Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 1 (1844 - 1868)

Lt 10, 1866

Gargett, Sister

1866

Previously unpublished.

Sister Gargett:

You have professed to believe the truth but your heart has not been sanctified through the truth. Your heart has been proud. You have been in friendship with the world and at enmity with God. You have not complied with the conditions in the Word of God. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate; ... and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” [2 Corinthians 6:17, 18.] Pride is an abomination in the sight of God. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. 1LtMs, Lt 10, 1866, par. 1

I was shown the case of Mr. Hurlbert. He has occupied the place in your affections which was due your husband. Your husband has been unsuspecting, having unlimited confidence in you. His confidence has been misplaced. Mr. Hurlbert has been his greatest enemy. He has come between you and your husband. You have confided to him your troubles. You have received his sympathy, which has led you farther and farther from your husband. Your intimacy with Mr. Hurlbert, the attention he has given you, have been such as are only warranted to be received from your husband. Satan has worked through this man to break up the family relation. Could he have accomplished this entirely he would have exulted. The happiness of both would have been at an end. God is acquainted with his purposes. Angels have recorded your conversations. You have loved this man Hurlbert, while he has been an agent of Satan to poison the happiness of you both. Your sin, Sister Gargett, has been more grievous in the sight of God than that of your husband. Satan would have separated you. This was his purpose. Yet you were not prepared to sever entirely the link which has united you. Your intimacy with Mr. Hurlbert and the attention you have received from him have been an injury to you, an injury to your husband, and a reproach to the cause of God. You, Sister Gargett, do not see yourself as Heaven sees you. When you realize the great work that you must resolutely lay hold of in order to be sanctified through the truth, you will return unto the Lord with hearty repentance and confessions and be converted that He may heal you. 1LtMs, Lt 10, 1866, par. 2

God would have you both, Brother and Sister Gargett, confess your sins, make thorough work for repentance. Have faith, Sister Gargett, in your husband. Give to him that confidence you have withdrawn. For Christ’s sake, forgive as freely as Christ has forgiven you. You have not realized that your husband needs to forgive you. God would have you renew your covenant to Him and to one another. Confess, forsake, and bury the past and commence anew. 1LtMs, Lt 10, 1866, par. 3

We are now doing up work for the judgment. It is the work that is resting upon us to set our house in order. Separate from the world. Be not conformed to it. Your life must be in conformity to your profession. Sister Gargett, you have not yet been sanctified through the truth you profess. You need a thorough conversion to the truth. You were shown me as conformed to the world instead of being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 1LtMs, Lt 10, 1866, par. 4

The work of overcoming may look to you severe; the afflictions which you must cheerfully submit to suffer for Christ’s sake may seem trying; but Christ is your Example. You can both say, we will give all for Christ. Let this be your motto: I can do all things which are required of me through Christ who strengtheneth me. Nothing will be required which is beyond your strength and capacity. 1LtMs, Lt 10, 1866, par. 5