Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 317, 1905

Brethren in the Ministry and Medical Missionary Work

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

April 10, 1905

See variant Lt 317a, 1905. Portions of this letter are published in PC 11. +^Note

Dear brethren in the ministry and the medical missionary work,—

I have a message to bear to you. God calls upon you to come into line. The deceiving power of the enemy has long been at work to tear away the foundations of our faith. Some of Satan’s agencies work in one way and some in another. I am directed to speak to all our people high and afar off the words that have been given me. God has a controversy with those who have been walking in the light of the sparks of their own kindling. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 1

“Is it not because there is not a god in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?” [2 Kings 1:3.] “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If ye then have judgments of things that pertain to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. ... Thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” [1 Corinthians 6:1-10.] 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 2

This is the message borne by the apostle Paul, who was oft instructed by revelations from God. Those who for years have been leaning on the arm of the law have done many things that an honorable worldling would not do. For years unbelievers have been their stay and their support. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 3

Such ones should long ago have been relieved of responsibilities in connection with the work of God. Had this been done, the cause of the Lord would have made greater advancement, and the message of warning for this time would have been carried to a greater number of people. God tested many in the General Conference held at Battle Creek in 1901. There are many whose eyes are now blinded, who, had they repented and heeded the warnings given, might not only have saved those who have never heard the truth, but those also who have been led astray by the enemy. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 4

But wrongs have been left uncorrected and sins unconfessed and unrepented of. Men have passed along, to become more and more the subjects of Satan’s temptations, and have been duped by those who were not practicing the virtues of Christ. How does the Saviour look upon the perversity of the men who are in high positions of responsibility in connection with His cause, and yet are uncontrolled by the Word of God, unchanged by the warnings that He has sent? They press on in their own way, manufacturing their own burdens instead of bearing the burden of the work that God has given them. They do not keep their hearts and lives free from the least taint of oppression, from the slightest exhibition of selfishness or dishonesty. They do not shun the first approach to underhand dealing. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 5

Had they done this, they would have heard when the Lord spoke to them. When in mercy He sent messages to them, they would have heeded the warning. They would have recognized their danger and would have striven to represent the Lord in every business transaction. But they were out of their proper place. They were assuming responsibilities that God never meant them to carry. And in entering the paths of human ambition, filling their minds with thoughts of buying and selling and getting gain, they lost their Christian experience. They had beside them the teacher who is near to every man who does not do his appointed work, and who does not strive day by day to preserve the sacredness of that work, and in humility to improve the talents lent him. It has not been their highest aim to follow the divine pattern, that they might bring to God all their talents doubled. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 6

My brethren, read as for your lives the instruction contained in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, and take heed to yourselves. Let no man blind you by his human sophistries or his mocking burlesque of sacred things, which is as blasphemy. In (Mark 13:1, 2), we read, “And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Study this whole chapter. It is a warning. Let us prayerfully ask ourselves, Who shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ acquitted, without spot or stain upon his character? 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 7

Christ in His teaching contemplates the future destiny of the beings for whom He gave His life. Those who are saved must form characters that are without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God. God has given to every man his work, and Christ will co-operate with every human being who will co-operate with Him, wearing His yoke, not a yoke of human manufacture, and learning of Him His meekness and lowliness. Such ones angels will love, and to such they will minister in every phase of the life history. Christ will teach those who will follow Him, giving them daily an experience in the meaning of the divine beatitudes. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 8

At the great day of judgment every man will be judged according to the deeds done in this life. John the Revelator writes, “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” [Revelation 20:12.] 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 9

