Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 1 (1844 - 1868)

Lt 9, 1861

Glover, Brother and Sister

Battle Creek, Michigan

October 12, 1861

Portions of this letter are published in TDG 294.

Dear Brother and Sister Glover:

I have been trying since I came home to find opportunity to write you, but the sickness of Edson, and the conference, have not left me time to write. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 1

While at Roosevelt the cases of quite a number of individuals were presented before me—your family and Lee and Cynthia, among others. There is still a great lack. There has not been that reform which God requires. The instructions given through vision have not been regarded. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 2

The instructions given to Eli and Cynthia were too plain to be misunderstood; also the instructions given to Lee. Sister Glover, you have taken a course to destroy the force of them. The counsel given required a great change in the individuals mentioned, but the light God has given has been esteemed very lightly, if at all heeded. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 3

God will not be trifled with. Neither Lee nor Cynthia nor Eli can be Christ’s followers unless they imitate the Pattern and walk as He walked. They have failed to understand what constitutes a Christian, and if they follow on in the same course they will continue under a perfect deception. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 4

I was shown, dear Sister Glover, that you were not clear in this matter. Your views of what Christ requires of us as His followers are not correct or according to His Word. In your view the cross would be left out of the Christian path. The standard of piety in your family should be elevated. In the last vision given I was shown that you were anxious that your children should have as much religion as will render them agreeable to all without incurring the censure of any. The restraining influence of the Spirit of God has affected them but little. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 5

Again the life of Christ was presented—His self-denial and sacrifice to purchase redemption for us. When we profess to be servants of Christ we should no longer serve the world, and should not have union or fellowship with those who reject the truths which we deem sacred. I was pointed to (1 John 2:6): “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” (John 15:4, 5): “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 6

In the vision given about one year ago I was shown the necessity of your family dealing faithfully and truly with their own souls, for I saw danger of deception in these days of peril. You cannot measure yourselves by the world or by the opinions of others. Your only safety is to compare your position with what it would have been had your course been continually onward and upward since you professed to be Christ’s followers. Your moral character is passing in review before God. You are weighed in the balance of the sanctuary and if your spirituality does not correspond with the benefits and privileges conferred upon you, you are found wanting. Your path should have been growing brighter and brighter, and you bringing forth much fruit to the glory of God. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 7

You are wanting, yet rest as unconcerned and well satisfied as though the cloud went before you by day and the pillar of fire by night as tokens of God’s favor. You reckon yourselves among the chosen, peculiar people of God and yet have no manifestations or evidences of the power of God to save to the uttermost. You have not separated from the world as God requires His people to be separate. Sister Glover, there is a continual effort on your part to lessen the distance between your children and the world and to destroy the marks of peculiarity between them and the world. As you have been doing this, the distance between you and God has widened. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 8

The people of God are in constant warfare to maintain their peculiar and holy character, and under no condition or circumstance is the cross of Christ to be shunned or laid aside. I saw that it was a heavy and galling cross for Lee and Cynthia to do religious duties, belonging to the service of Christ, before unbelievers, especially relatives. Why this backwardness? Why this shunning of the cross? Why this acting or appearing before unbelievers as though they had never named the name of Christ? Why are their lips sealed to the wondrous change wrought in them by the Holy Spirit (if this change has been wrought)? Why this concealing the signs of their being loyal subjects of Prince Immanuel? Why appear like the enemy’s subjects? Why talk and act like them? 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 9

I saw that it was a shame to profess the sacred, holy, separating truths we profess and yet entirely fail to act them out. Our daily business here is to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. The warfare and the cross are as necessary and certain as the victory. God is the refuge and support of them that trust in Him. He will give grace for grace to them that fear Him and walk in the truth, and He will most assuredly take away His Spirit and blessing from those who love the amusement of, and do not separate themselves from, the world. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 10

Mercy and truth are promised to the humble and penitent, and judgments are prepared for the rebellious. You are too much united in fellowship and affection with the enemies of holiness. You are more willing to depart from the favor of God than to come out and be separate from the friendship and customs of the world. God’s Word requires us to come out from the world and be separate. He leads His people in a very humble, cross-bearing way. He will sift His people even as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the ground. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 11

Lee and Cynthia have been faithfully warned, yet they have not made that change which God requires them to make. They lack spirituality. The truth has not had that sanctifying influence upon them that it must have. They do not live their faith. When the enemies of our faith are within their influence, instead of bearing fruit and exerting a holy influence, they condescend to the worldling, do as they do, talk as they talk, laugh and jest with them. Says the True Witness, “I know thy works.” [Revelation 3:15.] Just exactly the influence you exert, Lee and Cynthia, before unbelievers, you will meet again. It is all recorded. It is written in the book. If you have not faithfully warned those with whom you have associated, and then in addition lived your faith before them as faithful believers of the truth, you have not borne fruit to God’s glory and it is noted against you. You are classed as stumbling blocks and unfaithful professors. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 12

You have all thought Brother and Sister Byington too strenuous, and Sister Glover, you have labored to pull the other way, and you have not felt right, spoken right, or exerted a right influence. The Word of God is plain. Follow that closely and it will lead you all from the spirit and influence of the world, much farther than you now are. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 13

Is our sacred, holy faith something that can be taken up or laid aside as convenient? No, it requires effort and moral courage to live out our faith and carry out the living principles. When before the worldlings or unbelievers, Lee and Cynthia, your words and actions should have that elevated, noble character which distinguishes the true followers of Jesus Christ. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 14

Lee, a great work must be accomplished for you. Unless your life is more becoming a follower of Christ, unless it is marked with more sobriety, seriousness, and more solemnity, God will give you sorrow and mourning instead of peace and prosperity and gladness. Lee and Cynthia must form characters for themselves or they will certainly fail of everlasting life. God will look with perfect indifference upon all who are halfhearted in the work. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 15

Sister Glover, you do not feel right. You have not given Lee and Cynthia right instruction. Your influence has had a tendency to link them to the world, and yet you wish them to be united to Jesus Christ. This you cannot do. If they love God they cannot love the world. There is no danger of their being too separate from the world or of their serving God too faithfully; but there is the greatest danger of their efforts for everlasting life being so feeble that they will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 16

Everlasting life is worth a lifelong, persevering, untiring effort. Unless we strive to enter in at the strait gate we shall remain this side. “Strive to enter in at the straight gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13:24. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 17

God wants to bring you all up, to purify and refine you, but you have something to do yourselves. Cynthia, you have looked more to Sister Glover than to God. You must obtain an experience yourselves. Stand out free. You have an individual responsibility. Sister Glover, God wants you to come nearer to Him, to be led and guided by Him. Put away your unbelief and doubts and seek for salvation. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 18

In love. 1LtMs, Lt 9, 1861, par. 19