Directors of the Sanitarium at Battle Creek Christiania, Norway November 3, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in MM 211; 11MR 78-79. Dear Brethren:
Some things at the sanitarium have troubled my mind. I wrote about them and supposed that the matter had been copied and sent to Dr. Kellogg; but after we came to Switzerland, I found it in my portfolio. I then had no time to write in regard to this. I will now forward that which ought to have been sent before.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 1)
I was not willing that this should come to those who might use it to the Doctor’s injury, but now I must write it out. I was shown that he had been in danger, great danger, in the past, of making shipwreck of faith by exalting science above the God of science. He has not a clearly defined position in reference to his faith, and should be guarded, or he will certainly wander in the mazes of skepticism.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 2)
I have not felt that the enlargement of the sanitarium was advisable, for several reasons. The foregoing is one. Another is, there is in him an element that will have a controlling power over him, unless he walks humbly before the Lord and is under the influence of His Spirit. It is a disposition not to allow others to obtain a thorough knowledge of all branches of the important work at the sanitarium. This is not as it should be. He should feel anxious to have men obtain all the knowledge they can possibly acquire. The work has grown large, under the Lord’s guidance, and yet there is not one man that can be depended upon to work by Dr. Kellogg’s side. This is not because no man can be found, but matters are so managed that the people look to Dr. Kellogg and expect him to give them personal attention. Thus expectations are encouraged which cannot be realized; then there is dissatisfaction. Those who cannot obtain his personal help think that the advice and attention of others is of little value.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 3)
The Doctor can change this order of things. He alone has the power to do this. He can and should give greater encouragement to those who labor in connection with him. He needs to look at some of these matters in a different light. Should he be unfitted for his work, who would take his place? He should not keep his knowledge in this way, saying, “Thus far shalt thou go, but no further.” Students should have every opportunity to learn all that it is possible for them to learn; for there is great need of physicians who are thoroughly qualified for their work.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 4)
The sanitarium carries a heavy debt. Debts have been continually accumulating as improvements have been made. These improvements are all excellent, but there is, I have been shown, danger that the Doctor, with his inventive powers, will carry the matter altogether further than our finances will warrant. The effort to develop talent has not kept pace with the outlay of means for the purpose of increasing the patronage of the institution. While facilities are provided to accommodate more patients, scarcely anything is done to obtain talented and caretaking men to carry the burden of the work with Dr. Kellogg.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 5)
The strain upon the Doctor is too heavy. He grasps at too much. His studies and bookmaking, in connection with the care of patients and so many other responsibilities, have been too much for his strength. Although there were limited facilities for the accommodation of patients, there were all the patients he could attend to, and more than he ought to have had, until he could educate reliable helpers to share his burdens. He is at fault here. We appreciate Dr. Kellogg, and we cannot consent to let him do work that others should do, to look after matters aside from his special professional duties, matters which others might look after. He should train others to do this class of work, so that the burden of so many things will not fall on him. He is a superior practitioner; but his mind is so full of contemplated improvements which he enters into, that he is so burdened with responsibilities he should not have, that it becomes worn, his nerve, brain power is strained, and he views matters in such an exaggerated light and speaks in such a way as to depress his own feelings and greatly discourage others. There are many evils resulting from this. If the Doctor continues to do as he has done, he will break down and become nervous, impatient, harsh, and denunciatory. He will justify himself when he needs to correct his wrongs. I urge those who are appointed to guard the interests of this institution to do their appointed work, to exercise their judgment, and through decided efforts change this order of things. Our sanitarium must not be the ruin of Dr. Kellogg. Brethren, you must do something in this matter. The Lord lays the responsibility upon you as directors. You should make more earnest efforts to secure men who will share this burden while Dr. Kellogg is able to give them the benefit of his knowledge and experience.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 6)
The greatest service which the Doctor can render to the cause of God is to be a patient, true, God-fearing educator. He is to make that sanitarium a means of great reforms upward. He cannot find perfection anywhere, and should not expect it, but he must bear with the perversity of men and try to teach them.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 7)
Dr. Kellogg has obtained his scientific knowledge by agonizing effort. He has robbed himself of sleep, devoting to study and investigation the hours that should have been given to rest. With the same determined effort, he has put in practice the knowledge gained. But while there are few that would do as he has done, and few who have ability to plan as wisely in many things as he has planned, still his experience and practice have not been faultless, and in some instances work has been done twice over, at considerable loss of means. No experience is gained without some mistakes. Dr. Kellogg should consider that while many of his errors are not brought to notice, the mistakes of others are made to appear in the worst light. No man is perfect; and instead of indulging a spirit of unjust criticism toward those connected with him in the work because they make mistakes, he should give them all the encouragement he possibly can. This will inspire in them confidence and love toward himself. A haughty, independent spirit should never be countenanced in Dr. Kellogg or in any other doctor. All should be willing to learn, and the Doctor should be willing to teach. While imparting to others the wisdom and knowledge God has given him, he will receive of God more than he imparts. He should realize that he is doing God’s will and His work. While the students must be ready to begin with lesser responsibilities and give evidence that they can be trusted, he (the instructor) should feel for them the tenderest affection. He should not become discouraged at their ignorance, but should give them credit for all the good qualities he sees in them. In educating himself in this direction, he is obtaining a valuable experience—an experience which he needs in order to be a practical Christian.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 8)
If the students make mistakes, let him not think them unworthy to be placed on trial again, as though they had committed sins that cannot be forgiven. He should kindly point out their errors, and they, in turn, should be grateful for a friend so faithful as to tell them their faults and how to correct them. To cast off the erring, or to treat them coldly, would not be doing as Christ has done for him. We are all fallible and need the pity and consideration and forgiveness of one another. Our work is to help one another to reform. The Doctor can draw men to him, he can win the confidence and love of those whom he would instruct, if he connects himself with Christ as the branch with the vine.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 9)
It would be well for the Doctor and for the other physicians to go away at times from the pressure of constant care at the sanitarium. He should not have the incessant strain upon him. Provision has been made for larger patronage; and should disease fasten upon him, or he be called from the sanitarium, the result to the institution would show the lack of wise generalship in his not bringing in talent to carry forward the work that the sanitarium might not become demoralized and lose its good reputation. It is difficult for Dr. Kellogg to unload and let the burdens he should never have borne be placed on other shoulders. He has encouraged the custom of having all business matters brought before him and has so long done the thinking for others that if not consulted, he will be inclined to think that due respect was not shown him. Nevertheless, a change should be made. It was not right in the beginning that he should let other men use his brains. Those who cannot do the delicate and difficult work in his line as medical practitioner, which must devolve upon Dr. Kellogg, should think and plan and act for themselves in matters which come within their province; and the Doctor must, in place of censuring them, commend them.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 10)
The management of the business interests of the sanitarium should not rest upon the Doctor as it has done. Others must attend to such matters. A multitude of cares may thus be removed from him. He should make every exertion on his part to qualify men to engage with him in the work and should give them an opportunity to share his responsibilities. This would be a mercy to himself and a great blessing to them. Unless he does make efforts to save himself, he will become, unexpectedly to himself, a complete wreck, when with proper exercise of his powers, restraining inclination, he might be able to do a good work, enduring as eternity.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 11)
This advice and warning were given to me to give to my husband and have been given to many others. They were urged to unload, and not break under the continual strain and burden. My husband’s help and counsel were needed and are needed today more than at any former stage of the work. There is not one engaged in the work who has the qualities of a manager as he had; and God would have had his life preserved, that he might have stood as a counselor; but he has gone down to the grave because others let him bear the load and do their thinking and their planning, and then he suffered their criticisms, which broke his heart. He saw that others failed to discern matters clearly and that they made mistakes. They were not judicious and far-seeing. There were wanting in their characters elements which he possessed in a high degree. His qualifications were just what the work required to mold and develop it and keep from creating extravagant things which could not be sustained; but the time came when others should come in to share the responsibilities. He was waiting for some men of piety as well as of talent and ability to carry the work forward and upward to greater perfection, someone competent to take his place. He was disgusted and distressed because there were so few who were men of discernment, so few who would be burden-bearers, and he thought that in order to save blunders, he must do all the work himself.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 12)
Thus he kept on and on, until he dropped under the load. He was unloaded by others before he died, not in the right way, but in a way that God did not approve; and he carried the burden all the same, only made a great deal heavier by the wicked pressure brought to bear upon him.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 13)
We do not want this experience repeated in Dr. Kellogg’s case. We want the load to be removed while he has some strength left to accommodate himself to the situation. After my husband was removed from the work in such a manner as he was, the very men he dared not trust to share his burdens with him had to carry them all without the aid of his quick, far-reaching foresight, and without the help of his advice and experience. His voice might have been heard today if he had heeded the words of warning.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 14)
Because Elder White could see what needed to be done, his brethren for many years were content to let him do their thinking, their seeing, their planning, and their executing. Thus, instead of becoming more efficient, they became less and less self-reliant. Simple, common business matters were brought before him by those connected with him in the work, until he became so accustomed to this that if not consulted about even minor matters he felt that due respect was not shown him. So it is with Dr. Kellogg.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 15)
Brethren Murphy, Hall, and those connected with them are making the same mistake which others made in the case of my husband. They are in many respects machine men. They are willing to do if someone will tell them what to do; but their mental powers are becoming weakened, because, instead of thinking and planning for themselves, even in simple matters, they prefer to use Dr. Kellogg’s mind. They wait to ask him if such and such things should be done.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 16)
Brother Hall occupies the position of superintendent, but so far as thoughts and plans are concerned, Dr. Kellogg has the work of the superintendent to do. The Doctor should not have encouraged these men to depend on him to be brains for them. He has served tables too much. It is a sin and a shame for his mind to be called to so many frivolous, commonplace matters, and in allowing it he does a wrong to those connected with him. They will never become efficient till he shall change his course. Dr. Kellogg has larger responsibilities to take his time and engage his powers, and others should lift from him every ounce of burden they can. He cannot throw his arms about the entire institution. He must train his helpers to be self-reliant, independent, to be wise generals. He should not attempt to order every movement in person. God does not require of him such taxing service, even in the most important enterprises.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 17)
The Doctor has succeeded because he would not be defeated. He has faced stubborn difficulties, and has seen them give way before him, because his courage would not be daunted nor his energy wearied. But this is just what his associates in the work have failed to do. Such an experience would be more valuable to them than gold; it would be a benefit through all time and through all eternity. There need not be so many helpless souls who will sink before difficulties. Elder Andrews might have lived had he encouraged and educated others to share the burdens with which he loaded himself down. He deprived them of an education they might have had, because he did so much himself, and allowed them to rely upon his brain, instead of doing their own thinking. Every man can be a man, a whole man. By patient, thoughtful effort put forth with zeal and energy, all may overcome cowardice and ignorance and inefficiency. The superintendent of the sanitarium should do more than merely to echo Dr. Kellogg’s thoughts and plans. He should have sufficient breadth of thought and independence of judgment to differ with him in a Christlike manner, if the case demands it. He should use the powers of his own brain, and fill his office, thus growing in judgment and ability, so that every year he will become more capable of bearing responsibilities, that Dr. Kellogg may have periods of entire rest and change.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 18)
The same is true of others who are connected with the institution. They should not be mere shadows of Dr. Kellogg, for this is the danger; should the substance be removed, nothing would remain to make the shadow. They should not say Yea to his every proposition. They should never consent to be mere machines, run by another man’s brains. God has given them ability to think and to act. He would have them strong, firm, whole-souled, well-balanced men. And they should not be crippled or dwarfed in their knowledge for want of practice. Practical training is essential for all who would become efficient, whole. If students could spend some time in a hospital, they would obtain an experience of great value to them.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 19)
If the workers in the sanitarium learn to think independently, they will often be able to help the Doctor in his thoughts and plans, for he will recognize the propositions which reveal thought. He is not infallible; his plans are not always faultless and wise, and another may see failure where he sees success. An associate with a good strong mind to propose plans and offer counsel would be the greatest blessing the Doctor could have.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 20)
But there are some who no sooner hear a plan proposed, than they take it for granted that its utility cannot be questioned. Because it is proposed by Dr. Kellogg it must be right, and they at once give it their support. They do not weigh the matter, probe it, sift it, test it, pray over it, giving the Doctor the benefit of deliberate thought and clear plans that would bring relief to his mind.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 21)
The Lord has said, No one man’s mind or judgment is sufficient to exert a controlling influence in any of our institutions; therefore it is necessary that councils be held, that plans be considered by men of different stamp of character; then if there are defects, they will be discovered and removed. But here the same lack of independent thought is seen. If Dr. Kellogg makes a proposition, others stand ready to vote for it without taxing their own minds to candidly weigh the different points in the matter. Such men are mere ciphers. Brethren, you must have force of character, moral backbone and more power of thought in order to discern what enterprises are judicious, and the best way to take hold of them and make a success. But to do this, you should bring all your plans to the divine Counselor. Do not neglect to pray earnestly and in faith over every matter.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 22)
In order for you to be reliable men, there must be a constant growth of your powers. It is by the exercise of every faculty, even in little things, that we acquire power to engage in larger undertakings. Do not shirk your share of responsibility because there are risks to run, because there is something to be ventured. Do not require others to be brains for you. Do not be like a ball of putty. You must train your powers to be strong and vigorous. Your talents will increase as you exercise steady, unyielding energy in the discharge of duty.
(4LtMs, Lt 1, 1885, 23)
Lt 2, 1885
Butler, G. I. Refiled as Lt 23, 1885.
Lt 3, 1885
Kellogg, J.H. Extract from Lt 7, 1886.
Lt 4, 1885
Andrews, Edith Basel, Switzerland November 21, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in OHC 158; 2MCP 632; TMK 95. My dear afflicted Sister:
I wish to write you a few lines. I deeply sympathize with you in your sufferings under the hand of disease. The prospect of your recovery is uncertain. How long your stay will be prolonged it is impossible for us to tell. God alone knoweth the future. But while you have time, while reason and life are granted you, I beseech of you that the mistakes of your life shall not become the ruling power in your last days. If you see your mistakes, confess them. Do not further mar the experience of the young men in the office; do not allow them to be flattered with your accepted attentions which they may bestow; but if you would not link your life with them, should you recover health and strength, then sever the cord of these special attentions and preferences. Be not dishonest with them while your feet are on the brink of the eternal world. Be true to yourself, true to your God, true to your associates.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 1)
Your love, your attentions, your friendship have been human and not divine. You have not been one to lead these youth into the path your Saviour has traveled. You have not encouraged self-denial and self-sacrifice in the youth with whom you have associated. They do not look upon your Christian life as God looks upon it. They have idolized you, given their love and sympathy to you, and it has flattered and pleased you. You have held, as it were, an admiration society of each other, and you have been no help to the young. The youth have injured you by their flattery.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 2)
Your life has been so filled with human sympathy and human attention that you have not appreciated the love of Christ. You have had an undercurrent in your life which the books of heaven register as double-dealing. This is a great offense to God. I know your feet have not been placed in the footprints of the Man of Calvary. Can we by any means on our part guide these feet aright, that you may stand on the Rock? I caution you to believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. Oh, my sister, your life has not been what it might have been. Had you drawn your sentiments and conclusions from the Scriptures rather than from hereditary tendencies; had you not followed inclinations rather than where the True Shepherd leads the way; had you read books less and searched the Scriptures more earnestly, you would have been enabled to discern between the false and the true Christian life and character. Your life has been filled with sentimentalism in one sense, your powers have been perverted. There is nothing we should dread so much as being ignorant of Satan’s devices.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 3)
I hope your associates that have been so devoted to you will not be the means, now in these important moments left you, of blinding your eyes to your great soul need. Do not, I beseech of you, deceive your own soul. Do not deceive others that know your want of devotion, your want of true Christian experience, so that that life which has been a snare to others, imperiling their souls, will be regarded in their spiritual blindness as a martyr’s life, worthy of veneration. God does not regard it thus.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 4)
Last Sabbath I thought I could see a ray of light in your testimony in the expression that you wanted a new conversion. This is what you need and must have. Delay it not. Confess your errors and forsake them, and leave as true and correct a representation as you possibly can of the Christian’s life behind you. Let no doubt be left on any mind as to your true repentance and your true conversion. Satan has thrown the bandage across your eyes, that you cannot see yourself as you are. Others have idolized you for the virtue, the lovely character they thought you possessed. But a selfish love for admiration has had a controlling power upon your life. Oh, look and see, while your affectionate words and manifestations of love have been lavished upon human objects, showing that you could give expression to these sentiments, how little has Christ had of that love. How little love and warm affection have you given your mother. You have not only robbed her of these, but how little have you spoken of Jesus. He has been excluded from your daily converse. Your influence has been to attract minds to yourself, to draw them away from Jesus, away from sacred devotion, to center their love and affections upon you. They have done this, not because of your resemblance to Jesus, not because of your genuine piety, but because they were pleased with you. They saw not and sensed not that with a firmness of purpose, worthy of a better cause; you have followed your own judgement and impulses and have done very much as you were inclined to do, notwithstanding advice and counsel to the contrary. But now the case becomes exceedingly solemn. You are most assuredly losing your hold upon this life, and your faith is not firmly grasping the hand of Jesus. I feel burdened for you. I beg of you to leave nothing undone in righting every wrong.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 5)
I realize in treating of this matter I am dealing with a soul that is judgment bound. I dare not flatter you. Let the strength God has given you be employed, even at this late hour, in seeking for the peace of Christ. Cast yourself unreservedly in repentance, and contrition, and faith on Jesus Christ. Come to Him at this solemn moment with simplicity. Satan has had advantage over you, and over others through you. They have idolized you, not because of your devotion to Jesus, but through human sympathy and affection. It is time that you cut every earthly cord. No longer seek to find amusement for yourself that time shall pass by more rapidly, but treasure every moment. Make the most of your God-given opportunities while life is prolonged. Seek earnestly to obtain a better knowledge of Jesus and a fitness for the future life. With that character with which you go down into the grave, you will come up in the resurrection. It is not the character that is changed at the resurrection, but it is the body that will be changed. This mortal will put on immortality, this corruptible shall put on incorruption. Jesus is waiting now at the eleventh hour to reveal Himself to you. If you will hear His voice and open the door of your heart through repentance and faith, He will come in and abide with you.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 6)
My dear sister, it is trying for me to make statements to you as I do in this letter. I dare not conceal the plain facts from you. There are not in you the virtues that many ascribe to you. May God give you spiritual eyesight, that you may discern your great need. You have a work to do to sever the tendrils that have entwined about you, and let them be entwining about God. You have no time to lose in doing up your work while life lasts and exercising that repentance that needeth not to be repented of. Do not leave anything undone on your part. I do not want you to banish from your mind the real work for eternity which you have strangely neglected. Every work will appear as it is in the judgment. It may be glossed over here, but there it will stand revealed in its true character.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 7)
Will you, my dear child, look especially to this matter and move intelligently? You cannot ignore the past; you have something to do with the past and the present. You have confessions to make in regard to the past; and how anxiously I have hoped to see you engaged in this work without presenting it before you again. Some weeks ago I spoke with you earnestly in regard to this matter. And now again I urge it upon your attention, not because I wish to cause you pain, but because I wish to save you from future sorrow and regrets that will bring you no relief. I love your soul; but it is very hard for you to see and acknowledge a wrong without any vindication of self. It is like taking out a right eye; like severing the right arm.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 8)
Your foolish associates have petted you and given you their preferences, and you in your turn have given them your attention. You have encouraged young men to entertain the idea that you loved them and allowed that intimacy which should exist only between persons who had exchanged vows of becoming all to each other. Now this has injured you more than you will ever see in its full bearing. And it has injured those whose hopes you have raised, and who have been disappointed in your refusing at last to marry them. If this had only been acted over once, then the matter would not have been as bad on your part, but the same attentions you would give to a fresh subject. I have talked with you most earnestly in the fear of God, showing you how offensive was this sin of trifling with hearts in the sight of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 9)
You have through your influence, while carrying the impression of leading minds to God, been leading them to center their affection upon you; and God has been robbed of the devotion and heart-worship that He claims. You have been cherished, and idolized, and worshiped, because these young men loved you as their ideal of perfection. They have been deceived. Their idol was clay, erring, faulty clay. You are not even bearing the image of the divine. These young men have not that true, earnest, thorough devotion to the work of God that they once had. Their affections have been divided. I want you to see this and sense it and repent of it because you really feel the need of pardon.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 10)
I hope that you will become more in earnest now, while disease is slowly wearing away your life forces. The voice from heaven has been appealing to you from the Word of God; the message borne by His servants during the late conference should have so impressed your heart as to lead you to heartily abhor yourself and put away the evil and make earnest work for repentance. The Spirit of God urges me to write these words to you. Jesus died to save you. The grand purpose of His life on earth was to save men and women, that they may comprehend the grand purposes of the plan of redemption and the rich provisions made for their salvation.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 11)
The corruptions that are in the world, all the unholy influences on every side are working ever to draw us down to a low level, that we shall be satisfied with human influences to take the place of the divine, that our sensibilities may become blunted and perverted through a wrong course of action. Conscience becomes feeble and the religious faculties become dwarfed, and eternal interests are brought down on a level with common things. Our natural and cultivated tendencies are to lead away from God and heaven until the grace of God works a transformation. The lower nature is ever inclined to bear sway. We are slaves to self-indulgence and frequently seek it in ways that God has reproved, until a low level is reached in the religious life, and the image of God is nearly obliterated from the soul. Now God will pardon and bless if we come to Him with full contrition of soul. But if no confessions and repentance come into the life, then our names will be spued out of the lips of Jesus. Our names will be blotted out of the book of life. The soul must feel its degradation and its need of a physician. Jesus has promised to bless those who come to Him in humility of soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 12)
Oh, that you would feel what the character of the past life has been, that it has been a deception and has poisoned the springs of true happiness, weakened and depraved the will, preventing its being used in the right direction, while it has been as firm as steel in the wrong direction. The soul needs cleansing by the blood of Jesus. Let us be thankful that it is not now too late for wrongs to be righted. Oh, now with subdued heart, turn to Jesus; lay hold on the hope set before you, with broken and contrite heart. Jesus offers free pardon and proposes to call you His daughter, and you may call Him by the endearing name “Father.” He will give you grace to help you in your weakness, and He will lead you to the light. You may have peace. But oh, that will of yours, to carry out your own inclinations: what a power it has been! How others have exalted you and thought you were perfection; but you have not led them heavenward. Will you now come to Jesus while your reason and a measure of strength are given you?
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 13)
God will make you free if you come to Him in sincerity in your soul’s great need. But do not seek to keep the time, these golden moments, filled up with unimportant matters to amuse you and make you forget the past errors of your life. Do your work now of confession, and by faith lay hold of Jesus’ blood. Animals’ spirits will only answer to serve us in health and sunshine. Let sad affliction come, let trials enter our circle, and the sunshine leaves us when we need it most. Companions will amuse us with light and cheerful talk; they will frequently flatter us with attention; but the thoughts and heaviness return to us again as unwelcome guests. These are lessons that you have to learn, late: that it is not that which is around us, not place or circumstances, but what is in us; not what we have, but what we really are that makes us have genuine happiness. We want a clear conscience, a spirit under command; and unless we have this, we always depend upon others for sympathy, for appreciation and comfort. And when deprived of human props, we find our spirits dark and uninteresting and cold. Meditation is not pleasant. Self-examination is dreaded. God wants that mind in the right place, centered upon Himself as the Source of peace and happiness and joy, else that mind will be discontented unless drinking in flattery and praise.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 14)
You have lost a rich experience, and it would be the worst kind of dishonor to God to regard your life as a success, or as any criterion for others to follow. It can in many respects only stand as a beacon of warning to prevent other souls from being deluded as you have been. But, dear child, your soul is precious. Jesus died for you, and now it is not too late for you to come to Jesus, to look and live. Thank God that Jesus lives to intercede for you. You are not left to vain regrets and disappointments. What this life fails to give the child of God we may by faith see richly furnished in the future life. We must be thoroughly dissatisfied with ourselves before we will feel the need of a Saviour to whom we may look and live. True faith in Christ is obedience to His commandments and to follow His example. The peace that passeth understanding is true belief in Christ, which unites us to Him as the branch is united to the living vine.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 15)
The heaviest burden is our own sins, and we do not want in word or in action to encourage anyone to be unconcerned in regard to his errors and mistakes. Much less would we seek to while away the few remaining hours of one, who is apparently about to die, with flattering hopes and seek to amuse and distract the mind, that it shall not candidly contemplate whether he has made his calling and his election sure. If ever there were a time when we should know ourselves, know whether we have been building upon sliding sand or upon solid rock, it is when our accounts for this life are to be closed up, to be unsealed and read in the great day of final settlement. Life looks to many desirable, presenting joy and happiness; but life has its troubles. Living is the solemn reality of the grave. We surely need to build now on solid rock, that we may not be moved from our foundation.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 16)
Let nothing, Edith, engage your attention now that will hinder you from making thorough work for eternity. You need a strong arm to lean upon now, and how helpless you would be without God. Let us be full of gratitude that it is not too late to make an entire surrender to God. Go to Him now, weak, sinful, helpless, and let this be the language of your soul, “Save, Lord, or I perish.”“Simply to Thy cross I cling.” Jesus is willing to help you, but you must feel your need of Him. You must not try to divert your mind from the real work before you of preparation. You are not ready to die; your sins are not confessed; they are not forgiven. But they may be both confessed and forgiven, and all your burdens may seem light. Grasp by faith the good hope of eternal life. That earnest seeking of God, that love you did not give to Jesus in your life, give to Him now in your weakness and helplessness.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 17)
Jesus is ready to be found of you. He first loved you, but what ingratitude have you shown to Jesus. Your soul has not been attracted to Jesus. Peace is found in the unfailing promise of God. There has been great need of your searching the Scriptures, but other reading has pleased you better than your Bible. But now become acquainted with God. When your associates visit you, and may try to beguile or divert your mind, tell them the moments for you are golden, that you have yet to learn the songs of Canaan. You have yet to become acquainted with your Redeemer—that the hours are too precious to be squandered; that all your remaining strength must be carefully devoted to securing your soul’s salvation.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 18)
The future life is to be secured. The promises are rich and full and glorious. These must be appropriated to yourself. Jesus the dear Saviour loves you. He has white robes and crowns of everlasting life for you. The dear Savior will lead you by the fountains of living waters. There will be no chilling winds, no wintry colds, but an eternal summer. There is light for the intellect; love that is abiding, sincere. There will be health and immortality; vigor for every faculty. There will be shut out forever every sorrow and every grief. But the songs of Zion must be learned below before they can be sung in heaven. Where there is no love for God in the heart, there is no joy in contemplating heavenly things. Where a holy heaven has not attractions, it cannot stand as supreme before the imagination.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 19)
Oh, my dear child, you need a Physician now, for you are sick—soul-sick. Those who think themselves worthy of admiration from human beings will underrate the offers of pardon from the precious Intercessor. The great purpose of the Bible is to lead us to a pure and holy life here in this world, preparatory for the sinless life in the presence of Jesus and the holy angels. We must be without spot, without wrinkle, or any such thing. Oh, that in your aspirations, in your life while looking to others for sympathy you had taken your Bible and pondered the messages from God to fallen man. You need to dwell upon the assurances of God’s Word, to hold them before the mind’s eye. Point by point, day by day, repeat the lessons there given, over and over, until you learn the bearing and import of them. We see a little today, and by meditation and prayer, more tomorrow. And thus little by little we take in the gracious promises until we can almost comprehend their full significance.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 20)
Oh, how much we lose by not educating the imagination to dwell upon divine things, rather than upon the earthly. We may give fullest scope to the imagination, and yet, “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9.] Fresh wonders will be revealed to the mind the more closely we apply it to divine things. We lose much by not talking more of Jesus and of heaven, the saints’ inheritance. The more we contemplate heavenly things, the more new delights we shall see and the more will our hearts be brim full of thanks to our beneficent Creator. Consider the wonderful love of God in giving His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting life. Oh, why do the professed followers of Christ become charmed and all absorbed with human frail beings and set their affections upon them and bow to them as to a deity, while Jesus is seeking to win our love and engage our thoughts, to bind us to His own heart by the disclosures of the tenderest sympathy and inexpressible love. No earthly parent has pled more earnestly with an erring child than Christ pleads for us before His Father’s throne, while we are transgressors of His law. No human lips have ever followed with more tender expostulations the erring ones. Have, then, a care how you treat this marvelous love. Read the rich promises of God and believe them. Ponder upon them. Listen to the voice of unspeakable love and pity. In Him we have redemption through His blood. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. God help you, my precious child, to come to Jesus just as you are, just as the sinner should come, in faith with repentance. Cut loose the tendrils; let them not entwine about earthly things, but let them entwine about God. You may never be lonesome, never feel that you are alone, if you will take Jesus as your Companion and your everlasting Friend. Learn the lessons now upon your sickbed that you failed to learn in your past life. Trust in Jesus fully as your Saviour, whose death has redeemed you; as your Intercessor, whose pleadings above avail with the Father and secure us peace, pardon. Our names are engraven on the palms of His hands, as our King to whom we must render a reverent and affectionate obedience. Jesus is the believer’s life, his hope, his joy. Love is the growth of faith and trust, to have Christ formed in us, to look to Him as a Friend and Counselor.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 21)
You have not this experience. You have ever been reaching out for human sympathy, human love, and you have led others to center their affections upon you. You have not loved Jesus, nor served Him. To make God’s grace our own, we must do our part most faithfully, work to keep our souls in the love of Jesus, and then we shall bring forth fruit meet for repentance. We are to seek, that we may find; knock, that it may be opened unto us. Every provision has been made for us, and the Bible leaves the responsibility upon us. If we are not saved it is our own fault. I invite you to come to Christ and to come just now; do not resist the Spirit. You must lay hold of eternal life. The forgiveness of sin is promised to him who repents and believes, the crown of life to him who is faithful.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 22)
Your experience has not been of the right stamp, and I do not wish yourself or others should consider that your experience in the religious life is safe for them to imitate. The design of God in giving us rich promises is stated by the Apostle Peter, that we “might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” [2 Peter 1:4.] We must have earthly, worldly tastes transformed to the divine and heavenly. Heaven would be no heaven to you or to me if our tastes and our meditations and our temper were not Christlike. The pure and heavenly mansions which Christ has gone to prepare for His children are such as the redeemed alone can value by being made meet for them by the inward work of grace in their hearts. I might picture to you the blessedness of heaven, the crowns laid up for the conquerors, the white linen which is the righteousness of Christ, the palm branches of victory, and the harps of gold. But all these alone will not make heaven a place of bliss for any one of us. Without any of these, if we had pure and holy characters, we would be happy, for we would have Jesus and His love. Purity and innocence and conformity to Christ’s character will make heaven enjoyable. All the faculties will be strengthened, all in harmony. Perfect bliss can only dwell in the heart where Christ reigns supreme. Christ came to our world to die, the Just for the unjust, the Sinless for the sinful; that He might elevate and ennoble men and women and stamp His divine image upon them. For this His Spirit strives with us, that there may be an ever-advancing vigor and perfection of spiritual life which is the way we become partakers of the divine nature, having the likeness of Christ’s character.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 23)
My dear child, I beseech of you to seek God earnestly by confessing and putting away everything displeasing to God. He will accept you and give you light and peace and joy.