It was with a voice filled with tears of regret that Christ uttered His woes against the oppression, the dishonesty in trade that He saw on every hand. By word and deed He strove to relieve the oppression caused by injustice. His heart was filled with compassion for the suffering ones. He saw the misery brought about by unsanctified actions, and with wonderful clearness He showed the consequence of the least injustice. With stern denunciation He condemned all oppression and all unfair dealing. He urged that compassion be ever shown. He identified Himself with those who suffer through wrongdoing, placing Himself in the position of the victim of injustice, and declaring that He suffers as those for whom He gave His life are injured, wronged, insulted. He who purchased the human family with His own blood charges as done to Himself any insult offered to a child of His. His law extends the shield of divine protection over every soul. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 10

Christ died that human beings might have the life that measures with the life of God. But He will not save those who practice the arts of the great deceiver, unless they repent and become kind, compassionate, and Christlike, putting away all proud striving for the supremacy. He sees every act of injustice that is done, and as the Redeemer of mankind, He becomes partaker in the suffering thus caused. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 11

“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye; therefore when thine eye is single, thine whole body is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.” [Luke 11:33-36.] 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 12

Christ’s denunciations, the woes that He pronounced, were followed by exclamations of the deepest sorrow. He wept over Jerusalem, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; for verily, I say unto you, Ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” [Luke 13:34, 35.] He wept over those whom He knew were deserving of His rebuke. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 13

Christ was approaching the end of His mission, and He knew that when that time should come, Jerusalem’s day of probation would have ended. But He was reluctant to pronounce the words of doom. For three years He had been seeking for fruit, but had found none. During these three years, one object was ever upon His soul—to present before His thankless, disobedient people the solemn warnings and gracious invitations of heaven. He greatly desired that the Jewish people should receive His words. How graciously He had invited them. How anxiously He labored to awaken in their hearts the comprehension that He was the promised Messiah, the only hope of Israel. In their behalf He has clothed His divinity with humanity. The Prince of heaven, He had humbled Himself to take the form of a servant. His lifework was to convince His disobedient people that He was their only hope. He carried them on His heart. He did all that He could to save them. But at the close of His work in this world He was forced to say of them, “Ye would not come unto Me that ye might have life.” [See John 5:40.] 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 14

The cloud of divine wrath was gathering over Jerusalem. Christ saw the city beleaguered. He saw it lost. In a voice full of tears He exclaimed, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” [Luke 19:42.] 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 15

I present this feeble representation of a terrible picture to those who today are going over the same ground, refusing the messages of the grace of God, rejecting the warnings against a course of wickedness. The ground trodden by the Jewish leaders is being trodden today by those who have made light of warnings from heaven, with looks, with words, with gesticulations. I have heard the ridicule of the warnings sent them and refused by them, and I know that the same spirit that existed in the days of Christ exists today. The blessings that the Saviour longs to bestow He is forced to withhold, because of the contempt manifested by the men who give proof in their lives that they reject all warnings, all entreaties, all efforts for their salvation. They know not the day of their visitation. They despise the evidence of God’s working, and history is being repeated. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 16

At the feet of Christ, Satan laid all the kingdoms of the world, promising to give them to Christ if He would acknowledge Satan as supreme. Christ turned from him with the words, “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” [Matthew 4:10.] Christ could have opened before the tempter mysteries of past, present, and future, which would have made of no effect the power and boasting of Satan. But no; His work was to teach the highest of all science—the knowledge of how to gain salvation. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 17

Christ always hears the voice of penitence, imploring forgiveness and pardon. Salvation through the merits of the Saviour—this is the only hope of those who have been dishonest and wicked. God’s power is always on the side of justice and mercy and the strictest honesty. One more grand move in the path of transgression, and the future of more than one soul will be decided. Christ will give the world distinct proof of the power of truth, but for some it will be forever too late. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 18

I plead with those who for years have stood in the way, retarding the work of God, now to clear the King’s highway, while there is still opportunity for wrongs to be righted. Let those who have not confessed their sins now humble their souls before God and with prayer and humiliation show their true colors. Let them lift the cross, and go forward, bearing the banner of Christ’s triumph. There is hope still, but God will not be trifled with. 20LtMs, Lt 317, 1905, par. 19