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The Publishing Ministry
to their assistance. The truth is to be proclaimed to all nations and
kindreds and tongues and peoples.
Our German and Danish and Swedish brethren have no good reason
for not being able to act in harmony in the publishing work. Those who
believe the truth should remember that they are God’s little children,
that they are under His training. Let them be thankful to God for His
manifold mercies and be kind to one another. They have one God and
one Saviour; and one Spirit—the Spirit of Christ—is to bring unity
into their ranks.—
Testimonies for the Church 9:189
.
Individuality and Personal Responsibility—I understand some-
thing about these two institutions, for my husband and I had to lead out
in establishing them and carrying them forward. The Lord gave special
directions as to how they should be conducted. These principles I have
[157]
not withheld from those who were numbered as believers in the truth.
The work has been presented to me as, at its beginning, a small,
very small rivulet. The representation was given to the prophet Ezekiel
of waters issuing “from under the threshold of the house eastward
... at the south side of the altar.” Please read
Ezekiel 47
. Mark
verse
8
: “Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east
country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being
brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.” This work was
represented to me as extending to the east and to the north, to the
islands of the sea, and to all parts of the world. As the work increases,
there will be a great and living interest to be managed by human
instrumentalities. The work is not to be centered in any one place, not
even in Battle Creek. Human wisdom argues that it is more convenient
to build up the interest where it has already obtained character and
influence; mistakes have been made in this line. Individuality and
personal responsibility are thus repressed and weakened. The work is
the Lord’s, and the strength and efficiency are not all to be concentrated
in any one place.—
Letter 71, 1894
. (
Selections from the Testimonies
Setting forth Important Principles Relating to Our Work in General,
22
.)
Publishing Houses to Avoid Strife for Supremacy—In book
making there is a striving for the supremacy.... God says to every soul,
“Take heed.” The leaven of influence is a powerful thing. Whether
good or evil, it gathers all to itself. If the leaven of selfishness, cov-
etousness, and hardheartedness is allowed to enter, it will subdue all