(4LtMs, Lt 4, 1885, 24)
Lt 5, 1885
Butler, G. I. Christiania, Norway October 31, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in TM 297-300. Dear Brother Butler:
I was more sorry than I can express to learn that under your instruction Brethren Farnsworth and Burrill sought to restrict the work at the New York camp meeting. You could not have advised them to do a worse thing, and you should not have put a work into their hands that they were not fitted to do in a wise manner. Be careful how you repress advancing work in any locality. There is little enough being done in any place, and it certainly is not proper to seek to curtail operations in missionary lines.
(4LtMs, Lt 5, 1885, 1)
After looking matters over carefully and prayerfully, I wrote as I did in my notes of travel. I wanted to leave the matter in such a shape as not to discourage the laborers in New York in their efforts to do something, although I desired to give them caution, so that they would not make any extreme moves in their plans. The workers were doing well and ought to have been encouraged and advised to go on with their work. There are men in New York who should have helped them by making needed donations to invest in the cause. They will have to give to the work before they will grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 5, 1885, 2)
You and your workers should have looked at this matter from different points of view than you did. You should have investigated the work thoroughly and asked yourselves if five thousand dollars was too large a debt to incur in the important work in which these workers were engaged. Your influence should have been exerted in such a way as to cause the people to see the importance of the work and to realize that it was their duty to rise to the emergency. You should have done as I have tried to in my notes of travel. But if our brethren feel at liberty to stop the work when they cannot see where money is coming from to sustain it, then the work will not only be contracted in Michigan and New York, but in every other state in the Union. If our workers are going forward in any place, do not put up the bars, and say, “Thus far shalt thou go and no further.” I feel sad that you have closed up the school at Rome, N.Y. I see that the brethren sent to look after this enterprise have not taken measures to advance the work by soliciting donations from men who could give. There are rich men in the conference who have made complaints about the debt that has been incurred who ought to have sustained these workers. While reproach and discouragement have been cast upon the workers, the impression has been made upon those who have means that they have a perfect right to question every enterprise that calls for money.
(4LtMs, Lt 5, 1885, 3)
God does not require you to take such a course, that the workers in New York or anywhere else shall not feel at liberty to make advance movements unless they can consult you and ask what your judgment of the matter is before they advance. I cannot sanction the idea that you must have a personal oversight of all the details of the work. If I did, the result would be that no worker would dare to exercise his own judgment in anything. The workers would have to rely upon one man’s brain and one man’s judgment, and the result would be that men would be left in inefficiency because of their inactivity. There are altogether too many of this class now, and they amount to next to nothing. I write this because I feel deeply on this point. We are not doing one half that we ought to do.
(4LtMs, Lt 5, 1885, 4)
It is true that the South Lancaster school must be sustained, but this need not hinder us from sustaining other schools. We should have primary schools in different localities to prepare the youth for our higher schools. It may seem to you that it is wise to close up the school in Rome, N.Y., but I fail to see the wisdom of it. To close up this school will seem to reflect discredit upon all that the people have done and will discourage them from making further advancement. I cannot see that you have gained anything in making the move that you have, nor can I feel that it is in accordance with God’s order. It will work nothing but injury, not only to those that have complained about the debt, but also to the workers. Men who have property, and could have helped this enterprise, will breathe more freely. These moneyed men will be encouraged not to do more for the cause than they have done, but to do less. They will feel at liberty to complain concerning anything that calls for an outlay of means. O that the Lord might guide you. You should never in a single instance allow hearsay to move you to action, and yet you have sometimes done this. Never take action to narrow and circumscribe the work unless you know that you are moved to do so by the Spirit of the Lord. Our people are doing work for foreign missions, but there are home missions that need their help just as much as these foreign missions. We should make efforts to show our people the wants of the cause of God and to open before them the need of using means that God has entrusted to them to advance the work of the Master both at home and abroad. Unless those who can help in New York are roused to a sense of their duty, they will not recognize the work of God when the loud cry of the third angel shall be heard. When light goes forth to lighten the earth, instead of coming up to the help of the Lord, they will want to bind about His work to meet their narrow ideas. Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that God will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness. Those who are accounted good workers will need to draw nigh to God. They will need the divine touch. They will need to drink more deeply and continuously at the fountain of living water in order that they may discern God’s work at every point. Workers may make mistakes, but you should give them a chance to correct their errors, give them an opportunity to learn caution by leaving the work in their hands.
(4LtMs, Lt 5, 1885, 5)
Lt 6, 1885
Andrews, Edith NP 1885 This letter is published in entirety in 10MR 53-58. Dear Sister Edith Andrews:
Your case has been presented before me. God has given you abilities, and you should use every faculty to His glory. There are dangers which you need to avoid. You need to learn to be unselfish in the home life. Your character needs to be molded after the divine model. A mold has already been given to your character which is not for your best good.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 1)
False views of life prevail everywhere. We meet this evil in our daily intercourse with society. If you cherish these false views, there will grow from them other errors, which not only affect your character, but the characters of those with whom you associate.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 2)
Right thinking lies at the foundation of rightdoing. It is not safe to follow inclination, or to allow a peculiar temperament, inherited or cultivated, to control the mind.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 3)
There are precious souls whose usefulness has been greatly lessened by misconceptions. By cherishing false ideas, they have weakened their physical and mental powers, cutting short lives that might have been preserved for many years.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 4)
We do the truth violence and injure ourselves and others when we live in careless indifference with regard to our relation to God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 5)
God is love. He it is whom we should love supremely. The wealth of our affection may flow without restraint in this divine channel. To love God supremely and our neighbor as ourself—this is the fulfilling of the law.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 6)
Many love self supremely. They seek their own enjoyment, disregarding the good of others. Those in whose hearts love of self is strong will hate those who refuse to sustain them in a wrong course of action.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 7)
There is a great deal said about religion, and many claim to possess religion, but true religion is very rare. There are many external forms, but in many cases these only serve as a cloak, to cover up the most soul-destroying selfishness.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 8)
True religion may be distinguished from its counterfeit. There is a test which shows the difference between the precious coin and the base metal. This test is to be daily applied. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” [Matthew 7:20.] Do we reveal love for God and His truth? Do we love our neighbor as we love ourselves?
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 9)
True religion shines forth in self-forgetfulness. The religion which must be closed within monastic walls in order to grow is no religion at all, but a mere form. It is amid the activities of life, in the everyday contact with one another, that we are to reveal that love which is made of deeds. Like a thread of gold this love must run through the daily experience.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 10)
To separate one’s self from all the disagreeable things of life, to choose a certain line of work to the exclusion of all other things, is self-pleasing.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 11)
The youth must fasten themselves firmly to God. Then they will see that they have a part to act in the world’s work. They will see duties to be performed. These duties will not always be agreeable! Notwithstanding this, they are to be performed cheerfully and willingly.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 12)
The essence of true religion is a desire to be useful to others, to lighten their burdens and lessen their cares, to do not merely the most pleasing things, but all that needs to be done. It calls for the crucifixion of selfishness. Happiness will come to those who live this religion.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 13)
Those who neglect the common duties of life—which somebody must do—to pursue a course of self-pleasing, are gaining a one-sided education. Only those who forget self, who are always studying the happiness and needs of others, are building a symmetrical character. Remember that every action adds to or takes from the happiness of others.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 14)
In neglecting the duties which someone must do, in withdrawing to your room to put upon paper in glowing language your devotion to God and the truth, or to relate some incident which has taken place, were you not pleasuring self? Was this done solely for the glory of God? Did no selfishness alloy the pure gold of your action? Was it not your duty to help those who were taking weary steps to add to the general comfort and convenience of the family? Did not the duties they performed lie directly in their pathway? Was there no cross for you to bear?
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 15)
God’s law is broken by those who disregard the good of others. Those who seek to do good to others act upon true principle. Self-love does not control the life. As we do this, we are making a record which we shall be reluctant to meet when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 16)
Every unselfish action makes the character more Christlike. When self is crucified, a change takes place in the life. The heart responds to the touch of the heavenly angels. The wrong tendencies transmitted as a birthright and strengthened by education are dropped out of the life. The current of the thought is changed. A love broad, deep, noble, Christlike, fills the heart and overflows to all Christ’s children. Whenever the time and attention are absorbed in self-gratification, the law of God is broken.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 17)
No one has a right to live only for self. The mind should never be confined in the narrow chambers of self. God has given us a broader sphere of action. The life is to be inspired by deeper, truer motive. A true, noble life is characterized by thoughtful attention to the needs of others. The love of Christ in the soul is a constant wellspring of joy, ever flowing forth to others.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 18)
We talk of graduating from our colleges, but there is no graduation from the school of Christ. Throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity Christians will be learners in this school.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 19)
Those who when they graduate from college think that they have learned all they need to learn have a very imperfect idea of education. If they looked at the matter in a right light, they would see that their education in practical life was just commencing. They must now use their knowledge and skill in new and untried ways. They will meet with many disappointments. They will be confronted by disagreeable duties. There will be need for patient, persevering effort. They are now to put their education to practical use. Day by day they will need divine power.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 20)
There are girls who dislike housework, who would much rather employ their time in sedentary work. This is a great mistake. Many girls die for want of physical exercise. When a girl employs part of her time in domestic work, both she and her mother are blessed. She learns what is of great use to her when the health and happiness of those she best loves depend upon her practical experience.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 21)
As possessors of God’s free gift of life, we should do all in our power to reach the highest degree of usefulness. Those who do not possess a well-balanced mind in a sound body will fail in their lifework.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 22)
Attention to health is one of our most important duties. We owe this to ourselves, to society, and to God. Young men and young women are proverbially careless in regard to their health. Hundreds die in early life, not because of a dispensation of providence, but because of a dispensation of carelessness. Many girls go half clad in cold weather. Others choose to sit reading or writing when they should be taking physical exercise. God gave them organs for use. The living machinery is not to be allowed to rust from inaction. To keep all the powers of the body equally taxed will require self-restraint.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 23)
The lives of many who have suffered premature death might have been prolonged to old age had they acted intelligently. Disease and death have become common because of the unpardonable ignorance of those who ought to know better. Exercise is indispensable to the health of every organ. If one set of muscles is used to the neglect of others, the living machinery is not being worked intelligently.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 24)
When physical exercise is taken, the circulation is quickened. The heart receives blood faster and sends it to the lungs faster. The lungs work more vigorously, furnishing a greater amount of blood, which is sent with stronger power through the entire being. Exercise gives new life and strength to every part of the body.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 25)
The nerves gain or lose strength in accordance with the way in which they are treated. If used too long and too severely, they are overtaxed and weakened. If used properly, they gain strength.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 26)
In order to have health, equilibrium of action must be maintained. The mind must harmonize with this, or the benefits are not realized. If physical exercise is regarded as drudgery, the mind takes no interest in the exercise of the different parts of the body. The mind must be interested in the exercise of the muscles. In the education of the youth, physical exercise must be combined with mental taxation.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 27)
Young girls who have health never know how to appreciate its value. If their employment is sedentary, they have a distaste for other branches of labor. They complain of great weariness if they take exercise. This should be to them a convincing fact that they need to train their muscles.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 28)
Those who have [not] been accustomed to think and plan for anyone but themselves, who find no pleasure in making themselves useful, lose a great amount of happiness. Sentimentalism is a dangerous element to come into the life and experience of the youth.
(4LtMs, Lt 6, 1885, 29)
Lt 7, 1885
Bourdeau, Daniel Healdsburg, California February 10, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in UL 55; VSS 216. Much Respected Fellow Laborer:
During the night I have had impressed upon me that you were in trouble. I was in your family, and you were talking extravagantly. You seemed to have no control over your words, your thoughts, or your actions. Said you, “I am done with Europe. I am going to America. I shall lose my life if I stay here. I am misjudged and unappreciated.”
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 1)
You seemed to be in an abandonment of grief. I stepped up to you and, placing my hand upon your head, said, “Lord, this dear brother is not in his right mind. Satan thinks to have the control of this intellect, but Lord, forbid it! We rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” I thought your agony passed away, and you said, “You then are not against me; you are my true friend.” I answered, “Brother Daniel, I have always been your friend.” Then a light broke over your countenance, and you said, “Jesus is my friend, and He will not suffer my feet to be moved.” I awoke, and this is what leads me to write to you not very long since God gave me this light in regard to your case.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 2)
I have been shown that God has a work for you to do which you can do to His acceptance if you firmly rely upon the arm that is infinite. You must not think that God would have you bear the whole burden. The work is His. The cause is the Lord’s. He will take care of His own work. You have a vivid imagination, and you put much intensity into your work. This wears you. You must always remember that Jesus loves you, and He requires obedience rather than sacrifice. You can do a much greater and more efficient work if you will cultivate a calm trust in God and do not become anxious, and worried, and troubled, as though Jesus were buried in the sepulcher, and you had no Saviour. He has risen, Daniel, He has ascended to the heavens and is your Advocate before the throne of God. You may refer your requests to God, knowing that you have a faithful High Priest who will be touched with the feelings of your infirmities, for He has been tempted in all points like as we are.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 3)
Do not feel that God is unmindful of you. He loves you and will give you rest and peace in Him. There is need of your exercising caution toward yourself. You are almost constantly overtaxing both the physical and mental powers because you allow yourself to feel too intensely. You would know just what advice to give another in your case.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 4)
Sometimes one of your lengthy discourses might have far better effect upon the people if cut up in three discourses; and most generally you could do more good, and leave a better impression, if one half the time were given to preaching and the other half be used in visiting or to rest your vital organs. The people cannot digest so much at a time; their minds cannot grasp so much; they become weary and confused by having so much matter brought before them in one discourse. There are many of our ministers who err in this respect. Then the result upon themselves is not good. They become brain weary and pity themselves. They feel that they are carrying heavy loads for the Lord and having a hard time. They begin to look to their feelings, and remove their eyes from Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of their faith, and ponder over their painful feelings.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 5)
Jesus does not want this sacrifice on their part. This high tone of voice is an expenditure of vital force which is all unnecessary and is a violation of the laws of health. It is not after God’s order. It not only worries the worker, but it wearies and annoys the people for whom he works, so that the interest is not kept till the close of the discourse, and two thirds of those long discourses are lost and the preacher is exhausted. The Lord does not work a miracle [to counteract what persons] do to themselves in their imprudent exercise of the powers He has given them. More than half of the preaching labor of the minister is lost in lengthy discourses. God has spoken to you on this point, but you do not obey His voice. You need to be a wiser steward over yourself. You need to guard D. T. Bourdeau, that he shall not do positive harm to himself in his labors and cut short his life. You must on this point reform. When this intensity of feeling is indulged and cherished; when the mind is kept on a constant strain and the voice wound up to a high pitch, a reaction is sure to come. You do not know how to let down. Your active brain invents more work, and the poor mortal body feels the strain and wear, and there is a depression corresponding to the high taxation put upon the powers. Do not allow yourself to make your labors unnecessarily severe. You tax yourself in writing as well as speaking. God does not want this. Work discreetly. Observe strictly the laws of health, and you will preach less and minister more. You will be fresh to do good work for the Master. Have fresh ideas and fresh manna to feed the sheep in Christ’s pasture. It is not wise to give them such a variety at one time that their minds cannot take in or comprehend the varied points placed before them.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 6)
The Lord would have you reform in your manner of labor, that you may preserve to yourself physical strength and a well-balanced mind; that you may be a wise counselor, and that you may have a symmetrical character. There is a great work yet to be done in saving souls. The warning message has but just begun its work in Europe. Men who have had experience in the knowledge of the truth are scarce. Too much so for you to be sacrificed. Those who are ignorant of the truth were not to receive it in large morsels without giving them time to digest what they do hear, one following the other in quick succession. While some minds are quick to catch an idea, there are many who are slow to comprehend new and startling truths, which involve great changes and a cross at every step. Deal out the precious, weighty truths discreetly. God has delegated His servants to carry this solemn, important truth to all tongues and people. But He does not require any one worker to do the work of two men or to do two weeks’ work in one.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 7)
The truth is so different in its character and work from the popular errors that are preached from the pulpit, that as it is brought before the people, it almost takes away their breath and senses. It is strong meat and should be dealt out judiciously; then those who listen, if you stop when you should, will be eager to hear more.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 8)
God has made His messengers the depositories of His truth, weighty and important with eternal results. Light is to shine forth amid the moral darkness to reveal sin and error. The truth must be given point after point. It must be spoken distinctly and with clear utterance, making a few essential points; then it will be as a nail fastened in a sure place by the master of assemblies. The preacher should labor to carry the understanding and sympathies of the people with him. Do not place the crib too high where the people cannot follow. This would not be wise generalship in teaching the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 9)
There should be no efforts to go out of the way to attack other denominations. This creates a combative spirit and closes the ears and hearts to the entrance of the truth. We have our work to do. It is not to tear down, but make up the breach that has been made in the law of God. The nobler work is to build up, to present the truth in its force and power, and let it cut its way through prejudice and reveal the error in contrast with truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 10)
No work should be left incomplete. Every man who preaches the truth should cultivate the qualities necessary as an educator. He is to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, establishing the receiver of the truth firmly in the faith, leaving no part of the work incomplete; considering the greatness of the work, God would have His workers keep themselves in the very best condition of physical and mental health, that they may have mental clearness, calm nerves, a quiet, peaceful spirit like Jesus. He would not have them physical and mental wrecks. These teachers are representatives of Christ. They must cultivate a meek and quiet spirit, learning daily in the school of Christ. They must labor as though God were close by their side to do that which it is impossible for them to do.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 11)
They are to work in God. “Without Me,” says the Saviour of the world, “ye can do nothing.” [John 15:5.]
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 12)
Every worker should have great care of the vital organs. Labor intelligently, using the precious gifts of God with an eye single to His glory, abusing none of their God-given faculties.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 13)
When your efforts have been protracted to an unreasonable length, then comes a feeling of weariness, lack of vitality, and every part of the being cries out with pain and weariness. Your vocal organs cannot bear the strain that has been put upon them by long, loud talking and praying. You can with caretaking, with calm consideration, with self-control, working temperately, yet do a good work for the Master. But you should not go alone. I have been shown that you should unite your labor with your brother or some other preacher. Then you can be a help to each other if you will be entreated and listen to counsel. Neither should tax himself to the utmost limit, for you may be called out at any time to use your long experience to do a work to stand in vindication of the truth which will call for calm nerves, candid reflection, and sharp, forcible arguments. You should consider it a sin to waste your strength, for you can use it all to a wise purpose.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 14)
Jesus wants two to be united in their ministerial efforts in teaching and educating the people whom they will bring into the faith. If your brother or some other minister labors with you, God wants you both to be cheerful, hopeful, and trustful, casting all your cares on Jesus and committing the keeping of your soul to Him, as to a faithful Creator, representing Jesus in character. Be strong, yea be strong in the strength of Jesus. The less you talk about yourselves the better will be your influence. Meekness and lowliness are the lessons to daily learn in the school of Christ.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 15)
Do not either of you feel that the whole weight and burden of the cause rests upon your souls. Jesus is the great burden-bearer. He is your helper. He says, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28-30.]
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 16)
Jesus will work with your efforts if you take counsel of Him. I was shown that He was looking upon you with the tenderest compassion. He saw you distrustful. He saw Satan tempting you and magnifying your trials before you. If in pain, you thought these were to you the precursors of your speedy dissolution. This is the enemy’s work. You may resist him. You may be conqueror. God wants you to be cheerful; to be free; to be happy; to be trustful, saying, with Paul, “These light afflictions which are but for a moment work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal.” [2 Corinthians 4:17, 18.]
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 17)
Every one of your trials is God’s workman; and if borne with patience, they are preparing for you a recompense of reward; and you should be of good courage, patient under them. You are in a hard field, but you are where God would have you. You had no rest in spirit until you went across the water to this European field. Do not let the enemy outgeneral you now. There is a work to be done, but in order to do the work you will be surprised if I tell you that you must work less. You must husband your vital forces in order to accomplish more and better work. You must not go on your own independent judgment, but counsel with your American brethren, for they will be to you a strength rather than a depressing power. Work in harmony, and do not look to yourself or talk of your grievances. Look to Jesus. Think less and less of yourself and more and more of Jesus. Do not think that the whole cause must be embraced by your arms. Talk less of self and more of Jesus and His sufferings, His great sacrifice. Jesus loves you. He wants you to be happy. He loves your family; but they need to exercise caution and never bring grievances before you, nor a complaint against anyone. There are nerves of the brain that are worn, and these particular nerves are exercised when anything like another’s wrongdoings are presented to your mind. Then you begin a train of thought which is most painful, most distressing; and you concentrate your active brain on these things until small matters grow to gigantic proportion, and you will do or say something to wound yourself and others. You will mar the work of God and lessen your influence. Your brethren do not know your peculiar temperament, therefore they will not know what these things mean. They will not know how to handle your case.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 18)
The followers of Jesus will have an experience as Christ had in the wilderness of temptation. And especially those who engage in work for the Master, to rescue souls from the snare of Satan. Those who engage to do the work that Christ came to do will feel the assaults of Satan as did Jesus. They will know something of Christ’s experience in the wilderness of temptation. Christ overcame Satan for us; so may His followers through the grace of Jesus. No one must feel that he is abandoned of God because he is subject to sore temptations. When you remain unshaken by Satan’s temptations, he will leave you; and if steadfast, angels will minister unto you as they did to Jesus. There is no comfort equal to that which Christians enjoy when the tempted soul has patiently suffered and Satan has been vanquished. They have boldly borne witness for Jesus, relied wholly upon the Word of God, “It is written,” and thus resisted every advance of Satan till they have beaten him back as did Jesus in the wilderness of temptation.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 19)
Let us in no case depreciate one because he is severely tempted and the billows seem to go over his head. We must remember that Jesus was sorely tempted in all points like as we are, and for the reason that He might succor all who should be tempted, that He might become a faithful High Priest. Let us remember that Jesus identifies His interests with His tempted suffering ones.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 20)
When the servants of God are tried and tempted; when they are disappointed in obtaining human sympathy, they may remember Jesus in His hour of greatest agony in Gethsemane. His disciples did not watch with Him one hour. Sleep overpowered their senses. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The King of glory, the Son of the everlasting Father, left His royal throne, clothed His divinity with humanity, and became a man of sorrows. No man’s trials or sacrifices could compare with that which His suffering spirit endured. The majesty of heaven walked through midnight blackness, and for what? “Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame.” [Hebrews 12:2.] It was to redeem fallen man. It was that He might bring many sons and daughters to glory that an overwhelming weight of woe was upon Him. He suffered rejection, coldness, contempt of those He came to bless and humiliated Himself to save them. He suffered weariness, persecution, buffeting, loneliness, anguish, betrayal, and crucifixion. The whole flood tide of human woe was gathered to His soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 21)
The followers of Jesus need not be amazed if they are made partakers with Christ of His sufferings. How can Christ look upon those for whom He has done so much, for whom He has paid so infinite a price, and yet they have never appreciated His great gift for them? The work of Christ’s representatives will be similar to that of their Redeemer. They are not to look to self or trust in self. They are not to place too high an estimate upon their own efforts. And when they see that others do not regard their efforts as highly as they themselves estimate them, they become to feel that their labors might as well cease. But this is the work of the enemy. We live not to men, but to God. God estimates our work at their fullest value. God estimates nobility of character; and whether men appreciate it or not, it lives after the man is gone. After man has nothing more to do with anything under the sun, the example he has set, the golden words he has spoken live through all time and through all eternity. This influence which was after the divine pattern never dies. His life has been connected with God.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 22)
We all have a personal influence, and our words and actions leave an indelible impress. It is our duty not to live for self, but for the good of others; not to be controlled by feelings, but to consider that our influence is a power for good or evil. God would have His workmen be that which David charged Solomon to be: “Show yourself a man.” [1 Kings 2:2.] In our associations with men we are bound by the law of Jehovah to influence them in the direction of good. This power of personal influence must be felt on others. The law of God requires that we love our fellow men as we love ourselves. Then every power and action of the mind must be to that end to do the greatest amount of good. To overdo cripples the powers God has given us, wearies and disables us so that much less good is done than might be accomplished if we work intelligently. Had all the powers been treated considerately, what a precious work might have been done. How pleasing to the Giver for man to hold the royal gifts of the soul so that they shall tell with power upon others. It is the connecting link between God and man and reveals the spirit of Christ and the attributes of heaven. The power of holiness, seen but not boasted of, speaks more eloquently than the most able sermons. It speaks of God, it opens to men their duty more powerfully than the language of tongues.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 23)
God wants His ministers to communicate that which is heavenly and divine, for they are representatives of Him. God has designed that the power of influence shall be of heavenly birth. We shall be either a light to cheer, to illume, or a tempest to destroy. God is not pleased that any one of His representatives shall worry, weary and wear themselves out, so that they shall not diffuse the sweet fragrance of heaven in their lives. We have but one life to live. Jesus has come to our world to teach us how to live that life, that we may represent the character of heaven. We must never grow faint-hearted, for it will be far worse for ourselves and for others within the reach of our influence. God requires us to behave with dignity under trials and temptations. The Man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief, is before us as our example. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne.” [Revelation 3:21.]
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 24)
Brother Daniel, you need no urging to do more work, but you do need help. I was shown that experienced laborers were greatly needed in the European field to give mold and character to the work. Brother Augustin Bourdeau should be guarded not to take himself from the work to serve tables. He has too often bound upon himself burdens which prevented him putting his energies into the work. He should consecrate his powers and ability to God to save perishing souls. These brothers are the only experienced workers who understand French, therefore there is a large field for their labors if they will work intelligently in the strength of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 25)
The light and privileges that you both have had lay you under contribution to God to use this light to bless others. In the past it has sometimes been the case that Bro. Augustin did not cling to an interest with that perseverance and zeal to bind off his work completely and thoroughly so that he could present every man perfect in Christ. He should encourage less devotion to temporal things and more thought and deep earnestness in eternal things. If the enemy can create things to draw you away from your work, he will be diligent in this kind of business. But if he sees that he cannot obtain power over you to draw you away from an urgent interest, that you will not leave your work to ravel out, but will bind it off, then he will not work that device any longer.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 26)
God’s work is to be primary; other interests secondary. Satan is playing the game of life for the souls of men, and God’s ministers must watch for souls and work faithfully to repulse the enemy and gain the victory. We have need of wisdom, sharp thoughts, and a better knowledge of Satan’s devices, that he will not, right before our eyes, accomplish the ruin of precious souls. We have a source of strength that is at our command, and we need not become discouraged or be driven from the field through Satan’s devices.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 27)
Your family, Bro. Daniel, must keep disagreeable things from you, for the very relating of them magnifies them to your mind. Now Jesus knows your every weakness, and He pities and will help you. The work is great in Europe, and you may act a part in it if you will take hold of the strength and mighty power; and Jesus will help you. You have precious ability if wisely employed. Jesus will recognize you as a co-laborer with Him in the great work if you will stay your soul upon Him. Your motive will be questioned. You will meet with disappointment. Christ endured all this. Consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against [Himself] lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 28)
Look up, my brother; in the name of Jesus I bid you look up. Do not look at yourself; do not talk doubts. Talk faith, hope, and courage, and Jesus will bring you off more than conqueror. But you, my brother, and your brother Augustin dwell too much upon yourselves. You, my brethren, need to lie low at the feet of Jesus. Daniel does too much, while Augustin needs to weave into his work more life and spirit. His temperament is more sluggish and needs the quickening influence of the Spirit of God. He needs a greater earnestness and more vitality to represent the importance of the truth to the people. Brother Augustin must not have his interest divided. Both of you, my brethren, will show wisdom in not talking of yourselves. Bro. Augustin, you need to be more thoroughly devoted to the work. You allow small things to draw you away from the work. You have need to concentrate your mind upon your ministerial duties.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 29)
Be cautious in your labors, Brethren Bourdeau, not to assail the prejudice of the people. There is danger of our ministers’ saying too much against the Catholics and provoking against themselves the strongest prejudices of the Roman Catholic power. The power of the priest over his charge is great, and difficult to break. There are many souls in the Roman Catholic faith who are looking with interest to this people. If the priest can prejudice the people with his stay-away arguments, he will do so. When the truth is uttered against the fallen churches, their ministers will make that an excuse to warn their people not to attend, to hear the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 30)
As an interest is about to close up, be careful not to ripen it off too suddenly, but keep the confidence of the people, if possible, that souls who are in the valley of decision may find the true path, the way, and the life. As laborers together with God we are provided with spiritual weapons, mighty to the pulling down of the strong hold of the enemy. Ever preserve the love of Jesus, presenting the truth as it is in Jesus.
(4LtMs, Lt 7, 1885, 31)
Lt 8, 1885
Starr, G. B. NP March 13, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Brother:
According to our agreement, I went and saw Sister Mills. I laid the case before her, and she spoke very encouragingly in regard to the sale of her place. I asked her if $10,000 would buy the place, and she said that it would. The mortgage is six hundred. She said she would write immediately to her brother, then she would let me know. Since then I have written another letter to her, sent it to Br. Jones to be taken to her, that he might know what she has said in reference to the matter. And I did not hear from them for some time. But now I understand that he took the letter to her, and she said that she had not yet heard from her brother in Chicago and could tell nothing about it until she did hear. My opinion is that her brother is seeking to obtain possession of the place himself. And she has the fullest confidence in him, so I think he will take advantage of her. If you could go and see this brother and probe this matter thoroughly, you might get some light on the subject.
