Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 11 (1896)

Lt 55, 1896

Kellogg, Brother and Sister [J. H.]

Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia

November 14, 1896

Portions of this letter are published in 1MR 146-150.

Dear Brother and Sister Kellogg:

Our second conference meeting has just been held in New South Wales, and the blessing of the Lord rested upon those assembled. Many more came together than we supposed would come. The churches have all been represented. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 1

We were rejoiced to see Brother Radley at this meeting. He came on Sunday, and remained until the meeting closed, Wednesday. We have felt great anxiety for him. His wife embraced the truth first, and he came along more slowly. He was very cautious in regard to committing himself. We visited him, and saw that he was a man of few words, and seldom attended our meetings. I talked with him personally in regard to his responsibilities as a husband and father. He has two boys, little lads, and three girls. All are interesting, and at an age when they need the leading and guiding of a father. The mother has done the best she could. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 2

We held meetings at Brother Radley’s house, but he manifested so little interest in them that they were discontinued. His heart was not inclined to fully accept the faith. But I talked with him as though he were fully with us, presenting before him his responsibilities for his neighbors. I said, “You have the light of truth, and you have a work to do to enlighten others. You love to read. Study, then, for time and for eternity. The time which any of us have to work is short. We must act our part in the service of God.” I told him what he could do to advance the knowledge of the truth. He assented to it all by a mere response. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 3

This was in 1894. Brother Starr was with me. After we left he said, “I was surprised to hear you talk to him as though he were fully with us. If he himself does not work on the Sabbath, his hired help works.” I answered, “I talked to him just in the right way. I presented to him his high obligations to God in point of influence, laying the matter before him as one who should stand in the gap and make up the hedge, and raise the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to its exalted standard.” 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 4

He felt himself far from deserving the confidence I placed in him. We prayed with the family, and had the precious blessing of the Lord. Thus from time to time we visited him, and he always treated us courteously, but did not fully identify himself with us. Yet I always talked with him as one who knew and loved the truth, always laying out plans with him whereby he might be a laborer together with God. I told him that our responsibility and accountability to God was the strongest and most powerful of all motives that should lead us to obtain the very best kind of knowledge, the highest education. If he gained this, he could help other minds with a force proportionate to his intelligence and his religious devotion, and be a bright and shining light to his neighborhood. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 5

I said to him, “Brother Radley, the Lord wants you to co-operate with Him. You have a large orange, lemon, and peach orchard, and other fruit. You are giving these time and attention, that they may bear fruit, and not disappoint you. Well, you are God’s husbandry; you are God’s building, and He looks to you to be His human agent, through whom He can communicate truth to others. He will use you, through the strongest principles of your mental and moral capabilities, to reach other minds. At this period of your life, while your mind is yet vigorous and susceptible to the influence of His grace, God calls for you. Any selfish influence to which you give your mind will soon contract the intellect and harden the heart.” 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 6

I begged him to improve his talents. I asked him if he had Patriarchs and Prophets and Great Controversy. He said no, but that they were in the library, and he was intending to get them, and read them. Then I remarked that I had never yet seen them on his table. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 7

He lived eleven miles from Granville, and I seldom saw him at meeting in the little church at Castle Hill, which was about seven miles from where he lived. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 8

One night the Lord gave me a message for him, and I arose at midnight and wrote out page after page. I knew the Lord was calling for him. I sent the message to him, to be read to him and his neighbor, Brother Whiteman, who was in a similar position, tempted and allured away from the truth. Brother McCullagh, I think it was, read the matter to him, and he said, “Why did she write such a communication to me? I am not a believer. I do not want to separate from my neighbors. I cannot displease those with whom I have lived for twenty years.” (I think it was.) 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 9

I told Brother McCullagh to leave the message with him. His case was again urged upon me. I said, “What can I do more, Lord; he will not receive the light. What can I do?” I was directed to do one thing more—to place my books in his hand as a gift, first, Steps to Christ, then Patriarchs and Prophets, then Great Controversy. I did this, and he read Patriarchs and Prophets through three times, and said that he could not find one sentence in it to criticize. It was all just as it should be. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 10

When I placed Great Controversy in his hands, he objected to taking it, saying that there was one in the library that he could get. I said, “Never mind. I want to place this in your family as your very own, that it may be a blessing to you, and to your children. The Lord has given me light, and I mean that all shall have that light, if possible.” He accepted the gift. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 11

