Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 167, 1900

Irwin, G. A.

Geelong, Victoria, Australia

March 23, 1900

Portions of this letter are published in 10MR 9-10; 12MR 159.

Brother Irwin:

I have received my mail from America. I have had upon my mind a great burden, but the matter is now settled. If the Lord spares my life, I shall leave this country, with all prospects of returning to it after my period of stay seems to be ended. But it may be four months before we can leave. We wanted to get out Testimonies for the Church first. If there is an immediate necessity, we could wrench ourselves away; but it is more in regard to the sanitarium than any other enterprise that we should come. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 1

I hope you have seen the copy of the article in the New York Observer, in March 1896. I sent one to Elder Haskell, but did not send one to you, although I designed to do so. This tells how the embarrassment to the sanitarium has come in, and what kind of work Dr. Kellogg has been doing for years. All the appeals in behalf of a sanitarium in Australia have been without weighty consideration. I am so very glad that we are adding new territory every year to the cause of the Lord, leaving not a distracted class of people that are prepared, by the article mentioned, to absorb, not to produce. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 2

In every place [are] God’s memorials of His Sabbath and of His glory in creating the heavens and the earth. God rested on the seventh day, and set it apart for man to observe in honor of His creation of the heavens and the earth in six literal days. He blessed and sanctified and made holy the day of rest. When men are so careful to search and dig to see in regard to the precise period of time, we are to say, God made His Sabbath for a round world; and when the seventh day comes to us in that round world, controlled by the sun that rules the day, it is the time, in all countries and lands, to observe the Sabbath. In the countries where there is no sunset for months, and again no sunrise for months, the period of time will be calculated by records kept. But God has a world large enough and proper and right for the human beings He has created to inhabit it, without finding homes in those lands so objectionable in very many, many ways. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 3

The Lord accepts all the obedience of every creature He has made, according to the circumstances of time in the sun-rising and the sun-setting world. Obedience is the test. All this ploughing into the intricacy of the precise minutes and hours of the Sabbath—it is the test of man’s obedience to honor and glorify God. To sin, or transgression of His law, God will prove a consuming fire. The Sabbath observance is “a sign between me and you throughout your generations forever.” [Exodus 31:13, 17.] 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 4

When Christ, our Redeemer, came to our world, it was His mission to make men partakers of His divine nature, by bringing all men who would receive and believe and practice the obedience of Christ. They would become one with Christ, and thus be in perfect, complete harmony with the principles of the law of heaven. [With] every man and woman who will receive Christ as their personal Saviour, the law is exalted. The apostle inquires, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. [Romans 3:31.] The new covenant promise is, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. [Hebrews 10:16.] 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 5

The Sabbath was made for a round world, and therefore obedience is required of the people that are in perfect consistency with the Lord’s created world. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 6

My brother, I want that appeal in [the General Conference] Bulletin put in pamphlet form and sent to all our people. The money that flowed so freely into Dr. Kellogg’s hands from the gifts of Wessels family should not one dollar of it have gone in that line. He should have been so thoroughly, unselfishly awake to the broad vineyard to be worked that he would not have lost his judgment and centered the money he has done in Chicago missions. God did not inspire him to do this work. And our missionaries in Africa have hurt their record and influence, for in their great strait, they used advantages of food in their hands, requiring a price that was too much. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 7

It was the dishonoring thing to God to send out missionaries to Australia—and with no encouragement of support—while the workers in our institutions have been receiving large wages. How does God size up these things? What kind of a record will be opened up at the last day? “I was hungry, and ye fed Me not; and thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; naked, and ye clothed Me not.” That money donated by the Wessels to the work Dr. Kellogg was doing, not a dollar of it would have been applied in that work if he had possessed sanctified judgment, foreseeing judgment. He would have said, There is a work to be done in ... [two pages missing]. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 8

... But we must have greater faith. God is the mighty Worker. We will now do to the best of our ability; but if there was ever a place where the manifest power of God has wrought, it has been evident that the armies of the Lord were on the ground. We know that this always is the case, but in some instances more marked than at other times. This was so in this case. The seeds have been sown, and there will be fruit unto eternal life. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 9

In regard to the manifest neglect to publish the article of Elder Haskell, it is just as we might expect. Those who have been deficient in exalting the standard of the truth for this time do not want that one should get in ahead of them and appear to be lifting up the standard where they have failed. But the Lord stands at the helm, and He will work to His own name’s glory. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 10

I have just read the appeal in the Bulletin. Get this out in pamphlet form. Let it go everywhere. It is the word of the Lord, and I have not one word to change or alter. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 11

I must now prepare to leave for Melbourne. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 12

Our cars arrived at Sydney at 11 a.m. I put these in their envelopes on the cars in motion. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 13

P.S. I send to Elder Haskell [a] letter for you to read to J. H. Kellogg. You can judge by the state of his mind, how to use it. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 14

Later: I thought I had a copy for you, but cannot find it. It is a letter to J. H. Kellogg. Sara and I are alone on the cars. W. C. White is in Melbourne. John Wessels and [Elder] Daniells go on the morrow. W. C. White returns to Sydney tomorrow. I have had put up the enclosures and letters on cars. 15LtMs, Lt 167, 1900, par. 15