(4LtMs, Lt 8, 1885, 1)
I have written and I have urged one and another to go and see Sister Mills. Elder Waggoner promised that he would go. He may have gone, I cannot tell. But I would advise that you go and see what can be done with reference to the property. I received your letter; was glad to hear that the prospects in Chicago were as favorable as they are. We hope and pray that a good work may be done there. The mission was started in a very feeble way. And I do not think that Elder Andrews views it in the right light. I do not think he is prepared to do as he ought to do, to encourage the Illinois Conference in doing what they ought to do. But they had not ought to be discouraged on that account, for God lives and God will help them in the work.
(4LtMs, Lt 8, 1885, 2)
I have carried the burden on my mind and have tried to interest others to go and talk with Sister Mills, and they seem to think that they cannot do anything until she makes an advance.
(4LtMs, Lt 8, 1885, 3)
You have our sympathy, and we hope you will have the courage to keep at the work; and God will work with your efforts.
(4LtMs, Lt 8, 1885, 4)
Yours in Christian labor.
(4LtMs, Lt 8, 1885, 5)
Lt 9, 1885
Bourdeau, Br-Sr. Refiled as Lt 68, 1886.
Lt 10, 1885
Waggoner, J. H. Christiania, Norway November 4, 1885 See variant Lt 10a, 1885. Portions of this letter are published in TSB 182-184; 5MR 243, 245. Dear Brother Waggoner:
I have somewhat to say unto thee. Letters have come to me from Brother and Sister Grainger and Sister Mills, giving an account of the meeting in Healdsburg. Many letters of confession have come to me from different ones. Sisters Ross, Decker, Baker, Brother and Sister Harris, and Brother and Sister Howard all really express in their letters genuine repentance for sin.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 1)
Brother Lockwood wrote me that he had proposed raising money to pay Elder Daniels’ debts. I wrote back that this was a wrong move. The work done in Healdsburg I did not doubt was of God, and I was grateful to have the Lord work by whom He will. I had no envy, no jealousy that this result did not follow my earnest, wearing labors for that church. I believed God was working with them, but now was their time of trial and test. Fanaticism might reveal itself among them and that there would be danger of their thinking too much of the man and giving Elder Daniels the glory. I urged them to take up the long-neglected work of which the church had been guilty and show an interest and labor for outsiders, visit them, hold Bible readings with them, and seek to bring them to a knowledge of the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 2)
I understand that Brother Daniels was not at the camp meeting. I told him he ought to have been there and taken all he could with him. If God had given souls the illumination of His Spirit, it was for a purpose. This light was to be reflected upon others. I wrote cautiously, and yet I would not have dared to come out and condemn the work, lest I should be found fighting against God. But I understand that you and Elder Loughborough and some others have done this. I am written to for advice and counsel. Now, my brother, you may see some things which you think you should condemn in Elder Daniels. He is hasty; he feels strongly and acts impulsively; but whatever occasion of personal feeling exists between you, there should have been on your part the forbearance of long experience and the calm reason of a father. I have letters stating that Elder Daniels was forbidden to preach. His credentials were not renewed. Did God give you light from heaven to do this? or did you move in your own spirit, prompted by your injured feelings? I do not like this kind of work. What right had you or any one of you to pursue the course you have toward Elder Daniels? He is not a perfect man, but I know how God regards him—as a man of erring, impulsive disposition, but one who loves and fears Him, and one who will reach hearts if he has those in whom he can have confidence as counselors to help him.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 3)
I hear you took the Healdsburg people in a tent and stated that if you were at liberty to relate some things which you knew concerning Elder Daniels, they would regard the work as you did; and thus you left a blot on one of God’s servants, leaving them to think and imagine the worst things in his life.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 4)
Is this the way God has dealt with you? Do you wish the Lord to take your case in hand and deal with you as you have dealt with Elder Daniels? Your course in this I cannot approve. The Lord’s Spirit is not in it. The lord forgave the debtor who owed him a large sum, but the man went out and demanded a debt of another creditor which was a very small sum. He went to him exclaiming with vehemence, “Pay me what thou owest.” [Matthew 18:27, 28.] And because he could not, he seized him and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. This I think represents the case. I will wash my hands from all such transactions.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 5)
You could not do a worse thing to separate the Healdsburg church from you than this. Why did you allow that hard, old, overbearing, arbitrary spirit which God has reproved many times to come in and possess you? Has not Elder D. had far less experience than you, fewer advantages, far less light, fewer opportunities and warnings and appeals than you have had? And if his credentials shall not be granted him, in the sight of a holy God, should not yours be withheld? I want you to look at this matter just as it is. I felt that you were the last man to exercise criticism and severity toward any one. God does not require it of you. You have shown yourself in many respects a far weaker man than Elder Daniels. You have shown less power of self-control than he has done. You have no right to lord it over God’s heritage. You will surely be dealt with by your heavenly Father as you deal with and judge others.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 6)
I wrote you from Great Grimsby, but I did not send it. I felt such pity for you, such pity for your weakness. I will send it when I get back to Basel.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 7)
Now the case of Elder Daniels has been presented before me, and I know him much better than you do. Because you may take views of him as you now do is no reason why his labor should be pronounced not of God. Just such a work as I hope has been done in Healdsburg will be done in every church in our land, and through ways and means that we do not look for. Let this work go forward everywhere. Let sins be confessed. Let iniquities be revealed. Let it extend far and near. This work will be done. Men may pronounce against it because it does not come in their exact line. Fanaticism will also come in as it always has done when God works. The net will gather in its meshes both bad and good, but who will dare to cast the whole thing overboard because all are not of the right kind of fish? I feel deeply over this matter. I do not doubt but that Elder D. has erred in some things, but has his error been of that character that it makes him unworthy of a place among God’s people? Answer this to your own soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 8)
The Lord would have you lay off this spirit of sharpness, and He would have you less sharp and more humble. In my prayers for you, and in my dreams, I do not feel that assurance that I desire that you are drawing near to God, purifying your soul through obedience to the truth. I fear God is not with you, and this is why your discernment is taken away. I have had some most distressing dreams which make me tremble for you. And then when you venture to exercise your power in the way you have done toward Eld. D., I have to tell you freely, I have no confidence in it. Take your iron heel off from the man. When you get upon the track of one whom you think has not treated you as he should, you bear down heavier and heavier, and with crushing power. Should God deal with you according to the magnitude of the offense as you have dealt with Elder D., there would be no hope for your future. O how glad I am that our cases are not left to be judged by man. We want the spirit of tenderness and of compassion and love. May the Lord set the matter before you as it really is, and may you so humble yourself before God that your sins may go beforehand to judgment. God has sent you warnings. Do you heed them?
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 9)
In my dreams you are in peril, in danger of losing your soul through neglect to renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, and to come to the clear light and freedom of the Spirit of God, making your heart pure and clean through the sanctification of the truth. You have not clear spiritual discernment, and how could you do as you have done in regard to matters at Healdsburg? Not one word of complaint has come to me through Elder D., but members of the church in whom I have confidence have written to me, and I feel sad enough. I have not answered one of these letters yet. I have not had time. But I beg of you to wrench yourself from the snare of Satan. Do not feel for one moment that the Lord is dependent upon you to do a certain work. You are dependent upon the Lord, and He can work through whom He will. But before you judge and condemn others, look well to your own soul. Give others just that compassion that you want shown to you.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 10)
You want a personal piety, a daily experience in the things of God, and to sense the importance of pure and holy principles governing your course of action in all things. If you obtain the confidence of those for whom you labor, you must be circumspect in life and character, if you would have them believe you to be a true child of God, a special instrument in His hands to do His work. You may then vindicate the Sabbath, and you may be successful, as a polished instrument of God, in securing converts to the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 11)
Brother, be thankful for these words. Be thankful that it is not too late for wrongs to be righted. Do not feel called upon to pronounce sentence against any one. Do not, I beseech of you, give place to the devil. I beg of you, for Christ’s sake, to break every foul snare of Satan. I beg of you to not let your sun set in darkness and gloom of despair. I beseech of you not to let the weak traits of your character overcome you, that God will set you aside as unfit for any part in His work. O my brother, I want to see you a free man. I want to see you triumphing over Satan. I want to see you marching in through the gates into the city of God a conqueror. I want to see you receive the riches of the immortal inheritance. But whatever your position has been, God will not excuse sin in you more than in the weakest of His children. According to your light and knowledge you will be judged. Do not, I entreat of you, feel that your course has been a light matter. God warned you of your danger, but after He warned you, you did worse; you gave yourself up to work wickedness. What is your position before God? How stands your record in God’s books?
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 12)
I want that there should be men of judgment who have the compassion of Christ, who shall visit Healdsburg and remain there long enough to investigate and pray and attend the meetings, and not stand away off and then denounce the work. What is the fruit of this work? By their fruits ye shall know them. There will be fanatical ones. Sister Baker cannot be relied upon. She knows not what manner of spirit she is of. She will be liable to take extreme views, and some others will do the same. If there were not some of this spirit, it would be a new thing under the sun.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 13)
But if you had not barred the way, the Lord’s Spirit might have come into your camp meeting. I have been shown that there is so little of the work of repentance and true conversion as the operation of the Spirit of God on hearts, transforming the life and its inward workings, cleansing the soul from sin, that should this Spirit of God come among us, many would not discern it. They would not think it was a God-send. The blessing of God in its workings would be considered fanaticism. I pray you not allow your personal feelings to rule you, for God will as surely work through means that we do not expect; and let God work in any way He will.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 14)
I do not regard Eld. D. as a man well balanced. I do not regard you as a man well balanced. You have great weakness in some points. He has great weakness in some points. May God help you to set your own soul in order and make clean work for eternity.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 15)
My brother, you have had the respect of the church, old and young. But your course is condemned of God, and you have not had His Spirit, and you are not a free man. You have pursued a course that has caused your good to be evil spoken of. The very things that transpired at the Piedmont Sabbath school reunion I would not have occurred for thousands of dollars. You, a gray-haired man, lying at full length with your head in the lap of Georgie Chittenden. Had I done my duty, I would have rebuked you there. Many saw this and made remarks about it. After such exhibitions as this, of what value would be your admonitions to them to be guarded against everything of this free and easy familiarity? You have yourself neutralized your efforts to elevate the young by your example. The course of intimacy with Sister Chittenden and her family has been a subject of remark. And how could you expect to have influence with the young as a father when such manifest want of judgment and such weakness have been exhibited by you. If you will only be a man in your old age, instead of a sentimental lover; if you would only be guarded, God would not remove His wisdom from you as He has done. Your reputation would have been dearer to you than your very life. Better, far better, go down to the grave with honor untarnished than to live with a reproach upon your name.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 16)
Now look, my brother, at the years you have been living in unlawful sympathy and love with another man’s wife. And you have a daughter who would be glad to give you attention and sympathy and make a home for you, but you have been so completely infatuated that everything in this life that was sensible and proper has been distasteful and insipid to you. I do not feel that the charm is broken, that you are a free man. You have not broken the snare. The Lord is not supreme with you. Now, my brother, it would be folly for you to think that you have wisdom to discern spiritual things while you have been growing weaker and weaker for years in moral power and separating from the God of wisdom. The letters written to your wife are harsh and unfeeling. The withdrawing of your support in a large degree is not wisdom or right on your part. And had she not a cause when she was at Oakland to be jealous of you? Did not she see in you the interest, sympathy, and love you gave to Sister Chittenden? Now, for Christ’s sake, save your harsh condemnation of others, for this shows that you are not Christlike, that you have another spirit. I write thus plainly because I feel deeply that you need to make a more determined effort than you have done, before you stand free in the sight of God. All your sharpness and overbearing comes from you with an ill grace. Do humble yourself under the hand of God. Do make sure of the favor of God, and put sin away from you.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 17)
There are but few who know to what extent this intimacy has gone, and God forbid it shall be known and your influence lost to God’s cause and your soul lost. I beg of you to not take it upon you to pronounce judgment against anyone but yourself.
(4LtMs, Lt 10, 1885, 18)
Lt 10a, 1885
[Waggoner, J. H.] [Christiania, Norway] [November 4, 1885] Variant of Lt 10, 1885. Previously unpublished. Dear Brother [Waggoner]:
Letters have come to me from Brother and Sister [Grainger], giving an account of the meetings in [Healdsburg]. Many letters of confession have come from different ones, expressing genuine repentance for sin.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 1)
I wrote to Brother [Lockwood] concerning the revival work in [Healdsburg], that I did not doubt but that it was of God, and I was grateful to have the Lord work by whom He would. But at such a time the test and trial of faith might come. Fanaticism might reveal itself among the members of the church, and there would be danger that they would think too much of the man by whom the Lord had wrought and give him the glory which was alone due to God. I wrote to the members of the church and urged them to take up the work which they had so long been guilty of neglecting. I appealed to them to show an interest in behalf of unbelievers, to visit them, to hold Bible readings with them, and to seek to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. If God had illuminated their souls by His Spirit, it was that light might be reflected upon others.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 2)
I wrote cautiously, and yet I dared not condemn the work, lest I should be found fighting against God. But I understand that you and Elder [Loughborough] and some others have not hesitated to do this. I learn that Elder [Daniels] has been forbidden to preach, that his credentials have not been renewed. Did God give you light from heaven, directing you to take this course, or, prompted by a feeling that Elder D had injured you, did you move in your own spirit? My brother, you may see some things which you think you should condemn in Elder D. He is hasty, and feels strongly, and acts impulsively. He is not perfect; but I know how God regards him—as a man of erring, impulsive disposition, but yet one who loves and fears Him, one who will reach hearts, if he has the support of those in whom he can have confidence. Whatever the occasion of personal feeling which exists between you, there should be on your part the forbearance of long experience manifested and the calm reason of a father displayed.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 3)
Do you wish the Lord to judge you as you have judged your brother? I cannot approve your course in this matter; for it was not prompted by the Spirit of God. The lord forgave him, the debtor, who owed him a large sum; but the man went out and demanded of another the payment of a debt of a very small amount, exclaiming with vehemence, “Pay me that thou owest.” [Matthew 18:27, 28.] Because his fellow servant could not pay the debt, he seized him and put him in prison till the claim could be met. I think this parable represents your course in this matter.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 4)
Has not Elder D had far less experience, far less light, fewer advantages, fewer opportunities, fewer warnings and appeals than you have had? I do not doubt but that he has erred in some things, but has his error been of such a character as to make him unworthy of a place among God’s people? Answer this for your own soul; for you will surely be dealt with by your heavenly Father as you deal with others. The fact that you take the view of Elder D that you do at present is no reason why his labors should be rejected as if they were not of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 5)
I do not feel assured as I desire to do that you are drawing near to God, purifying your soul through obedience to the truth. I feel that God is not with you, and that this is why your discernment is taken away. God has sent you warnings. Do you heed them? I beg of you to free yourself from the snare of Satan. Do not feel for a moment that the Lord is dependent upon you to do a certain work; you are dependent upon Him; He can work through whom He will. Whatever your position may be, God will not excuse sin in you any more than He will excuse it in the weakest of His children. You will be judged according to the light and knowledge you have had. You should look well to your own soul before you condemn others. You should give to others the compassion that you desire should be shown to you.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 6)
You are ready to crush one whom you think has not treated you as he should by your severity. Should God deal with you as you have dealt with Elder D, there would be no hope for your future. O how glad I am that our cases are not left to be judged by man! We should seek for a spirit of tenderness, compassion, and love. The Lord would have you put away this spirit of harshness, and humble yourself before Him. May He set this matter before you as it really is, and may you so seek Him in humility of heart, that your sins may go beforehand to judgment.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 7)
Men of sound judgement, who have the compassion of Christ, should attend the meetings at [Healdsburg] and prayerfully investigate the work. No one should stand afar off and denounce it. What is the fruit of this work? “By their fruits ye shall know them.” [Matthew 7:20.] There will be fanatical ones in such meetings who will be liable to go to extremes. If the spirit of fanaticism were not developed under such circumstances, it would be a new thing under the sun.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 8)
Just such a work as I hope has been done in [Healdsburg] will be done in every one of our churches through ways and means that we do not anticipate. Let sins be confessed. Let the work of repentance and turning to the Lord go forward everywhere. Men may denounce the revival work that will be done, because it does not come just as they expect. Fanaticism may come in, as it so often does when God works in a special manner. The gospel net will gather in its meshes both bad and good; but who will dare to cast the whole away because all are not the right kind of fish?
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 9)
If you had not barred the way, the Spirit of the Lord might have come into the camp meeting. I have been shown that there is so little of the work of repentance and conversion, so slight a manifestation of the operation of the Spirit of God on the hearts of men, transforming the life and cleansing the soul from sin, that many would not be able to discern the working of the Spirit of God should it come among us in great power. Its workings would be regarded by them as fanaticism. God will surely work through means that we do not expect, and let us beware that we be not found fighting against Him.
(4LtMs, Lt 10a, 1885, 10)
Lt 11, 1885
European General Council Refiled as Ms 19, 1885.
Lt 12, 1885
Butler, G. I.; Haskell, S. N. Orebro, Sweden October 28, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in SpTA #6 61-67. + Dear Brethren Butler and Haskell:
My prayer is that the Lord may be with you in great power during the coming conference. Some may be absent that you might wish were present, but Jesus is your helper. I sincerely hope and pray that those who bear responsibilities in Michigan, New England, Ohio, Indiana, and other states will take broader views of the work than they have done. I hope Michigan will take a step in advance. I feel to regret the fact that there is such a dearth of breadth of mind and of far-seeing ability. Workers should be educated and trained for the fields of labor. We need missionaries everywhere. We need men and women who will give themselves without reserve to the work of God, bringing many sons and daughters to God.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 1)
I have been shown that there is one practice which those in responsible places should avoid; for it is detrimental to the work of God. Men in position should not lord it over God’s heritage and command everything around them. Too many have marked out a prescribed line which they wish others to follow in the work. Workers have tried to do this with blind faith, without exercising their own judgment upon the matter which they had in hand. If those who were placed as directors were not present, they have followed their implicit directions just the same. But in the name of Christ, I would entreat you to stop this work. Give men a chance to exercise their individual judgment. Men who follow the leading of another, and are willing that another should think for them, are unfit to be entrusted with responsibility. Our leading men are remiss in this matter. God has not given to special ones all the brain power there is in the world.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 2)
Men in responsible positions should credit others with some sense, with some ability of judgment and foresight, and look upon them as capable of doing the work committed to their hands. Our leading brethren have made a great mistake in marking out all the directions that the workers should follow, and this has resulted in deficiency, in a lack of the caretaking spirit in the workers, because they have relied upon others to do all their planning and have themselves taken no responsibility. Should the men who have taken this responsibility upon themselves step out of our ranks, or die, what a state of things would be found in our institutions.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 3)
Leading men should place responsibilities upon others, and allow them to plan and devise and execute, so that they may obtain an experience. Give them a word of counsel when necessary, but do not take away the work because you think the brethren are making mistakes. May God pity the cause when one man’s mind and one man’s plan are followed without question. God would not be honored should such a state of things exist. All our workers must have room to exercise their own judgment and discretion. God has given men talents which He means that they should use. He has given them minds, and He means that they should become thinkers and do their own thinking and planning rather than depend upon others to think and plan for them.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 4)
I think I have laid out this matter many times before you, but I see no change in your actions. The Lord would have every responsible man to drop responsibilities upon others. Set others at work that will require them to plan and to use judgment. Do not educate them to rely upon your judgment. Young men must be trained up to be thinking men. My brethren, do not for a moment think that your way is perfection, and that those who are connected with you must be your shadows, must echo your words, repeat your ideas, and execute your plans.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 5)
There are men who today might be men of breadth of thought, might be wise men, men to be depended upon, who are not such, because they have been educated to follow another man’s plan. They have allowed others to tell them precisely what they should do, and they have become dwarfed in intellect. Their minds are narrow, and they cannot comprehend the needs of the work. They are simply machines to be moved by another man’s thought. Now do not think that these men who do follow out your ideas are the only ones that can be trusted. You have sometimes thought that because they do your will to the letter, they were the only ones in whom you could place dependence. If anyone exercised his own judgment and differed with you, you have disconnected from him as one that could not be trusted. Take your hands off the work, and do not hold it fast in your grasp. You are not the only man whom God will use. Give the Lord room to use the talents He has entrusted to men in order that the cause may grow. Give the Lord a chance to use men’s minds. We are losing much by our narrow ideas and plans. Do not stand in the way of the advancement of the work, but let the Lord work by whom He will. Educate, encourage young men to think and act, to devise and plan, in order that we may have a multitude of wise counselors.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 6)
How my heart aches to see presidents of conferences taking the burden of selecting those whom they think they can mold to work precisely with them in the field. They take those who will not differ from them, but will act like mere machines. No president has any right to do this. Leave others to plan, and if they fail in some things, do not take it as an evidence that they are unfitted to be thinkers. The wisest responsible men had to learn by a long discipline and practice how to use their judgment. In many things they have shown that their work ought to have been better. The fact that men make mistakes is no reason that we should think them unfit to be caretakers. Those who think that their ways are perfect, even now, after long experience, make many grave blunders, but others are none the wiser for it. They present their success, but their mistakes do not appear. Then be kind and considerate to every man who conscientiously enters the field as a worker for the Master. Our most responsible men have made some unwise plans and have carried them out because they thought their plans were perfect. They have needed the mingling of other elements of mind and character. They should have associated with other men who could view matters from an entirely different point of view. Thus they would have helped them in their plans.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 7)
This same character of spirit is found here in Europe. For years Elder Andrews held the work back from advancing, because he feared to entrust it to others, lest they would not carry out his precise plans. He would never allow anything to come into existence that did not originate with him. Elder Loughborough also held everything in his grasp while he was in California and England, and as a result the work is years behind in England. Elder Wilcox and Sister Thayer have the same spirit of having everything go in the exact way in which they shall dictate, and no one is being trained in such a way as to know how to get hold of the work for himself.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 8)
What folly it is to trust a great mission in the hands of one man so that he shall mold and fashion it in accordance with his mind, and after his own diseased imagination. Men who have been narrow, who have served tables, who are not far-seeing, are disqualified for putting their mold upon the work. Those who desire to control the work think that none can do it perfectly for themselves, and the cause bears the marks of their defects.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 9)
Prussia [1885]
In another letter I have spoken in reference to your accumulating so many responsibilities in Battle Creek when there is so little managing talent that is consecrated to the work of God to take care of these interests. I have spoken in disapproval of the enlargement of the sanitarium on the ground that so large a share of its responsibilities is resting upon one man. Doctor Kellogg has to be both physician and manager. Now, my brother, these things are not as God would have them. He is not pleased that so much means should be invested in one locality. Other men should be educated to share in the responsibility that Doctor Kellogg is burdened with in order that, if he fails, another will be prepared to carry the institution forward. We feel to thank God that Dr. Kellogg has the good health that he has, but he may not always have it, and the fact that he has it now is no reason why our people should sleep till the last moment. They should manage this matter wisely. Great interests are at stake, and unless Dr. Kellogg has less responsibilities, he will not be enabled to stand the pressure for a great while.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 10)
There is great need that someone should also stand at the side of Brother C. H. Jones in order to share the responsibilities that he carries, so that if he should fail, another could go forward with the work without a disagreeable break. If he were relieved of some of his burdens, he would last the longer. He should not have so great cares, and so heavy burdens to carry, and should not be obliged to work when he should rest. The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. [Luke 16:8.] Jesus said this, and we see that the world works on a different plan in these matters. Weighty responsibilities connected with the business of the world are not placed wholly upon one man. In large business enterprises, responsible men choose others to share their burdens, and lift their responsibilities, so that in case one should fail, there is someone ready to step into his place. Someone should feel a burden over these matters, and a decided change should take place in the manner of our work.
(4LtMs, Lt 12, 1885, 11)
Lt 13, 1885
Kellogg, J.H. Refiled as Lt 62, 1886.
Lt 14, 1885
Church at St. Claire, Nevada NP [March 13, 1885] Portions of this letter are published in OHC 34, 94; TDG 81; 1MCP 321; 2MCP 691. My Dear Brethren and Sisters:
While speaking to you on the campground at Reno, I recognized a people I had been shown in church capacity who were not living up to God’s requirements. The angels of God are constantly active to bring enlightened beings up from a low and degraded state to purity, to holiness, bringing their perverse will into subjection to the will of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 1)
A violation of the law of God is the greatest loss and deepest injury that can be conceived. It lost for our first parents beautiful Eden and opened the flood gates of woe to our world. It is through the sacrifice of Christ alone that in God’s wise plans fallen man has been granted another trial.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 2)
We have the example of Adam and Eve before us, and the result of their transgression should lead every soul of us to avoid sin, to abhor sin, as the hateful thing it is, and to feel, in view of the sufferings which sin is sure to inflict, that it is better to suffer loss of all things than to depart from the least of God’s commandments.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 3)
God has done all for us that God could do to prevent ignorance and sin and misery in our world; and if man had co-operated with God in His work, by putting away sin and cultivating personal piety, we should see altogether a more happy condition of things in the church at St. Claire.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 4)
The author of sin is the devil; and whenever we sin, we place ourselves decidedly on the devil’s ground and under his power. Not one of us will have one word to plead in the judgment as an excuse for sin. But when we see that there are those who claim to believe the truth who are not Christians, then we feel to humble ourselves in the dust, and plead, Spare Thy people, O God, and give not Thine heritage to reproach.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 5)
Men and women and youth will hear and acknowledge the theory of the truth and doctrines which we profess to believe, and yet their daily life and character evidences that they know nothing of the power of godliness. The truth has not sanctified the soul of the receiver. Those who are indeed children of God will come out from the world and be separate. They will be a peculiar and distinguished people. They will be the light of the world. They will always be few in number; they will be humble, Christlike, distinct and separate from sin and sinners, because they are unlike them. They live in the world, they are industrious in business, that they may acquire means, do faithful honest labor, that this means may be used to advance the cause of God in our world.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 6)
Will you please to carefully compare your life and character with God’s great moral mirror, and observe and keenly criticize the reflection of your character in the light of God’s law. Will you look with sincerity; for your soul’s interest is at stake. It is life or death with you. A mistake here will be fatal. Be diligent to make your calling and election sure. How are you to do this? By believing all of God’s commandments.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 7)
The faithful and beloved disciple had occasion to write, as the defection of the church was presented before him, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do thy first works.” [Revelation 2:5.]
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 8)
Many who have had light and knowledge have turned from their sin only for a time. They did not preserve their integrity. They did not search the Scriptures carefully, with a heart to obey them, and put away every sin, seeking by the grace of Christ to overcome their defects of character.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 9)
They were not fully converted; and when temptations came, they did not keep their garments white and pure. They did not retain the simplicity of their faith, they did not keep their first love; and notwithstanding they believed the truth, they did not bring it in personal contact with their lives. Their minds became earthly, sensual, devilish. The strength and purity of faith had diminished. Zeal had grown cold. And the trees of the Lord’s planting, the fruitful plant, now bears the fruit of a degenerate and strange vine. It stands before the world as a monument, not of goodness, but as an evil, corrupt tree, bearing corrupt fruit.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 10)
I have no liberty to call names; but your own consciences must convict you that the picture of the tree bearing no fruit to the glory of God means you. Now this church have not all been working for unity, for elevation, for purity; and yet we would not say, erase their names from the church books. But earnest effort should be put forth to show them what they must do to be saved. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you.” [2 Corinthians 6:17.]
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 11)
There is a solemn work to be done for your souls. Come to Jesus with contrition, with repentance. Come just as you are, sinful and polluted, and O plead for the salvation of your souls as you never pleaded before. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9.]