I had been shown that we become too easily discouraged over the souls who do not seem to take hold at once. But those who minister must not fail nor be discouraged. Christian motives demand us to act with a steady purpose, and undying interest, and an ever increasing importunity for the souls whom Satan is seeking to destroy. No disappointment, no outward appearance, can chill the earnest, yearning energy for the salvation of others. The Holy Spirit’s efficacy will co-operate with human effort, and that love flows forth upon the soul for whom Christ has died with an inexhaustible interest, for we have an inexhaustible source upon which to depend. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 12

I have given Brother Radley Christian Education, and Christian Temperance. I have sent to Battle Creek and ordered the Review, Sabbath School Worker, Sentinel, and Youth’s Instructor, to be sent to Brethren Radley, Whiteman, and Thomson, and asked to have this charged to me. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 13

It would be difficult for a mind to continue in resistance to all these efforts, and O how happy I am to state that Brother Radley has come out, decided, firm, and true. He is now one of the leaders in the Castle Hill Church, and is growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He enjoys the meetings. His heart, I believe, is warming to the enterprise of building up the work. With all his powers of soul and influence, he gladly co-operates in this great work of highest importance. We now expect that benevolence, and an earnest desire to do good to other souls, will take the place of worldliness and narrow selfishness. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 14

As the love of God enlists all the energies and the stability of Christian principles on the side of unselfish, persevering work for the Master, Brother Radley will be an instrument in the hands of God for saving the souls of his children, and filing them under the bloodstained banner of Prince Immanuel. And their influence will extend beyond his own family to his neighbors. As he works, God will work with him, and furnish his soul with more than human efficiency. The mind will become inventive, vigilant, and a power to win others. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 15

I have placed this case before you in full, in order that you may know the manner in which I have worked. This we have done in many cases, with the best results. We have kept reading matter before those who are unsettled. Yet temptations are so strong that they will not yield to truth. Brother Radley has a large orchard, which is profitable to him. In this section of the country there is no one believing the truth who is so well situated as Brother Radley. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 16

I have been giving reading matter to the postmaster in Cooranbong. In the absence of the minister he takes his place. During the Institute we held last April, he was convicted of the truth; but a minister who seems to be a second Canright came in with all his false statements and theories, and created such a state of things that those who had been interested, turned their ears from truth to fables. I have also given the station master Great Controversy, and some books for his children, and have supplied other families with books and papers. This reading matter may do them good sometime. The light must be introduced into families by reading matter if we cannot get them to come and hear. I am glad to say that as a result of our labors in Cooranbong and vicinity, several families are now keeping the Sabbath. We hope to do more visiting when we return home. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 17

There has been a decided interest manifested at the conference we have just held. The question of a Health Home has been up, and many questions were asked. We tried to lay the matter before them in its true light. I was glad to have it presented, as I had considerable to say on the subject. Difficulties present themselves. We would be so much pleased if Brother and Sister Caro were calculated to move economically. But from that which has been revealed to me, Brother Caro has hereditary tendencies to extravagant expenditure of means. He does not look upon it in this light. But I have worked with all the powers that the Lord has given me to counteract the tendencies to indulgence in selfish ideas to use up money, as we see is done in this country, so that those who embrace the truth shall be converted on this point. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 18

Many are learning, by precept and example given them, to be careful, to study how to limit their wants, and to be missionaries in every sense of the word. But it is a difficult lesson for them to practice. The necessity to keep up appearances is urged, and I know this has swallowed up means which the Lord would have used in advancing different lines of the work. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 19

The students sent from New Zealand have had the idea that they must have money in order to be gentlemen. But had they studied deeper, they would have seen that the things which they desired would not make them Christian gentlemen. Christ was a gentleman after the divine order. He was a missionary of the highest type; He was also the greatest teacher the world ever knew in the higher education. After working a miracle to feed five thousand, besides women and children, with five loaves and two small fishes; after all wants were abundantly supplied, He said, “Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” [John 6:12.] The gathering up the fragments are lessons that all who follow Christ must learn. He is the express image of His Father’s person. We are estimated by the value of our perfect obedience to the Word. Those who feel poor in spirit are rich in value with God. Those who work in new fields must have the spirit of self-sacrifice. There must be a daily consecration of soul, body, and spirit to God. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 20

