The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

Lt 7, 1859

September 24, 1859, Topsham, Maine 1EGWLM 710.1

Letter to
William Henry, Bruce, and Andrew Graham.¹ 1EGWLM 710.2

Previously unpublished.

Tragic consequences of a distorted Laodicean message in Connecticut. 1EGWLM 710.3

Dear Brethren Graham:

Duty compels me to write you a few lines. While my husband is talking to the people I have shut myself in my bedroom to write you. 1EGWLM 710.4

While at Dartmouth, Mass.,² the state of things in Connecticut was shown me in vision and I feel heartsick as I write. I saw that the Lord had not been in the strange work you have had there. Oh, no. An enemy's hand has been working there. I saw that you had run into a fanatical spirit and carried things to great lengths. 1EGWLM 710.5

I was carried through some of your meetings. Some were burdened, crying out in distress. I heard shrieks, and I saw a pressing of individuals to confess. I saw that a fear came over the church, fearing to speak to this one or the other who had been reproved or held in doubt by these exercises and burdens. It was a cruel work. God's frown³ is upon it. The enemy meant to carry out his object and drive to utter distraction and confusion.⁴ 1EGWLM 710.6

I saw the case of Sister Graham [Catharine Graham],⁵ your mother. The Lord loves her, yet she has been held off and thrust with side and with shoulder.⁶ I saw that she was rather slow to bear her whole weight upon the truth, does not see it in all its importance, yet she will if a right course is pursued towards her. She loves the truth; she sees it is clear, but the state of the church would hold her in uncertainty and doubt and lead her to inquire, Have we not been deceived? The Lord loves Sister Graham, and if she follows on to know the Lord, she will know His goings forth are prepared as the morning. 1EGWLM 711.1

I was pointed to the case of Brother Landon [Warren E. Landon].⁷ He has a work to do to overcome lightness, jesting, and joking, which are not convenient for a growth in grace and knowledge of the truth. He must settle into the truth and seek to realize its vital importance. The feelings toward Brother Landon have been wrong. The fear over the church in his case has not been of God. Brother and Sister Landon [Mary F. Landon] must be united and have a decision and firmness in the government of their children, restrain and subdue their passions with decision. 1EGWLM 711.2

I saw the case of Sister Mary North and Brother Wilcox [Mary S. and John Y. Wilcox].⁸ I saw that they have been pressed, crowded, and Mary has been crushed. Their attachment was not judicious, and Mary was overanxious; yet the pressing and urging to confess was not of God. Things were confessed that God was not in. They forced their minds to find something and confessed that which God did not require. And then the fear of Sister Mary, the treatment she received—think ye it was pleasing to God? Nay, verily. His eye has noticed it all, His frown is upon it. God loves Sister Mary and will have a care for her. The oil and the wine have been hurt.⁹ God has a care for Brother John and will lead him. He must move cautiously. There has been so much confusion in the church that he is in danger of taking false steps, that is, of not considering carefully enough and pondering the path of his feet. 1EGWLM 711.3

I was shown Sister Lyman,¹⁰ that the Lord has never yet said to His angels, Let her alone.¹¹ Oh, no. His care is over her still. His eye is upon her. Here again was an impression, an exercise not of God. 1EGWLM 712.1

Then I saw the case of Brother Moore.¹² He was in darkness, not standing in the light of truth, [not] feeling its weight and importance. Yet God has not left him. It has not yet been said to the angel, Let him alone. God's eye is upon him and He has a message that will take hold of him. But Satan steps in to destroy Brother Moore and drive him off where this message cannot reach him. God was not in that work. The church was not standing in a position where they could move understandingly in his case and carry out the mind of Christ. 1EGWLM 712.2

Other things I saw; others have felt this same distressed, crowding influence. Exercises and burdens have been carried out that led to fanaticism and confusion. I saw that Brother Barr [Eli L. Barr]¹³ has not been standing in the counsel of God. He has had a wrong spirit, has followed impressions and feeling. It has led him astray. I saw that he was more to be blamed in Connecticut than the church there. He, a servant of Jesus Christ, should be ready to correct these wrong influences in the church, but he gave support to them instead of correcting them, and I saw that he had better have been working with his hands than exerting this wrong influence in the church.¹⁴ 1EGWLM 712.3

In haste. 1EGWLM 713.1