Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 9 (1894)

Lt 74, 1894

Rousseau, Brother and Sister

Williams Street, Granville, Australia

April 19, 1894

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother and Sister Rousseau:

I have been through the labor of getting off another American mail. As soon as I can do so, I will send you a copy of some things in which you will be interested. The mail has been a severe tax upon me, and now I must again take up the work of writing upon the life of Christ. We have now thirteen in our family, as Brother and Sister Lawrence remain here by invitation until it is decided where they are to locate, whether in Gisborne or on the school premises, if the vexed question of the school location can itself be decided. May the Lord direct is our prayer. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 1

We have been busy, trying to settle, and yet are still unsettled, because there is a constant flow of visitors; much of the time there are several at the table, and one or two to be provided with lodging for the night, after our large family has been cared for. So our time has been filled up with settling and rearranging for some one to be entertained. Maude and May have to sleep on a spring cot in the dining room, and take up their bed in the morning and set it up on the back veranda against the house. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 2

We are running over full, but when people come we must make a place for them. I feel sorry for Maude, for she had no idea for cooking for such a family as this; but it has come around just as it has, and we must accept the situation gracefully. However, I can but feel a little anxious as to whether we are to have it this way continually. If the tide of visitors continues, we shall have to locate somewhere off the railroad line, for I must have retirement if I undertake to write on The Life of Christ. We have just read a letter from Elder Olsen, urging that The Life of Christ be undertaken at once, and be completed before we leave for Africa. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 3

Dear Brother and Sister Rousseau, I am now prepared to send you the matter which I promised before leaving Melbourne. The communications need no comment. You both have a decided interest in these matters, and I wish you each individually to know the contents of these testimonies. I desire you both to read them carefully and prayerfully. It is not according to the light given me to conceal from one that which I would open to the other. You are one, and as such I present this matter to you. I should not be fulfilling my duty should I do otherwise. I love and respect you both, and the light given me of God is that you should love each other. You have both had trials to bear for each other; neither of you has reason to feel that your own course has been faultless. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 4

At times in the past Brother Rousseau has expressed the expectation that his wife would do this and that, which she was not able to do and preserve her health. Here he has erred, and Sister Rousseau’s physical suffering has been largely due to this, but not wholly; there are other causes. Wrong has been committed ignorantly. The influence of the truth upon the human heart is to refine, elevate, and ennoble, and the mind and heart will regulate all matters. The Lord God of Israel is to be our fear and our dread. We should fear to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. But light is shining, the Lord is your helper. I do want you both to be happy in the love of God. Be kind, tender, thoughtful to each other. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 5

Now as I mail these communications, I lay down my burden. There will be reasoning in regard to them, and it may be that the imagination which has been so largely cultivated will put its own coloring upon them, but this is not safe, for the sure result will follow as in the past, exaggerated impressions will be made on other minds of the same character. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 6

The Lord will work wonderfully to heal soul and body if you will seek Him with all the heart. You will find Him to be a present help in every time of need. But you do not want to retain one vestige of the attributes of Satan. Turn your attention from self to Jesus. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” [John 1:29.] My dear sister, do not keep your mind upon yourself, and grow weak in moral power. Look to Jesus and live. Do not permit your mind to be ensnared by the enemy through any of his devices. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 7

The principles and motives which the Lord is presenting to you, you have accustomed yourself to resist, and in doing this you have been acquiring the habit of resisting all that He ever will bring to bear upon you. You have deceived yourself strangely, and when I left Melbourne I could but hope and pray that you would have your eyes anointed with the heavenly eyesalve, that you might see all things clearly. The Lord will make your influence good and true if you will accept the light which He has given me for you, and will practice the principles set before you. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 8

The devil has come down in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time in which to harm and disorganize and destroy. Every soul that is overcoming his temptations, obtaining victories through the grace given of God, increases his determination to work with intensity malignant beyond our power to comprehend. He will work even upon the minds of those who know the truth, that through his subtlety they may be led to cherish elements that will result in resistance of Christ. The power of satanic agencies is waxing stronger and stronger, testifying that we are fast approaching the last phase of the controversy between the Prince of heaven and the prince of the power of darkness. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 9

The great day of God is nigh upon us, when it will be demonstrated that the righteous displeasure of God will be none the less terrible because of the long forbearance exercised for centuries. Instead of appreciating the goodness and mercy of God, men have made his forbearance an excuse for going into deeper and still more marked transgression, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. May the Lord grant you of His free grace day by day, that you may be refined, purified, ennobled, fitted for an inheritance among the saints in light. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 10

April 20

Dear Sister Rousseau: I have received the dress and your letter in reference to it. The dress fits well. The sleeves are a perfect fit. The skirt has more fullness in the back than I would have had, but I shall not change it. I am much pleased with the pattern; it will be of much service to me. I request Brother Rousseau to pay you one pound for your work on the dress, and if you can find a yard and a half of the same goods, or something like it, please purchase it for me. Coarser material at three shillings a yard will answer the purpose. You can send it to me when someone comes. He [Brother Rousseau] may pay for that also, and charge both to me or draw from the Echo office on my account. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 11

My dear sister, I do not blame you at all in regard to the dress. I made a mistake in leaving it for you to do when you were so hurried. I did this because there are so few dressmakers who can fit me, and I thought it would be a burden to have a stranger working over me. I thank you most heartily for what you have done, and should not be deterred from soliciting your skillful labor because of this mistake. I need not less than two pairs of sleeves for garments in which the sleeves are badly worn, so I shall not take to pieces the sleeves already made. Carrie Hickox can let me have cloth enough for one upper, and I have enough for the under part, and that will make a sleeve to match the one already made. So do not vex your soul over this matter. It will be alright. Bear in mind, I shall insist on your being paid for what you have done on this dress, and I thank you for doing it for me. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 12

In love. 9LtMs, Lt 74, 1894, par. 13