Simplicity in Dress Oakland, California October 23, 1877 This manuscript is published in entirety in RH 03/20/1958.
As I have seen many Sabbath-keeping Adventists becoming worldly in thought, conversation, and dress, my heart has been saddened. The people who claim to believe that they have the last message of mercy to give to the world are attracted by worldly fashions and make great exertions to follow them as far as they think their profession of faith allows them to go. Worldly dress among our people is so noticeable that unbelievers frequently remark, “In their dress you cannot distinguish them from the world.” This we know to be true, although there are many exceptions.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 1)
Those who meet the world’s standards are not few in numbers. We are grieved to see that they are exerting an influence, leading others to follow their example. When I see those who have named the name of Christ, aping the fashions introduced by worldlings, I have the most painful reflections. Their lack of Christlikeness is apparent to all. In the outward adorning there is revealed to worldlings as well as to Christians an absence of the inward adorning, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 2)
For years our hearts have felt sad over this matter. Errors on the point of dress in Battle Creek, the great heart of the work, affect the whole body. At that important post are some of our most important institutions—the publishing house, where the truth is printed and scattered to the world; the college for our youth; and the Health Institute, now bearing the name of a sanitarium, in which reform is taught and practiced. Parents send their children from the different states to Battle Creek, feeling a sense of security in regard to them, because of the moral and religious influences prevailing in these institutions.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 3)
The garden of Eden was created by God. He made it a beautiful and holy place. But Satan found entrance to the garden, leaving his slimy trail of sin and disobedience. Battle Creek is not a place from which either the tempter or defective human beings are excluded. The tempter and the tempted have access to Battle Creek. We are sorry to say that pride, vanity, and love of display are evident, testifying to all beholders that some at least care more for outward dress than for the heavenly adornment.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 4)
Superfluous tucks, ruffles, and ornaments of any kind should be avoided as contradictory to our profession of faith as followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. Frequently the trimmings of a dress cost more than the material for the dress itself. We warn our Christian sisters against the tendency to make their dresses according to worldly styles, thus attracting attention. The house of God is profaned by the dress of professedly Christian women of today. A fantastic dress, a display of gold chains and gaudy laces, is a certain indication of a weak head and a proud heart.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 5)
In order to follow in the wake of fashion, many of our youth incur expenses which their condition in life does not justify. Children of poor parents seek to dress as do those who are wealthy. Parents tax their purses and their God-given time and strength in making and remodeling clothing to satisfy the vanity of their children. If our sisters who have abundance of means would regulate their expenditures, not in accordance with their wealth, but with regard to their responsibility to God, as wise stewards of the means entrusted to them, their example would do much to stay this evil now existing among us.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 6)
Satan stands in the background, devising the fashions which lead to extravagance in the outlay of means. In forming the fashions of the day, he has a fixed purpose. He knows that time and money which are devoted to meet the demands of fashion will not be used for higher, holier objects. Precious time is wasted in keeping pace with ever-changing and never-satisfying fashions. No sooner is one style introduced, than new styles are devised, and then, in order for fashionable persons to remain fashionable, the dress must be remodeled. Thus professing Christians, with divided hearts, waste their time, giving to the worldly nearly all their energies.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 7)
This entirely unnecessary burden is taken up and willingly borne by our sisters. Half of their burdens comes from an attempt to follow the fashions; yet they eagerly accept the yoke, because fashion is the god they worship. They are as truly held in shackles of bondage as is the veriest slave; and yet they talk of independence! They do not know the first principles of independence. They have no mind or taste of judgment of their own.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 8)
Satan is wonderfully successful in infatuating minds with the ever-varying styles of dress. He knows that while the minds of women are continually filled with a feverish desire to follow fashion, their moral sensibilities are weak, and they cannot be aroused to realize their true spiritual condition. They are worldly, without God, without hope.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 9)
We do not discourage taste and neatness in dress. Correct taste in dress is not to be despised or condemned. While needless ruffles, trimmings, and ornaments should be left off, we encourage our sisters to obtain good, durable material. Nothing is gained in trying to save means by purchasing cheap fabrics. Let the clothing be plain and neat without extravagance or display.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 10)
Young ladies who break away from slavery to fashion will be ornaments in society. The one who is simple and unpretending in her dress and in her manners shows that she understands that a true lady is characterized by moral worth. How charming, how interesting, is simplicity in dress, which in its comeliness can be compared with the flowers of the field!
