Workers in Nashville
St. Helena, California
October 9, 1907
Portions of this letter are published in 6BC 1084; 7MR 272-273. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.
To the workers in Nashville:
Last night I was awakened at one o’clock in great distress of mind. I was burdened to know how to present to our people their true condition of unreadiness to meet the issues that are before us, and which will try every soul to the uttermost. Many are not patterning after Christ, but are acting like men and women of the world. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 1
After a time I slept, and in my dreams I seemed to be listening to One who was bearing testimony before our brethren in responsible positions. The words He spoke were so decided and straight that it seemed <to some present> as if His representations could not be true of all present. Some were deeply moved, while others were deeply mortified that their course of action should be presented as it was. This latter class had not a right comprehension of true religion. They had not been drinking deep draughts from the fountain of Christ’s sympathy and tenderness and love. They had a low estimate of what the Christian life should be, and they were hurt and offended at the word spoken. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 2
I saw that the workers in the cause need now to be wide-awake. Many need to be converted anew and rebaptized. When they learn to drink of the Spiritual Rock which followed the army of Israel in the wilderness, when they partake daily of the heavenly manna, how their experience will change! What the food we eat is to our physical needs, Christ is to our spiritual necessities. He is the Bread of life. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood,” Christ declared, “ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth His flesh and drinketh His blood, hath eternal life.” [John 6:53, 54.] When Christ is formed within the soul, His presence will be as a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 3
The apostle Paul writes: “I brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the fear of God.” [1 Corinthians 2:1-5.] 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 4
Paul was not an unlearned man, but the preaching of Christ was a new gospel to him. It was a work entirely different [from] that he had engaged in when he hunted the believers from place to place, and persecuted them even “unto the death.” [Acts 22:4.] But Christ had revealed Himself to Paul in a remarkable manner at his conversion. At the gate of Damascus the vision of the Crucified One changed the whole current of his life. The persecutor became a disciple, the teacher a learner. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 5
From that time, Paul was a truly converted man. God gave him a special work to do for the cause of Christianity. His instruction in his letters to the churches of his day is instruction for the church of God to the end of time. He writes: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear; then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” [Colossians 3:1-4.] 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 6
The apostle enumerates the evils that must be put away from the life of those who have risen to walk in newness of life: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” [Verses 5-10.] 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 7
These warnings are given because they are needed. Our workers need to consider them; for some who have a part in the work have given place to some of the evils here enumerated. These wrongs are to be sternly and determinedly resisted and cleansed from the soul. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 8
The apostle continues: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you; so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 9
“Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 10
“And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” [Verses 12-17.] 22LtMs, Lt 332, 1907, par. 11