Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 80, 1910

Parsons, D. A.

St. Helena, California

September 16, 1910

Previously unpublished.

Elder D. A. Parsons

Dear Brother Parsons:

I was glad to receive your letter dated August 20, 1910. I am made sad as I read that your wife has had a severe illness. She had, you tell me, been sick for one month at the date of your letter. May the Lord bless her and heal her and graciously reveal to her His power, and may her voice be heard in the assembly of God’s people. Christ is our healing power. Let faith take hold of the promise and claim the assurance, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” [Matthew 7:7.] Do not give up the battle to the enemy. Do not let go the promise, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” [John 16:24.] “Faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [Hebrews 11:1.] I am grateful to our heavenly Father for His wonderful goodness to us. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 1

I hope that you will be able to find a good climate for your wife and yourself. Then, when she recovers, she can help you and you can help her. I should be pleased to hear about your son. Where is the little lad? Please let me know in regard to him. May the Lord guide you in all judgment. We shall unite our prayers with yours for the recovery of your wife. We have been through the experience of having sickness in the home, and we understand what it means. The Lord has often been very gracious to me, sparing my life when there seemed to be very little hope. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 2

The truth is to go to all parts of the world. It is no time now for us to lay off our burden. The message must be kept before our churches: “Present the truth in its high, holy, sanctified character to the people.” Read pages thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen in Testimony, Vol. 9. The last crisis is close upon us. The world is stirred with the spirit of war. The prophecy of the eleventh of Daniel has almost reached its complete fulfilment. Soon the scenes of trouble spoken of in the prophecies will take place. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 3

Read also the thirty-first and thirty-second chapters of Exodus. After Moses, coming down from the mount, found the children of Israel engaged in idolatrous worship, he “stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me.” [Exodus 32:26.] In this call all were offered an opportunity to repent and take their stand on the Lord’s side, and receive forgiveness. But those who refused to stand by Moses on this occasion met with a fearful end. Read the painful history, and the instruction given afterward by the Lord to Moses, as recorded in the thirty-third and thirty-fourth chapters of Exodus. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 4

I am inclined to think that any one going to the Paradise Valley Sanitarium would be benefited by the climate. And if the managers of this institution will walk circumspectly, in the counsel of the Lord, doing His will, the wisdom of God will be revealed through them. And God will be glorified. Sanctified grace will come into the characters of those who walk humbly with God, educating mind and heart to do the will and the way of the Lord. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 5

There are those in our institutions whose hearts must be refined and changed through divine grace. Our institutions must take on a mold superior to that which has yet been manifested. Will it be decidedly revealed? The Lord calls upon those connected with our sanitariums to live the righteousness of Christ. This is their only hope—a sanctified service to God. When they do this, they will walk in all humility, and the Lord will be able to work through them to His name’s glory to relieve the sick through their wise efforts and earnest prayers. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 6

The Lord is our helper. He will strengthen all who look to Him in faith as the great Healer. I have been passing through a severe attack of influenza and have not been able to sleep as I should. But I am improving. I appreciate highly the grace of Christ. I have His comfort and grace. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 7

We were greatly blessed during our camp-meeting at Berkeley. We had an exceptionally favorable location, and this I appreciated. Sara and I had rooms in a house just across the road from the camp-ground. I had only to walk across the street, go a short distance farther, and I was in the tent. I was thankful that it was so little trouble for me to get to the speaker’s stand. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 8

Brother Crisler and his family and Willie had a cottage in the back yard of the house we occupied. It was very favorable for me to be so near my workers. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 9

The camp-meeting was carried through with success, and no accidents occurred. The attendance at the meeting was large. I solicited an opportunity to speak on the last day of the meeting, when I read and explained some writings that will be of great consequence to those who accept them. These writings I was deeply impressed to present and enforce upon the people. I could not withhold my message. I felt that the large congregation must be give a correct understanding of my position. By faith we must grasp more firmly the words of unfailing truth. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 10

About a week after returning from the camp-meeting, I visited the Pacific Union College, where a special meeting was then being held by the teachers of the church schools in this conference. Sara and I left our home for the college on Friday morning, taking the longer route, because the short one is rocky, and at this time of the year very dusty. The long road is about ten miles, four miles farther around than the short route, but it is an excellent road, ascending the mountain gradually. We suffered little annoyance from the dust, but it is a drive of two and a half hours, and a continual ascent; and on reaching the school I felt very weary. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 11

Notwithstanding my weariness, I spoke in the chapel the following morning. The Lord gave me freedom of speech, and I spoke for an hour. The following words, which were on my mind, I spoke to the people: 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 12

Entering the Cities

Again and again I am instructed to present to our churches in every place the work that should be done, not only where we have churches already established, but in new fields, where the truth has never been fully established. In our cities, as verily as in far-off lands, there are people of all nationalities whose souls are precious and who must hear the message. The way must be opened to reach these unworked fields. Decided work must be done. Openings must be made. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 13

Those of our ministers who, Sabbath after Sabbath, preach to the same ones accomplish very little. If they were wide-awake, their words would make a decided impression and souls would be enlightened and led to accept the truth. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 14

It is impossible for man to measure the ingenuity shown by Satan in deceiving human minds. As Christ saw the working out of the enemy’s plans to deceive man in many ways, He gladly came to our world as an infant, to live in this world, to meet the wily foe in every stage of human life, and to counterwork his satanic wiles. No one could understand as Christ did the enemy’s power of deception. He saw that the world was being captivated by the delusive power exercised through commercialism of various kinds. He came to take human nature, and stay this overwhelming tide of deception, which was leading souls to their ruin. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 15

Thus was laid the plan for Christ to act His part as a Saviour. He came to our world to live, and suffer, and die, that He might win to God the souls deceived by Satan. He is wise in an understanding of the tempter’s plans, and He can teach men and women how to become wise to discern and escape the corruption that Satan is constantly inventing. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 16

Christ declared, I have pledged Myself, as the only begotten Son of the Lord God Almighty, to carry out God’s plan to win souls from Satan to the Lord’s side. Christ alone can defeat the enemy. He works in man’s behalf to uncover his plans, that souls may be led to turn from the archdeceiver to the living God, and thus gain eternal life. 25LtMs, Lt 80, 1910, par. 17