Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 329, 1905

Burden, J. A.

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

December 11, 1905

This letter is published in entirety in PC 204-209. +^Note

Dear Brother Burden,—

I have been conversing with you in the night season in regard to some matters that I will write you about. We were conversing in reference to Brother Hansen and his manufacturing health foods. In regard to the family, you understand that Sister Hansen must be carefully cared for, because she has had lung trouble. It would be well for them to be provided with a home by themselves. They can be so located that burdens shall not come upon Sister Hansen too heavily and where she can care for their own family. She may entirely recover from her lung difficulty, but it will be well to take every precaution. Matters can be managed so that those who need to be connected with the institution may not in any way be exposed. You and your wife may be wise on this subject, and a word to the wise is sufficient. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 1

Brother Hansen is fully as severe in his family as is required. He needs the softening, subduing influence of the Spirit of God. He is not hard-hearted, but he needs more of the softening grace of Christ. You will help him on these points. It will be well for those of his children who are old enough to be in school. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 2

We were conversing in regard to erecting a store; and One of authority who was in our midst, speaking to several present, suggested the propriety of erecting such a building at a distance from the main building and all other buildings that are now standing there so that there will be no danger to them from fire. He suggested that changes would need to be made after thorough study, and that the building should be placed where the wind would not carry the smoke or sparks to the main building. Great care is to be exercised in regard to this matter, and intelligence is to be shown in the movements made. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 3

Although Brother Hansen is an outspoken man, his children and all who associate with him can be so managed that there will be no need of roughness. All can be educators of themselves, placing themselves under God’s discipline. Let their criticizing propensities be exercised upon themselves; then no one will suppose that he must place himself on the judgment seat to condemn others. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 4

The Speaker said, You can all be a blessing to one another, if you open your hearts to receive the precious love of Christ. Let all keep diligent guard over their own disposition, and then pleasant words will be spoken. Let not those who are connected with the sanitarium as helpers think that they have liberty to exercise authority over others. God will help the ones who are chosen to act a part in the duties connected with the sanitarium, to labor as workers together with God. Let them be sure to take charge of their own individual selves. Those who come to the sanitarium as patients are to see that Christian love and kindness are shown to all who are connected with the institution. Let every one stand in his lot and place, refusing to go out of his way to assume authority as a dictator. The Lord calls upon every man to be courteous and to discipline himself. He is not to exercise authority that is not given him. Let every one learn daily his lesson of preparing his own heart for the heavenly inspection, for the record is written in the books of heaven. Let souls be emptied of self. Then invite Christ to come in, and open the door of the heart to His knock. He says, “If any man hear My voice, ... I will come in and will sup with him, and he with Me.” [Revelation 3:20.] This divine companionship is what is needed in every home, in every church, in every sanitarium. There is need of strong, spirited men, men who will be sure to do special honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be preparing to become members of the royal family in the heavenly mansions Christ is preparing for every one who through the grace received will wear His yoke. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 5

Christ invites us, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:29, 30.] In our character building, give encouragement to every divine, sacred influence. The blessing from Jesus makes everything good and profitable. Have His praise in your heart and in your voice and in your words, and your hearts will become fit temples for the Holy Spirit of God. Your success depends upon constant watchfulness and earnest prayer. “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you.” [John 15:14.] Depending upon the Lord, you can do the very things that are to be done, without murmuring and without disputing. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 6

Satan is watching to secure every soul possible to do him service by careless work and careless words. He desires to impress the minds of the converted and the unconverted, that those connected with the sanitarium are lacking in piety and the meekness of Christ, that they are not Christians. Jesus will help you to prevent this impression’s being made. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 7

Christ would have every one possess in abundance the grace of heaven. He desires that His joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Every soul is to discipline himself in strict, faithful service just as verily out of meeting as in meeting. You are in full view of the heavenly angels, and every faithful disciple may be, if he will, as was Ezra before the king. The hand of God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against those who forsake Him and who trust in the help and friendship of the world, going to the god of Ekron to inquire and heeding not the counsel of the living God. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 8

The children of God will know who is their helper. They will know in whom they can trust implicitly; and with Christ’s help, they may, without presumption, have a holy confidence. Yes, His servants may safely trust in Him alone, without fear, looking unto Jesus, pressing on in obedience to His requirements, leaving everything that is joined to the world, whether the world opposes or favors. Their success comes from God, and they will not fail because they have not the wealth and influence of wicked men. If they fail, it will be because they do not obey the Lord’s requirements, and the Holy Spirit is not with them. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 9

I am instructed that our only safety is in being joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can afford to lose the friendship of worldly men. Those who join themselves to worldly men, that they may carry out their unsanctified purposes, make a fearful mistake; for they forfeit the favor and blessing of God. I am to urge upon the attention of our people that the Lord Himself has placed a wall of separation between the world and that which He has established on the earth. God’s people are to serve Him; for Christ has called them out of the world, and sanctified and refined them, that they may do His service. He has been given all power in heaven and in earth. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 10

