Diet NP June 12, 1876 Portions of this manuscript are published in CD 179; CG 386-387, 399; 7MR 1-2.
Eating has much to do with the condition of our health. The vitality of our bodies is derived from the food we eat. Our object in eating should be to live.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 1)
During the past season I have traveled much upon the cars, going east and west, and as I have seen how men and women treat their stomachs, it has been no marvel to me that sickness and disease is the common lot of mortals. It is a mystery to me that many live at all, seeing the way in which they abuse their stomachs.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 2)
I have heard parents remark, while indulging the fitful, capricious appetites of their children by giving them spices, pickles, rich cakes, candy, preserves, chicken, and slices of cold ham covered with black pepper, “My children like these, and I let them have just what they want; for the appetite craves what the system requires.” This theory might be correct if the appetite had never been perverted. But there is a natural appetite and a perverted appetite. Children often inherit a perverted appetite. Parents who have placed stimulating food upon their tables, and educated their children to eat it until the taste is so perverted that they crave for clay, slate pencils, tea grounds, etc., cannot claim that the appetite craves what the system requires. The appetite is perverted, and the taste calls for the most stimulating, unwholesome food.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 3)
Parents who are indulging a false appetite cannot make use of this theory. If their children had been trained from their infancy to eat only plain, simple food, prepared as nearly as possible in its natural state, if meat had been discarded, together with grease and all spices, which are deleterious, and should not be used in the preparation of food, the appetite might indicate the food best adapted to the wants of the system, which could be assimilated and converted into good blood. But a perverted appetite will not call for the food required by the system.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 4)
The food eaten by children with whom I have become acquainted when on the cars did not make good blood or good tempers. These children were frail. Some had sores on the head, face, and hands. Others had sore eyes, which destroyed the beauty of their faces. Others, though suffering from no skin eruption, were afflicted with catarrh, difficulty of the throat, chills, and fever. Their parents were kept in continual worry and perplexity.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 5)
I noticed one boy, three years of age, who had bowel difficulty. He had considerable fever. The mother seemed to think that food would help his case; and every time he asked for food, she gave him fried chicken, bread and butter, or rich cake. Another child of about ten years was suffering from fever and was disinclined to eat. Yet the mother urged her to eat this and that. Children, sick, complaining, and feverish, were urged to eat food unfit to be placed in any human stomach, even if in the most healthy condition.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 6)
These children thus injudiciously treated were creatures of circumstance, made miserable because of the course pursued toward them by their parents, who must have been very ignorant of the laws of life and health. These laws should govern the appetites and passions of parents. Then parents will be fitted to educate their offspring.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 7)
We were pained to hear the mothers’ fretful chiding, as they sought to hold in check the outbursts of temper exhibited by the children. But these mothers did not control themselves; how then could they expect their children, with their perverted habits, to have tranquil tempers. Both parents and children ate at irregular intervals all through the day, after eating heartily three times a day. The boy on the cars who sold cakes, candies, nuts, and fruit was freely patronized by the indulgent parents.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 8)
We felt sorry for these mothers; they had such a worn, worried look, and were pictures of discouragement. I frequently heard them relating their own sufferings and their poor children’s ailments, and telling what the doctor had said of them from time to time. Many said that they were seeking a more healthful climate; for they and their children were always sick.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 9)
I thought, What a privilege it would be to speak to all the mothers in the land, and tell them of a good and cheap way to recover health, without paying heavy doctor bills, or going to a far country. I would tell them that healthful food, prepared without grease or spices, would save them much expense and labor, and keep them and their children in good health, giving them also serene tempers and calm nerves. Food should be simple and should be eaten at regular intervals. If this rule is observed, the children will have no loss of appetite.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 10)
After the regular meal is eaten, the stomach should be allowed to rest for five hours. Not a particle of food should be introduced into the stomach till the next meal. In this interval the stomach will perform its work and will then be in a condition to receive more food. In no case should the meals be irregular. If dinner is eaten an hour or two before the usual time, the stomach is unprepared for the new burden; for it has not yet disposed of the food eaten at the previous meal and has not vital force for new work. Thus the system is overtaxed.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 11)
