Chapter 26—Assurance to Those Facing Death

Messages of Comfort to a Daughter-in-Law Suffering Affliction

[Mary Kelsey White, the wife of Wm. C. White, and thus a daughter-in-law of Mrs. White, was from her very girlhood an earnest and talented worker in the Review and Herald, the Pacific Press, and our publishing house in Basel, Switzerland. She contracted tuberculosis while in Europe, and after an illness of three years died at Boulder, Colorado, at the age of thirty-three. Presented here are excerpts from messages written to her during the last year of this illness.—Compilers.]

Battle Creek, Michigan
November 4, 1889

Dear Daughter Mary

We do not cease to pray for you, my dear child, and the goodness and mercy of God is so clear and distinct to me that every time I pray it seems as though the Saviour had you in His own arms and that you were reposing there. I have faith in your case. I do believe that the Lord has heard prayer in your behalf, and that He will work for your good and His own name’s glory. He has said, “Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7^L). “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22^L).

I know that stormy times are before us, and we must know how to trust, how to lay hold on the Source of our strength. The Lord is good to those who trust in Him, and they shall not be overcome. I think of the words of the prophet in your case, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 43:5^L).

Mary, repose in God. Wait patiently for the Lord. He will be to you a present help in every time of need. The Lord is good. Praise His Holy name. God loves to have us trust Him, loves to have us have confidence in His promises. Only believe, and we shall see the workings of God.—Letter 71, 1889.

Battle Creek, Michigan
December 6, 1889

Dear Mary

We do not forget you, my dear afflicted child. We pray most earnestly for you every day. I have freedom in prayer. We do not forget Brethren [A. D.] Olsen and [J. G.] Matteson and others who are afflicted. We pray; it is all we can do. Then we leave you in humble trust in the hands of One who loves you with a greater love than a mother’s. Cling to Jesus and put your entire trust in Him, for He careth for you and He will not withdraw His hand from you, but will lead you Himself.

Dear Mary, how pleasant it will be to see the King in His matchless loveliness and be where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sickness, no sadness. I feel so clear that we shall be victorious, and I feel clear that the communication is opened between God and your soul. It seems so sure to me that you have the divine Presence and that Jesus is your constant helper. Oh, He loves you; He loves you, and is looking upon you with pitying tenderness. Never doubt Him for a moment. Commit your case to Him, having faith that He will do for you the very thing that is best for your eternal interest....

I pray earnestly for you all every day. The Lord lives, the Lord hears and answers prayer. Look up, my dear child. Look up, be of good courage, trust wholly in the Lord, for He is your helper, your physician, your Saviour.—Letter 75, 1889.

Battle Creek, Michigan
February 12, 1890

Dear Mary

Sick and weak and lonely, I think of you in this light.... Mary, you have the best and most loving, compassionate Being, even the Sun of Righteousness, to shine upon you. Look up, look up. I feel that the rest in the grave would not be so bad a thing for me. I am so tired, so discouraged as I see so much self and so much of Satan’s spirit and work. Then I look to Jesus, and I find peace only in Jesus....

I lay you by faith on the bosom of Jesus Christ. He loves you. I know that you are not standing afar off from Christ, but you do draw nigh with full assurance of faith in lowly dependence upon the blood and righteousness of Christ. You accept salvation as the gift of His grace, believing the promise because He has spoken it. Look to Jesus; this is my only comfort and hope. The Lord has been leading you along a path of painful humiliation. You have been emptied from vessel to vessel. You have been led by Him step by step, deeper and still deeper into the valley, but only to bring you into close communion with Jesus in His life of humiliation.

Is there a step, my dear beloved child, that Jesus has not trodden with you? Is there one pang of distress that He does not feel? Is there one sin that He has not carried, a cross He has not borne, a sorrow that he Has not sympathized with? He is touched with all the feeling of our infirmities. You are knowing what it is to fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. You are a partaker with Christ of His sufferings. You brave, self-denying child, God knows it all. He passes to you a cup into which He pours a drop of His own sufferings. He places the light end of the cross on your shoulders; He throws a shadow on your soul....

