The year 1905 was only one hour old when Ellen White rose on a Sunday morning and made her way to her writing room. She reports:
It is a cool morning. Built my fire. Bowed before the Lord in prayer. I have so many things burdening my mind. I ask the Lord Jesus to direct me, to guide me. What shall I trace with my pen this morning ...?
I need the Great Guide to control my mind. What shall I trace with the pen first? ... Oh, how much I feel that I need the guidance of the Holy Spirit!--Manuscript 173, 1905.
It was to be a momentous year. At the very hour she was writing, a part of the Melrose Sanitarium in New England was being ravaged by fire. She would learn of this later, of course. Two new sanitariums in southern California, started in response to her urgent calls, were struggling to their feet, and she would soon call for a third. The denomination was still in the throes of agony over the defection of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his associates. The growing work in the South faced many needs. The General Conference session would be held in Washington in May, and Ellen White had been urged to attend. There were bills pending in Congress that if passed would put the District of Columbia under Sunday laws, which caused her no small concern. Work must be finished on the manuscript for The Ministry of Healing, and there was the constant burden of writing testimonies to individuals, to institutional leaders, and to conference officers.
As she turned to her writing that Sunday morning, the Holy Spirit led her mind to the students at Oakwood College. In a four-page testimony she asked whether they were making the most of their privileges, and urged cooperation with the teachers. She stated that they should ask themselves, "Why am I obtaining an education?" She dealt with character development and assured them that angels were ever ready to help them (Letter 1, 1905).
Before the day was over she penned a newsy, informal letter to Sister Bradford, a friend of earlier years living at Dartmouth, near Fairhaven, Massachusetts. But most of the letters written in January were messages of counsel, caution, and encouragement.
On January 4 she wrote a letter of caution to C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, newly moved from Oakland to Mountain View, California. There was a letter the same day to the church in Reno, Nevada, giving counsel in response to their inquiry as to whether they should start a sanitarium there. She advised them to move cautiously.
On January 5 she wrote to the workers in the Pacific Press and penned a letter of counsel to "The Leading Men of the Pacific Press."
On January 10 her mind was on the South as she addressed "Those Assembled in Council in Nashville." Another letter of counsel was written to Elders Haskell and Butler, giving advice concerning their attitude toward certain problems in Nashville.
Three letters were written on Wednesday, January 11: "To the Leaders of Our Work at Takoma Park," "To Our Workers in Washington, D.C.," and "To the Workers in the Washington Publishing House."
Five days later she was writing to Elders Prescott and Colcord, workers carrying heavy responsibilities in Washington. The next day, Tuesday, January 17, having received full information regarding the Melrose Sanitarium fire, she wrote to Dr. and Mrs. Nicola, physicians working there. Only a portion of the structure was destroyed; always looking for the bright side, she saw the fire as a blessing in disguise, for "the part of the building that burned was objectionable in many ways" (Letter 23, 1905). "The Lord is good," she wrote; "praise His holy name.... He has mercifully saved every life, and has taken away an objectionable part of the building. I am glad it has come about in this way. Had a proposition been made to tear that part of the building down, some would have regarded it as a great waste. Now you can have a suitable addition put on to the building."-- Ibid.
Dealing with an Infatuated Doctor and His Nurse
Wednesday, January 18, she used her pen to trace words of warning and appeal to a physician of her acquaintance who had become infatuated with one of the nurses in the institution where he served as chief physician. She wrote:
My Brother, I have a few words to speak to you. In the past you and your wife have been very happy together. You have loved your wife and have treated her very kindly. She has not lost her love for you, because she has loved you sincerely; and for years the heavenly angels bent over you, pleased at your unity. But you have lost the balance of your mind, and you will be inclined to write and speak unjustly, and to say and do that which, were you in your right mind, would greatly shock you. You have lost your wisdom and judgment.
It is time that you placed yourself in a right position. Through the grace of God, I have been the instrument, by means of the testimonies given me, of saving several, yes, many, who were passing through an experience similar to that through which you are now passing. Do not try to work out some plan by which you can escape the reproach which, unless you change, you will be the cause of bringing upon the work of God. Only by falling upon the Rock Christ Jesus can you escape this reproach.--Letter 27, 1905.
