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Testimonies for the Church Volume 8
A Warning Against Centralization
Christ embraced the world in His missionary work, and the Lord
has shown me by revelation that it is not His plan for large centers
to be made, for large institutions to be established, and for the funds
of our people in all parts of the world to be exhausted in the support
of a few large institutions, when the necessities of the times call for
something to be done, as providence opens the way, in many places.
Plants should be established in various places all over the world. First
one, and then another, part of the vineyard is to be entered, until all
has been cultivated. Efforts are to be put forth wherever the need is
greatest. But we cannot carry on this aggressive warfare and at the
same time make an extravagant outlay of means in a few places.
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The Battle Creek Sanitarium is too large. A great many workers
will be required to care for the patients who come. A tenth of the
number of patients who come to that institution is as many as can
be cared for with the best results in one medical missionary center.
Centers should be made in all the cities that are unacquainted with
the great work that the Lord would have done to warn the world that
the end of all things is at hand. “There is too much,” said the Great
Teacher, “in one place.”
Let those who have fitted themselves to engage in medical mis-
sionary work in foreign countries go to the places that they expect
to make their field of labor, and begin work right among the people,
learning the language as they work. Very soon they will find that they
can teach the simple truths of God’s word.
A Neglected Field Near Us
There is in this country a great, unworked field. The colored race,
numbering thousands upon thousands, appeals to the consideration
and sympathy of every true, practical believer in Christ. These people
do not live in a foreign country, and they do not bow down to idols of
wood and stone. They live among us, and again and again, through the
testimonies of His Spirit, God has called our attention to them, telling
us that here are human beings neglected. This broad field lies before
us unworked, calling for the light that God has given us in trust.
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