in America to solve this puzzling question. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

The Review and Herald

January 15, 1895

RH January 15, 1895, par. 2

To practice the principles of love which Christ taught by precept and example, will make the experience of every one who follows him, like the experience of Christ. Such souls will labor with Christ, seeking to uplift and bless their fellow-men. If we desire healthfulness of soul, a sunny experience, we must put into practice the rules given us in Isaiah 58. When those who are connected with the sacred work of God in all our institutions, shall open the door of their hearts, Jesus will come in; for a long time he has been knocking for an entrance. When he is permitted to enter, the sunshine of his righteousness will pervade the soul; but “he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 116, 1908

23LtMs, Lt 116, 1908, par. 11

I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, and the Holy Spirit impressed the truth upon the hearts of the people. I thank the Lord for His goodness and His mercy and His rich grace bestowed. I felt that the Lord would give me strength to speak, and His power was upon me in rich measure. On the following day I drove to Berkeley, where an appointment was out for me to speak. The hall here was crowded to its utmost capacity. I spoke from the 60th chapter of Isaiah. The Lord again gave me His Holy Spirit, and angels of God were in our midst. As I presented the truths of this chapter, the blessing of the Lord rested upon me and upon those who listened. I thank the Lord for the grace given to me at this time. My trust is in Him. We need ever to cherish a spirit of trust in God and learn to wait patiently for Him. I have rejoiced in the privilege given me at this time to speak so often to the people of Oakland and Berkeley.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Ms 7, 1908

23LtMs, Ms 7, 1908, par. 4

I have been instructed to refer our people to the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Read this chapter carefully, and understand the kind of ministry that will bring life into the churches. The work of the gospel is to be carried by means of our liberality as well as by our labors. When you meet suffering souls who need help, give it them. When you find those who are hungry, feed them. In doing this you will be working in lines of Christ’s ministry. The Master’s holy work was a benevolent work. Let our people everywhere by encouraged to have a part in it.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Lt 96, 1908

23LtMs, Lt 96, 1908, par. 6

One week ago last Sabbath I spoke to the members of the Oakland church. There was a large congregation present, and the church building was filled. I had already spoken four times during the week to our people there; and as I looked over this large company, I feared that I might not have strength of voice to reach them all. But as soon as I stood upon my feet, the power of God came upon me, and my voice was strong and clear. I was sustained in a remarkable manner, and for this I give glory to God. I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 23 (1908)

Ms 129, 1908

23LtMs, Ms 129, 1908, par. 5

I am to warn our people, Give the enemies no opportunity to be furnished by you with questioning doubts of the work the Lord is doing through the testimonies. God has not laid on any man this subject. The great subject now is the commandments of God. I was referred to Isaiah, chapters 48, 51, 52, 58 and 60. These chapters should stir the souls of the people. Carry these things in your mind, and seek the Lord and work the works so essential to be done. But give not yourselves into the hands of the enemy, for you have not that spiritual strength that you need.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 93, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 93, 1909, par. 17

Our ministers are not to be encouraged to hover about the churches to repeat to the believers week after week the same truths. We have a truth that is saving and precious. The Word of God must be planted in many hearts; the bread of life must be dealt out to many hungering souls. If we will study carefully the 58th chapter of Isaiah with these words I have read to you from the 55th and 54th chapters, you will see that there is a precious and an extended work to be done by the people of God. It is a blessed work to lift up Christ before the world.

The Review and Herald

January 22, 1895

RH January 22, 1895, par. 3

Those who believe in Christ as a personal Saviour will grow in healthful experience, because they fulfill the conditions laid down in Isaiah 58. The Lord says, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee [“the Lord our righteousness”]; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” Consider these words, ye complaining, downcast, discontented, homesick souls. Here is the prescription that the prophet Isaiah was commanded of the Lord to present to you for the healing of the spiritual and bodily maladies. “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” I am thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity [not exalting yourself, not thinking yourself very wise and prudent, while censuring and oppressing those who meet with trials and misfortunes; not grieving others by unfeeling, reproachful words and actions]; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday.” O how many souls are starving for words of tenderness, for words of brotherly kindness, for words of hope, of faith, of forgiveness, of Christlike love, that will not quench the last spark of hope: “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drouth, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 67, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 67, 1909, par. 2

The work represented by the prophet in the 61st and 58th chapters of Isaiah is to be done by all who have a part in educational work. The prophet declares: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” [Isaiah 61:1-3.]

24LtMs, Ms 67, 1909, par. 4

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing thine own pleasure, nor doing thine own ways, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Isaiah 58:12-14.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 42, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 42, 1909, par. 7

In the chapters that follow, the 58th to the 62nd of Isaiah, there is present truth for the people. Study these chapters carefully.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 70, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 70, 1909, par. 2

We are about to leave Loma Linda for our journey to College View, Nebraska. I have spoken once while here. Last Sabbath the patients and church members assembled on the beautiful grounds of the sanitarium, and I spoke to them from the 58th chapter of Isaiah.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 68, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 68, 1909, par. 3

We could not remain long enough at Paradise Valley to become really rested. On Friday morning, April 9, we left San Diego for a short visit to Loma Linda, where we planned to spend the following Sabbath and Sunday. On Sabbath morning I spoke to the patients and church members gathered under the pepper trees on the sanitarium lawn. There was a large congregation, but my voice was strong, so that it could reach to all. I spoke from the 58th chapter of Isaiah.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 27, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 3

This morning I will first read a few words from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 4

“Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?” Here the complaint comes not against themselves, but against God. Listen to the answer: “Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” [Verses 1-5.]

