Ms 2, 1868

Testimony to Washington N. H. Brethren

1868

This manuscript is published in entirety in 2T 93-111.

Your case, Brother Ball, was shown me in connection with the church at Washington two years ago. The vision related to the past, present, and future. As I stand before the people in different places as we travel, the Spirit of the Lord brings before me clearly the cases I have been shown, reviving the matter previously given me. I was shown you as receiving the Sabbath while you stood opposed to important truths connected with the Sabbath. You were not fortified with all the truth. I then saw your mind directed in the wrong channel, in the channel of unbelief, of doubt, distrust, and seeking for to obtain those things to strengthen unbelief and darkness. Instead of searching for evidence for to strengthen faith you took the opposite course and Satan directed your mind in a channel to suit his own purposes. You love to combat, and when you enter this field of battle you know not when to lay down your arms. You love to argue, and have indulged in this until it has led you from the light, led you from the truth, led you from God, where you have been enshrouded in darkness, and dark unbelief has taken possession of your mind. You have been blinded by Satan. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 1

You have, like faithless Thomas, considered it a virtue to doubt unless you could have unmistakable evidence removing all cause from your mind for doubting. Did Jesus commend the unbelieving Thomas? As He granted him the evidence he had declared he would have before he believed, He said unto him, “Be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered, “My Lord and my God.” He is now compelled to believe. There is no room to doubt. Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. [John 20:27-29.] You were represented to me as uniting your efforts with the rebel leader and his host to annoy, perplex, dishearten, discourage and overthrow those who are battling for the right, who are standing under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel. Your influence, I was shown, has turned souls from keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. You have employed your talents, your skill, to manufacture weapons to place in the hands of the enemies of God to fight those who are trying to obey God in keeping His commandments. While angels have been commissioned to strengthen the things that remain, to withstand and counteract your influence, they have looked with the deepest grief upon your work to dishearten and destroy. You have caused pure, sinless, holy angels to weep. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 2

Those who are living amid the perils of the last days, which are characterized by the masses turning from the truth of God to fables, will have close work to turn from the fables which are prepared for them on every hand, and have an appetite to feast upon unpopular truth. Those who turn from these fables to truth are despised, hated, and persecuted by those who are presenting fables to the people for their reception. Satan is at war with the remnant who are endeavoring to keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. Evil angels are commissioned to employ agents who are men upon the earth who can the most successfully exert their influence to make Satan’s attacks effective against the remnant whom God calls “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” [1 Peter 2:9.] This, Satan is determined to hinder. He will employ everyone who will engage in his service to hinder the chosen people of God from shewing forth the praises of Him who has called them from darkness into His marvelous light. To hide, to cover up this light, to cause people to distrust it, to disbelieve it, is the work of the great rebel and his host. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 3

While Jesus is purifying His people unto Himself, redeeming them from all iniquity, Satan will employ his forces, his power, to hinder the work and prevent the perfection of the saints. Those who are all covered up and walled in by fables and error, and who make no effort to receive and obey the truth, Satan does not feel so anxious about them. He knows he is sure of them. But those who are seeking for truth, that they may obey it in the love of it, are the ones who excite his malice and stir his ire. He is so gratified, so pleased, when he can lead them from right in a course of disobedience, because he can never weaken them while they keep close to Jesus. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 4

When we disobey and sin against God there is a disposition to fall behind a day’s journey from Jesus; [we seek to separate from] His company because [it is] distasteful, for every ray of light from His divine presence points to the sin, the wrong, we have been guilty of. Satan exults over the errors and wrongs he has induced souls to commit, then he takes all these failures and sins and wrongs and makes the most of them. He rehearses them to the angels of God and taunts them with these weaknesses and failures. He is in every sense of the word an accuser of the brethren and exults over every sin and wrong God’s people are deceived and beguiled to commit. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 5

You, Brother Ball, have been engaged in this same work to quite an extent. You have taken the things which you have called wrongs, weaknesses which have appeared to you like errors in the ranks of Sabbath-keeping Adventists, and have brought them to the notice of the enemies of our faith, who were warring against that company whom angels of heaven were ministering unto and Jesus their advocate pleading their cause before His Father. He cries, “Spare them, Father, spare them, the purchase of My blood,” and lifts to His Father His wounded hands. You have been guilty before God of a great sin. You have been taking advantage of those things which grieve, which bring anguish upon the people of God as they see some of their numbers unconsecrated and frequently overcome by Satan. Instead of aiding in the work to help these erring souls get right, you have triumphantly made their errors conspicuous to those who hated them because they professed to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. You have made it very hard for those who were engaged in the work of saving the erring, hunting up the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 6