She warned in no uncertain terms:
Talk no more of love to any woman besides your wife. Such a love is base. It has in it nothing of true love. Love is too sacred a word to be used in such a connection. Lust is the word, not love. It is the lust of the mind, the fruit of corrupt thoughts.
I shall call things by the right name. For Christ's sake, for your own soul's sake, and for the sake of those who would cheapen themselves to respond to your expressions of love, I send you this warning. I ask you to read and study the fifth
chapter of First Thessalonians....
A strange spell is upon you. You cannot reason correctly, and you need help. I am instructed to say that the Lord will heal your soul of its disease if you will make thorough work for repentance, and forever rely upon His power and grace. Do not imperil your soul by continuing in Satan's snare, under his instruction. The principles of the Christian religion call upon you to break away from your sins, and place yourself under the influence of the Holy Spirit.-- Ibid.
To the young woman who made no effort to resist what was taking place, she wrote a most earnest five-page letter of appeal, making a number of points: "How could you," she asked, "give the least encouragement to familiarity to a married man, one whose wife was doing a noble work as a physician, in connection with her husband?" "This is no trifling matter," she declared, and she reminded her that "we must one day individually give an account of our actions to Him who reads the heart. You cannot afford to transgress God's holy law.... In no case are you justified in receiving the affections of a man who is married to another."--Letter 33, 1905. She continued:
I ask you now to cut the last thread that binds you to Dr.---. You should endeavor to realize how such a course of action as you have been following will affect you in the future. What kind of an influence do you think you could exert spiritually? Your course would ever be a weight to keep you from any advancement in religious lines....
I say to you, my sister, that you are entirely wrong in accepting the love which belongs to another. Are we to conclude that the truth has lost its power over you? Will you not break away from this satanic snare, confess your sins to the Lord and to those whom you have so deeply wronged, and will you not turn to God with all your heart? He is of a great compassion, and He will abundantly pardon.-- Ibid.
In words of encouragement she wrote:
God will pardon you, if you now step out of the path in which Satan has been leading you. But your work and that of Dr.--must ever be in different places, that this temptation may forever end. Never again should you work in the same institution. God knows the weakness of the resolution of a man who has once been led astray. Yet Dr.--- is a man whom God loves, a man to whom He has given power to do a good, pure, and solid work in connection with our institutions. He desires us to do all in our power to save this man for whom Christ has died, from making a shipwreck of faith....
And the Lord has not rejected you. He pities and loves you, and He calls you now to come to Him and receive His spirit of purity and holiness and His everlasting love. Cast aside every suggestion that you are unworthy to be called a child of God. Come just as you are to Jesus, make a true heart-work of repentance, receive His forgiveness, and never again be led to repeat such an experience as calls this letter from me.-- Ibid.
A copy of this letter of appeal was sent to the infatuated doctor.
But the writing of letters was not her main concern. Book manuscripts were in preparation: "We are very busy just now," she wrote to Elder and Mrs. E. W. Farnsworth in England, "with Ministry of Healing. I am so glad that this book will soon be ready to place in the hands of the many who will appreciate its contents."--Letter 63, 1905.
There had been the hope that the book would be ready by the opening of the General Conference session in Washington, D.C., on May 11, 1905, but just a month before this date she reported, "I have just finished reading over the proofs of Ministry of Healing.... The work on my book goes very slowly."--Letter 109, 1905.
It was published in August.
Prayer for the Sick, and Operating Sanitariums
Earlier chapters have revealed Ellen White's intense interest in the development of sanitariums in southern California and her earnest hope that they be so established as to do the most effective work. She carried this burden continually, and it was to intensify throughout 1905. In late January a letter was received at Elmshaven from Elder E. W. Farnsworth, an old New Englander now working in Great Britain. He had read in the church papers of the Melrose Sanitarium fire on January 1, and he wondered "if God is not trying to teach us a great and needed lesson in these calamities." He asked:
Are we not as a people drifting into the idea of depending on sanitariums for the healing of the sick, more than we are depending on God to do that work? ... My mind leans heavily toward the healing by divine power.--E. W. Farnsworth to WCW, January 20, 1905.
