Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 112, 1900

Piper, A. H.

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

July 16, 1900

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother:

I have some things to say to you. I have received a letter from Martha Brown, in which she tells me that she needs the means she loaned you to attend school in Cooranbong. She states that she has asked you for this means, but that you have not responded favorably. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 1

As I am acquainted with all the circumstances connected with this loan, I am more than astonished that you have not returned Martha Brown’s money to her. She loaned that money to you in gratitude to God for the money I loaned her to attend school. I required no interest from her, and she required no interest from you. This was a noble thing for her to do for you, and should be properly appreciated. The full amount of money she lent you should be returned to her; for she needs it. But if [she] were not in need, this is a debt which should have been paid some time ago. If you cannot earn money to pay it at present work, seek for some place where you can earn the money. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 2

Martha Brown paid me every dollar of the money I loaned her. She was as true as steel to principle, and was noble in spirit. How can you expect to receive the blessing of God when you treat as you do one of His self-sacrificing children, who had sufficient interest in you to loan you means to help you to obtain an education? How can you feel clear before God in making no effort to pay this debt? 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 3

Martha is as self-sacrificing a soul as I have ever seen. She is now suffering with physical infirmity, and this weakness affects her mind. She needs to be strengthened rather than depressed. I know the history of her family. She needs compassion, sympathy, and Christlike tenderness. We should work most earnestly to help those who need help. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 4

My brother, you should not retain or divert into other channels any part of the money loaned you to obtain an education. You should show yourself a man. You should feel under the most sacred obligation to return the money lent you, without putting the one who was so kind to you under the humiliating necessity of asking you for it. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 5

I am praying for the Brown family. Martha has necessarily been placed under a fearful strain. She has had to act as mother of the family. She had the care of her father in his illness. This strain, with all it comprehended, was severely felt by Martha, and deranged her physical system. Since that time she has suffered from spasms. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 6

I had charge of her while she was in Melbourne attending school. I asked Brother Rousseau how he regarded Martha Brown and May Lacey. He said, They are two of my most faithful students. They shine as precious jewels. They are faithful in spiritual service, and especially in giving Bible readings. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 7

A telegram has come from Brother Farnsworth, saying that you were ready to go to the islands if desired. My brother, What right have you to appropriate to other uses the money loaned to you to be appropriated for a certain purpose? Why did you not, as a faithful steward of lent means, return to the donor every penny that you did not use for the purpose for which it was lent you? I counsel you not to go to the islands of the sea until you make this thing straight. Did you donate to the Avondale church money that was not your own? How much of Martha Brown’s money did you appropriate in this way? She trusted you. Would you keep from a girl that has nothing money that is her own? Will you inquire, What would Jesus do? I must follow in His footsteps. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 8

Remember, my brother, that you are now on test and trial. Your course of action is determining your destiny for eternity. You profess to be a Christian. There are in our Lord’s discourses numerous places where He speaks of being personally injured by an injustice done to His saints. He is affected by all that befalls them. He has identified His interests with all His suffering ones. He reproved the Jewish leaders for their unfaithful stewardship and their selfishness toward their brethren. After exposing their selfishness and reproving their wrongdoing, He presented the sure consequence of such actions, declaring, “Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me.” [Matthew 25:45.] 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 9

God is never an indifferent spectator of the doings of the children of men. He puts Himself in the place of His injured children. His soul throbs with sympathetic pain as the members of His body suffer. He is Himself the great sympathetic nerve of the church. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 10

All the sufferings of the members are felt by Him. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 11

When the children of Christ’s adoption are grieved by injustice or oppression, Christ feels the injury. O, if all would remember this, how much more happiness there would be in the world. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 12

Remember that Christ comes to every professed follower of His, seeking fruit in his life. Will there be nothing but leave to reward His diligent search? How unremitting were Christ’s labors when He was upon this earth. For the hope of Israel He toiled unceasingly. How solemnly He warned the people; how graciously He invited them; how anxiously He labored to convince them that He was their Redeemer. For their sake He made Himself of no reputation. He took upon Him the form of a servant that He might be the ladder upon which they could climb to heaven, clinging to Christ and ascending by Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 13

My brother, do the right thing to straighten this matter. Render to all their due. Do not rest until you have paid every farthing of the principal. May the Lord set things before you in their true bearing, is my prayer. 15LtMs, Lt 112, 1900, par. 14