Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 8 (1893)

Lt 126, 1893

Brother

1893

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother ______:

The Lord sent you a call to partake of a rich banquet. The bells of heaven were ringing out the blessed invitation, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink,” etc. [John 7:37.] Mark 1:13, 34-45. The Lord Jesus is working to save. Read and receive the instruction given. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 1

While at the meeting my soul was yearning after Brother ______ and Sister _____, that they would have ears to hear and hearts to perceive the words of life and feel their vitalizing power. But I was sad to be compelled to acknowledge that the heavenly feast was not enjoyed by you. While the words of life were sounding in your ears and the seed of truth was being sown, it was, as far as you two were concerned, falling on the dry ground of a preoccupied heart. The tares left no chance for the wheat to take root. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 2

The duties of church members are those of active responsibility. Every one at his baptism has pledged himself as a gospel worker, each according to his several ability. You are to consider you are not to remain indolent in spiritual labor. You are to improve in character, in qualification, in accordance with the Word of God. Christ says, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Matthew 12:30. These lead others to be do-nothings in the work and cause of God. Every one whose name is on the church books is to feel he is in service, a worker together with God. He is to bind his interests up with his Master’s interest, to go to work for Christ, together with Him to exalt the salvation of God in its highest attainable sense. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 3

Break the bonds of spiritual indolence that bind your soul and body. God would have you sowing the seeds of truth in someone’s mind. You will not understand by experience the necessities of souls ready to die. You are to be helpers together with God. God calls, “Go, work today in My vineyard.” [Matthew 21:28.] There is hard work to be done. Be faithful workers. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 4

All must search the Scriptures to know the instruction given therein and have a treasurehouse of knowledge. If you ask the Lord to open your understanding that you may understand His Word, your prayer will be heard. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 5

I would that every soul could discern the voice of the True Shepherd from the voice of the tempter. If we would know God, we must behold Him by study and contemplation of His truth. God has loved us and given His only begotten Son to die for us, that we should not perish. Will you recount His mercies? Can you do this? The Lord is soon coming. Brother _____, there is a world, God’s heritage, to be saved. What are you doing that they may become the precious plants in the garden of God? Turn your attention to this work. God has lifted up Jesus to your view that you shall behold Him in His matchless loveliness, admire Him, and sense the great sacrifice He has made that you should be saved. Oh, you do not sense this, else every power of mind and body would be consecrated to Him. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 6

No human eye discerns when the soul bows to its idols and places itself in the ranks of the Lord’s enemies. God hath loved us; He requires our entire obedience that we may be accepted in the Beloved to walk not in the ways of the world, not in the path of self-righteousness, not in the path of selfish indulgence. The way we should choose is a way of holiness and it is cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 7

My brother, Christ is doing everything for you. What are you doing for Jesus? Christ says to you, “Brother, Sister, can you leave all to follow Me?” Will you call a halt just where you are and put the question to your own soul, Is my life all that Christ would be pleased to have it? Is it after the divine Model? Is it answering His expectations when He called me to follow Him? Do I live in the light of His countenance? Have I not testified in my business of plant culture that my plants have been treated as if they had souls while I have neglected my own soul culture and therefore have failed to grow as a fruitful branch of the Living Vine? 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 8

All who grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ will live in daily, hourly communion with God through Christ. His name, His praise will be first in our mind, just in proportion as we shall realize that our sustenance must come from the Source of all strength, of all knowledge, of all power. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 9

You have a soul to save or to lose. If the time and delight you expend to develop a plant or a shrub were given to the saving of souls ready to perish, your own soul would be saved in the kingdom of God, and you would have the pleasure of seeing saved from death the precious soul plants that you have watered carefully and cultured by words and by close, interested efforts to pull them out of the fire of moral pollution. God help you, my brother, to learn lessons from your plant culture how to save precious souls that will perish in their sins if some one’s helping hand is not stretched out to save them. 8LtMs, Lt 126, 1893, par. 10