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Selected Messages Book 1
because of their desire to help me in my time of special need; but
heretofore I have given, for the support of the Lord’s cause in foreign
lands, all the royalties that come from the sale of my foreign books in
Europe; and I intend to return this five hundred dollars as soon as I
can free myself from debt.
For the glory of God, I will tell you that about four years ago He
enabled me to finish writing a book on the parables of Jesus, and then
[104]
He put it into my heart to give this book for the advancement of our
denominational educational work.
At that time some of our larger training schools and colleges were
heavily in debt; but through the efforts of our people to sell this book
and to devote the entire proceeds to the liquidation of these debts, over
two hundred thousand dollars has already been raised and applied on
the debts; and the good work is still going on. The success of this plan
has been a source of great satisfaction to me. I am now completing
another book, to be used in a similar way for other enterprises.
But the financial gain is not the most encouraging feature to me.
I love to dwell on the thought that the circulation of these books is
bringing many souls into the truth. This thought makes my heart glad
indeed. I have no time to sit down and mourn. I go right on with
my work, and constantly keep writing, writing, writing. Early in the
morning, when the rest of you are asleep, I am generally up, writing.
Even affliction has not caused me to cease writing. Not long
after going to Australia, I was stricken with disease. Because of
the dampness of the houses, I suffered an attack of inflammatory
rheumatism, which prostrated me for eleven months. At times I was
in intense agony. I could sleep in one position for only about two
hours, then I had to be moved so that I could lie in another position.
My rubber air mattress gave me very little relief, and I passed through
periods of great suffering.
But in spite of this I did not cease my work. My right arm, from
the elbow to the finger tips, was free from pain; the rest of the arm, the
whole of the left arm, and both shoulders, could not be moved volun-
tarily. A framework was devised, and by the aid of this, I could write.
During these eleven months, I wrote twenty-five hundred pages of let-
ter paper, to send across the broad waters of the Pacific for publication
in America.