Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 24 (1909)

Ms 35, 1909

Talk/Let Us Publish Salvation

Takoma Park, Maryland

May 27, 1909

This manuscript is published in entirety in GCB 05/31/1909.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob 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. Wherefore, have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul and Thou takest no knowledge?” [Isaiah 58:1-3.] 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 1

The prophet presents before us a people who are finding fault with the Lord because He does not give them all their desires. The Lord in His answer to their complaints shows that they do not deserve all that they require at His hands; for they have not dealt righteously. “Behold,” He says, “in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” [Verses 3-5.] 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 2

God desires His people to place themselves in right relation to Him, that they may understand what He requires of them. They are to be a commandment-keeping people wherever they are, at home or abroad, and to have the assurance that they are accepted as His children. They are to take their position in the world as a people whose righteousness goes before them, and whose rereward is the glory of the Lord. When we live before the world such consistent lives that it can be said of us that our righteousness goes before us, the glory of the Lord will surely be revealed. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 3

The special work of God’s people for this time is brought before us in the words: “They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: they shall 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.” [Verses 12-14.] 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 4

Our great need as a people is that we come into right relation to God. We cannot afford to let one day pass in which we have not laid hold by living faith on the God of Israel. We need the clear light of the Sun of righteousness to shine upon us. This light is given to those who keep holy the Lord’s Sabbath; but we cannot keep this day holy unless we serve the Lord in the manner brought to view in the Scripture: “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.] This is the work that rests upon every soul who accepts the service of Christ. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 5

The Lord is constantly working for us, and our eyes should be opened to understand and to know His ways. We are to come to Him in living faith. His arm is not shortened, that it cannot save; His ear is not heavy, that He cannot hear. It is our iniquities that separate us from God. What we individually need is the living testimony in our souls that we are seeking God with the whole heart, that we are putting from our lives those things which God declares should not be found there. God desires that we shall stand before the world a holy people. Why?—Because there is a world to be saved by the light of present truth. As we give to the people the truth that is to call them out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, our lives, sanctified by the Spirit of truth, are to bear witness to the verity of the message we proclaim. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 6

My active labors in this message began when I was sixteen years of age. At that time the word came to me, “Write out the instruction I give you for the people.” I answered, “I cannot write, Lord.” Because of the accident which had nearly cost me my life, I had been feeble in health and unable to write, for my hand trembled so that I was forced after many efforts to give up the attempt to write. But one night the angel of the Lord came to my bedside and said to me, “You must write out the things that I give you.” I said, “I cannot write.” Again the command was given, “Write out the things I give you.” I thought I would try, and taking up a lapboard from the table, I began to write, and found that I could trace the words easily. The Lord had wrought a miracle upon me. Since that time, I have written thousands of pages, and I continue to write at the age of eighty-one. Through all these years the Lord has been my Helper and Preserver. Angels of God have protected me, guiding me and giving me strength to carry out the instruction of the Lord. Should I doubt the Lord now, and cast aside the evidences of His loving mercy and power? I thank His name that I have been kept from doing this. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 7

At times I have been sick nigh unto death. In Australia I was a great sufferer from rheumatism for eleven months, but I was not allowed to cease my public labors. The brethren would come to me and say, We will carry you in a chair from your phaeton to the hall. You will not have to stand, but can speak while sitting in your chair. It was difficult for me to consent to this, but I did it, and the blessing of the Lord came upon me every time I spoke to the people. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 8

The work we have to do is a wonderfully great work. There is much for us to do besides gathering together for counsel. There is a world to be saved; there are souls to be labored for in the cities of the East, in states where the message of the soon coming of the Lord was first preached. Who will give themselves to this line of missionary work. There are hundreds of our people who ought to be out in the field who are doing little or nothing for the advancement of the message. Those who have had every advantage of knowing the truth, who have received instruction line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, have a great responsibility resting upon them in the souls who have never heard the last gospel message. Do we take into consideration the needs of these large eastern cities? Do we not know that they must be warned of Christ’s near approach? 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 9

As a people we must come into sacred nearness to God. We need the light of heaven to shine into our hearts and into the chambers of our minds. We need the wisdom that God alone can give if we carry the message to these cities with success. Let our churches everywhere come into line. Let none who have pledged themselves by baptism to live for the service and glory of God take back their pledge. There is a world to be saved. Let this thought urge us on to greater sacrifices and more earnest labor for those who are out of the way. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 10

I was instructed only a few weeks ago that Portland must be given this last message to the world. Many of those who accepted the message under the labor of the early workers now sleep in Jesus. And there are many more people in Portland now than in 1843, and this is another reason why it should be given faithful labor. In Portland and Boston we bore our testimony to the first and second angels’ messages. Now we must bring to these same cities the glory of the third angel’s message. Let us no longer neglect these cities. We have our periodicals containing the light of present truth; but who among us is trying to scatter the rays of light where the truth was so favorably received in the early days of the message. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 11

The third angel’s message has brought together here a great company of believers from all parts of the world. We need to experience just such a reformation as was experienced in the time of William Miller’s preaching. Many, fearful that they would not get a seat, would come for miles, bringing their food with them, and would remain all day to the meetings. I want to see such days again. We have committed to us the proclamation of the third angel’s message, the last message of mercy that is ever to be given to our world. I want a part in spreading the knowledge of this truth. I would be glad to go from this meeting to the eastern states and help, by diligent searching, to find out how we can present the message to the people in such a way that it will be received by them. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 12

If ever there was a time when we needed workers, it is now. Let us dedicate ourselves and our means to God. Let us not spend money unnecessarily, but let us bind about our wants, that we may send help to those places that are waiting for the message. Shall we not as a people arise and take up the work that needs to be done in our great cities. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 13

At Melrose we have a beautiful sanitarium. And in other places in the East we have institutions for the promulgation of the message of present truth. At South Lancaster and other places we have large churches. I believe these churches will respond to the efforts that are made to open up work in the cities of the East. Let us give ourselves for service for the Lord, and He will instruct us what to do. Let us remember that if we will come into close relation with God, He will walk with us. Let us not become so absorbed in self and self interests that we shall forget those who are climbing the ladder of Christian experience and who need our help. Let us take into consideration the work that is to be done in binding off this, the closing work of the message for these last days. May God help us to come near to Him and follow Him so closely that we shall know His goings forth are prepared as the morning. Let us study to know what His message to us is, and determine to obey it, that the grace of God may rest upon us. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 14

“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. ... How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 15

“Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” [Isaiah 52:1, 7-10.] 24LtMs, Ms 35, 1909, par. 16