Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 20 (1905)

Lt 301, 1905

Belden, F. E.

“Elmshaven,” St. Helena, California

October 20, 1905

Portions of this letter are published in 3SM 63; 5MR 418-422. +^Note

Frank Belden

My Dear Nephew,—

You may think that I have lost all interest in you, but I have not. And I shall not so long as I remember your dying mother’s charge to have a care for you, lest you become careless and forget that you have a heaven to win and a hell to shun. She said, “Keep it before Frank and Ella and Lillie and Charlie and Byron that I want them to love the Lord Jesus and at last meet me in heaven.” I have often thought of this charge. If I can, I will find it as it was written then and send it to you. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 1

I want to tell you, Frank, that the very first thing you must do is to follow the following scriptures: 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 2

“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” [1 Corinthians 5:6-8.] 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 3

“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more the things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” [1 Corinthians 6:1-9.] 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 4

Will you consider, Frank, that you have known what it means to feel the moving of the Holy Spirit upon your heart, before you had educated yourself to criticize, to find fault, to accuse, to rail against your brethren. When I consider what you might have been, had you improved your God-given powers, had you striven to be kind and pure and unselfish, exerting a spiritual influence and increasing in stability and good works, my heart aches! Had you set a Christlike example, many souls would have been helped in following it. Who can estimate what a good work you might have done had you followed without deviation the instruction given in the teachings of Christ? You have left off to be wise and to do good. But I have hope that you will see yourself as you are and make diligent efforts to counterwork your past influence. I have hope that you will enter the narrow way and pass through the gate that leads unto eternal life. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 5

You may blame me for not reading your package of writings. I did not read them, neither did I read the letters that Dr. Kellogg sent. I had a message of stern rebuke for the publishing house, and I knew that if I read the communications sent to me, later on, when the testimony came out, you and Dr. Kellogg would be tempted to say, “I gave her that inspiration.” 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 6

I am sorry that men whom God has honored have separated themselves so far from the Saviour that [they] see Him not by faith. A false faith is very talkative. Those who have such a faith, when a warning is given them, say, “Somebody has told Sister White.” After working for such ones for a certain length of time, I am instructed to avoid connection with them. The warning is given me, “Your letters are not safe in their hands.” 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 7

Men say, “Someone has told Sister White.” Yes, someone has told me—One who never makes a mistake. He has opened before me the perils threatening souls. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 8

I send the testimonies to those for whom they are given. There are those who turn away their ears from hearing the truth, making statements which show that they have no faith in the message sent them to save them from becoming the sport of Satan’s temptations. They refuse to change their wrong course of action and follow steadily on in the wrong path. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 9

If you have a desire for the salvation of your soul, you should now seek to know the Lord. The only remedy for sin is to come to the cross of Calvary in genuine repentance and humiliation. I call upon you to repent while pardon can still be secured. A little longer, and it will be forever too late. A little longer, and unrepentant sinners will look upon Him whom they have pierced, but they will look hopelessly, mourning because they refused to accept Him as their Redeemer. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 10

This, says Christ, is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. This is the thing that will decide the question with every soul. Is he a partaker of the divine nature? Has he the spirit of Christ? Does he indeed know that his sins are forgiven, that he is reconciled to God? Christ is the sinner’s only hope. To those who sincerely repent, God will give an understanding of His will. He hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 11

If you are saved from sin you must have an experience altogether different from that which you now have. God hath shined in our hearts to give what? A knowledge higher, greater, and infinitely more ennobling than the knowledge that this world gives. When church members have this knowledge, their practice will be of a character to recommend their faith. By a well-ordered life and godly conversation, they will reveal Christ. There will be no lawsuits between neighbors or brothers. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 12

I call upon you in the name of Christ to withdraw the suit that you have begun and never bring another into court. God forbids you thus to dishonor His name. You have had great light and many opportunities, and you cannot afford to unite with worldlings and follow their methods. Remember that the Lord will treat you according to the stand that you take in this life. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 13

I plead with you to turn to the Lord before it is too late. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, that His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” “But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against Me.” [Hosea 6:3-7.] 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 14

These words apply to those who today have placed themselves in opposition to God to work contrary to His will and His purpose. Our works are going before us into judgment, and we shall stand or fall for our individual selves. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 15

My dear nephew, I tell you solemnly that if you take the action which you now purpose to take, you will never recover from the result of it. If you open before the world the wrongs that you suppose your brethren have done you, there will be some things that will have to be said on the other side. I have a caution to give you. In regard to the case of those who shared large responsibilities with you in the Review and Herald, and who have turned to be enemies of the work, you will not wish to hear the verdict that shall be passed upon them when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened and every man shall be judged according to the things written in the books. I want to save you from following a course that would link you up with those who have linked themselves up with fallen angels, to do all the harm they possibly can to those who love God, and who, under great difficulty, are striving to proclaim present truth to the world. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 16

Those against whom you bring your charges know that I have not approved of their manner of dealing with you, and that I have reproved them for their unfeeling management of your case. There are those who have not acted honorably. They have not done as they would be done by. But because of this, should you, in the face of the warnings given, move so manifestly against the instruction given? I beg of you not to cut yourself off from the confidence of your brethren and from taking a part in the publishing work. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 17

I would rather share your loss than to have you push this matter through to the injury of your soul, giving Satan an opportunity to present your case before unbelievers in a most ridiculous light and to hold up the office of publication in a disparaging light. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 18

Do you not remember, Frank, how well your mother loved the truth that we now hold so dear? At the beginning of our experience, she worked as a hired girl for a dollar and a half a week and gave her earnings to Brother Bates to enable him to make his first visit into Vermont to proclaim the first, second, and third angels’ messages. In order to get the truth before others, she was willing to make any and every sacrifice. She accompanied me in all my first labors in the cause and was as true to her work as the needle to the pole. Shall she be deprived of the joy of meeting you in the world to come? 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 19

For your mother’s sake, Frank, take this case out of the lawyers’ hands. It seems awful to me to think that you will go directly contrary to the plain word of God and will open to the world your cruel work against God’s commandment-keeping people. If this action of yours were to tell only against those who have done injustice, the harm would not be so far reaching; but can you not see that it will arouse prejudice against God’s people as a body? Thus you will bruise and wound Christ in the person of His saints and cause Satan to exult because through you he could work against God’s people and against His institutions, doing them great harm. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 20

Act your part as a man, as a true Christian. Remember that in the books of heaven a record is kept of every act. Do not allow Satan and his angels to hold a jubilee because Frank Belden, my nephew, who has composed many gospel songs, has so backslidden as to bring into worldly courts a case against God’s people. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 21

That God may help you to live henceforth in such a way as to honor Him, and give to the world an evidence of true conversion, is my prayer in your behalf. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 22

Your Aunt. 20LtMs, Lt 301, 1905, par. 23