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 5

The Lord declares what is the fast that He chooses. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” He says, “to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” [Verses 6, 7.]

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 8

“Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” [Verse 7.] It is the privilege of every student and worker upon this school land to know what it is to be moved by the impulse of the Spirit of God.

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 9

“Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.” Why this assurance regarding the health? Health is given because you learn to use your muscles as well as your brain powers. It is very important that we tax our physical and mental powers equally. “Thy righteousness shall go before thee,” the Lord continues, “and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” [Verse 8.] How will our righteousness go before us? It will be revealed in righteous words, in righteous actions, in our useful employments. This work is given to the colored people as surely as it is given to the white people. According to their opportunities they are to work out faithfully the problems that God presents to them. When we do the work that God requires of us, the blessings He has promised will attend us.

24LtMs, Ms 27, 1909, par. 10

If we will do justice, if we will exalt the truth, the Lord Himself will be our Keeper and our Preserver, enabling us to do His will. God takes care of those who are looked down upon by their fellow men. It is because He regards the needs of those who are despised and rejected that we have this school farm where you can receive a preparation for labor right here in the South. It is His desire that those who receive a training here shall go forth to labor to lift up the oppressed, to strengthen the weak hands, that through your efforts men and women may learn to honor and glorify God. The teaching of this fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah means just this to you.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 126, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 21

Verses 8-13. Now here are other chapters that I will not attempt to bring out now. I want to come right to the fifty-eighth chapter.

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 22

Isaiah 58:1, 2. “Daily.” They make a profession, not in works, but in profession.

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 23

Verses 2, 3. Now bear in mind you are doing no unselfish work. You are exacting labor that is done in the churches that should be missionary work.

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 24

Verses 4-11. Suppose the churches were in this condition, O suppose it, suppose it. I have thought of it again and again.

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 26

Verse 8. “Righteousness goes before, and the health springs forth speedily.” Verse 9. “Answer.” There is no silence then. Verse 9. There is lots of it that is done, and it discourages the workers.

24LtMs, Ms 126, 1909, par. 27

Verses 10-14. Now we can see there is something for us to do. Every intelligent human being, God has created you. And He has given you all this encouragement that I have been reading to you. Now if you will follow on to know the Lord, ye shall know His going forth is prepared as the morning. We have so few conversions from the world because we do not follow out the directions of God. We want now to come to time. It is too late now in this period of this earth’s history, it is too late now for us to study how we shall get the most money, and what business we shall be in, that we shall not have any reproach from the world. It is to follow the Bible.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Lt 178, 1909

24LtMs, Lt 178, 1909, par. 9

Let the instruction given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah be studied in connection with these Scriptures. Wonderful would be the results if ministers and church members would be converted and adopt Christ’s manner of witnessing to the power of the Lord.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 124, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 124, 1909, par. 4

We have here the 58th chapter: verses 1-3. Now let us bring all these things so that we shall fail in doing our part. It is our part we have now. Now here is the reason that they do not realize the special blessing of God.

24LtMs, Ms 124, 1909, par. 5

Verses 4-6; verses 7-12 (Breach made in the law of God) verses 13, 14. Now it will be well for us to carry out the principles that are here brought to view. We have duties to do our part, and if we will verify the Word of God as He requires of us, we shall always find that the Lord will verify His promise to us shortly, and He will not fail. Now, we want that every one of us shall understand our duty. There is a work for us to go. Every one to whom God grants the breath of life from day to day, it becomes us to understand how to meet the will and the way of the Lord.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 122, 1909

24LtMs, Ms 122, 1909, par. 2

Verse 1. Now that is a wonderful text. Here God is ready to impart unto us if we follow on to know the Lord, as it is our privilege. The Lord gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We are given an opportunity to form a character after the direction of the Word of God. The Lord describes it in Isaiah 58.

24LtMs, Ms 122, 1909, par. 3

Isaiah 58:1, 2. “Thou seest not.” verse 3. Do you see the complaint they roll right back on to God? You see that disposition can come upon the human mind.

24LtMs, Ms 122, 1909, par. 4

Verse 3. Knowledge. Now comes the answer. “Behold, in the day—verse 5. Now the Lord makes a different presentation. Verses 6-14. There is something for every one of us to do. God has given into our hands a work, and if our hearts are in harmony with the Word, the blessings shall come upon us, just as described here. All the waste places shall be built up, and what we want, every one of us, is to understand how our case stands before God. The Lord wants to work for His people, and He wants every one of us to come in harmony with Him. He wants His righteousness to be revealed.

The Review and Herald

May 22, 1900

RH May 22, 1900, par. 14

On Tuesday I was attacked with influenza, and was unable to attend meeting again until the next Sabbath. This was a holiday, and there was a large attendance from the city. I was still suffering from the influenza, but the Lord gave me his sustaining grace, and my voice was clear and strong as I spoke from the first chapter of Second Peter. On Sunday afternoon the audience was very large. I spoke from Isaiah 58, explaining every verse, but dwelling especially upon the words, “They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 57, 1912

25LtMs, Ms 57, 1912, par. 16

I urge you to study the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Our work for this time is to be a repetition of that brought to view in these words of the prophet. A message is to be proclaimed whose earnestness will stir hearts. There is to be no departure from the instruction of the Word. Ministers, physicians, nurses, parents—workers in every line—are to labor with a constantly enlarging understanding of what is truth.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 29, 1910

25LtMs, Ms 29, 1910, par. 5

Read the fifty-first, fifty-second, and fifty-third chapters of Isaiah, also the fifty-eighth.

