Test. to Battle Creek Sanitarium Refiled as Ms 4a, 1881.
Ms 4, 1882
God in Nature Rome, New York 1882 This manuscript is published in entirety in GCDB 02/18/1897.
Men are naturally disposed to measure divine things by their perverted conceptions. They dwell upon infinite benevolence, but try to disbelieve in infinite justice. They grasp human assertions that the judgment executed against sin is contrary to right ideas of God’s benevolent character, and they put His word into the background and men’s opinions in the front. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Those who have no vital connection with God are swayed this way and that, ever grasping the opinions of learned men who sit in judgment upon God and His works and ways. Weak, finite minds weigh God’s Word with men’s balances. The wisdom of these so-called great men is foolishness with God. They are blinded by the god of this world. Those only who are willing to be accounted fools in the eyes of these very worldly-wise men will have the wisdom which is divine. God will not dwell with those who reject His truth, for all who disregard truth, disregard its Author.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 1)
Of every house that has not Jesus for an abiding guest, He says when He withdraws His presence, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” [Matthew 23:38.] How can those who are destitute of divine enlightenment have correct ideas of God’s plans and ways? They either deny Him altogether and ignore His existence, or they circumscribe His power by their own finite, worldly-wise views and opinions.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 2)
That which I have seen of eternal things and that which I have seen of the weakness of men, as God has presented the matter before me, has deeply impressed my mind and influenced my life and character. I see nothing wherein man should be exalted or praised or glorified. I see no reason why the opinions of learned men and the so-called great men should be trusted and exalted. Those who are connected with the infinite God are the only ones who make a proper use of their knowledge or of the talent entrusted to them by the omniscient Creator. No man can ever truly excel in knowledge and influence unless he is connected with the God of wisdom and power.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 3)
The real evidence of a living God is not merely in theory; it is in the conviction which God has written in our hearts, illuminated and explained by His words. It is the living power in His created works, seen by a sanctified eye. The precious faith inspired of God gives strength and nobility of character. The natural powers are enlarged because of holy obedience. All the philosophies of human nature have led to confusion and shame when God has not been recognized as all in all. The life which we live by faith in the Son of God is a series of triumphs not always seen and understood by the interested parties, but with results reaching far into the future, where we shall see and know as we are known.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 4)
The most profound intellects of the world, when not enlightened by God’s Word, become bewildered and lost while trying to investigate the matters of science and revelation. The Creator and His works are beyond finite comprehension, and men conclude that because they cannot explain the works and ways of God from natural causes, the Bible history is not reliable. Many are so intent upon excluding God from the exercise of sovereign will and power in the established order of the universe that they demean man, the noblest of His creatures. The theories and speculations of philosophy would make us believe that man has come by slow degrees, not merely from a savage state, but from the very lowest form of the brute creation. They destroy man’s dignity because they will not admit God’s miraculous power.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 5)
God has illuminated human intellects and poured a flood of light on the world through discoveries in art and science. But those who view these from a merely human standpoint will most assuredly come to wrong conclusions. The thorns of error, skepticism, and infidelity are disguised by being covered with the garments of philosophy and science. Satan has devised this ingenious manner of winning souls away from the living God, away from the truth and religion. He exalts nature above nature’s Creator.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 6)
The only safety for the people now is to feel the importance of combining religious culture with general education that we may escape the curse of unsanctified knowledge. Every effort should be made in the education of youth to impress their minds with the loveliness and power of the truth as it is in Jesus. When the vail shall be removed which separates time from eternity, then will come to many minds the clear perception of the policy of human wisdom in comparison with the sure word of prophecy. All true science leads to harmony with and obedience to God. When that which has seemed incomprehensible is seen in the light shining from the throne of God, it will fill the soul with the greatest astonishment that it was never seen and comprehended before.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 7)
Christ and the Father are continually working through the laws of nature. Those who dwell on the laws of matter and the laws of nature in following their own limited, finite understanding lose sight of, if they do not deny, the continual and direct agency of God. Many express themselves in a manner which would convey the idea that nature is distinct from the God of nature, having in and of itself its own limits and its own powers wherewith to work. There is with many a marked distinction between natural and supernatural. The natural is ascribed to ordinary causes, unconnected with the interference of God. Vital power is attributed to matter, and nature is made a deity. Matter is supposed to be placed in certain relations and left to act from fixed laws with which God Himself cannot interfere; that nature is endowed with certain properties and placed subject to laws and left to itself to obey these laws and perform the work originally commanded. This is false science; there is nothing in the Word of God to sustain it. God does not annul His laws, but He is continually working through them, using them as His instruments. They are not self-working.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 8)
God is perpetually at work in nature. She is His servant, directed as He pleases. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth produces its bounties and the world keeps up its continual march around the sun. The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps it in position in its rotations. The God of heaven is constantly at work. It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears and every flower blooms. It is not as the result of a mechanism, that, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 9)
In God we live and move and have our being. Every breath, every throb of the heart, is the continual evidence of the power of an ever-present God. It is God that maketh the sun to rise in the heavens. He openeth the windows of heaven and giveth rain. He maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains. “He giveth snow like wool; and scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.” [Psalm 147:16.]
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 10)
“When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.” [Jeremiah 10:13.] Although the Lord has ceased His work in creating, He is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things which He has made. Said Christ, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” [John 5:17.]
