Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 15 (1900)

Lt 70, 1900

Scobie, Brother

“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

May 9, 1900

Portions of this letter are published in CD 324.

Dear Brother Scobie:

I thank you for the interest you have manifested in securing fruit for me. The tomatoes you sent were very nice and very palatable. I find that tomatoes are the best article of diet for me to use. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 1

I hoped when I first called at your home that you would not hesitate on the threshold of service, but would enter in as a man with whom the Lord has been working. God desires you to let His light shine forth clear and decided in behalf of truth. How long halt ye between two opinions. If the Lord be God, serve Him; if Baal, serve him. Obedience is certainly due to your Redeemer, who gave His life for you, and who has been calling you, “Go, work today in my vineyard.” [Matthew 21:28.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 2

The Lord has a vineyard to be worked, and He calls for you. He wants you to take a decided stand, not hesitatingly, as though you were in uncertainty, but decidedly and firmly, as a man who is conscientiously determined that he will not stand in rebellion before the heavenly universe and before the people of the world, who now know you as one who, seeing the truth but fearing the results of obedience, is inclined to continue to offend God by continuing in transgression. Is it not time you showed your colors decidedly as appreciating the infinite sacrifice Christ has made in your behalf? He says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” [John 14:15.] Cannot you now understand the will of God? 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 3

Had you some time ago taken your stand, a much better impression would have been left on the mind of your infidel brother who is not the man he would have others believe him to be. God has not left him to his own will and way. Every good thing he does is done because the Spirit of God is still striving with him. He will repudiate the idea of your convictions, and may make light of them, the more now because you have trifled with them by not stepping into the path of obedience, thus showing your faith by your works. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 4

God is your Father; Christ is your Creator and Redeemer. Who owns you then? You are not your own keeper. You have been bought with a price. Hear the Saviour’s voice, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” [Verse 15.] Will you obey this Word, or will you seek to avoid the cross which seems so full of humiliation? On which side are you standing? On the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose property you are, or on the side of the enemy, who is striving, and who will continue to strive, for your soul? Your daughters have in their youth taken their stand. Your wife has taken her stand. Shall the father and husband (houseband), the head and priest of the home, show less courage than his wife and children? 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 5

Think upon this, and remember that the angels of God are cognizant of your every word and action. They are withstanding the powers of darkness, that they shall not overcome you. How long shall they stand, keeping at bay the powers of darkness? How long will you continue to hold up the standard of the enemy, using your influence against the law of God, which is holy and just and good? 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 6

God will give you all the light you need if you will place yourself in the channel of light. The Lord has been preparing your way in your family. Your wife and children need you to help them. The Lord calls upon you to surrender to Him just as you are. Exchange banners. Cast down the banner of disobedience and grasp the banner of Christ. The Saviour declares, “I will pray the Father for you, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not (by faith), neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” [Verses 16, 17.] Whose side are you on? Are you on the right side? Is Christ dwelling in you? Does His Spirit abide with you? 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 7

Christ sees you standing in peril, and undecided. If you will, you can settle the question once and forever. Christ is trying to help you over the threshold. He says, “I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you” [Verse 18] if you step over the threshold of disobedience, and stand in loyalty under the banner of truth and righteousness. “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him.” [Verse 21.] Without delay step over the threshold to the side of Christ. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 8

Do not longer continue to be recognized as the enemy of God, but show yourself an obedient son, a member of the royal family. With your wife and children, say, Here I am, Lord, with all my family under the banner of truth and righteousness. Accept me now. I make no terms with Thee; Thou hast made the terms. I will serve Thee as a loyal subject of Thy kingdom, that I may receive Thy benediction: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” [Verse 27.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 9

“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” [Verse 26.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 10

“The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 11

“Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” [Exodus 31:12-18.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 12

Will you accept the sign of obedience? Read and study the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. “Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression and the house of Israel their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching to God.” [Verses 1, 2.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 13

Notice how the Lord regards these professedly pious ones. God knows how to distinguish between the righteous and unrighteous in His visible church. The professions and assertions of men are nothing in His sight. Obedience to His holy law is a sign of true faith. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 14

The ambassadors of God are not to keep silent, thus giving encouragement to the transgressors of His law. By precept and example they are to rebuke sin with plainness. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 15

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” [Verses 6, 7.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 16

These words present the truth so plainly that none need make a mistake. When God’s professed people repent of their sin in departing from plain Bible truth, a “Thus saith the Lord,” they will bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Jesus will hear their prayers. They will work the works of righteousness presented in this chapter. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 17

“If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water; whose waters fail not. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 18

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” [Verses 8-14.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 19

Please read and study the fifty-ninth and sixtieth chapters of Isaiah. “Arise, and shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” [Isaiah 60:1, 2.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 20

This Word is for you, my brother. God calls upon you to connect with those who believe the truth. Will you take your position, and let the chambers of your heart be opened heavenward? Do you suppose that you can follow your God without walking in the footsteps of obedience? “If any man will come after me,” Christ says, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24.] 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 21

With much love to your family. 15LtMs, Lt 70, 1900, par. 22