25LtMs, Ms 29, 1910, par. 6

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Isaiah 58:13, 14.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 30, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 30, 1910, par. 6

Read chapters fifty to fifty-eight of Isaiah. I am to charge the leaders in our cause and those connected with our institutions that they are in need of studying these chapters. I am to say to them that there has been a disregard for the reproofs that the Lord has given to His people. There are some who will accept the word they choose to accept, but who do not make thorough work of consecration to God. A burden has been laid upon me to warn those in high positions, those carrying great responsibilities. You have had great light, and had you received it with faith, and followed on to know the Lord, many souls now unwarned would have heard the reasons of our faith. Although the Lord has laid the reproof upon you, you have heeded not. Shall I not judge, saith the Lord, for these neglected duties to warn the people as to what is truth?

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 47, 1912

25LtMs, Ms 47, 1912, par. 18

You who are suffering with poor health, there is a remedy for you. If thou clothe the naked, and bring the poor that are cast out, to thy house, and deal thy bread to the hungry, “then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.” [Isaiah 58:8.] Doing good is an excellent remedy for disease.

25LtMs, Ms 47, 1912, par. 19

This is the special work now before us. All our praying and abstinence from food will avail nothing, unless we resolutely lay hold of this work. The fast which God can accept is described in Isaiah 58. It is to deal thy bread to the hungry and to bring the poor which are cast out to thy house.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 66, 1910

25LtMs, Ms 66, 1910, par. 8

Read also the 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th chapters of Isaiah. Let these chapters be diligently studied. Let pastors and people arouse from their spiritual stupidity. Let those in our cities who profess to believe the truth for this time wake up and give to others what the Lord has given them.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 64, 1910

Lodi, California

February 2, 1910

Previously unpublished.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 1

I want to say that the representations that have been given me are very earnest and very striking, and that God requires every one of us to come into line. We see the wickedness of our cities, and every soul that is to stand must inquire, What is my condition before God? How am I to be a co-laborer with Jesus Christ? How am I to show to the world that I am a laborer together with God? While I live in this world, having the truth of God’s Word to study, what am I doing?

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 2

Now in Isaiah I read in regard to some things. Isaiah was to lift up his voice like a trumpet, and he was to give the warnings:

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 3

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?” Isaiah 58:1-3. The answer comes: “Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors.” Last part of verse 3. There they counted all that they had done, that they were to be paid for it, that God must reward them for all that they had done, such wonderful things. Now theirs was a service of self-righteousness, and we do not want that. They will have pay for all that they have done.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 4

“Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.” The wickedness of that! “Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” Verses 4, 5.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 5

Now there is a brighter picture that comes. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” Verse 6. That is what we are to do now that are living in the last days of this earth’s history. That is the very work that we are to do.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 6

“Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day.” Verses 7-10.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 7

God is counting it all. He is fitting it all up so that you shall have that suitable reward for the deeds of mercy and kindness and justice.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 8

“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Verses 11-14.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 9

Now I want to say that night after night there is presented before me that all at once affliction and sorrow and distress will be brought upon our people. They [Satan and his angels] are fixing it all up all the time; they are preparing for it. Then what are we to do? We are to do the very best we can to enlighten the world while we can do it. Satan says, You watch; I will get the world; I will get them all under my banner, and who can resist the whole world with this little handful of people that claim to believe the Sabbath and thus and so? That is what he will talk. And here is the very thing that will spring upon us unawares, and we seem so easy; many seem so satisfied that they do not take hold to be laborers together with God.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 10

They do not understand that Christ traveled. And how did Christ travel? He just had the Word of the Lord in His hand, and He would walk; He would sit down first and talk awhile, then He would rise up and go through the length and breadth of certain places, and the people would follow Him where He would lead. He would lead them right away from the cities, away to places where they were retired. In one journey He gathered as many as five thousand. And He said, This people have been with me three days. They are weary and hungry, and they have used up the food that they had; now what shall we do? What have you got to eat? Well, five loaves and a few small fishes, but what are they among so many?

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 11

Now here is a nice grassy plot. Tell them to sit right down, men and women. When all were seated, He said, Bring forward your food. They brought it, and there He broke it in small pieces and distributed to the multitude; and every time that they had distributed all they had and came back for more, there was a supply, and they kept increasing and increasing until the multitude had got through. Then what did He say?—Gather up the fragments; let nothing be lost. There was a something wonderful in that that teaches us that all of the works of Christ that shall be manifested in our day by message or in any way of helpfulness, it is to have it as a credit.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 12

God wants us as a people to know that the end is near. It is not long that we shall have the peace that we enjoy today. He wants that we—every soul of us—shall attend to one special thing—to know that we have a living connection with God, to know that our dispositions and our tempers and all these things are being overcome through the blood of the Lamb and His testimony that He was giving from the Word continually. Now we have a work to do in that very line, all of us. How many, if I should ask you, are prepared? How many are prepared to meet the revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory?

