亲爱的伯登弟兄:
收到了你关于洛马林达的信,我很受鼓励。根据你对那个地方的描述,我相信它符合我在异象中看到的我们应当寻找的疗养院位置的情景。我看到这种地方距一个重要的城市数英里远。城市是最近建成的。{PC 237.2}
我设法将所赐给我的关于疗养院在乡间的情景摆在我们的人面前,我敦促他们必须在城外建立我们的疗养院。我已多次蒙指示看见在城外数英里获得院址的有利条件。那些听从上帝的旨意,为病人和受苦受难的人提供适当治疗的地方的人,将被引导到正确的地方去建立他们的工作。{PC 237.3}
要让我们的疗养院位于有丰富土地的地方。我能看到像洛马林达这样的地方的优势。主行了事,帮助我们得到了这块地产。这个机构的工作要按纯洁高尚的路线推进。它可以以这样一种方式得到管理,即真理将被呈现为可在其上建造的磐石。{PC 237.4}
为了使我们的机构能教授正确的功课,必须有单纯到乐于向大教师学习的人在这些机构工作。基督说过,对于那些遵守我的诫命,行我在工作中所做之事的人,“上帝国的奥秘只叫你们知道”(路8:10)。{PC 237.5}
我们应当向世人传讲真理,因为那位伟大的医疗布道士已经这样吩咐我们了。“你们耳中所听的,要在房上宣扬出来;因为隐藏的事没有不被人知道的”(太10:27,26)。“耶和华与敬畏祂、遵守祂诫命的人亲密”(见 诗25:14)。“凡接待祂的,祂就赐他们权柄,作上帝的儿女”(约1:12)。{PC 237.6}
基督教会的生存有赖于祂。只有通过祂,教会才能不断获得生命和力量。信徒们应当在生活上与救主保持最亲密、最重要的关系。他们应当追随祂克己牺牲的脚踪。他们应当出去到人生的大路小径上救人归主,千方百计向世界表现真理的真正面目。{PC 238.1}
要千方百计宣扬真理。一些地位较高的人会理解用比喻和隐语所讲的真理。当人们努力以清晰的方式展现真理以致听众产生信念时,主就会照自己的应许临格。当他们带着使命出去,教导基督所吩咐的一切时,主的应许就必实现:“我就常与你们同在,直到世界的末了”(太28:20)。凡心地诚实的人必要看见现代真理的重要性,并加入到遵守和教导上帝诫命的队伍中去。{PC 238.2}
应当竭尽所能,使人明白敬虔的奥秘。属地的事在说明属天的事方面有其地位。自然界的万物是一本书,是每一个愿意学习之人的老师。{PC 238.3}
在美妙的登山宝训中,基督用田野里的百合花以它们天然的美丽来阐明一个伟大的真理。祂使自己的言语适合智力初开的儿童。大教师让祂的听众与大自然接触,使他们能倾听一切受造之物所发的声音;在他们心地软化、思想开放之后,祂就帮助他们解释所见场景的属灵教训。祂喜欢用来教导人们真理的那些比喻,说明祂的灵多么向自然界的影响敞开,祂多么喜欢从日常生活环境收集属灵的教训啊。{PC 238.4}
空中的飞鸟、野地的百合花、撒种的人和种子、牧人和羊——基督用这些来阐明不朽的真理。祂从生活实况提取例证,这些实际的经验为听众所熟悉——隐藏的珍宝、珠子、渔网、丢失的钱币、浪子、建在磐石上和沙土上的房子。在祂的教训中,有某种使每一个人都感兴趣的东西,吸引每一个人的心。这样,日常的工作就不仅仅是循环往复的辛劳,没有更高的理想,而是因不断想到属灵的和未见的事而欢快兴奋了。{PC 238.5}
我们的医疗工作者要竭尽全力医治人身体和心理的疾病。他们要警醒、祷告和作工,使他们所努力医治的人得到属灵和身体的益处。我们疗养院中的一位医师是上帝的忠仆,他为每一个与他接触的病人都有极其关切的工作要做。他不丧失任何机会,总是把人指向身心的大医师基督。每一位医师都应该按照基督的路线成为熟练的工人。在属灵的事上兴趣不可减少,否则心力就会转移,不再专注于大医师。虽然应当严格照顾身体的需要,虽然应该做出一切的努力以打破疾病的势力,但医生决不要忘记,有一个灵魂要为之操劳。{PC 239.1}
上帝会吸引人从逻辑的信念升到一个更深刻、更高尚、更纯净、更光荣的信念,一个不被人类逻辑所扭曲的信念。人的逻辑往往几乎熄灭真光。上帝本要让这光发出清明的光线,使人相信自然界的主宰是配受一切赞美和荣耀的,因为祂是万有的创造主。{PC 239.2}
基督曾经用建造房屋的比喻来说明品格的建造。房子若盖在磐石上,雨淋、风吹,那房子总不倒塌。房子若盖在沙土上,就会被冲走。我们生活在危险的时代。{PC 239.3}
June 2, 1905 Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.