Neither should the meals be delayed one or two hours to suit circumstances or in order that a certain amount of work may be accomplished. The stomach calls for food at the time it is accustomed to receive it. If that time is delayed, the vitality of the system decreases and finally reaches so low an ebb that the appetite is entirely gone. If food is then taken, the stomach is unable to properly care for it. The food cannot be converted into good blood.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 12)
If all would eat at regular periods, not tasting anything between meals, they would be ready for their meals and would find a pleasure in eating that would repay them for their effort.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 13)
In many families, great preparations are made for visitors. A variety of food is prepared for the table. This food is tempting to those unaccustomed to such a variety of rich food. Many, ungoverned by principle, eat largely of the tempting dishes, and perhaps, as the result of that elaborately prepared meal, one or two have a run of fever. They may lose their lives. Those who care for them are worn out by anxiety and watching.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 14)
In many cases the family that provided the generous meal were overworked in the effort to prepare it and suffer days and weeks of weariness.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 15)
I have a knowledge of the course pursued by some who make these extra preparations for visitors. In their own families they observe no regularity. The meals are prepared to suit the convenience of the wife and mother. The happiness of the husband and children is not studied. Though such a parade is made for visitors, anything is thought to be good enough for “only us.” A table against the wall, a cold meal placed on it, with no effort to make it inviting, is too often seen. “Only for us,” they say. “We can pick up anything.”
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 16)
This course cannot be too severely condemned. Who is so dear to us as our own loved ones? That food which will keep them in the best health should also be provided for visitors. As a general thing, no elaborate change should be made in the table fare for visitors. We should not have a feast one day and a famine the next. The system cannot be kept in health if this course is pursued. The stomach cannot accommodate itself to such fitful movements.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 17)
In nine cases out of ten there is more danger of eating too much than too little. Some invalids who go to the Health Institute for treatment seem to think that they have no work to do in controlling their appetites. Frequently they eat double the amount their stomach can dispose of. This draws upon the vitality of the system, in order to get rid of the extra burden.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 18)
There are many sick who suffer from no disease. The cause of their sickness is indulgence of appetite. They think that if the food is healthful, they may eat as much as they please. This is a great mistake. Persons whose powers are debilitated should eat a moderate and even limited amount of food. The system will then be enabled to do its work easily and well, and a great deal of suffering will be saved.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1876, 19)
Ms 2, 1876
Diary, January 1876 Oakland, California January 1 - January 12, 1876 Portions of this manuscript are published in 3Bio 15-17. In Oakland and San Francisco January 1, 1876 Oakland, California
This day has been set apart for fasting, humiliation before God, and prayer. There was a conference and prayer meeting at 9 o’clock. This was a very interesting meeting. Many good testimonies were borne. Elder Loughborough spoke to the people at 11 o’clock. My husband conducted the meeting in San Francisco. The day was cloudy and unpleasant. In the afternoon I spoke to the people in Oakland from Hebrews 12:1-5.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 1)
January 2, 1876 Oakland
It has rained hard all day. Prayer meeting was held in the morning; business meetings through the day. My husband spoke to the people in Oakland, relating something of the state of the cause in California and the progress of the work. In the afternoon the subject of a meetinghouse was introduced and the matter discussed. It was considered necessary to make arrangements to build a house of worship at once. A committee was appointed to see how much means could be raised for this purpose. The small and inconvenient hall in which we now assemble for religious worship is not fit to hold religious meetings in. Brother Chapman and his wife and Sisters Bush and Saunders left for San Francisco, intending to return home the next day. Elder Loughborough, Elder Waggoner, Brother Harmon, Brother Chapman and wife, Sisters Bush and Saunders, and Sister More we entertained at our house. Brother White spoke to the people Sunday evening. Elder Waggoner spoke in San Francisco.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 2)
January 3, 1876 Oakland
A very unpleasant day. My husband is quite sick today. Care and anxiety are telling upon his health. Brother Harmon left this morning. I prepared matter for Mary Clough.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 3)
January 6, 1876 Oakland
Last night I dreamed of being in a schoolhouse. My husband was teaching. He was standing by one of his pupils who was writing. The teacher would direct, “Put your pen there. Make a heavier stroke here and a finer stroke there.”“There you are, commencing wrong again!” Then, “Put your pen there.”
