Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Lt 142, 1902

Jones, W. H.

Los Angeles, California

September 15, 1902

Previously unpublished.

Dear brother W. H. Jones,—

You are on losing ground, and have been for some time. You have been taught the way of truth, and your parents have great confidence in your principles, but God has weighed you in the balances of the sanctuary and has pronounced the sentence, “Weighed and found wanting.” [Daniel 5:27.] My brother, should your life be taken from you now, your loss would be a loss for all eternity. You have a great work before you, and you have not a moment to lose. Satan is playing the game of life for your soul. You are on the losing side. You are grasping thistles. Your association with those who are not consecrated to God gives you neither physical soundness nor spiritual strength. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 1

You do not understand your position. The desire to enter into worldly amusements, to indulge the natural appetites, to commit sins that weaken your inclination to resist evil, has grown with your growth. You are a weak man, when you should be strong in moral power. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 2

Your associations when you were obtaining an education were not pleasing to God. Instruction has been given me that if our youth would cherish the sense that they are to represent God, they would prove a great blessing to those with whom they associate. But you did not cultivate that firmness of purpose that would have enabled you to stand firmly for your faith in Bible truth. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 3

While you were in the St. Helena Sanitarium, the Lord gave you opportunities, which, if improved, would have made you a wise, intelligent worker together with God. But you allowed the influences exerted by certain ones in the Sanitarium to make you unimpressionable in regard to religious matters. You did not cherish a firm purpose to become a faithful, all-round Christian. Your influence was not what it should have been. You did not constantly strive to be what God desired you to be. When you might have stood as firm as a rock to principle, you were influenced by those who in spirit and practice were departing from righteousness. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 4

When you were at the St. Helena Sanitarium, I bore the testimony concerning you that you should be associated with physicians who were reaching a higher standard than were those at the Sanitarium, because it meant very much to you with whom you were associated. You did not respect Dr. Sanderson’s course, yet you followed his habits and practices. I tried to arouse your father to see these things. How he could feel so much at ease in regard to you, when such influences prevailed at the Sanitarium, was, and still is, a mystery to me. I would rather bury a son of mine than have him receive the mold that you were receiving at the Sanitarium. The Sabbath was observed as a form, but love for it was not cherished. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 5

The light given me at that time was that you were not improving your opportunities to become a Christian missionary, a man chosen by God to act out His plan. You were becoming less and less prepared to act as one working under the guidance of the great Physician. You were following in the footsteps of those who had brilliant powers, but who had not balance enough to hold them firm in their allegiance to God. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 6

Satan was once a beautiful and exalted angel. But he swerved from his allegiance, and as no soul could remain in heaven alienated from God, Satan and those who sympathized with him in his rebellion were thrust out of heaven. Shall we yield ourselves to sin because Satan chose to become envious and jealous? There is no excuse for sin. If an excuse for sin could be found, sin could not be condemned; for it would not then be sin. God’s purpose for us is that we shall be Christlike. The Saviour’s prayer for us is, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” [John 17:21.] The Lord has made it possible for us to have clear, discerning minds, able to distinguish good from evil. He has promised to give all power to those who believe and trust in Him. He is the source of all strength, all efficiency. Those who are willing to receive His grace will have grace to communicate. Those who choose to pattern after men and women who follow the ways of the world must reap the result of their choice. Virtue of character is alone of worth in Christ’s sight. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 7

The character of each one is open before God. It may, in this life, be kept pure and untarnished and prepared for the future life. Every human being is left free to choose between right and wrong. By the choice that he makes, he decides his eternal destiny. My brother, you are now at that age where you should have made it your choice to serve God and Him only. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 8

God has given wonderful truth to His people, to show them the necessity of walking in the light as He is in the light. The accumulated light of the past and the present is to be to us a source of power, strengthening our purpose to live with God through the eternal ages. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 9

The statement has been made that wherever there are three physicians, there are two atheists. But it is God’s purpose that through the power of His truth, our physicians shall make constant progress heavenward. “Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” [Jeremiah 17:5-8.] 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 10