I was pointed back to the history of ancient Israel. For their disobedience and departure from God, He suffered them to be brought into close places, and adversity to come upon them, their enemies to make war with them, to humble them and lead them to seek God in their trouble and distress. “Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.” [Exodus 17:8.] This took place directly after the children of Israel had given themselves up to their rebellious murmurings and unjust, unreasonable complaints against their leaders whom God had qualified and appointed to lead His people through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 7

The Lord directed their course where there was no water purposely, to prove them, to see, after they had received so many evidences of His power, if they had learned to turn to Him in their affliction and had repented of their past rebellious murmurings against Him, by charging Moses and Aaron with selfish motives in bringing them from Egypt to kill them and their children with hunger, that they might be enriched with their possessions. In doing this they ascribed to man that which they had received unmistakable evidence was from God alone, whose power is unlimited. These wonderful manifestations of the power of God He would have them ascribe to Him alone, and magnify His name upon the earth. The Lord brought them over the same ground of trial repeatedly to prove them, to try them, if they had yet learned His dealings and repented of their sinful disobedience and rebellious murmurings. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 8

In Rephidim, when the people wanted for water, they were again proved, and again showed that they yet possessed an evil heart of unbelief, of murmuring, of rebellion, which revealed that it would not yet be safe to establish them in the land of Canaan, for if they would not glorify God in their trials and adversity in their travels through the wilderness to the Canaan in prospect, while God was continually giving them unmistakable evidence of His power, His care for them and His glory, they would not magnify His name and glorify Him when established in the land of Canaan surrounded with blessings and prosperity. Because the people thirsted for water they were provoked so that Moses feared for his life. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 9

When assailed by the Amalekites Moses gave Joshua directions to fight with their enemies while he would stand with the rod of God in his hand, with his hand raised toward heaven in the sight of the people, showing rebellious, murmuring Israel [that] their strength and power was in God. He was their might and the source of their strength. There was no power in that rod. God wrought through Moses. Moses had to receive all his strength from above. When Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. When Moses became weary, preparations were needful to keep his weary hands continually raised toward heaven. Aaron and Hur prepared a seat for Moses to sit upon, and then both engaged in holding up his weary hands until the going down of the sun. These men in thus doing shewed to Israel their work to sustain Moses in his arduous work, while he should receive the word from God to be spoken to them, also to shew Israel that God alone held their destiny in His hands, that He was their acknowledged leader. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 10

“And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of the people, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. ... For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” [Verses 14-16.] “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Egypt: how he met thee by the way, even all that were feeble behind thee when thou wast faint and weary: and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven: thou shalt not forget it.” [Deuteronomy 25:17-19.] 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 11

As the angel of God presented these facts in the travels and experience of the children of Israel, I was deeply impressed with the especial regard that God had for His people, notwithstanding their errors, their disobedience, and their rebellion. They were God’s chosen people that He had especially honored by coming down from His holy habitation upon Mount Sinai, and in majesty and glory and awful grandeur spoke the ten commandments in the audience of all the people, and wrote them with His own finger in the tables of stone. The Lord says of His people Israel, “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all people upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers.” [Deuteronomy 7:6-8.] 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 12

I was shown that those who are trying to obey God and purify their souls through obedience to the truth are God’s chosen people, modern Israel. God says of them through Peter, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” [1 Peter 2:9.] 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 13

As it was a crime for Amalek to take advantage of the children of Israel in their weakness, their weariness, and he annoyed them, perplexed them, discouraged them, so it was no small sin for you to be closely watching for to discover the weakness, the haltings, the errors, and sins of God’s afflicted people, and expose the same to their enemies. You were doing Satan’s work, not the work of God. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 14

Sabbath-keeping Adventists in Washington [N. H.] have been, many of them, very weak. They have been miserable representatives of the truth. They have not been an honor to the cause of present truth and the cause would have been better off without them. You have taken the unconsecrated lives of Sabbath-keepers as an excuse for your occupying the position of doubt and unbelief. It has also stood in your way to see that these unconsecrated ones were, some of them, professing strong faith in the visions, vindicating them when opposed and defending them with warmth. While at the same time they professed so much zeal, they were disregarding the teachings given through vision and were going directly contrary to them. In this respect they were stumbling blocks to Brother Ball, and were by their course bringing the visions into disrepute. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 15

