Need of Opportunity for Christian Culture
[
Health, Philanthropic, and Medical Missionary Work, 13-16
(1890).]
No soul can prosper without time to pray, to search the Scriptures;
and all should, as far as possible, have the privilege of attending
public worship. All need to keep the oil of grace in their vessels with
their lamps. Above all others, the workers who are thrown into the
society of worldlings need to have Jesus held up before them, that they
may behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
The godless element to which they are exposed makes it essential
that personal labor should be bestowed upon them. Who could be
closely related to these patients, and hear them talk, and breathe in
the atmosphere that surrounds their souls, without running some risk?
Counteracting influences should always be exerted, lest, through the
tempting allurements of Satan, the worldly element shall steal away
hearts from God. Never let the worldly class be honored and great
deference be paid to them above those who love God and are seeking
to do His will.
Those who, from whatever cause, are obliged to work on the
Sabbath, are always in peril; they feel the loss, and from doing works
of necessity they fall into the habit of doing things on the Sabbath that
are not necessary. The sense of its sacredness is lost, and the holy
commandment is of no effect. A special effort should be made to bring
about a reform in regard to Sabbath observance. The workers in the
sanitarium do not always do for themselves what is their privilege and
duty. Often they feel so weary that they become demoralized. This
should not be. The soul can be rich in grace only as it shall abide in
the presence of God. God is the great proprietor of the sanitarium, of
[423]
the Review and Herald office, of the Pacific Press, of our colleges. In
all these institutions the managers must receive their directions from
above. And wherever the temptations that come through association
with the ungodly are strongest, there the greatest care must be exercised
to place the workers in close connection with Christ and the influences
437