Trust yourself in the hands of Jesus. Do not worry. Do not think God has forgotten to be gracious. Jesus lives and will not leave you. May the Lord be your staff, your support, your front guard, your rearward.—Letter 56, 1890.

Battle Creek, Michigan
February 13, 1890

My Dear Child

The Lord blesses you all and will comfort you and give you strong consolation and peace in Him. He wants you to rest in His hands passively, and believe that He will do all things well

Be of good courage. Keep looking up. Jesus is the only hope of us all. He will not leave or forsake you. Precious are the promises of God. We will hold them fast. We will not let them go.—Letter 57, 1890.

St. Helena, California
May 28, 1890

Dear Children

I think of you and pray for you all. Oh, if Mary were only improving, how glad it would make my heart. The Lord will let His candle shine about you. He will bless and strengthen and support you, in this your time of trial and distress. The Redeemer is pitiful, full of tender sympathy and love. Now is the time to commit the keeping of the soul to God as unto a faithful Creator. What a blessed hope we have—a hope that grows stronger and stronger as trials and afflictions increase. Now show your trust in One who has given His life for you.

Thank God, Mary, the light afflictions which are but for a moment, work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. You know in whom you have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have committed unto Him against that day. The trials may be severe, but look to Jesus every moment—not to struggle, but to rest in His love. He careth for you.

We know that as trials press closer and closer, the hope grows stronger. The beams of the Sun of Righteousness shall shine into your heart with their healing power. Look beyond the clouds to the brightness, even the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Thank God that in the tempest of trial the anchor holds. We have an ever-living, ever-prevailing Intercessor, who is pleading our individual cases before the Father. The joys of an eternal reward have been purchased at an infinite cost.

May the Lord comfort and strengthen and bless you is my daily prayer. Oh, when we see the King in His beauty, what a day of gladness that will be. We will rest in the rich promises of God. He will never fail us, but be to us a present help in every time of need.—Letter 77, 1890.

Battle Creek, Michigan
June 16, 1890

Dear Willie

I am anxious for you all, especially for dear Mary. I pray for her daily and I say nightly, I know the Lord keeps her in the hollow of His hand. Mary now can say in all confidence, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12^L).

I have no doubts, no unbelief in the case of Mary. She is the beloved of the Lord. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15^L). Mary can say with Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8^L).

What should we do without a Saviour in the hour that tries the soul? Ministering angels are round about us giving us to drink of the water of life to refresh our souls in the closing scenes of life. There is a pledge from Him who is the resurrection and the life, that those who sleep in Jesus will Christ bring with Him from the grave. The trump will sound, the dead will awaken to life, to die no more. The eternal morning has come to them, for there will be no night in the city of God.

Mary has manfully struggled through temptations and trials; she hath done what she could. She has acted a part through the grace of Christ in molding the character of others by her words and by her deeds. She is dying in the faith, but her works live.—Letter 78, 1890.

Messages of Sympathy and Hope to a Faithful Assistant

[Miss Marian Davis, who joined Mrs. White’s staff in 1879 and was associated with her in the work in America, Europe, and Australia for twenty-five years, contracted tuberculosis in 1903, and a little over a year later closed her lifework. Miss Davis was a very faithful and trusted literary assistant, much beloved by Mrs. White. Presented here are messages of sympathy and hope and counsel penned during the last two months of Miss Davis’ illness, as drawn from Mrs. White’s correspondence with her.—Compilers.]

Melrose, Massachusetts
August 17, 1904

Dear Sister Marian Davis

I would be pleased to be at home, but just what meetings I shall consent to attend is uncertain; therefore we will do the very best we can....

I am asking the Lord to strengthen you. We are hopeful that you are better. Do keep fast hold of the Lord, your hand in the hand of Christ....

Marian, you must not become discouraged. Your case is in the hands of the Lord, and you must now submit your case in regard to treatment to let the physicians, Dr. A and Dr. B, do those things for you that must be done. We have other books to put in your hands when you shall overcome the illness now upon you. Be sure to eat, even if it causes some pain. The longer you refrain from eating, the weaker you will become.... We may inquire, How can the Lord have need of us? Is not our God full of might? Will you not lay hold on His strength? No living being can help you as the Lord Jesus can. Trust in Him. He will care for you.—Letter 378, 1904.

