Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 120, 1909

Portland, Maine

July 3, 1909

Previously unpublished.

Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, 3, 4. Now you see that God keeps account with His people. Those that shall be obedient and shall walk in humility of mind before God, His eye is over them; His angels are guiding them, His angels protect them. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 1

And here, verse 4. Now remember this, it makes a difference decidedly with every one of us whether we search the Scriptures diligently to see and obey the Word of the living God, or whether we are careless and do not keep the fear of God before us and His goodness and His mercy and His love that should stimulate us as we think of it, and that we should try to serve the Lord with full purpose of heart. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 2

Verse 4. Now remember all these things, that the Lord tells His servants who have the care and charge of the work. They are to tell these things over and over and over to the children they are preparing, for what? They are preparing for the heavenly courts above; they are preparing to have an entrance into that kingdom that there shall be no going out from it, no danger of any of these things, because they have kept the word of the Lord. It makes some difference whether we are obedient or disobedient. It makes every difference, and we want to stand in right relation to God today. We want to know on this very third of July—to remember throughout all the excitement that may be produced from this time onward for days—we want you to remember there is a God in the heavens that is watching, and is guarding His people that following in obedience to His will. Let every one of us take heed we should place ourselves in that relation to God that He cannot keep us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 3

Verse 5. They wanted to go into that land in strict obedience to all the commandments of God. After they got into that land they may have a determination to follow the Lord closely. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 4

Verse 6. Some will call you very foolish that you are very particular about this and that. Verse 6. We want just exactly such a testimony, that shall be borne always, that we follow on to know the Lord that His going forth is prepared as the morning. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 5

Verse 7. Wonderful statement. Will we let this encourage us? Here such a wonderful God, and yet He takes notice, and is so faithful to fulfil all the requirements on His part, if we will fulfill the first on our part as He bids us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 6

Verse 7. Thank the Lord. We want to keep thinking of that. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 7

Verses 8, 9. Well, that will be very wonderful, if you will do your duty to your sons and your daughters as God would have you to do it. He is the one that makes the impression. You act your part. You faithfully teach them in the Scriptures, and the way of the Lord, and encourage their hearts by all these words that I have read. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 8

Verse 9. That is quite a broad field. Will we do it? That is the question. Will you consider that you are not only bring grace and blessing to yourselves, but also the youth when you are watching and teaching them, and guarding and guiding them, to all patience, to all kindness by your kindness, to all watchfulness by your watchfulness. Then your children will have the impression from the heavenly Father to follow on in the way of obedience. Now this is a great thing. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 9

Verses 9, 10. We are just as much responsible for these lessons as they were. We are responsible for all these lessons of instruction, to follow on to know the Lord that His going forth is prepared as the morning. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 10

Verses 11-13. You are to study these Ten Commandments thoroughly and see if you are keeping the very day that is specified in these Ten Commandments. “Verily, my sabbaths ye shall keep them. It is a sign unto you, and it is kept before the Lord as your obedience if you will obey His commandments and reverence His holy day.” 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 11

Verses 12, 13. These commandments are, after they had been rewritten the second time, these commandments are preserved, and will be brought forth at the last great judgment, for we are to be judged according to the commandments that God has given us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 12

Verse 14. Now there they were given a place to come into the land among idolaters, where idolaters and things which God had forbidden would be before them continually. They were to bear it in their minds. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 13

Verse 15. And here he goes on to say that these things should not be entered into. We have representations over and over and over again that take time and money, and what do they amount to? All the time that is devoted to the work of the Lord is to bring souls into right relation to God. When you diligently study these commandments and follow them to the letter, angels of God write it in the books of heaven. When every one of us is judged, according to the deeds that are done in the body, all this faithfulness will be remembered; and the unfaithfulness will be remembered, to bring punishment, just as surely as God lives. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 14

Verse 21. What was the matter there? Why here there was not a following out the exact requirement of God that He had given. The Lord said, Speak to the rock. The people were complaining and finding fault with Moses because he did not give them drink. He could not given them drink unless the Lord gave the drink, and the Lord said to Moses to go and take the rod in his hand and speak to the rock and it gave forth its waters. Well, Moses felt so wrought up, so provoked with the children of Israel for their unreasonable course that he said, Shall we bring you water out of this rock? Why, he never could have brought the water out of the rock. He forgot himself for the first time, and it makes me cry nearly every time I read it—so faithful, so true. Rebels, he said, shall we bring you,—and struck the rock when he had no command to strike it. Speak to the rock and it shall being forth water. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 15

