Chapter 45—A Call to Country Living

[Appeared in Country Living. For application of principles here set forth to institutional location, see Testimonies for the Church 7:80-89; Medical Ministry, 308, 309; Evangelism, 76 to 78.]

I could not sleep past two o'clock this morning. During the night season I was in council. I was pleading with some families to avail themselves of God's appointed means, and get away from the cities to save their children. Some were loitering, making no determined efforts.2SM 354.1

The angels of mercy hurried Lot and his wife and daughters by taking hold of their hands. Had Lot hastened as the Lord desired him to, his wife would not have become a pillar of salt. Lot had too much of a lingering spirit. Let us not be like him. The same voice that warned Lot to leave Sodom bids us, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Those who obey this warning will find a refuge. Let every man be wide awake for himself, and try to save his family. Let him gird himself for the work. God will reveal from point to point what to do next.2SM 354.2

Hear the voice of God through the apostle Paul: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12, 13). Lot trod the plain with unwilling and tardy steps. He had so long associated with evil workers that he could not see his peril until his wife stood on the plain a pillar of salt forever.—The Review and Herald, December 11, 1900.2SM 354.3

Let children no longer be exposed to the temptations of the cities that are ripe for destruction. The Lord has sent us warning and counsel to get out of the cities. Then let us make no more investments in the cities. Fathers and mothers, how do you regard the souls of your children? Are you preparing the members of your families for translation into the heavenly courts? Are you preparing them to become members of the royal family? children of the heavenly King? “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). How will ease, comfort, convenience, compare with the value of the souls of your children?—Manuscript 76, 1905.2SM 355.1