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 11)
When I see Christian women leading out in temperance campaigns, presenting to the liquor inebriate a pledge to abstain from all intoxicating drinks, I think it would also be well for them to present to every Christian woman a pledge to abstain from all needless display and extravagance in dress; for the bondage of a woman to fashion is usually as great as is the bondage of a liquor inebriate to his appetite. By dressing simply, thus saving time and means, Christian women can do more to encourage and sustain the cause of temperance than by anything else. The means thus saved will clothe the destitute, feed the hungry, and close a most effectual door against the temptation of drunkenness.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 12)
Pride of dress is not a small matter, but a serious evil. It causes time, thought, and money to be spent in the decoration of the body, while the culture of the heavenly graces is neglected. Precious hours that our Saviour has exhorted us to devote to prayer and the study of the Scriptures are given to an unnecessary preparation of apparel for outward display. By and by there will be a sad reckoning of the waste of our Lord’s goods in needless display.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 13)
Those who practice simplicity in dress have time to visit the afflicted and are better prepared to pray with and for them. On every Christian man and woman rests the solemn duty of regulating and contracting personal expenses, that by so doing they may be able to help the needy, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked.
(3LtMs, Ms 1, 1877, 14)
Ms 2, 1877
Proper Dress NP 1877 Formerly Undated Ms 91. Portions of this manuscript are published in ML 146; 1877 HR articles.
Many lives have been sacrificed in conforming to the demands of fashion. And few sense the fearful responsibility this incurs. When hoops were in fashion, we were pained to listen to the arguments of many professed Christian women for the necessity of wearing them for the health. They could walk better and work better. Little girls were seen imitating their mothers in fastening upon their little forms something to distend their dresses like hoops. The mothers argued their healthfulness, why should not they wear them? Children conformed to this fashion. The hoops distended the skirts that they could not fall naturally about the form and give warmth to the body. The extremities were chilled. Thousands of innocent victims were sacrificed to the hoop fashion.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 1)
Even those who profess to be reformers in the matter of dress have imbibed narrow views of the subject and fail to consider it in the broadest and fullest sense. Many conceive of dress reform as consisting alone in a shortening of the dress to escape the floor by several inches, and having effected this, they flatter themselves that they have done all that is necessary. Although the shortening of the skirts is well enough so far as it goes, yet their dress may still be unhealthful in many respects. The lungs may be compressed by tight-fitting bands, waists, or corsets, which hinder the free flow of blood through the system. It is essential to health that the chest should have room to fully expand, so that the lungs may be enabled to take full inspirations of air. Many who have died of consumption might have lived their allotted term of life had they dressed in accordance with the laws of their being. The strength of the system is, in a great degree, dependent upon the amount of pure fresh air breathed. If the lungs are restricted, the quantity of oxygen received into them is also limited, the blood becomes vitiated, and disease follows. Confinement indoors and consequent deprivation of the invigorating sunlight and the exhilaration of exercise in the pure open air complete the ruin begun by wrong habits of dress; feebleness and premature death are the result.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 2)
The dangers resulting from a compression of the waist are not realized by the majority of women, though many able pens have treated upon the subject. Many claim that tight-lacing is now nearly or quite abandoned, and such may think these remarks quite uncalled for; but it is true today that the corsets and dress of most women for the proper action of the vital organs. The lungs, heart, and liver are burdened in their work. Every article of clothing upon the person should be worn so loose that in raising the arms, the clothing will be correspondingly lifted by the action.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 3)
This brings us to another error in the dress of women at the present day: The underclothing is usually sustained by the hips alone. This heavy weight, pressing upon the bowels, drags them downward and causes weakness of the stomach and a sense of lassitude which leads the sufferer to incline forward; this tends to further cramp the lungs and prevent their action. The blood becomes impure, the pores of the skin fail in their , sallowness and disease set in, beauty and health are gone.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 4)