Now these are the very things that we must bear in mind. We must follow the Word of God exactly. If you deviate from it, and think you will come out just as well, you will find in the end you have met with terrible loss. O, Moses begged of the Lord to let him go over, but the Lord did not let him go. Why? Because the example before Israel would make of little account the word of God. The Word of God is precious in His sight, and He wants every old man and middle-aged man, and He wants every soul that lives, to obey His Word to the letter, and not think it will be just as well. It is not convenient for me to keep the Sabbath, although that is in the commandment strictly. It is not convenient, and therefore they go on and take up the first day that God has placed His sanctity upon, and take up the first day of the week. You cannot afford it. Not one of you can afford it. It is to be faithful and true to God’s requirements. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 16

Verse 20. He wants to be fitting you and us for translation to heaven, and He wants you to read all these things. The trials that are brought upon the people are often through their own carelessness. If you would just obey God from day to day and walk in all humility of mind, He would give you your children. He would give you your friends. The angels of God would protect you and your families, because of your obedience. He can trust you that you can be an example to those that are around you. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 17

It means something for us to be overcomers. But He must show all Israel, even if Moses, that faithful Moses that had suffered so much that he should permit himself to make a mistake—the Lord said, You cannot see that land that you have desired so much. Well, he begged Him to let him see it. No, he had made that mistake before all Israel, and now He could not pardon that transgression and let it go on just as though he was obedient. And let each one of us remember we are serving the same God. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 18

Verse 21. I feel like crying every time I read it. Verses 22, 23-26. Angels of God were watching. Jesus Christ, the light of the world in the pillar of cloud, had guided them all their way, and when the place came that they were to rest, that cloud halts over right over that place, and there they take notice and they rest until the cloud begins to lift, and then they begin to work, and they get ready to make a move. Now, here was Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, that was commissioned to come and tell them where to rest and then move when they should move, and there Israel was protected all the way along. And yet there were murmurers and complainers too. God help us as a people that we may know when God guideth, and that we may praise Him and honor Him who has given so great light and opportunities and privileges that we may glorify His name. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 19

He says, (Verse 30) “latter days” and that is the very times we are living in now—verse 32. Here a messenger right from heaven in the cloudy pillar was guiding them in the way. How careful and kind and tender should they have been to give the example to their children and all that were in that vast army. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 20

Verses 33-35. We are the people of His care, and He wants that we shall improve upon the great sacrifice that He has made in giving us Jesus, His only begotten Son. He sent Him into the world to come up in humanity, that humanity might grasp the divinity of Christ and have no excuse for sin. Every soul of us, if we are sinful, can repent, and humanity grasps divinity and humanity and divinity combined works out that all the corruptions that are in the world. Lust cannot overcome them, if we connect humanity with divinity. This is the very work that is before us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 21

Verses 36, 37. Who is speaking these very words to us, and demanding that all be put in print? Whosoever should take a line from the things that were written here and put their own words in their place, He tells just what shall be done unto them. He tells the punishment that shall come upon them. Therefore the Word of God stands in many cases among many people. We see those in foreign language, heathen you may call them, that have been heathen worshipers, who have been converted. The truth is sent to them, and this is what is taking our means largely. We are gathering all the means we can, and we are depriving ourselves of ministers, we are depriving ourselves of teachers, we are depriving ourselves of the very help that we want to retain, but we have such a deep moving of spirit for those in the foreign lands that we cannot refuse their call, Send us help. And we will help them to translate, so that they can help the people in darkness all around us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 22

Yes, our means is being drawn upon continually to sustain the foreign work as well as the sanitariums and the various institutions. We are working with all the powers of our being to extend the knowledge of the truth, and yet we cannot be satisfied. We want men converted, and we want converted women missionaries that keep the commandments of God, who will teach His commandments, for it is only those that keep His commandments, when they have that Word that tells them what the commandments are. We want that every one of us shall make determined efforts to that we will dedicate ourselves to God at this meeting. You need not feel that it is a great condescension on your part. It is a great blessing to you to come in right relation to God. It is a wonderful blessing, and a privilege as well, if you will hold to it. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 23

Don’t any of you say, It does not matter what day I keep. You go right through the Bible and you see whether it makes any difference or not. What God says is truth and righteousness, and we do not want you to perish. I shall be the 26th of November—82 years old. And yet I am speaking to thousands and thousands of people to try to awaken them to a sense of their accountability to God. I cannot sleep nights, I am in such anxiety. I am pleading with God, and going over the history of the people of God, how He assures them that if they will obey He will deliver them out of their calamities when they call upon Him. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 24