Melrose, Massachusetts
August 24, 1904

Dear Sister Marian Davis

Let not one anxious thought come into your mind. I am sorry you are so ill, but do everything you can on your part for the recovery of your health. I will see that all bills of expense shall be settled. I am not well; not able to travel but a little distance in the carriage. I dare not commit myself to the lengthy journeys on the cars. As long as I and you shall live, my home is your home....

Marian, nearly the whole time I have been away I have not relished food, but I dare not cease to eat, for then I could do nothing. I have eaten when I could not relish food, in order that I might live. I have relished food since I came to this place. I put my trust in God and plead with Him for you and for myself. We are to have no anxieties or cares. Just put your trust in the Lord. All that is needed for you and me is to believe and trust in Him who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto Him and will put their trust in Him. “Hold fast My hand,” Jesus says to you and me. You are encouraged to think right thoughts upon Christ our Saviour—your Saviour and my Saviour. You have rejoiced in every opportunity of doing what you could to promote His glory, and you will be led into the city of God when the last trump of God shall sound, and we shall be received with genuine joy.

Marian, you have been united with me to bring sound doctrine into actual contact with human souls, that they may catch the inspiration and produce sound practice. “The form of sound words”(2 Timothy 1:13^L) is to be prized above gold and silver and every earthly attraction. You have loved the truth. You have felt intensely over the great neglect our Lord and Saviour has been receiving. Oh, to be like-minded with God! This you have longed for. There is no genuine saving elevation for man apart from the truth of God.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1^L). Now please let you and me have a thanksgiving service every day. Is it not due Him who has spared your life these many years in answer to the prayer of faith? Give yourself into His hands in your weakness, and trust in Him fully. We will take the Word of God as the grand rule of our lives, the heavenly panacea in our hand. We have tried, you and I united, to bring before minds the true form of doctrine, mingling holiness, mercy, truth, and love. We have tried to present these in simplicity, so that souls shall grasp mingled love and holiness— which is simply Christianity in the heart. We have done what we could do to present Christianity as the crown and glory of man’s life here in this world, preparatory to entrance into the city of God to be His dear, precious redeemed ones in the mansions He has gone to prepare for us. Then praise the Lord. Let us praise Him.

Please eat, Marian, because your earthly physician would have you eat, and the great Medical Missionary would have you eat; and Sister [M. J.] Nelson will get anything you ask for. No one can be more pleased than I to have your life spared to continue to do the work; but if your or my time is come to fall asleep in Jesus, we must not shorten life by refusing the nourishment that the system must have. Now eat, my dear, whether you want to eat or not, and thus act your part toward recovery. Do your very best to recover, and then if it please the Lord to give you rest, you have done what you could. I appreciate your labors. Praise the Lord, Marian, that Jesus, the Great Physician, can heal you. In love.—Letter 379, 1904.

College View, Nebraska
September 16, 1904

Dear Sister Marian

I keep your case before me, and I am grieved that you are troubled in mind. I would comfort you if it were in my power. Has not Jesus, the precious Saviour, been to you so many times a present help in times of need? Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, but cease worrying. This is what you have many times talked to others. Let the words of those who are not sick, as you are, comfort you, and may the Lord help you, is my prayer.

If it is the Lord’s will that you should die, you should feel that it is your privilege to commit your whole being, body, soul, and spirit, into the hands of a just and merciful God. He has no such feelings of condemnation as you imagine. I want you to stop thinking that the Lord does not love you. Cast yourself unreservedly upon the merciful provisions that He has made. He is waiting for you to heed His invitation.... You need not think that you have done anything which would lead God to treat you with severity. I know better. Just believe in His love, and take Him at His word No suspicion or distrust is to take possession of our minds. No apprehension of the greatness of God is to confuse our faith. May God help us to humble ourselves in meekness and lowliness. Christ laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, that He might associate with humanity, and show that human beings may be perfect. Clad in the garments of mercy He lived in our world a perfect life, to give us evidence of His love. He has done that which should make unbelief in Him impossible. From His high command in the heavenly courts He stooped to take human nature upon Him. His life is an example of what our lives may be. That no apprehension of God’s greatness should come in to efface our belief in God’s love, Christ became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The human heart, given up to Him, will become a sacred harp, sending forth sacred music.—Letter 365, 1904.