When Ellen White read this letter, she wrote in reply:
Dear Brother and Sister Farnsworth,
Your interesting letter was handed to me today, and I will begin a letter to you at once, lest other matters come before me, and I forget.... We are very busy just now with Ministry of Healing....
I wish to write particularly about one point in your letter. You speak of the burning of the Melrose Sanitarium, and ask why the sick should not be healed by the prayer of faith, instead of there being so many sanitariums established. There is more to this matter than at first strikes the mind. The Lord has given instruction for years that sanitariums should be established, and that advantage should be taken of opportunities to purchase at a reasonable price desirable properties out of the cities. The Lord has shown me that there should be sanitariums near many important cities.
When we have shown the people that we have right principles regarding health reform, we should then take up the temperance question ... and drive it home to the hilt.
Suitable places must be provided to which we can bring the sick and suffering who know nothing of our people, and scarcely anything of Bible truth. Every effort possible is to be made to show the sick that disease may be cured by rational methods of treatment, without having recourse to drugs. Let the sick be separated from harmful surroundings and associations, and placed in our sanitariums, where they can receive treatment from Christian nurses and physicians.
Should all the sick be healed by prayer, very few would improve their opportunities to become acquainted with right ways of eating, drinking, and dressing. Those connected with our sanitariums should realize the duty resting upon them to give the patients an education in the principles of healthful living.
The sick have their lesson to learn. They must be denied those preparations of food that would retard or prevent their recovery to health. They must learn the science of self-denial, eating simple food prepared in a simple way. They should live much in the sunlight, which should find its way to every room of the building. Lectures on health topics should be given. These lectures will open the blinded understanding, and truths never before thought of will be fastened on the mind.--Letter 63, 1905.
She elaborated on these matters in a letter written to Elder J. A. Burden, who was pushing ahead with the establishment of the Glendale Sanitarium near Los Angeles:
The remark is often made, by one and another, "Why depend so much on sanitariums? Why do we not pray for the miraculous healing of the sick, as the people of God used to do?"
In the early history of our work many were healed by prayer. And some, after they were healed, pursued the same course in the indulgence of appetite, that they had followed in the past. They did not live and work in such a way as to avoid sickness. They did not show that they appreciated the Lord's goodness to them. Again and again they were brought to suffering through their own careless, thoughtless course of action. How could the Lord be glorified in bestowing on them the gift of health?
When the light came that we should have a sanitarium, the reason was plainly given. There were many who needed to be educated in regard to healthful living. A place must be provided to which the sick could be taken, where they could be taught how to live so as to preserve health. At the same time light was given that the sick could be successfully treated without drugs. This was the lesson that was to be practiced and taught by physicians and nurses, and by all other medical missionary workers.--Letter 59, 1905.
Then she discussed at some length the work that was to be done in sanitariums:
Our sanitarium work is not to be done in mammoth buildings in a few places. Every large city should if possible have a small sanitarium, in the outskirts, where the air is not contaminated by the smoke from many chimneys, and where the noise and confusion of the streets cannot be heard.
The nurses connected with these institutions should be prepared to exert a soul-saving influence. Those who are not rooted and grounded in the truth should not be employed. Let them first become established in the truth. Then let them learn to be ever on guard, ever seeking to make the right impression on the minds of the sick. We need to study the true science of healing....
Nurses should have regular Bible instruction, that they may be able to speak to the sick words that will enlighten and help them. Angels of God are in the room where the suffering ones are to take treatment, and the atmosphere surrounding the soul of the one giving treatment should be pure and fragrant. In the lives of the physicians and nurses the virtues of Christ are to be seen. His principles are to be lived. Then by what they do and say, the sick will be drawn to the Saviour. We need the saving grace of God.
It is to save the souls, as well as to cure the bodies of men and women, that our sanitariums are at much expense established. God designs that by means of them, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, shall find the bread from heaven and the water of life.