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 13

How many could say, I am ready for it? I have a living connection with God. I believe Him. I trust Him. I will follow on to know the Lord, that I may know His going forth is prepared as the morning.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 14

I want you to think of these things. I want every one of you to be ready for the Lord. Not a spot, not a wrinkle, must be upon your characters.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 15

I see so many who, if a word is spoken that they take exception to, think it means them, or something like that. They are very, very disorderly about it; they do not like it at all. And yet these are the very places where I have stood before them time after time and tried to bring before them the precious Word in all its requirements. But they scarcely remember it after it has been spoken. Some do, and some do not.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 16

What are we preparing for? We are preparing to see the King, to meet the King, the King of righteousness; and if we have followed on to know the Lord, we shall know His going forth is prepared as the morning.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 17

Now about our work that is resting upon us. If a message is brought to our churches that disagrees with our ideas, or that does not just exactly please us, that word will get around; it will be talked all through our publishing houses, perhaps all through our sanitariums—not so much, though—and here there will be the stirring up of a response. But do they know? Do they understand, unless they are prepared for the grand review, the case is lost for them, no eternal life for them, because Satan is gathering his forces everywhere, hoping that when that day shall come, that they will present such numerous satanic agencies that they can overcome everything, that their righteousness shall not avail them.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 18

But what are we doing ourselves individually that we may stand without fault before the throne of God? That has been on my mind for weeks and weeks. How can I present it to the people that they can get hold of it, that they can sense it? Are they prepared for the grand review? Are they fitting themselves up?

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 19

I do not want to come to you and tell you that this is your fault, and that is your fault. You know it yourself if you take the Word. You understand it. Those that are not right, they know themselves that they are out of line.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 20

Now we want to know who is getting ready for the great review. That is on my soul night and day, and I cannot get it off. It is going to come. Things will come upon us suddenly that we do not expect. They will come suddenly; but if we have our hearts cleansed, sanctified, ennobled by the example of Jesus Christ; if we have our eye fixed upon the perfect Pattern, then shall our light break forth as the morning, and the glory of the Lord shall be our rereward. Why? Because we have cleansed our souls; because we have come into harmony with Christ’s character. By beholding we have become changed into His divine image.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 21

Now that is upon my mind night after night. Night after night I am talking to the people, and I can get but a very few hours’ sleep. Matters will break in upon us suddenly.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 22

What I want to know is, What are you doing to bring the truth before unbelievers? What are you doing to wake them up to see their danger? Many will turn to you and say, You never told us these things; you never warned us, and we did not know anything about it. Well, your neighbors do not know it, and the burden that rests upon my mind is that there are so many that do not carry any burden for souls. They come to church, and they say a few words in church, and they act as though that were the end of the matter; but they know better from the Word of God.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 23

Night after night I am standing before the people in Mountain View, in Oakland, and in different sanitariums, and I am asking them what they are doing in order to bring the light of heaven to shine into the minds of the people. And then I feel that if God gives me strength to present before our people that they are not obtaining the living things of the Spirit of our God in our printing offices, even in our sanitariums, and in our churches, they are not doing the very work that will be a light to the world. And Satan rejoices that you are in that position.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 24

The light comes to me that unless our people are transformed by the grace of God, many souls will be left to perish in ignorance because they were never told these things. Now where is our labor for the souls that do not understand the truth? What are you doing for them? Realizing as you ought to realize that the end of all things is at hand, what are you doing yourselves through self-denial and self-sacrifice to bring the truth before the souls that are ready to perish? As these things are brought before me I have felt I never would meet with our people unless I would wake them up to understand they have a work to do that they do not appreciate, that they do not understand, and it is high time they were coming into line.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 25

What time have you set when you are going to be refined by the Spirit of God and ready for His coming? If I should ask you, how many would rise? I would not dare to ask you, for fear some of you would tell a lie and get up.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 26

I want to tell you the scene has been presented before me night after night, that if we would take hold of the power of God that we can get hold of and grasp, we should see the salvation of God going forth as a lamp that burneth. But self, self, self is pampered, and appetite is indulged, and we need to rid ourselves of the objectionable traits of character that God may work with us and by us and through us, that we may know when to speak a word in season.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 27

Now here are our institutions. Our sanitariums need to stand where they understand the work of God and carry it forward in straight lines, and everything that we are to do professedly as children of Christ, do it in reality because we believe, because we want to glorify God. Do not spend your money for that which is not bread.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 28

I entreat of you to consider how many of our cities are lying here and have been lying here, and God has been sending His message over and over and over again, that they are perishing in their sins. But I cannot see that it makes much impression upon the people.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 29

My son wanted me to go and travel with him on the last long journey that we took and thought it would take only a few weeks. But I felt the burden on me, and it was five months before I saw my home; and I am in my eighty-third year. Now I might excuse myself, but how dare I do it? When I come before the people the Lord strengthens me to speak to them and gives me a message. And every soul that is being cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony [receives a blessing]. You could not sit in quietude and leave the world all around you unwarned. Now the Lord wants you to wake up.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 30

At times I felt on that journey that I could not stand before the people. Sometimes I would talk twice a day. There was a lady who had given means to build a nice, plain, small meetinghouse for the people to gather together. “And now,” she says, “what am I going to do? Here are these colored people, and the prejudice is such that you cannot do anything if you bring them into the congregation. I will build a brick meetinghouse for them.” And she did.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 31

Well, after I had spoken an hour to the white congregation, they said, “Now there is a brick meetinghouse; can’t you speak a few words to them? You need not speak long—just a few words.” I had in my mind whether I would speak long or not. If God wanted me there, He would give me strength. So I went. After I had talked with our people—and we had an excellent meeting, then a baptism, and then a testimony meeting—I went to talk to the colored people a few words that they wanted me to give them. But I gave them just as interesting a discourse as I did to the white people, and you should see how eagerly they grasped it, how thankful they were. “Now,” said I, “give your testimonies; we want your testimonies.” Well, they would stand right up and give a clear, nice testimony, short, or course. Now don’t you think I was glad to hear them sing and shout the praises of God? Oh, I was! These colored people are not responsible for their color, but the prejudice that exists in these states where slavery has been carried out is a terrible prejudice.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 32