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 11)
Men of the greatest intellect cannot understand the mysteries of Jehovah as revealed in nature. Divine inspiration asks many questions which the most profound scholar cannot answer. These questions were not asked, supposing that we could answer them, but to call our attention to the deep mysteries of God and to make men know that their wisdom is limited, that in the common things of daily life there are mysteries past the comprehension of finite minds, that the judgment and purposes of God are past finding out, His wisdom unsearchable. If He reveals Himself to man, it is by shrouding Himself in the thick cloud of mystery. God’s purpose is to conceal more of Himself than He makes known to man. Could men fully understand the ways and works of God, they would not then believe Him to be the infinite One. He is not to be comprehended by man in His wisdom and reasons and purposes. “His ways are past finding out.” [Romans 11:33.] His love can never be explained upon natural principles. If this could be done, we would not feel that we could trust Him with the interests of our souls. Skeptics refuse to believe, because with their finite minds they cannot comprehend the infinite power by which God reveals Himself to men. Even the mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. Yet because human science cannot in its research explain the ways and works of the Creator, men will doubt the existence of God and ascribe infinite power to nature. God’s existence, His character, [and] His law are facts that all the reasoning of men of the highest attainments cannot controvert. They deny the claims of God and neglect the interest of their souls because they cannot understand His ways and works. Yet God is ever seeking to instruct finite men that they may exercise faith in Him and trust themselves wholly in His hands. Every drop of rain or flake of snow, every spire of grass, every leaf and flower and shrub testifies of God. These little things so common around us teach the lesson that nothing is beneath the notice of the infinite God, nothing too small for His attention.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 12)
God is to be acknowledged more from what He does not reveal of Himself than from that which is open to our limited comprehension. If men could comprehend the unsearchable wisdom of God and could explain that which He has done or can do, they would no longer give Him reverence or fear His power. In divine revelation God has given to men mysteries that are incomprehensible, to command their faith. This must be so. If the ways and works of God could be explained by finite minds, He would not stand as supreme. Men may be ever searching, ever inquiring, ever learning, and yet there is an infinite beyond. The light is shining, ever shining, with increasing brightness upon our pathway if we but walk in its divine rays. But there is no darkness so dense, so impenetrable, as that which follows the rejection of heaven’s light, through whatever source it may come.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 13)
Can men comprehend God? No. They may speculate in regard to His way and works, but only as finite beings can. The question is asked by the Lord through His prophet, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then, will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? ... Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth; and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 14)
“To whom will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not be faint.” [Isaiah 40:12-31.]
(3LtMs, Ms 4, 1882, 15)
Ms 5, 1882
With Believers at Ukiah, California NP 1882 Portions of this manuscript are published in 3Bio 220-221.
We left Healdsburg December [8, 1882]. Brother and Sister Healey and Sister Ings accompanied me to Ukiah, Sister Ings and myself in one carriage, Brother and Sister Healey in another carriage. We rode fifty miles from Healdsburg to Ukiah.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 1)
The weather was beautiful; the roads most of the way, good. When we had traveled about twenty-six miles, we came to the pleasant residence of Brother and Sister Cochran, who embraced the truth in Oakland. They lived in Brooklyn and moved from Brooklyn to their mountain home six miles from Cloverdale on the direct road to Ukiah. From this point the road was narrow, running by the stream; and while the rocks and hills were high upon one side, there was a deep precipice upon the other side, while the water ran below. There were some very striking, grand views in nature. One immense rock rose hundreds of feet towards heaven. As we looked upon these grand scenes of nature, we had less and less estimate of ourselves. We felt deeply humbled, and our hearts’ language was, “How marvelous are Thy works, O God.”
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 2)
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.”Isaiah 40:3-7.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 3)
“All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord.”Psalm 145:10. “I am the Lord, and there is none else.”Isaiah 45:5. Serious and solemn thoughts of God’s greatness and His majesty almost overwhelmed me.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 4)
About dark we arrived at Ukiah and were welcomed kindly and entertained at the home of Brother and Sister Myer. We were strangers to these friends but a few months since. We formed their acquaintance at the last camp meeting, and our hearts are made glad as we see this little center of converts to the truth advancing step by step, growing stronger amid opposition. They are becoming better acquainted with the suffering part of religion. Our Saviour instructed His disciples that they should be despised for His name’s sake. “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”Matthew 5:11, 12.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 5)
Jesus told His followers that they should have persecution and that even destroying their lives would be esteemed a service done to God and to the world. What deception is upon minds! What darkness that will not discern the truth—and those who accept the truth of heavenly origin are scorned and derided and slighted and evil spoken of by pastors and teachers! But they are in good company.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 6)
Jesus has traveled the way before them. Every indignity and insult and outrage which cruel hearts could invent was exercised upon the world’s Redeemer, and the pathway of the church from the first dawn of Christianity to the present time has been a path of trial and persecution of the faithful. In our day we are favored with more quiet and peaceful times. We have been protected by the civil power in the enjoyment of our Christian privileges, but human nature is human nature still. Influenced and controlled by the enemy of truth, it will be seen that it has undergone no material change, for the world serves the enemy of righteousness and he is ever opposed to Jesus Christ. The very same hostility and envy and jealousy toward Christ which prompted the rejection of Him and the murderous cry, “Crucify Him, crucify Him” [Luke 23:21], which led to the arresting of men and women, confining them in prison, and exiling them to solitude and to rigorous labor, still exist. When the law shall withdraw its protecting power, when it shall exercise its power against those who keep the law of God, [this hostility will again be manifested] with malignant energy.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 7)
There has been exercised against those who conscientiously observe the seventh-day Sabbath a spirit of enmity and hatred that reveals beyond a doubt that its possessors have no part in Christ, but are partakers of the spirit of the prince of the power of darkness.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 8)
We were privileged to meet with the little company who, with the exception of one, have newly come to the faith. We met our beloved Sister Moor, whose society for years we have enjoyed in San Francisco. We were made very sad to see her sinking under a disease pronounced incurable. She was given over by physicians to die. She was a great sufferer. When I visited her at one time about five years ago in San Francisco, I asked her if she desired any one thing that we might present to the Lord. She replied, “Ask the Lord to remove this disagreeable, afflicting pain.” We presented the case to God and humbly asked Him to remove this pain and give relief to our sister. She related in our little meeting that the prayer was answered. The pain left her, and she had none of it since. Her dropsy had disappeared. By a miracle of God’s mercy, her life has been spared these five years in answer to the prayer of faith. My husband, before he left the coast five years since, administered to her at her bedside what he supposed was the last sacrament. The hand that passed to her the emblems of the broken body and spilled blood of our Lord and Saviour is folded quietly upon the breast in his last sleep until the trump of God shall call him forth from the tomb to immortal life. Sister Moor is still with us to witness to the truth and the verity of the promises of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 9)