Physicians are placed in positions of temptation and danger. But they may stand firm to their allegiance if they will take hold of the strength that God offers them. He says, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.” [Isaiah 27:5.] The Lord will be the helper of every physician who will work together with Him in the effort to restore suffering humanity to health, not with drugs, but with nature’s remedies. Christ is the great Physician, the wonderful Healer. He gives success to those who work in partnership with Him. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 11

“I the Lord search the heart,” He declares, “I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise.” “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction.” [Jeremiah 17:10-14; 16:19.] 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 12

Have not these words been given to you to speak? Can you not, in the power of the Lord, take your stand on vantage ground? 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 13

I must present before you what the Lord has given me for you, but I am not called upon to enter into details, to specify wherein you have departed from truth and righteousness. You have known the way of the Lord; for it is plainly stated in His Word. You well know wherein you have separated yourself from God. I shall not repeat your mistakes and errors; for you know them, and are grieved over them, and will, I believe, repent most thoroughly and turn from the ways that have grieved the Spirit of God. I do not by any means give you up. I am afflicted with you in your affliction, as I think of how grieved you must be when you review the past and see the opportunities you failed to improve when you were at the St. Helena Sanitarium. You knew of the evils that were working in the institution, and you could and should have stood firmly for the right, making the Word of God your study and your guide. But you often allowed yourself to stand on the enemy’s ground. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 14

Soon, very soon, you must stand before the Judge of all the earth, to give Him an account of the way in which you have used your talents. Shall it be with joy, and not with grief? 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 15

Please read and study the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah. God declares, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, to plant it and to build it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then will I repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. ... Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you, return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope; but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things. ... Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?” [Verses 7-14.] 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 16

I bear this message to you because I want you to be an acceptable child of God. In some things you show weakness of character. You are easily lead astray by temptation. But you may gain strength from the experience through which you are now passing, if you will let the outcome make the right impression on your mind. Repentance will save your soul from death and hide a multitude of sins. The Lord loves you. His hand is stretched out to save you from your weakness. He will make your weak points of character your strong points, if you will trust in His strength. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 17

The psalmist declares, “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from iniquity. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; and with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle; the Lord God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried; he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me up upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, so that my feet did not slide.” [Psalm 18:20-36.] 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 18

Will you please read these words carefully, and pray for clearness of mind, that you may understand them. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 19

The Lord calls for young men to work in our sanitariums who will not yield to temptation. You are not fitted for this work. I am instructed to say to you, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” [Luke 22:32.] But do not, I beg of you, think that sin is any less grievous in the sight of a holy God because some of our leading brethren have gone astray and turned aside to follow strange paths. The fact that they have sinned does not lessen your sin. You must answer to God for yourself. You were not compelled to sin because other men sinned. You knew that whatever their position, when they sinned, they were robbing themselves of the experience that God desired them to have. You knew that they were bringing to the foundation wood, hay, and stubble—material that must be consumed by fire. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 20

Because others have not kept themselves so pure that no evil could truthfully be spoken of them, shall I take a course that will cause my soul to become diseased, making me offensive in God’s sight? Shall I spoil my record in the books of heaven and disappoint my Saviour, who gave His precious life for me? Shall I make it necessary for Him who is to judge every one according to his works to speak to me the word “Weighed in the balances, and found wanting”? [Daniel 5:27.] 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 21

My brother, in love for your soul, I entreat you have your soul filled with the melody of spiritual joy. You may be a physician who has a cure for the souls as well as the bodies of the sick. You may work in partnership with the mighty Healer. But if you go on as you have been going, you will divorce yourself from God, you will become a partaker of the spirit and character of the enemy of all righteousness, and you will soon become indifferent to all in the life-service that is most solemn and sacred. There is hope for you in God. But remember that you have disappointed your Redeemer, and grieved the Holy Spirit. Will you not decide, as you read this letter, to change square about, and let all with whom you have been associated in your work in Santa Barbara see that you are sensible of your error, and that you are determined no longer to scatter away from Christ, but to gather with Him. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 22

May God bless you, my dear brother, is my prayer. 17LtMs, Lt 142, 1902, par. 23