Brother Ball, I was shown that you had a proud heart, and when you thought your writings at the Review office were slighted, your pride was touched and you commenced a warfare which has been like Paul's kicking against the pricks. You have joined hands with those who turn the truth of God into a lie. You have strengthened the hands of sinners, opposed the counsel of God against your own soul. You have been warring against that which you had no knowledge of. You have not known what work you were doing. I saw your wife wrestling with God in prayer, with her faith firmly grasping you and at the same time fixed upon the throne, pleading the never-failing promises of God. Her heart has ached as she has seen you persisting in your warfare against the truth. I was shown that you were doing this ignorantly, blinded by Satan. While engaged in this warfare you were not increasing in spirituality and devotion to God. You had not the witness that your ways pleased God. You had a zeal but not according to knowledge. You had no experience in my calling, had scarcely seen me, and had no knowledge of my work. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 16

You possess, Brother Ball, qualifications which would make you of special service in the church at Washington, or in any other church, were your talents devoted to the upbuilding of the cause of God. I saw your children were now in a state to be impressed with the truth, and Jesus was pleading for you, Brother Ball, “Spare him a little longer.” I was shown that if Brother Ball was converted to the truth, he would make a pillar in the church and could honor God by his influence, sanctified through the truth. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 17

I saw angels of mercy hovering about Brother Ball. I was shown that he was deceived greatly in the moral worth and standing before God of that class who have withdrawn from the body. A few honest ones are among them; these will be rescued, but the most of them have long been in heart unconsecrated, and the close testimonies have been in their way, a yoke of bondage to them. They have thrown off the yoke and retained their corrupt ways. God calls upon you to separate from them, cut loose from these whose delight it is to war against the truth of God. A little from this, their true character will be developed. They are of that class who loveth and maketh a lie. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 18

If your whole interest is in the truth and the preparatory work for this time, you will be sanctified through the truth and receive a fitness for immortality. You are in danger of being too exacting with your children, not as patient as is necessary. The thorough work of preparation must go on with all who profess the truth until we stand before the throne of God without fault, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. God will cleanse you if you will submit to the purifying process. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 19

I was shown the case of Brother William Farnsworth. He was shown me enshrouded in darkness, which darkness was not relieved by rays of light from Jesus. He did not seem sensible of his darkness, but was in a state of listless indifference, unfeeling and unconcerned. I enquired the cause of this much-to-be-dreaded condition, and was pointed back for years, and shown that Brother Farnsworth had not, since he embraced the truth, been sanctified through the truth. He has been selfish, gratified his appetite, his lustful passions, to the destruction of his own spirituality. I was shown that God had given light through the gifts placed in the church which would instruct, counsel, guide, reprove and warn. These testimonies which he has professed to believe were direct from God, he has not regarded or lived according unto. To disregard light is to reject it. The rejection of light leaves men captives, bound about by chains of darkness and unbelief. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 20

I was shown that you have increased your family without realizing the responsibility you were bringing upon yourself. It has been impossible for you to do justice by your companion or by your children. Your first wife ought not to have died, but you brought upon her cares and burdens which ended in the sacrifice of her life. You have, by increasing your family so rapidly, been kept in a state of poverty, and the mother who has been engaged in rearing the younger members of your family has not had a fair chance for her life. She has nursed her children under the most unfavorable circumstances. When heated over the cook stove, and a child in her arms almost all the time, she could not instruct them as she should and regulate their habits of eating and working. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 21

The result of eating food not the most healthy, and by violating the laws which God has established in our being, has brought disease and premature death upon the elder class of your children. Disease has been transmitted to your off-spring and the eating largely of flesh meats has increased the difficulty. The eating of pork has awakened and strengthened a most deadly humor in the system. Your offspring are robbed of vitality before they are born. You have not added to virtue knowledge, and your children have not been instructed how to preserve themselves in the best condition of health. Never should one morsel of swine’s flesh be placed upon your table. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 22

Your children have come up, instead of being brought up and educated to the end that they might become Christians. Your cattle have received in many respects better treatment than your children. Your wife now living has a hard lot. Her vitality is nearly exhausted. You have not done your duty to your children. You have left them to grow up in ignorance. [You] have not realized [that] if you took upon yourself the responsibility of bringing into the world so numerous a flock you were accountable in a great measure for their salvation. You cannot throw off this responsibility. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 23