Ladies may resort to cosmetics to restore the tint of the complexion, but they cannot thus bring back the glow of healthful feelings to the heart. That which darkens and dinges the skin also clouds the spirits and destroys the cheerfulness and peace of the mind.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 5)
Every woman who values health should avoid hanging any weight upon the hips— The shoulders should be made to sustain the weight of every article of clothing worn upon the person. this will relieve the bowels from undue pressure and prevent that weakness of the stomach and bowels which is prevailing to an alarming extent.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 6)
Every wrong habit which injures the health of the body reacts in effect upon the mind. Careworn, nervous, anxious women are because they cheat themselves of the pure air that makes pure blood and the freedom of motion which sends that blood coursing through the veins and gives life, health, and energy. Women, of all persons, need strength of mind and body to grapple with the ills and anxieties of life; but most of them are so weak and nerveless that they are conquered and crushed by them instead.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 7)
Thousands of women are today suffering from a painful relaxation of the system for want of vigorous physical exercise. They are rusting out their lives in inaction. Their present style of dress proves a hindrance to the free use of their limbs, and they gradually, almost unconsciously, give up healthful exercise and surrender to a life of inactivity. Many of the women of the present time are only able to arrange their dresses, put them on and carry them about with their burden of overskirts, fluffing, plaiting, ruffling, trimming, bows, and buttons. After the dressing, ornamenting, and frizzling are accomplished, they feel wholly unable to go out in the open air and engage in exercise that would expand their lungs and give elasticity to their limbs. Besides, such exercise would be likely to spoil their fine dresses. Therefore they indulge in sedentary habits at the expense of health, happiness, and even life. They are abject slaves to the tyrant fashion. They deform the human form by the many inventions decreed by this monster.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 8)
But what account can those who follow the fashions and follies of the present day render to God for the use they have made of the time and abilities given them for wise improvement? Their minds, instead of being developed and strengthened by proper cultivation, have been dwarfed and crippled by being devoted almost entirely to the arrangement of the dress in accordance with the demands of fashion. This is the crying evil of our sex and lies at the bottom of many of the failures and miseries of life. Many women who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ are servants to the fashions of the world and delight to adopt new inventions in styles, constantly appearing out in new costumes and new deformities of dress.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 9)
It would be well if a pledge of temperance in dress could be presented for our women to sign and to observe. The intoxicating influence of extravagance and display in dress has so degrading an effect upon the minds of many women, that such a measure would seem justifiable and reasonable. Thousands are unfitted for the every-day duties of domestic life, because of this mania for dress. Their children, who are a precious trust to them from God, are neglected and grow up without proper care and attention, obtaining too often an education in vice. Prayer in the closet is abandoned, the Word of God is left unread, and there is no time nor aptitude for religious meditation. Said Christ, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” [Mark 8:34.] Those who are attracted to Christ and who live for the future immortal life will not be slaves of fashion.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 10)
The Christian mother, to a very great extent, has it within her power to secure to her children good constitutions, sound morals, and correct views of the duties and responsibilities of life. Thousands of mothers are today ignorant of the laws of health and morality, and utterly reckless in the management of their children. Thousands are ruined for life and rendered worthless to society through neglect of proper training in early youth. A failure of health prevents the cultivation and development of the mental faculties, the talents lie dormant in consequence, and the world loses the benefit of them. A knowledge of, and obedience to, the laws of nature would have preserved the healthful action of body and mind and given to humanity the blessing of many a life now wasted in uselessness. Through the inefficiency of parents, much good is lost to the world, and God is robbed of the glory He should receive through the proper direction of youthful talent and energy.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 11)