Let us prove the Lord. Let us prove Him with heart and soul and voice. And we want to say that just as surely as you prove the Lord, there will be a humility on your part and on my part, and we shall not exalt ourselves so that we will be afraid, almost, to put persons in position of trust for fear they will get clear beyond their bearings. Now we do not want to do that, no, but I will tell you what we do want. We want to see a people that can pray to the Lord and believe He hears them. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 25

We want to see a people that can come right to the Lord, even at this meeting, and believe He will hear you. We want to see fathers and mothers that are anxious for their children, and can encircle them in their arms, with no hasty words, no passionate speech, no passionate blows to be put upon them. Take them right before the Lord, and tell Him all about it, and then, tell the children that you do not want to correct them and punish them. You want them to love God as you love God, to glorify God as you are trying to do, that you must glorify Him to present these children with clean characters. God help us that we may watch, that we may pray, that we may press the battle to the gates. This is the work before us. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 26

I want to say a few words more before I shall close my remarks. There is a world to be saved. There is a heathen world. Noble looking men have been brought in now and then to be introduced to me, who had embraced the truth. They have said, We want helpers. Then they would tell of the places God has opened where they need help. They have said, We want means to have a little church and a sanitarium, that we may help our sick. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 27

We do a great deal in our sanitariums to help the sick. They do not know how to treat their sick, and when we come in and we pray and we work, the Lord gives us the victory, and life is spared; then they are willing to be converted. They prayed for those that are not converted. They do not wait for them to be converted, but they come right in and offer their prayers to Jesus Christ who knows the heart, Jesus Christ who gave His life a sacrifice for man, that humanity might lay hold upon divinity. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 28

Christ was sent into the world and they crucified Him in the most cruel manner, but He was not left in the grave. He came up, and proclaimed over the sepulcher, He proclaimed the resurrection. He was the life and the strength and the grace through the obedience in His humanity. He did not lose His divinity. He held fast His divinity. They saw humanity and divinity combined. There they were combined, and that is what God wants of us today. I would not be here at my age, traveling as I am, if I did not think some souls would be benefited. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 29

Portland—I was born in Gorham, and nearly all the first part of my life was spent in Portland. There is where I was converted. There is where the Lord opened before me His light and His grace, and He said, Write it out. Write it. Here was the accident that had destroyed my strength and nerve, a stone thrown broke the bridge of my nose. Well, then I began to talk down lower. In time, by using the abdominal muscles in talking, I could extend my voice to almost any company. Now, it has proved a blessing to me. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 30

Never has that right hand, from the elbow, been in a situation that I could not use it. Even when all my body has been in agony—for eleven months when I first went to Australia. It was there with their open drains, and all those difficulties I was exposed to, and we knew not the danger, that I could not move without help, and I suffered for eleven months. They built me a kind of a framework that I could use that arm and that hand, and there I wrote twenty-four hundred pages in eleven months. I felt the Spirit of God coming upon me, because I could use that arm. Well, after a while the blessing of God came upon me in a large measure. I bore the test. And now I travel with infirmities, but I do not mind; if I can only get the word before the people, I shall feel that I have done my duty. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 31

And Portland is where I lived when this accident occurred. They thought I could go to school after I was laid up for about two years. And the strange thing happened. That very girl was the monitor over my section. She knew just exactly what the matter was with me, that I was so nervous that I could not hold a pen in my hand, and she would cry, and the sweat would roll down off of her face. But nevertheless, the Lord said, Write, and I took the pen to write. And lo, my arm was strengthened, the nerves were strengthened, and I have been writing ever since. I have been writing books and books and books by the representation that the Lord has given me. I said, Why I cannot use that hand. Said He, Write, write. And I commenced to write, and I have not stopped writing since—the eleven months even, when I was in such awful suffering, I kept that hand moving, and wrote twenty-four hundred pages in a few months. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 32

Well, good is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. I have proved Him, and I know that we can trust Him. I want every soul not to get exalted above the simplicity of true godliness. I want that every soul should realize their dependence upon God continually, and then exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, and magnify His name. How? By your humility and by your obedience, by your trying to help somebody else who is ready to perish. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 33

There is a work to be done for perishing souls. Missionaries are called for from all parts of the foreign countries. They say, We will try to teach you the language, and we want you to come and teach us the truth. From all parts of the world is the word coming. We want every one of you to be in relation to God, so that if you can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Right around you there are souls perishing, and you are to open the Scriptures to them even if they do not see any beauty in it. Take right hold upon the Scriptures. Show them its simplicity. Show them how God has marked out what He will do for them if they would be obedient. 24LtMs, Ms 120, 1909, par. 34