I want to tell you that God lives. I want to tell you that God reigns; and I want to say to you that the Lord God of Israel is going to work for His people if you will be worked. Here are those who can go out, who have the light of truth. Let them begin to open the Scriptures—to go to a house and just begin to open the Scriptures. Take a few books to sell, and then begin to tell people what there is in these books. As you begin in that way you may get somebody interested, and then before you go away you will give them quite a discourse, and get on your knees and ask the blessing of God to come on them. That is missionary work, and that is the work that God holds us accountable for not doing. There is a world to be saved and you can go in a kindly manner. They may abuse you, they may say so and so, but never respond to what they say; you just put forth another argument; and when they try to put you down on that, you just put forth another argument. Never repeat what they say; never take it into your lips, but you just remove their prejudice.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 33

Where are our missionaries? Who are they? Where are they? There are some in foreign countries, and there are some that are laboring with all the strength and soul and power to get means to enter the fields where these workers are to do the work. We have entered them, we know what they are. We have had a chance to see; and I want to say that if I were younger than I am now, I would venture in that kind of work. ... [Incidents at Alden School.]

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 34

Now what are those doing that could do something? What are you doing to warn the world? We are preparing, supposedly, for the grand review. And how will it stand with us when there is a world all around us and there is no spirit of trying to do missionary work?

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 35

Then again means are wanted. Means are needed for the very work that Loma Linda needs to have done for it. They want help; they want strength; they want you to give and do what you can in every way with your means to help them to advance the work. “The Lord is coming, let this be the herald note of jubilee.” He is waiting for gray-headed men, He is waiting for youth, He is waiting for men of all ages to give some of their time and some of their attention to perishing souls that are around them, and yet they contentedly let them go on.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 36

God help you to take some books and go around where these people are, and in a kindly manner ask them if they want to purchase these books, and then you get a good chance to tell them what there is in them. Then they will say, “Well, I would like to read it; I think I will take it.” That is the way they did with Object Lessons. I intended Object Lessons for this very work, and it was all so simply written that those who purchased it felt amply repaid; they felt that they had a precious, precious history in these books. I know of a good many that have embraced the truth by reading them.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 37

Now you can begin with that kind of missionary work, and then you can in every way possible aid the work that is going on wherever you are by dropping a word in season. Is it you that makes the impression? Is it you? “Ye are laborers together with God.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] You are dropping the words of truth into the minds of the people.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 38

We have no time to stop to quarrel in any of our institutions. We are to put on the working harness in every institution that we have, and then do you draw with Christ with all your strength of capabilities of mind, and help them where they need help, and encourage them by the Word God, by reading to them? The Lord wants us to come into line.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 39

But I ask you, who today would stand up and say they were ready for the grand review? Who has done his duty to win souls to Christ? Who has carried the burden? Who has practiced self-denial and self-sacrifice, that when such things are brought up as they will bring before you in regard to the upward grade that the physicians are to take in our world, they need means, and every one that can help with the means—don’t put on anything that will take money unnecessarily. Dress neatly, and then you can talk with them; you can tell them the great opportunities that there are before them. You can kneel down and pray with them; and if angels are not there in the room, then I should be disappointed. But I know they would be there. Angels are waiting to co-operate with men; and just as soon as there is a line of communication, they will take up these souls that are perishing without Christ. The angels of God are waiting to impress their minds. It is not your words that impress them, but you just give the words, and remember, “Ye are laborers together with God” [verse 9], and that is blessed companionship for every one of you.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 40

The salvation of God will be revealed in your homes, and we shall see the grace of God in much greater power; and that is what we want—the power of true religion. We want to reveal it, but we do not want to stand watching for fear somebody wants to get some of our money; and therefore we will stand back, and we will not give. You will stand back forever when you do that. Now God wants every one of us to COME INTO LINE, and to deny ourselves for Christ’s sake, and to speak a word in season for those that need our words and self-denial and self-sacrifice.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 41

Here are our cities. How are they ever going to be warned? Here are our cities that are perishing in their ignorance, and God wants to help us to bring them up to the high standard of His righteousness. Will you act your part? Will you be laborers together with God? God grant that you may take hold of the work as it is. There is a world to be saved. I am trying to prepare matter to send out into the highways and into the byways.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 42

I dedicated two books, The Ministry of Healing and Christ’s Object Lessons [to missionary work], and not one penny from them have I appropriated to myself. I know that many have been brought to the truth through reading them. Now carry some around, and tell the people about the books, and tell them it is a gift to our people, and you will find that the books will go. You can use the Object Lessons for your schools, and not drop them as they have been dropped. Just take hold, and believe God knows and understands His own instrumentality, and He will carry out the work if men are not too wise to engage in it, and to walk in humility and prayer for suffering humanity.

25LtMs, Ms 64, 1910, par. 43

It is time that we were aroused, and may God help us to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth. They may speak to you and turn you to one side, but they do not hurt you—only your feelings. They will feel sorry for it afterward; they will be ashamed of it. We want our people to act like men and women who are saving souls, as they that must give an account. You have got to give an account for the souls you have been in communion with, and yet have done no work to save from perishing. God grant that you may arouse, is my prayer.