Indulgence of wrong desires and gratification of the animal passions are the order of the day in this age of the world. Youth is surrounded by the fascinations of pleasure and the seductive temptations of sin. For these reasons a great and important responsibility rests upon the Christian mother. It is hers, in a measure, to rectify the growing evils of the world by rearing her children in such a manner that they will take a firm stand for the right and cast their influence on the side of virtue. But the mother who submits her God-given womanhood to the slavery of fashion wastes, in useless labor and frivolity, time and energy which should be devoted to her sacred calling. She cannot feel a sense of her solemn responsibility to God and humanity. Satan has invented manifold temptations to divert the minds of mothers from their most important work. The matter of dress holds the larger share of women in the veriest bondage. The study of fashion-plate is pursued with untiring zeal and is followed up by an endless round of cutting, fitting, stitching, ruffling, pointing, plaiting to arrange for vain display. All this costs time, money, and concentration of mind, for which no equivalent is returned. The mental powers are wretchedly abused by being almost wholly bent upon the object of preparing raiment for the body, while their children are on the way to ruin.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 12)
Many mothers are much more concerned as to the dress and adornment of their children than they are for their behavior and the proper direction of their minds. They will spend precious time in ruffling and trimming the garments of the little ones, while those who are to wear them are running in the streets, subject to the influence of vile associates and breathing in the atmosphere of vice. The hours that should be devoted to prayerful communion with them and a careful superintendence of their employments and amusements are worse than wasted in ornamenting the little suits which will serve to add the evil of vanity to the faults already acquired.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 13)
A mother who prizes the approval of God and who is controlled by heavenly influences will not dare to waste her precious time, and money, to meet the claims of custom. Fashion-loving mothers are daily giving their children lessons in devotion to dress, which they will never unlearn in after years. They are sowing seeds in those tender minds which will erelong bear fruit. “Sad will the harvest be!”“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” [Galatians 6:7.]
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 14)
It is the mother’s duty constantly to educate her mind for the grave duties devolving upon her, that she may successfully meet her increasing family cares. She should study the peculiarities in the temperaments of her children, and vary her discipline to suit their different dispositions; thus she will be able to mold their minds in the right shape. The usual management of children at the present time tends to weaken their moral power. They are allowed to be idle, and their active young minds, seeking employment, stumble into evil ways. They are not taught self-denial and prompt obedience, therefore they grow up selfish and incapable of taking up the earnest work of life. The example of most parents is demoralizing to the children, who naturally look to them for a pattern. If the parents are swept into the strong current of the world and follow its practices regardless of right or wrong, time or expense, certainly no better can be expected of their children. The lessons of precept and example given by parents to their children should tend to fit their characters for the higher, immortal life. They are thus qualified also for the greatest usefulness in this world. God has placed us here not to live for our own amusement, but to do good, to bless humanity, to prepare for heaven. Every violation of moral obligation, with its burden of result, must be met and accounted for hereafter.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 15)
Especially are the mother’s moments priceless; her work will be tested in the solemn day of accounts. Then it will be found that many of the failures and crimes of men and women have resulted from the ignorance and gross neglect of those whose duty it was to guide their childish feet in the right way. Then it will be found that many who have blessed the world with the light of genius and truth and holiness, owe the staunch principles and integrity that were the mainspring of their usefulness and success to the careful religious training of a praying Christian mother.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 16)
The mother needs the most perfect self-control; and in order to secure this she should take all precautions against any physical or mental disorder. Her life should be ordered according to the laws of God and of health. As the diet materially affects the mind and disposition, she should be very careful in that particular, eating that which is nourishing, but not stimulating, that her nerves may be calm and her temper equable. She will then find it easier to exercise patience in dealing with the varying tendencies of her children, and to hold the reins of government firmly yet affectionately. Children should virtually be trained in a home school from the cradle to maturity. And, as in the case of any well-regulated school, the teachers themselves gain important knowledge; the mother, especially, who is the principal teacher in the home, should there learn the most valuable lessons of her life.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 17)
