This is a work that the churches in every locality, north and south and east and west, should do. The churches have been given the opportunity of answering this work. Why have they not done it? Someone must fulfill the commission. (WM 122.1) MC VC

A work which should have been done has been left undone. Those who have been engaged in the medical missionary work have been doing the very class of work the Lord would have done.... (WM 122.2) MC VC

Oh, how much, how very much remains to be done, and yet how many that might use their God-given talents aright are doing almost nothing besides caring for and pleasing themselves. But the hand of the Lord is stretched out still, and if they will work today in His vineyard, He will accept their service.—Manuscript 18, 1897. (WM 122.3) MC VC

Keep a Proper Balance—Medical missionary work should be carried forward by the church in well-organized efforts. It should be to the cause of God as the right hand is to the body. But the medical missionary work is not to take on undue importance. It should be done without neglecting other lines of work.—Letter 139, 1898. (WM 122.4) MC VC

The Work of the Right Hand—The right hand is used to open doors through which the body may find entrance. This is the part the medical missionary work is to act. It is to largely prepare the way for the reception of the truth for this time. A body without hands is useless. In giving honor to the body, honor must also be given to the helping hands, which are agencies of such importance that without them the body can do nothing. Therefore the body which treats indifferently the right hand, refusing its aid, is able to accomplish nothing.—Manuscript 55, 1901. (WM 122.5) 2 I MC VC

A Part of a Great Whole—The medical missionary work ought always to have existed in the work of reform. But it is never to become the means of separating the workers in the ministry from their work. Christ united these two branches in all his labors. The medical missionary work is part of the great whole, as the arm is part of the body. But the arm is not to say to the head, I have no need of thee. The body has need of the head decidedly, and the arms, in order to do active, aggressive work. The body is not to become the arm. Each member has its appointed work to perform.—Manuscript 105, 1899. (WM 123.1) MC VC

The Prayer of the Medical Missionary—Pastors and teachers are to work intelligently in their lines, instructing church members how to work in medical missionary lines. When the professed followers of Christ have an indwelling Saviour, they will be found doing as Christ did. They will have no opportunity to rust through inaction. They will have enough to do. And the work which they do under the auspices of the church will be their greatest means of communicating light. (WM 123.2) MC VC

The man who is working according to God’s plan will pray, “Let it be known this day in my work for suffering humanity that there is a God in Israel, and that I am thy servant. Let it be seen that I am working, not according to my own impulse and wisdom, but according to thy word.” (WM 123.3) MC VC

The work for the poorer classes has no limit. It can never be got through with, and it must be treated as a part of the great whole. To give our first attention to this work, while there are vast portions of the Lord’s vineyard open to culture and yet untouched, is to begin in the wrong place. As the right arm is to the body, so is the medical missionary work to the third angel’s message. But the right arm is not to become the whole body. The work is seeking the outcasts is important, but it is not to become the great burden of our mission.—Manuscript 3, 1899. (WM 258.1) MC VC

Not Called Upon to Erect Homes for Abandoned Women or Babies—I must speak plainly in regard to some things which must be guarded. We should not enter into the work of maintaining homes for abandoned women or for infants. This responsibility might better be borne by families, who should care for those who need help in these lines.—Letter 11, 1900. (WM 258.2) MC VC

The Lord does not give us direction to erect buildings for the care of babies, although this is a good work, but it is not the work for the present time. Let the world do all it will in this line. Our time and means must be invested in a different line of work. We are to carry the last message of mercy in the very best way to reach those in the churches who are hungering and praying for light.—Letter 232, 1899. (WM 258.3) MC VC

Turn to Fields Ready to Harvest—This work is being made the all-absorbing work, but this is not in God’s order. It is a never-ending work, and if it is carried on as it has been in the past, all the power of God’s people will be required to counterbalance it, and the work of preparing a people to stand amid the perils of the last days will never be done. (WM 258.4) MC VC