The testimonies borne in this meeting had the right ring. We have the most solemn and deepest feelings of sympathy and love for these lambs of the flock scattered in little companies, left alone a great share of the time to battle with unbelief and opposition. A storm of calumny and reviling will pursue those who have moral courage to embrace unpopular truth. Those who lift the cross to keep the seventh-day Sabbath will need all the support and encouragement which can be given them from those of experience. Some will grow weary of protracted and continued effort and ceaseless turmoil and be strongly tempted to seek ease and repose. They may choose indolence and the world and be no more [counted among] the little few who keep God’s commandments. Those who are among the overcomers are reformers. They will not show timidity or cowardice or selfishness, for these will characterize no true follower of Jesus. There is work to be done by every soul, sturdy blows to be struck against error and customs. There is no compromise in the gospel, no indulgence for any specie of ungodliness, though it may be clothed with the costly garments of wealth, pride, and honorable position. Sin is sin wherever it is found. Christ had no sweet words of forbearance and charity for persistently impenitent and incorrigible transgressors.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 10)
Evening after the Sabbath I spoke in the courthouse to the people upon Christ riding into Jerusalem and the barren fig tree. The Son of God came to our world that He might draw all men unto Him. He came, He says, not to send peace but a sword. [Matthew 10:34.] His followers must walk in the light of His glorious example. They are not to question at what cost of labor and trial and suffering. There is a work for each and all to undertake to maintain the truth in its purity and push the triumphs of His cross and extend His kingdom.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 11)
God grant that the seed sown may not be in vain. Our work is to sow the seed, not knowing which shall prosper, this or that. Our work is not to meet and contradict the variety of false statements men will make about me and my work. These men, professing to be messengers of God, publish and preach that which is most agreeable to their own natures; they pour out from unsanctified hearts and lips the basest falsehoods, that have no foundation in truth. Why don’t you meet them? Why don’t you resort to the law? says one. This is not my work.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 12)
I ask, Did Jesus do this when He was on earth? He had to meet just such things. He was abused and insulted. He was reviled, but He reviled not again. He was pursued with falsehood and with calumny. He passed on, doing His work with fidelity, whether meeting censure or praise. The denunciations of Christ against the bold transgressor who professed piety were unsparing and terrible. He showed no indulgence to falsehood and impurity. Whatever was dishonoring to God, He met with stern rebuke. The rich, the titled, and the earthly honored, the rulers, and the teachers of the people did not escape the righteous indignation and condemnation which He visited upon all transgressors of the law of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 13)
The scribes and Pharisees made high pretension to godliness, but did not practice what they enjoined upon the people. Christ said of them, “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” [Matthew 23:4.] “They ... love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues.” [Verses 5, 6.] They “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,” neither going in themselves not permitting others to enter; who for a pretense made long prayers, but secretly devoured widows’ houses; who compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, but left him more than ever the child of hell; who paid tithe of mint and anise and cummin, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and the love of God; who made clean the outside of the platter, but practiced the grossest extortion and excess; who were like whitened sepulchers, beautiful without, but inwardly full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. They built the tombs of the prophets and garnished the sepulchers of the righteous, but their fathers killed the prophets, and their own hearts were full of deceit and iniquity. These were denounced by our Saviour as formalists, hypocrites, fools, and blind guides, serpents, a generation of vipers, who would receive retribution from the hand of divine justice. [Verses 13-38.]
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 14)
What could bring from the lips of our Saviour such denunciations? The answer is, They closed their ears to the precious light which He came from heaven to bring them. They had refused His prophets, and when God sent His only Son, they refused to listen to Him. They clung to ancient customs and practices, and they would not walk in the new and living way. They spurned the proclamation of salvation through Christ. They were blinded to the glorious light of redemption, which was brought to them by Jesus. This was not the result of excusable ignorance, but sprang from the force of selfish and corrupt motives. They did not desire to embrace a reform and promote changes which would detract from their dignity. Wealth and honorable position were their ambition. They were opposed to gospel reform. They would roll back the tide of human progress. This people deserved the withering rebukes of the Lord. The Jews provoked their fate because they closed their eyes to light.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 15)
These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. If we travel in the same path, if we pursue a similar course of theirs, we shall suffer the rebuke of God as they suffered it. Those whom Jesus came to bless and save, those who were made by Him the object of tender solicitude and of unwearied labors, were made responsible for the light which shone upon their pathway. Jesus loved them. He wept over them in boundless compassion and love.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 16)
I would have the young converts to this truth think of the cheerful submission of Christ to humiliation, to insult and mockery, to secure the triumphs of the truth and the redemption of man. All who will be the followers of Jesus must sink self in Jesus. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.”Matthew 16:24. To save our good name, our reputation, or even to gain the whole world, will be but a poor compensation for the loss of the soul. Men sacrifice eternal riches for temporal honor and temporal gain. The time in which we live calls for decided action, according to the increased light shining upon us near the close of time.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 17)
We have no reason to believe that large numbers will embrace the truth and that the most learned and the professedly most pious will see and acknowledge the truth. These men have selfish interests to maintain, which, unless yielded, will not allow them to receive truth which would militate against their popularity. They know that if they accept the truth, it will be at the sacrifice of their popularity. The reform will be attended by losses, sacrifices, reproaches, falsehoods of every kind. Friends who have once been in harmony with them, although professed followers of the meek and lowly Saviour, will pass them by unnoticed; enemies of righteousness will in many cases be prompted with the spirit of the great adversary and will become enraged.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 18)
Our motives for reforms will be misapprehended, our sufferings and distress of mind for the welfare of others will be disregarded, our labors will be judged to be productive only of harm. We will have to suffer insult and reproach and abuse, and those who were fast friends will be so far estranged from God and the true spirit of righteousness that they will think the end justifies the means and will say all manner of evil against us. They will make it appear to others that we are as black as midnight darkness.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 19)
The friends of truth, who dare not go contrary to the convictions of their own conscience, fearing God rather than man, will be proscribed and denounced and spoken against by a time-serving generation. The laws of the land will finally be against them. Church and state will be united to raise a standard of their own to gauge men’s consciences, while God’s law, the only standard of right, will be trampled upon and despised. Those who have an eye single to the glory of God will be looking continually to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. The world’s Redeemer attracts their attention to the great future which lies beyond this life, the eternal weight of glory which the overcomer will share.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 20)
In places where the truth is newly introduced, there will be many who are honest. God will test them, and those who see and acknowledge the truth more readily must ever prosecute the reforms in the meekness of Christ. Men may be won, but not driven into the truth. None can be compelled to travel the narrow path of holiness cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 21)
A spirit of candor and consideration should be exercised toward all who do not yet see the truth as we do. There are many things to be considered. Ministers stand in between the truth and the people. They interpret the Scriptures to suit their own minds and positions. They will not enter the path of truth themselves, and those who would, they hinder. They will make the most determined effort to turn away the ears of the people from the truth and turn them to fables. Jesus says of this class, as of the scribes and rulers, Ye know not the Scriptures nor the power of God. [Mark 12:24.] And He said this to those who were teaching in the schools of the prophets.
