Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 26, 1900

Hyatt, W. S.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

February 15, 1900

This letter is published in entirety in TSA 85-91.

Dear Brother Hyatt:

I have written some things to Mother Wessels, and I will now write to you. My brother, now is the time to have faith in God. We are trying to do all we can to advance. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 1

In regard to the question of caste and color, nothing would be gained by making a decided distinction, but the Spirit of God would be grieved. We are all supposed to be preparing for the same heaven. We have the same heavenly Father and the same Redeemer, who loved us and gave Himself for us all, without any distinction. We are nearing the close of this earth’s history, and it does not become any child of God to have a proud, haughty heart and turn from any soul who loves God, or to cease to labor for any soul for whom Christ has died. When the love of Christ is cherished in the heart as it should be, when the sweet, subduing spirit of the love of God fills the soul-temple, there will be no caste, no pride of nationality; no difference will be made because of the color of the skin. Each one will help the one who needs tender regard and consolation, of whatever nationality he may be. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 2

Ask yourselves if Christ would make any difference. In assembling His people would He say, Here brother, or, Here sister, your nationality is not Jewish; you are of a different class. Would He say, Those who are dark-skinned may file into the back seats; those of a lighter skin may come up to the front seats? 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 3

In one place the proposition was made that a curtain be drawn between the colored people and the white people. I asked, Would Jesus do that? This grieves the heart of Christ. The color of the skin is no criterion as to the value of the soul. By the mighty cleaver of truth we have all been quarried out from the world. God has taken us, all classes, all nations, all languages, all nationalities, and brought us into His workshop, to be prepared for His temple. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 4

There is a work to be done for every soul. Some are very untidy in person. They need to be guided by the Holy Spirit to prepare for a pure, holy heaven. God declared that when the children of Israel came to the mount to hear the proclamation of the law, they must come with clean bodies and clean clothes. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 5

The truth is refining and elevating, and believers must understand that even though they are poor, they need not be uncleanly in their persons or in their homes. On this line true missionary work is to be done for those who have no sense of what it means to be pure and clean in person and dress. The poor can be taught to undertake this work for themselves. Teach them that those who serve God and keep His commandments must keep their souls pure and clean, and that this purity must extend to their dress, their homes, their cooking utensils, their floors, because the ministering angels from the courts of heaven must have every evidence that the precious truth which has been received into the heart has made a decided reformation in the life. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 6

The Word says, “Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” [Hebrews 10:22.] God gave special directions to Moses in regard to the children of Israel having nothing unsightly or unclean about their dwellings, lest He should pass by and see their uncleanness and be offended, and refuse to go out to cooperate with them in their battles against the enemy. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 7

The armies of heaven are to be the helpers of all who do God’s work, and those who claim to be children of God and to keep His commandments must give evidence to the world that the truth has worked a reformation in their hearts, purifying the soul and refining the ideas and tastes. They must show that they are willing to learn, willing to be advised by Moses, whose instruction came from the Lord. The words spoken to the children of Israel regarding cleanliness are addressed to all who have untidy habits. They are bidden to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The Lord’s eye cannot behold with favor uncleanness of any kind in any family. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 8

The priests who officiated before the Lord in the temple were commanded to remove their shoes before entering, lest some particles of dust should be carried in. They were to wash their feet before approaching God. So careful were they to be in regard to their persons that they were not to ascend to the altar by steps, lest some part of the person should be exposed. All these things were to have the most careful attention. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 9

Educate, educate, educate. Parents who receive the truth are to conform their habits and practices to the directions God has given. The Lord desires all to remember that the service of God is a pure and holy service, and that those who receive the truth must be purified in disposition, in temper, in heart, in conversation, in the dress and in the home, so that the angels of God, unseen by them, shall come in to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 10

All who join the church should reveal a transformation of character which shows their reverence for holy things. Their whole life should be molded after the refinement of Christ Jesus. Those who join the church are to be humble enough to receive instruction on the points wherein they are remiss, and wherein they can and must change. They must exert a Christian influence. Those who make no change in words or deportment, in their dress or in their homes, are living unto themselves and not unto Christ. They have not been created anew in Christ Jesus, unto the purifying of the heart and the outward surroundings. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 11

Christians will be judged by the fruit they bear in reformatory work. Every true Christian will show what the truth of the gospel has done for him. He who has been made a son of God must practice habits of neatness and cleanliness. Every action, however small, has an influence. The Lord desires to make every human being an agency through whom Christ can manifest His Holy Spirit. Christians are in no case to be careless or indifferent in regard to their outward appearance. They are to be neat and trim, though without adornment. They are to be pure inside and out. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 12

We are to act as Christ’s property, His sons and daughters. To all who receive Him He gives power to become His sons and daughters, even to those who believe on His name. They are then newborn souls, translated into the kingdom of God. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14.] The power of God is to work in the character of every one who is born again. We are God’s property, and He wants everyone to be a co-laborer with Him. No one has anything beyond that which God gives him. All that he has, his time, his ability, his strength, given him in trust by God, has been bought with a price. A ransom has been paid which includes every son and daughter of Adam. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 13