Ministry to the Cities

Chapter 6—Nurturing and Training Workers

MTC 69.1

Church Spirituality and Growth Proportionate to Missionary Zeal of Members.—The piety and advanced spiritual knowledge and growth of a church is proportionate to the zeal, piety, and missionary intelligence that has been brought into it, and carried out of it to be a blessing to the very ones who need our assistance the most. Again I urge you to consider Isaiah 58, which opens a wide and extensive vineyard to be worked upon the lines which the Lord has pointed out. When this is done there will be an increase of moral sources, and the church will no more remain almost stationary.—Manuscript 14a, 1897 (The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments 4:1148).

Testimony for the Church — No. 20

Epistle Number Three

T20 159.2

God has intrusted you with talents of means, to use in the advancement of his cause, to bless the needy, and to relieve the destitute. You can do a far greater amount of good with your means, than you can do in preaching while you retain your means. Have you put your talents of means to the exchangers, that when the Master comes, and shall say, “Give an account of thy stewardship,” you can, without confusion, present to him the talents doubled, both principal and interest, because you have not hoarded them, have not buried them selfishly in the earth, but have put them to use? Look over the history of your past life. How many have you blessed with your means? How many hearts have you made grateful by your liberalities? Please read the 58th chapter of Isaiah. Have you loosed the bands of wickedness? Have you sought to undo the heavy burdens? and to let the oppressed go free? and to break every yoke? Have you dealt your bread to the hungry? and brought the poor that were cast out to your house? Have you covered the naked? If you have been rich in these good works, you may claim the promises given in this chapter: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee: the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.” But you are not now entitled to these promised blessings. You have not been engaged in this work. Look back at your past life, and consider how destitute is your life of good, noble, generous actions. You have served self faithfully. You have talked the truth; but you have not lived it. Your life has not been elevated and sanctified. Selfishness and stinginess have characterized your life. And it is now high time you were changing your course, and working diligently to secure the heavenly treasure.

Testimony for the Church — No. 9

The Rebellion

T09 1.2

I saw that God was purifying and proving his people. He will refine them as gold, until his image is reflected in them, and the dross consumed. There is not in all that spirit of self-denial, and willingness to suffer for the truth’s sake, and to endure hardness, which God requires. Their wills are not subdued, and they consecrated wholly to God, seeking no greater pleasure than to do his will. Ministers and people lack spirituality and true godliness. Everything is to be shaken that can be shaken. God’s people will be brought into most trying positions, and all must be settled, rooted and grounded in the truth, or their steps will surely slide. If God comforts and nourishes the soul with his inspiring presence, they can endure, though the way may be dark and thorny. For the darkness will soon pass away, and the true light shine forever. I was pointed to Isaiah 58; 59:1-15; Jeremiah 14:10-12, as a description of the present state of our nation. The people of this nation have forsaken and forgotten God. They have chosen other gods, and followed their own corrupt ways, until God has turned from them. The inhabitants of the earth have trampled upon the law of God, and broken his everlasting covenant.

Testimony for the Church — No. 15

Doing for Christ

T15 22.3

Fatherless and motherless children will be thrown into the arms of the church, and Christ says to his followers, Take these destitute children, bring them up for me, and ye shall receive your wages, I have seen much selfishness exhibited in these things. Unless there is some special evidence that they themselves were to be benefited by adopting into their family those who need homes, some they turn away and answer, No. They do not seem to know nor care whether such are saved or lost. That, they think, is not their business. With Cain they say, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” They are not willing to be put to inconvenience or to make any sacrifice for the orphans, and they indifferently thrust such ones into the arms of the world, who are sometimes more willing to receive them than they are. In the day of God, inquiry will be made for just such whom Heaven gave them the opportunity of saving, and they wished to be excused and would not engage in the good work unless they could be a matter of profit to them. I have been shown, those who refuse these opportunities of doing good will hear from Jesus, “As ye have not done it unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have not done it unto me.” Please read Isaiah 58:

T15 25.1

Read Isaiah 58, ye who claim to be children of the light. Especially do you read it again and again who have felt so fearful to inconvenience yourselves by favoring the needy; you whose hearts and houses are too narrow to make a home for the homeless, read it. You who can see orphans and widows oppressed by the iron hand of poverty, and bowed down by the hard-hearted worldlings, read it.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 32a, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 32a, 1910, par. 12

Read (chapters 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57), [and] 58 of Isaiah. I am to charge you that those who are here brought to view are in need of studying these chapters. I am to say unto you, There has been a disregard for the reproofs the Lord has given to His people. There are some who will accept the words they choose to accept, but do not make the words they choose to accept, but do not make thorough work. Nevertheless I am to warn those in high positions, carrying great responsibilities. You have had great light, and had you received it and followed on to know the Lord, souls that have not heard the reasons of our faith would have heard them ere now. Although the Lord has laid the reproof upon you, you have heeded not. Shall I not judge, saith the Lord, for these neglected duties to warn My people to understand what is truth?

