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Evangelism
works show that you believe the words of the living Teacher.—
Letter
308, 1906
.
A Tactful Approach—The living truth of God is to be made
known in our medical institutions. This does not mean that the doctor
or any of the workers are to introduce the truth to everyone. That is
not the way to do. The truth can be presented without doing this. The
nurses and workers are not to go to the patients, saying, We believe in
the third angel’s message. That is not their work, unless the patients
desire to hear, unless their objections have been removed, and their
hearts have been softened.
Act so that the patients will see that Seventh-day Adventists are
a people who have common sense. Act so that they will feel that the
institution is a restful place. Bible truth is to be presented, but special
points of the truth are not to be brought out before all the patients. If
they ask you questions, give them the reasons of your faith. In this
[541]
way light will shine forth.
Patients may be asked to attend our meeting, and there they will
hear the truth, knowing at the same time that it is not pressed upon
them. Then when they leave the sanitarium and hear people saying,
I do not want to go there to be made a Seventh-day Adventist, they
will tell them that the workers at the sanitarium press the truth upon
no one.
It will be impossible to keep patients from inquiring in regard to
our faith. There are those who hunger and thirst for truth, and such
ones will find it. That is why we want our institution established at
once.—
Manuscript 111, 1899
.
The Witness of a Consistent Christian Life—These sacred
truths, believed and practiced, are not to be carried in any coercive
manner, but in the spirit of the Master. The Holy Spirit will reach noble
minds and the better spirit of men. In all our sanitariums there should
be men who understand the doctrine of truth and who can present it by
pen and voice. They will be brought in contact with men of no mean
minds, and they should plead with them as they would plead with an
only son. It should be our aim, saith the Lord, not to put in responsible
positions of trust men who are not fitted by experience, men who do
not take deep views of Bible truth.
Many suppose that appearance and style and pretense are to do a
great work in reaching the higher classes. But this is an error. These