I will thus explain the reason why we have sanitariums. It is to gather in a class of people who will become intelligent upon health reform, and will learn how to regain health and how to prevent sickness by following right habits of eating and drinking and dressing. As a part of the treatment, lectures should be given on the different points of health reform. Instruction should be given regarding the right choice and preparation of food, showing that food may be prepared so as to be wholesome and nourishing, and at the same time appetizing and palatable. These lectures should be diligently kept up as a means of teaching the patients how to prevent disease by a wise course of action. By means of these lectures the patients may be shown the responsibility resting on them to keep the body in the most healthful condition because it is the Lord's purchased possession.-- Ibid.
In the following definitive statement Ellen White presents the role of the Christian nurse:
An experienced Christian nurse in the sickroom will use the best remedies within her knowledge for restoring the sufferer to health. And she will pleasantly and successfully draw the one for whom she is working to Christ, the healer of the soul as well as of the body. The lessons given, line upon line, here a little and there a little, will have their influence....
Those who have no love for God will work constantly against the best interests of soul and body. But those who awake to the responsibility and solemnity of living in this present evil world will be softened and subdued. Tenderness and love for Christ will fill their hearts. Christ imparts His wisdom.... He is their Friend. In many cases the realization that they have such a Friend means more to the suffering ones in their recovery from sickness than the best treatment that can be given. But both lines of ministry are essential. They are to go hand in hand....
I think that I have answered the question, "Why do we not pray for the healing of the sick, instead of having sanitariums?'" The education of many souls is at stake. In the providence of God, instruction has been given that sanitariums be established, in order that the sick may be drawn to them, and learn how to live healthfully. The establishment of sanitariums is a providential arrangement, whereby people from all churches are to be reached, and made acquainted with the saving truth for this time.
It is for this reason that we urge that sanitariums be established in many places outside of our cities.-- Ibid.
The points set forth in these letters pervaded Ellen White's thinking as she earnestly engaged in opening sanitariums in 1905.
Tithe Money and Its Use
As mentioned in an earlier chapter, Ellen White recognized that the broad work to which she was called as God's messenger as far-reaching and multifaceted. In a statement addressed to the elders of the Battle Creek church she said:
My commission embraces the work of a prophet, but it does not end there. It embraces more than the minds of those who have been sowing the seeds of unbelief can comprehend.--Letter 244, 1906 (Selected Messages 1:36).
A specific example of her special commission was set forth in an article in the Review and Herald:
I was charged not to neglect or pass by those who were being wronged.... If I see those in positions of trust neglecting aged ministers, I am to present the matter to those whose duty it is to care for them. Ministers who have faithfully done their work are not to be forgotten or neglected when they have become feeble in health. Our conferences are not to disregard the needs of those who have borne the burdens of the work.--The Review and Herald, July 26, 1906 (Selected Messages 1:33).
The ramifications of carrying out such a special commission are more than those seen on the surface. Not only was she to stand as an advocate for the neglected or oppressed ministers--the church had no retirement plan in those days [the sustentation plan, which made provision for aged or incapacitated workers, went into effect in 1911. It has since been modified as a retirement plan]--she was also to engage in ministering relief. In doing so, she worked quietly, feeling that publicity was uncalled for.
At times tithe money was entrusted to her by fellow Adventists for appropriation in the Lord's work as in the providence of God she saw best. She sent it on to bring relief and aid to worthy ordained ministers who were in special need. Once in a great while, some of her own tithe was so employed.
This matter was given more or less general exposure following the writing of a letter she penned January 22, 1905, while attending important meetings at Mountain View, California. But before recounting that situation, we should review the principles regarding the tithe and its use.
Nothing is plainer in the E. G. White writings than the instruction concerning the faithful payment of tithe and the fact that it is reserved for support of the ministry. This is attested to in all Ellen White's statements that have a bearing on this question.
The tithe is sacred, reserved by God for Himself. It is to be brought into His treasury to be used to sustain the gospel laborers in their work.--Gospel Workers, 226.