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 12)
I want you to be saved. You are few in numbers, but if each will keep his lamp trimmed and burning, he can reflect light. The more light the Lord permits to shine upon our pathway, the greater the guilt incurred if we do not respond to the light. The more efforts the Lord makes through His instrumentalities to win a soul, the more deep and flagrant is his offense who rejects the means God has employed. I feel deeply for your souls, and I desire you shall improve the present opportunity to find Jesus, to renew your allegiance to God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 13)
All merely human effort is vain in the conversion of the soul. Man can accomplish nothing without God; but man must co-operate with God. Your will, your way must become God’s will and God’s way. This co-operation of the divine energy with human endeavor can accomplish much. We are laborers together with God in working out our own salvation and in the activities in which we engage in personal religion.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 14)
When there is anything accomplished in co-operation with God, in obedience to His laws, God is to receive all the glory. Man has no right or title to any part of it. All our powers are to be sanctified to God. We can do nothing in our own strength. God requires all that there is of us, and we must withhold nothing from Him. We must work, believe, and pray. We are required to employ all our powers and opportunities diligently and conscientiously to be laborers together with God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 15)
How can we be thus, and not learn the trade? How can we take hold of and employ all our powers as God shall direct, and yet not be growing in intelligence as to the very best way of laboring? To be laborers together with God we must distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from the voice of a stranger. There must be a searching for the truth as for hidden treasures. There must be no vanity, no mixing and mingling with worldly amusements, no strife in politics; but there must be a diligent, thoughtful prayerful study of the Oracles of God. The simple-hearted, God-fearing teachers must be respected in their work. There must be a constant work to harmonize in everything you do, with the prayer of Christ, that we may be one as He was one with the Father.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 16)
This is the duty of every church, however small or however large. Christians must be light-givers, holding forth the words of life. They are exhorted by the apostle to be the highest achievements of piety. The world will not be convinced by what the pulpit teaches, but by (what) the church lives. The path to heaven is dark or bright, just as in proportion as the church gives forth a clear and strong, or doubtful, fitful light. The preacher in the desk announces the theory of the gospel, but the practical piety of the church demonstrates the power of truth, showing its real value.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 17)
The gospel is a system of practical truths destined to work great changes in human character. If it does not work the transformation in life, in habits, and practice, it is no truth to those who claim to believe it. Man must be sanctified through the truth. And said Jesus, “Thy Word is truth.” [John 17:17.] Unless the truth of God shall lift up man out of his depravity, his intemperate and profligate habits, and make him reflect the image of God, he is lost.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 18)
Your lives, my brethren and sisters, must be after a different model than they have hitherto been and constitute the demonstration in the sight of heaven and earth that you are lights in the world, holding forth the words of life. The piety of the members of the church constitutes the world’s standard of the gospel. Then let every church member in St. Claire do his duty well; for you are laborers together with God. Let your example be in harmony with the great Pattern.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 19)
Do all things without murmurings and disputings, without grumbling, without envy. Do not repeat or believe the old slander that the man of one talent brought against God, “I knew thee that thou were an austere man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed.” [Matthew 25:24.] This parable represented the many professors of religion who gauged their piety to reach the lowest standard possible and escape perdition.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 20)
There is a need of your being diligent, prayerful students of the Bible, then you will see the exalted standard and aim to reach it. And you will be letting your light shine to an unbelieving world. You will sacredly observe the Sabbath in regard to which many of you have been very negligent. Some of you have practiced cutting off both ends of the Sabbath, dragging in your own work upon God’s holy time. Now this has a decided influence against the truth you claim to believe and makes your influence detrimental to others.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 21)
Then there are some who use narcotics and by indulgence are encouraging wrong habits that are obtaining a controlling power over the will, the thoughts, and the entire man. Now it would be better if the unbeliever should never come under the influence of such professors of religion who have no vital power for good. They endanger their Master’s cause. They are traitors to holy trust.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 22)
You are brought together in church capacity, and every member has his work to do as a faithful sentinel to God. In the family the performance of religious duties should be maintained. Your children should be educated by precept and example to reverence the hour of prayer. In simplicity you can call upon God in faith as your heavenly Father. It is your duty to talk to your children earnestly, interestedly in regard to the salvation of their souls. Tell them of Christ; His love for them should be often presented with loving tenderness. Never complain of your brethren or find fault with them, for this will have a demoralizing influence upon your own soul and upon your children.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 23)
Never allow them to make complaints to you because they are required to behave with propriety in the house of God. If they are not required to respect religious service, it is certainly better that they remain away. Family influences, I am sorry to say, are against the church in many ways, yet many do not sense this evil. Let this order of things cease. Will parents bear in mind that Jesus is an honored guest in your assemblies for the worship of God? Then for Christ’s sake restrain your children from misbehavior in the place of worship if you would honor the Master of assemblies. Let the restraining influence of parents be exercised in requiring of their children respectful attention and reverent behaviour in times of religious worship.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 24)
There is a work devolving upon parents, the most important ever committed to mortals, to train your children day by day, both by precept and example, to have clean, pure characters, to be obedient, to cultivate simplicity of habits. You, parents, are to bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This will require so much time, so much earnest prayer, that you will not be found engaged in gossip or talebearing.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 25)
Your talents, my brethren, have been unused and uncultivated. Your lifework is not that which the Lord would have it to be, or what you will wish it had been. No church can prosper unless there is a silencing of the tongues of those who are busybodies in other men’s matters. They do harm, and only harm, while they take credit to themselves as being a strength to the church. They are not peacemakers, except it be to speak peace to the evildoers and quiet their awakened consciences so that they shall not make thorough work.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 26)
Let the work of individual effort go forward. Let each keep his own soul uncorrupted and his own hands free from defilement. In order to be good soldiers of Christ, you must work to secure concerted action. Every part of the Lord’s army must seek to work in harmony. Let each of Christ’s soldiers act with reference to others; connected with Him, union is strength. There is no individual independence in this great work of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 27)
When difficult work has to be done, some are altogether wanting; they have not kept themselves in working order. Those who will preserve order in the church must not be busybodies, not peddling hearsay, but be quiet, doing their own business. They are expected to do difficult work, to bear painful trials, to wear Christ’s yoke and lift His burdens. Has not the Master given to every one of His soldiers something to do? There is a great work for you to do in St. Claire, and you have a mighty Helper in Jesus Christ.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 28)
There are those who have, during this meeting, wanted liberty and peace of mind, but they have not fallen upon the rock and been broken. It has been hard for self to die; and when they return home, they will have to meet the assaults of the enemy, because they gained no real victory here. They will be overcome. They have not really received into their hearts the engrafted Word.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 29)
When God speaks through His delegated servants the people are to listen to His words and obey the counsels given; but it is so hard for some to yield their own way, they make up their mind that God must say so and so, and are ready to reject every utterance which does not coincide with their past work and their preconceived opinions. Remember, every one, it is by what God does say to us that we shall be tried at last, not by what we imagine He ought to say. You must bring your souls up to the light, the standard of God’s Word. Let none venture to choose darkness rather than the light, and keep away from the light lest their deeds shall be reproved. He who desires truth in the inward parts has declared that only the pure in heart should see God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 30)
Your ideas of God and His work must become enlarged. You must not lose sight of the work of Christ. You have reason to fear and tremble, for some are in a position where they have no just sense of right and righteousness. They have no true conception of God’s mercy or of His judgment. This makes the situation more difficult and trying for those who labor for you. If you suppose for a moment that God will treat sin lightly, or make provisions or exemptions so that you can go on in committing sin, and the soul suffer no penalty from so doing, you are under a terrible delusion of Satan. Any wilful violation of the righteous law of Jehovah exposes your soul to the full assaults of Satan.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 31)
When you lose your conscious integrity, your soul becomes a battlefield for Satan; you have doubts and fears enough to paralyze your energies and drive you to discouragement. When the favor of God was gone, you know that some of you have tried to supply the place and seek compensation for the loss of the Holy Spirit’s witness that you are a child of God in worldly excitement, in the society of worldlings.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 32)
In short, you have plunged deeper into sin, become intemperate, until every better feeling was under the control of the adversary of souls. Satanic influences were at work to make you reach a point where in your sinful course conscience will not make her voice heard. You are stupefied, your moral sense is perverted.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 33)
This is a terrible picture, yet it is nevertheless true. Some regard sin as altogether so light a matter that they have no defense against its indulgence or its consequence. You do not rise high enough in your efforts. How can you but tremble in the sight of your own inefficiency. How can you hope that a righteous God will be constantly granting you forgiveness for the offenses you are constantly repeating?
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 34)
Why not yield your will unreservedly to the will of God? Your spiritual sensibilities are almost completely benumbed. The testimonies that I bear to you, by pen and voice, will not make any radical change in the life of some, in their habits or their practices, because they do not sense sin. If the fallow ground of the heart could be broken up, then there would be some hope that the good seed would find lodgment and spring up and bear fruit. But I greatly fear that some of you will not make that work in repenting that needeth not to be repented of. Your will must be summoned to the conflict. Remember that temptation is not sin. Remember that however trying the circumstances in which a man may be placed, nothing can really weaken his soul so long as he does not yield to temptation, but maintains his own integrity.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 35)
The interests most vital to you individually are in your own keeping. No one can damage them without your consent. All the satanic legions cannot injure you unless you open your soul to the darts and arrows of Satan. Your ruin can never take place until your will consents. If there is not pollution of mind in yourself, all the surrounding pollution cannot taint or defile you.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 36)
Eternal life is worth everything to us or it is worth nothing. Those only who put forth persevering effort and untiring zeal with intense desire, proportionate to the value of the object they are in pursuit of, will gain that life which measures with the life of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 37)
With some in your midst, religion is purely a matter of feeling. You will see a fair show of fervor and devotedness for a time, but soon a change comes, their ardor is not fed, and careless indifference takes the place of the feelings which were strongly and pleasantly affected while the love of Christ and the glories of heaven were dwelt upon. Their feelings, their experience have no connection with the belief of the truth. Their hope is not founded on the statements of the Oracles of God, which they know to be true, and which would be a firm foundation to their faith. When their experience changes, faith and hope and religion depart.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 38)
They made a profession of religion and were baptized, but they show they were on sliding sand instead of the solid rock. They do not find all as pleasant as they anticipated; they want to sip of the pleasure of excitement, the ballroom, the dance; they show that they have not yet tasted of the living water, of the fountain of life. Because they have no hunger of soul for righteousness, no soul thirst for the waters of life, they drink at broken cisterns that can hold no water. Their religion rests only on the sandy foundations of their own fluctuating feelings.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 39)
If you are intelligent Christians, you will maintain religious vitality, and will not be deterred by difficulties which shall beset you, because your hope is wrought in God. You will work the works of God in gloom as well as in the glory, in shade as well as in the sunshine, in conflict as well as in peace. The truth must be treasured up in your hearts as well as incorporated into your being, so that no temptation and no argument can induce you to yield to Satan’s suggestions or devices.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 40)
The truth is precious; it has wrought important changes upon the life and character, exerting a masterly influence over words, deportment, thoughts, and experience. The true followers of Christ live not to themselves, but to Him who died for them. The soul that appreciates the truth lives under its influence and senses the tremendous reality of eternal things. To them God lives and is ever cognizant to all their words and actions.
(4LtMs, Lt 14, 1885, 41)
Lt 15, 1885
Waggoner, J. H.; Jones, C. H. Healdsburg, California March 7, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in 20MR 48-50. + Dear Brethren Waggoner and Jones:
I have read your letters once and will read them more carefully later, but I find nothing in them to lift the weight from my mind in regard to arrangements for the publication and sale of my books.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 1)
I accept the explanations you make in regard to the draft. I have not laid up anything in my mind against you over this matter. However, I feel more and more convinced that I should never again allow myself to be left at the mercy of my brethren as regards means, if I can avoid it.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 2)
From the light that God has given me, I am more and more convinced that you are acting unwisely in investing so much means in buildings. Since debts are now bearing you down, like weights of lead, I would advise you to “hug the shore” more closely in this respect. When you have means with which to build, then it will be time for you to increase your facilities. Bring your work within the limits of your resources, even if you must thereby endure great inconvenience. This is the light that God has repeatedly given me for you. It would be pleasing to God if you were to give this matter more careful study than you have given it.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 3)
With reference to my book, I desire to say that I am not complaining because I think the office has been receiving too much for publishing it, but because I am not satisfied with the income it brings to me. Some plan should have been devised whereby more than fifteen cents’ royalty per copy would come to me. I do not remember that I was ever consulted regarding this matter. I thought that my brethren would guard my interests as sacredly as they would their own interests or the interests of the office. I know where to apply means to help the cause fully as well as my brethren know where to apply my means for me.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 4)
I have just received a letter from Brother Ostrander, in which he defends Brother Hamilton, against whom I made the charge that he appropriated means belonging to me and used it for his own convenience, building a house in Boulder. To make a bad matter worse, he exchanged this building for land in Longmont. This land was mortgaged, and it became necessary for me to invest six hundred dollars to lift the mortgage in order to avoid losing all that Brother Hamilton used. Thus about two thousand dollars, which I greatly need, is tied up. And now Brother Ostrander proposes to relieve me of all further difficulty in regard to this property by taking it off my hands. The mission in Colorado is embarrassed, and the proposition is that I donate to this mission the two thousand dollars tied up in this property. My brethren may feel ready to give me this kind of relief, but I am not ready to accept their proposition.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 5)
My brethren of wise judgment could have managed my book—[Spirit of Prophecy] Volume IV—in such a way that relief would have been brought to me. They could have published a statement to the effect that this book had cost me much time and money to prepare and put on the market; and that, as I had pledged largely for the support of missions—no less than three thousand dollars—in addition to meeting other heavy expenses, the profits on the first edition of this book would go to the author to reimburse her for a portion of the heavy expense incurred; that the profits on the second edition would be divided between the canvassers and the author. Thus you could have helped me, but you did not.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 6)
Hereafter I cannot put implicit confidence in all the plans you devise and execute, so far as my work is concerned. I will keep on the lookout for a manager; and when I find one who is suitable, I will employ him. I will not trust my book interests with my good brethren who plan in such a way that a certain portion of the profit is taken off by this one, and by that one, and only a very small portion is left for me. All your explanations and figures do not help me at all. My books are selling well, and yet I have scarcely enough money to procure the necessary things of life; and when I send to the office for funds, there comes to me the oft-repeated reply, “You have overdrawn your account.” My helpers are not paid for the work they have done. I am carrying a heavy burden of debt, on which I pay interest. My books are constantly sold in large numbers; and yet the profits bring me but little relief.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 7)
Matters are so arranged that those who write books cannot receive proper compensation, because the books go through so many hands that the profits are consumed in this way. Whether canvassers, or tract and missionary societies, or whatever it may be that brings about this result, I protest against such an arrangement. If we should revive the old plan of our ministers’ disposing of the books, and receiving part of the profits themselves, I believe there would be a better state of things than exists today. Under present arrangements, it seems as if almost everything is absorbed by the tract and missionary societies, leaving very little profit for the author. I shall have something more to say on these things.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 8)
Only the expense of publishing and selling my book, Vol. IV, should have been taken from the profits. The rest should have been saved for the author. No canvassers were needed for Volume IV. It would have been sold without going to all this expense. I am not satisfied with the result. Those who have felt that they were doing me justice by awarding me fifteen cents for each copy sold have erred in judgment.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 9)
The notice of the higher prices placed on the book should never have been published. No explanation of this was made at the time. If nothing in explanation could have been written, the notice would better have remained unpublished.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 10)
I will make no rash moves, but I cannot submit to the arrangements made. They are unjust. The money used in paying canvassers for selling the first edition was misspent; for I should have received the profits on that edition. I know where to use this means to the very best advantage; and yet I have nothing to use in any way. I economize in every way possible and still do not have sufficient to meet running expenses. I am sick at heart and discouraged over the present state of affairs. If the notice of the advance in price had been published before the first ten thousand books were sold, it would have been far better. I have trusted too much in my brethren. I regret making this mistake. In the future I must look after my own interests more closely.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 11)
Yours with respect.
(4LtMs, Lt 15, 1885, 12)
Lt 16, 1885
Andrews, Edith Healdsburg, California January 15, 1885 Previously unpublished. My dear Sister Edith Andrews:
I have been shown some things in regard to your dangers and your connection with others in your work. All the ability that God has given you is to be improved to His glory. Your thoughts and actions need to be closely investigated.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 1)
There is one kind of education you need which you have not—that is to be devotional, to be unselfish in your home life. Your character should be molded after the divine model.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 2)
You have had as your birthright traits of character transmitted to you which the grace of God would enable you to overcome, but these traits have been cherished as virtues. The Lord seeth not as man seeth.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 3)
Your usefulness and religious life are affected greatly and unfavorably by this phase of your character. Your influence upon other minds is not good. False views of life prevail everywhere to a greater or less extent, and from erroneous ideas will grow other and greater errors which affect not only the make-up of your character, but that of those with whom you associate. Right thinking lies at the foundation of right action. You have ever been controlled to a great extent by your inclination to follow a course that pleases you. To control the desires and actions, to meet the mind and will of God, you have but little experience in this line.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 4)
There are precious souls whose usefulness in this life has been greatly lessened, for their experience has been mingled with misconception and false ideas that have had a controlling power over physical and mental capabilities. These errors have detracted from their usefulness and also cut short the life God has given to be preserved for many years.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 5)
You so relate yourself to others that self is served; self is made a center. You gather about you a few select friends, and these administer to your vanity and self-love. You pet them and they pet you and you live upon their sympathy and you injure them and they injure you.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 6)
Each individual is one of a great whole—one member of a common body. They have a part to act in the great whole. They cannot break these bonds, although they may ignore them. They do violence to their character and prove a snare to others if they do not carefully study God’s plans and purposes in their relation to one another. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God is love; and a heart imbued with the love of Jesus will fasten upon Jesus, the proper object, will love Him supremely; and the wealth of affection may flow in this divine channel without restraint or any danger.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 7)
To love God supremely is obeying the first four commandments. The last six requires that man shall love his neighbor as himself. In obeying these last six commandments, God’s child cannot live for self and seek his or her own enjoyment and happiness with a disregard to the present and future happiness of others. When self-love is strong, there will be no love bestowed upon those who do not praise and flatter you. You will dislike to be with them. You want yourself to be highly thought of, appreciated, petted, adored. You are an injury to those who remain much in your company or whom you associate with. All that you do seems to be perfection to them. They are misled. They do not judge of your character correctly.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 8)
There is with you a love for the society of young men, and you attract them to you. You give them encouragement. You love to be in their society. You lead them on that they think you have preference for them. They know not that you are a coquette, and they become less and less interested in the service of God. You have injured them. You have interposed yourself between them and their Saviour. Remember, it is with Him who looks on the heart that we have to do—as is the heart, so is our religion. All the heart, all the soul, all the affections God requires. Unless the law of God is written on the heart, we in truth never obey it. The truth of God cannot profit or illumine the soul while it assents to professedly believe without sinking into the heart, reforming the life and character.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 9)
The love, the pity, the compassion of God may be revealed; entreaties the most touching, invitations most earnest, may be mingled with promises the most free, cheering, and ample, and the heart be proof against them all. The truth does not sanctify the soul. The professed love for Jesus exercises not a controlling power upon the will, the inclination, because the truth has not subdued and sanctified the heart. Unless your affections flow in a different channel and are withdrawn [from] mere human objects and earthly things, and set on things above, then you cannot be on the Lord’s side. The enemy finds a stronghold in the hearts of these, although their outward appearance may be very much like the life of a devoted Christian. The Heartsearcher knows that heart, that the love of the Saviour is not there. The foundation of spiritual upbuilding of character has not been laid. Christ is not in the soul, the hope of glory. There is no room in the heart either for the Spirit of God or the truth. Some idol has erected his temple there which is worshiped with the devotedness due to God alone. Hence the heart is closed against the truth. The affections are engrossed. The whole secret is the heart is not impressed and delights not in Him who is love.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 10)
When the conscience is aroused, convinced, the heart, unless it immediately surrenders, [has] pain; unrest and absolute distraction are often produced by the conflict which is described in the Scriptures as the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The struggle ceases only when the soul surrenders to God. You have a work to do for yourself before you can be a blessing to others. Your influence is injurious to others. [For] these with whom you associate, religion has not taken the helm of life. The truth does not occupy the citadel of the soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 11)
If you would have Christ formed within, the hope of glory, you must have a radical change. Your love for admiration must die, and Christ must be in you the hope of glory. This sentimentalism must die. This centering your love upon a few is not sanctified affection. It is not of holy, pure principle. This is a human element, not divine, not heavenly. Your uncle had much of this same element in his character which greatly injured his discernment and spirituality. We have had to meet this in our experience quite frequently.
(4LtMs, Lt 16, 1885, 12)
Lt 17, 1885
Andrews, Edith NP February 10, 1885 Previously unpublished.
My dear Sister Edith:
(4LtMs, Lt 17, 1885, 1)
There are some things I wish to present before you. I have questioned whether it could be my duty to write to you in regard to some things. You are in danger of making the same mistake your uncle made—of having a one-sided education. He loved books and reading which proved to him a snare because he would devote himself to this kind of employment. He would frame every excuse for this kind of work, and it was most taxing and exhausting.
(4LtMs, Lt 17, 1885, 2)
You have weak lungs. Many who were placed as you are would overcome this difficulty, but I must tell you I have but little hope that you will do this because your habits are of that character that you will not see the evil tendency of these habits until it is too late. Your brain has now the taxation, while your muscles are almost totally inactive. There is not a healthful circulation of blood. You sit in a room where you are seldom sufficiently warm and seek to heat your feet by artificial means, but do not consult reason or religion in the matter. An interdict should be placed upon you, forbidding all such sedentary employment. Those who have pursued the course you are doing have paid the forfeit with their lives. Had they used the reason God has given them, they need not have died, but lived.
(4LtMs, Lt 17, 1885, 3)
With your intelligence you ought to know how to use limbs, brain, and muscle wisely that if possible the condition of things now existing might change. You know better than to treat yourself as you have done. But you have a very determined purpose, and it is difficult to make you see the importance of a change of habits. While God has given you reason, and you do not obey the dictates of reason, but are guided and controlled by impulse, God will not work a miracle to preserve that life that you daily needlessly imperil.
(4LtMs, Lt 17, 1885, 4)
It is the law of life that physical exercise is necessary for health. If one set of muscles is used to the neglect of others, there is a debility that must come to the unused organs. There is a want of harmonious action. Brain and muscle must be worked in order to have each equally taxed. If the muscles are used in active exercise, the circulation of the blood is quickened in its passage through the system. The heart receives blood faster, propelling it to the lungs, then the lungs work more healthfully to furnish the oxygen required by the larger amount of blood. The heart does its work more thoroughly, propelling the blood through the whole body. Healthful exercise gives new life and strength to every part of the body. The nerves ... [unfinished].
(4LtMs, Lt 17, 1885, 5)
Lt 18, 1885
Burgess, J. A. Healdsburg, California January 20, 1885 Previously unpublished. Brother Burgess:
I am troubled to find bills unsettled against me. Myers says there is about thirty dollars charged against me. What does this mean? Have you everything you have received in money, and how it was expended? We find not a scratch of anything of the kind here. Now will you please send in the accounts? Will you state definitely how you used the money sent from Oakland? Did you leave unsettled bill at Myers or in any other place? It would be a satisfaction to me to know about these things. Have you any of my money in your hands?
(4LtMs, Lt 18, 1885, 1)
I was dunned for a debt you left unpaid at Goldenstone. I told him you were an honest man and would settle the debt, but I should pay no such debts. Why have you not made to me a statement of matters that I might know just how they stood? I am pressed for money as never before, and then to have a bill of thirty dollars presented to me troubles me. Will you tell me, Is this a just debt or Myers’ meanness? Let me know at once.
(4LtMs, Lt 18, 1885, 2)
Lt 19, 1885
Smith, Brother and Sister [Uriah] Healdsburg, Calif. March 23, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in 5MR 175. Elder [Uriah] Smith and Wife:
Much respected brother and sister: last evening I returned from St. Helena [to] your letter and one from Sister Hall at Sanitarium, which contained a draft for Sister Klase of $2,200. I was glad to read your letter. It made me have courage to feel that you miss the articles. But be assured it is by no design of mine that you do not have them. I have placed in Eliza’s hands articles for some time ahead, but there has been high pressure here to do some work in completing books that have been contemplated some time.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 1)
There has been every exertion made to prepare a sketch of life and travels to go into Volume 4. Marian is doing this. The testimonies have been waiting some time to be published, and Eliza, who has prepared these articles, was called below to Oakland to help M. K. White to read proof sheet. That is quite an important work as you well know. She left Marian to prepare articles for the paper, and Marian was driving upon Life Sketches; so among all the work, you have not received the articles you should have had; and I knew not but that you had them until I saw none in the paper. Be assured that it was not for the money I wrote them. But Eliza has employed nearly all her time for both papers. They have, during the pressure, prepared seventeen articles from Vol. 4 so as to devote the time to work mentioned.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 2)
I have had difficulty of head and more especially of my eyes since I returned from the Eastern meetings. Have been utterly unable to use my eyes because of constant pain in the back of the ball and temples. I would not submit my eyes to be treated by any doctor. I knew they needed rest, complete rest, but these books to be prepared have forced me to use them. By binding up the left eye, I have used the right eye considerably. My general health is good. My throat and lungs, heart, and head have been bad, but I am improving. [I] write now a little every day under the pressure. We are getting out Testimony No. 32—about completed.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 3)
I do not mean there shall be a break in the articles again if I can prevent it.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 4)
The two hundred came in good, for I had to provide for a bathroom to bring water into my house; and it cost me something near three hundred dollars for windmill and tank house and pipes and everything relating to it, when I expected it would cost me only one hundred. But you know this is how matters generally turn out in regard to improvements. But I am glad of the two hundred just now.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 5)
If I should relate to you the experience I have had in regard to money matters since I returned home, you would laugh, I know. I can laugh now, but I assure you in the pinch it was no laughing matter. I did expect on my books to receive enough to get me free from financial embarrassment; but no, all that I received was five hundred dollars above actual expenses, not counting in my time or family expenses.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 6)
Now, Brother Smith, I think that my brethren should have considered my case, my continual expense, and worked for my interest in regard to the profits of Vol. 4. The profits of the first edition I ought to have had, then the second edition be put in the hands of the canvassers, and let those who handled the book share the profits; but to set my profits only fifteen cents on a copy from the commencement is a mistake and very hard for me. I was so surprised when this was done without my counsel or consent, I felt discouraged. I was needing entire freedom and rest from my journey, but did not get it. Sister Klase was much exposed in the sanitarium while the building was finishing; doors were constantly swinging and the draught was bringing difficulties on her lungs of a serious character. She coughed all through the journey and was asked to make a batch of bread [for] the boarding house at Oakland; and in the condition her lungs were in, it was the worst thing she could do. She was before this very much troubled with her left lung. She bled at the lungs, and then they sent her to me at Healdsburg. Just as she was feeling strong again, Elmer fell from the top of the tankhouse and broke his leg in a very bad place. We have taken care of them both for three months, so you see not much rest for me. I should say the mother had the principle care of Elmer. That is all she could do. We have done the rest. Sister Klase was worried. I told her I would not charge her one cent for their board. Board here in Healdsburg is five dollars per week. This is done by me as freely as if Sister Klase were my own sister, for she is precious as gold. I think Elmer a worthless boy, but no discount on the mother. Bro. and Sr. Lockwood were with us for about two months. They were no burden to me, but a help in many ways.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 7)
But the books do not help me to hardly meet my expenses of publishing them. I told Willie I should have to dismiss my help, lessen my family expenses, cease my writing in a great measure, for it was impossible to carry a heavy burden of debt as I am carrying.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 8)
My eyes will not admit of my reading this over, for I must write to Eld. Canright, so excuse mistakes.
(4LtMs, Lt 19, 1885, 9)
Friends at Healdsburg Modesto, California July 14, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear friends at Healdsburg:
Our train left Oakland about 11 o’clock at night, Monday. We were compelled to have considerable confusion as usual in packing up and getting off. We went down to the point at half-past seven, and there was a crowd that came to see us off. We had to go thus early to get our places, take our seats, and then we went out to walk and get the air, for it was very close in the place where the cars stood. It would be so much better if there had not so many come down to see us off. We did not get ready to sleep until midnight. There is a great deal of jerking and jostling. I slept nevertheless until morning, but feel the need of more sleep. It will take some days for me to get rested. We are not badly crowded, but there are about as many as our party on the cars.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 1)
We met here Skeltons, Sabbath-keepers, just from Kansas. They are going to locate in Fresno County.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 2)
We are promised an entire car at Mojave. I designed to have left you more money to pay for the hay, but it has taken pretty close work to get money to defray the expenses of this journey. Draw from Pacific Press if you need [money] any time, Brother and Sister Lockwood. We return the same route we came. Some extra advantages were granted us over the Central Pacific, so we took this.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 3)
I would be pleased to have you send to Byron Belden, Pacific Press, a couple of boxes of plums when they get ripe. The plums were sold readily for two cents and a half at Oakland, which was about two cents at Healdsburg. Willie says he sent you a telegram to send down plums. Byron will dispose of them. When there is a general ripening of plums, you may, if agreeable, visit Petaluma, and let Byron Belden know just when he and Sarah will go to Petaluma and go back with you, and she will prepare plums, dry and can some for themselves. If this is not convenient, then let the matter pass. I would like you to send one box to Pacific Press for Sister Borlan.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 4)
Addie, I have talked with Sister Loughborough, and she will rent you the room at head of stairs, and Sister Davis as roommate, and board you for two dollars and half. This is reasonable. Mary Loughborough will have to sleep upon the lounge in sitting room. This is the most favorable outlook I can see for you. I feel fully better than I could reasonably expect after such a tax of getting ready and having kept awake till midnight. I will rest if possible on this journey.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 5)
Brother Lockwood, do as well as you can with the fruit. Keep account of what it brings, for I wish to know in regard to the profits on the place. I have had a good long talk with Elder Rice in regard to [the] Health Retreat, and I feel relieved.
(4LtMs, Lt 20, 1885, 6)
Lt 21, 1885
Waggoner, Sister Great Grimsby, England August 20, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Sister Waggoner:
Before I left California I tried to write you, but I was not able. I will write now the things which I feel urged upon me.
(4LtMs, Lt 21, 1885, 1)
I have been shown your case, my sister, and there are serious defects in your character which you need to see and overcome. You are selfish, thinking and planning for yourself. You are not doing your duty to your father Elder Waggoner. He needs the sympathy, the love, and the affection of his children which he has not had as he deserves. Had you felt as a daughter should, you would not have felt peace or rest or any way excusable until you had planned a home for your father. Ellet is at fault here. He should have made this one of the objects of his life, to have made a pleasant home for his father. His father has helped you and planned and worked for you, and he should have in return love, sympathy, and attention from you both. His life has been a disappointment, and you have not tried, as it was your duty, to make up for this lack. You have thought and planned for yourselves and calculated for yourselves, and you might have been doing your duty to your father and would have been blessed in so doing. God will not bless such neglect and indifference on your part. It is your privilege to make a home for your father and to be kind and tender to your father.
(4LtMs, Lt 21, 1885, 2)
I want to say, my sister, in your present state of supreme self-love, selfish plans, all you do is mingled with self. Now if you do not overcome this and make every effort to work to overcome your peevish, irritable spirit, you will never be an overcomer. The Lord would have you to be a truly converted woman, patient, kind, and tender. The grace of Christ is needed daily in your heart and overcoming grace to be seen in your deportment. May the Lord help you now to make most thorough efforts to overcome.
(4LtMs, Lt 21, 1885, 3)
You have a work to do for yourselves which no others can do for you. Will you take hold of this work and be just as determined to succeed here as you have been to succeed in having your own way and carrying out your own will? There are now golden moments for you to improve. Make the most of them for Christ’s sake. Bring all the happiness, light, peace, and love you can into your home life. Let Jesus be a treasured guest in your home. Do not, I beg of you, neglect to do the very duties that are left for you to do. Be wholly and entirely the Lord’s. You may develop Christian characters which will stand the test of the judgment.
(4LtMs, Lt 21, 1885, 4)
Yours with respect.