You have robbed your children of their rights by not interesting yourself in their education and instructing them patiently, faithfully in regard to forming characters for heaven. Your course has destroyed the confidence of your children in you. You are exacting, overbearing, tyrannical, fret and scold and censure, wean the affections of your children from you. [You] treat them as though they had not just rights, but as though they were machines to turn in your hands according to your pleasure. You provoke them to wrath and often discourage them. You do not give them love and affection. Love begets love, affection begets affection. The spirit you manifest toward your children will be reflected back upon you. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 24

You are in a critical condition and have no realizing sense of it. It is impossible for an intemperate man to be a patient man. First temperance, then patience. You have so long lived for self and followed the imagination of your own heart that you cannot discern sacred things. Your lustful appetite has controlled you, your lustful passions have controlled you. The higher order of the mental organs have been weakened and controlled by the lower base organs. The animal propensities have been gaining strength. You have corrupted your ways before the Lord. You have given loose rein to your appetite and have not restrained the animal passions until you are debased in the sight of a holy God. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 25

When reason is left to be controlled by appetite, the high sense of sacred things is not discerned, the mind is debased, the affections are unsanctified. The heart testifies what is therein by the mouth and the acts. God has been displeased and dishonored by your conversation and deportment. Your words have not been select and well chosen, but low, vulgar conversation comes naturally to your lips in the presence of children and youth. Your influence in this respect has been bad. Your example has not been right, and you have stood directly in the way of your own children seeking the Lord, and the children of Sabbath-keepers in Washington [N. H.]. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 26

Your course in this respect cannot be too severely censured. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. For I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” [Matthew 12:34-37.] Your heart needs to be purified, cleansed, sanctified, through obedience of the truth. Nothing can save you but a thorough conversion, a true sense of your sinful ways, and a thorough transformation by the renewing of your mind. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 27

In your profession you have been very zealous to plead the necessity of not denying our faith by our works, and have made your faith an excuse for not granting your children the privilege of obtaining an education in even the common branches. Knowledge is what you need in regard to yourself, and you will yet have to see the necessity of obtaining [it]. Knowledge is what your children need, but do not have the privilege of obtaining. With this great lack, your children cannot be useful members of society and will be deficient in their religious education. A weighty responsibility rests at your door. You are shortening the life of your wife. How can she glorify God in her body and spirit, which is God’s? 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 28

God has given you light, brought knowledge direct to you which you have professed to believe came direct from Him, to deny your appetite. [You know] that the use of swine’s flesh was in disregard to His express commands, not because He wished to especially show His authority, but because its use was injurious to those who should eat it. The blood would become impure, humors and scrofula would corrupt the system, and the whole organism would suffer. Especially would the fine, sensitive nerves of the brain become enfeebled and so beclouded that sacred things would not be discerned, but placed upon the low level with common things. Light has come in regard to disease caused by using this gross article of food. Have you heeded the light? 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 29

You have gone directly contrary to the light God has been pleased to give in regard to the use of tobacco, yet the indulgence of your appetite has eclipsed the light given of heaven and you have made a god of this hurtful indulgence. It is your idol. You have bowed to this instead of to God, at the same time professing great faith in the visions and acting entirely contrary to them. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 30

You have not advanced one step in divine life for years, but have been growing weaker and weaker, darker and darker. You have felt sadly afflicted over the course Brother Ball has pursued in opposing the truth as he has done. You have ascribed the weak, discouraged state of the church to the opposition of Brother Ball. Brother Ball has been a great hindrance to the advancement of the cause of God in Washington, but the course you have pursued, Brother Farnsworth, who had professed to know the truth and to have an experience in the cause of God, has been a greater hindrance than Brother Ball. If you had stood in the counsel of God and been sanctified through the truth you professed to believe, Brother Ball would not have had all the doubts he has had. Brother Farnsworth’s position as a defender of the visions, has been a stumbling block to those who were not believing. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 31

I was shown that Brother Cyrus Farnsworth tried to stand up under the heavy burdens which the sad condition of the church brought upon him until he nearly fell under the weight he was bearing, and left for his life. I saw that God’s care was over Brother and Sister Farnsworth. If their faith was unwavering they would yet see the salvation of God in their own house and in the church. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 32