(3LtMs, Ms 5, 1882, 22)
Ms 6, 1882
Diary, November 26, 1882 NP November 26, 1882 Portions of this manuscript are published in 4MR 40.
I enter today, November 26, 1882, upon a new year of my life. The past year has been a year of sorrow, of anguish of soul in consequence of my bereavement and because of the backslidden state of the people of God, which burden has brought me to the very gates of death. The Lord has revealed His great mercy to me at our camp meeting in raising me up from a state of debility, feebleness, and discouragement to strength and hopefulness.
(3LtMs, Ms 6, 1882, 1)
Ms 7, 1882
Testimony Regarding Battle Creek NP December 1882 This manuscript is published in entirety in PH155 12-24.
(This has been written since my recovery to health.)
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 1)
I feel deeply concerning the church at Battle Creek, where are located our important institutions. This great heart of the work either sends forth to every branch of the work a healthy or a sickly and diseased influence. The true condition of the cause of God in Michigan is deplorable. But few realize the spiritual lethargy that prevails. The church at Battle Creek have not made thorough work in repenting and confessing their past sins. Many today hate the light which discovers their wrongs and errors. False repentance is deceiving souls to their ruin. Persons will make spasmodic efforts and appear to feel remorse for their course of action, but they do not become converted and soon evidence that the heart is untouched. All the good impressions are soon effaced, and they will return to their same course of faultfinding, whispering, back-biting, and reporting evil which they have felt troubled over. They declare to others by their own course of action that their repentance was not genuine, that their sorrow was not godly sorrow.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 2)
The Lord has sent you testimonies of instruction, of rebuke and warning. Some have come to the light that they may see and know their errors and that they may put them away. Others are deceived and deluded in regard to their spiritual standing before God. They do not bring their character and works to the test by comparing them with the Word of God and the declaration of Scripture that plainly condemn their course and mark out the only true path for them to walk in. These have not had true Bible repentance. The Word of God has not been their rule of action. It has not been received with deference and reverence as it should have been. This Word requires of them true sorrow for sins and thorough confession if they would have from the Redeemer peace and pardon.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 3)
There are men standing in responsible positions who teach one thing and practice another. While they have been forward to condemn their brethren, their own characters are more faulty in the sight of God than the ones they would criticize and condemn. These men are blind leaders of the blind, and both leaders and those led by them will be ruined unless there are true repentance and heartfelt confession before God.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 4)
Those who bind souls in deception are themselves deceived. They form their judgment of duty from the general practice of professed Christians who have a form of godliness, but who deny the power thereof. They have a superficial, hasty, erroneous conception of the nature of virtue and of piety. It is their opinion that if not guilty of outbreaking sins that human eyes can discern, they are not called upon to show the fruits of true repentance and sorrow for sin. This is in direct contradiction to the words of inspiration. These souls are ignorant of the natural depravity of the heart and the constant danger of apostasy, like ancient Israel, from the requirements of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 5)
These men look upon themselves as needing no godly sorrow. They will not trouble their minds and repent before God of their errors and failures, which have been the means of leading souls away from Christ. They have not connected with God and employed their talents to His glory. They really think they will degrade their characters by manifesting genuine repentance and confessing their faults one to another. They are so far separated from God that they estimate the favor of the world as the favor of God. They flatter themselves in their self-sufficiency that with such good characters as they have, as estimated of men, they would be degrading themselves to manifest shame and sorrow for sin. A broken heart and a contrite spirit the Lord will not despise. Bible repentance is to them associated with degradation. The Word of God presents the only true standard of what is innocent and what is virtuous, true, and excellent, and unless these respectable sinners shall meet the Bible standard, they will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting. We may be pleasantly satisfied with the measurement of ourselves, but be wholly wanting when weighed in the balances of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 6)
Your work last winter was a shame, a disgrace to any professing the name of Christian. God was in your midst, a silent witness to all your transactions. The mob spirit prevailed. The mob spirit was encouraged, although there was some remonstrance made. The ones who indited it, the ones who were leaders in it, stand condemned before God as verily as did Belshazzar when engaged in his sacrilegious feast. The same God was in your midst who revealed Himself to the king as the bloodless hand traced the characters on the wall, “Weighed in the balances” and “found wanting.” [Daniel 5:27.] Men may say you are all right or men may condemn, but it is of but very little consequence. The balances in which the world weighs men may pronounce the imperfect, the wanting, of right weight and full measure, while God’s measurement and weight say, “Wanting.” When God weighs motives and character, it means something that should fill the soul with terror as it did the guilty king.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 7)
It is no light matter to be wanting when judged by One who never makes a mistake, One who has shown mortals compassion, sympathy, and love. To be wanting in sincerity, in true love to Christ, who died that He might give life and peace and hope to those lost and undone by sin, to be wanting in brotherly kindness and love to Christ’s brethren whom He has redeemed with the price of His own blood—can we afford this? “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” [Matthew 25:40.] It is Christ you have abused, maligned, in the person of His saints. Wanting when the Judge shall sit upon His throne, when the Book of Life is opened and He turns each page to see the names written in the book, when your name is pronounced, when the accounts of your life are balanced! There is no respectable sinner who will be passed by in that grand and awful reckoning.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 8)
The Lord calls upon these self-flatterers to see themselves as they are and let His Spirit and His grace work effectually on the heart, which will bring it into contrition and repentance. If they do not do this, they fail to fall upon the Rock and be broken. The only alternative is, the Rock must fall upon them and grind them to powder. The proud heart will do almost anything rather than break.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 9)