Well may the mother inquire with deep anxiety, as she looks upon the children given to her care, What is the great aim and object of their education? Is it to fit them for life and its duties, to qualify them to take an honorable position in the world, to do good, to benefit their fellow beings, to gain eventually the reward of the righteous? If so, then the first lesson to be taught them is self-control; for no undisciplined, headstrong person can hope for success in this world, or reward in the next. Children should be taught that they must not have their own way, but that the will of their parents must guide them. One of the most important lessons in this connection is the control of appetite. They should learn to eat at regular intervals and to allow nothing to pass their lips between these stated meals, which should be served twice or at most three times a day.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 18)
For more than twelve years we have taken only two meals each day of plain, unstimulating food. During that time, we have had almost constantly the care of children, varying in age from three to thirteen years. We worked gradually and carefully to change their habit of eating three times a day to two; we also worked cautiously to change their diet from stimulating food as meat, rich gravies, pies, cakes, butter, spices, etc., to simple fruits, vegetables, and grains. The consequence has been that our children have not been troubled with the various maladies to which children are more or less subject. They occasionally take cold by reason of carelessness, but this seldom makes them sick.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 19)
We have, as an occasional experiment, changed the number of their daily meals from two to three; but the result was not good. In the morning their breath was offensive; and after testing the matter for a few weeks, we were thoroughly convinced that the children were better upon two meals a day than upon three; and we therefore returned to our former system, with marked improvement in the health of the children as a result. If tempted with the sight of food prepared for others, they incline to think they are hungry, but usually they do not miss or think about the third meal. Children reared in this way are much more easily controlled than those who are indulged in eating everything their appetite craves, and at all times. They are usually cheerful, contented, and healthy. Even the most stubborn, passionate, and wayward, have become submissive, patient, and possessed of self-control by persistently following up this order of diet, united with a firm but kind management in regard to other matters.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 20)
Parents will have much to answer for in the day of accounts because of their wicked indulgence of their children. Many gratify every unreasonable wish, because it is easier to be rid of their importunity in this way than in any other. A child should be so trained that a refusal would be received in the right spirit, and accepted as final.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 21)
Children are generally untaught in regard to the importance of when, how, and what they should eat. They are permitted to indulge their tastes freely, to eat at all hours, to help themselves to fruit when it tempts their eyes, and this, with the pie, cake, bread and butter, and sweetmeats eaten almost constantly, make them gourmands and dyspeptics. The digestive organs, like a mill which is continually kept running, becomes enfeebled, vital force is called from the brain to aid the stomach in its overwork, and thus the mental powers are weakened. The unnatural stimulation and wear of the vital forces make them nervous, impatient of restraint, self-willed, and irritable. They can scarcely be trusted out of their parents’ sight. In many cases the moral power seems deadened, and it is difficult to arouse them to a sense of the shame and grievous nature of sin; they slip easily into habits of prevarication, deceit, and often open lying.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 22)
Parents deplore these things in their children, but do not realize that it is their own bad management which has brought about the evil. They have not seen the necessity of restraining the appetites and passions of their children, and they have grown and strengthened with their years. Mothers prepare with their own hands and place before their children food which has a tendency to injure them physically and mentally. Unwholesome diet makes a poor quality of blood. The appetite continually indulged is constantly craving something more stimulating; with the weakening of the moral powers bad associates are made, and the young man who has thus gone from bad to worse finds in the saloon that which meets the unnatural wants of his appetite. He then becomes a lion that can be tamed by no common means. Shame vanishes, and manhood is sacrificed to an insatiate desire.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 23)
