About this time I was shown that it was my duty to visit our people in New Hampshire. My constant and faithful companion at this time was Louisa Foss, a sister of Samuel Foss, the husband of my sister Mary. I can never forget her kind and sisterly attention to me in my journeyings. We were also accompanied by Elder Files and his wife, who were old and valued friends of my family, and by Brother Ralph Haskins and Elder James White.
(LS 77.1)
We were cordially received by our friends in New Hampshire, but there were wrongs existing in that field which burdened me much. We had to meet a spirit of self-righteousness that was very depressing.
(LS 77.2)
Encouragement for Elder Morse
While visiting at the house of Elder Washington Morse, I was very ill. Prayer was offered in my behalf, and the Spirit of God rested upon me. I was taken off in vision, and some things were shown me concerning the case of Elder Morse in connection with the disappointment of 1844.
(LS 77.3)
Elder Morse had been firm and consistent in the belief that the Lord would come at that time; but when the period passed without bringing the event expected, he was perplexed and unable to explain the delay. Although bitterly disappointed, he did not renounce his faith, as some did, calling it a fanatical delusion; but he was bewildered, and could not understand the position of God’s people on prophetic time. He had been so earnest in declaring that the coming of the Lord was near, that when the time passed, he was despondent, and did nothing to encourage the disappointed people, who were like sheep without a shepherd, left to be devoured of wolves.
(LS 77.4)
The case of Jonah was presented before me. Elder Morse was in a condition similar to that of the disappointed prophet. He had proclaimed that the Lord would come in 1844. The time had passed. The check of fear that had partially held the people was removed, and they indulged in derision of those who had looked in vain for Jesus. Elder Morse felt that he was a byword among his neighbors, an object of jest, and he could not be reconciled to his position. He did not think of the mercy of God in granting the world a longer time in which to prepare for His coming, that the warning of the judgment might be heard more widely, and the people tested with greater light. He thought only of the humiliation of God’s servants.
(LS 78.1)
Instead of being discouraged at his disappointment, as was Jonah, Elder Morse should have cast aside his selfish sorrow, and gathered up the rays of precious light that God had given His people. He should have rejoiced that the world was granted a reprieve; and he should have been ready to aid in carrying forward the great work yet to be done upon the earth, in bringing sinners to repentance and salvation.
(LS 78.2)
A Lack of True Godliness
It was difficult to accomplish much good in New Hampshire. We found little spirituality there. Many pronounced their experience in the movement of 1844 a delusion. It was hard to reach this class, for we could not accept the position they ventured to take. A number who had been active preachers and exhorters in 1844, now seemed to have lost their moorings and did not know where we were in prophetic time; they were fast uniting with the spirit of the world.
(LS 78.3)
Spiritual Magnetism
In New Hampshire we had to contend with a species of spiritual magnetism, of a similar character with mesmerism. It was our first experience of this kind, and happened thus: Arriving at Claremont, we were told that there were two parties of Adventists, one party denying their former faith, and another a small number who believed that in their past experience they had been led by the providence of God. We were directed to two men especially as holding views similar to our own. We found that there was much prejudice against these men, but supposed that they were persecuted for righteousness’ sake. We called on them, and were kindly received and courteously treated. We soon learned that they claimed perfect sanctification, declaring that they were above the possibility of sin.
(LS 79.1)
These men wore excellent clothes, and had an air of ease and comfort. While we were talking with them, a little boy, about eight years old, and literally clad in dirty rags, entered the room in which we were sitting. We were surprised to find that this child was the son of one of these men. The mother looked exceedingly ashamed and annoyed; but the father, utterly unconcerned, continued to talk about his high spiritual attainments, without the slightest recognition of his little son.
(LS 79.2)
His sanctification had suddenly lost its charm in my eyes. Wrapped in prayer and meditation, throwing off all the toil and responsibilities of life, this man had failed to provide for the actual wants of his family or to give his children fatherly attention. He seemed to forget that the greater our love for God, the stronger should be our love and care for those whom He has given us. The Saviour never taught idleness and abstract devotion, to the neglect of the duties lying directly in our pathway.
(LS 79.3)
This husband and father declared that the attainment of true holiness carried the mind above all earthly thoughts. Still he sat at the table and ate temporal foods. He was not fed by a miracle. Some one had to provide the food that he ate, although about this matter he troubled himself little, his time being so entirely devoted to spiritual things. Not so his wife, upon whom rested the burden of the family. She toiled unremittingly in every department of household labor to keep up the home. Her husband declared that she was not sanctified, that she allowed worldly things to draw her mind away from religious subjects.
(LS 80.1)
I thought of our Saviour, who labored so untiringly for the good of others. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17), He declared. The sanctification that He taught was shown by deeds of kindness and mercy, and the love that leads men and women to regard others better than themselves.
(LS 80.2)
In speaking of faith, one of them said, “All that we have to do is to believe, and whatever we ask of God will be given us.”
(LS 80.3)
Elder White suggested that there were conditions attached to this promise. “‘If ye abide in Me,’ Christ said, ‘and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’John 15:7. Your theory of faith,” he continued, “must have a foundation.”