College View, Nebraska
September 26, 1904

Dear Sister Marian

We pray your life may be preserved until we meet you once more—but you may not die, but live....

Look to Jesus. Trust in Jesus, whether you live or die. He is your Redeemer. He is our Life-giver. If you fall asleep in Jesus He will bring you forth from the grave to a glorious immortality. May He give you peace and comfort and hope and joy from henceforth.

Put your entire trust in Jesus. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, I have graven you upon the palms of My hands. Marian, if you go before I do, we shall know each other there. We shall see as we are seen and know as we are known. Just let the peace of Christ come into your soul. Be true in your trust because He is true to His promise. Lay your poor, nervous hand in His firm hand and let Him hold you and strengthen you, cheer and comfort you. I will now get ready to leave this place. Oh, I wish I were with you this moment! In much love.—Letter 382, 1904.

Messages to Others Whose Lives Would Soon Close

We can sympathize with you, although at a distance from you. I would say, Do not give up hope, but cling to the promise, “Ask, and it shall be given you” (Luke 11:9^L). Yet do not feel discouraged if He who can do the work of healing, He who knows the end from the beginning, permits His child to die, to rise in the morning of the resurrection. Say, “Not my will, but Thine, O God, be done.”... If your wife falls under the affliction, remember that there is a future life. The last trump will call forth all who have received Christ, believed in Him, and trusted in Him for salvation.

My dear sister, we will pray for you. You have our sympathy. We shall present your case to the Great Physician. I understand that this has already been done. Hold fast to the hand of Him who can bless and heal if He sees that it is for your present and eternal good. And now, my brother and sister, while you are both alive, take this precious time to appropriate by faith to yourselves the precious promises of the Word of God. I am thankful that you are both presenting yourselves as humble seekers for the pardon of all sin. This is your privilege. Do not disbelieve.

Our precious Saviour has given His life for the sins of the world, and has pledged His word that He will save all who come to Him. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16^L). These are the conditions of gaining eternal life. Comply with them, and your hope is secured, whether you live or die. Trust in the soul-saving Redeemer. Cast your helpless soul upon Him, and He will accept and bless and save you. Only believe. Receive Him with all your heart, and know that He wants you to win the crown of life. Let this be your greatest and most earnest request. Make an entire surrender, and He will cleanse you from every pollution, and make you vessels unto honor. You may be washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. Thus you gain the victory In faith hold fast.—Letter 45, 1905.

Words to Minister Dying of Cancer

We do not forget you; we remember you in our prayers at the family altar. I lie awake nights pleading with God in your behalf.

Oh, I feel so sorry for you. I will continue to pray that the blessing of God may rest upon you. He will not leave you comfortless. This world is of but little account, but, my dear brother and sister, Jesus says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7^L). I plead this promise in your behalf

My brother, one night I seemed to be leaning over you, and saying: “Only a little longer, only a few more pangs of pain, a few more suffering hours, and then rest, blessed rest. In a special manner you will find peace. All humanity must be tested and tried. All of us must drink the cup and be baptized with affliction. But Christ has tasted death for every man in its bitterest form. He knows how to pity, how to sympathize. Only rest in His arms; He loves you, and He has redeemed you with His everlasting love. Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt receive a crown of life.”

“All who live in our world from henceforth will know the meaning of trials. I know that God will give you grace, that He will not forsake you. Call to mind the promise of God: ‘Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them’ (Revelation 14:13^L). Be of good courage. I would be with you now if I could, but we shall meet in the morning of the resurrection”....

I was also speaking words of comfort to Sister C. I was encouraging her, and the room seemed to be filled with angels of God. Let both of you be of good courage. The Lord will not leave nor forsake you.—Letter 312, 1906.