(4LtMs, Lt 21, 1885, 5)
Lt 22, 1885
Gibbs, Dr. Basel, Switzerland September 5, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in EGWE 35, 40, 43-44, 46. Dr. Gibbs Dear Brother:
Here we are in Europe at last. We have come through safely and have had a pleasant journey—no accident or harm has come to any of us with the exception of a severe cold contracted in Great Grimsby. Everything looks familiar as though I had passed through this country before. The odd, queer looking houses look as familiar as though I had been familiar with the sight.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 1)
We reached Liverpool the eighteenth of August, but I will not be minute here, for I have written an article for the paper which you will no doubt see before this reaches you.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 2)
We will state some few things for the satisfaction of those who know Bro. Drew. We found him comfortably situated in a convenient house with good furniture, easy chairs, and decorated with pictures and tasty ornaments. His wife is a French lady that was for years lady’s maid to a noble lady. They have a little Miss Drew nearly two years old.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 3)
Liverpool has about three hundred thousand inhabitants. Brethren Drew and O’Neal from Southampton are engaged in the missionary work. But what can those do to let rays of light shine in this great city? I am filled with pain at heart when I consider the few workers and so much to be done. There will have to be help sent to this city Liverpool.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 4)
August 19. We traveled on the cars to Great Grimsby. This is a very large place, but cannot have the honor of being called a city because it has no grand cathedral. It is the custom here to have outdoor meetings.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 5)
I spoke in the temperance hall Friday evening on the subject of temperance. I spoke to our people in their place of meeting—twice Sabbath and once Sunday forenoon. There are some very substantial, noble souls who have embraced the faith in Grimsby. Several came from Hull and from Ulceby. A few in both these places were keeping the Sabbath and seemed to enjoy the meeting very much. I was urged with tears to come to both these places and speak to the people. I consented to have an appointment circulated for Monday night at Ulceby. Sunday night I spoke to the people assembled in the town hall. There were about one thousand present. The Lord gave me much freedom. The very best class of people were out to hear and gave the best of attention. Monday night I rode on the cars ten miles out to Ulceby. Here are two large families keeping the Sabbath besides other individuals alone in families. Brother Armstrong and his wife were convicted of the truth. He is a baker by trade. He has the general custom. He supplies with bread one of the lords who lived in Ulceby who was a member of or connected with the royal family; and when these great ones of earth patronize a merchant or trader, the people will all follow their example. Should he lose the custom of the nobility, he loses the custom of the people.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 6)
Sister Armstrong received the truth and could only weep and pray for her husband. How could he keep the Sabbath, he queried, with a large family dependent on him? He hesitated some time, but was unable to find peace or rest until he decided to obey the law of God and trust his case in the hands of the Lord.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 7)
He visited the mother of this lord and frankly made known his convictions and his purpose to obey. She thought it was very foolish in him to keep Saturday when all the world kept Sunday, and she told him they could never consent to eat any bread except warm, fresh, that-day baked. Brother Armstrong told her he would supply her late Friday night and early Sunday morning. But she said it would not do at all. So he was paid up and discharged. The nobility sent to Grimsby for their bread. It looked very dark for Brother Armstrong, but he said if he were left to want he would not break the Sabbath. One week passed; then he was summoned to the lord’s house. The mother had another interview with him and enquired if he had not changed his mind and given up that foolish notion in regard to the Sabbath. He told her he was more than ever decided that he must obey God in keeping all His commandments. Well, she said, I am sorry for myself and for you, but I think we must have your bread. I have had poor, sour bread since I discharged you. I think, said Bro. Armstrong, I was just the most thankful, happiest man in the town. The Lord was merciful. His power controlled this matter. You see by my relating this circumstance something how matters work. It is very difficult for poor people to keep the Sabbath. It is not luxuries that they lose, for they have not these; but it is the bare bread that sustains life that they lose. Many believe, but have no kind of a show of getting the simplest food to sustain life. I have faith that the wealthier classes will be reached through the lower classes, and then there will be men of business who will employ workers, and thus a way will be opened for the honest to receive the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 8)
We returned to Grimsby, and Wednesday we took the cars for Bexley and spoke under the tent. The Lord gave me His Spirit in large measure. We were obliged to ride from the depot in a dog cart. It was foggy and rainy. I took cold. The eastern breakfast I do not fancy—a little tea and thin slices of bread and a plate of cake. But we did the best we could with this, substituting water for the tea. You may imagine this shadow of a breakfast, dry lunch on the cars the day before, and no supper—speaking one hour and a half, and then this make-believe breakfast, but I let that go.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 9)
We had a good attendance. The tent was full and one hundred outside. They listened as if spellbound. We could say as we looked over the congregation there were honorable women not a few. They seemed to drink in every word. After this meeting closed, all who could get access to me shook my hand heartily, saying, “God bless you for the words you have spoken. You are doing a good work. May the Lord long preserve you,” and thus one and another expressed their feelings. I mean, when a favorable opportunity presents, to go over the ground again and speak to these interested ones.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 10)
We rode four miles in a rainstorm, but in a covered carriage this time. We reached London about half-past eleven o’clock where we met W. C. White and Brother Kellogg. W.C.W. left Grimsby to meet Brother Kellogg in London. Sunday night we tarried in London twenty-four hours, but I was not well. I could not sleep the night before until past one. I could not lay off the burden I felt for the souls in England. I was pleading with the Lord to arouse His people, that the missionary spirit might burn in the hearts of those who were now at ease in Zion, and that the warning message might be given to these great cities. There are five million of people in London, and one hundred workers would not be too many to try to reflect light on this great city. Who will come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty? Who will go without the camp bearing the reproach? I spoke in Southampton to the church three times and in the large hall Sunday night.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 11)
I was taken sick Sunday morning; was unable to sit up; my head was throbbing; every nerve in my body seemed to be quivering. I was sick, sick, and I knew I could not talk that night without the Lord wrought in a special manner for me. I arose from my bed; was taken in a hack to the hall. There before me were more than a thousand people. I thought I would excuse myself and take my seat, but the Lord helped me. My hoarseness departed; my headache ceased, and I was free. I spoke one hour and twenty minutes with clearness and power. This is another token of God’s mercy. I thank Him with my whole heart for this blessing. The people listened with the most profound attention. Many wept, and I was better after speaking. Have been improving ever since. Spent two nights and two days in London, but was confined to the hotel, writing an article for Southampton weekly paper. We came to this place last Thursday, September 3. We found here a beautiful house, room and well situated; three good rooms on third story have been appointed to us. The view from our windows is not as grand as the view at St. Helena, but it [is] beautiful, beautiful. I spoke yesterday, [September] 4, to the believers in this place. There are about fifty assembled here to worship God. The meetinghouse or room is good. The room is about as large again as at St. Helena—well lighted and ventilated.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 12)
I spoke followed by two interpreters—French and German. The people seemed to be blessed. There are now new ones embracing the truth all the time. The German interpreter is not keeping the Sabbath. Brother Bourdeau became acquainted with him while riding in the cars. He was out of work, and he recommended him to come to Basel and they might employ him. He is now translating Life of Christ into German. I hope he will keep the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 13)
A German has just come to Basel Friday. He is a professor in a school. He embraced the truth by reading, and of course he could not retain his place. He begged the privilege of substituting Thursday for Saturday, and it was granted until another teacher could supply his place. The work moves slowly, but hearts are certainly being convicted and converted. I feel deeply in regard to Europe. We want money! We want workers in this broad field! May the Lord give no rest to those who are now feeling irresponsible and may feel indeed “I am my brother’s keeper.”
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 14)
We do not forget you at St. Helena. I have written to Brother Rice and Sister Ings, but no letter of response comes; and I now write to you. Perhaps you will be able to write or dictate to another a few words of reply. I will not be able to write many private letters, but will write occasionally.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 15)
I feel sure that if each one connected with the Health Retreat will work with the Spirit of Jesus, there will be drawing in even cords. There will be harmony and love and unity of action. I believe, Dr. Gibbs, that the Lord will set His hand to help you in the discharge of your duty, if God is made your dependence and your trust. If all connected with the Health Retreat will have faith unfeigned, they will see the institution prosper. We must make God our counselor, and He will give us of His wisdom. The Bible is our directory. Let us study its pages and closely follow the precepts of God’s Word.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 16)
You can have a great influence for good as a physician. You can lead souls to trust in the Great Physician. You need daily a living experience in the things of God. You want a personal knowledge of the truth, that you may be a physician of the soul as well as of the body.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 17)
The Lord has a work for us all; and if we do this work with fidelity, we shall receive the reward of everlasting life. There is no place on earth where religion is so appropriate as in an institution like the Health Retreat. I hope that there will not be a want of devotion in any one connected with this institution. In God, it will prove a success; without the wisdom of God, it will be a failure. The people will have growing confidence in the institution as they see that it is conducted from a religious standpoint. I think much can be accomplished by lectures upon the false habits and wrong customs, and presenting the true and healthful habits in contrast. There are so many who are ignorant of the laws of life and health.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 18)
I have not questioned at any time but it was in the providence of God that you should connect with the Health Retreat Institute, and God will bless you in your efforts. Only walk humbly before Him. Your life has not been cast in pleasant places; but if you love, fear, and honor God, He will be to you wisdom, sanctification, and righteousness.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 19)
How pleased should I be could I walk in and see you all and learn of the cases you have treated and the increased knowledge of the truth you are gaining, that you can guide others into the path of truth and holiness. We have but little time to work now. The day is far spent, and the night is at hand; then let us work with an eye single to the glory of God. Hide self in Jesus. All our works and our character are passing in review before the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity. Every one will receive of the Master as his works have been, whether they be good or evil. We want to so live that our names will not be blotted out of the book of life, but be confessed before God and the heavenly angels. Remember me to Sister Ings, Brother Rice, and Sister Klase, Sister Weatherwax, and the Crawford girls.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 20)
Yours with respect.
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 21)
[P.S.] Please inform me how my cow and calf are getting along, and Kit. Have my cottages been rented? How many patients have you?
(4LtMs, Lt 22, 1885, 22)
Lt 23, 1885
Butler, G. I. Basel, Switzerland September 18, 1885 This manuscript is published in entirety in 15MR 345-370. Dear Brother Butler:
(In this you will find my diary transferred, giving you a history of our meetings.)
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 1)
I attended the morning meeting. There was quite a large gathering of Germans, French, Italians, and English. The prayers were offered in all these languages. The Lord was near to bless His people. My heart was drawn out in earnest supplication that this meeting might be the beginning of better days for the laborers in these fields and for all assembled. I pleaded earnestly with God that heavenly wisdom might be given to every one engaged in the work, that at this important council the Spirit of Jesus would soften and subdue hearts. I had the assurance of His word and Spirit that the Lord would hear and would answer our prayers. Nearly all our American brethren bore good testimonies, as did also Elders Matteson and Oyen.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 2)
I have had testimonies for this people especially on the necessity of love and unity. I have felt urged by the Spirit of God to keep before them the necessity of being teachable, easy to be entreated, that it was entirely out of place for Christ’s servants to be self-sufficient and independent. I have tried to impress upon them that we are individually bound together in the great web of humanity, and all that we do has relation to others, and any one man is not a whole. It is not safe to follow one man’s mind and one man’s judgment. We are to be helps to one another, but never to be the shadow of any man. God would have us think and act as free moral agents, gathering light from Him to reflect upon others, while we must be willing to be entreated of our brethren and to gain wisdom from men of experience.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 3)
I spoke upon James 3:13-18. Words went home to hearts. No one man is to consider himself authority in all things. We should be willing to learn one from another. Great and noble-minded men are teachable. Selfish and narrow minds are not willing to be taught. It is the privilege of men associating with men to lay every man’s mind with which he comes in contact under tribute, absorbing every particle of common sense that they can gain by the experience and education of others. If there are things that are not of value, cast that aside. If the heart is humble, the purpose true, they will have sanctified ears and perception to distinguish between the true and the false.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 4)
After meeting, Dr. Vincenzo Guerini, an Italian, filled a tooth for me. He is a refined gentleman, a dentist. He is considered the best workman in Naples. He is fully in the truth. A man of excellent spirit.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 5)
September 19
At half-past six a.m. had a consultation with Brethren Bourdeau, Whitney, and their families. We were considering the best way to help the Italian Mission. We can see only one way, if we can bring it to pass, to connect Brother and Sister Mallon from Torre Pellice with the Basel Publishing House and A. C. Bourdeau with his family [to] go to Italy and occupy their house. Then Brother and Sister Mallon would feel that the work would go forward in Italy, should they leave. Their property is involved, and by disposing of their printing material, they could relieve themselves of financial embarrassment and still have their house and lot left. May the Lord direct, is our prayer. The talent of Brother and Sister Mallon is much needed in the publishing house in Basel.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 6)
Brother D. T. Bourdeau spoke in the early morning meeting. In the afternoon I spoke to the people from Colossians 1:24-29. I felt great weakness before going into the desk. I pleaded most earnestly with God in prayer to help me and to bless the people in a special manner. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon me and upon the people. I was followed by three interpreters: German, French, and Danish, but this did not embarrass me in the least. The heavenly angels were in our midst. I was blessed in speaking, the people blessed in hearing. I cannot see but that my message is having a better impression than on the minds of my American brethren and sisters.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 7)
After the discourse we had a most precious meeting. Our brethren of all nationalities spoke of being greatly blessed, and of being very grateful to God for the word spoken. One brother who has been laboring in Naples, Biglia by name, had been unwilling to come under the control of the conference. Yet he depended on them for means to carry on the work in his own way. He had manifested a spirit of independence. He expressed himself with deep feeling and confessed his unconsecrated condition. He said, “I have heard and read about the mission of Sister White, but now I have seen and handled this matter myself. I acknowledge that the power of God has come to my heart through her testimony. I receive it as from God. I humble myself before God. God’s voice in reproof of my sins has come to me through Sister White.”
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 8)
Other testimonies acknowledged the blessing of God which the people had received. Surely we could say with Jacob, “The Lord is in this place.” [Genesis 28:16.] Many with tears say this is the best meeting that they ever experienced. Our American brethren seemed to be blessed and bore testimonies with brokenness of heart. They were excellent, humble testimonies. The testimonies of the Spirit of God are received. I really think the testimonies for some reason have greater power upon our American brethren who are over here in Europe than when I addressed them in America.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 9)
We sit down again in quiet in our room. It is four hours that we have been in meeting. Brother Bourdeau regretted that I had not spoken in the early part of the day, for he feared the people would become drowsy through weariness; but I saw no sleepiness; all seemed to listen with intense interest. After one hour there was a Bible class held.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 10)
September 20
I had a private interview with Brother John in regard to his manner of labor in holding open-air meetings. He now thinks that he had better connect with Elder R. F. Andrews in Ireland. Sister Ribton has written to him an urgent letter for labor where she is. I had talked with Brother Whitney in regard to Brother and Sister Mallon’s uniting their talent with the publishing house in Basel. It is thought best to carry this through. May the Lord help in working up this matter.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 11)
I attended the morning session of the council. I was requested to speak in regard to holding tent meetings in Europe. I told them that according to the light the Lord had given me, tents could be used to good advantage in some places and, if conducted properly, would result in great good. I did not know at the time why they called me out on this, but learned it was because Brother John had previously spoken rather against tents being the best for meetinghouse purposes.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 12)
I then presented my objections in regard to open-air meetings. They are very wearing to our ministers, because taxing to the vocal organs. The voice is strained to an unnatural pitch and would be greatly injured by this method of labor. Another objection was that discipline and order could not be preserved; such labor would not encourage studious habits in diligently searching the Scriptures, to bring from God’s storehouse things both new and old. The worker is not qualifying himself to become a thorough workman; he cannot possibly prove his own work by concentrating his labors to bring out and organize a church; he does not do the very work so essential to be done, not only to preach, but to follow up his labor by ministering; by becoming acquainted with interested ones; going to their homes; opening to them the Scriptures around the fireside; making plain essential points of present truth; and removing the objections which always will arise when the truth is brought in conflict with error. The Bible talks, the humble, earnest prayer with the family, accomplish a greater work than the most powerful discourses can accomplish without this personal effort. In the open-air meetings, there cannot be that complete work done in binding off the work, that he may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 13)
Sometimes great good may be done by this manner of labor. But as a practice it is better to reach the people in some other way. Our ministers have not the physical strength to endure the taxation of the vocal organs in this kind of labor. Our ministers should be guarded in regard to preaching long discourses. It is a great tax upon the speaker and a tax upon the people to digest so much matter. Sermons of one-half the length would be of far more value than the long sermons usually preached, which are wearing out the strength of the ministers by exhausting efforts that are not necessary.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 14)
If ministers would work intelligently in their ministry, they would have left a source of strength to be given to more personal efforts and to the work that is essential to be done for the perfection of the work in all its parts. Many of our workmen wear themselves out when God does not require it. Many of them cripple their energies or become martyrs to their imprudence. Our workers need to become educated upon these points. There is a great work to be done in this cause, and the laborer can do much more work if he does not preach at one time so long as to weary himself and his hearers.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 15)
September 21
Reports of labor and the manner of laboring, and the extending of the work into new fields, were discussed. I attended the morning meeting. There were two seasons of prayer, both in French and English. Brother Mallon bore an excellent testimony. He is an Italian, having a printing office and publishing a paper. His wife is an excellent woman—intelligent and speaks several languages. She translates and is a real general. I spoke to the people in reference to the laborers’ going out two by two. I told them that this was Christ’s arrangement. I spoke at some length on this point.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 16)
Meetings in the forenoon were upon the work of entering new fields and of carrying forward the work in the most economical manner. W. C. White related with what poverty the message was proclaimed in its first rise. He spoke ably and with deep feeling. I followed, relating our experience in our early work. I spoke of the embarrassment of the cause now because of empty treasuries. The only course I could see to pursue was to lay these empty treasuries before the Lord and plead for Him to supply the great need. I exhorted the workers to have more faith. The Lord has means somewhere entrusted with His stewards, and He now calls for this means to be invested in His work.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 17)
I have had to break off writing to have an interview with Brother Albert Vuilleumier. He is in some perplexity. His brethren urge him to be ordained, but he wishes to wait one year longer. He will work, he says, all the same, but he fears that he has not sufficient experience. I believe him to be an excellent man. He wished to know how he should present the truth in entering new fields, whether the Sabbath should be presented first. I told him that the best and wisest plan would to be to dwell upon subjects that would arouse the conscience. He could talk upon practical godliness, devotion and piety, and present the self-denial, self-sacrificing life of Jesus as our example until they will see the contrast between that and their self-indulgent life and become dissatisfied with their unchristian lives. Then present to them the prophecies; show them the purity and binding claims of the law of God; not one jot or tittle of this law is to lose its force, but hold its binding claims upon every soul to the end of time. When the law of God is made void, when the Christian world is joined with the Catholic and the worldly in making of none effect the commandments of God, then God’s chosen people arise to defend the law of Jehovah.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 18)
This is the guile that Paul used; this is the wisdom of the serpent and harmlessness of the dove. When we come to a community acquainted with our faith, this cautious course need not be pursued; but in every case special efforts should be made to come close to hearts by personal labor. Avoid running down the churches. Do not let the people receive the idea that your work is to tear down; it is to build up and to present the truth as it is in Jesus. Dwell much upon the necessity of vital godliness.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 19)
September 21
Brother and Sister Whitney, Brother and Sister Mallon, W. C. White, and myself had a conversation in regard to Brother and Sister Mallon’s connecting with the office. Sister Mallon was our interpreter. Her husband cannot speak English. We greatly desire that this change should be made, for the talent they possess is greatly needed in this printing office. The work would be enlarged and publications multiplied in different languages. In case Brother Mallon should leave Italy, then someone would have to take their place to hold what has already been gained to the cause of truth and gather in others. We see no one to go but Brother A. C. Bourdeau. Italy would be a good field for him to work in. His experience would enable him to do a good work, we hope. We told them that Daniel and Augustine should labor together and help each other. In the next six months, work should be put forth in or near Geneva, where several colporteurs have been at work. From Brother Mallon we learned many important facts in regard to the Italian field. It will require a strong, determined, persevering effort to move things there; but when once the work takes hold, there will be numbers gathered to the cause of truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 20)
We expect to see the work of God advancing rapidly the coming year, in fields which we now contemplate the workers entering. I feel very solemn in view of the work that God would have done in this country and consider that if it can be entered upon in the right way, the Lord will make the cause of truth to triumph.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 21)
We must make special efforts while the angels are holding the four winds, but there is constant danger of going forth to labor in self-confidence and leaving Christ out of the question. We want a strong hold from above; we want to press our petitions to the throne of grace; we must grasp the promises of God by living faith, in America and also here in Europe. In Christ we can be a host. Without Christ defects and mistakes will be seen in all the work. We are nearing the end; we are doing up the last great work for eternity; we are learning ourselves, and teaching others, that a people may be prepared to stand in the day of God’s preparation. We cannot afford to do work at random; we cannot afford to be doubleminded; we should now consecrate all our powers to God without reserve. We should not work to the point where we exhaust our powers and cut short our days, but work in accordance with the laws of life and health and do no more than we can do intelligently and with thoroughness. We have thought too much depended on what we could do and have not depended enough on the Lord God of Israel to work for His people. God does not require any one of us to preach long discourses, and offer long prayers, and raise the voice to a high pitch, and hold so many meetings that the physical and mental powers are nearly wrecked.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 22)
September 22
We had a very precious season in the early morning meeting. There were many prayers offered in French and English, and a number of interesting testimonies were given. I then gave a little talk upon faith, setting before them that it is our unbelief that is offensive to God and withholds us from God. If our faith is in accordance with our light and privileges in this age, then heaven is open before us, and the rich promises of God are fulfilled concerning us; nothing is wanting that Christ requires. The experience and character of His followers should equal to the talents received. Faith, obedience, and love are to be developed in the character, equal to the light and grace given. If there is not an increase of faith, there will be a decrease of light and blessings. Light is shining; and if we follow the light, our experience will grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. All who walk in the truth will be renewed in knowledge and true holiness and will be obtaining daily victories over self, pride, and the love of the world.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 23)
If there is not an improvement of the talents given of God, our condemnation will be in proportion to the grace and truth bestowed. If these were abundant and powerful, then our condemnation will be in accordance with them. The general distrust of God, the dwelling in an atmosphere of constant unbelief, is an offense to God; it is dishonoring to His name; it is distrusting His Word. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 24)
Many testimonies were borne by the hearers in response, through the translator, expressing their gratitude to God, acknowledging that they were seeing new light, and that faith was better understood by them. They could see now why they had not advanced more in Christian experience. It was because they had wanted to walk by sight and not by faith. Some then urged that the meeting continue one week longer. They said the lessons they were having from Sister White were of great value to them; that they were gaining much knowledge by the Bible studies and the instruction given upon the work of colporteurs and canvassers. The meetings of counseling together made it essential that all should remain. The decision was in accordance with the proposition.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 25)
September 23
I attended early morning meeting and had great freedom in prayer to our heavenly Father for the special blessing upon those assembled. I had a spirit of intercession, that the servants of God should be fully qualified by the descent of the Holy Spirit to do their great work to perfection. The Spirit of the Lord was indeed in our midst, and there was a solemn impression that rich blessings are prepared for those who love God. While praying, I felt deeply impressed that the church of Christ is called to respond to the light given, to the privileges granted them, to be a powerful and holy people, a name and praise in all the earth. This is what Jesus is able to do for His church, and this is what He desires she shall be; and on this ground alone, she can meet the claims of the gospel and enjoy its fulness. We seemed to be brought very near to God. Several excellent testimonies were borne of advancement and appreciation of the benefits they were receiving.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 26)
I made remarks from (James 1:3) and onward in regard to appropriating faith. I presented before them the precious promise, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” [Verses 5, 6.] God requires heart service. To obey is better than sacrifice; without obedience and pure love, the richest offering is too poor to be presented to the Owner of all things. The Lord gave me great freedom in presenting these ideas before the people, and I think they were received and appreciated.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 27)
We met with Elders Bourdeau and their wives, Elder Whitney and wife, and Brother Kellogg. We were to consider the matter of Brother A. C. [Bourdeau] going to Torre Pellice, Italy, to commence a work there. We told them that this work would move slowly at first; but if they labored in wisdom, souls would be converted. When one or two souls were converted, they would begin to labor for others, and there would be an army for the Lord raised up in that place. There are quite a number of places in the valley; and if they made a beginning, the work would spread through all these places. Many honest souls were buried up in the rubbish of superstition and erroneous doctrines, which they received from their preachers, who educate the people to look to them, as if they were the true teachers of righteousness. There will be at some time, I know not how soon, a disturbance in the valleys of Italy. The confidence of the people in their teachers will be shaken; the eyes of many will be opened, and the truth will be proclaimed among them. It seemed light to us that A. C. Bourdeau should commence his work in these valleys, while Brother and Sister Mallon were still there. That Daniel and Albert Vuilleumier should commence in a place near Geneva, and thus the work go forward, the two Bourdeaus uniting when it was positively necessary.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 28)
We thought it wisdom to advise Charlie Andrews to go to America, with the purpose of learning to become an efficient workman in the binder’s trade. Mother Andrews could have her choice to go to Italy with Martha and her husband, to remain in Basel, or go with Charles to America. Up to this point all ideas and decisions were unanimous.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 29)
Then Daniel presented his ideas in regard to France and Italy—that they should become a separate conference, standing separate from Switzerland. The means of France and Italy should not go into the conference at Basel, but be managed by these conferences, when as yet there were scarcely enough in either place to hold a meeting. I told Brother Daniel that this would not be in accordance with God’s will. He pleaded that it would be better for the French that they should not unite with the Swiss Conference, for they were independent and naturally jealous; and if pressed to rules or order, there would be revolutionary feelings. I told him these were the strong reasons that I would urge why they should unite with the Swiss Conference, and their interests be blended together, and they should not take on an independent spirit, but as followers of Christ be subject one to another. This is the very means that God has ordained that one shall have influence over another, and all be transformed and molded after the divine Pattern, that all the believers in Christ are to be sanctified through the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 30)
The truth is one. It will take people from France and Italy and, mingling them with other elements, soften and refine them through the truth. Teach them that in humility and union there is strength. The love of Christ and living faith would have a transforming power upon the ideas of the man, and upon the man, and upon the character. The temper and the life experience will be softened and ennobled by divine truth. The influence of the truth is to take away from man that which is impetuous and rebellious and bring him into harmony with heaven. God’s purpose is to bring all into harmony and unity on the platform of truth as it is in Jesus. There are to be no separate interests formed or maintained by the believers in present truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 31)
The cause in Europe is yet in its infancy. I can see in this proposition of Brother D. T. Bourdeau that which alarms me. It has not the divine enlightenment. God’s will is that the interests of every lover of truth shall be combined. Whatever God requires is the very best and safest course to follow. Now we find it profitable to yield obedience to God’s plans. All who embrace the truth must be educated from the very first that their own ideas and will are not to be a power, but we are to study God’s will. His will is to become our will, our ways must be submitted to God’s ways.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 32)
The truth is all-powerful and far-reaching. It will unite nationalities in one great brotherhood. I told them I could not see a greater evil to the now weak cause in Europe than that which Daniel was urging. Then Brother Daniel began to soar. He repeated his grievances in times past—the abuse he had suffered from his brethren in Battle Creek, that he was placed under Brother Andrews in Europe. He became very excited. I told them I had no more to say and left the room. When he wants my counsel again, I shall tell him that when he is willing to act like a reasonable man, then I will talk with him. This idea that French must stand French, and the Germans stand Germans, and thus the nationalities stand apart in their independence, is a device of the devil. It is the truth alone that saves the nationalities. The truth proves its power. It comes from God, and it is His own Spirit in its agency which renders it effectual in the conversion and sanctification of those who hear and accept it. The sufficiency is not in the preacher, but in the mighty agency of the Holy Spirit, which gracious influence transforms the soul, bringing every thought into subjection to Jesus Christ.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 33)
Christ in men unites them on one grand platform, preparing for the uniting in one family in heaven. It is the truth that makes men one and removes national prejudice. God forbid that any one of us will plan and devise to keep up separate interests. Nothing but the quick and powerful Word of God, working in the heart of His delegated messengers to give the knowledge of the glory of Christ, can gain victorious results, which are essential for the blending of hearts and minds, that they may be of the same judgment, speaking the same things.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 34)
Our private conference ended, I went into the council, and resolutions were presented in reference to A. C. Bourdeau’s removal into Italy. I presented some of the reasons I had given in the private council, why this change was advisable. These were well received. The decision was carried. Then came on the case of Brother Biglia. He was advised by the council not to confine his labors to Naples, but to go into new fields. I then stated that this was according to the mind of the Spirit of God for the workers to change from field to field, for should they be confined to one field, there would be danger of the work’s being carried forward after one man’s ideas. God would not have His church in any place to receive the mold of one man’s mind, and He would not have His workers cherish the idea that no man can understand the situation of the church and do for them quite as well as himself.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 35)
The Lord speaks to His delegated servants. He will give them the very message He wants them to have. The work of all bears the mark of imperfection. Self becomes interwoven more or less with the work. If the workers have weakness in some points of character, these defects are revealed and too often influence the people. Some cherish these weaknesses as a virtue, but another laborer coming into this field may be strong upon the very points where the other is weak, and he may be able to give a more perfect mold to the work. He presents new ideas and gives new impressions. The workers in any field must not become the people’s pets, and idols, among the truth-believing people. One more council meeting is passed into eternity with its burden of record.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 36)
September 24
I went into the early morning meeting. I engaged in prayer, and my burden was for a special blessing upon the laborers, that they might be fitted up for the great work before us. I bore my testimony in regard to coming up to our high privilege. I presented before them the words of Christ, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink,” the promise is, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” [John 7:37; 4:14.] I was afraid the meeting would close and we fail to receive all the good that the Lord has in store for us.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 37)
I urged upon my brethren to make the most of the present opportunities, to exercise greater faith, that they would receive help and strength from the great Source of strength.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 38)
I told them that they should be constantly guarded not to build up separate interests between the different nationalities. Some have pleaded that we must be very careful in our labor, for these people have peculiarities, and the truth must be presented to them with the greatest care. There is much more made of this than there should be. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The gospel of Christ is to reach all classes, all nations, all tongues and people. The influence of the gospel is to unite in one great brotherhood. We have only one model to imitate, and that is Christ. Then we shall all be in perfect harmony; nationalities will blend in Jesus Christ, having the same mind, the same judgment, speaking the same things, and with one mouth glorifying God. This is the work the world’s Redeemer is to do for us. If we accept the truth as it is in Jesus, national prejudices and jealousies will be broken down, and the spirit of truth will blend hearts in one. We will love as brethren; we will esteem others better than ourselves; we will be kind and courteous, meek and lowly, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 39)
I warn my brethren, Keep your partition walls down. In all your efforts as God’s workmen, “preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”Colossians 1:28. This can only be done by striving according to His working, which worketh in you mightily. God knows just how to meet the peculiarities of the different nationalities. Do not, my brethren, interpose yourselves between the work and God, for God knows better than you how to reach these men and women, and He will clothe His message to this people with that power which will reach their hearts and unite them with us in warning the world by giving the trumpet a certain sound. Men are not infallible, and we are not to bend to men’s fallibility and human judgment.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 40)
The third angel’s message is infallible. It is to unite a people to do a special work, preparing them with perfection of character to unite in one great family in the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those who love Him. And all the laborers are God’s workmen to present infallible truth, to do the work of blending hearts in one. Never let your words or your efforts be directed to the end to disunite that which God would have united. You should influence France to work for the upbuilding of the cause in Switzerland. Do not encourage a one-sided interest, but all labor to cement together, that they may have a molding influence on one another; that if any of the nationalities are encouraging peculiar ideas, that one may have a reformatory influence upon the other. Urge upon all to receive Christ’s mold and imitate Christ’s character. The apostle states, “Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” [Galatians 3:28.] Christ in the German believer will recognize Christ in the French believer.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 41)
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”1 Corinthians 1:10. The truth will have the same molding influence upon hearts whatever their nationalities. Every human heart that accepts the truth will bow to the majesty of its sway; and when Christ is abiding in the heart by faith, they will be of one mind, for Christ is not divided. They will be strong in His strength, happy and united in His peace. The truth is the same in its subduing power upon all hearts. It will refine and ennoble the character of the receiver.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 42)
This testimony was for the good of the people, especially for all the workers in this new field; but up jumps Daniel Bourdeau as though all I had said had been especially directed to him. He explained and justified and talked out his purpose and made public the matter which we were seeking to keep dark. All our efforts had been to establish confidence in Daniel and to encourage his heart to be a man. Up to this point he seemed to be doing nobly; but he had cherished the pet plan of keeping France and Italy an independent conference, and to have me thwart this plan was next to death to him. Now he becomes the subject of Satan’s strong temptations.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 43)
I had, during the meeting, spoken upon general principles, setting before our brethren the harm of long sermons and prayers, and loud talking, presenting to them the sure results of such a manner of labor. This he took all to himself. Now I had overturned his imaginary castle that he was building, and he acted as though he had received his death blow. He attended but a few meetings and was working himself up into a frenzy. He was packing up to go home Friday morning. I had no desire to talk with him. I felt discouraged in regard to his case. I had no hope of leading him to see the offensive character of his course before God. A. C. Bourdeau wished me to talk with his brother and try to help his mind, but I had no courage to say a word more to him. The Lord had been at work in the meetings. He gave me precious words to speak to the people day after day, not only to comfort, but to set before them the necessity of a radical change of heart, a transformation of character, that the laborers should go forth to their fields of labor imbued with the Spirit of Christ. I had treated Daniel tenderly, but the evil in the heart was not eradicated; it was only slumbering, ready to burst forth on the slightest provocation. That provocation had come, and now the results. We went along with the meetings, but Daniel entered no more into the spirit of them.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 44)
September 25
I attended the early morning meeting. My soul seemed in an agony as I prayed to God for Him to work. I knew our case was urgent. The ministers were not having that work done for them that must be accomplished before the Lord would work with any power. I felt that my prayer was heard, that the answer would come. Daniel was absent, taking counsel with Daniel and the adversary of souls. He was determined to go back to Geneva. His wife wept and implored him to stay. She said she could not go home with him in his state of mind. He said, “Well so be it; we can separate as well now as any other time.” I was solicited to try to do something to help him.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 45)
I prayed over the matter and felt a burden upon my soul to speak to him again. I had walked my room in an agony of mind, saying to myself, I cannot talk with him; I cannot meet his defiant, stubborn spirit. He was like a man bereft of his reason. He would talk all the time and while others were talking would break in upon them.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 46)
I sent for him and his wife to come to my room. Brethren Whitney, A. C. Bourdeau, Brother Lane, and W. C. White were all that were present. I began in a very decided but solemn manner to address him. He said he would rather see me alone. He repeated what he had suffered at Battle Creek, and in Vermont, from the abuse of his brethren. I told him I wished him to be silent, that I had the word of the Lord for him.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 47)
He became silent, and I gave such a message as I wish never to speak again to mortal man. I told him to look back upon his past life and see that when his track was crossed he had manifested the same spirit that now possessed him. It was the spirit of the devil to all intents and purposes; that I had no mild words to pet this demon racing within him, but I would combat it. I set before him his course—when he could not have his own way he was in a perfect frenzy. A man with as little self-control as he had was unfit to be entrusted with grave responsibilities in the work and cause of God. How could he expect his brethren would have unlimited confidence in him when he at times abandoned himself to be controlled by Satan’s power? His only hope was in being a converted man through and through. I asked him what dependence we could place in him, if when his ideas were crossed the raging demon was aroused. I told him for his soul’s sake not to leave the house until he was a converted man.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 48)
He felt abused because he thought I had made remarks to hit him. I said, Let us look back over the few days that we have passed together in these precious meetings. The most urgent appeals have been made by the Spirit of God. The true Christian character has been presented again and again. The fulness of the blessings of the gospel of Christ has been presented to the people. No one could doubt but that the presence and power of God had been in our midst. Now after all these tokens of good from the Lord, because some ideas of yours are not received, you open the door of your heart to the devil, and let him control the citadel of the soul. We have dealt very tenderly with you. We have been dealing on general principles before the congregation, presenting the true Christian character.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 49)
Some who had been teaching the truth to others needed to learn its first principles first themselves—mercy and the love of Jesus. Some who ought to be strong men in Christ as far as experience is concerned are weak as babies. Their age and experience, opportunities and privileges, should make them strong men under temptation, but their life and character reveal they are only children. Some come to this meeting with great self-confidence—firm to carry out their own ideas. Decided testimonies have been given to me to meet these cases. The arrows from the Lord’s quiver wounded you. Why do you place yourself as a target, and then flutter as though wounded? Why not get out of my way, and let the testimony from God be set home by His Holy Spirit to hearts that need this? You get up and begin to excuse yourself, and justify yourself, thus exposing yourself to the congregation, saying to all, “Sister White means me, but all do not understand my case.” You are, by this course, hedging up my way and hurting yourself.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 50)
I remember in the Beethoven Hall in Portland, Maine, those who were looking for Christ’s coming met there to preach the second advent. Upon one occasion the hall was crowded. No less than eight ministers were present, who were in opposition to the message given. Brother Edmunds arose and said, “We have a message from the Lord to the people, but when we proclaim it, lifting up our voice like a trumpet, to show the people their transgressions, and the house of Israel their sins, the ministers are offended, and say, ‘You are abusing me.’ They step in between us and the people and say, ‘You are severe; you hit us.’ But we say to the ministers, ‘Stand aside from between us and the people, and let the sharp arrows of the Almighty reach the hearts of the people, and you will not then be hurt; but if you catch every arrow from the Lord’s quiver, do not blame us. With tears I implore you to stand aside and let the warning voice arouse the people, that they may get ready for the great day of the Lord.’”