A charge of great guilt stands against you in Battle Creek. This charge from the Spirit of God makes repentance and sorrow and humble confessions necessary. Whatever your profession, your position of responsibility in this work, God requires this of you before your sins and iniquities can be pardoned. Because your brethren and nominal professors may look upon you as correct and faultless is no reason that you are so. You do not fear and love God. You do not tremble at His Word. Your consciences are hardened and unimpressible. You have not been jealous of yourselves lest you dishonor your Redeemer. You have not been fearful of conformity to the world in your manners, your tempers and your actions.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 10)
You have lost reverence for the servants whom God has sent to you with words of counsel, reproof, and warning. Did you not fear to treat God’s messengers with disrespect? What means has God instituted to correct His people and to instruct them? Men chosen of God to do His work. Every time you have fallen under temptation in disregarding the words of His chosen servants, you have become weaker to resist wrong and have less clearness of discernment to distinguish right and truth from error and darkness. All through Michigan are the testimonies borne of your work to condemn you. You have strengthened evils which God condemns. You have encouraged, by your practice, conformity to the world, which God condemns and pronounces enmity against God. However admired you may be of the unconsecrated and of worldly men, it is nothing in your favor. Even those who profess to love the truth may flatter you and exalt you; this is still nothing in your favor. You may deceive men, but God reads the heart.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 11)
You have provoked the displeasure of a just and holy God because of your unchristian spirit toward those of like faith. You have shown no respect for the men whom God is using in His cause, because they could not but condemn your course of harshness and want of brotherly love. The testimonies of the Spirit of God were unheeded. You knew not the voice that was calling you to repentance. You have shown you were not in harmony with the Spirit of God. So far were you carried away with your assumptions and imaginings that God’s words to you have found no response in your hearts. God’s holy will, His honor, and His fear have been of slight consideration with you. The Lord has been treated with dissimulation and disrespect.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 12)
You will urge you have an unblemished character, but God’s eye discerns impurities and condemns you as transgressors of His law. While you claim to be keeping His commandments, you have been envious, jealous, fault-finding, uncourteous, unkind, cruel, and unforgiving. The commandments showing the duty man owes to his fellow man have been transgressed. You have loved self and hated your brother, when the Lord says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,”“Love one another as I have loved you.” [Leviticus 19:18; John 13:34.] How much, Lord? That you will suffer insult, reproach, contempt, abuse, and death if need be, for His sake. This is the love that Christ has given to men to practice. You have a work to do to meet the mind of the Spirit of God, to repent and confess your sins before God, and to right your wrongs as far as is possible for you to do. You have no time to lose.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 13)
Some will go into the grave with their sins unconfessed because William Gage, Brother McLearn, and several others have thrown themselves as bodies of darkness between God and the people, that the light He has sent them should be of no account. Does not God call for thorough repentance and humiliation, that His frown be removed from the church? Those who have, by their irreverence and flippant speeches, removed the solemn impressions of the Spirit of God from the minds and hearts of the people, and those who have sat by in silence, consenting to this wrong, have a work to do for their own souls and to make diligent work in seeking to work in harmony with the Spirit of God in calling the people to repentance and humiliation before God. I was shown that unless this work should be done there would be a falling into a similar error. Character will be attacked. Those who are ready to censure and talk and hint and misstate will do this work; another subject will be presented for them to feed upon. They have headed off on one point, and they will seize another person and work diligently to mangle character.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 14)
The trouble is, religion is professed but not practiced. The Spirit of Christ will dwell in the hearts of His followers. The condition of the cause of God will cause the deepest suffering of mind and anguish of soul. Oh, that the history of the past would influence the present! Oh, that all would feel to the depths of their souls that they have it as a privilege and duty individually to be earnest believers in the truth and co-laborers with their self-denying Saviour, who has loved them and given His life for them! Our course of action must elevate our faith and lead us to glorify God. The present apathy, the fearful want of genuine piety so plainly seen among us as a people, is due to our neglect to reverence and obey God’s plainly expressed will. Can this sin be wiped out by any other means than true repentance and heartfelt confession? The very fact that this has not been done is sufficient reason why the Lord’s rebuke is still upon you.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 15)
You are not a converted people. The love of Jesus does not dwell in your hearts, and you are just as ready to fasten upon some other one, to dissect his character, to become like Jehu in zeal, to ferret out everything you can of a nature to condemn him, as you have been in the case of Brother [G. H.] Bell. The spirit is there. The root of bitterness has not been dug out, but will spring into life and flourish wonderfully if it has a chance. The same suspicion, the same jealousies, the same spirit of insubordination, the same disrespect for men whom God has acknowledged as His servants, the same riding over authority that caused your present trouble are not dead; they are only quelled to arouse again in greater force if a favorable occasion should offer. This spirit has never been expelled.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 16)
The suspicions, the dark hints, the venom, the bitterness that have existed against Dr. [J. H.] Kellogg will be put in more active operation. Thus I have seen. He has been faulty, he has erred, [but] he has confessed it like a man and Christian, and I hold nothing against him. But if you can find some excuse to neglect your own heart work by dwelling upon what you term the wrongs of another, you will do it with the greatest satisfaction. Build over against your own house, repent of your own sins, let the grace of Christ control those tongues that are set on fire of hell, that would fan a spark into an uncontrollable flame.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 17)
