Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 16 (1901)

Lt 18, 1901

Henry, A. R.

St. Helena, California

January 20, 1901

Portions of this letter are published in 5MR 443-445. +^Note

A. R. Henry

Dear brother,—

I have received your letter. I am glad you have written to me. I have been unable to answer you, because for several weeks I have been quite sick. But I am now improving and will respond to your letter. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 1

The light we have from the Word of God is plain and distinct. There is no question in this matter to any soul who loves and fears God. Please read this Word. “Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye have gone to the gods of Ekron to inquire?” [2 Kings 1:3.] Please read the sixth chapter of first Corinthians. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 2

I have a deep interest in you. I love the souls of those in whose behalf Christ died on the cross of Calvary. What are you about to do? Be assured that you are not setting yourself against men, but against God. If you realized what this means, you would no more do the work you are purposing to do than you would sever your right hand from your body. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 3

You may plead that your brethren have not treated you as they should. No, in all things they have not done as they should. You yourself, in connection with others, have departed from pure principles. As a result of this, a strange spirit has entered the institution with which you were connected. Human principles have taken the place of justice, mercy, and the love of God. This inauguration of wrong principles has been an offence to God, and His work in the institution has gone crookedly; for He cannot serve with the sins of any man. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 4

In connection with others you have swayed things in wrong lines. God gave me cautions and warnings, and these I placed in the hands of those at the head of the work, with the special charge that they be read and acted upon. But the warnings and rebukes sent by God to bar the way against the entrance of wrong principles were ignored. This has brought about a very unhappy state of things; the evil principles thus brought in are not yet eradicated, or their defiling influence cleansed away. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 5

The Lord Jesus has been wounded in the house of His supposed friends. The unjust, selfish course which was followed has brought a cloud over God’s institution, and this cloud has not yet been dispelled by the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Will those who acted a prominent part in this wrong course, instead of repenting, that their sins may be blotted out, continue to add to their transgression? Will they continue not only to wound Christ in the house of His friends, but to betray Him into the hands of His enemies? 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 6

Men have followed their own unsanctified judgment in regard to the use of means, and have thus brought embarrassment upon the Lord’s cause. My brother, will you increase the wrong you have done by robbing the cause of God of money to which you have no right? Are you willing to make yourself responsible for all that this action will entail? Satan has such control over your mind that in your own strength you have no power from the snare to go. You think that if you follow his suggestions, you will increase your means. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 7

But every dollar thus extorted means robbery of God. The course you have planned, if followed, will place you where no one will envy you. It will be disastrous to your eternal destiny. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 8

When your spiritual eyesight is clear, you will repent before God for all the evil you have done to His institution. You will abhor and put away the leaven of sin. The Lord wants you to open the windows of your soul heavenward and close them earthward. Now, while probation is still yours, will you not work earnestly to correct the past? Will you not manifest that repentance that needeth not to be repented of? 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 9

If you had any realization of what is involved in the suit for which you are planning, you would not advance one step farther. I have an earnest desire for the salvation of your soul. I want you to change your course of action. Then you will be at peace and rest, knowing that the Lord has had compassion on you, and has cleansed you from the sins so grievous in His sight. But if you do as you have purposed, you will not only betray yourself, you will betray the cause of God into the hands of its enemies, and you will crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. If you do this, how will you meet your record in the day of judgment? 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 10

We are living in the last days of this earth’s history. If you have any desire for the salvation of your soul, go no farther in your plan to injure the cause of God. Satan, as a strong man armed, is on your track, as he is on the track of every one who has been corrupted by false principles. He is determined to hold dominion over you as he holds dominion over the world. He knows that his time for destroying is short, and during this time he will use every deception he can devise to ensnare souls. Every inroad into his dominion is met by the greatest opposition from the apostate army. But as the last conflict with Satan will be terrible, so his overthrow will be complete. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 11

No work is so excellent in God’s sight as that of turning souls to righteousness. The greatest reward in the kingdom of heaven will be given to the one who accomplishes this work. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 12

Remember that you are making a mistake when you think that your conflict is with human agencies. Will a man rob God? Will you in a court of unbelievers carry on a trial against one of God’s institutions, saying that it has injured you? Soon, in a higher court than any on this earth, all will see that by the inauguration of wrong principles, God’s institution has been crippled, bruised, and wounded. It will be seen that you, in association with others, by injustice and wrong management have hurt the Lord’s instrumentalities; and that thus the work which should have gone forward in prosperity was brought into confusion. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 13

Has not enough been done in this line? When those in positions of trust strive fiercely to control matters in accordance with their own ideas, they lead the people into strange paths, to the ruin of many. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 14

I cannot endure the thought of your closing against yourself the gates of the Holy City. I earnestly desire that you shall return to the Lord. Do not continue to increase the weight of your transgression. Will you not now return to the Lord and be converted? 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 15

He who allows the commandments of men to place their seal upon him, in opposition to the law of God, does this to his ruin. Those who vindicate and justify injustice and double-dealing become Satan’s helping hand in oppression. In their turn they will feel the fullest weight of their merciless principles. They will be sorrowful and distressed just to that degree to which they have caused sorrow and distress. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 16

It is God, my brother, and one of His institutions against whom you are instituting a suit. If those who are stewards of this institution make a compromise that is unjust to the institution, if they allow the Lord’s instrumentality to be robbed without doing all in their power to save His property, they will be held accountable. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 17

Those who betray the cause of God will have an account to meet in the day of judgment which they will not care to see. It is not a light thing to rob God. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 18

The time is close upon us when, in the alliance of wicked powers, no help or relief will be found. Then those who have in any way betrayed the cause of God, who have acted the part of Judas, will wish they had never been born, rather than [to] have done as they have. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 19

Again I say to you, Take not one step farther in the course you have planned. Leave not one door open for the temptation to inflict harm on God’s institutions. O that I could hear you, my brother, saying from the heart, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” [Hosea 6:1.] 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 20

I repeat, I have a love for your soul. Do not, in excuse for your sin, array before you the sins of others. Say, I want to be saved, and I now return to the Lord. There are those who have not been true and faithful in warning you in regard to your danger. Some were afraid; others had linked up with you, and therefore were guilty of the same sins. But leave the wrongs of these men, and strive earnestly for the salvation of your <own> soul. The future must be met. Will you wish to meet in the great day of the Lord the consequence of the injury you now purpose to do to His cause? If you take this step, you will lose all self-respect. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 21

There is a most solemn, decisive work yet to be done in our world. As the men in responsible positions in God’s cause have been in disagreement, Satan has held a jubilee over his success in captivating mind, soul, and body. God says, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place.” [Revelation 2:4, 5.] Even while uttering a rebuke, God encourages us to repent. I hold fast to you, my brother. I greatly desire that you shall not perish. Stirring times are before us, and we cannot afford to give ourselves and the cause of God up to reproach. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 22

God is infinitely gracious, and He waits only for our return to Him by confession and repentance, to have mercy upon us and save us from the ruin into which we have fallen because of iniquity. The moment that we renounce our idols God is to us an all-sufficient Helper, our confidence and hope. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 23

Let not Satan throw his hellish shadow across your pathway. Remember the promise, “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.” [Isaiah 27:5.] 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 24

Brother Henry, are you going to strive for eternal life, or are you going to accept the enemy’s policy and stand under his banner? God calls for sincere repentance from nations, institutions, and individuals, that He may remove from them His judgments. 16LtMs, Lt 18, 1901, par. 25