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 4)
The copy proved to be a miserable affair. The teacher took up the book and after looking at the copy threw it down impatiently. “That copy is an entire failure, a botch work. I have taken particular pains to tell you just what to do, and after all my care this is the work you have to show. If this is the best you can do, you might as well leave school at once.” The young man was angry and with flushed face arose and left the room.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 5)
The young man that I had often seen in my dreams seemed to be by the side of the teacher. He said to the teacher, “You are making a mistake. You have dictated and ordered too much. You are to a very large degree responsible for that miserable copy; the best of writers would have failed under similar circumstances. If the boy had been left to himself and written without so much dictation, he could have produced a fair copy. He could not follow your directions without being confused and spoiling the copy. That poor boy has had too little encouragement and love and too much censuring for mistakes that are common to all.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 6)
“You make mistakes. You are an erring man. As you wish others to judge you mercifully, do the same to the erring. Give sympathy, give love, and you will find this power will soften and subdue the most wayward, and the greatest good will be realized upon your own heart and life. You will feel the subduing influence of the power of that love you exercise and cultivate toward others. You are a teacher. You should represent the great Teacher in your sympathy and tender, pitying love. As you love, you will be loved; as you pity, you will receive the same. ‘With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.’ [Matthew 7:2.] Love is power. It will have a transforming influence, for it is divine.”
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 7)
January 8, 1876 Oakland
In company with my son Edson and his wife, I crossed the bay to San Francisco. Sabbath School was reorganized. Edson was chosen superintendent and Brother Chittenden assistant superintendent. I opened the services with prayer and spoke to the people one hour and a half in regard to Christian sympathy and love. I felt deeply in regard to our people’s making more earnest efforts to keep themselves in the love of God, and the necessity of cultivating Christian courtesy and tenderness and love for one another and carefully cherishing the tender plant of love. This plant is of heavenly growth, and needs to be watered and cultured with kindly words and good acts, or it will become cold and wither and die.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 8)
There were very many excellent testimonies borne. Two strangers spoke with deep feeling. One was a physician who had been an infidel. He spoke particularly of the corruption of the churches to which he had once belonged. He had been behind the scenes and he had become an infidel by witnessing so much iniquity in the church. He was convicted that this people, few in number and humble, were the people of God. The Methodist strangers spoke to good acceptance. I spoke forenoon and afternoon with great freedom. The Lord blessed the word spoken. About four o’clock I returned to Oakland.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 9)
January 9, 1876 Oakland
I spent most of the day in writing. Felt quite weary and in need of rest from yesterday’s labor. In the evening I spoke in Oakland church to an interested audience. A large number of outsiders were present and showed the most respectful attention. I had as good degree of freedom in speaking in regard to the lost sheep—the parable our Saviour gave to His disciples. My husband spoke to a good congregation in San Francisco. He returned at about 11 o’clock.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 10)
January 10, 1876 Oakland
I arose at 5 a.m. Wrote four pages note paper to Sister Ings. Sister Hall and my niece Mary Clough accompanied me in a walk about daylight. We purchased some things to eat. The air was cool and bracing. Read revised pages of Testimony No. 26. Wrote several pages of private testimony. After dinner my husband, Miss Clough, and myself walked to town. Purchased two pairs of scissors for Addie and May Walling, and diary for myself.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 11)
Brother and Sister Chittenden called on us. I learned for the first time they were building upon the lot joining the meetinghouse, through an understanding that we desired it. We assured them we had felt very reluctant for them to build so close to the church, because of the burdens this must bring upon them. Sister Chittenden felt also unwilling to live there. Brother Chittenden stated he had been offered five hundred dollars for his trade. We walked to Brother Jones’. Called on them and conversed in regard to the plans of Brother Chittenden. All agreed it was better for them not build on the church lot.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 12)