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 51)
Daniel, we entreat of you to set your heart in order, that you will no longer be as a target continually being wounded. You have a determined will that is hard to bend. A few times in your life you have made a surrender to God, and you need to make that surrender again. Whenever your ideas are crossed, however perverted, then you lose that self-control so elevated and noble in the Christian character; you become untamable, unreasonable; your self-love and independence become so strong there is not one in your house or in connection with you who does not feel your presence and arbitrary power that will permit no liberty of conscience. By this course, you alienate your brethren and even your own kindred from you. You force them to take a position at variance with you, and then you feel that they abuse you. Your own course pursued brought around these results. Your brethren saw these defects, that should you carry out your mind the results would be disastrous to the cause of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 52)
Now consider how many times Jesus has forgiven you and taken His wilful and rebellious child back to His arms. He has pitied and forgiven you the heavy debt you owed to Him, and yet notwithstanding this amazing love exercised toward you, you go forth like a debtor presented in the Scriptures whom God forgave an enormous debt, but who found one of his fellow servants which owed him a few pence and he laid hands on him and “took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest, and thrust him into prison till he should pay the debt.” [Matthew 18:27-30.]
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 53)
For you to pursue a course similar to this, Daniel, is poor policy. God in mercy has forgiven you great sins, and your brethren, whom you grieve and afflict with your wrong, who have studied and planned how to help you—if their decisions and plans injured your dignity, you have held them to strict account. You will relate your grievances while you have no just sense of your own wrongs which led to the necessity of the action of your brethren in your case. Unless you are a thoroughly converted man before you leave this house, I believe the Spirit of God will never make another appeal to you. It is life or death with you. You will surely be stricken down with paralysis, or the devil will drive you to suicide. I have, in the messages hitherto borne to you, tried to establish you in the confidence of your brethren; to strengthen and settle you; but if you leave this house with the devil as your counselor, you are a lost man.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 54)
I have not in this message any comfort to give to Satan. The arrows of the Almighty must wound you so sorely that you will feel that you need a physician. “I have torn,” saith God, “and I will heal; I have smitten and I will bind you up.” [Hosea 6:1.] When you come, meek and lowly, then Jesus will pardon your transgressions. I charge you not to leave this house till the power of the enemy is broken.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 55)
We then knelt in prayer; my soul was drawn out in an agony for Daniel Bourdeau. He prayed for himself rather faintly. I prayed again and again, with strong crying and tears, for God to cast out the devil. Brother A. C. and Marian his wife prayed with great brokenness of spirit. A terrible struggle was going on with Daniel. He did not fully surrender, but his face looked as though soul and body were rent asunder. He made concessions, but had not yet yielded.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 56)
September 25
In the evening we had a ministers’ meeting. I had feared that Daniel would not be present, but he came into the meeting. I opened the meeting with prayer. The spirit of earnest intercession was upon me, and the power of God was in our midst. Daniel prayed after me. He began to break and confess; we had a remarkable meeting. All prayed with weeping and humiliation of soul and hearty confessions. I told them all that the object of our assembling together was to seek the Lord. I told them I was alarmed that at this late stage of the meeting, being Friday, that Satan was developing his power, he was stronger than they. We must have more than human help; we must seek God unitedly; and with strong faith claim His grace and strength to help us just now. Brother Vuilleumier offered a most earnest prayer. I could not understand a word of it, being in French, but the Spirit of the Lord pervaded the meeting. Brother Matteson’s prayer was full of the Spirit. All seemed to humble themselves before God. Brother Andrews began to feel and confess his coldness and to plead with God for help. Brother Wilcox began to throw his heart into the work. The council had advised his stay another year in England. This seemed to take life and soul out of him, and he took to his bed. He was quite sick for three days. He has a hard battle to fight. He needs a great work done for him before he can be a true missionary.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 57)
Light, precious light, was breaking in. My peace was like a river; Jesus was very near to me. How full of light and love, to impart to all who diligently seek Him! This was indeed a precious season to our souls.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 58)
September 26 was set apart as a season for fasting and prayer. I slept but little Friday night, but went into the ministers’ meeting in the morning. I opened the meeting with prayer; the Lord poured upon me the spirit of supplication for my ministering brethren. Angels of God were in the building. Daniel broke out in most urgent prayer. He confessed and confessed and pleaded for the forgiveness of God. Prayers and tears were mingled together. It was a most precious season. I bore a message with many tears, stating the solemn work of the watchmen and the necessity of faithfulness. The power of God rested upon me and upon those who heard. I never heard Brother Matteson talk as he did in that meeting. He seemed so humble, and his face shone with spiritual light. Every testimony was borne with deepest feeling. The crust over Elder Andrews is breaking. Daniel made a good confession in every way.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 59)
What a precious meeting this was to us all. The Lord’s presence was in the meeting and His power to bless. This has been a season of taxing labor to me, but the Lord has given me strength for my day. Daniel says he is now going to cease building up himself, and propping up Daniel Bourdeau, and pouring over his past difficulties. He says he never loved his brethren as now. He is going to talk faith and hope and courage, and be a strong man for God. May the Lord give him might in the inner man! He says the peace of God is in his heart.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 60)
Yours in the work.
(4LtMs, Lt 23, 1885, 61)
Lt 24, 1885
Bourdeau, Daniel Basel, Switzerland November 23, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in 8MR 106-107. Dear Brother Daniel:
Elder Whitney has read to me your letters to him, and I have also read your letter to me; and as it is not thought consistent to go by Geneva [Genoa?], Italy, I will write you a few lines.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 1)
Elder W read to me the matter you had written for a tract or publication to come to the public to notify them of your meetings.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 2)
Now, my dear Brother Daniel, I think it would not leave the best influence upon the people for you to advertize in this manner. Although we are not to be ashamed of our nationality, as Brother Loughborough and some others have appeared to be, in that they have sought to imitate the customs and blend with the peculiarities of the nations where and for whom they labor, thinking this would give them influence with the people, yet we must also consider in what matter we shall best introduce ourselves to the people with the object of gaining their confidence and engaging their attention.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 3)
I have been shown that we need to move with the greatest wisdom, that we shall not in anything create prejudice by giving the impression that Americans feel themselves superior to people of other nations. There have been two errors—one error in seeking in our words and actions to exalt foreign national customs above our own American habits and practices, and suiting our American stamp to adapt it to foreign countries which will bring us no influence. Then there has been still another error of extolling in conversation and in the labor for souls American practices as far above those of other nations. We need to be constantly guarded and on every point. The religion of these nations they think superior to all others and are exceedingly jealous on this point. They send their missionaries to the uncivilized heathen; and to bear on the front in our approach to them that we are sent to this country from America as missionaries will create the suspicion and jealousy at once that [they] are regarded as heathen. It is a fact that we are missionaries and they are worse than heathen, but it will not answer to tell them so. This is missionary ground; we are doing missionary work, but the peculiar prejudice will be stirred against us if we put it just as it truly is.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 4)
Now, my brother, I think it would be better if you did not put before the people so distinctly that you are an American and a missionary. I do not think it wise to present the sayings of men in reference to our own capabilities. Let nothing appear before angels or men savoring of self-exaltation, elevating yourself, that you are a smart man or a great man, and quote not the praises of men. But just go to work in the fear of God. Make no great spread, but keep self out of sight and let Jesus appear and commence in a humble manner. It is not best to arouse in this country and in such a place as Geneva the special attention of the clergy. If you enter large halls and then have to come down to the smaller buildings, it will not have the best influence. It would be best to take the lowly seat and then come up higher.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 5)
The devil will outgeneral every effort we may as a people make if we do not exercise great wisdom. The course you propose would work more successfully in England than in this country; but the more success would, we think, from the light given, attend such an effort made in England as we think would be best in starting the work in Geneva. The more you make a big stir, the greater will be the pressure brought upon you and the people, to hedge up your way. The more gently you work in seeking to reach the people, the less prejudice will be aroused against you and your work to prevent the people from coming out to hear you. You want notices, but nothing of the kind to puff and to exalt yourself and call attention to the man which will be calculated to call out the bitterest opposition from men who consider themselves to be great teachers and who will feel that their rights and their dignity are invaded. You can come before the people as an evangelist to open the Word of God to them. And the truth presented will be new and singular and startling. These will speak for themselves and begin to work like leaven; and then as you shall find access to the people in a limited degree, the way is still open to make advance moves and still broader efforts; whereas, if the prejudice is aroused at once, the people will be warned, lies will be circulated and decisions be made against any effort you may make before the people really know what doctrine you are advocating. You will have the bitterest opposition from the scribes and Pharisees who are ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 6)
I do not think you ought to ever commence an effort alone. You should have, I think, Brother Ertzenberger or your brother to work with you; and then, do not do all the labor yourself. Divide the labor equally. Brother Ertzenberger is the only one who seems now prepared to help you, for there is a dearth of ministers. But one man alone ought not to commence the work, depending on one man to do the preaching. The work should not bear the mold of one man’s mind; there should be two at least to engage in the work of preaching, even if you think you can do better preaching. Others may not feel as you do about it. You have in every effort you have made overdone, overtaxed your physical powers, and weakened yourself. When you had men who could help you, you felt as though you must do it all, and this is not right for you [to] overdo. You have talked too long and too frequently. You have ability; and if you use this ability prudently, you may do mighty strokes for God in advocating the truth. But when you become wearied, you fail in many ways. You become nervous and unbalanced. In such a place as Geneva, you need constantly to keep a reserve power in a rested condition, that when the enemies of truth shall attack, you may calmly and intelligently and in the strength of God work valiantly in standing in defense of the faith.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 7)
You must not do all the preaching yourself, but a change of labor, a change of gifts, is often more profitable for the people. Where one would fail to reach some souls, the co-laborers may succeed. When you become worn, Satan knows it and he has fitted himself to work, at this very time, with peculiar temptations; and if yourself is attacked, then you will be very sensitive and not be inclined to pass right along without noticing the slime of Satan, preaching the truth; but you will be desirous to set yourself right, to make the matter sure that you have been abused, that you overdo the matter and hurt your influence. Your work is not to vindicate yourself and to answer charges against yourself or us. I was shown that one great hindrance in your work [is] that you overdo in much writing. Every impulse and suggestion you must not think must be written out. When you are making a public effort, the more you speak upon the truth, the more earnest and intense become your feelings until you are like a man intoxicated. You do not hold the rising of self-control firmly. Your feelings run away with you, and you are not balanced with reason and discretion and good judgment. You do double work because your interest and feelings urge you forward; your brain becomes taxed. Satan knows then how to arrange matters to make circumstances so that you will appear your worst, and you are in danger of counteracting the good that you have done. All your powers are needed evenly balanced to do necessary labor at the right time.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 8)
Elder Sanborn is an excellent preacher, but he doesn’t know how to bring the people to a decision at the right time. God has made you successful where he fails. You can with the blessing of God plant the feet of those who are in the valley of decision upon the solid rock. Now, my brother, if you become overworked and your physical and mental powers exhausted, this very important work will not be done as it would be if you had worked prudently, not following impulse, but principle and reason. You want a reserve force to draw upon in an emergency that the binding off of your work shall be most thorough and complete.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 9)
My brother, you have asked me for my judgment. I have given it to you. You are God’s ambassador, not your own servant to use your powers unwisely as you please. You must practice temperance in all things, in preaching, and praying and writing for your salvation; soul and body depends upon the wise use of your powers. You feel inclined to write, and it is a tax to your mental powers. You should not write one-half the amount you do. Let your brain have some chance to rest. Exercise physically in some way, but this constant writing God does not require of you. Take time to enjoy your family. Be cheerful, be happy, and throw off care and do not talk of trials or of yourself, but forget yourself all you can. As soon as you center your thoughts on yourself, you are a weak man and you expose your weakness to others. In regard to the halls you mentioned, I advise you to get the one you mentioned which seats 120 persons. Then your proposition to pray short is good, for long prayers frequently destroy the interest of the people before the first note of the discourse is struck and draws upon the strength of the preacher.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 10)
I believe the Lord will help you; but do not do all the work of speaking yourself. Let there be another to unite with you. And you had better have less writing and speak less; and when you do speak, be in a condition to do justice to your work, than to speak double the number of times and have it less able and clear and forcible.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 11)
May the Lord help you and strengthen and bless you greatly is my most earnest wish and humble prayer.
(4LtMs, Lt 24, 1885, 12)
Lt 25, 1885
Vaucher, Jules Alfred Geneva, Switzerland December 16, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in LYL 47-48; 8MR 429-430. Dear Friend:
I understand that you have desired to have my judgment in regard to matters that trouble you in reference to marriage with Brother Vuilleumier’s daughter. I understand that the father of the one upon whom you have placed your affections is not willing that his daughter should connect with you in marriage. While I would feel due sympathy for you because of your disappointment, I would say that who should feel interested in his own child more than her own father; and also her mother? The very fact of your urgency of this matter against the wishes of the parents is evidence that the Spirit of God has not the first place in your heart and a controlling power upon your life. You have a strong will, a firm, persistent determination to carry out anything you have entered upon.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 1)
Will my brother please look to his own spirit and criticize his motives and see if he has a single eye in this matter to act in all things for the glory of God? I was shown the cases of several in Switzerland who were very much exercised upon the subject of marriage, that they had their minds so fully engrossed with this subject that they were disqualifying themselves to do the work God would have them to do. Some of these were in Basel, but not all. There were several in other places. From what I learn of your case, you must be one of these, for one was presented before me who would not submit to any objections to his marriage. He was a young man of determined will, but this persistency of will he interpreted as an evidence that his plans and purposes were right when he was deceived in himself.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 2)
Now, my brother, will you show that you want your will to be in subjection to the will of God? I have been shown that in these last days there was a great desire in the minds of youth to marry, and it was the case that many of these marriages were instigated by the enemy. There is a bewitching power in the subject of marriage, and I was shown that many become bewildered and think it the very attainment of bliss to enter the marriage relation; but it is far from this as time has proved, for both have become dwarfed in spiritual things and have proved that in the place of helping one another they were great hindrances to each other. There was a young man shown me who was seeking to become one of the family of Bro. Albert Vuilleumier whom he did not seem to accept. He was in great trial and worriment of mind. I cannot but think this applies to you. This brother was not fitted in any sense to take the responsibilities of a husband or of a family, and should the union be formed now there would be great unhappiness as the result. The young man was not prepared for the marriage life in any way, and it was a snare of the enemy to bring him into a position of desperation where his strong will would assume control that would not submit to any reason.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 3)
Now, my brother, my advice is for you [to] give your mind and affections to God and lay yourself on the altar of God. Gird up the loins of your mind, for unless yourself and some others shall come into a more yielding, teachable frame of mind on this subject, you will be unfitted for the work of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 4)
There is the fifth commandment that must be respected, and had this commandment been more respected than it has been—had children been obedient to their parents and thus honored them—how much suffering and misery would have been spared! The inexperienced child cannot discern what is for her best good and how to wisely choose a companion that will make her life pleasant and happy; and an unhappy marriage is the greatest calamity that can befall both parties.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 5)
But we are living in the last days. Christ is soon to come; and in the place of the workers’ having their minds absorbed with the question of marriage, they had better be studying to show themselves approved unto God, workmen that God shall bless and God shall make a channel of light. If the truth has a sanctifying power upon the life and character, the minds will not be so fully and entirely taken up with one [another] that it will be next to death to separate their affections. God wants your affections. God wants all that there is of you. Will my brother closely examine his heart and see whether he is in the love of God or not? Will he see what feelings are arising there against Bro. Albert Vuilleumier because he cannot bring his mind to consent to there being a union between you and his daughter? If you were indeed learning in the school of Christ to wear His yoke, to lift His burdens, to learn of Jesus’ meekness and lowliness of heart, you would not urge your will and your wishes so persistently.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 6)
Now, my brother, there were several shown me in this continent who were not in a position to do all that good that they might do in the capacity of laborers. There has been a spirit of criticism cherished. In the place of winning souls they would drive them. Some who had made a great mistake in their labors, they were very narrow in their ideas. They felt that it was their privilege to be conscience for others. They must make a raid against dress and would take on great burdens in reference to the dress of the sisters. They felt it their duty to tell them how to dress. These men were not, while doing this, actuated by the Spirit of God, but they were prompted by their own spirit—traits of character which must be overcome in the place of ruling and becoming a power in the church. I think you are one of this class who, had you a wife, would want that she should lose her identity in you—you prescribe for her what she should wear, what she should do, and you would leave her no liberty of conscience. You would be dictatorial, overbearing, and crush out individual independence.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 7)
Will you please to look carefully into your own heart, for if you see aright you will see that the love of Jesus has but a little place in your heart. There is much I could say more upon this important subject, but I will address a few more words to you and leave the matter at this time.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 8)
I advise you to humble your heart before God and put away your own will and leave yourself in the hands of God, feeling that if it is right and in accordance with the will of God, then you would move forward in the matter of marriage; if it is not the will of God, you do not wish to take this step. Then just leave this matter for the Lord to manage. Do not unfit yourself through your strong will to carry your points at all hazards. Stop where you are and inquire, What is the spirit that controls me? And then inquire whether, with your present strong, untamable spirit, you would be a man to make any woman happy, whether you would be fit for the kingdom of heaven. Are you loving God with all your heart? Are you loving your neighbor as yourself?
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 9)
The very first duty that rests upon Bro. Vuilleumier’s daughter is to obey her parents, to honor her father and her mother. This she can do if you will not keep her mind in a state so unsettled that she cannot do her duty to her parents. The mother needs the help of her child; and when she will become a few years older, then she will understand better how to choose a husband that will make her life smooth and happy. A woman that will submit to be ever dictated to in the smallest matters of domestic life, who will yield up her identity, will never be of much use or blessing in the world and will not answer the purpose of God in her existence. She is a mere machine to be guided by another’s will and another’s mind. God has given each one, men and women, an identity, an individuality, that they must act in the fear of God for themselves.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 10)
I would advise Sister Vuilleumier to claim the privilege of her daughter’s services as due her as long as she feels it for her own and her daughter’s interest. This is the mother’s duty to sacredly guard the future happiness of her beloved child. If she feels that a marriage is to be contracted that would not be for the welfare and happiness of her loved one, it is her privilege to say whom she would not have her daughter connected with; and it is her daughter’s duty to obey. This is God’s plan and should be carried out to the letter. There are so many unhappy marriages, can we be surprised that parents are cautious and want to guard their children from any connection which may not be wise and best?
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 11)
Will you, my brother, show more devotion to God, more earnestness in His service, more of the love of Jesus, less of criticism, greater kindness, pity, and love, and labor earnestly for the future, immortal life.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 12)
With love to your soul, I remain,
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 13)
Your Sister in Christ.
(4LtMs, Lt 25, 1885, 14)
Lt 26, 1885
NA Basel, Switzerland December 24, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in EGWE 89.
This morning Sr. Edith Andrews fell asleep about half-past five o’clock. Her last hours were without a struggle. She had suffered considerable pain in her left lung up to the time I came from Italy, one week ago last Thursday. I visited her last Friday, and she talked very freely with me. Said she had read and reread the testimony for her, and she had made every effort in her power to correct every wrong in her course with others. She said sometimes she felt the blessing of the Lord, and then again she thought she had done so wrong the Lord would not accept her as His child. She wanted to know if I thought the Lord would forgive her. I assured her that He would, that He had pledged His word that He would pardon every transgression, if we would only return unto Him with true repentance and contrition of soul. I believe, Edith, you have done this; and wherein you are too feeble to do the work as thoroughly as if you were well, Jesus’ precious mercy and merits supply the deficiencies on the part of His repenting, humble ones who seek to take hold of His strength.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 1)
In this feebleness, I presented before her the words of promise from God. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”Exodus 34:6, 7. Thus God has proclaimed His character Himself. Will you, my dear child, believe Him? What sins can be too great for Him to pardon? Every soul is precious in His sight. He is merciful, infinitely more willing to pardon than condemn. He is gracious. He is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. He knows your weakness. It would have been much better had you obtained the experience of becoming acquainted with God when in strength; then you would have been able to trust Him fully whom you had proved; but you have made your best efforts, and now Christ stands ready to supply where you lack. His merits will be imputed to you; His boundless goodness will heal your backslidings, and He will accept today the best you have to give, and He will love and bless you. “He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3:9.] “He doth not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” [Lamentations 3:33.] He suffereth long and is kind. His love is without a parallel. He is slow to anger and of great kindness. He has waited and waited for you to give Him your affections, an undivided heart. God will never leave nor forsake one penitent soul that looks to Him in faith.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 2)
You can show honor to God by believing fully in the merits of Jesus Christ. We have a Saviour that can save to the uttermost all who come unto Him. He did not leave a sinking, doubting Peter to perish. The hand thrown up in appeal to Jesus with the prayer, “save, Lord, or I perish,” was immediately responded to. [Matthew 14:30, 31.] He did save him fully. He will save you because you ask Him in faith.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 3)
I cannot express the comfort these words brought to Edith. The tears came from her eyes and dropped from her cheeks while she looked so peaceful and at rest. She said, “I believe He accepts me. I believe He loves me, and I, all undeserving, have His peace.”
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 4)
I prayed with her. She was blessed and relieved of pain in her left lung, and it did not return. Again she was comforted and had no more afflicting doubts. While praying, I felt that Jesus came very near to us. I felt the assurance that Jesus did pardon her transgressions. All present were melted into tears. Our hearts were filled with peace and love to Jesus. Edith had no more trouble of mind, for she knew the Lord blessed her then in answer to prayer.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 5)
Sunday I was called to her bedside in the early morning. She was greatly distressed for breath. She gasped out, “Sr. White, pray for me.” I dropped upon my knees and poured out my soul before God with strong crying and tears. The Lord heard, the Lord answered, relief came, and Edith responded quite strong and heartily, and at the close praised God. Bro. and Sr. Whitney followed in prayer. We felt that Jesus’ presence was in the room, saying, “Peace be unto you.” Our hearts were filled with joy, comfort, and love. How precious was Jesus to us in this trying hour. Edith had the evidence as she has never had it before, that Jesus loved and blessed her. I talked with her some and told her that she need not feel that she must have her mind laboring and strained in her feebleness, but when tempted by the enemy, that Jesus will not save her such a sinner, as she had often expressed to me; but all she had to do was to look and live. Say to Satan, “Jesus is my Saviour, He has bought me by His precious blood. Jesus, ‘simply to Thy cross I cling.’” She seemed comforted, relieved, blessed. She thanked me that I had prayed with her and comforted her.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 6)
She said, “I have no longer any fears. I am willing to go. Hope thou, O my soul, in the Lord. I am trusting in Jesus, no longer in myself.” Words came to me so encouraging to speak to the afflicted one, telling Jesus who had passed through death and brightened the portals of the tomb, that when Jesus, the Life Giver should come in His glory, He would call up His faithful believing ones to a glorious immortality. You may say, Edith, “I commit the keeping of my soul to God as unto a faithful Creator.”
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 7)
At night I was called again. She was supported by Bro. Whitney while strangling for breath. Every breath was an agony. I dropped on my knees and again besought my heavenly Father to give Edith relief from this terrible distress. Our prayers were heard, relief came. Said she, “Praise the Lord, He has heard prayer. I feel so much better.”
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 8)
Again I pointed her to the strong helper, the precious Saviour, and she felt the assurance of His love. Said she, “Oh, how good is the Lord, He loves me, even me. O I thank you Sr. White, I thank you; you have comforted me, and the Lord has blessed me.” The Lord gave me words to speak to Edith, and I felt indeed that angels of God were round about the child. For two days she has not seemed to have a clear mind, but has not suffered much except with restlessness, until she fell asleep in Jesus this morning, half-past five o’clock.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 9)
There was also another death last evening. Sr. Keller was expecting to attend the missionary meeting, and was copying her missionary letter, when she said, “My head pains me.” Her daughter went to lay down the little child she was holding, and when she got back her mother’s head was bowed upon the table—she was dead.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 10)
We feel that we are admonished to be ready, for our probation may close when we least expect it. I had great comfort in telling Edith of Jesus, who is the Life Giver. She at the edge of the grave, I could in all faith tell her of Him who is the resurrection and the life of the soul and the body. That those who sleep in Jesus, will He bring with Him from their graves. The light of Jesus irradiates the grave and lights the beyond with its blessed rays. Edith was not afraid to die.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 11)
Let us be making our preparation for heaven.