Repent and be converted before it shall be forever too late. You have trifled with the Spirit of God altogether too long. You have insulted the Spirit of God, and you do not know where you are. Do not find fault with anyone but your own selves. Unless you overcome your disposition to accuse, to tattle, to magnify the wrongs of others while you neglect the culture of your own soul, you will be more and more self-deceived, more blinded to the true state of your own heart, and your day of opportunity and privilege to be wise for yourselves will pass. You will be fastened in Satan’s snare for time and eternity.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 18)
Oh, what zeal you manifest to condemn another and justify and laud yourselves! God has had no share in molding your affections toward one and inspiring you with bitterness and reproach for another. Self-love, self-esteem has been gratified to your harm. Your reverence for sacred and holy things has not been increased. Your sense of duty and the obligations you owe to God have not been more clearly discerned. You have brought down sacred things on a level with the common things. Now you have no sense of your wrong. You see no need of repentance, and unless you do see and realize something of the evil of your past wrongs, you will surely be given over to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. You will walk farther away from the light into confusion and every evil work. Should your probation end today, the portion of many would be with the unbelievers.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 19)
I speak to every member of the church. In Christ’s name, guard your thoughts, control your feelings. Let your speech be such that heaven can approve. No longer be so sadly deceived as to think you are doing God’s work and God’s will in persecuting your brethren with your tongue, with your strong prejudice and jealousies.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 20)
Why do you delight in making your wicked speeches and indulging your wicked feelings against Dr. Kellogg? Has he not sufficient burdens to carry? Dr. [W. J.] Fairfield is unworthy of your confidence. He has apostatized from the faith, but you patronize him, not because he honors God, not because he believes the truth, but because the man pleases you. God has written against his name, “Weighed in the balances” and “found wanting.” [Daniel 5:27.] Has not Dr. Kellogg all the burdens he can carry? Would you crush him to the earth with your suspicions prompted of Satan? Would you feel great pleasure in seeing the Health Institute go down? Is this what you desire? Can you explain your course of action to make it harmonize with the Word of God? What account will you render to God for your wicked surmising, your taking the judgment seat and judging your brother? Oh, Christianity, precious Christianity, how much needed and how little practiced! One victim after another is made to suffer because [he is] tortured and persecuted by those who profess to love Jesus and to be learning of Him.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 21)
How far you will be left to work as Satan’s agents, to oppress, to accuse, to wound and bruise the soul, we cannot determine. But the Lord’s eye is over all. He knows every thought, every deed, every action, and He will judge you as your works have been. I never so longed for Jesus to come as at this time, that the wickedness of the wicked may come to an end. If every member of the church would try to find what good there is in one another, what a heaven we should have on earth! Cherishing bitterness and suspicion toward one person makes us feel hard and cold and distrustful of everybody. The peace of Christ has no place in the heart that thinketh evil. This mischievous talk of Professor Bell, of Dr. Kellogg, of different ones is purely the work that Satan instigates. Division, distrust, jealousy, evil surmising are sown as thistle seed is cast to the winds. Satan puts his magnifying glass before your eyes and everything is viewed as he wills it. Peace flees away. The false tongue should be treated with hot coals of juniper.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 22)
Dr. Kellogg has made mistakes. He has erred. His errors have injured my husband. Dr. Kellogg sees his mistakes and feels them and has confessed them, while those who were more guilty than he in abusing his mind, in placing things before him in an exaggerated light and relating as facts things which had no foundation in truth, led him to feel an assurance that his feelings were correct. His mind was kept stirred up by tattlers, mischief-makers, false reporters. My husband was hunted to death, and those who have acted their part faithfully for Satan saw him in his coffin, removed from the strife of tongues. He died of a broken heart, and the Lord let him rest. I hold no grudge against anyone. I felt to the very depths of my soul over the treatment my husband received, and I have forgiven those who have done this work. I pray the Lord to forgive them.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 23)
I warned you not to do to another as you had done to him. And when you begin your attacks upon one and then another that do not agree with your ways and please your fancies, I am determined to resist your influence and stand up for the oppressed. Will you send others to their death by your persecuting tongues, your suspicions, your envies, your jealousies? Will you cultivate the worst traits of character in indulging in censuring, backbiting, and falsehood? Is this the element that you love? And will you choose this atmosphere, which is the poison of hell? What think you of Jesus? You may talk of His love, you praise and bless His name, you may adore Him all you please, but cease your praise and your flatteries of finite men, and also cease your wicked faultfinding, cease to murder character.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 24)
When you see a man loaded down with responsibilities in a position where, if you let reason bear sway, you must know he has very much to perplex him and try his patience and test his wisdom, when you see a man fighting the battles with almost everything against him, then will you show the Satan side of your character and add your influence to the popular cry, Crucify him, Crucify him? Why not practice the law of kindness? Why not dwell upon the good traits of character? Why keep before you and on your lips words that savor of distrust, that show the very worst imaginings are in the heart? Why will you not practice the law of love? Why not cultivate a tender, pitiful, kind spirit? Why be so cold, unfeeling, heartless, Satanic? Why rejoice in iniquity rather than in the truth?
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 25)
Oh, let us be Christians! Let us be true, pure, holy, and let sympathy and love into our hearts. This is a work we may all have a part in. This is a work which will tell for time and for eternity. God help us to be true to one another. Satan is always an accuser, one who tears down but never builds up. What if you should now change the course of action and begin to think well and speak well of your brethren and sisters? Would it not be Christlike to manifest this fruit of the Spirit, “thinketh no evil,”“is not puffed up,”“hopeth all things,”“believeth all things,” not of evil, not false reports, but all that is pure, good, and “of good report”? [1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Philippians 4:8.] “Little children,” says the beloved disciple, “love one another.” [1 John 3:11, 18, 23.]