(LS 80.4)
A sister of one of these men requested a private interview with me. She had much to say concerning entire consecration to God, and endeavored to draw out my views in regard to this subject. While talking, she held my hand in hers, and with the other softly stroked my hair. I prayed that angels of God might protect me from the unholy influences which this attractive young woman was seeking to exercise over me with her fair speeches and gentle caresses. She had much to say in regard to the spiritual attainments and great faith of her brother. Her mind seemed to be very much occupied with him and his experience. I felt that I must be guarded in what I said, and was glad when the interview was ended.
(LS 81.1)
These persons who made such lofty professions, were deceiving the unwary. They had much to say about charity covering a multitude of sins. I could not agree with their views and feelings, and felt that they were wielding a terrible power for evil, and was glad to get away from their presence.
(LS 81.2)
As soon as the views of these people were crossed, they manifested a stubborn, self-righteous spirit that rejected all instruction. Though professing great humility, they were boastful in their sophistry of sanctification, and resisted all appeals to reason. We felt that all our efforts to convince them of their error were useless, as they took the position that they were not learners, but teachers.
(LS 81.3)
Meeting at Brother Collier’s
In the afternoon we went to the house of Brother Collier, where we proposed to hold a meeting that evening. We asked Brother Collier some questions regarding these men, but he gave us no information. “If the Lord sent you here,” he said, “you will ascertain what spirit governs them, and will solve the mystery for us.”
(LS 81.4)
Both of these men attended the meeting at Brother Collier’s. While I was earnestly praying for light and the presence of God, they began to groan and to cry “Amen!” apparently throwing their sympathy with my prayer. But my heart was immediately oppressed with a great weight. The words died upon my lips, and darkness overshadowed the whole meeting.
(LS 82.1)
Elder White arose, and said: “I am distressed. The Spirit of God is grieved. I resist this influence in the name of the Lord. O God, rebuke this foul spirit.”
(LS 82.2)
I was immediately relieved, and rose above the shadows. But again, while I was speaking words of encouragement and faith to those present, their groanings and amens chilled me. Once more Elder White rebuked the spirit of darkness, and again the power of God rested upon me while I spoke to the people. These agents of the enemy were then so bound as to be unable to exert their baleful influence again that night.
(LS 82.3)
After the meeting, Elder White said to Brother Collier: “Now I can tell you concerning these two men. They are acting under a satanic influence, yet attributing all to the Spirit of the Lord.”
(LS 82.4)
“I believe God sent you to encourage us,” he replied. “We call their influence mesmerism. They affect the minds of others in a remarkable way, and have controlled some to their great damage. We seldom hold meetings here; for they intrude their presence, and we can have no union with them. They manifest deep feeling, as you observed tonight, but they crush the very life from our prayers, and leave an influence blacker than Egyptian darkness. I have never seen them tied up before tonight.”
(LS 82.5)
The “Cannot-Sin” Theory
During family prayer that night, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I was shown many things in vision. These men were presented to me as doing great injury to the cause of God. While professing sanctification, they were transgressing the sacred law. They were corrupt at heart, and those in union with them were under a satanic delusion, obeying their carnal instincts instead of the word of God.
(LS 83.1)
They held that those who are sanctified cannot sin. And this naturally led to the belief that the affections and desires of the sanctified ones were always right, and never in danger of leading them into sin. In harmony with these sophistries, they were practising the worst sins under the garb of sanctification, and through their deceptive, mesmeric influence were gaining a strange power over some of their associates, who did not see the evil of these apparently beautiful but seductive theories.
(LS 83.2)
Terrible was their power over the people, for while holding their attention and winning their confidence through a mesmeric influence, they led the innocent and unsuspecting to believe that this influence was the Spirit of God. Therefore those who followed their teachings were deceived into the belief that they and their associates who claimed to be wholly sanctified, could fulfill all the desires of their hearts without sin.
(LS 83.3)
Clearly the deceptions of these false teachers were laid open before me, and I saw the fearful account that stood against them in the book of records, and the terrible guilt that rested upon them for professing complete holiness while their daily acts were offensive in the sight of God.
(LS 83.4)
Some time after this, the characters of these persons were developed before the people, and the vision given in reference to them was fully vindicated.
(LS 84.1)
True Sanctification
“Believe in Christ,” was the cry of these claimants of sanctification. “Only believe; this is all that is required of you. Only have faith in Jesus.”
(LS 84.2)
The words of John came forcibly to my mind, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”1 John 1:8. I was shown that those who triumphantly claim to be sinless, show by their very boasting that they are far from being without taint of sin. The more clearly fallen man comprehends the character of Christ, the more distrustful will he be of himself, and the more imperfect will his works appear to him, in contrast with those which marked the life of the spotless Redeemer. But those who are far from Jesus, those whose spiritual perceptions are so clouded by error that they cannot comprehend the character of the great Exemplar, conceive of Him as altogether such a one as themselves, and dare to talk of their own perfection of holiness. But they are far from God; they know little of themselves, and less of Christ.
(LS 84.3)