Dear Brother Burden,
I am much encouraged by the letters that I have received from you regarding Loma Linda. From your description of the place, I believe it meets the representation which I have seen of what we should seek for as sanitarium locations. Such a place was presented to me a few miles from an important city. The city has recently been built up.?{PC 237.2}
I have tried to place before our people the representations given me regarding sanitariums in the country, and I have urged upon them the necessity of establishing our sanitariums outside of the cities. I have had repeatedly presented to me the advantage of securing locations some miles out of the cities. Those who follow the counsel of God in providing places where the sick and suffering can receive proper treatment will be guided to the right places for the establishment of their work.?{PC 237.3}
Let our sanitariums be located where there is an abundance of land. I can see the advantage of such a place as Loma Linda. The Lord worked to help us to secure this property. The work of this institution is to be carried forward on pure, elevated lines. It can be conducted in such a way that the truth will be presented as the rock upon which to build.?{PC 237.4}
In order that our institutions shall teach right lessons, there must be connected with them men of such simplicity that they are willing to learn of the great Teacher. “To you it is given,” Christ said, to the people who keep My commandments and do those things that I have presented in my work, “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”?{PC 237.5}
We are to proclaim the truth to the world, for thus the great Medical Missionary has commanded us. “What ye?hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house top; for there is nothing hid that shall not be made known.” “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and keep His commandments.” “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.”?{PC 237.6}
The church of Christ is dependent on Him for her very existence. Only through Him can it gain continued life and strength. The members are to live constantly in the most intimate, vital relationship with the Saviour. They are to follow in His steps of self-denial and sacrifice. They are to go forth into the highways and byways of life to win souls to Him, using every possible means to make the truth appear in its true character before the world.?{PC 238.1}
The truth is to be presented in various ways. Some in the higher walks of life will grasp it as it is presented in figures and parables. As men labor to unfold the truth with clearness, that conviction may come to their hearers, the Lord is present as He promised to be. As they go forth on their mission, teaching all things whatsoever Christ has commanded, the promise will be fulfilled, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Those who are honest in heart will see the importance of the truth for this time, and will take their place in the ranks of those who are keeping and teaching the commandments.?{PC 238.2}
All that can be done to make clear the mystery of godliness is to be done. The earthly has its place in illustrating the heavenly. All nature is a lesson-book, a teacher to every one who will learn.?{PC 238.3}
In His wonderful sermon on the mount, Christ used the lilies of the field in their natural loveliness to illustrate a great truth. His language is adapted to the opening intellect of child life. The great Teacher brought His hearers in contact with nature, that they might listen to the voice which speaks in all created things; and as their hearts became tender and their minds receptive, He helped them to interpret the spiritual teachings of the scenes upon which their eyes rested. The parables, by means of which He loved to teach lessons of truth, show how open His spirit was to the influences of nature, and how He delighted to gather spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily life.?{PC 238.4}
The birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the sower and the seed, the shepherd and the sheep, - with these Christ illustrated immortal truth. He drew illustrations from the facts of life, facts of experience familiar to the hearers, - the hid treasure, the pearl, the fishing net, the lost coin, the prodigal son, the houses on the rock and on the sand. In His lessons there was something to interest every mind, to appeal to every heart. Thus the daily task, instead of being a mere round of toil, bereft of higher thoughts, was brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.?{PC 238.5}
Our medical workers are to do all in their power to cure disease of the body and also disease of the mind. They are to watch and pray and work, bringing spiritual as well as physical advantages to those for whom they labor. The physician in one of our sanitariums who is a true servant of God has an intensely interesting work to do for every suffering human being with whom he is brought in contact. He is to lose no opportunity to point souls to Christ, the great Healer of body and mind. Every physician should be a skilful worker in Christ’s lines. There is to be no lessening of the interest in spiritual things, else the power to fix the mind upon the great Physician will be diverted. While the needs of the body are to be strictly attended to, while all efforts are to be made to break the power of disease, the physician is never to forget that there is a soul to be labored for.?{PC 239.1}
God would draw minds from the conviction of logic to a conviction deeper, higher, purer, and more glorious, a conviction unperverted by human logic. Human logic has often nearly quenched the light which God would have shine forth in clear rays to convince minds that the God of nature is worthy of all praise and all glory, because He is the Creator of all things.?{PC 239.2}
Christ illustrated character-building by a house built on a rock, against which storm and tempest were powerless, and the house built on the sand, which was swept away. We are living in perilous times. -?{PC 239.3}