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 26)
The Lord is coming. We have a work to do for ourselves, a work to do for one another. Christ has bound up our souls with the infinite God. We had a higher, nobler calling than to devise and report evil of one another. You have driven one to the grave, another from your midst, for the want of brotherly love and compassion, and is not this record in the books of heaven enough? Will you double your guilt? Will you blacken your already darkened record? I call upon these men and women, whatever their profession may be, to be swift to hear counsel of God, entreaties of His Spirit, and slow to speak. Think not evil one of another lest ye be condemned. Whatever we do, whatever we say, wherever we are, we can never cease our responsibility to God. He has appointed our work. It is not to bite and devour one another, but it is to labor earnestly, kindly, tenderly in all love, to help one another to resist our common foe. God has given us the means, the faculties, and the opportunities, and He holds us accountable for using them well.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 27)
When we work with an eye single to God’s glory, we shall love the purchase of His blood and work for them and seek to bless them in every way possible, and then shall we have praise of God and may consider ourselves as co-laborers with Him, as building for eternity. Everyone, whether minister or lay member, is God’s ambassador, executing His work. The flippant speech, the jesting and joking are all out of place now. The Judge standeth before the door. Our accountability to God, fully accepted and faithfully met, will balance our characters. We shall outgrow the tendencies to be superficial. We shall be, through the grace given unto us, raised above everything that is mean and selfish and impure. It will make us have an interest for our brethren, for they are the purchase of the blood of Christ. It will make us realize that we have something great and good to live for. This close connection with God will make our lives earnest, cheerful, and strong under difficulties, hopeful amid discouragements that will be the lot of all.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 28)
The lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God will not enjoy our company, for our conversation, our deportment, the spirit of Christ we cherish, will rebuke their spirit and give no encouragement to their vain propensities. The church now most wants men whose minds can comprehend and bear the thought of their responsibility to God, men who are made strong by the consciousness that they are doing God’s work and that they will do it with fidelity. Satan’s work is to make us contented with superficially doing our work and meeting our responsibilities, and he has been wonderfully successful here.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 29)
Those who believe in Jesus will live to do His will. Those who acknowledge that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world and yet live for themselves in all their words and actions, contradict their faith and testify to the world that they do not believe in Jesus Christ. Sacrifice and self-denial will be met at every step in the Christian path. If we walk with Christ, we shall see His triumph and share His glory. Like our divine Master, we will be made perfect by suffering. Those whose lives are one with Christ will not be full of mirth and worldliness and pleasure-loving now. There is work to do, earnest work to warn the world, earnest labor to wash our robes of character and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. There will be a wholesome fear which will lead to sobriety and balance the character, a fear lest a promise being made us on certain conditions, we should seem to come short of meeting those conditions. This distrust of self will lead us to be circumspect in action.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 30)
Christ had travail of soul. All who are colaborers with Him will have travail of soul, will be burden bearers. Their anxiety will not be to tear one another to pieces and exalt themselves, but their work will be to help one another, to strengthen one another in the most holy faith. While they will be diligent to make their own calling and election sure, they will also be earnest and faithful to do their work for God that others shall not fail of everlasting life. Pride and ambition will be humbled in the dust.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 31)
We are to meet those we associate with. When the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened and when all shall be judged according to their works, how can we meet those we have treated with neglect, those we have envied, those we have tried to tear down and wounded and bruised their souls, destroyed their influence and awakened a spirit of hatred against them so that they were crippled and hedged up in doing the work God would have them to do?
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 32)
God is in earnest with us. God help us to be wise unto salvation.
(3LtMs, Ms 7, 1882, 33)
Ms 8, 1882
Camp Meeting Hygiene Hanford, California Campground May 5, 1882 Formerly Undated Ms 88. This manuscript is published in entirety in GosHealth 04/1898.
Our yearly convocations are of importance. They cost something, in time, money, and wearing labor. They are held for a special purpose. We meet for the worship of God and to obtain spiritual strength by feeding upon the bread of life. We want to seek the Lord and find Him to the joy of our souls. To do this, we must banish worldly thoughts and interests; we must lay aside our home and business cares. We must not give our time to visiting and feasting or to the gratification of pride or the pursuit of pleasure. The season we spend together should be devoted to heart searching, to confession of sin, and to earnest prayer. Jesus is among us to hear our prayers, to pardon our sins, and to give us His blessing.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 1)
We know that time is short. Soon “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that he may judge his people.” [Psalm 50:3, 4.] Then shall we not improve all our opportunities in this day of grace, that we may be able to stand in that time when heaven and earth shall hear the voice of God calling to judgment? Is anything more worthy to engage our energies and occupy our time?
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 2)
Pitching the Tents
Nothing should be neglected that would promote the success of these gatherings. The campground should be made attractive. The ground should be carefully laid out, and some one who has good taste and understands the pitching of tents should oversee this part of the work. The directions which God gave to the Israelites when they lived in tents may be profitably studied. There was order in the arrangement of the camp, for the Lord is a God of order and does not sanction any confusion in His work.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 3)
Every precaution should be taken for the preservation of health. The tents should be securely staked. It is now customary to supply nearly all our tents with a raised floor, which may be covered with a carpet and made very neat and comfortable. This is an excellent plan and should be followed wherever circumstances admit. When the meeting is held in a country where there is liability of rain, the tents should also be trenched. This should not be neglected, even though there has been no rain for weeks. Lives have been imperiled and even lost through neglect of this precaution. People in new countries sometimes became careless, but it should be the principle of all Christians to correct a tendency to slack, indolent habits. In many cases it is advisable that families provide stoves for their tents.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 4)
Preparation for the Meeting
Many of our sisters spend a great deal of time and strength in sewing and cooking by way of preparation for the meeting. Much of this wearying labor is unnecessary; yet the things needful to comfort should not be neglected. As far as possible, every member of the family should be supplied with suitable clothing, sufficient for health and comfort for the changes of weather that are liable to occur. But often the work that consumes the time and energies of our sisters is done more for the gratification of pride than for the sake of providing neat, comfortable clothing.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 5)
In the matter of cooking, if the meals are taken at the dining tent, no preparation of food will be necessary. When families board themselves, far too much cooking is often done. Some have never attended a camp meeting and do not know what preparations are required. Others are liberal minded and want everything done on a bountiful scale. The food which they provide includes rich pies and cakes, with other articles that cannot be eaten without positive injury.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 6)
It is not wise to make such great preparation. The task they take upon themselves is so heavy that these sisters come to the meeting thorough wearied in body and mind, and those for whom the work is done are not benefitted. The stomach is overburdened with food which is not as plain and simple as that eaten at home, where a far greater amount of exercise is taken. As a result of overwork and bad food, much of the benefit of the meeting is lost. A lethargy takes possession of the mind, and it is difficult to appreciate eternal things. The meeting closes, and there is a feeling of disappointment that no more of the Spirit of God has been enjoyed.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 7)
Nothing in the line of food should be taken to camp meeting but the most wholesome articles, cooked in a simple manner. Plenty of good bread with other necessary food may be provided without overtaxing the strength. And all, both those who cook and those who eat, will enjoy better health, be better able to appreciate the words of life and [be] more susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 8)
My sisters, let the preparation for eating and dressing be a secondary matter, but let deep heart searching commence at home. The great burden of the thoughts should be, How is it with my soul? When such thoughts occupy the mind, there will be such a longing for spiritual food, something that will impart spiritual strength, that no one will complain if the diet is simple. Pray often, and, like Jacob, be importunate. At home is the place to find Jesus; then take Him to the meeting, and the hours you spend there will be precious. But how can you expect to realize the presence of the Lord and to see His power displayed when the individual work of preparation has been neglected?
