Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Lt 15, 1889

Burke, Dr.

Battle Creek, Michigan

December 20, 1889

Portions of this letter are published in 2MR 30.

Dear Brother:

I am sad as I read your letter both for Dr. M. G. Kellogg and for E. P. Daniels. I am so glad you wrote me what you did, for it relieved my mind of a burden. In regard to E. P. Daniels, I feel sorry for him. I have written to him ever since I was in Europe, warning and counseling and entreating him to avoid the course which he has been pursuing, but these letters annoy him, and all reproofs exasperate him. Then if I do not speak that which I know is truth in his case, he says, “I am all right. Sister White does not say I am wrong. She approves of my course. She calls me her boy.” 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 1

I cannot feel that the man is altogether to blame. I am confident that [there were] those who knew the course he was pursuing in the matters at Healdsburg and in the mining stock, preaching mining stock in the place of preaching the Word, being in connection with God, instant in season and out of season, watching for souls as those who must give an account. Notwithstanding his fitful, changeable character, his brethren have made altogether too much of him, and their words and their deportment have been, “We cannot have a revival in the church without Elder Daniels.” Others have hurt him greatly. It has opened the door to temptation; it has not closed the door to the inroads of evil. Their praise, their flattery, [and] their putting into his hands money to use unwisely have not thrown around him a shield. It has imparted to him a measure of artificial importance. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 2

He has received credentials and carried them when he was at the same time serving his own selfish interests far more than the cause of God, and this has given him the confidence and influence which is a well-known fact by the enemy of God and man. All the smartness, [and] all the capability the man possesses, unsanctified by divine grace, entail upon their unhappy possessor evils that neither he nor the church discern. Christians are always exposed to temptations. The net snares of Satan are set for his feet, and even a moderate degree of prosperity in worldly things, acquired in any way that God cannot approve, is endangering the man’s soul; it is placing him where he will not see the necessity of learning the lessons so essential for him to learn—prudence, wisdom, and righteousness, in handling money—[so] that he will not give in his example and the example of his children an influence entirely contrary to the lessons and practices of Jesus Christ. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 3

Elder E. P. Daniels’ only safety is in drawing largely from Jesus Christ the exceeding riches of the grace of Christ. Elder Daniels’ wealth and riches are in loving God with all his heart and keeping His fear constantly before him, the love of Christ constraining him to be low at the feet of Jesus, to bear the cross daily, avoiding all things in eating and in drinking that are of the stimulating character. From all fermented drinks he should abstain, from all tea, coffee, and the eating largely of flesh meats. He must bring Elder E. P. Daniels under control if he would walk closely and abidingly with God, employing his God-given powers to His service, using the means that he acquires honorably as a faithful steward. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 4

[With] his eye single to the glory of God, making Jesus his pattern, he will even now be able to recover himself from the snare of Satan. He must feel that he is in the world, but not of the world. He must by his own example and influence, rather than by words, show that there is a wide demarcation between God’s people and the world. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 5

The more visibly the spirit and the standard that govern the people of God are removed from the worldly standard, the more spirituality will be the sure result. There will be a following [of] Jesus, the Pattern; there will be less sinful conformity to customs and practices of the world. Mingling with the world will be after Christ’s order to do them good, to save perishing souls. The jesting, the joking, the comical remarks, the witty speeches to keep men who know not the truth in a scream of laughter are not a savor of life unto life, but of death unto death. The Lord Jesus Christ will be our helper and be our trust. In His name we may carry forward His work, and He will reveal Himself like a mighty wonder-working God. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 6

When a minister becomes so self-sufficient that no power on earth will influence him to keep him balanced, then be afraid of him. He is just as Satan was in the heavenly courts. He can give no greater evidence that God has forsaken him than to manifest such a spirit. Where is the esteem of others better than themselves? Where is the respecting of the appointed authority of the church? 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 7

The divine and human natures have united in Christ. The divine and human must be combined in every soul that shall gain eternal life. Human nature is fallen, helpless, degraded. The divine power is brought to man by the Mighty Helper to combine with human effort that man, through the grace bestowed upon him, might be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 8

Never did the church of God need daily, divine enlightenment more than at this present, important period of time. The days in which we live are solemn and fearful; the Spirit of God is surely, but gradually, being withdrawn from the earth and from man. The plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The signs in casualties by sea and by land, the fire and the floods that are coming in towns and cities, are portentous. They forecast the shadows of approaching events of the greatest magnitude. The elements of evil are combining their forces and consolidating for vigorous resistance to God and the truth. The enemy has already determined his course of action. The man of sin in popery is increasing in power. Infidelity is extending, and sectarianism, formalism, and sin are abounding. God is dishonored; Christ rejected. Soul destroying doctrines, specious errors, are intruding themselves everywhere. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 9

Satan is a masterworker and he is laying his plans, disguised under a pretense of godliness, to take the world captive. His agents are numerous and disguised, subtle and persevering and untiring, resisting every restraining influence and employing every instrumentality and working with a promptitude and energy that are marvelous. The children of the world are showing themselves wiser than the children of the light. They rush into every new opening, while our own people are contemplating moderately and act as if blindfolded. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 10

