168
The Publishing Ministry
When the publishing work at Nashville was started, it was the
avowed purpose of the workers to keep out of debt; but in their desper-
ate effort to make brick without straw, our brethren were led to depart
from this purpose, and, as the result, the work has become involved in
difficulty. But God’s workmen at Nashville are not, because of this, to
become discouraged. The work must not cease. Let all now seek most
earnestly to avoid the mistakes of the past. Let them guard themselves
as with a fence of barbed wire against the inclination to go into debt.
Let them say firmly: “Henceforth we will advance no faster than the
Lord shall indicate and the means in hand shall allow, even though the
good work has to wait for a while. In beginning in new places, we
will labor in narrow quarters, rather than involve the Lord’s cause in
debt.”—
Testimonies for the Church 7:235, 236
.
Never Amputate a Limb That May Be Saved [
On Sunday morn-
ing, October 19, 1902, several church leaders met with Ellen White at
her Elmshaven home in California to discuss the future of the fledgling
publishing plant in the south. After looking at the operating statements
and listening to the appeals of the brethren, Ellen White agreed with
A. G. Daniells that the Southern Publishing House “had better be
closed.” But the following night the Lord gave her the vision of the
operating room here quoted. (See A. G. Daniells,
The Abiding Gift
of Prophecy, pp. 322-329
.) That Ellen White recognized that some
“limbs” might have to be amputated even after “everything possible”
had been done to save them seems evident, however, for she wrote in
1898: “God help the managers of our schools never to allow the outgo
to exceed the income, if the school has to be closed.”—
Counsels On
Stewardship, 271
.]—Last night I seemed to be in the operating room of
[195]
a large hospital, to which people were being brought, and instruments
were being prepared to cut off their limbs in a big hurry. One came
in who seemed to have authority, and said to the physicians, “Is it
necessary to bring these people into this room?” Looking pityingly at
the sufferers, he said, “Never amputate a limb until everything possible
has been done to restore it.” Examining the limbs which the physicians
had been preparing to cut off, he said, “They may be saved. The first
work is to use every available means to restore these limbs. What a
fearful mistake it would be to amputate a limb that could be saved
by patient care. Your conclusions have been too hastily drawn. Put
these patients in the best rooms in the hospital, and give them the very