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 9)
The Dining Tent
The arrangements for the dining tent are very important, for on the cooking and serving of the food, the health of the campers very largely depends. Those who have the responsibility of this department should be good cooks, who can be depended upon to do pains-taking, skillful work. But on many occasions, this has been overdone. Great care and thought have been given to the cooking, and the table has been supplied, not only with plenty of plain, substantial food, but with meat, pies, cakes, and a variety of other luxuries. In this way precious time has been given to needless labor, merely for the gratification of appetite, and the faithful workers have had the privilege of attending but few of the meetings.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 10)
This is unnecessary. The cooking may be so planned as to give the workers more advantages of the meeting than they have usually enjoyed, and on the Sabbath, in particular, their duties should be made as light as possible. We should have sympathy for those who are confined to the hot kitchen, engaged in the preparation of food, and should be willing to deny ourselves unnecessary luxuries for their sakes.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 11)
A few simple articles of food, cooked with care and skill, would supply all the real wants of the system. No greater luxuries are required than good, wheaten-meal bread, gems, and rolls, with a simple dessert, and the vegetables and fruits which are so abundant in most countries. These articles should be provided in sufficient quantity and of good quality, and when well cooked, they will afford a good, wholesome, nourishing diet. No one should be compelled to eat flesh meats because nothing better is provided to supply their place. Meat is not essential to health or strength; had it been, it would have been included in the bill of fare for Adam and Eve before the fall. The money that is sometimes expended in buying meat would purchase a good variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains, and these contain all the elements of nutrition.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 12)
Unwise Hospitality
Some persons bring upon the campground food that is entirely unsuitable to such occasions, rich cakes and pies and a variety of dishes that would derange the digestion of a healthy laboring man. Of course, the best is thought none too good for the minister. The people send these things to his table and invite him to their tables. In this way ministers are tempted to eat too much and food that is injurious. Not only is their efficiency at the camp meeting lessened but may become dyspeptics.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 13)
The minister should decline this well-meant, but unwise hospitality, even at the risk of seeming discourteous. And the people should have too much true kindness to press such an alternative upon him. They err when they tempt the minister with unhealthful food. Precious talent has thus been lost to the cause of God, and many, while they do live, are deprived of half the vigor and strength of their faculties. Ministers, above all others, should economize the strength of brain and nerve. They should avoid all food or drink that has a tendency to irritate or excite the nerves. Excitement will be followed by depression; overindulgence will cloud the mind and render thought difficult and confused. No man can become a successful workman in spiritual things until he observes strict temperance in his dietetic habits. God cannot let His Holy Spirit rest upon those who, while they know how they should eat for health, persist in a course that will enfeeble mind and body.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 14)
Preparation for the Sabbath
The Sabbath should be as sacredly observed on the campground as it is in our homes. We should not let the bustle and excitement around us detract from its sacred dignity. No cooking should be done on that day. The instruction which God gave to Israel should not be disregarded: “Bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe;”“for tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.”Exodus 16:23. God meant what He said when He gave these directions, and shall we, who are presenting to the people the claims of the divine law, break that law ourselves, merely to please the appetite? God forbid. There has sometimes been almost as much cooking done on the Sabbath as on other days, and the blessing of God has been shut out by our failure to honor Him in keeping the Sabbath according to the commandment.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 15)
All needful preparation should be made beforehand. On Sabbath morning if the weather is cool, let hot gruel or something equally simple be provided, and for dinner some kind of food may be warmed. Further than this, all cooking should be avoided as a violation of the Sabbath.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 16)
Personal Obligation
If all will exercise judgment and reasonable care in regard to clothing and diet, the blessings of the meeting may be enjoyed in health and comfort. The clothing should be varied according to the weather. During sudden changes and the chill of morning and evening, warmer garments and additional wraps are essential to health. The feet, in particular, should be well protected. Whatever the weather, they need to be kept warn and dry.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 17)
In eating, errors in the quantity as well as the quality of food should be avoided. Eating too much of even a simple diet will injure the health, as will also irregular eating and eating between meals. All these abuses of the stomach cloud the mind and blunt the conscience.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 18)
If right habits are ever observed, they certainly should be at these large and important meetings. Here, if anywhere, we want our minds clear and active. We should honor God at all times and in all places, but it seems doubly important at these meetings, where we assemble to worship Him and to gain a better knowledge of His will.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 19)
One reason why we do not enjoy more of the blessing of the Lord is that we do not heed the light He has been pleased to give us in regard to the laws of life and health. If we would all live more simply and let the time usually given to unnecessary table luxuries and pride of dress be spent in searching the Scriptures and in humble prayer for the Bread of Life, we should receive a greater measure of spiritual strength. We need to give less attention to our mere temporal wants and more to our eternal interests.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 20)
Let all who possibly can, attend these yearly gatherings. Return unto the Lord, gather up the rays of light that have been neglected, comply with the conditions laid down in the Word of God, and then by faith claim the promises. Jesus will be present, and He will give you blessings which all the treasures you possess, be they ever so valuable, would not be rich enough to buy. A strong, clear sense of eternal things and a heart willing to yield all to Christ are of inestimable value; in comparison with these, the riches and pleasures and glories of this world sink into insignificance.
(3LtMs, Ms 8, 1882, 21)
Spoke to Oakland church from the words, “Awake out of sleep and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee life.” [Ephesians 5:14.]
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 1)
[Sunday, June 25, 1882]
Spoke to the people assembled in tent, “Behold, what manner of love hath the Father bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God, & c.” [1 John 3:1.]
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 2)
[Tuesday, June 27, 1882]
Spoke under the tent in San Francisco from Revelation, “What are these and whence came they, & c.?” [Revelation 7:13.] Stayed overnight at Sister Swift’s.
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 3)
Sabbath, July 1, 1882
Spoke in San Francisco under the tent from these words: “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, & c.” [John 14:1.] Several signed the covenant to keep all the commandments of God.
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 4)
Sunday, July 2, 1882
Spoke in San Francisco under the tent on temperance. Daniel, first chapter, was my text.
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 5)
[Friday, December 8 - Sunday, December 10, 1882]
Left Healdsburg for Ukiah.
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 6)
I spoke on Sabbath to the little company in the faith. Spoke evening after the Sabbath to a good audience in the court house. Sunday visited ex-governor Holden. Here we met our beloved Sister Moore. We had a pleasant visit. Spoke in evening in court house to a crowded house. I had great liberty in speaking. Several said all the prejudice was removed.
(3LtMs, Ms 9, 1882, 7)