January 11, 1876 Oakland
We were blessed with another beautiful day. I devoted my time to writing, filling in the broken links in the history of my life. In the afternoon walked to the city. The Review came in the evening. Brother Diggins called from the city to obtain money—two thousand dollars from my husband at ten percent interest.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 13)
January 12, 1876 Oakland
We have had another beautiful day. Arose at half-past five. Wrote to Green Valley to Brother Ross for boxes of apples. Wrote several pages to twin sister Lizzie. We decided to have the cellar dug at once for the foundation of our new house. Furniture man is looking at the bed set bought of Sister Willis.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 14)
I accompanied my husband to the city. We called upon Brother Blake. We visited the Methodist Tract and Missionary Society, purchased books and cards for Sabbath school and two books for May and Addie. We took the Hay’s Valley cars for _____.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 15)
Our church workman was putting in the windows. These windows of colored glass look very beautiful. No need of blinds or weights. We called upon Sister Parker and remained one hour, then went to the church. Sister Chambers paid for Signs to be sent to her friends. Meeting was held in church for election of trustees—Brother Diggins, Brother Chittenden, Brother Davis, and Sisters Rowland and James. My husband made some remarks in reference to the dedication of the house of worship one week from next Sabbath and first day. He again spoke of the discouraging prospect in regard to having a house of worship one year ago. Now it was all completed, and he hoped it would soon be free from debt. We then returned across the bay to Oakland.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1876, 16)
Ms 3, 1876
Diary, June 1876 NP June 14 - June 21, 1876 Previously unpublished. June 14, 1876
Tarried over night at hotel in Dubuque, Iowa. Rested well. Arose at half-past four. Wrote seven pages for Review. Took breakfast and found my sack missing. Was taken to the depot and stepped on board the cars about nine o’clock. About three o’clock changed from car to boat. The heat was very debilitating. Rode twelve miles on boat. Waited for cars about one hour. We suffered with heat. Rode on cars three miles, and changed cars for Sparta, Wisconsin. Arrived on the ground about seven o’clock. The tent was soon pitched, and we were furnished with comfortable beds, bedding, chairs. Mosquitoes troubled us considerably. Made a smudge to drive them away. Slept well after a while.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1876, 1)
June 15, 1876
It is raining this morning. A stove is set up and we are very comfortable. There are 43 tents on the ground. This is a beautiful encampment. I spoke from Peter.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1876, 2)
June 20, 1876
We were awakened at four o’clock by prayers mingled with weeping. The delegates in the conference were assembled in a tent near ours. Mr. White was urged to attend to consider the case of Elder Downing, whose course was censurable. Mr. White pleaded with his brother and entreated him. These solemn entreaties, bearing the unmistakable evidences of the power of God, reached us under our tent. This was indeed a remarkable meeting. Elder Downing confessed his wrong and promised to heed the advice of his brethren. We next had our parting meeting. This was a good meeting. We bade our brethren farewell. We repaired to our tent to take a meager breakfast and pack our trunks to get to depot. We have had no sunshine for four days, and still the clouds give mist and rain. We were detained nearly two hours by a break in the engine. We arrived on the ground at half-past eight o’clock. At nine o’clock preparations were made to erect our tent. At half-past ten we were prepared to retire.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1876, 3)
June 21, 1876
We were awakened with singing of birds. The grove was made vocal with the happy songsters pouring out their grateful, joyous notes of praise to their Creator. This awakened gratitude in our hearts for the sweet, glad sunshine—the first morning in five days that we have enjoyed the glad sunshine. At this moment Elder White is talking to the people assembled at the stand under the shade of the grove. Elder Matteson preached the morning discourse.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1876, 4)
Ms 4, 1876
Testimony to E.H. Gaskill and Wife Refiled as Ms 8, 1875.
