Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 14 (1899)

Lt 152, 1899

Morse, G. W.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

October 2, 1899

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother Morse:

I am awaken at twelve o’clock. In the night season I have been conversing with you. You were stating many things. I listened to your words with sorrow, and then I said, Brother Morse, when I was under the painful necessity of speaking to you words distinct and plain to be understood, do you think it did not cost me great pain of heart? If you had not needed these words, I need not have spoken them. I presented the matter to you as I did for the reason that you could not discern the true phase of the question. You had mapped out the very position you thought yourself and your wife capable of filling, and you aspired and planned to do this work—the desire of your heart. You supposed this was the conviction of the Spirit of God, but if your spiritual eyesight had been perfect, you would have seen that the train of thought born of desire to be in such a position was born of self-planning. The Lord did not plan with you. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 1

There are tendencies which are the birthright of self-confidence. We should all be very grateful that there is One who is acquainted with every phase of the human character. Character-building is a very important work. One may suppose that he has qualifications for a certain position and work, and because he does not see the matter as God views it, in all respects, he feels deeply injured because he cannot have his own way and carry out his own plans. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 2

The Lord sees all in regard to means and ways and qualifications. That which would pass along tolerably well at the present moment would lead you to entertain the supposition that you could be the right man in the right place, able to do a certain work in connection with other individuals, to accomplish the work required without friction, and to fall into every line to help to compose a harmonious whole. The Lord sees every phase of the matter from the beginning to end, in its various developments. He sees that if it were established according to the ideas and supposed convictions of human judgment, the consequences would not be sound and healthful, producing the best results for the individual worker and those connected with him in the work. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 3

Tendencies may be faintly developed at first, but as circumstances occur, developments will be made which are not calculated to make the impression upon human minds that is for the best, the most healthful interest of the institution. This influence is traceable to the birthright of the individual, which has been considered by him as a benefit which he must congratulate himself on possessing. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 4

The experience of the past years you have often referred to as an assurance that your plans and aspirations were as in the mind and will of God. But the practical test is upon you just now. The Lord would reveal that all your plans and devising, which you suppose will place yourself and your wife in a desirable position, are too strongly tinctured with selfishness to be of heavenly birth. You are working to choose a position for yourself rather than submit your will to the Lord to be placed where He sees it will be for the best good of all with whom you are connected. You are now being tested. The tendencies and preferences of every man cannot always be indulged; for there would be constant danger that results would follow that would be an injury to the man himself and to those with whom he was associated in the work. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 5

God understands whether you are adapted to the situation you have longed to fill, and He says that the result would not be good and saving, either for you or for others. No greater evidence of your being mistaken in your ideas as to your position in the sanitarium could I have had than the development when the message came to you that you were not fit for the place, neither was your wife the best qualified healthwise or in special traits of character to be connected with the management of the sanitarium. It involves a great deal. Tact and ingenuity are required. One will have to be constantly on the alert to meet prejudice and to overcome the difficulties that any circumstances may create. Your management would bring a sword, and not peace. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 6

You, my brother, do not discern but that you have the very best gifts for the place. As to your experience, I cannot deal with that. I have only to say that the sanitarium is not the best place for yourself or your wife. In regard to the minute particulars of your past life, I have nothing to say now. The present moment requires action. Something must be done. The trial must be made of men for the place. Those who stand as managers in the sanitarium must prosecute their mission as those who realize that they must give account to God as manifest in His sight. Their labor brings them in connection with others who also carry heavy burdens and who daily need spiritual enlightenment. The blessed fruits of the gospel tree are to be manifested in most thorough consecration, in holy lives. Every true worker for the Master is to be as a city set on an hill, that cannot be hid. But if a man places himself in a prominent position, the Lord will not justify the man. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 7

There is abundant work you can do for the Master. Anywhere, everywhere, there is work that will bring you far less friction than the place which you think yourself adapted to fill. The Lord, in his great grace and love and care for you has revealed that you would not be an all-round man or your wife an all-round woman in the sanitarium. You would not exert the very influence required for the situation. Others could bear the stress and strain, and would not feel the burden as you have felt it, in such a degree as to greatly sympathize with yourself because you work so hard. There are many things you could do more easily than this, and without so great and grave consequences. At the sanitarium all classes of people have to be met, and it needs an all-sided, all-round man who can fit in without wearing the life away and sacrificing peace to carry forward the work. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 8

