The church is the channel through which the Lord works to save those who are perishing in sin. By the members of the church are to be made known His mercy, goodness, and power. What a wonderful work has been committed to us! All heaven is waiting for human channels through which to communicate the grace of God. But selfishness is hindering us from fulfilling God's purpose for us. Selfishness is hiding the Saviour from His people. Thorough conversion is what the church needs. God calls for men imbued with the love of Christ to do His work. He needs men of sound minds, clear heads, and tender hearts.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 1

I am instructed to say: Unless our ministers and the leading men in our institutions believe and practise the Word of God, they will never see the King in His beauty. God's law is His standard of character. And the foundation principles of this law are, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Obedience to this law is the condition of gaining salvation. Upon our obedience depends our present and future happiness.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 2

Will men and women claim to be Christians, and yet lose out of their lives the tenderness and love of Christ? Shall those who have a knowledge of the truth for this time allow themselves to speak and act harshly? Will they treat those connected with them in labor as if they were unworthy of notice?PUR June 19, 1902, par. 3

When you see a fellow-being striving to climb the hill, will you, standing securely at the top, reproach him because he is not there also? Or will you descend the hill, and, linking his arm in yours, guide his trembling feet in the upward path, soothing and encouraging him, till he stands at the summit, filled with hope and courage?PUR June 19, 1902, par. 4

Have you not seen a fellow-worker, pale and worn, bearing on his face the premonitions of death? How did you treat him? Was your heart touched, your sympathy aroused? Did you reach out to him the hand of fellowship? Did you do all in your power to help him? Or did you selfishly seek gain for yourself at his expense,—you on vantage ground, he in sickness, sorrow, and want? Did you think it would please God for you to destroy your fellow-worker's faith, his hope, his confidence in human brotherhood? And after you had acted thus, did you congratulate yourself on your financial gain?PUR June 19, 1902, par. 5

How did the pitying Redeemer look upon such a course? Think you that He placed on it the seal of His approval?PUR June 19, 1902, par. 6

Our work is to restore, not to destroy; to lift up, not to cast down; “to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” We are commanded to remember them that are bound as bound with them. God asks, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”PUR June 19, 1902, par. 7

Study your Bibles, my brethren. In the name of Christ I call upon you to work the works of Christ. Godliness is profitable for all things. It is the fruit of a repentance that needs not to be repented of. The evidence of its worth is in itself, and is revealed by good works. True reform bears the fruit of the Spirit. He who loves God is a friend of those for whom the Son of God died.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 8

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. . . . 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; where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; 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.”PUR June 19, 1902, par. 9

Neglected duties confront us. Too often, instead of doing the work the Lord has given us, we have watched for defects in those whom we ought to have helped instead of criticising. We have not worked faithfully. There are in our institutions untrained men and women. Jesus needs their service. With yearning tenderness He is inviting them to come to Him, that He may use them as channels for the communication of His grace. But those whom He has appointed to cooperate with Him in fitting these souls for service, have failed to manifest that loving tenderness which as Christians they should manifest for the young and inexperienced. Not only do they themselves fail of following Jesus; they keep others from His side. How can the Lord bless them? Let us break the crust of selfishness that surround us. Let us not descend to bickering and strife, criticising and condemning one another. Christ is ashamed to call those who do this His brethren.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 10

A great work is to be done, and in doing this work, we are to labor on a much higher plane than that on which we have labored in the past. Brethren, this matter has been so forcibly presented to me that I can not hold my peace. Into the church there has come a hard-hearted spirit, and with it principles of selfishness, which have excluded the love of Christ from our hearts. These principles have been followed in our conferences and institutions. But selfishness does not become a grace, an agreeable, fragrant element, by being woven into a sacred work.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 11

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” At an immense cost a probation has been granted to human beings. At the day of judgment there will come to the lost a full realization of the meaning of the sacrifice made on Calvary. They will see what they have lost by refusing to be loyal to God. They will think of the high, pure association it was their privilege to gain. But it is too late. The last call has been made. The wail is heard, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”PUR June 19, 1902, par. 12

The world is to see God in His followers. Life and immortality are brought to light through those who are one with God. It is our privilege to have the spirit of light and knowledge that is the wisdom of heaven. Those who have this spirit, in whatever position they may be, the highest or the lowest place of service, will reveal in their work the power of this light and knowledge. Then our business matters will be conducted with that higher wisdom which the world calls foolishness.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 13

We have only a little longer time in which to prepare for eternity. May the Lord open the closed eyes of His people and quicken their dulled senses, that they may comprehend the great truths of the gospel,—the power of God unto salvation to them that believe. I desire, if possible, to impress the minds of our people with the importance of giving so pure and righteous a representation of God that the world will see Him in His beauty. I desire them to be so filled with the Spirit that dwells in Him that worldly policy will have no power to divert them from the work of presenting to men the wonderful possibilities before every soul who receives and believes Christ. My heart is so full of this matter that sleep departs from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids. Truth alone is to be our watchword. Self is to be hidden. Christ alone is to appear, full of grace and truth.PUR June 19, 1902, par. 14

Mrs. E. G. White

June 5, 1902

July 3, 1902