Ms 5, 1876
The Days of Noah NP 1876 This manuscript is published in entirety in 10MR 265-266, 371-374; 12MR 207-209.
[First two pages missing.] ... Because of his holy integrity and unwavering adherence to God’s commands, he was counted singular indeed and made himself an object of contempt and derision by answering to the claims of God without a questioning doubt. What a contrast to the prevailing unbelief and universal disregard of His law!
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 1)
Noah was tested and tried thoroughly, and yet he preserved his integrity in the face of the world—all, all against him. Thus will it be when the Son of man shall be revealed. The saved will be few, as is represented by Noah and his family. The world might have believed the warnings, God’s Spirit was striving with them to lead them to faith and obedience, but their own wicked hearts turned aside the counsel of God and resisted the pleadings of infinite love. They continued their empty ways as usual, eating, drinking, planting, and building, up to the very day Noah entered into the ark.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 2)
Men in Noah’s day were not all absolute idolaters, but in their idolatry they professed to know God; and in the grand images they had created, their plan was to represent God before the world. The class who professed to acknowledge God were the ones who took the lead in rejecting the preaching of Noah and through their influence leading others to reject it.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 3)
To every one comes the time of test and trial. While Noah was warning the inhabitants of the world of the coming destruction, it was their day of opportunity and privilege to become wise unto salvation. But Satan had control of the minds of men. They set light and truth for darkness and error. Noah seemed to them to be a fanatic. They did not humble their hearts before God, but continued their occupation the same as if God had not spoken to them through His servant Noah. But Noah stood like a rock amid the pollution and wickedness surrounding him and wavered not in his faithfulness. He stood amid the scoffs and jeers of the world, an unbending witness for God, his meekness and righteousness shining brightly in contrast to the crime and intrigue and violence surrounding him.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 4)
Noah connected with God, and he was strong in the strength of infinite power. For one hundred and twenty years he daily presented God’s warning in regard to events which, so far as human wisdom was concerned, could not take place. The world before the flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed; the recurring seasons had come and gone in regular order. Rain had never yet fallen, but a mist or dew had fallen upon the earth, causing vegetation to flourish. The rivers and brooks had never passed their boundary, but had borne their waters safely to the great sea. Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. The people did not recognize the Hand that had stayed the waters, saying, “Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.” [Job 38:10, 11.]
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 5)
Men began to feel secure and to talk of the fixed laws of nature. They reasoned then as men reason now, as though nature were above the God of nature, that her ways were so fixed that God Himself would not or could not change them, thus making God's messages of warning of none effect because, should His word be fulfilled, the course of nature would be disturbed. The men before the flood sought to quiet their consciences that the Spirit of God had aroused by arguing how impossible it was for the message of Noah to be true and a flood to deluge the world, which would turn nature out of her course. The same reasoning is heard today. “Why, the world will not be destroyed by fire.” The siren song is sung, “‘All things continue as they were from the beginning.’ No need to pay any regard to this preaching that the world's history will soon close. Why, the laws of nature show the inconsistency of this.” [2 Peter 3:3, 4.] He who is Lord of nature can employ it to serve His purpose, for He is not the slave of nature.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 6)
They reasoned that it was not in accordance with the character of God to save Noah and his family, eight persons only, in that vast world, and yet all the rest be swept out of existence by the waters of the flood. Oh, no. There were great men and good men on the earth. If they did not believe as Noah did, Noah was deceived. It could not be otherwise. Here were the philosophers, the scientific men, the learned men. All could see no consistency in this message of warning. This fanciful doctrine was an illusion of the brain. If this were the truth, the wise men surely would know something about it. Would all of these learned men perish from the face of the earth and Noah be found the only one worthy of being spared?