It [the tithe] is to be devoted solely to support the ministry of the gospel.--The Review and Herald, May 9, 1893 (Counsels on Stewardship, 81).
God has not changed; the tithe is still to be used for the support of the ministry.--Testimonies for the Church 9:250.
The tithe is to be brought into the "storehouse," and from there is to be dispersed:
It is part of the minister's work to teach those who accept the truth through his efforts, to bring the tithe to the storehouse, as an acknowledgment of their dependence upon God.--Gospel Workers, 370.
They [tithes and offerings] are to be placed in His treasury and held sacred for His service as He has appointed.--Testimonies for the Church 9:247, 248.
The tithe, unlike freewill offerings, is not controlled by the discretion of the one who gives.
The portion that God has reserved for Himself is not to be diverted to any other purpose than that which He has specified. Let none feel at liberty to retain their tithe, to use according to their own judgment. They are not to use it for themselves in an emergency, nor to apply it as they see fit, even in what they may regard as the Lord's work.--Ibid., 9:247.
Clearly God has had one plan for all time:
A tithe of all our increase is the Lord's. He has reserved it to Himself to be employed for religious purposes. It is holy. Nothing less than this has He accepted in any dispensation. A neglect or postponement of this duty, will provoke the divine displeasure. If all professed Christians would faithfully bring their tithes to God, His treasury would be full.--The Review and Herald, May 16, 1882.
How and Why Ellen White Dispensed Tithe Funds
That Ellen White in her special ministry handled some tithe funds has perplexed some. A few have felt it gave them license to disregard the plain teachings on tithe paying cited above, and use their tithes in their own way. The following details and quotations should be carefully noted.
First should be established Ellen White's personal relationship to the tithe and the manner in which she paid her tithe. In an early pamphlet published in 1890 she stated:
I pay my tithe gladly and freely, saying, as did David, "Of thine own have we given thee."--Manuscript 3, 1890.
The preceding sentence indicates clearly that she paid her tithes in the regular way into the conference treasury.
Unworthy ministers may receive some of the means thus raised, but dare anyone, because of this, withhold from the treasury and brave the curse of God? I dare not.--Ibid.
But back to the special commission God gave her and the burden this placed on her. As a denominational worker she knew from experience what it meant to face illness in the family with no provision for financial assistance. When James White, while serving as president of the General Conference, was stricken with paralysis, and in the absence of provision for such an emergency, she had to take up the carpets from the floor--rag rugs of her own making--and sell them, as well as the furniture, to secure means for the care of her husband. So the instruction that in a special manner she was to watch out for ministers who might be in need was significant to her.
Through vision her attention was often called to the cases of ministers or their families who were being neglected. In many cases she gave financial assistance from her own personal income, or from funds in her control, for at times her personal resources were inadequate. Of this experience, and of the inadequacy of funds, W. C. White wrote:
When we pleaded with her that her income was all consumed in the work of preparing her books for publication, she said:
"The Lord has shown me that the experience which your father and I have passed through in poverty and deprivation, in the early days of our work, has given to me a keen appreciation and sympathy for others who are passing through similar experiences of want and suffering. And where I see workers in this cause that have been true and loyal to the work, who are left to suffer, it is my duty to speak in their behalf. If this does not move the brethren to help them, then I must help them, even if I am obliged to use a portion of my tithe in doing so."
In harmony with this, Mother has many, many times made request of our conference officers, to give consideration to the necessities of humble but faithful workers whose needs were by some means overlooked.
In many instances her requests have been responded to, and the needed help given. But in some cases the lack of funds and the absence of appreciation of the worthiness and the necessities have left the needy workers without help, and have left her to face the burden.
Then she has said to me or to the bookkeeper, "Send help as soon as you can, and if necessary take it from my tithe." In many cases we found it possible to respond to her requests by gifts from her personal funds, and in some cases a portion of her tithe has been used.
These experiences relate mostly to the years we were in Europe and Australia, and to the years 1900 to 1906, in behalf of the work in the Southern States.--DF 113b, WCW statement in "Ellen G. White and the Tithe."
