Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Ms 178, 1905

Diary Fragments, November &mdash December 1905

November 2 &mdash December 20, 1905

Previously unpublished.

November 2, 1905

Sanitarium, California

I thank the Lord for a good night’s rest. I slept until three o’clock. I did not sleep much the night after the Sabbath; for during the night a very impressive scene passed before me. There seemed to be great confusion and the conflict of armies. A messenger from the Lord stood before me, and said, “Call your household. I will lead you; follow me.” He led me down a dark passage, through a forest, then through the clefts of mountains, and said, “Here you are safe.” There were others who had been led to this retreat. The heavenly messenger said, “The time of trouble has come as a thief in the night, as the Lord warned you it would come.” 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 1

I awoke at twelve o’clock, with such an impression on my mind as I shall never forget. [This entry from Ms 153, 1905.] 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 2

November 12, 1905

Elmshaven, St. Helena, California

Sabbath, November 11, I spoke in the church at St. Helena. I read from Revelation 14. I spoke but a short while. That chapter is a sermon to us all. And it is essential that every one who claims to believe the Word read and put to the tax his capabilities to understand every word that is written concerning what shall transpire in the last days of this earth’s history. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 3

November 15, 1905

St. Helena, Napa County, California

I am this morning very grateful to my Saviour. Yesterday, through a misstep coming down the back stairs, I fell on the lower platform, with foot bent under me, and had to be helped up before I could straighten my limb. I had much pain, but no bones were broken; and therefore I felt to praise the Lord for His keeping power. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 4

The twenty-sixth of this month I shall be seventy-eight years old—too old to be in the din of the battle, and yet I am not excused. I feel the need of the grace of God every moment. I dare not put confidence in myself. I wish the constant direction of One who understands the very things I need and [who] will supply them. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 5

I am perplexed beyond measure to see and to feel the great mistakes that are being made by men of capability, who can but see the ruin and shaken condition of J. H. Kellogg, and yet will sustain the man in his crooked ways and in his subterfuges and erratic course of action that deceive souls. This strengthens him in his course. All who will stand by his side will reap the result in their perverted action. While God is displeased and the man’s soul is becoming more and more in a position to be destroyed, and that without remedy, the best that I could do is to let him alone. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 6

I need in this age of my life the security and serenity of mind that is obtained through the Christian hope, which hope all may have who put their trust in God and rest there as a child in the care of a parent. Paul has represented “which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.” [Hebrews 6:19.] My anchor is cast within the veil, whither Christ, the forerunner, hath for us entered—gone before. Our hope is fixed upon Christ, the Rock of ages, a Rock rent purposely that our anchor may find a holding place. “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid.” [1 Corinthians 3:11.] Our anchor must find its place in the rent Rock. There are even now spiritual shipwrecks. There need not be; but the minds of men who become unbalanced in having their own way will make strange movements, and we must individually know for ourselves that the Word of God is our directory. Christ has taken the mediation between God and man. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 7

December 15, 1905

St. Helena Sanitarium, California

I thank the Lord this morning. Looking at my watch, it is half-past three o’clock. I have not slept as many hours for more than a week. I have in my heart to praise the Lord, and with my voice I will thank and praise His holy name. I will trust in the Lord. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 8

My heart has been greatly troubled and in pain. I have had irregular pulse. I am all the time carrying a heavy burden for souls. There is one case that I long to help, but he will not be helped; and he has, notwithstanding his many reproofs and warnings, refused to humble his heart which has developed so great departure from truth before God. He is presented to me with an attendant hovering about, very busy; and it is the same that visited the holy pair in Eden and was their counselor to partake of the forbidden fruit. The man has his adviser. It is one who was once the covering cherub in the heavenly courts; and notwithstanding, for years this seducing spirit has led Dr. Kellogg; yet his associates have permitted themselves to be blinded, and they have sustained him and confirmed him. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 9

December 20, 1905

St. Helena Sanitarium, California

I am aroused in the night at half-past twelve to write some things that have been presented to me again and again; but I have delayed, hoping, praying that some change would come to break this awful spell, which has been gaining entrance among us since the proposition was made in Battle Creek that the school should be continued there one year. That was the most unfortunate voice and influence that could have come to the cause of God. The Lord inspired no such movement, and the result has been that many souls are confirmed in unbelief in the straight truth that has been proclaimed for half a century among us as a people. 20LtMs, Ms 178, 1905, par. 10