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 2, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 2, 1910, par. 3

I feel an intense interest that the work of God shall break its bonds. I desire to see broken every yoke that has been put upon the Lord’s servants, yokes that have prevented many of them from acting in harmony with the light the Lord would give them. My work has been much harder than it would have been, had all our brethren acted in harmony with the instruction given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. I sometimes feel sick at heart when I consider how the work has been hindered by men who are eager to use authority.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 76, 1910

25LtMs, Lt 76, 1910, par. 1

I am at the Pacific Union College, attending a council meeting of the church school teachers. Yesterday, Sabbath, I spoke in the chapel. The room was filled. A large place will have to be provided in which to hold meetings. I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. I had some very important instruction to give to those present regarding the necessity of our working intelligently, and the Lord gave me strength to speak.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Ms 71, 1911

25LtMs, Ms 71, 1911, par. 4

Verses 8-13. Blessed, blessed promise. I might read here one or two chapters. When you want to get comfort and encouragement, just go to the 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th chapters of Isaiah, and you will find that there is a whole field of encouragement for you. You will find that there is an open door where you can enter, where you can meet with God, where you can seek Him earnestly, and He will be found of you. But what we need is that meekness that Christ represented in His life and in His character. He has brought it to our minds here in His Word, and He wants each soul to humble his heart before God and to stand in right relation to Him.

25LtMs, Ms 71, 1911, par. 11

I am glad that I have a hope in Jesus Christ, and we want every one of you to lay hold of the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want you to come while the sweet voice of mercy is being heard. Christ invites you to come. In the 58th chapter of Isaiah you will find such invitations.

The Three Angels’ Messages

“Here are those who keep the commandments of God”

3AM 110.3

The Sabbath to be proclaimed with a loud voice—Some have thought it best to gradually prepare the way for the presentation of the Sabbath question. The Sabbath truth is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, as represented in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. There has been too much beating about the bush in the proclamation of the third angel’s message. The message has not been given as clearly and distinctly as it should have been. The third angel’s message is to be proclaimed at our camp-meetings, and in a most earnest, decided manner. The trumpet is to give a certain sound.—Manuscript 16, 1900 (February 20)

The Three Angels’ Messages

Health message to be united but not preeminent

3AM 181.1

The union that should exist between the medical missionary work and the ministry is clearly set forth in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. There is wisdom and blessing for those who will engage in the work as here presented. This chapter is explicit, and there is in it enough to enlighten anyone who wishes to do the will of God. It presents abundant opportunity to minister to suffering humanity, and at the same time to be an instrument in God’s hands of bringing the light of truth before a perishing world. If the work of the third angel’s message is carried on in right lines, the ministry will not be given an inferior place, nor will the poor and sick be neglected. In His word God has united these two lines of work, and no man should divorce them.

Homeward Bound

Christ’s Remedy for Lifeless Prayers, May 16

HB 157.2

As believers in Christ we need greater faith. We need to be more fervent in prayer. Many wonder why their prayers are so lifeless, their faith so feeble and wavering, their Christian experience so dark and uncertain. Have we not fasted, they say, and “walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah Christ has shown how this condition of things may be changed. He says: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” (Verses 6, 7.) This is the recipe that Christ has prescribed for the fainthearted, doubting, trembling soul. Let the sorrowful ones, who walk mournfully before the Lord, arise and help someone who needs help.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 1 (1844 - 1868)

Ms 5, 1862

1LtMs, Ms 5, 1862, par. 3

I was shown the dreadful state of our nation, and again was referred to (Isaiah 58; 59:1-15), as a description of the present state of things in our nation, and the reason for their present calamity. This is a most unrighteous war. The inhabitants of the earth have forgotten God. They have trampled upon His law and broken the everlasting covenant. They have despised His Sabbath. The fourth commandment was shown me as a golden link, which God designed should serve as a bond of union uniting man to man, and connecting earth to heaven and finite man to the infinite God.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 3 (1876 - 1882)

Lt 35b, 1877

3LtMs, Lt 35b, 1877, par. 6

I referred to the Bible. What saith God in relation to this matter? I referred her to the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Verses 13, 14.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 3 (1876 - 1882)

Ms 5, 1879

3LtMs, Ms 5, 1879, par. 10

At the commencement of the Sabbath we assembled under the tent. My husband spoke from the 58th chapter of Isaiah: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen,” etc. [Verse 6.]

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 3 (1876 - 1882)

Lt 29, 1880

3LtMs, Lt 29, 1880, par. 11

Elder [S. N.] Haskell preached with great plainness. I went out to the stand with trembling. My head throbbing with pain. I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. The Lord spoke through me. The words came in demonstration of the Spirit and power, almost faster than I could articulate them. The congregation was nearly all in tears. I called them forward and about fifty came forward and they bore testimony. All were weeping like children. All felt the power and presence of God. There was indeed the revealing of His power. Hearts were subdued and broken before God.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 14 [Nos. 1081-1135]

MR No. 1121—Meetings in Washington, D. C.; The Need of the Holy Spirit; Final Events

14MR 284.1

They had about given up our coming but were glad indeed to see us. Sabbath I spoke on Isaiah 58. I had freedom, as I have had in every instance in speaking on this tour. We had a hall well filled, and we had an excellent social meeting. We know the presence of the Lord was in the meeting. The softening, subduing influence of the Spirit of God was there, and the testimonies borne were good.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886)

Lt 7, 1886

4LtMs, Lt 7, 1886, par. 17

I spoke for the first time in Lousanne Sabbath forenoon, followed by two interpreters Brother Bourdeau and Brother Conradi. After the sermon, we had an excellent social meeting. There were four bore testimony they were keeping their first Sabbath. Two stated they could not close up their business, having workmen under them, but they would arrange the coming week to keep the Sabbath. These were French and German. I had spoken from the 58th chapter of Isaiah, which seemed to take hold of the people. Excellent expressions were given.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886)

Ms 64, 1886

4LtMs, Ms 64, 1886, par. 6

We took the cars at half-past seven for Lausanne. We arrived at Lausanne about ten o’clock and walked directly to the hall hired by our people in which to hold meetings. I spoke from the last verses of the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. I was followed by Elders Bourdeau in French, Conradi in German. I felt assured that the presence of the Lord was with us.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886)

