Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 22 (1907)

Lt 408, 1907

Olsen, O. A.

St. Helena, California

December 30, 1907

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother Olsen:

We are thankful for your good letters, and also for Elder Starr’s. I have only this evening and tomorrow morning in which to get off my Australian letters, and therefore cannot write much. I am not yet rested from the taxing labors connected with my visit to Southern California. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 1

I am sending you in this a copy of a talk I gave at Loma Linda on Sabbath, December 14. I praise the Lord for the strength He gave me at that time to bear my testimony before the people. The Sabbath before this I had spoken in Los Angeles to a large congregation. The meetinghouse was poorly ventilated, and crowded with people, and the air was poisoned with the many breaths. I suffered greatly in consequence. This is the third time I have passed through a like experience after speaking in this place. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 2

When W. C. White left me on the following Friday, to attend meetings in Mexico and Nashville, I feared that I was on the eve of a breakdown. Yet I felt that before leaving Loma Linda I must present to the students the light that had been given me regarding our duty as a people to preach the Word of the living God. In the night season I seemed to hear the voice of God, saying, Enter into no controversy with those who are determined to enact Sunday laws, but read to them the Word of the Lord: 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 3

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” [Genesis 2:1-3.] 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 4

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you; every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” [Exodus 31:12-18.] 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 5

“And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and all the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words that thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 6

“And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever.” [Exodus 19:3-9.] This covenant between God and the people was to be a perpetual one, to be held sacred to a thousand generations. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 7

I am instructed to say, Gather together the proofs in the Scriptures that God has set this day apart, and let the words of the Lord be read before the congregations. There is to be no controversy on this subject. The Word of the Lord is given for the observance of the seventh day; let this Word be given to the congregation, and not the words of men. Thus you will throw the burden of responsibility on those who reject it. While you exalt a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” their controversy is not with you, but with God. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 8

The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of Revelation should be presented more frequently before the people. The words of the Lord through His exiled servant are written especially for the people living amid the perils of these last days. This book is declared to be, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things which he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the word of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” [Revelation 1:1-3.] 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 9

The whole of this first chapter is a wonderful revelation. Through its study we are to learn of our dangers and how to avoid them. Keep these truths constantly before the people. In your discourses be careful to make prominent the truths which all who live in these last days should know. Repeat the warnings that Christ has given through the disciple John. Advise them to study earnestly the word of Jude: 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 10

“Jude the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ and called: mercy unto you, and peace and love, be multiplied. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 11

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the coming salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 12

“I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” [Jude 1-7.] 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 13

We have seen these very evils practiced in our cities in the year 1907, and the Lord has permitted His judgments to fall upon them. Other cities will be destroyed in like manner, until God shall fully reveal that He knows the secret things of men. The city of San Francisco is a revelation to us of what many of our cities are and of what their reward will be. The book of Revelation is not understood because men do not care to read and understand what is coming upon the world in these last days. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 14

The apostle Jude continues: “Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that they told you that there would be mockers in the last times, who would walk after their own ungodly lusts.” [Verses 17, 18.] We certainly have among us mockers from whom the Spirit of the Lord has departed. “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 15

“And of some have compassion making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted with the flesh. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.” [Verses 19-25.] 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 16

Those who profess to believe in the soon coming of Christ to judge the earth should be thoroughly aroused to the situation. They should examine their own hearts and lives, to see if they stand in the position to which Jude the servant of Christ calls them. Let our physicians and ministers be assured that they are themselves keeping the commandments of God; for this they must do if they would be saved in His kingdom. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 17

If we lose heaven we lose everything. Then let us, in this time of proving, weed out from our characters everything that would exclude us from the city of God. We need to arouse and make thorough work for eternity. Read the first and second chapters of First Peter. Our hearts and minds are to be purified by obedience to the truth. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 18

I urge my brethren and sisters to read their Bibles as they have never read them before. The evidences that we are in the last days are being given us right in our own ranks. Some who have become self-sufficient, and who have rejected the counsel of the Lord, are being left to follow their own human judgment. These are working against the plain commands of God. Let those who have been influenced by the words and works of such discern the signs of the times and see in these men the very ones of whom the apostles have warned us. And as we see these predictions being fulfilled before our eyes, may we be led to a more earnest study of the Word of God and a determination to believe and teach the Word of the living God. 22LtMs, Lt 408, 1907, par. 19