Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 7 (1891-1892)

Lt 10, 1891

Kellogg, J. H.

Petoskey, Michigan

May 15, 1891

Portions of this letter are published in CD 334; 6MR 390; 3Bio 491-492.

Dear Brother,

Yours dated May 12 I received last evening. Your former letter reached me at Grand Rapids; and the next morning I wrote a lengthy article to be read to Bro. Ferrell and his wife. This I mailed to Battle Creek, and sent word to Sr. Davis to be prepared and have [a] calligraph copy made and placed in your hands to be read to Bro. Ferrell either by yourself or someone you should select. I also wrote a letter to Bro. and Sr. Ferrell. You were absent from the place, and the matter was left with Bro. McCoy to be read to the parties. Farther than this I know nothing of it. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 1

This morning I wrote again, and will send you a copy of the letter and ask you [to] read or have someone read it to Col. Ferrell if you think it best to do so. I certainly think that something should be done at once in this matter. It seems that Satan stands ready to make it as difficult as possible to secure to the Lord’s cause the means that really belong to it from those who are aged or sick and dying. Unless we are wide awake and have more than human wisdom, Satan will come off victor. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 2

I am now just getting settled in Petoskey. It has been no small matter to arrange so that we could be comfortable, having no man but Willie on hand, and he turning this way and that to serve many purposes. In company with Willie and others I have been for several days, with our good horse and carriage, riding about the country to find a suitable location for our summer’s school. Wednesday we had an accident that might have proved quite serious. We had just started for Harbor Springs; before we were out of town we turned a corner at a moderate pace when one wheel of the carriage broke down completely. Every spoke came out of the hub; the carriage was overturned, throwing some of us out and one on the top of the other. Willie was holding the reins. Our spirited horse had one thill on the top of her back; she trembled but did not run a step. There was no screaming, we kept perfectly silent, but there was some surprised thinking. I crawled out over the back seat on hands and knees and with heart and voice thanked the Lord for our escape. No bones were broken and none of us were seriously hurt. The girls who were with us received some bruises, I not a scratch, though my dress was badly torn. The thill was taken from the horse’s back, the tugs loosened, and the horse tied to the fence; we obtained another carriage from the livery stable and went on our way. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 3

I felt sad to think who made our carriage and that the article we had thought could be depended upon was so wrecked. At first we could not understand the cause of the breakage, but upon examining the wheel found that the spokes were too small for the holes in the hub, and wooden wedges had been driven in to make the spoke fit, then all painted over. It was a complete fraud. I am sorry that even all our brethren cannot be trusted to deal honorably, without pretense or fraud. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 4

I believe that an angel of God stood by us to preserve our lives. When our horse was taken out of the stable she was so full of life that it was all a man could do to hold her. That in so short a time she could stand such a test so well was due to the guardianship of heavenly angels. What if the accident had occurred in the woods, where there were no houses, or on the top of a hill! O, it might have been much worse in so many ways. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 5

Dr. Lay and all of his family are sick. The Dr. took cold and is very ill with La Grippe. His family are not so bad. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 6

I wish we were all health reformers; I am opposed to the use of pastries. These mixtures are unhealthful; no one can have good digestive powers and a clear brain who will eat largely of sweet cookies and cream cake and all kinds of pies, and partake of a great variety of food at one meal. When we do this, and then take cold, the whole system is so clogged and enfeebled that it has no power of resistance, no strength to combat disease. I would prefer a meat diet to the sweet cakes and pastries so generally used. I am sick of it all. I seldom taste of meat and will not eat rich pastries. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 7

When will people learn that the appetite is not to be indulged at the expense of health? When men and women are always ailing, I inquire, is there not a cause? We want to be right, to do right, and then be cheerful and happy, believing that the Lord will bless us every day while we fight the good fight of faith, overcoming appetite and passion in the oft repeated conflict, overcoming as Christ overcame by meeting the enemy with, “It is written.” [Matthew 4:4.] 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 8

O, how weak and sickly many are who might be strong if they kept a clean conscience and were brave in God, seeking to keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. The body as well as the soul is to be treated as the Lord’s property and never to be marred or abused by the indulgence of perverted appetite or debased passions. “Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God’s.” [1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.] 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 9

Eternity as well as time is to be kept in view in our relation [to] earthly as well as heavenly things. Disregard of principle in any relation of life will tell not alone to the injury of the body but to the injury of the soul as well. It is a sin in any way to oppress the hireling in his wages or to rob him of his due because it can be done, and he dare make no appeal; but it is as grievous a sin to defraud the body and thus defraud the soul of its due, enfeebling the physical and mental powers through the gratification of selfish, perverted appetites or passions. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 10

Those who are not doers of the word are not Bible Christians; the conscience is sullied, the principles of God’s law are violated, sacrificed upon the altar of lust. Such are wounding their own souls, deforming their character; and their influence, conscious and unconscious, is leading other souls into false, forbidden paths. All that God would approve is defaced, all that is pure and holy in the soul is turned to defilement and corruption. Such persons, whatever their position or profession, are sure to make a failure, for their foundation is not laid on the Rock but on sliding sand. Walking in the way of the Lord is walking in the path of self-denial and living not to please ourselves, setting the Lord ever before us. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 11

I have hope of seeing you and conversing with you on many points. The Lord lead and guide you is my prayer. Love to your good wife and her children. 7LtMs, Lt 10, 1891, par. 12