There is a general mourning that intemperance prevails to such a fearful extent; but we fasten the primal cause upon fathers and mothers who have provided upon their tables the means by which the appetites of their children are educated for exciting stimulants. They themselves have sown in their children the seeds of intemperance, and it is their fault if they become drunkards. What account in the day of final judgment will that father and mother give whose child has become corrupt and dissolute in life through their indulgence of his appetite, and neglect to cultivate the moral attributes of his mind! Parents see that something must be done, for anguish has entered their homes, so they attempt to seize the monster of intemperance and hold it with their feeble strength; but they find it too strong for their feeble hands to conquer. In their ignorance they nourished and strengthened it until it is beyond their control. Could parents realize the great responsibility resting upon them when their children are innocent babes in the home, much sin and misery might be averted; temperance would then be taught at the fireside, and the table would afford practical lessons repeated every day! Line upon line, precept upon precept, children should be taught the necessity of self-control and self-denial; and then true reform would make rapid progress.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 24)
Parents may, by earnest, persevering effort, unbiased by the customs of fashionable life, build a moral bulwark about their children that will defend them from the miseries and crimes caused by intemperance. Children should not be left to come up as they will, unduly developing traits that should be nipped in the bud; but they should be disciplined carefully, and educated to take their position upon the side of right, of reform and abstinence. In every crisis they will then have moral independence to breast the storm of opposition sure to assail those who take their stand in favor of true reform.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 25)
Individual effort on the right side is needed to subdue the growing evil of intemperance. Oh! that we could find words that would melt and burn their way into the heart of every parent in the land! Mothers can do much toward sweeping away the cloud of darkness and iniquity that settles down over the earth like the pall of death.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 26)
Mothers, can we not do our work better? Can we not labor more faithfully to bring up our children to real usefulness in the world? Let us teach the little ones to help us while their hands are small and their strength is slight. Let us impress upon their minds the fact that labor is noble, that it was ordained to man of Heaven, that it was enjoined upon Adam in Eden, as an essential to the healthy development of mind and body. Let us teach them that innocent pleasure is never half so satisfying as when it follows active industry. If we teach our children to be industrious, half the danger is over; for idleness leads into all manner of temptation to sin. Let us educate our children to be simple in manner without being bold, to be benevolent and self-sacrificing without being extravagant, to be economical without becoming avaricious. And above all, let us teach them the claims which God has upon them, that it is their duty to carry religion into every department of life, that they should love God supremely, and love their neighbor, not neglecting the little courtesies of life which are essential to happiness.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 27)
How earnestly and perseveringly the artist labors to transfer to canvass a perfect likeness of his model; and how diligently the sculptor hews and chisels out the stone into a counterpart of the copy he is following. So the parents should labor to shape, polish, and refine their children after the pattern given them in Christ Jesus. As the patient artist studies, and works, and forms plans to make the results of his labor more perfect, so should the parent consider time well spent that is occupied in training the children for useful lives, and fitting them for the immortal kingdom. The artist’s work is small and unimportant compared with that of the parent. The one deals with lifeless material, from which he fashions forms of beauty; but the other deals with a human being whose life can be shaped for good or ill, to bless humanity or to curse it; to go out in darkness, or to live forever in a future sinless world.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 28)
The votaries of fashion will never see or understand the immortal beauty of that Christian mother’s work and will sneer at her old-fashioned notions and her plain, unadorned dress, while the Majesty of heaven will write the name of that faithful mother in the book of immortal fame.
(3LtMs, Ms 2, 1877, 29)
Ms 3, 1877
Talk/Work Earnestly for the Unsaved NP 1877 Formerly Undated Ms 141. This manuscript is published in entirety in 18MR 281-285.
When we engage with all our hearts in the work, we are closely allied to the angels; we are co-workers with the angels and with Christ; and there is a sympathy with heaven and with us, a holy, elevated sympathy. We are brought a little closer to heaven, a little closer to the angelic hosts, a little closer to Jesus. Then let us engage in this work with all our energies. Do not become weary in the work. God will help us. Angels will help us; because it is their work, and the very work they are seeking to inspire us with. If we can engage in it, can you not see that the angelic host will be all around us, and the excellent glory will drop upon us, just as naturally as the dew falls upon the grass?