I submit this to you because it is right that you should understand how we are situated. We want a physician very much indeed. But if we should say to those who have not learned the lessons of economy, “Come right along, and we will find a place for you,” and then see debts accumulating, who will be the one who will have to carry the load, the censure? It will be the one who has charge of the conference. By allowing debts to accumulate, he may destroy his usefulness. It may be that after having learned in the school of Christ, Brother Caro and his wife will be willing to wear the yoke of Christ, and to receive His teaching, to be meek and lowly in heart. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 21

We must take the people where they are. We must be an example to them of how to dress, how to be temperate in their eating and in all their practices, lest those who are lame and feeble in their experience shall be turned out of the way. Many souls have educated themselves to want to make a show. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 22

I work hard, and more hours than many would work, but I bind about my wants. I will not let intemperate tastes lead me to needlessly expend the Lord’s money. Some stand ready to murmur at every demand upon them; they refuse to deny self for Christ’s sake. They dispute every inch of ground that conscience and the Word of God compels them to take in advance, and they stand on a line of worldly self-gratification and selfish indulgence that puts their salvation in constant jeopardy. They are professors, but they do not come out from the world to be separate, or acknowledge themselves as the property of Jesus Christ. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 23

We do not dare to encourage anyone to come to our help who will confirm the intemperate desires of the people. We are living now where all classes are taking sides, and it is the most solemn, awful moment of this earth’s history. Not a soul will stand in the great day of trial just before us whose whole life has been made up of self-pleasing, who has made smooth and easy places for themselves. I point all such to the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, who laid aside His kingly crown, His royal robe, and stepped down from His exalted throne, clothed His divinity with humanity, and for our sake became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. All we plead is that Christ is our example in all things. He is the One in whom our eternal interests are centered. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 24

Christ condescended to take human nature that He might walk with us, that in associating with humanity, we might receive the glory (character) that God gave Him. The very poorest one on earth who will deny self, lift the cross, and come after Him may receive His glory. If they do not follow Him in the transformation of the entire being, how can they follow Him in the regeneration? How can they receive the moral image of God and see His face? 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 25

In these hours of probation, we are deciding our future eternal destiny. We have opportunity furnished us to cultivate earnest, refined piety, and unreserved self-sacrifice, because nothing less than this will make us complete in the similitude of Christ’s image, and constitute us the lights of the world. We are honored with the privilege of becoming co-partners with Jesus Christ in the great firm of heaven, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus, anointed with the Anointed One, ministers appointed to hold forth the Word of life for the salvation of a perishing world. We are to bind up all our interests with Christ’s interests. We are to unite with Him in order to obtain qualifications requisite for the fulfillment of our appointed mission. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 26

We are counselled that we are to do all things without murmurings, that we may be “harmless,” without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we are to shine as lights in the world. [Philippians 2:15.] No one else can do this work for us. If we withhold our abilities or talents when God has appointed us to give the light, some souls will be left in darkness through our refusing to shine. We are to hold forth the Word of life. We are required to make known Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 27

The Lord wants each to stand in his allotted place. For our own eternal good, the Lord Jesus depends on us to do our duty. We are to shine in Christian example. It would be far better for sinners never to come into association with professed Christians who have no vital connection with God. They are powerless for good. There are many, many, who are neither cold nor hot. Christ says, “I would that thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” [Revelation 3:15, 16.] 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 28

I have words for the church in Battle Creek, the very heart of the work. If you want to co-operate in the work of saving souls, deny yourself, lift the cross, and follow the footsteps of your Redeemer. The dress of many testify on whose side they re. They are bracing themselves against light and knowledge. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 29

The sons of God represent Him. As children of God they long to uplift Jesus. They long to reveal to a careless world that His recognition of the human agent is an undeserved favor which brings them under the most sacred obligations to devote all their talents to His service, and enter into sacred partnership as workers together with God, doing the same work that Christ came to our world to do. 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 30

We long to witness for Him, to testify our gratitude. We have an intense longing to reveal our Saviour, to show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Against the world’s impenitence, pride, and rejection of Christ, we are to say, by precept and example, that Christ is our only hope; we are to proclaim Him as the Lamb of God who “taketh away the sin of the world.” [John 1:29.] 11LtMs, Lt 55, 1896, par. 31