Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 18 (1903)
Lt 78, 1903
Burden, Brother and Sister [J. A.]
Oakland, California
March, 1903
Portions of this letter are published in 2MR 156. +Note
Dear Brother and Sister Burden,—
We are in the midst of our Conference. For a time I thought I would not attend. The Lord alone knows how severely my strength was taxed during the council meetings which were held last October in Battle Creek, though I did not go to them. Night after night for about four weeks, I was unable to sleep after twelve o’clock. My soul was burdened as a cart beneath sheaves. I knew that a crisis had come in the work of Seventh-day Adventists, and that unless right moves were made, we should be brought into very strait and difficult places. For three nights many things were presented to me. One night I saw as it were a flaming sword of fire stretched out over Battle Creek. So heavily burdened was I that the agonies of death seemed to be upon me. I cried, “Lord, have mercy upon Thy erring people. O God, save for Thy mercy’s sake.” 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 1
When I received the news that the office of the Review and Herald had been burned, but that no lives had been lost, I could but feel a sense of relief, and say, “Lord, in Thy wrath Thou hast remembered mercy.” [See Habakkuk 3:2.] 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 2
But the destruction of our Review and Herald office is not to be lightly regarded. For many years, and especially for the last twenty years, the Lord has been sending warnings to His people, but these messages have been little heeded. What else could we expect than that God should in a signal manner manifest His displeasure? 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 3
Every act in the service of God should be performed in the Lord’s way. Those working in connection with the cause of God should not permit one act of injustice to be seen in their business transactions. 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 4
The Lord was in the establishment of the Review and Herald office in Battle Creek. And until the men in positions of trust in that institution transgressed the principles of God’s law, a good work was done there. But there were brought into connection with the office men who in character and disposition did not represent Christ. God says, “I hate robbery for burnt offering.” [Isaiah 61:8.] 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 5
Twice during His earthly ministry, Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out those engaged in robbery and oppression. At the beginning of His ministry He entered the temple. He was the originator and founder of the whole system of Jewish economy. All the sacrifices were types of the great Offering who now stood in His temple. But how dishonoring to God the scene that met His eye. A large number of sacrifices were offered at the time of the Passover, and the sales at the temple were very large. The priests and rulers having bought cattle and other animals at very low cost were selling them at exorbitant prices to those who had come a long distance and were compelled to buy animals for sacrifice. Here could be heard sharp bargaining, the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the cooing of doves mingled with the clinking of coin and angry disputation. 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 6
As Jesus came into the temple, He took in the whole scene. He saw the unfair transactions. He saw the distress of the poor who thought that without shedding of blood there would be no remission of sins. He saw the outer court of His temple converted into a place of unholy traffic. Christ saw that something must be done. Raising the scourge of small cords, gathered up on entering the enclosure, He bids the bargaining company depart from the precincts of the temple. With a zeal and severity He has never before manifested, He overthrows the tables of the money changers. The coin falls, ringing sharply upon the marble pavement. None presume to question His authority. None dare stop to gather up their ill-gotten gain. Jesus does not smite them with the whip of cords, but in His hand, that simple scourge seems terrible as a flaming sword. Officers of the temple, speculating priests, brokers and cattle traders with their sheep and oxen rush from the place with the one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence. 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 7
Once again Jesus cleansed the temple courts. He drove from them those who were desecrating them, saying, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” [Matthew 21:13.] 18LtMs, Lt 78, 1903, par. 8