Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Ms 20a, 1889

Diary/Regarding E. P. Daniels’ Family

Battle Creek, Michigan

August 23, 1889

Previously unpublished.

I have had marked exercises of mind in regard to our ministers. While we see some tokens of good, yet we see and sense many things that greatly burden my mind. Last night I was conducted to the families of some of our watchmen upon the walls of Zion. My Guide said, “I present these things before you that you may reprove, rebuke, and present these things before those who are, through their erroneous course, leaving crooked paths in their religious example which will ultimately prove the ruin of souls.” 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 1

Among these families, I was conducted through the home of Brother and Sister E. P. Daniels. These souls are walking in darkness. The sin of Eli rests upon them. They have neglected their solemn responsibilities. They will reap the harvest they have sown. They have not walked in the light. Reproof and correction have been given to them from God, but hereditary and cultivated tendencies have obtained the victory, and the counsels of God have been unheeded. Precept and example have not been in the order of God. Their children have had poor, defective material brought into their character-building. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 2

I said, Must they be among the unsaved? The answer came, “None of this class of minds and hearts will be among the saved, for their evil hearts are full of evil things. The result of this kind of training is always loss to the soul. Better, far better, had they never been born. Pride and indulgence have borne their sad fruits, which are briars and thorns. I have sent them warnings; they have been unheeded.” 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 3

While there has been a striving to avoid the consequences of disobeying the law of God, there is not a proportionate zeal and wisdom manifested to avoid the cause that produced the effects. All the wisdom and tact and zeal will not be effectual to separate cause from effect. It is the cause that needs to be corrected. God’s will has not been the will of parents or of children. [They have] been working counter to God’s will; neither [parents nor children] are walking in the path that is narrow or entering the strait gate. Obedience [to] the will of God determines faith in Christ and all those who love God and keep His holy law with hearts of righteousness connect their hearts with the salvation of the souls of them that believe and unite the will, the purpose, the course of action, with the will of God. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 4

Disobedience permitted in children will make them candidates for perdition; of this no one needs to be ignorant. Abraham was commended because he commanded his children and household after him to keep the way of the Lord. The Lord is not pleased with the work coming forth from your hand, for it leads to transgression and death. Eli was cursed, and all his house, because his children were wicked and he did not restrain them. Parents have made a mistake. They did not have that wisdom which cometh from God in the training of their children. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 5

The pride of the mother, as well as of the father, has worked disastrously for their children. Something can yet be done, but it will require a most earnest, untiring, persevering effort. There is in you both an evil heart of unbelief. Deception and falsehood is the covering enshrouding your children. And what shall save them when the ideas of both father and mother are superficial and erroneous in regard to the precepts and examples brought into the education and training of their children? You are a great ways from being a model family such as angels of God can approve. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 6

“I relate this to you, My messenger, that it may be brought sometime before the parents. But they will not to do the works of righteousness. There are dishonest transactions, which I abominate.” 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 7

Again, I was brought around within the family circle. I had a decided testimony to bear in the name of the Lord. I said, Brother and Sister E. P. Daniels, you are standing in slippery places. Your work must bear a different mould. Much of it originates from yourselves, not from the inspiration of the Spirit of God. You appear to have a power in your labor, but it is not all genuine. There are those who are moved, their emotions are stirred, they are brought into church capacity, but many are not as firmly united to Christ as they are to you. Shaky professors, they will be shaken out. Their religious life is ill-balanced, not an honor to the cause of Christ. They will not resist temptation because there is not underlying godliness based on Jesus Christ. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 8

When you see grave departures from righteousness in the experience of those who profess to be converted, be sure the foundation is at fault. Unless the soul is riveted to the Eternal Rock, sooner or later there is sure to be developed the seams and cracks in the daily life and the structure, revealed to [be] built on the sand, goes down. The storms and tempests and floods will test the matter as it beats about the house, for it falls. It makes every difference whether the structure is built upon quicksand or on solid rock. Many, many will find out at last that they have been building on the sand. The Lord has set before us, in the life of Christ who came to our world in humanity, a perfect Model who preached and practiced His own teachings. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 9

There is underhanded work done in your representations in trading. You have a knowledge of truth but do not practice [it]. You misrepresent in your dealings. You create sympathy and deceive souls. 6LtMs, Ms 20a, 1889, par. 10