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 1)
Do not be influenced by what others may say about you. I have had persons come to me, wanting to tell me what this one or that one for whom I was laboring had been saying about me. Said I: Away with these reports; what has that to do with their salvation? My work is to bring them back to the fold.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 2)
This is a work you must take hold of earnestly; and when you find a wandering sheep, call him to the fold; and leave him not until you see him safely enfolded there. May Heaven let the Spirit that was in our divine Lord rest upon us. This is what we want. He tells us, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” [John 13:34.] Go out for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 3)
If there is any point on which you have committed one wrong, although they may have committed one hundred, take that which you have done out of the way, and open the way for them to come back again. Perhaps that was the very thing that was keeping a soul away. In your humility, confess your one wrong; and perhaps it may touch him, and lead him with weeping to confess his hundred wrongs, and to take them out of the way. Thus a soul for whom Christ died will be saved.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 4)
Our Lord was rich and exalted in heaven; but He left the glory that He had with the Father before the world was, and came down to this earth to become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, to be mocked at by the very ones He came to save, and at last to give His life for them.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 5)
In your experience perhaps you may say, I have tried to save this one and that one, and they have only wounded me, and I am not going to try to help them any more. But do not become discouraged if they do not at once return to the fold. Reach out still for your fellow mortals around you. You shall reap if you faint not. Remember that the reaping time is coming, and you will have an abundant and precious harvest. But if you faint before the harvest time shall come, you will lose all the reward.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 6)
I want you to remember Jesus, the suffering Son of God. He came to die for the fallen race, and how did they receive Him? They met Him with scorn and indignity, and at last hung Him upon the cross. Such was their treatment of Him who came to save them and to exalt them to the throne of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 7)
Ought you then to become weary? Should you faint, who are partakers of the heavenly benefit? Or will you say, Let me drink of the cup; let me be baptized with the baptism; let me be a co-worker with God and the heavenly angels, and act some part in the salvation of mortals around me? Let this be your work.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 8)
There is a great work before us. There are men and women straying from the fold of Christ, and as they become cold and indifferent, and lose all disposition to return, they will not run after you. You must take them where they are. You must place the straying one on your shoulder, and carry him back to the fold, and there let him remain.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 9)
Some years since, I had a dream. I dreamed we were out upon the water. There were several in the boat besides myself, and there were other boats about us. The other boats were watching to see what course our boat would take. We had, every one of us, oars, and were rowing with all our might. While we were thus urging our boat along, I saw two or three of the other boats capsize, and the persons thrown from them began to sink. They had no power to save themselves, or to get hold of the boat again.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 10)
I said, Let us put about the boat, and pick up these souls. The answer was, Let them come to the boat; they can see the boat; let them come to us. I looked and saw them sinking and rising and struggling for life. I said, We must put the boat about and pick them up. The answer again was, Let them come to the boat, and then we will pull them in. After waiting a few minutes more, I said, Give me the oars, and I began to row with all my might. Said I: Help me, we must go to these individuals and save them where they are. With that, the others took hold of the oars again and rowed with me to get to these individuals. Now, said I, Take hold of me. Then I would reach down, even to the bottom, it seemed to me, exerting all my strength, and would pull one out of the water. Others followed the example. This we did repeatedly, taking them to the shore, and leaving them there for others to work over, as some of them were nearly lifeless. Said I: Work over them; every one will live. Then we would cry out to those in the boats, “Reach down your arms to them, and bring them up.”
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 11)
I then went to examine those who had been brought to the shore, and as I turned them over to look at their faces, I recognized the faces of my brother, my sister, and my near friends. I kneeled down, and I cannot express such thanksgiving as I raised to Heaven, that God had given us strength to save them.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 12)
I do not know whether this means that these were my natural brothers and sisters; I think it means those connected to us by still closer ties in the church. Said Jesus, “Whosoever doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother and sister, and brother.” [Matthew 12:50.]
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 13)
I want to say, brethren and sisters, that we must labor for the wandering where they are. You need not expect that those who have the chilling influence of the world upon them to manifest anxiety for their own souls. We must manifest it for them. Do you appreciate salvation? Do you appreciate the great sacrifice that has been made for you? If you do, God help you to deny yourselves, and make this sacrifice for your fellow men. “Love one another, as I have loved you,” said Christ. [John 13:34.] He left the glory and splendor which he enjoyed on high. None of these were sufficient to hold him there and prevent him from coming down to elevate you. And now are you willing to engage in the work with all your energies, and help your fellow mortals around you? God give you a spirit of self-denial.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 14)
Love—how sweet it is! It is the bond of perfectness. What is the gold which the True Witness counsels us to buy of Him? It is faith and love combined. Faith leads us to act. And what is love?—A tender care and solicitude for perishing souls. Faith and love go hand in hand. And this love the church as a general thing is almost entirely destitute of. And now shall we earnestly labor to win back this grace?
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 15)
We have lost disinterested benevolence. As you enter into the houses of your brethren and sisters, do not be afraid to manifest your feelings of love and sympathy. It is the little things of life that make up the sum of life’s happiness or misery. It is the little things, if they are right, that are of the greatest service.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 16)
I would like to say much more, but my time is up.
(3LtMs, Ms 3, 1877, 17)