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 7)
As they reasoned in Noah’s day, they reason today, when the warning message is proclaimed to fear God and keep His commandments, for the wrath of God is soon to fall on all the sinful and disobedient, and they will perish in the general conflagration. Professed servants of Christ who are unfaithful, who do not reverence God and with fear prepare for the terrible future event, will lull themselves to carnal security with their fallacious reasoning, as they did in Noah’s day. God is too good and too merciful to save just a few who keep the Sabbath and believe the message of warning. The great men and the good men, the philosophers and men of wisdom would see the Sabbath and the shortness of time, if it were true. They did not believe a merciful God who made men would consume them with fire because they did not believe the warnings given. This, they reason, is not in accordance with God.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 8)
But the days before the flood steal silently on as a thief in the night. Noah is now making his last effort in warnings, entreaty, and appeal to the rejecters of God’s message. With tearful eye, trembling lip, and quivering voice, he makes his last entreaty for them to believe and secure a refuge in the ark.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 9)
But they turn from him with impatience and contempt that he should be so egotistical as to suppose his family are the only ones right in the vast population of the earth. They have no patience with his warnings, with his strange work of building an immense boat on dry ground. Noah, they said, was insane. Reason, science, and philosophy assured them Noah was a fanatic. None of the wise men and honored of the earth believed the testimony of Noah. If these great men were at ease and had no fears, why should they be troubled?
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 10)
God’s love is represented in our day as being of such a character as would forbid His destroying the sinner. Men reason from their own low standard of right and justice. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.”Psalm 50:21. They measure God by themselves. They reason as to how they would act under the circumstances and decide God would do as they imagine they would do.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 11)
God’s goodness and long forbearance, His patience and mercy exercised to His subjects, will not hinder Him from punishing the sinner who refused to be obedient to His requirements. It is not for man—a criminal against God’s holy law, pardoned only through the great sacrifice He made in giving His Son to die for the guilty because His law was changeless—to dictate to God. After all this effort on the part of God to preserve the sacred and exalted character of His law, if men, through the sophistry of the devil, turn the mercy and condescension of God into a curse, they must suffer the penalty. Because Christ died they consider they have liberty to transgress God’s holy law that condemns the transgressor and would complain of its strictness and its penalty as severe and unlike God. They are uttering the words Satan utters to millions, to quiet their conscience in rebellion against God.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 12)
In no kingdom or government is it left to the lawbreakers to say what punishment is to be executed against those who have broken the law. All we have, all the bounties of His grace which we possess, we owe to God. The aggravating character of sin against such a God cannot be estimated any more than the heavens can be measured with a span. God is a moral governor as well as a Father. He is the Lawgiver. He makes and executes His laws. Law that has no penalty is of no force.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 13)
The plea may be made that a loving Father would not see His children suffering the punishment of God by fire, while He had the power to relieve them. But God would, for the good of His subjects and for their safety, punish the transgressor. God does not work on the plan of man. He can do infinite justice that man has no right to do before his fellow man. Noah would have displeased God to have drowned one of the scoffers and mockers that harassed him, but God drowned the vast world. Lot would have had no right to inflict punishment on his sons-in-law, but God would do it in strict justice.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 14)
Who will say God will not do what He says He will do? Let God be true and every man a liar. The Lord is coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on those sinners who know not God and obey not His gospel. And because, in His infinite mercy, He delays His coming to give the world a larger span for repentance, sinners flatter themselves He will never come.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 15)
In the public press, in the haunts of sin, as well as in the schools of science so-called, there is one sentiment. They curl the lips with scorn and jest and ridicule at the warnings given them and look upon the thousands who will not believe. Jests are uttered, witty paragraphs published at the expense of those who wait and look for His appearing and with fear, like Noah, prepare for the event. This is not new, but as old as sin. It is as false as the father of lies.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 16)
When ministers, farmers, merchants, lawyers, great men, and professedly good men shall cry, Peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh. [1 Thessalonians 5:3.] Luke reports the words of Christ, that the day of God comes as a snare—the figure of an animal prowling in the woods for prey—and lo, suddenly he is entrapped in the concealed snare of the fowler. [Chapter 21:35.]
