Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 19 (1904)

Lt 253, 1904

Hart, R. A.

Takoma Park, Maryland

July 18, 1904

Portions of this letter are published in UL 213.

Dear Brother Hart,—

I am very anxious for you. I greatly desire that you shall change your attitude and purify your heart from all selfishness. Because you have invested your means in houses and land in Battle Creek, shall this become a snare to your soul, leading you to make strange paths for your feet? The only safety for those living in Battle Creek is for them to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 1

The Lord Jesus is your Redeemer. Will you not appreciate the great sacrifice He has made for you? No one has any justification for departing from Bible principles. In order that the truth of God may regulate your life, you must resist the influence of those who have heeded temptation, those who have sneered at the statement that in the calamities which have befallen our institutions in Battle Creek, God’s judgments have been seen. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 2

He who is sensitive to the admonitions of the Lord will work out his own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who is working in him, to will and to do of His good pleasure. The truth of God, abiding in the heart, brings the principles of the law of God into daily practice. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 3

The man who consents to be deceived is the man in whose heart the truth is not abiding. To be occasionally a Christian, to be occasionally devout, is a great deception. It is living a lie. An occasional glance at the Word of God is not enough. An occasional petition to the throne of grace, a form of words, does not bring a supply of grace for the soul’s need. In order for the truth of God to regulate the life, it must be implanted in the heart. It must be brought into the inmost life. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 4

The day will come when you will see that it does not pay to trifle with the interests of your soul, allowing it to become diseased, so inefficient that Christ declares, “Ye are neither cold nor hot. So then, because ye are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.” [See Revelation 3:15, 16.] What does this mean? That He will no longer present the name of such a one to His Father. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 5

Christ clothed His divinity with humanity and came to this world to live a life free from spot or stain of sin, that human beings, by laying hold of the divinity, might become partakers of the divine nature, thus escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. To those who receive Christ as a personal Saviour, the veil that conceals the glory of God from human discernment is drawn aside. With the eye of faith they behold eternal realities. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 6

The Word of God is to be brought into the very life. “I am the bread of life,” Christ declares. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” [John 6:35, 53, 54, 63.] 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 7

Study the whole of the sixth chapter of John. Strive for your soul’s sake to understand it; and do all in your power to redeem the past. You must have a spiritual experience very different from that which you now have, if you obtain eternal life. As you now are, you could not enjoy the pure atmosphere of heaven. 19LtMs, Lt 253, 1904, par. 8