Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 25 (1910 - 1915)

Lt 100, 1910

Rumbough, Martha

St. Helena, California

October 5, 1910

Previously unpublished.

Mrs. Martha Rumbough
Asheville, North Carolina

Dear Sister Rumbough:

Your letter of September 29 was received and read with interest. I was glad to hear from you and shall be pleased to keep up a correspondence with you. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 1

Last Sabbath I spoke in the chapel at the sanitarium. The sanitarium church and the management of the institution have enlarged the chapel in order to accommodate the increasing number of those attending the services. As enlarged, the chapel will accommodate about two hundred. Last Sabbath there was a good congregation. I spoke for about forty-five minutes. My voice was strong enough to be heard by all in the building, and I could have spoken longer. But I knew that this would not be prudent. Recently I have suffered much with a pain in my left side, and I made this speaking at the sanitarium a test of my strength. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 2

Since returning from the Berkeley camp-meeting, I have attended a meeting at the Pacific Union College. Whenever you can come this way, we shall be very much pleased to see you, and we shall want you to see this school. We greatly appreciate this school farm in the mountains. The purchase of it was a wise step. A few days ago the school opened with an attendance of ninety-eight students, and since then the number has increased to one hundred and twenty. The teachers and students are now putting up a building which next year will be used as the girls’ dormitory. This winter the boys will use it, and during the term it will be finished off inside. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 3

It is true that there is still a debt on the school, but when we have done the best we can, we must wait patiently till the Lord sets in operation some means of lifting us out of debt. We shall not worry, but be grateful that we have secured a school farm so far out of the cities. Everything in the cities is in confusion. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 4

I am glad that you have bought the school farm at Naples as a training school for Christian workers. You are investing your means in a righteous cause. The Lord will recognize and reward your liberality. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 5

To those who are starting out in this new work, I would say, Walk humbly with God. Some of you have preconceived opinions and plans that are not to be carried out in the school. Counsel together, and let all who shall unite in this enterprise show by lives of prudence that they are sanctified through the grace of Christ, partakers of the divine nature, daily escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 6

Let every man and woman remember that Christ is our Intercessor. He came to our world to suffer and die to make it possible, through His life of obedience in humanity, for human beings also to live lives of obedience. Every energy of the being is to be used in God’s service. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 7

The one who repents of his sins and is converted is not to rest in self-confidence. He is safe only as he devotes himself heart and soul to the work of God. Let men and women work as Christ has given them an example, developing a Christlike character by doing all they possibly can in the service of the Redeemer. Never are they to swerve from the narrow way cast up for the ransomed of the Lord. They are to suffer, if need be, rather than yield to Satan’s claims and demand. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 8

By the exercise of intelligent faith, by the appropriation of the Savior’s merits, which we have the right to claim, we, erring human beings, may become laborers together with God. And if we are workers together with God, we shall see of His salvation. We shall be recognized as the Lord’s servants, through whom He will communicate His eternal, life-giving principles to enlighten those who are in the darkness of error. We shall be enabled to speak words of truth that will bring souls to an understanding of God’s Word. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 9

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] Oh, how many times I have thought of how the Son of God veiled His divinity with humanity, and came to this earth to labor and suffer and die, in order to make it possible for fallen man to become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Only think of the sacrifice that the Father made in sending His Son from the heavenly courts to this earth. Christ consented to come to the fallen world as a minister of righteousness for the saving of souls. He assumed humanity that He might give men and women a perfect pattern, that He might convince them of the possibility of their uniting with Him in His divine work, through grace becoming one with Him in God. He laid off His royal robe and kingly crown, turned from the glory of heaven and the homage of the heavenly host, and came to this world to be an example of suffering. And at the end of a life devoted to blessing and uplifting mankind, He met a most cruel death on the cross. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 10

I have often thought of how the cup trembled in the hand of Christ. Lucifer mocked Christ in His supreme agony; but in this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the Sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it with the assurance of the Father’s love. He came to give power to the divine-human Sufferer. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that his death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdoms of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 11

The Saviour became man’s substitute and surety. In our behalf He bore the shame of being treated as unjust. Without having one sin proven against Him, He submitted to the most shameful of all deaths—death by crucifixion. When Pilate was examining Christ, he declared, “I find no fault in Him.” [John 19:4.] “Art Thou a king then?” he asked the Saviour. Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in Him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 12

“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote Him with their hands. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 13

“Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe: And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 14

“When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye Him, and crucify Him; for I find no fault in Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” [John 18:37-19:7.] 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 15

Read the whole of the nineteenth chapter of John. This chapter is of special consequence to every one who claims to believe in Christ. It has been so vividly brought before me that I wish it might be read in all our churches. There are in our churches some who need to have this chapter and the previous one speak to their hearts. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 16

The record of Christ’s suffering and death has been left us to strengthen those who, at the hands of wicked men, suffer for their faith. Christ died on the cross to enable very follower of His to keep the faith. Those who hold fast the faith will be given the righteousness of Christ. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 17

Study the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke. This is a wonderful chapter. Praise the Lord God of heaven that He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save the sinful race. Every one who will repent and be converted will receive the gift of salvation. This the Saviour has made possible through suffering the penalty of death. All who come to the Father through faith in Christ, laying hold of the Saviour by faith, and following His example, will receive the assurance of the forgiveness of their sins. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus make it possible for every soul to be sanctified through a belief of the truth. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 18

“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me.” [John 5:39.] We believe in Christ, and every enterprise that we enter upon, every school or sanitarium that we establish, is to be conducted along the lines that He has laid down. No departure from Christ’s teachings is to be passed over indifferently. He gave His precious life to save souls who are perishing for need of a Saviour. O that it were in the hearts of all who have heard and received the words of truth to live the truth as it is in Jesus. All who take part in the work of the Lord are to be lead and guided by Him. Every human ambition is to be merged in Christ. Our trust is to be in the One who is head over all things. The cross must occupy the central place; for “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 19

You ask for a copy of the testimony given me while in Asheville, in May, 1909. My son tells me that he sent you copies of some things that I wrote then. Was there another? If so, we shall look for it. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 20

Your sister in Christ. 25LtMs, Lt 100, 1910, par. 21