(4LtMs, Lt 26, 1885, 12)
Lt 27, 1885
Smith, Uriah Refiled as Lt 92a, 1886.
Lt 28, 1885
Walling, Addie Christiania, Norway November 3, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in DG 159-160. [To Addie Walling:]
Brother Whitney returns today on his way to Basel, Switzerland. Edith Andrews is steadily failing. I think this climate is better than Basel for my lungs. There has been much labor brought upon me through the love-sick sentimentalism of the workers in the office. I hope, my dear girl, you will keep free this. You will gain the confidence of all whom you respect if you are reserved and do not encourage the attentions and the society of young men. If I had time, I would write you some things I have had to meet here and in every place where I have been. Edith, poor child, is not fit to die. She has attracted attention to herself and had a few favorites and neglected those who were worthy and good because they did not just meet her taste. These few she lavished her affections upon—thought her perfection, and have petted her, and she petted them and idolized one another. So, you see, God was left out of the question. This sentimentalism has injured the usefulness of excellent young men in the office and unfitted young girls for their work.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 1)
I talked very plainly with Edith, and she does not seem to sense her condition. I have written to her, and I think she will now see her mistakes. She has had no experience in genuine religion, but has everything to do now in her feeble condition to know Christ and the power of His grace. O that she had learned this while in health. I do hope you will not be deceived, Addie, as this poor child is. I hope you will be an earnest, true Christian day by day, seeking God in prayer. Do not be so busy you cannot give time to read the Bible and seek the grace of God in humble prayer. Follow no one’s example or custom in dress or in actions. If they lead to indifference and worldliness, do not express vanity in dress, but dress becomingly, neatly; but seek earnestly to be meek and lowly of heart and be obtaining a rich experience in the things of God. Learn to overcome vanity which exists in the heart that is not sanctified through the truth. Do not be forward, but be retiring and modest. You will now be by many looked to and criticized to see how you will come forth from Sister’s White’s teachings. Do not misrepresent me, but seek to give influence by your course of action. Ever be true, open, sincere, and frank. All affectation despise. Keep yourself aloof from young men. Let them know that there is one girl who will not be crazy and bewildered at their first notice and attentions. I want you to be prepared to travel with me and help me, if I want you.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 2)
You see those who have married cease their improvement and settle down to a dwarfed life. Be not afraid to tell me your whole mind and to seek counsel, and I will give you all the help I can. But above everything else, preserve self-control and a self-possession and womanly ways without appearing to know everything. Do not claim to know too much. Be modest in conversation, for people will be disgusted if a young girl talks as if she knew a great deal. You may evidence your wisdom by works, but do not do this by words and self-praise. Be cautious, discreet, and humble.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 3)
We want to learn daily in the school of Christ. Now, my dear daughter, I have written you much more than I expected to write, but I may not get a chance to write very soon again.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 4)
I am glad you do not live in Italy, at least in this valley, for women and girls have a hard lot. They work very hard, and fourteen hours per day, and obtain less than twenty cents per day. We need missionaries all through this valley. There are men who live high, who are paid as missionaries, but who do nothing in missionary work. They eat and drink and have a good time. They are supported by societies from England.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 5)
Yours, Aunt Ellen.
(4LtMs, Lt 28, 1885, 6)
Lt 29, 1885
White, W. C. [St. Helena,] California February 15, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Willie:
Your letter was received evening after the Sabbath. I spoke to the fifty assembled with great freedom. D. Ely was present. We had a social meeting. There very much needs work to be done.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 1)
Willie, Brother Staines had better come to Oakland. His cough is a dry, congestive cough. He says he feels relieved as soon as he gets down to the valley; can breathe much better. Had he better try it at Healdsburg or Oakland at once? He wants me to say to you that he cannot be depended on to do any work, and much needs to be done just now. I asked him if it were too much to take care of the horses. He thinks he could just feed them and hitch them up if it were not for cleaning them off. The dust is injurious to his lungs. His cough is hard and dry.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 2)
Today I will go to Healdsburg. Think I may come down to Oakland before I return. I think in about a week I will go on that tour you mentioned, to Fresno. Received a letter from Elder Ings. He says that you have written for him to go to Nevada. I fear that it is too cold and windy for him there, and he has rheumatism. But if I go to Fresno, then there is work he can do in connection with Elder Daniels and self. Had I better visit Woodland before going to Fresno? I half decided to go to Oakland today, but will write instead.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 3)
I am sleeping better; am improving in health I think.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 4)
Brother Staines cannot live in this high altitude. His heart and lungs are congested. He is exhausted. Sanford and Jenny are very clever. He does not appear to think of going to Oakland. All his plans about his place is to stay. He is improving all the time. You did not say one word about whether he was to go to Oakland or not.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 5)
There ought to be one sound man on this place—no more sick, debilitated ones. It needs a full man and needs him now. Brother Staines told me last night that Brethren Pratt and Atwood say they have received letters from two or three parties who wish to come. We cannot depend upon Sister Staines to do much. Her little girl is a pet—noisy, ill-mannered, unrestrained—and if Brother Staines is so feeble that he can do nothing here, the sooner a good man can come the better. This is no place for any half men, broken down by overwork. He says he felt strong in Oakland, but like a wilted rag here. He goes to drive the team for us today to Healdsburg. He seems very desirous to go, or I would not admit it. Love to all.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 6)
Mother.
There is an earnest desire for me to speak Sunday and circulate the appointment. Many outsiders desire to come in and hear me. I think where our institutions are located, missionary work should be done and circulars distributed.
(4LtMs, Lt 29, 1885, 7)
Lt 30, 1885
White, W. C.; White, Mary Healdsburg, California February 16, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Children:
I received Willie’s letter before leaving St. Helena and answered it immediately. I am becoming more rested and conclude my wisest plan is to go back to St. Helena with Brother and Sister Lockwood, start them in housekeeping, tell them the work I want done and the best way to do it, and then when you come return here to Healdsburg. Then Marian and I will make all we can of the time left us before you start for Europe. I am glad Mary is coming. I think Sister Place will be ready to come back to Oakland by that time. Our family will be small, and we would be very glad to have Mrs. Mary White and the little Miss White as our guests.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 1)
I have prayed the Lord to show me my duty in regard to going to Europe, but get no positive light. I cannot consent to go without it. If I should go, Mary White must go with me. But I see not my duty in that direction.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 2)
Brother Staines came down with us. He seems to breathe better as soon as he strikes the valley. He enjoyed the journey yesterday. The horses were as gentle as they need to be. I had thought of coming to Oakland, but think of nothing special to come for, therefore shall give it up unless you shall telegraph me to come for some special object. I will go back to St. Helena Wednesday. There are things that will keep me here till then.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 3)
Brother Decker was most sorry I came down from St. Helena, as he was coming up today to see me. Brother Mills was to bring him. Well, I am fully determined to do what I can of my writing. My eyes have been too painful to do much while I have been gone.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 4)
Write me here as soon as you receive this before it goes out of your hand.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 5)
Mother.
What about Chicago property? What about Sister Mills? Let me know at once, for I ought to write to Brother Starr.
(4LtMs, Lt 30, 1885, 6)
Lt 31, 1885
White, W. C.; White, Mary Healdsburg, California February 17, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Children, Willie and Mary:
Yesterday I received a draft from Smouse for $800 (eight hundred dollars). What had I better do with it? Use it to do something for Health Retreat? Let me know. Send word to St. Helena, Crystal Springs. I think now that something ought to be done there.
(4LtMs, Lt 31, 1885, 1)
Brother Staines feels more cheerful. He has felt, he told us, very lonely at the Health Retreat, as though he were watched and disliked because he wanted to keep the institute things together.
(4LtMs, Lt 31, 1885, 2)
Will you tell me how many tools were purchased with my money? All that is credited to me by Brother Rogers is one axe and one wheelbarrow which has been common property. All who live there just feel that the institute must carry them. Well, something must be done to set things right. While Brother Staines stays, he should have words spoken, giving him some authority to speak and act. Now Brother Hicks comes to the barn; no one was there, but he takes a bag of feed to his home. Brother Staines asked him why he did so. Well, he said he was out; he must have some, and he took it. Brother Staines sent down to Vallejo to get this feed fifty cents cheaper than at St. Helena. He told him he must replace it.
(4LtMs, Lt 31, 1885, 3)
There is such carelessness—borrowing and carrying away tools without saying, May I have them? The families of St. Johns are expecting to be carried, accommodated in all things by the Health Retreat. This is not right. I do hope Brother Staines will try it a little longer and will be able to stay, but at all events Henry Wallace is needed just now to work with him. Can write no more.
(4LtMs, Lt 31, 1885, 4)
Mother.
Write me at once. Tomorrow we go to Health Retreat.
(4LtMs, Lt 31, 1885, 5)
Lt 32, 1885
White, W. C. “Crystal Springs,” St. Helena, California February 19, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Son Willie:
We came here all safely. Brother and Sister Lockwood are in my house and well pleased with the place. They enjoyed the journey much. When Mary and you come to Oakland, set up a bed in the parlor and take all the comfort you can.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 1)
Brother Staines is poorly. He says he cannot even lift a trunk. He should not have even the care of the horses further than to feed and drive them a short distance. What will be done in his case I cannot tell. Poor man! We must have one full man on this hill, and we cannot do without such a man. Delay in this matter is time lost.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 2)
Whitman, who was at the office, came to me for advice and work. I set him papering and painting the house. Then we can see his worth and treat him accordingly.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 3)
I hoped you would receive my letters from here and Healdsburg in time to answer them, but was disappointed to receive not a line when I returned here. I enjoy being here very much and shall improve in health I am sure.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 4)
I think Brother Staines will have to go into the valley. He enjoyed riding, but is not strong enough to endure long rides. Take these things into consideration, and do write something at once. I have not received a line from Sister Scott in answer to my letter.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 5)
It rained yesterday, but we were not the sufferers from rain. It is beautiful today—cool and clear and bright.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 6)
Will you write me whether Wallace can come here? No half man or broken-down man is wanted, for we have an abundant supply. Get one able-bodied man on this place at once. I shall send for someone myself and pay him myself if you do not get round and do something in this direction. Brother Staines is not able to do that which is essential on this hill, not by a great deal. If he were not a broken-down man, he could do something. He can go to Oakland and try it there. If he is better, he can have that job on 38th Street to do. Brother Lockwood will find all he can attend to here and wants to stay here.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 7)
Love to all.
(4LtMs, Lt 32, 1885, 8)
Mother.
Lt 33, 1885
White, W. C. St. Helena, California February 20, 1885 Previously unpublished. Willie:
I have a draft of eight hundred dollars. I want you to sign your name to the notes, with my name, and return them to Smouse. They were left at Healdsburg. I will have the notes sent to me, sign my name, then send to you for your name, and you send them on to Smouse.
(4LtMs, Lt 33, 1885, 1)
Now I want a draft of one hundred and fifty dollars. I have purchased a horse, a traveler, on condition that if it does not please me, Lockwood will take it. Sanford Rogers had this trade nearly made one year ago. He wanted the horse for his own use, but could not raise the money. The owner asked $150 for it then. Sells it to me for $125. He has three other horses and has no use for this one. It is gentle but spirited, one of the swiftest travelers. He is not at all afraid of anything. The cars may come close to him, and he is perfectly calm.
(4LtMs, Lt 33, 1885, 2)
We are getting settled nicely here. Of course, no carpets are down, no stove yet, but we get along and get something to eat. I wish you would send Wallace up here now. We want not a weak, feeble man, not a novice, but a man who can do something—one who can see what is to be done and do it. The hope of Brother Staines’ doing anything here will prove a failure. If he were ever so well qualified, he has no strength; and the more of such ones are about an institution of this kind, the more unfavorable will be the impression made upon minds.
(4LtMs, Lt 33, 1885, 3)
Brother Hicks is full of business. I have begged for Brother Roberson to do my work, such as digging, etc., until I hardly dare ask him again. I have eighteen nice trees from nursery to set today in the place of the ones that were not good. Brother Lockwood should not go into the hardest work, for he will soon fail if he does. I shall leave him Kit to use to plow with and dray out rocks. He feels pleased with the place and will do well here, I think. Rogers makes no calculation of leaving the hillside.
(4LtMs, Lt 33, 1885, 4)
Sister Lockwood has a large pail with cans in it. She says send that separately, but I do not think that pail better be sent now unless made entirely safe. The bags contain spoons, knives, and forks which they need.
(4LtMs, Lt 33, 1885, 5)
Lt 34, 1885
White, W. C. St. Helena, California February 22, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Son Willie:
I am going to the post office with my new horse. Brother Lockwood drives him. He is a fast traveler—just what I want now. We have been studying what to do to get all our horses home. If Lockwood goes, he must have some way to get back again. I just thought Mary, Elder Daniels, yourself, Miss Ella White, had better come here directly from Oakland and go over with us. Some things need your decision very much. If you have a spare boy around who wants to harden up, let him come and help Lockwood for cheap wages—rolling rocks for wall, clearing off brush, etc., etc.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 1)
Now I want you to be sure and come over. We have platform wagon and two horses to draw it. We have a firm, steady, splendid traveler that can take the platform wagon or phaeton. We have room for you all, plenty of room. The journey would be delightful to Mary, Elder Daniels, and yourself. Now tell me in your very next letter whether you will do this. If not, we shall have to invent some other plan. You can ride now with pleasure. We have no need of whip; let the lines lie perfectly loose. If we want a little quickening of speed, the slightest intimation will set his head up and he be off like a race horse. At the slightest word to stop, he obeys. Come, Willie, do come this time with Mary and Brother Daniels.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 2)
Willie, my proposition on second thought does not look as bright as when I wrote last, supposing I could not make sale of Rogers’ place. I do not want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. My place in Oakland now rents well. I want my plan carried out—the barn put on empty lot and made into a house. Brother Rogers charges too high for his place, and he will estimate mine just as low as possible. I will not make this trade unless you can see light in it. Please to write at once.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 3)
Mother.
Brother Lockwood and I have just returned from post office. Received your letter in regard to Brother Staines’ coming to Oakland if he is able to work. He says he is feeling much better, but the work to be done here is of that kind he dare not do it; therefore he is doing nothing.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 4)
Your letter has decided me to go to Healdsburg and get where my writings are and get off this matter for Sketches, Vol. 4. She [Marian Davis?] says she has not the matter ready. We have not worked at it, but will take hold of it now at once. We can do this by going to Healdsburg. Will go there tomorrow. Not a man can be hired to do anything. All are in the vineyards. I got Brother Hicks to show Ransom how to set out fruit trees, by setting one, but Ransom cannot do hard work. I shall get the Wilkinson boy to come up and help Ransom for a month.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 5)
After talking over matters with Brother Lockwood and Marian, we decide not to go tomorrow. If you can come to St. Helena and drive my new horse over to Healdsburg, then Ransom will not need to go. Marian and Mary White, or Brother Daniels, can drive the old team, and you can drive the new horse. The difficulty is, how can Ransom get back if he drives the new horse Billy? Now to the point: Can you come to St. Helena? When can you come? If you cannot come at all, let me understand the matter at once. Telegraph to me tonight; and if you cannot come, we will devise some way to get our horses through. I dare not drive Billy horse now. He has not been hitched up since Christmas. He is perfectly gentle, but high of life.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 6)
I think now you understand the situation. If you do not come this way, we will go day after tomorrow. If you come, then let the telegram be sent to Brother Jack. We will call for it of him.
(4LtMs, Lt 34, 1885, 7)
Mother.
Lt 35, 1885
White, W. C. Gytteborg, Sweden November 17, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in 3Bio 327-328. Dear Son Willie:
We are one day’s journey on our way to Basel. We could go no farther last night and stopped here at a good hotel. They had two beds in a small recess, but a good, large parlor. They brought in an iron bedstead that folds up, opened it, and made a bed on that for me. I took the two large pillows which you are acquainted with in the beds in Sweden and made me a good feather bed. Our large roll that you are so well acquainted with was checked, and we could not get it from the cars.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 1)
I have arisen at half-past three. I have had a good bath, and now I am taking a little time to write to you. On the cars yesterday I felt just tired enough to sleep. We all four did good business at it, and when we had to change cars (for we were at the end of the road) I awoke first, and we but barely got our things out of the cars into the train we were to go on. Our people were so sleepy they seemed almost benumbed. The day was fine and the scenery resembled in some degree the roughness of California. It seemed that the land almost everywhere was nothing but high bluffs and rugged rocks. There were little patches of ground between the high bluffs that were made the most of by cultivation, as in Colorado.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 2)
But you will be anxious to hear how our meetings came out. Sabbath I spoke to the people upon Joshua and the angel, and I think the minds of many were impressed. I spoke plainly in regard to the Sabbath and its importance as a part of the message. The house was full. Brother Hansen left as soon as I had done speaking. Brother Oyen in the afternoon read the message I had written, or a portion of it that had been translated, which was sixteen pages of that large foolscap. There was not time for many testimonies to be borne afterward. Brother Hansen made no response, but he sent word that he would be pleased to take me over the city on Sunday forenoon, and I responded that I would be pleased to go. He showed me every attention, and I managed to bring in again the vexed question of the Sabbath. He said he meant to get round to change his position just as soon as he could, and we had a very pleasant social time. He sat in the carriage where Sara generally sits. Annie sat beside him to interpret. He said if I would promise to come next spring he would make extra efforts to learn to talk and to understand English. I told him I thought without a doubt I would come.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 3)
In the afternoon I was to speak to the church at three o’clock, and the congregation was about half outsiders. The house was crowded to overflowing. I spoke on Daniel. “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” [Daniel 12:3.] The Lord gave me much freedom in speaking, and there were many melted to tears.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 4)
I bid them all farewell and while they were singing tried to make my escape, for I saw our faithful coachman waiting at the door. But I was not to escape so easily. There was a rush for me, and one and another took my hand, kissed it, and with tears running down their faces, told me how much good my message had done them. They held my hand so firmly and lovingly I could not withdraw it readily, while others were waiting to shake hands with me. The carriage was surrounded. We just had to wait, and then I was so sorry I had not waited in the house and shaken hands with every one of them.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 5)
We had to get up early as the cars went at half-past six. The coachman came for us at quarter before six. At the depot we met a large number of our friends again. Brother and Sister Hansen were present, and their daughter and Annie, Brother and Sister Olsen, and several that I was introduced to for the first time.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 6)
This last meeting left a good feeling with nearly all, and I am inclined to think that all has been done that could be done on this visit. I am glad that you will visit Christiania on your way to Basel. They need help and will continue to need help for some time. Brother Olsen, I think, will do them good when he shall come to this country.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 7)
I would not leave this place until you return if I had an assurance it was duty to stay here. But we cannot stay one day after Sunday unless we meet with the loss of our tickets entirely. And then Italy may require some help; we may be called there. I expect Satan will work with masterly activity to make of none effect our labor in Christiania, but we can only do our part. God must do the rest.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 8)
I felt very weary in speaking and writing. I left twenty-seven of those largest pages of foolscap for the church. May the Lord save His people from Satan’s snare. Oh, that God would give more of His grace! Time is so short. We cannot afford to move blindly now. We must give the trumpet a certain sound. I do not want to do anything to discourage a soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 9)
Brother Hansen’s case is one that must be treated wisely, or we will lose him and Satan will triumph. While we must exalt the truth, we must seek to draw these souls who are certainly deceived to the light. Annie thinks that he has confidence in me, but that he has considerable in himself too.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 10)
As I lay off this burden of labor for the church in Christiania, I am feeling some burden in regard to matters in Healdsburg. I cannot but feel sad every time I consider the turn things have taken there. I feel a sadness and a remorseful regret over the state of things, for I know just as well the afterresults of such matters as though the future were presented before me in a panoramic view. Why cannot we learn the precious lessons of Christ in His school as He has invited us—of meekness and lowliness of heart, to wear His yoke, to lift His burdens, and thus become one with Christ? Must our heavenly Father humiliate us by bringing us down into the valley of humiliation as the only way to give us the proper estimate of ourselves? We need to move steadfastly to behold Christ in order to think little of ourselves.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 11)
I feel distressed when I see that some men of large experience think little of their sins and much of their virtues. They get as high as possible in their own eyes rather than to see themselves as God sees them. When men speak against them, they are stirred and angry. There is no stopping to see and closely investigate whether they have not reason for this unfavorable impression.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 12)
When the Lord shows and reproves sin, there is a turning away from the subject as from a disagreeable picture, but they do not cease to sin. The work of soul cleansing is not pleasant, the bruising of self is not pleasant, but the health of the soul depends upon this close, critical work. Pride, cruel in its influence, is cherished. Our Saviour has rebuked pride as exhibited by the Pharisee in his self-congratulation, and he is represented as spreading his virtues before God, whose eye reads the intents and the purposes of the soul.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 13)
I call upon you, my brethren, to fear this fatal spell. It is on many of you, and it makes you deaf and blind to compassion, to mercy, to truth. Your friends may praise you, be satisfied with you as you are. Every look, every word, every action may flatter you. They think you do so much good work that God will accept it; it will recommend you to God’s favor. But let me remind you that God’s judgment is totally different from human judgment. Let us not slumber on in our imperfections until the second death. I find myself pondering the Healdsburg church and its revival and the condemnation of it with a sadness I cannot express by pen or voice.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 14)
There was a church who had been deep in the experience of a new work, and it was worthy of a careful, tender, God-fearing investigation when there was the least suspicion that things were not all reliable. Elder Daniels might not be perfect in his plans, in his spirit, in some of his movements, but there should have been the most prayerful study how to cure the to-be-feared, existing evil without marring and wounding the work of God and endangering souls. It was not one man’s case alone to be dealt with, but a large and important church was involved, whose whole after-experience would bear the marks of the present management. This spirit to denounce and condemn so readily, as if it were a small matter to tear a man up by the roots, has been manifested many times. It is a work that savors of Satan wherever it is seen; and as a people who are seeking to save souls rather than to blast and destroy, we need to mix into our manners and ways of dealing with men and women more of the compassion and love of Jesus and less of self. I have seen the harm done by our brethren’s seeing something wrong in a man and then questioning or picking him to pieces and leaving no good thing in him, but just discarding him as a useless piece of timber, that I am most thoroughly distressed over this kind of management. Let the love of Jesus melt the iron out of your souls, and let sweet sympathy and compassion come in for those who show imperfections.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 15)
I have read the letter of Brother Jones to W. C. White, and this is all the light I now have about the management of matters at Healdsburg. And I do not say that Elder Daniels has been right in all things. He has, without question, done and said many unwise things. But will you forbid him to work because there are mistakes and errors mingled with his work? Have my brethren a perfect record of their manner of labor? Have they not had errors in judgment mingled with their best endeavors? Were they cast aside, condemned as unworthy to do anything in the vineyard of the Lord?
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 16)
From the letters written I have reason to judge a good work was begun in Healdsburg. Those who felt it was wrong, and condemned it, committed, I believe, one of the greatest errors. And now the condemnation has been made, it will be as in similar cases after once the work of a brother or the manifestations in a church are condemned; then there is a seizing hold of very little things to make good the decision that they made hastily and in an unwise manner. Thus I look at the matter.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 17)
I have only the letters from Brother Jones, written to W. C. White, that tell what they have done. I do not condemn these brethren or their work, but I cannot endorse it; I cannot see divine wisdom or Christlike tenderness and compassion in the work. You may think it is now your duty to remodel matters, uprooting the confidence of the church in what has been done. But the end is not yet. I see too much the mold of man in this matter. Had not the decision and judgment been made in the haste of a denunciatory spirit, and had these brethren had more of Jesus in their hearts and made the efforts they did at Healdsburg, they would have a different testimony to bear. There is terrible danger of an erring brother’s falling into the hands of men who will deal with him in a very different manner than he would wish to be dealt with himself, under similar circumstances.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 18)
Brethren, it is high time that revivals similar to the one that has stirred the church in Healdsburg should come to every Seventh-day Adventist church in our land, else the church will not be prepared to receive the latter rain. A work must be done for the individual members of the church. They will confess one to another. They will forsake their sins and their confessions will go beforehand to judgment, or their names will be blotted out from the book of life. Christ will not take their names upon His lips, to plead with His Father in their behalf. And whenever this work begins and wherever it is seen, there will be the working of the power of Satan—envy, jealousy, evil surmising will be in exercise. There will also be some who should attend to their own individual cases who will want to set their brethren and sisters right. They will feel a great burden for others, and fanaticism will come in and matters will be carried to extremes, and this will not be any evidence that the work from the beginning to end is wrong, but the most conclusive evidence that God is at work. Therefore the devil works to counteract the work of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 19)
If there is a true, there will be, most assuredly, a counterfeit. It would be to me one of the most marvelous things in all my experience of the last forty years, if a brother of Elder Daniels’ temperament could, without special help from God every hour, manage so large and important [an] interest as has been going on in Healdsburg. But although he may not reveal perfection in all things, although he may be hasty and impulsive, I see no reason to denounce him, discourage him, and stop his labors. I did think my brethren would show more of the divine in their management of such men and of such a manifestation.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 20)
Why I dwell so much on this now is because there will be most remarkable movements of the Spirit of God in the churches, if we are the people of God. And my brethren may arise and in their sense of paring everything [not] done after their style, lay their hand upon God’s working and forbid it.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 21)
I know what I am talking about. Your management alarms me. I have no confidence in this kind of work you have been engaged in. You have placed matters in a miserable shape. Confusion has come into the church. A different course might have been taken by our brethren and saved all this bad result of reaction. There are always some who will be overzealous, who will follow impressions, who are never well and healthfully balanced, who are always first in the fire and then into the water. They are extremists, overdo everything they touch, and yet some of these are honest. These have precious qualities, and these are not to be misjudged and cast away as worthless.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 22)
May the Lord have mercy upon His people and pity the sheep of His pasture. If those who would pronounce against this work were themselves zealous, full of faith, and showing piety and devotion, then the work coming from their hands would bear the marks, not of self, but of Christ Jesus. As a people we are far from having the spiritual works of God in our midst. The zeal for active energy and work will not supply the place of the Spirit of God, which is needed to work with the efforts of the worker, that those who embrace the truth shall witness the piety and the godly zeal and fervent devotion of the worker and obtain correct views of what it means to be a Christian.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 23)
Those who do work for God must have devotion and piety mingled with their activity. Then they will be ensamples to the flock. All the promises of God are on condition of obedience. When these conditions are fully met by the people of God, the Lord has pledged His word to fulfil on His part. He will not deny Himself, He will not disappoint His believing ones. The Holy One of Israel is unchangeable.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 24)
Faith has not lost its power, nor humble obedience its reward. Let the individual members of the church seek God by humble confession of their sins and putting them away.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 25)
The Lord’s people are in the great day of atonement, and just such a work as is reported being done in Healdsburg will go to every church in our land. They will occupy the same position as did the congregation of Israel in the type. They were waiting with humble hearts for the coming out of the High Priest from the Most Holy Place to bless the people. They were confessing their sins, and these sins were borne into the sanctuary and the atonement was being made in behalf of the sinner. In the place of God’s people now being so self-satisfied because so continually occupied in the service and busy working of the cause, these very responsibilities should drive them to prayer and deep, earnest, spiritual heartsearching, that no sin may remain unconfessed and that no sin may be cherished and practiced by them. God reads the heart and the purpose of every soul. He knows the works of all.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 26)
We are, as a people, professing to believe and advocate the most solemn truths ever given to man in trust for the world. But many are as far from having works corresponding to the holy trust as was the Jewish nation. The converting power of the Lord needs to go through their hearts and sanctify their thoughts and cleanse their souls as this work was needed by the Jewish nation. I am not speaking blindly or extravagantly. We need Christian love and Christian faith. We must come up higher. We must have the converting power of God, or we shall be laid aside as filthy, polluted vessels, unfit for the Master’s use. Our Lord will have a pure church. In His prayer to His Father He urged His petition in behalf of His people: “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” [John 17:17.] We have limited faith and sinful hearts, and God cannot work in power for us; and if He should work for our brethren, our hearts could not rejoice with them, for our unsanctified conceptions and discernment could not distinguish the work of God from the counterfeit.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 27)
We are in the antitypical day of atonement. Time is passing; the cases of all are being decided. Have they done the will of God? Have they correctly represented the holy, sacred character of the truth? Have they taught the law of God to others while their own hearts are not loyal and true to its requirements, and their words and characters are not in accordance with their faith? Oh, how far in spirit and in works do we come from answering the prayer of Christ, which was not limited to the first disciples, which prayer includes all the promises given to His disciples. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they all may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory that Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one.” [Verses 20-22.]
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 28)
We are in the antitypical day of atonement, and our position now is to confess and forsake our sins. Whenever the church has confessed and forsaken her sins and believed and walked in the ways of God’s commandments, according to the privileges and light given her, then according to her living faith and obedience the Lord has manifested His power from on high. She has represented Christ, and her light has shone forth to the world in clear and steady rays, leading others by her godly example to honor and glorify God. We are not contending as we should for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, having no carnal weapons of warfare, no envy, no jealousy, no evil surmising, no love for supremacy.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 29)
If the life of Christ’s followers today were hid with Christ in God, we should see the mighty workings of His Holy Spirit. But the Lord lets us feel and realize from time to time how weak we are, how unlike Jesus in spirit, and this is why He can do so little for us. We take the glory to ourselves and become unbalanced. May the Lord have mercy upon us and in this day may we, while mercy lingers, place ourselves in right relation to God. If we did not seek for the honor that comes from men, the Lord would bestow upon us His honor. Divine power would be imparted, and we would have Christ as a wall of fire about us and a glory in our midst. The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel has never been withheld from them who walk uprightly. And if as a people, who claim to keep God’s law, we were indeed doers of the law, we would have the favor of God.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 30)
But how many, many, who claim to be among God’s commandment-keeping people, have departed from the holy commandments which have been delivered unto them. If they had walked in the light, been obedient to the light, they would today have been a power in the world and stood on as much higher, holier ground than the primitive Christians as their light and sacred truth were greater than theirs. God’s providence for His people is progressive. There is to be continual advancement in faith, in experience, in holy confidence, and a moving forward and upward as God leads the way. They are rising higher and higher in spiritual attainments in the knowledge and the love of God. But the claims of God are today far in advance of our faith and our obedience. We have not complied with the conditions in which the fulfilment of the promises are suspended. We have not taken God at His word and accepted the promises and received the blessing presented to us.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 31)
Christ said of a people, He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. [Matthew 13:58.] Will we humble ourselves before God? Will we put sins and deception out of our hearts? Will we be as merciful and tender and pitiful of others as we wish them to be of us? God help us to love one another.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 32)
How my brethren dared to take the position they have done in regard to the work at Healdsburg I cannot conjecture, only as that their discernment and wisdom have departed from them. If such a work comes to us, how dare we to pronounce against it because we see that the instrument is only a fallible, erring man? How did you know but that the angels of God had come in to work, although man may take the glory to himself? My earnest, agonizing prayers have been that just such a manifestation of God’s power would come to this people. At such a time there will be those who will not be moved, who will pick up everything that looks objectionable, and present these and discard the whole. Now if there were those who had the burden, if they had gone to Healdsburg not to condemn, but to rejoice if they could see fruits that God was at work, and with firm and well-balanced judgment guided the matter, in love presented cautions, letting the good stand as God’s work, the evil as the work of the enemy who will ever seek to intrude deceptions when God works, then you would have done a good work. Now you have left the minds dazed and confused, not knowing what is of God and what is not. If they give up that God has wrought for them, they are thrown on Satan’s battlefield to be ever suspicious and established in unbelief. May the Lord teach us wisdom.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 33)
Mother.
