Testimonies for the Church Vol 1 - Lansing SDA Church

520 Testimonies for the Church Volume 1[564]to speak to all interested. What appeared in Testimony No. 11 concerningthe Health Institute should not have been given until I was able towrite out all I had seen in regard to it. I intended to say nothing uponthe subject in No. 11, and sent all the manuscript that I designed forthat Testimony from Ottawa County, where I was then laboring, to theoffice at Battle Creek, stating that I wished them to hasten out that littlework, as it was much needed, and as soon as possible I would writeNo. 12, in which I designed to speak freely and fully concerning theInstitute. The brethren at Battle Creek who were especially interestedin the Institute knew I had seen that our people should contribute oftheir means to establish such an institution. They therefore wrote tome that the influence of my testimony in regard to the Institute wasneeded immediately to move the brethren upon the subject, and thatthe publication of No. 11 would be delayed till I could write.This was a great trial to me, as I knew I could not write out all Ihad seen, for I was then speaking to the people six or eight times aweek, visiting from house to house, and writing hundreds of pages ofpersonal testimonies and private letters. This amount of labor, withunnecessary burdens and trials thrown upon me, unfitted me for laborof any kind. My health was poor, and my mental sufferings werebeyond description. Under these circumstances I yielded my judgmentto that of others and wrote what appeared in No. 11 in regard to theHealth Institute, being unable then to give all I had seen. In this I didwrong. I must be allowed to know my own duty better than others canknow it for me, especially concerning matters which God has revealedto me. I shall be blamed by some for speaking as I now speak. Otherswill blame me for not speaking before. The disposition manifested tocrowd the matter of the Institute so fast has been one of the heaviesttrials I have ever borne. If all who have used my testimony to movethe brethren had been equally moved by it themselves, I should bebetter satisfied. Should I delay longer to speak my views and feelings,I should be blamed the more both by those who think I should havespoken sooner and by those also who may think I should not give anycautions. For the good of those at the head of the work, for the goodof the cause and the brethren, and to save myself great trials, I havefreely spoken.