Men are placed in important positions who are unfitted for the trust. They see with narrow vision and do not understand or move in the open providence of God. Oh, that the church would know wherein lies their power and rise to their true dignity and responsibility in accordance with the greatness of the truth that has been entrusted to their keeping! If the church trusts in their machinery, they will perish. Upward to God they must look if they live personally, individually. Shall the church trust in their treasures of truth? Shall they put confidence in and depend upon the unanswerable arguments of our position? Will the church depend upon their standard bearers, their old warriors, to advance the kingdom of Christ in our world? Will they shirk all responsibility and care-taking and vigorous effort to war against the flesh and keep their own souls in the love of God? Will men who have had great light become hindrances rather than helps, stumbling blocks to sinners in the place of earnest workers for God, who has given to every man his work? 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 11

Where shall we look for help? Upwards, always! Let the testimony not only be repeated but lived every day. “Cease [ye] from man whose breath is in his nostrils” [Isaiah 2:22], and pay to man no homage. Let praise and adoration flow back to God, the living God, and flatter no man, for if you do, God will shatter your idol and show him to you as a broken reed. Upward to God be the soul’s adoration! Upward sits the ruler of the heavens upon His throne, exalted, triumphant, glorified. Honor those alone to whom honor is due. Jesus is our Redeemer. He practiced self-denial, self-sacrifice, and He loves us in our weakness and offers to us His strength. He says, “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” [Isaiah 49:16.] He will impart His Holy Spirit in the plentitude of His reviving, and there shall not be room enough to receive it. Nothing but the baptism of the Holy Spirit can bring up the church to its right position and prepare the people of God for the fast-approaching conflict. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 12

Why is there not individual growth in the church? Why is not every member of the church growing up into Christ our living Head? This growth does not mean growing earthward, but heavenward, not downward, but upward. We are living in the dispensation of the Spirit; we hold in our hands the promise of His Spirit, and ministers may be qualified to give the trumpet a certain sound, to arouse the sleeping people and set them at work for themselves and for others out of the fold. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 13

Why should we limit the Holy One of Israel? Why should we receive not? Because we ask not and have not faith. Why not take God at His word? My soul at times is in an agony for His people who will certainly be taken in some one of the many devices of the enemy unless they are awakened from their death-like slumbers. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 14

We have our colleges, our publishing houses, our sanitariums, and each of these institutions is a portion of the great missionary field. All connected with these institutions who love and fear God should consider they are missionaries, on missionary ground, to lift up an effectual standard of Jesus Christ and Him crucified against the enemy who is coming in like a flood to sweep every soul off his feet who is not standing on solid rock. What are our larger and smaller churches doing? I have so great a burden over these things I cannot rest day or night. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 15

My brother, may the Lord Jesus impart to you His free grace, that you may move understandingly. You are in a responsible position, and I sincerely hope and pray that you may have wisdom from above, that you may be indeed a light bearer to the world. I send you this statement from the light given me of God in reference to Elder E. P. Daniels. He is a poor, deceived man. He presents himself to the churches where they have confidence in him, in a most pitiful condition financially and gathers from every source possible, and then when these things are brought before him, he claims to have given to the cause the value of all received from his brethren. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 16

I advised him to leave his brethren to be the stewards of their own means and not to take the responsibility of their stewardship upon himself. He said he never had talked to gain the sympathy of his brethren that they would give to him. But, I said, “Can you, my brother make this statement in the sight of God? Can you say this before the angels of God?” I knew better than this for I knew that he had made much conversation during the period of his ministerial service to excite sympathy and receive donations, and he had as the result received much means, and all that kind of business was not in the order of God. Now when he talks of going on his own hook, it is to gather means from every source possible to support his family, which requires a large amount of means to meet their way of living. I never felt that I dared to live in the gratification of appetite as Brother Daniels and his wife have done, notwithstanding the warnings and reproofs that have been given to himself and wife and the pleadings of the Spirit of God. I send this to you that when his brethren shall make statements in sympathy with Brother Daniels, you will correct these statements, for it is most difficult for him to tell things as they are. He makes false statements. I will do anything to save his soul, but to keep silent and let him go forth to deceive the churches and draw means by false representations, I cannot see done. What kind of a conscience this man has is a marvel to me. I cannot explain it. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 17

What move he will make next, I know not, but I am sure, if he goes on as he has, the last remnant of his influence is gone; no power can bring it back. East and west the impression has gone that I am sustaining Elder Daniels. I have the credit of doing this when I am seeking in private to set his true condition before him and to have him correct his course of action that he may stand in a fair light before his brethren and before the world. But if he persists in his course of action, I must lift my voice of warning. But how I hate to do it! 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 18

Having done my duty, I leave this case in the hands of God. Oh, that all may deal with him wisely, compassionately, in the spirit of Christ. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 19

Remember me to Sister Burke. May the Lord bless you both, and give you much grace is my prayer. 6LtMs, Lt 15, 1889, par. 20