Willie, please send to Lizzie N. Bangs, West Gorham, Maine, a draft for twenty dollars for her especial use, as a New Year’s gift.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 34)
Brother Heman Gurney, will you please send to Battle Creek several packages of pumpkin powder to be brought to Europe when Willie comes? And if you know of any who have dried corn or small dried fruits, will you please interest them to send what they can spare, as a donation to this mission? These things cannot be obtained here as corn and pumpkin. We shall spend the winter here; and as we have not been situated to buy fruit and take care of it here, these favors requested would be highly appreciated.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 35)
This may be copied for Monterey, and fruit can be brought here just as well as not. Now, my son, I will not write any more now. You see, I had only this paper in the satchel. That is why I use it. Our satchels are in the freight care. We take the boat at nine o’clock. Sarah has just got out of bed.
(4LtMs, Lt 35, 1885, 36)
Mother.
Lt 36, 1885
White, W. C. Basel, Switzerland November 20, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in 20MR 45-47. [Willie:]
Here I am now in Basel. We reached here last night about eight o’clock. We found Mary doing well. She is looking better than I have seen her for many years. Ella is quite as well as usual, but has some cold.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 1)
November [17]. We ate a good breakfast and went on board the boat. It was very rough. We were in the nice saloon on the upper deck, enjoying the smooth sailing, when the captain came up and said, “I advise you to go below and lie down.” We inquired if it would be worse than it was then. He said, “This is nothing. You can get to the cabin now, but you will not be able to get there soon.” We went down and lay down. We had passed one hour on the boat and were to be five hours more.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 2)
Soon Sarah was very sick, then I was sick, and our breakfast fed the fishes. I sweat profusely, then the most wrenching process of throwing up. Sarah lay where she could look directly upon me. She said several times she thought I was dead. She kept speaking to me to get some response. She said my face was as colorless as a corpse. She should understand now fully why I was afraid to be seasick. She never would want me to go on the water again for she thought it was at the risk of my life. There was never a more thankful party that stood upon the terra firma than our company. Kristine was a little sick, but not severely. Kellogg was out upon the deck, and he was some sick, but he stayed there, almost freezing. He dared not go down.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 3)
We were so happy to be seated in the cars again. We had a compartment all to ourselves, and I did not sit up much of the day. I was lame and sore. We traveled all night and all day Wednesday and stopped Wednesday night at Hotel Cologne. We had good accommodations, took six o’clock train, and were by ourselves until noon. The cars went only to Manze _____, and we were obliged to wait two hours. When the express train came along, we were crowded into a compartment with men, and we learned it was a smoking car; but Kellogg prevailed upon them not to smoke. But men were continually crowding in with their cigars and pipes. Kellogg finally found us a place in another car with men, but they did not smoke. The road was exceedingly rough. I think I never rode in cars that shook one about so. It was as good as the best movement machines. It took all the soreness all out of me—curious remedy!
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 4)
Mary read us your letter, and I was glad to learn you had a similar experience to ours in seasickness. I was full of cold, and I threw up much phlegm, and I think it did me much good. I said then I hoped you would be sick, and, although unpleasant, it would be a great blessing to you as it has been to us.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 5)
Brother Whitney wishes us to go next week to Italy. We are thinking of taking the whole family along; go into Brother Bourdeau’s house and remain a couple of months. We want the Lord to direct. It is cold as a barn here. The coils do not warm the room scarcely at all. It is a failure, and something will have to be devised of a different character than this to heat these rooms. They will put me up a stove in the parlor today. I have not been warm since I came here, and the very air seems as if I were breathing in the air from a snowbank.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 6)
Edith is evidently failing. The rooms she and her mother occupy are not comfortable. They have a little heating arrangement, not the one I had, but similar to it; but that is not sufficient, and the rubber coils are very disagreeable to Edith.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 7)
I thought if we could go to Italy and go into a house all furnished, and keep Brother A. C. Bourdeau and sons without any appearance of evil, we would do so. But if there is the least danger of remarks, we would not do this on any account.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 8)
Willie, I want Matteson to stand in a proper light before the conference. We see mistakes and failure in his work and mission, but how much better would others have done under the circumstances? I am thinking he has done, in many respects, a good work. He has suffered privation and taken the work from nothing, and all these things deserve our appreciation; and we will encourage him all we can and not say one word to discourage. You know that the man is not guilty of that devotion the people give him. They need to see and recognize other talent, and they will do it, and I know that there is much precious material in Christiania, and I want the dear lambs of the flock to be blessed and strengthened. I do not know as I can say anything more.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 9)
I shall think of you and pray for you as we do, and may the Lord work in power for you. Do pray much and tell others I beseech of them to pray much. I will now say, God bless you, my son, with the best of Heaven’s blessing. Try to get Edson heart and soul in the meetings. Help him all you can.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 10)
Love to Emma and Edson.
(4LtMs, Lt 36, 1885, 11)
Mother.
Lt 37, 1885
White, W. C. Basel, Switzerland November 23, 1885 This letter is published in entirety in 17MR 323-328. Dear Willie:
I have sent you one letter since coming back to Basel. In regard to Marian’s coming, I dare not say. If I were sure that we would go to America next May, I would not think it best to disappoint Marian’s plans. I just want her to do the things that will be for her health and after-usefulness. If she really wishes to give some time to study, she ought to have the privilege of doing this. I dare not urge her to come to Europe. I will send matters to be published if I am able to write. I shall not write as diligently as I have done.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 1)
I certainly have never done as much work in the same amount of time as in the last four months, and I am thankful to the Lord for this. How long it will be duty to stay here I cannot tell, but just as long as it seems to be duty to stay I will do this cheerfully, although expenses are going on of housekeeping at Healdsburg. I have my cow and horse that I have to feed, and my expenses are running on, but this is not of any consideration with me. I want to know my duty and do it cheerfully.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 2)
Although very weary, I spoke to the people assembled on the Sabbath in the afternoon. Several not of our faith were present. There were four students from the theological college. Two came for the first time. The converted Jew has been turned out because he came to our meetings. This, Brother Whitney thinks, aroused the attention of other students, and two have come quite often to attend the meetings. They are interested. They have not heard a discourse, but have come to the Sabbath afternoon meetings and seemed interested. They have read the papers, and they came of themselves to talk with Brother Whitney and the hands in the office of the reason for their faith. The name of one of the young men is Zree, and he says he will not be prevented from investigating. They seemed interested in the Sabbath afternoon meeting. Many good testimonies were borne.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 3)
Edith was brought into meeting and she bore her testimony, but I am sorry to say she is not spiritual and does not know how to come to the light.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 4)
Sunday morning I attended early meeting with the office workers, prayed with them and talked with them. They seemed interested and some deeply affected. Then after the meeting closed I talked with the girls in the office in relation to Edith and the close friendship and attention they were giving her. I told them they had made her an idol and had flattered her and petted her until she was entirely deceived in regard to herself. She was not awake to her needs. She felt not she needed a Physician. They had helped her to this state of blindness by their worshipping her, that this extra love was so choice, its fragrance could be permitted to go only to a few, while others, more devotional, more worthy, were excluded. I told them that this deception would be fatal to Edith if it were kept up to the last. She wanted to be diverted and amused when the hours to her were solemn and precious, to be devoted to preparation of heart to meet her Saviour in the morning of the resurrection.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 5)
I wished them to review the past and see if in one instance Edith had led their minds and affections heavenward, if they could think of any time she had talked of Jesus and heaven and the truth. I told them she had led their minds away from the truth, away from devotion to God, to human worship. They had an admiration society, seeking to be loved, praised, petted, and this had separated their affections from God so that not one of those who were so sympathetic, so loving, so devoted to Edith, was learning to wear Christ’s yoke or to carry His burdens. They were backsliding from God; and in the place of giving Him the heart’s best and loveliest affections, they were placing confidence and love upon an earthly, erring creature. They did not love Edith because she was devotional, because she lived so near to Jesus, but because they thought her perfection. She pleased them, but she did not please Jesus or really love Jesus. I talked to them very plainly and shall not see these young people deceived. I shall talk with Edwin and John Vuilleumier.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 6)
Brother Whitney has just come into our room, and he says the two young men have come again to talk with them. He talked and prayed with them. One has investigated so that he sees now that he must lift the cross. He says he does nor hesitate because he will be laughed at or reproached, but he feels keenly at the thought of disappointing his parents who expect him to be educated for a minister. He says he has stated to the Principal his convictions, and he tells him that if he does not keep the Sabbath, he must leave the college. Ministers have labored with them; then they bring the arguments to our brethren in the office, and they show them the difference between the teachings of the Bible and the sayings of men. The one who is convinced says he will write an essay on the Sabbath question and read it in his class. There seems to be quite a stir in the college just now. O that God would move upon hearts, convict and convert souls.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 7)
Elder Bourdeau is thinking of holding meetings in a hall in Geneva while Ertzenberger and Vuilleumier are working in a place not far from there. Daniel feels like going into the work in earnest. O that God would keep His servants to be wise to win souls. Brother Bourdeau says that he can call these brethren in after an interest is awakened.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 8)
We go to Italy next Thursday. Mary accompanies me. Ella will remain at home with Sarah and Kristine. Brother Whitney goes with us to Italy. Sister Bourdeau goes with us, to remain a few weeks. I think it will not be best to remain long now; a few weeks will be enough. If we see occasion for remaining sixty days, the length of our ticket, we can do so. Brother Whitney thinks when I shall return here Brother Ertzenberger better commence meetings here and Brother Conradi join him and make a regular effort to bring souls to the knowledge of the truth.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 9)
We are all well under this roof except Edith, and Ella has had cold and is not as well as usual. We see great improvements in Ella. We take great comfort with her.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 10)
Well, Willie, I hope you are well and that the blessing of the Lord is accompanying you in your meetings. We pray for you all assembled in Conference. We shall follow you with our prayers. I now must stop writing, for I must rest. God bless you. May His peace rest upon you is the prayer of your Mother.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 11)
Willie, Mary was pleased with her cloak pattern. Come to see what she had, she had nothing fit to wear. Kristine has cut it out and nearly made it. Mary and she are very busy now. Mary has got her an entire outfit from the remnant left of my dress, so we shall both have suits alike. I found Mary had purchased her nice flannel, cloth-lined shoes and a beautiful pair of slippers lined with flannel. She thinks much of these comfortable things. Mary speaks from the dining room, “Tell Willie I like the cloak very much.” We are really comfortably situated.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 12)
Today I went down and selected one of those earthen stoves for my room, which is the parlor. I cannot keep warm with the coils, and the iron stove makes me feel continually oppressed. Have had nosebleed nearly every day since I came home. This stove is on the same principle as those white ones in Sweden, but this one we have purchased is about five feet high, brown earthenware. It is a beauty for twenty dollars; they asked twenty-two. So you see we shall be nicely fixed here for the winter. Kristine is just the one we need, so handy with the needle and willing to do any kind of work. She went into washing Sunday, earnestly, and was down on her knees scouring the tile floor. I think we did well to secure so good help. Brethren Whitney and Kellogg are true and earnest to do all they can for us. Brother Kellogg boards with us. They seem to think I must have everything I need to make me comfortable, But very little has been expended for furniture. Things picked up and borrowed have fitted us out with three good bedsteads and mattresses. Both rooms have carpets, not entirely covered, but answer all purposes.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 13)
Willie, please to send Lizzie N. Bangs twenty dollars and charge to my account. Send Lizzie N. Bangs, West Gorham, Maine. I wish you would see if you can get some pumpkin powder from H. S. Gurney and get dried corn and small dried fruit if you can. We shall need some books, and I will send in my next what books I want you to bring to me.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 14)
Ella says, “Tell papa I want to see him and kiss him. When will he come home?” See Aunt Mary and tell me how she is getting along. No one mentions her. Give her my love and tell her to write to me and I will answer it.
(4LtMs, Lt 37, 1885, 15)
Mother.
Lt 38, 1885
White, J. E.; White, W. C. Basel, Switzerland December 22, 1885 Portions of this letter are published in 3Bio 337-338; 8MR 445. Dear Children, Edson and Willie:
We left Italy one week ago this morning. Mary has probably told you of our journey homeward, which was very favorable. Brother Daniel Bourdeau seemed to appreciate our visit very much. We rode out a couple of hours, and we were instructed in regard to several places of interest. Geneva is a beautiful place. I should prefer living there than any place I have yet visited, if they did not have considerable fog.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 1)
We found Edith very low. I visited her Sabbath morning and talked with her and comforted her. She said she had done all that she could do to make her past wrongs right. I then tried to strengthen her faith to believe that the Lord would help her, and wherein she was weak, He could make her strong, could supply every deficiency. Edith seemed to lay hold of hope and was very thankful for the encouragement I had given her. I then prayed with her, and she responded.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 2)
Sunday morning early I was sent for. She breathed heavily; was greatly distressed. I prayed for her again while Brother Whitney supported her in an upright position. She was relieved in answer to prayer. I was sent for again that night. Edith was in great distress for breath. We prayed earnestly, and she was relieved. Oh, how thankful I am that we have a friend in Jesus who will be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. How thankful we all are to see Edith placing her hand in the hand of Christ and confiding all to Him. I was drawn out to speak to her of the love of Jesus. While the tempest round us rolls, Jesus, precious Saviour, must be our only refuge. “Simply to Thy cross I cling.” We are to claim pardon through the merits of Christ’s blood. I never felt Jesus more precious to me and to His suffering ones than when standing around the dying bed of this child.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 3)
I have repeated to her, “We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” [1 Peter 1:5.] The arm of God is around His child. I have comforted her in telling her that the Word of God was pledged in her behalf, the cleansing blood of Christ would blot out all her transgressions; for those who seek Him, He will be to them a present help in every time of need. I referred her to Peter, sinking beneath the waves, but he threw up his hand to Christ and such an appeal was not in vain. If he had not looked at the waves, there would have been no peril.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 4)
Jesus will respond to every appeal made to Him in our sore need. God’s children are dear to Him as the apple of His eye. He will help the helpless. His voice will come to us in our distress: “Fear not, I am with thee. It is I, be not afraid.” [Isaiah 43:5; Matthew 14:27.]
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 5)
Edith is, I believe, standing on the solid Rock. She is obtaining an experience of the highest value. She is fitting up for the future life. I love to point her to the resurrection morning when the Lifegiver shall call the dead from their prison houses. Those who sleep in Jesus will come forth to a glorious immortality. Jesus has paid a large price for our affection and love. He always reproves those He loves, and He corrects their faults and is just waiting and longing to pardon their transgressions. We see Edith going down to the grave, trusting in and loving Jesus. Edith is patient, only expressing gratitude and thankfulness to God.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 6)
I have just had a profitable conversation with Martha, who is filled with comfort and gratitude and hope as she sees her suffering child going down to the grave with a hope in Jesus. It is realized here: the hour of our extremity is God’s opportunity. We are, thank God, within the reach of His powerful hand. I told Edith, “In your feebleness, it may seem to you you can but have a feeble hold of Jesus, but Jesus has a firm hold of the soul He has died to save. His aid is prompt and all-powerful. He is nigh unto all that call upon Him.” We feel deeply grateful for the evidences we have of God’s love, of His mercy and kindness to the children of men.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 7)
I just dropped this to have an interview with Elder Whitney. Brother Albert Vuilleumier comes tonight. His son broke his arm near the wrist yesterday, a bad break. He was not as careful as he ought to have been. He went to start the wheel at the press, and he was not paying attention. His hand slipped through the spokes, and some part of the machinery bent his hand back and gave a blow to his wrist. I think that was the way it was done. He was taken to the hospital at once and is receiving every attention.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 8)
The young man I mentioned to you from the theological seminary has taken his position fully on the truth. He came out decided on the Sabbath. His uncles wrote that they would place him in a seminary much more in advance of this and held out great inducements to him if he would come to them, but he is not moved. He seems firm as a rock. All the faculty respect him and told him he might continue in school and observe the Sabbath, but he told them, “NO.” He must fit himself not only to believe that which the Bible told him was truth, but be prepared to teach it to his fellow men. He was asked what he would do after he left the school. He said, “I am well and strong. I can work. I am not afraid, but the way will open before me.”
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 9)
I told Brother Whitney now was the time, after he had taken his position, to open the way before him. He is a good German scholar and understands French well, and now he wants to learn English.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 10)
Well, I have had to stop.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 11)
Ella just came in to say with wonderful grace, “Tak for moetten.” She makes as graceful a curtsy as a little Swedish girl.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 12)
They have employed the German in the office, and they like him much. They need help on the German very much. I am so thankful that we can see that the Lord is at work upon hearts. This conversion is the work of God, not of man. His name shall have all the glory. I am told since writing the above that the young man I have mentioned is just the help needed in the office.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 13)
December 23
I left this letter to write to Brother Daniel Bourdeau. He sent a long letter to me. He is failing in health, and I am not sure but he will have to go back to America. His lungs have troubled him, but now are relieved, and he has a constant diarrhea. Poor man cannot rest, will not rest. He seems grateful for the help I have given him and wants to have me stay months with him. You know this would not be agreeable to me. He seems to cling to me as a child to his mother. I have written to him comforting, encouraging words.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 14)
Last night Brother Albert Vuilleumier came and has brought his daughter that Brother _____—I cannot call his name—has been seeking to wed. I do not think she loves him, but would marry him rather than to hurt his feelings. He has been determined in the matter and it is, I think, a test case here in Switzerland, whether young men shall persist in having a right to pay their addresses to young women when their parents feel it would be unhappiness to both parties. We take the ground that the children should not marry without the consent of their parents. This test case will have a telling influence on the churches in Switzerland, whether children shall obey their parents, shall honor them according to the fifth commandment, or whether they will set aside the rules laid down in the Bible and be controlled by impulse. We think in this case the Bible will be the guide and rule in this matter.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 15)
I can tell you, I find abundance of work that keeps coming ready to my hand, and I see no place to rest, even in Europe. I think I will purchase me a horse and carriage and ride out daily. I do not take pleasure in the rides taken with a coachman or hackman.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 16)
Well, I am certainly doing more work than at any other period of my life, and I am thankful that the Lord has given me strength to work. I hope that Brother Conradi will come to work awhile with Brother Ertzenberger. When he shall come, we will have meetings here in Basel; and I believe souls will embrace the truth. I do wish that there were a man well balanced, who understood French, who could labor in Europe. Brother Daniel understands enough. He has a quick mind, much power of brain, and could do a good work if he were more evenly balanced; but the case stands as it does. We will have to pray that the Lord will raise up laborers in His vineyard. We need them, one hundred where there is one, if there could be means to sustain them.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 17)
We are doing so little compared to what should be done in warning the world. I think too much, carry too heavy a load on this matter. Oh, I wish I did not feel so intensely, for it keeps me awake, planning, many of the hours at night, when I should be asleep. I hope I shall be able every day to lay my burden on the Burden-bearer. If I could say anything to help our people to see the wants for this time! If I could only arouse them to obtain the missionary spirit! Oh, if the Lord would only set the matter home to their hearts! I see so much want, so great a lack in the workers, so little devotion, so little self-denial, so little spirit of the real laborer, that my heart aches. Time is passing, the end of all things is at hand. He that is to come will come, to call us individually to account for our stewardship. What use have we made of our talents, of our means, of the great light God has revealed to us from His Word? Oh, what do the heavenly books testify of us? The record of every day’s work is passing up to God. Have we served ourselves or Jesus Christ? Have we engaged heartily in the work represented by the proclamation of the third angel’s message? What are we doing? Time is passing into eternity with its burden of record. Oh, how light many are, how trifling!
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 18)
How many are now sighing and crying for the abominations done in the land? How many are consecrated to the work of God and have not a divided interest? How many are feeling the burden for perishing souls? Many will realize the curse that came on Meroz because they feel no burden when the Word of God plainly reveals the position we are standing in as a people.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 19)
I see our work has but just begun here; I see so much to be done, and I am doing too much. I wish I could do the work of ten. I would gladly do it. But I can only do the work of one—poor, frail at that. May God work Himself.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 20)
In regard to writing in the future, I cannot say. I must write. I think I can do it as well here in Europe as in America. Make just such arrangements as you please. If Marian is worn and has her plans arranged to stay, I can send writing there; but if you think it advisable for her to come, all right.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 21)
I have sent by Brother Kellogg to get me a filter in London. I do not think it is safe to use this hard water, either to drink or to cook with. We have a stove that is a treasure. It is something of the same nature as the ones we saw in Sweden, but brown, highly polished. It is an ornament; consumes but little coal.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 22)
We all miss you, Willie; will be glad when you return. They write from California that there is but one copy of first volume of Spirit of Prophecy in the office. They are seeking to hurry up the work. I see not why it cannot be put in the hands of the printers. The matter is out, and enough to make a book. It may be I shall have to supply one chapter, but why not have it printed at once? I think that the matters in regard to Grant should be here, that we can meet him if necessary. But with me, I shall never mention his name but go straight forward in my work. This is best. I will not contend with those wicked men. I think it had a good influence in Italy to go right forward and say nothing of Grant.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 23)
I am going to try to rest some, and may the Lord help me. I am His property. Well, I will write no more now.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 24)
May the Lord give you wisdom in counsel is my prayer morning, night, and noon and return you back in safety. Will Elder Waggoner come with you?
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 25)
Much love to you all, children—Edson, Emma, Willie.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 26)
Mother.
I want you, Willie, to put in the hands of Marian the means that she needs. I want her to find rest in some way. She must have it, and I lay my commands on Marian to rest. If she can find it in Battle Creek, all right. If not, let her go to some place. If she does not, and you do not think it best for her to come here, I want her to rest. She is of great value to me in my work, and I want her to have means that she will feel free to rest and only do my work for which I will pay her well.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 27)
Tell her I have just one minute ago read the letters in which she has specified the improvements to be made in articles for Volume 1. I thank her. Tell her that she has a point about Zedekiah’s having his eyes put out. That needs to be more carefully worded—also the rock, when the water flowed—something in reference to this. I think I can make the articles specified more full; and as I am famous for moralizing, this will be no cross. Tell her to write to me, as I prize her letters as if she were my own child. I will write to her when I am more rested.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 28)
Mary and Sarah are full of business. Kristine is good, tender; so tender and kind and motherly to Ella. I think her a treasure. We feel that without you something is wanting.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 29)
Well, my dear Willie and Edson and Emma, let us draw very nigh to God. Let us live daily as we would wish we had lived when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, and when every one will be rewarded according to his works. I am not cast down nor discouraged, but I feel weighed down as a cart beneath sheaves. We have had several days of beautiful weather. It has commenced raining this afternoon. Tell Mary to find me some histories of the Bible that would give me the order of events. I have nothing and can find nothing in the library here.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 30)
It is getting dark, and I am resolved not to use my eyes or brain by candlelight. Well, may the Lord direct in all things—you and us here. Will you see if Aunt Mary is comfortable? Make her a present for me of ten dollars if you think her needy, but do not let my Marian go pinched. If she needs clothing, just get it for her. Make her a New Year’s present for me. She has pinched and cramped herself in many ways, dear, precious child. I love her much.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 31)
The Lord is good. Praise His holy name. Ella is well and happy. She is a real good little girl. What do you think of my purchasing a horse and carriage? I must do something of the kind for my health. I have had considerable lameness with my hip, and I dare not tax it greatly and walk much. I think of my home and horse and carriage and wish I could enjoy them, but then I am not disposed to cut short my stay here in any wise for these things. I want to spend some time in England in the most favorable season of the year, when there is the least fog.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 32)
We expect a letter every day from you. I hope it will come, for we want to hear from you. Brother Kellogg left here last Sunday night for London on his way to Christiania. I tell you, I felt sorry to have him go. He expects to meet you in Christiania.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 33)
Mother.
I cannot go through this. I have been interrupted so many times and I am too tired to correct my mistakes.
(4LtMs, Lt 38, 1885, 34)
Lt 39, 1885
White, W. C. Basel, Switzerland December 30, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Son Willie:
We are having quite a snowstorm, not the first, however. There came about three inches of snow about one week ago, and it has not been warm enough to remove the first snow. Now we will have, I think, good sleighing for New Year’s. It has looked very nice to see the Common all covered with beautiful white snow. The trees surrounding the Common and the bridge were pure white as if crystallized. This beautiful sight remained all through the day.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 1)
I have not been able to accomplish much for nearly two weeks. I was exhausted, but I am gathering up my forces again, feeling a little stronger. Mary has prepared two articles from a private letter written to Brother [Vocher] who was paying attention to Brother Vuilleumier’s daughter. He knew her parents were opposed to this match, but he continued his attentions just the same and was determined to drive the matter through at all hazards, but left it to be decided by Sister White. Well, this letter was written to him. Elder Bourdeau at Geneva is translating it. I think it excellent matter, and it should go into the Review. I have now an article on the observance of the Sabbath which I shall have put in the Review, for it is greatly needed. A portion of that given to Brother Hansen composes part of the article. I write some every day, but cannot write long at a time.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 2)
I expect this letter will reach you before you start for Europe. I wish you to see just how my account stands at the office. I thought I would purchase me a horse, but I think not best to lay out money now for horse and carriage; if we go back in May, and I spend some time in England, it will not be best.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 3)
Things seem to moving along here very smoothly. We are comfortably situated. I could not myself be more pleasantly and comfortably situated, but the coils do not keep more than warm on our side of the house. Were it not for this tile stove, which is a treasure, I should not be comfortable.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 4)
Edith is not. She was buried last Sabbath.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 5)
I have no particular news to write to you. I fear we shall not have your company here before the first of February. I wish you to bring on, if you can, a bottle of bay rum. I cannot get it here. Dr. Kellogg gave me a small bottle of something called Menther, I think it was, to rub on the head to relieve the headache. If you ask him, he will tell you what it is. It is quite fiery, causes a burning sensation on the skin. I feel anxious to do all I can, but dare not go into meetings at present. I keep away from everything that will call me out to labor, for I have overdone. I am nervous. I do not believe that there is any place where I can find rest. But I am gathering up my vital forces again and will be able, I hope, to do considerable writing yet. I have written several pages today, about ten, and am some tired.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 6)
January 1, 1886
Since writing this I have written about thirty pages and corrected two discourses. I was real sick yesterday, but am much better today. Had a dream of real interest to me last night. I want it a little more distinct before I write it. It was for myself, for my encouragement.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 7)
January 1, 1886
Dear Willie: I did mean to get this off last Wednesday, but did not succeed. We are doing all we can to get something before the people to act upon. I have not dared to go into any of their meetings, for I am afraid to be aroused to expend my strength. I need all the vital force I can get now.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 8)
It is a beautiful morning, snowed some yesterday. The weather has been quite cold here, and bracing. Elder Whitney said he was going to write to you. I suppose he has done so. He received a letter from two who have embraced the truth in France. This has encouraged Brother Whitney. Elder D. T. Bourdeau has been much encouraged by two, worth some property, embracing the truth in Geneva. Brother Ertzenberger is doing a good work. He attended Sister Kelly’s funeral. I wanted to see him, but dared not tax myself with an interview. I am better now, though I have to hold myself in with bit and with bridle, for my soul is full of the truth. It is like fire shut up in my bones. I know we must reach a higher standard than we have yet attained, and how I long to have greater power to reach the people.
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 9)
God is our strength. I know many of our workers have tried to labor in their own strength. I know that the converting power of God must be felt in their hearts, or they will utterly fail of the grace of God. Truth will triumph, but who of us will triumph with the truth?
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 10)
Will you tell Emma to inquire if she can get me clover, that I may have it here?
(4LtMs, Lt 39, 1885, 11)
Lt 40, 1885
Davis, Marian Rome, New York July 30, 1885 Previously unpublished. Dear Sister Marian:
We stepped from the cars about one hour ago; found Brother Wilbur Whitney and his wife waiting for us. A hack took us to his home, where we are now waiting dinner. I have endured the journey much better than I feared. It has been fearfully hot in Battle Creek, and it must result in considerable sickness.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 1)
We arrived in Battle Creek Monday night. Your father was waiting at depot to see you, but I am glad you did not come. The journey would have prostrated you. The Lord has sustained me; I can never doubt this. Tuesday your brother’s wife was buried, and I am glad you were spared this.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 2)
I do not think it best myself for you to carry out your plans of going to school. You have already accomplished more in fitting up my writings than you will ever do again. You have done this work satisfactorily, and I have perfect satisfaction. My only burden is your continual complaints and your depreciating your own ability. This burdens me. If you would go cheerfully forward, doing the best you can, then trust fully in the Lord, you would do well. If you would cease worrying and fretting and complaining of yourself, and just act yourself, I should be a happy woman. I cannot see one ray of light in your plans of attending school. But if you will not be satisfied, then you must do it, and I will be reconciled.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 3)
Why are there no pieces sent for the Review? It troubles me. You or Eliza ought to have an article every week.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 4)
I understand your brother anticipated your coming to take care of his little girl. Now, Marian, if you come East, I shall fear that you will do some such thing as this. God does not mark out your duty in this line, and I hope you will carry on the work of mine you have commenced on.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 5)
Well, Marian, I have done through the grace of God much work since I came East in writing and in speaking, and today am much better every way than when I left home. Write to me, my sister. In love.
(4LtMs, Lt 40, 1885, 6)