W. C. White then clearly declares:
During the greater part of the time since my connection with Mother's business in 1881, a full tithe has been paid on her salary, to church or conference treasurer. Instead of paying tithe on the increase from her books, there has been set apart an amount greater than a tithe from which she has made appropriations from time to time in accordance with the instruction mentioned above....
In view of the extraordinary and exceptional responsibilities placed upon her as a messenger of God having special light and special responsibility in behalf of the needy and the oppressed, she says she has been given special and exceptional authority regarding the use of her tithe. This authority she has used in a limited way as seemed to be for the best interests of the cause.--Ibid.
What called for the January 22 letter written from Mountain View was that in the latter part of 1904 an agent of the Southern Missionary Society (the conference-recognized organization fostering work among the blacks in the South), while visiting in the State of Colorado, received as a gift from one church the sum of about $400 to assist in the work of the society. These funds came to his hands in response to his appeal for help in evangelizing the South. Some of the money was tithe. Elder W. C. White, familiar with the details of this matter, informs us:
The officers of the Southern Missionary Society did not use this money to pay their own wages. They did not use it in any way for their own personal benefit. Neither did they pay it to the support of men whom the conferences in the South thought to be unfitted or unworthy. Neither was it paid to men who were carrying on an unauthorized work of their own devising.
The money was placed in the treasury of the Southern Missionary Society and was paid out in a regular and economical way to approved laborers who were engaged in regular denominational work.--Ibid.
But the action was irregular on the part of the agent who received the money, and the church that paid it to him. This action was considered by the officers of the Colorado Conference to be not only irregular but wrong and censurable. The matter became known to Sister White, and from Mountain View she wrote a letter to the conference president, dated January 22, 1905. Here is her letter to the conference president in its entirety:
My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be.
It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient, properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way.
In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace.
I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this; and as the money is not withheld from the Lord's treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best.
Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help do a work that is being left undone, and if this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do.
I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy ministers they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated.
I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter, lest many more shall follow their example.--Letter 267, 1905.
It should be noted that as Mrs. White speaks of the use of the tithe in this and similar cases, it is always in the setting of money that was to be used for the support of the ministers. Any tithe money she handled was used as tithe money should be used. The one whom the Lord used as His messenger, and to whom had been given special enlightenment regarding the necessities of worthy laborers, at a time when there was inadequate provision for these ordained ministers, was authorized to meet those necessities, even to the use of her tithe.
But there is not one phrase or sentence in this letter that would neutralize or countermand the clear and full instruction concerning paying tithe or its use. Any such use of the letter addressed to the conference president is a misuse.
Ellen White did not make a practice of gathering up tithe funds, and she never requested that tithe be placed in her hands.
At times a certain veteran colporteur sent a portion of his tithe to Mrs. White to be used properly in the Lord's work. How she handled such tithe is reflected in a letter she wrote to workers in the South explaining the source of some $500 that she was hastening on to them in response to an urgent need made known to her. She related that a large part of this was money given when she made an appeal for the work in the South at a large gathering. A part of it was tithe money place in her hands by this colporteur. Of this portion she wrote:
I have seventy-five dollars from Brother---, tithe money, and we thought that it would be best to send it along to the Southern field to help colored ministers.... I want it specially applied to the colored ministers, to help them in their salaries.--Letter 262, 1902.
But in writing to this man at another time she revealed not only her course of action but her attitude toward such matters, urging confidence in his brethren and the regular manner of handling the tithe:
You ask if I will accept tithe from you and use it in the cause of God where most needed. In reply I will say that I shall not refuse to do this, but at the same time I will tell you that there is a better way.
It is better to put confidence in the ministers of the conference where you live, and in the officers of the church where you worship. Draw nigh to your brethren. Love them with a true heart fervently, and encourage them to bear their responsibilities faithfully in the fear of God. "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."--Letter 96, 1911.
Great changes have come into the work of the church since the things that are mentioned in the letter to the conference president happened. Such needs as that letter referred to are now well cared for by conference organizations.