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1876, 17)
Ms 6, 1876
Concerning Jonah NP 1876 Previously unpublished.
In Newberry, N. H., I was shown in vision some things concerning our disappointment in 1844.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 1)
We were visiting at the house of Brother Morse, who had been a firm believer that Christ would come to this earth in 1844. I was shown the passing of the time was a great disappointment to Brother Morse. He could not explain the delay. He did go back and renounce his past experience as error and call it all a delusion, fanaticism, as many others had done. But he was bewildered. He had lost his whereabouts, and was desponding, doing nothing to cheer or strengthen the faith of others.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 2)
I was shown the case of Jonah. God sent him with a message of warning to the Ninevites. He cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Thus for the space of three days Jonah went through the city with his fearful warning cry, Yet forty days, yet forty days, and the wrath of God should fall upon wicked Nineveh. But when Nineveh, from the king upon his throne down to the humblest servant, humbled [itself] before God, the Lord accepted [its] humiliation and turned from His fierce anger. But Jonah was confused and displeased, because he had given the message devoting Nineveh to destruction, and then afterwards God’s sparing Nineveh would cause him to be looked upon as a false prophet. He had more thought for his confusion and humiliation than for that large city to perish in [its] sins.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 3)
The disappointment of Brother Morse was similar to that of Jonah. The Lord had given Jonah the very message He wished him to carry: “Preach unto it the message that I shall give thee, saith the Lord.” [Jonah 3:2.] The event predicted did not come, yet the message of warning was no less from God. It accomplished the purpose God designed it should.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 4)
The Lord sent for the men to preach the message He should give them that Christ would appear the second time to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity in 1844. The time passed. The event anticipated did not take place. Yet the message of warning was of God, to test and prove the people of the world who heard the note of warning. The mistake was in the event. They were not in error in preaching time. God hid from them the event that was to take place. They thought Christ would come to this earth to purify the world by fire. They regarded the earth as the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the 1335 [2300?] days. After the passing of the time, light shone more clearly upon the prophecies that the sanctuary to be cleansed was in heaven. Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary upon the great antitypical day of atonement to cleanse it from the sins of the people by virtue of His own blood.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 5)
*****
Miss Messer (who is now a married lady in Vermont) was a child in her father’s house. She is niece of Brother Morse. She has reported that I had a vision in Newberry, in which I said several times, “In forty days, yet within forty days.” She interpreted that this was the time that I had been shown that the Lord would come. I have written what was shown me in regard to them. I was shown that instead of Brother Morse’s feeling disconsolate and unreconciled as did Jonah, he should feel the deepest gratitude to God that Christ did not come to this earth in 1844 and destroy the wicked. But that in His mercy and loving-kindness, He gave them still time to repent of their sins and prepare for His coming.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1876, 6)
Ms 7, 1876
Statement Regarding Israel Dammon NP 1876 Previously unpublished.
He reports that I saw him, Brother Reed and several others, crowned in the kingdom of God. And afterward I saw him lost.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1876, 1)
This is not correct.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1876, 2)
I was shown the travels of those who were looking for the second appearing of our Saviour. I was shown their trials. They were represented to me as walking upon a high, narrow path, distinct and separated from the world, who were traveling the broad road. I saw that those who traveled the narrow pathway were in continual danger of falling. Crowns were laid up in heaven for them. If they traveled on to the end of the narrow path, they would receive the finishing touch of immortality and have the crowns and an eternal weight of glory. If unfaithful, their punishment would be measured according to the privileges and light they had received.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1876, 3)
After I came out of vision, Elders Dammon and Reed enquired if I saw them upon that high and holy path. I told them I recollected their countenances with many others, [and] at the same time gave them a warning not to become exalted, lest they lose the crowns it was their privilege to gain through humility and faithfulness.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1876, 4)