Ms 27, 1886

4LtMs, Ms 27, 1886, par. 6

The reason so few find the way that leads to heaven and safety is that they do not heed the words of Christ. They may hear them, but this does not avail if, after hearing, they still follow in their own course of unbelief and sinful indulgences, and then when they are not blessed, complain, as is represented in the 58th chapter of Isaiah. To lose eternal life is to lose everything. Let us put forth every effort in our power to press through the strait gate and walk in the narrow path that leads to heaven.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886)

Ms 26, 1885

4LtMs, Ms 26, 1885, par. 13

Brother Matteson suggests that it would please the people if I speak less about duty and more in regard to the love of Jesus. But I wish to speak as the Spirit of the Lord shall impress me. The Lord knows best what this people needs. I spoke in the forenoon [Sabbath, October 17] from Isaiah 58. I did not round the corners at all. If this is Brother Matteson’s work, let him do it; but it is not my work. My work is to elevate the standard of piety and true Christian life and urge the people to put away their sins and be sanctified through the truth. I tried to impress them with the necessity of strictly observing the Sabbath according to the commandment.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 4 (1883 - 1886)

Ms 16a, 1885

4LtMs, Ms 16a, 1885, par. 27

Spoke to the people collected in the tent from Isaiah 58. The Lord gave me liberty and power before the people. I rose early in the morning and commenced writing. Wrote twenty-two pages—discourses for the Review. In the evening we had a very severe thunderstorm. The sharp lightning and thunder were terrific, but I am never alarmed and nervous as I used to be. I feel that God holds the thunder in His hand. He bounds the lightning, controlling it that we need not fear. We are under His divine eye, and He will protect those who trust in Him.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 5 (1887-1888)

Ms 25, 1888

5LtMs, Ms 25, 1888, par. 31

I spoke in [the] afternoon from (Isaiah 58) on the Sabbath and the many ways the Lord could be robbed. Read in regard to robbing God in tithes and in offerings. Called the people forward for prayers. After a season of prayer we repaired to the vestry, and the work went on. There were many confessions made, and it was a profitable meeting lasting until seven o’clock.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Ms 48, 1890

6LtMs, Ms 48, 1890, par. 12

Sabbath day was a good day. I had much freedom in speaking to the full house on Sabbath. The Lord Jesus seemed to be close by my side and His presence was everywhere in the house. I spoke from the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, and I was aware that the Lord sent home the words spoken with thrilling power to the hearts of those who heard. Countenances I saw looked as if the Sun of Righteousness was shining upon them. After the discourse in the social meeting when the testimonies were borne, how heavenly they seemed to me! I knew that the Spirit of the Lord was speaking to these souls. We invited those who desired a living connection with God to come forward. There was a ready response and those who came forward bore a decided, earnest testimony of their purposes and made their requests for prayer for themselves, their fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Ms 40, 1890

6LtMs, Ms 40, 1890, par. 100

Just as surely as we believe in Jesus Christ and do His will, not exalting self, but walking in all humility of mind, just so sure will the Lord be with us. But He despises your fierce spirit. He is grieved with the hardness of your hearts. Pray Him to give you a heart of flesh, that can always feel and be touched with human woe; a heart that will not turn a deaf ear to the widow or to the fatherless; that has bowels of mercy for the poor, the infirm, and the oppressed; that loves justice and hates robbery; that will not make a difference in your favor but will consider the needy. Then the promises revealed in (Isaiah 58) will be experienced by you.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Ms 62, 1890

6LtMs, Ms 62, 1890, par. 23

Pray that you may love justice and hate robbery, and make no difference in the bestowal of your favors, except to consider the cases of the needy and the unfortunate. Then the promises recorded in (Isaiah 58) will be fulfilled to you! “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.”

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Lt 112, 1890

6LtMs, Lt 112, 1890, par. 3

They had about given up our coming, but were glad indeed to see us. Sabbath I spoke upon Isaiah 58. I had freedom, as I have had in every instance in speaking on this tour. We had a hall well filled and we had an excellent social meeting. We know the presence of the Lord was in the meeting. The softening, subduing influence of the Spirit of God was there and the testimonies borne were good.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 14 [Nos. 1081-1135]

MR No. 1123—Adopting Infant Children

14MR 302.1

My husband and I, though called to arduous labor in the ministry, felt it our privilege to gather into our home children who needed care, and helped them to form characters for heaven. We could not adopt infants, for this would have engrossed our time and attention, and would have robbed the Lord of the service He required of us in bringing many sons and daughters to Him. But we felt that the Lord’s instruction in Isaiah 58 was for us, and that His blessing would attend us in obedience to His Word. All can do something for the needy little ones, by helping to place them in homes where they can be cared for.

14MR 308.1

The question of adopting a child, especially an infant, involves most serious responsibilities. It should not be lightly regarded. One who has herself taken a baby to bring up, may feel that unless other ministers’ wives shall follow her example, they are remiss in their duty. But this is an error. Our duty is not decided by what others may plan for us. The question for each to settle is, In doing this, shall I be merely gratifying my own wishes, or is it a duty the Lord has appointed for me? Is this His way, or a way of my own choosing? All are to be workers for God. Not one is excused. Your talents are not your own, to employ as you shall fancy. Inquire, What would the Lord have me do with His entrusted talents? Shall I labor for the saving of many souls? Shall I follow the directions of Isaiah 58:6-11?