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Section 17—Medical Missionary Work in the Great Cities
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begin their work by laboring among the lowest classes. God does
not require His workmen to obtain their education and training in
order to devote themselves exclusively to these classes.
The working of God is manifest in a way which will establish
confidence that the work is of His devising, and that sound principles
underlie every action. But I have had instruction from God that there
is danger of planning for the outcasts in a way which will lead to
spasmodic and excitable movements. These will produce no really
beneficial results. A class will be encouraged to do a kind of work
which will amount to the least in strengthening all parts of the work
by harmonious action.
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The gospel invitation is to be given to the rich and the poor,
the high and the low, and we must devise means for carrying the
truth into new places and to all classes of people. The Lord bids us,
“Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come
in, that My house may be filled.” He says, “Begin in the highways;
thoroughly work the highways; prepare a company who in unity
with you can go forth to do the very work that Christ did in seeking
and saving the lost.”
Christ preached the gospel to the poor, but He did not confine His
labors to this class. He worked for all who would hear His word—
not only the publican and the outcasts, but the rich and cultivated
Pharisee, the Jewish nobleman, the centurion, and the Roman ruler.
This is the kind of work I have ever seen should be done. We are
not to strain every spiritual sinew and nerve to work for the lowest
classes, and make that work the all in all. There are others whom we
must bring to the Master, souls who need the truth, who are bearing
responsibilities, and who will work with all their sanctified ability
for the high places as well as for the low places.
The work for the poorer classes has no limit. It can never be got
through with, and it must be treated as a part of the great whole. To
give our first attention to this work, while there are vast portions of
the Lord’s vineyard open to culture and yet untouched, is to begin in
the wrong place. As the right arm is to the body, so is the medical
missionary work to the third angel’s message. But the right arm is
not to become the whole body. The work of seeking the outcasts is
important, but it is not to become the great burden of our mission.—
Manuscript 3, 1899