Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 112, 1899

Lindsay, Brother and Sister

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

August 8, 1899

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother and Sister Lindsay:

I received your kind letter and was glad to hear from you, and to learn that you were entrusted with responsibilities. Give yourself wholly to the Lord. Recover, if possible, that which you have lost. Redeem the time, I beseech of you, in the name of the One who gave His life for you. 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 1

“It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” [1 Corinthians 4:2.] I have a warning for you. You are occupying a position of trust and honor. All you possess, in influence and capability and knowledge, comes from God and is to be returned to Him again. You are trading on your Lord’s goods. All that you are handling, all that I am handling, is the Lord’s, to be put out to the exchangers for the advancement of His cause, that souls may be saved to Christ. The work devolving on you is to be done intelligently. The Lord’s goods must not be tied up in business, but be used in bringing souls into the truth. Your talents must be increased that the truth may go to places that have never heard the third angel’s message. 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 2

I give you the note of warning: Be on guard. Improve your talents for the Master as faithfully as you would if you were to reap all the benefits for yourself, for if you are faithful it will all be yours. Identify yourself with your Redeemer, and He will identify Himself with you. In word and spirit and deed you are to be an example of the truth. You are to manifest an unselfish interest in the Master’s property that it may accumulate and spread the knowledge of the truth. This Christ has done for us, and He requires that now, while the way is open, advance moves shall be made in lifting the standard of truth in new places. 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 3

The Lord has a work for every soul to do in advancing His kingdom in the world. Yours, my brother, is to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” [1 Peter 3:15.] This epistle is addressed to the believing ones who are scattered abroad. To the “strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” Peter says, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 4

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [1 Peter 1:1-5.] 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 5

This hope in every way differs from the hope that arises in the natural heart. It is a living hope. The apostle of Jesus Christ presents a guarantee of its fulfillment. When the new life enters the soul, a quickening power takes possession of the whole man through faith in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Here is the assurance. We are quickened together with Christ. 14LtMs, Lt 112, 1899, par. 6