You have been very zealous to plead the necessity of not denying our faith by our works, and have made your faith an excuse for not granting your children an opportunity to obtain an education in even the common branches. Knowledge in regard to yourself is what you need, and you will yet have to see the necessity of obtaining it. Knowledge is what your children need but do not have the privilege of obtaining. With this great lack they cannot become useful members of society, and they will be deficient in their religious education. A weighty responsibility rests at your door. You are shortening the life of your wife. How can she glorify God in her body and spirit, which are His? (2T 96.1) MC VC

God has given you light and knowledge, which you have professed to believe came direct from Him, instructing you to deny appetite. You know that the use of swine’s flesh is contrary to His express command, given not because He wished to especially show His authority, but because it would be injurious to those who should eat it. Its use would cause the blood to become impure, so that scrofula and other humors would corrupt the system, and the whole organism would suffer. Especially would the fine, sensitive nerves of the brain become enfeebled and so beclouded that sacred things would not be discerned, but be placed upon the low level with common things. Light showing that disease is caused by using this gross article of food has come just as soon as God’s people could bear it. Have you heeded the light? (2T 96.2) MC VC

You have gone directly contrary to the light which God has been pleased to give in regard to the use of tobacco. The gratification of appetite has eclipsed the light given of Heaven, and you have made a God of this hurtful indulgence. It is your idol. You have bowed to this instead of God, at the same time professing great faith in the visions, but acting entirely contrary to them. For years you have not advanced one step in the divine life, but have been growing weaker and weaker, darker and darker. You have felt sadly afflicted over the course of Brother P in opposing the truth as he has done. You have ascribed the weak, discouraged state of the church to his opposition. It is true that he has been a great hindrance to the advancement of the cause of God in -----. But the course you have pursued, while professing to know the truth and to have an experience in the cause of God, has been a greater hindrance than his course. If you had stood in the counsel of God and been sanctified through the truth which you professed to believe, Brother P would not have had all the doubts he has had. Your position as a defender of the visions has been a stumbling block to those who were unbelieving. I was shown that your brother tried to stand up under the heavy burdens which the sad condition of the church brought upon him until he nearly fell under the weight he was bearing, and left for his life. I saw that God’s care was over Brother and Sister R, and if their faith remained unwavering they would yet see the salvation of God in their own house and in the church. (2T 96.3) MC VC

I was shown the case of dear Brother and Sister S. They had been passing through the dark waters, and the billows had nearly gone over their heads; yet God loved them, and if they would only trust their ways to Him He would bring them forth from the furnace of affliction purified. Brother S has looked upon the dark side, and doubted whether he was a child of God—doubted his salvation. I saw that he should not labor too hard to believe, but should trust in God as a child would confide in its parents. He worries too much—he worries himself out of the arms of Jesus, and gives the enemy a chance to tempt and annoy him. God knows the feebleness of the body and of the mind, and will require no more of him than He will give him strength to perform. He has tried to be faithful and true to his profession. He has failed in his life in a number of things, all ignorantly. In regard to the discipline of his children, he has considered it his duty to be strict, and has carried this discipline too far. He has treated small offenses with too great severity. This has had an influence to wean, in a degree, the affection of the son from the father. During his sickness Brother S has had a diseased imagination. His nervous system has been all deranged, and he has thought that his children did not feel for him and love him as they should; but this was the result of disease. Satan wished to destroy him and dishearten and discourage his poor children. But God has not laid this to his charge. His children have greater burdens to bear than many that are older than they, and they deserve careful discipline, judicious training, mingled with sympathy, love, and great tenderness. (2T 97.1) MC VC