I was shown the case of dear Brother and Sister Mead. They had been passing through the dark waters, the billows had nearly gone over their heads, yet God loved them, and if they would only trust their ways to Him, He would bring them forth from the furnace of affliction purified. Brother Mead has looked upon the dark side, doubted whether he was a child of God, doubted his salvation. I saw that he should not labor too hard to believe, just trust in God as a child would confide in its parents. He worries too much, worries himself out of the arms of Jesus, and gives the enemy a chance to tempt and annoy him. God knows the feebleness of the body and of the mind, and will require no more of Brother Mead than with the requirement He will give him strength to perform. He has tried to be faithful [and] true to his profession. He has failed in his life in a number of things, all ignorantly. In regard to the discipline of his children [he] has considered it his duty to be severe and has carried this discipline to rigor, and has treated small offenses with too great a degree of severity. This has had an influence to wean in a degree the affection of the son somewhat from the father. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 33

During your sickness, Brother Mead, you have had a diseased imagination. Your nervous system has been all deranged and you have thought that your children did not feel for you and love you as they should, but this was the result of disease. Satan wished to destroy you and dishearten and discourage your poor children. But God has not laid this to your charge. Your children have had greater burdens to bear than many that are older than they, and they deserve careful discipline, judicious training mingled with sympathy, love, and great tenderness. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 34

The mother has had especial strength of God and wisdom to encourage and help her husband and yet bind her children to her heart and strengthen their affections for their father and mother and for one another. I saw that angels of mercy were hovering over your family although prospects looked so dark and foreboding. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 35

Those who have had bowels of compassion for Brother Mead will never have cause to regret it. Brother Mead is a child of God, beloved of Him. The depressed state of the church has been very detrimental to Brother Mead’s health. I saw Brother Mead looking at the dark side, distrustful of himself, looking down into the grave. He must not dwell upon these things, but look to Jesus, a Pattern that is unerring. He must encourage cheerfulness in God, courage in the Lord. Talk faith, talk hope, rest in God, and not feel that a severe, taxing effort is required on his part. All that God requires is simple trust—to drop into His arms with all his weakness, brokenness, and imperfectness—and Jesus will help the helpless, and strengthen and build up those who feel that they are very weakness itself. God will be glorified in your affliction through the patience, faith, and submission exemplified by you. O, this will prove the power of the truth we profess, its consolation when we need it, its support when every prop of an earthly nature, which has been a measurable support, is removed away. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 36

I was shown the case of Brother Stowell. He has placed himself in a condition of bondage that God did not call him to. God is not pleased with aged fathers placing their stewardship out of their hands into the hands of unconsecrated children, even if they profess the truth. But when these children are enemies to God, to place that which God has trusted to them to these unbelieving children, God is dishonored, for they have placed that which they should retain in the ranks of the Lord into the enemy’s ranks. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 37

Again, Brother Stowell has used tobacco and acted a part of deception, [and] would have his brethren think that he did not use this corrupting, hurtful indulgence. I saw that this sin has caused Brother Stowell to make no advancement in the divine life, a work he has to do in his advanced age to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Brother Stowell has loved the truth and has suffered for the truth’s sake. Now he should so estimate the eternal reward, the treasure in the heavens, the immortal inheritance, the crown of glory that is unfading, that he can cheerfully sacrifice the gratification of depraved appetite, let the consequences or suffering be ever so great, in order to accomplish the work of purification of the flesh and spirit. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 38

I was shown the daughter-in-law of Brother Stowell, the sister of Brother Mead. She is beloved of God, but held in servile bondage, fearing, trembling, desponding, doubting, very nervous. Now this sister should not feel that she must yield her will to a godless youth who has less years upon his head than herself. She should remember that her marriage does not destroy her individuality. God has claims upon her higher than any earthly claim. Christ has bought her with His own blood, she is not her own. She fails to put her entire trust in God and submits to yield her convictions, her conscience, to an overbearing, tyrannical man fired up by Satan when his satanic majesty can make it effectual to intimidate the trembling, shrinking soul who has so many times been thrown into agitation that her nervous system is torn to pieces and she [is] nearly a wreck. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 39

Is this the work of the Lord, that this sister should be in this state and God robbed of her service? No. Her marriage was a deception of the devil, yet now she should make the best of it, treat her husband with tenderness, make him as happy as she can and not violate her conscience, for if he remains in his rebellion this world is all the heaven he will have. But to deprive herself of the privilege of meetings to please and gratify an overbearing husband possessing the spirit of the dragon is not according to God’s will. God wants this trembling soul to flee to Him. He will be a covert to her; He will be like a great rock in a weary land. Only have faith, only trust, and He will strengthen and bless. All three of her children are susceptible of the influences of the truth and Spirit of God. Could these children be as favorably situated as many Sabbath-keeping children are, all would be converted and enlist in the army of the Lord. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 40