There is no such thing as maintaining concord between the profane and the holy. There can be no concord between Christ and Belial. But “the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself.” [Psalm 4:3.] And this consecration to the Lord, this separation from the world, is plainly declared and positively enjoined in both the Old and the New Testaments. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 11

Brother Burden, before closing my letter, I will finish what I intended to say about the building of the food factory. This work requires much wisdom and genuine good sense. If you can bring it about, do so. Make the best possible use of Ministry of Healing to aid you in your work. I believe that you can accomplish that which seems to be a necessity. I think that if we all walk humbly with God, we shall always have grateful hearts. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 12

There will be those who will invest their means in our sanitariums, with the understanding that they shall be given a home there as long as they shall live. These should receive kind, Christian treatment. I have in mind a Brother Merrill, with whom we stayed while attending the San Jose camp-meeting. He has no family and lives alone. While I was at his house, he questioned me in regard to our sanitariums. Not long ago I sent him a copy of Ministry of Healing and asked him to communicate with you if he had means that he could lend to the sanitarium. Have you received any word from him? I asked him for a loan of five thousand dollars. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 13

If such a man could invest his means in the sanitarium, and make the institution his home, I think it would be a wise move. He is a businessman and I think is pretty careful as to how he invests his means. I thought that if I asked him to lend me some money, he might respond, but as yet I have received no word from him. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 14

Later. This morning, Dec. 14, I could not sleep after one o’clock, so I rose and dressed and have come to my office to complete the letter that I began writing to you two or three days ago. We are interested in every movement made at Loma Linda. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 15

Did not the Lord have oversight, I should not care to live another day. But this is a question settled in my mind—that we are under a power which is beyond human control, and in that power we can trust. The Lord is good to us; and if we will walk carefully before Him, He will ever reveal His power in our behalf. He will save to the uttermost all who love and obey Him. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 16

I long daily to be able to do double duty. I have been pleading with the Lord for strength and wisdom to reproduce the writings of the witnesses who were confirmed in the faith in the early history of the message. After the passing of the time in 1844, they received the light and walked in the light; and when the men claiming to have new light would come in with their wonderful messages regarding various points of Scripture, we had, through the moving of the Holy Spirit, testimonies right to the point, which cut off the influence of such messages as Elder A. F. Ballenger has been devoting his time to presenting. This poor man has been working decidedly against the truth that the Holy Spirit has confirmed. When the power of God testifies as to what is truth, that truth is to stand forever as the truth. No after-suppositions contrary to the light God has given are to be entertained. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 17

Men will arise with interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not truth. The truth for this time God has given us as a foundation for our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and still another with new light, which contradicts the light that God has given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit. A few are still alive who passed through the experience gained in the establishment of this truth. God has graciously spared their lives to repeat and repeat, till the close of their lives, the experience through which they passed, even as did John the apostle till the very close of his life. And the standard-bearers who have fallen in death are to speak through the reprinting of their writings. I am instructed that thus their voices are to be heard. They are to bear their testimony as to what constitutes the truth for this time. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 18

We are not to receive the words of those who come with a message that contradicts the special points of our faith. They gather together a mass of Scripture and pile it as proof around their asserted theories. This has been done over and over again during the past fifty years. And while the Scriptures are God’s Word, and are to be respected, the application of them, if such application moves one pillar of the foundation that God has sustained these fifty years, is a great mistake. He who makes such an application knows not the wonderful demonstration of the Holy Spirit that gave power and force to the past messages that have come to the people of God. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 19

Elder Ballenger’s proofs are not reliable. If received, they would destroy the faith of God’s people in the truth that has made us what we are. We must be decided on this subject; for the points that he is trying to prove by Scripture are not sound. They do not prove that the past experience of God’s people was a fallacy. We had the truth; we were directed by the angels of God. It was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that the presentation of the sanctuary question was given. It is eloquence for every one to keep silent in regard to the features of our faith in which they acted no part. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 20

God never contradicts Himself. Scripture proofs are misapplied if forced to testify to that which is not true. Another and still another will arise, and bring in supposedly great light, and make their assertions. But we stand by the old landmarks. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 21

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 22

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” [1 John 1:1-10.] 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 23

I am instructed to say that these words we may use as appropriate for this time; for the time has come when sin must be called by its right name. We are hindered in our work by men who are not converted, who seek their own glory. They wish to be thought originators of new theories, which they present, claiming that they are truth. But if these theories are received, they will lead to a denial of the truth that for the past fifty years God has been giving to His people, substantiating it by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 24

Let all men beware what is the character of their work. They would better be falling into line; for their own souls’ sake and for the sake of the souls of others. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” [Verse 7.] It is nothing to the credit of any man to start on a new track, using Scripture to substantiate theories of error, leading minds into confusion, away from the truths that are to be indelibly impressed on the minds of God’s people, that they may hold fast to the faith. 20LtMs, Lt 329, 1905, par. 25