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The Publishing Ministry
faith and obedience. The favor of God is of greater value than gold
and silver. The power of His Spirit is of inestimable worth.
Thus saith the Lord: “Buildings will give character to My work
only when those who erect them follow My instruction in regard
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to the establishment of institutions. Had those who have managed
and sustained the work in the past always been controlled by pure,
unselfish principles, there never would have been the selfish gathering
of a large share of My means into one or two places. Institutions
would have been established in many localities. The seeds of truth,
sown in many more fields, would have sprung up and borne fruit to
My glory.”—
Testimonies for the Church 7:100, 101
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Righteous Principles Versus Imposing Buildings—Large build-
ings can give no Christlike character to the work, be they ever so
imposing. Correct principles maintained, a righteous character devel-
oped by those in Christ’s service, firm resistance against evil—these
will do more to honor God than the finest buildings.—
Letter 4, 1896
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Large Buildings Piling Up in a Few Places—Already His judg-
ments have begun to fall upon the inhabitants of the land. He can touch
the largest so-called fireproof buildings, and in two or three hours they
are as nothingness, burned to the ground.
We have before us a great work, the closing work of giving the
last warning message to a sinful world. But what have we done in the
world? Look, I beg of you, at the many, many places that have never
even been entered. Behold the Southern field with its millions upon
millions of souls. Who is interested in their salvation? Look at the large
buildings that have been piled up in a few places. Witness the showing
in Battle Creek and in a few other centers of our work. Consider the
amount of time, the effort, the means, that have been expended in
making a great showing in a few places. Look at our brethren and
sisters treading over and over the same ground, while around them is a
neglected world, lying in wickedness and corruption, a world as yet
unwarned! To me this is an awful picture. What appalling indifference
we manifest to the needs of a perishing world!—
Manuscript 96, 1902
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Small Plants in the South and Other Places—It is not the Lord’s
plan to centralize largely in any one place. The time has passed when
there should be any binding about of the work and confining it to
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a few places. There are small printing plants to be established and