The precious blood of Christ has been given to redeem man from earthliness, from sensuality, from all spiritual and physical uncleanness. This is the covenant God has made with His people. They are to be His chosen ones. Those who truly receive Christ will not yield to any other claim, even for a moment, which would strengthen the powers hostile to righteousness and truth. They put on the yoke of Christ, devoting themselves unreservedly to Christ for all time. They are pledged to obey the commandment of God, even should every other member of the human family refuse obedience and become disloyal. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 14

He who receives Christ by faith is a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King, an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. His lot is a part of the cross of Christ. He is bound up with Christ for life and for death in the great plan of redemption. The full and entire renunciation of self that appeared in Christ appears also in him who is consecrated to Christ’s service. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 15

He shows Christlike tenderness by speaking kind, gentle words, words which are full of comfort and hope and love. He is filled with an untold solicitude for human souls. He can say, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” [Galatians 2:20.] He is willing to make any sacrifice to draw lost, perishing souls to the cross of Christ. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 16

Remember that with God there is no caste or nationality, no divisions or parties. Truth never places her delicate feet in a path of uncleanness or impurity. Truth does not bring people down to a low level, but brings all up to a high, exalted level. Truth never makes men or women coarse, or rough, or uncourteous. It takes men in all their sin and commonness, separates them from the world, and refines their tastes, even if they are poor and uneducated. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 17

Under Christ’s discipline a constant work of refinement goes on, sanctifying them through the truth. If they are tempted to exert one particle of influence that would lead away from Christ into the way of the world, in pride or fashion or display, they speak words of resistance that will turn aside the enemy’s power. “I am not my own,” they say, “I am bought with a price. I am a son, a daughter of God.” I cannot possibly give God more than He claims. All is His, by creation and by redemption. Christ has purchased the whole being, mind, soul, strength, and body, and I am to express, in my words, my deportment, my actions, a sense of my obligation to God. I am wholly His. My life is hid with Christ in God, and when He who is my life shall appear, then shall I also appear with Him in glory. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 18

This stand is to be taken and maintained through every hour of Christian experience. Christ’s influence is to be felt in our world through His believing children. He who is converted is to exert the same kind of an influence which through God’s instrumentality was made effectual in his conversion. All our work in this world is to be done in harmony and love and unity. We are to keep the example of Christ ever before us, walking in his foot steps. Union is strength, and the Lord desires that this truth should be ever revealed in all the members of the body of Christ. All are to be united in love, in meekness, in lowliness of mind. Organized into a society of believers, for the purpose of combining and diffusing their influence, they are to work as Christ worked. They are ever to show courtesy and respect for one another. Every talent has its place, and is to be kept under the control of the Holy Spirit. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 19

The church is a Christian society, formed for the members composing it, that each member may enjoy the assistance of all the graces and talents of the other members, and the working of God upon them, according to their several gifts and abilities. The church is united in the holy bonds of fellowship in order that each member may be benefited by the influence of the other. All are to bind themselves to the covenant of love and harmony. The Christian principles and graces of the whole society of believers is to gather strength and force in harmonious action. Each believer is to be benefited and improved by the refining and transforming influence of the varied capabilities of the other members, that the things lacking in one may be more abundantly displayed in another. All the members are to draw together, that the church may become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 20

The covenant of agreement in church membership is that each member [will] walk in the footsteps of Christ, that all will take His yoke upon them, and learn of Him who is meek and lowly of heart. Doing this, “Ye shall,” saith the dear Saviour, “find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:29, 30.] Those who wear Christ’s yoke will draw together. They will cultivate sympathy, and forbearance, and in holy emulation will strive to show to others the tender sympathy and love of which they feel such great need themselves. He who is weak and inexperienced, although he is weak, may be strengthened by the more hopeful, and by those of mature experience. Although the least of all, he is a stone that must shine in the building. He is a vital member of the organized body, united to Christ, the living Head, and through Christ identified with all the excellencies of Christ’s character so that the Saviour is not ashamed to call him brother. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 21

Why are believers formed into a church? Because by this means Christ would increase their usefulness in the world and strengthen their personal influence for good. In the church there is to be maintained a discipline which guards the rights of all and increases the sense of mutual dependence. God never designed that one man’s mind and judgment should be a controlling power. He never designed that one man should rule and plan and devise without the careful and prayerful consideration of the whole body, in order that all may move in a sound, thorough, harmonious manner. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 22

Believers are to shine as lights in the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. A church, separate and distinct from the world, is in the estimation of heaven the greatest object in all the earth. The members are pledged to be separate from the world, consecrating their service to one Master, Jesus Christ. They are to reveal that they have chosen Christ as their leader. The work in Cape Town is an important work and the church is to be as God designed it should be, a representative of God’s family in another world. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 23

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 24

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” [1 Peter 2:1-12.] 15LtMs, Lt 26, 1900, par. 25