Wherever you may be, let your light shine. You need not try hard to make it shine. All you need do is to humble your heart before God, and by earnest faith receive the love of God into the soul. Then a natural simplicity will be revealed, and the truth will shine forth in clear, distinct rays. You will shine; there will be a blessed fellowship of Christian love, in words, in earnest prayer, in good works. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 9

The Lord has given to every man his work. If he is placed among the irreligious, he may feel that this is not his chosen position, but if in the providence of God he is placed there, there he is to live the truth in all humility and meekness, having faith in God, and in word, in spirit, in action, lifting up the standard of the gospel everywhere. Thus his light is shining. If his motives, words, or actions are misunderstood, misrepresented, he takes no offense, but pursues the even tenor of his way. He will do righteousness and sin not. He is kind and thoughtful, humble in his opinion of himself, always trusting the mercy and love of God. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 10

That man may have no special call to preach, but he is ministering every day of his life. He is holding firmly the standard of righteousness. The inner life shines forth outwardly, and he stills the strife of tongues. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 11

To profess to believe the Word of God is one thing, to live the Word of God is another thing. When we live the Word, self will not be struggling for recognition. Self is hid with Christ in God. The genuine Christian is working out his own salvation with fear and trembling. This fear is the result of sanctification of the Spirit. He makes close examination of self, lest he shall deny his Lord by word, spirit, or gesture. He will see and choose God’s ways and God’s will, leaning upon the Lord Jesus. Such a Christian is unconsciously carrying forward a vast, sublime experiment before the world, before angels, and before men. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 12

My brother whom I love in the Lord, I have to say to you, Do not cherish so large confidence in G. W. Morse. Humble yourself, and you will have a deeper piety and a more pure and holy activity. You will not be continually stretching yourself beyond your measure. Christian experience will be found pure and unadulterated when it puts self out of sight. It is not seeking the highest place. This is the experience which you need. While you may increase in faith, in hope and knowledge, let self be humbled, and the most sound and valuable traits of character will then be cultivated. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 13

The narrow horizon of our piety as laborers together with God needs to be enlarged. We need to be vitalized. Then in walking humbly with God we shall read His Word with a sense of the sacredness of the truths, privileges, and duties which we little now suspect to be found in our Bibles. There is a great work to be done for all the people of God. Their experience is to be like that of Isaiah. A coal taken from the altar must be placed upon their lips. Then they are clean, and words of self-exaltation will not be spoken. There will be a decided effort, not for rivalry, not to exalt self, but to harmonize with others, to reveal that we individually wear the yoke of Christ. We heed the words of Christ, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:29, 30.] Self sinks out of sight, and Christ is exalted. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 14

We want now a larger, richer experience, an experience which is not imagination, not born of self, an experience in reverentially learning of Christ His humility. We need to learn what it means to humble self and wear the yoke of Christ and lift His burdens. Every converted soul is to reveal, not the attributes of self, but the attributes of the One who was meek and lowly in heart. This is essential for individual piety. The gospel must be lived. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 15

My brother, I have the tenderest sympathy for you because you need it. You need the peace of Christ. Your affections and your faith must entwine about Christ. You need to be converted, that you may not let self appear, but beholding Christ be changed into His image. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 16

You must not thrust yourself, your wife, your son, so thoroughly upon your own notice. There is need of a change in your thoughts, and then your feelings will change. You will not inhale the atmosphere tainted with your own breathings, but that atmosphere which is purified, refined, without any taint of selfishness. Then you will reveal that the windows of your soul are opened heavenward, and the pure, health-reviving Spirit of heaven is creating an atmosphere which is a savor of life unto life. Self will be put out of sight. You need, O so much, and your wife and your son need, the deeper conversion, the attainment of a living faith in Christ Jesus. You need the abiding sense of the forgiveness of sins through His blessed atonement. You need entire sanctification through the Holy Spirit. This work can never be wrought out by a substitute. Each must have an individual experience. Then we shall be God’s witnesses. 14LtMs, Lt 152, 1899, par. 17