I was shown a young girl who had departed from God. She was enshrouded in darkness. Said the angel, “She did run well for a season, what did hinder her?” [Galatians 5:7.] I was pointed back and saw that it was a change of surroundings. She was surrounded with influences—youth like herself, filled with hilarity and glee, pride, love of the world. Had she regarded the words of Christ, she need not have yielded to the enemy. “Watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation.” [Mark 14:38.] Temptation may be all around us but this does not make it necessary that we should enter into temptation. The truth is worth everything. Its influence is not to degrade but to elevate, refine, purify, and exalt to immortality and the throne of God. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 41

Said the angel, “Will ye have Christ or the world?” Satan presents the world in its most alluring, flattering charms to poor mortals, and they gaze upon it, and its tinsel and glitter eclipses the glory of heaven, the immortal life which is as enduring as the throne of God. A life of peace, happiness, joy unspeakable which shall know nothing of sorrow, sadness, pain or death is sacrificed for a short lifetime of sin. All who will turn from the pleasures of earth and with Moses choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the world, will, with faithful Moses, receive the unfading crown of immortality and the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 42

The mother of this girl has been at different times susceptible to the influences of the truth, but she has soon lost the impression through indecision. She lacks decision of character, is too vacillating, affected too much by the influence of unbelievers. She must encourage decision, fortitude, steadiness of purpose which will not be swerved to the right or left by circumstances. She must not be in a state of such vacillation. If she does not reform in this respect she will be easily ensnared, taken captive by Satan at his will. She will have to possess perseverance and firmness in the work of overcoming or she will be overcome and lose her soul. The work of salvation is not child’s play to be taken hold of at will and let alone at pleasure. It is the steady purpose, the untiring effort, that will gain the victory at last. It is he that endureth to the end that shall be saved. It is they who by patient continuance in well doing shall have eternal life and the immortal reward. If this dear sister had been true to her convictions and possessed steadiness of purpose she might have been the means of exerting a saving influence in her family over her husband and been a special help to her daughter. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 43

All who are engaged in this warfare with Satan and his host have a close work before them. They must not be as impressible as wax that the fire can melt into any form. They must endure hardness as faithful soldiers, stand at their post, and be true every time. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 44

God’s Spirit is striving with the entire family. He will save them if they are willing to be saved in God’s appointed way. Now is the hour of probation, now is the day of salvation. Now, now is God’s time. In Christ’s stead we beseech them to become reconciled to God while they may, and in humility with fear and trembling work out their salvation. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 45

I was shown that it was the work of Satan to keep the church in a state of insensibility that the youth may be secured in his own ranks. I saw that the youth were susceptible of the influence of the Spirit of truth. If the parents would consecrate themselves to God, and labor with interest for the conversion of their children, God would reveal Himself to them and magnify His name among them. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 46

I was shown the case of Brother James Farnsworth, that Satan had been fastening his bands about him and leading him away from God and his brethren. Brother Ball has had an influence to greatly darken his understanding with his unbelief. I was pointed back and shown that the wisest course was not pursued in the case of Brother James. There was not sufficient reason why Brother James should have been left out of the church. He should have been encouraged, even urged, to unite with his brethren in church capacity. He was in a more fit state to come into the church than several who were united with the church. Brother James did not understand things clearly and the enemy used this misunderstanding to the injury of Brother James. God, who seeth hearts, has been better pleased with the life and deportment of Brother James than some of those who were united with the church. It is the Lord’s will that Brother James come close to his brethren, be a strength unto them and they a strength unto him. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 47

Brother James’ wife can be reached by the truth. Her deportment in many respects is not as questionable as some who profess to believe all the truth, yet she must not look at the failures and wrongs of those who profess better things, but earnestly inquire, What is truth? She can exert an influence for good in connection with her companion. These souls sanctified through the truth can in the strength of God be pillars in the church and have a saving influence upon others. These dear souls are accountable to God for the influence they exert. They either gather with Christ or scatter abroad. God requires the weight of their influence on the side of truth in His cause. Jesus has bought them by His own blood. They are not their own, for they have been bought with a price, therefore the work is before them to glorify God in their bodies and spirits which are God’s. We are doing up work for eternity. Every day, every hour, is of the highest importance that they be employed in laying up treasure in heaven and securing the eternal weight of glory. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 48

*****

Brother Cyrus, I commit this to you to read it to such members of the church collected together which you deem would use it discreetly. Don’t permit the children to be present. Keep the copy in your own hands. Return me a copy of the same. Send to our address when it is convenient. 1LtMs, Ms 2, 1868, par. 49