Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 6 (1889-1890)

Lt 73, 1890

Smith, Uriah

Brooklyn, New York

November 25, 1890

This letter is published in entirety in 1888 732-734.

Dear Brother Smith:

I [am] about closing the sixty-third year of my life, and I [am] very solemnly impressed [that] the account or record of my past has gone out of my power and the inquiry comes with earnestness, What do the books testify of me? I want to be a faithful steward of the grace of Christ. His rich blessing has rested upon me while on this journey, and during the night season again and again have I been shown your position has been a dangerous one. The Lord bears long with the erring, but when He does visit for their transgressions, then “He will require the past.” 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 1

I know your danger. I have presented [this] to you by letter, I have spoken to special ones assembled in the committee meetings, I have spoken in the chapel of the office; I have not called you by name, but you knew yourself, that the reproofs were for you. I spoke upon general principles. Then I spoke in regard to [the course] you and other ministers had pursued, and how displeasing all this was to our Lord, but you moved not, you stood as a stumbling block as you do, to this day, for others to take courage in their unbelief and stumble over “good Brother Smith.” This walking and groping in darkness I have been shown will continue until these men who have felt at liberty while at Minneapolis and since that meeting [cease] to pursue a course of resistance to my testimony. 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 2

If you have faith in the Testimonies, you will act out all the faith you have. You might just as well voice your attitude in regard to the work which the Lord has given me to do as to do as you have done. You have virtually said, “I have not confidence in the message Sister White bears.” You are far more guilty in taking the position that you have taken than these who know me not. You have known the character of my work from the beginning of our acquaintance, which has been since Edson White was three years old. Brinkerhoof and Snook, had they had the light and knowledge you have had of the work God has given me to do, might have stood to this day, and you are far more guilty in the position you have taken with the testimonies sounding in your ears for the last two years, and unheeded. No confession has come from your lips, and I have been compelled to meet your influence in Minneapolis and since that time, everywhere I have been; and now the year 1890 is nearly closed. Will you fall on the Rock and be broken? Will you evade the point as you have done? 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 3

Elders Millers both presented your case as evidence that they should resist the Spirit of God, the message and the messenger. Bro. Rupert has a work of confession. I told him two years ago when at Pottersville, and he has heard the same again and again from my lips, but Brother Smith has been his stumbling block and the stumbling block of many others. The burden has been too great for me to bear. I decided without an entire change, I would not remain at Battle Creek for I would be sharing the sin of those who refused the Spirit of God in correction and warnings. I would wear out my life, for my brethren have made my work one-hundred fold harder than was necessary by their unbelief. 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 4

I pity Dan Jones. I have talked with him freely. I begged of him last year at the Ministerial Institute, for Christ’s sake to not help you to keep the position you then occupied. I begged of him to lend his influence to help you to come out into the clear light. I told him I knew your dangers. You were a man like Elder Butler—would not confess a wrong step—but would make many more wrong steps to justify your first wrong step, when, if you would overcome that stubbornness that is ingrained into your life and character, the power of God would make you a man of efficiency to the very close of time. But unless you become a new bottle, the wine of light and the power of the grace of God could not come to you. 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 5

I was burdened day and night for you. I knew you were holding many others. Bro. Morrison quoted you. Bro. Nicola quoted you. Brn. Morrison and Nicola will both land in infidelity, both of the testimonies and the Word of God. And to see you a stumbling stone for these men who have no knowledge of me or of my work has been too painful for me [to] endure, for you certainly knew better than to do as you have done. The bewitching power of unbelief and stubbornness has held you that you would not confess your wrongs when you regretted them deeply, but would not confess them to help the church in this very line of their duty. 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 6

I love you and I cannot bear to be thus disconnected as we are. I have not union with you. I cannot feel any freedom in counseling with you when the Lord has signified by plain, direct testimony this should be—that you needed counsel, you could help me and my husband and we could help you—and now you must know I shall not change. You must know, if you are not blinded, that my testimonies have not changed, that I have not changed in character or in my work, and hope through the grace of God never to swerve to the right or to the left to have harmony with you or Elder Butler or any elder in the ranks of Sabbathkeepers. 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 7

I have not strength or time to write much more as I must preserve my strength to labor. I thought I would make one more appeal to you. I have talked with you but it seemed to do no good. I have written to you but it made you only go farther and deeper in resistance of the Spirit of God. You responded to my letter of appeal by writing me a letter accusing Elder Jones of tearing up the pillars of our faith. Was this truth? The meetings of the ministers held in the office when these matters were investigated revealed that you accused him wrongfully. Have you confessed this? Have you cleared your own soul? Have you made straight paths for your feet (Hebrews 12:13) lest the lame be turned out of the way? I said everything I could say in that first meeting; then the second meeting on the Sabbath in the office chapel was held when the Spirit of the Lord came nigh to us. Christ knocked for entrance but no room was made for Him, the door was not opened and the light of His glory, so nigh, was withdrawn. The last time you heard my voice was in the ... [Remainder missing.] 6LtMs, Lt 73, 1890, par. 8