Nicola, Brother and Sister [C. C.]
St. Helena, California
June 7, 1906
Previously unpublished. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.
Dr. and Mrs. C. C. Nicola
Dear Brother and Sister:
I wish that I could see you and converse with you. It has been presented to me that Dr. Kellogg would try his best to lead you to accept his deceptive theories. I saw some things that I have neither written nor spoken, and I shall not mention them unless compelled to in order to save souls from deception. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 1
I saw that Dr. Kellogg was leading you, and you were being led. When I heard that Sister Nicola was in Battle Creek, I was pained to the heart. I know whereof I speak regarding Dr. Kellogg and his false science. I have many things written concerning his dangerous theories. I beseech of you not to turn aside from the light I am sending you, and link yourselves with him, to be worked by the influences that have been controlling him. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 2
My brother, my sister, you belong to God. You are in the place where the Lord would have you be. I have a message for you: Sever every thread that binds you to the influences that center at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. You remember, Brother Nicola, the letter I read to you, in which Dr. Kellogg stated that he had surrendered. However, I have not seen any evidence of surrender. Instead of surrendering, he has acted as if he were trying to get a firmer hold. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 3
Sister Nicola, you are a daughter of Brother Fletcher Byington, who was a member of my family for years. He seemed like a brother, and we were thoroughly united in the truth. I have felt a great tenderness for those connected with him, and especially for your mother and yourself, and for your husband. But I am instructed by the Lord that you are both in danger of losing your souls. I regard a soul saved as worth more than the whole world. You will both have presented to you strong inducements to go to Battle Creek; and if you were to go, I greatly fear it would be at the price of your souls. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 4
Listen to one whom I know you have respected, and in no case follow the counsel of a man who has had message after message for years, yet who has walked contrary to these messages and is doing the same today. The Lord has shown me our erring brother’s spiritual standing. He is not the man that will help you spiritually, because he has faith neither in God nor in Jesus Christ nor in the messages of truth that have made us Seventh-day Adventists. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 5
The disposition to make self supreme led to Satan’s rebellion in heaven. The enemy has imbued many souls with his own spirit—a desire to be first, to be supreme. The effort of Dr. Kellogg to carry out his plans and schemes through specious devisings will make him least of all. He has a soul to save, but he does not respect that soul as he should. He has not worked in the right way, and he has hindered the work of God from being carried forward solidly. By his misrepresentations and specious devisings, he has led many souls astray. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 6
How long will this deception and opposition to the work of God continue? How long shall it be permitted? Will those who have light and evidence link up with Christ and carry forward His work intelligently? Oh, that all who claim to believe the truth would look away from human devisings and plannings and follow in the footsteps of the meek and lowly Jesus! “Come unto Me,” the Saviour pleads, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” [Matthew 11:28, 29.] 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 7
In self-denial and self-sacrifice our work in this world is to be carried forward. We are very near the close of this earth’s history. Had the many who have been called acted the self-denying part that Christ acted, thousands more would have been converted. Many men of ability, of such as shall be saved, would have been added to our numbers. We are in the world to accomplish the high purpose that the Lord has planned for us. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 8
Boston is to be worked. I call upon you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to come up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. If you have not a sense of that which God requires of you, I beg of you to heed this message that I now give you and to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty powers of evil. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 9
All things will soon be developed. The work of our institutions is in vain, unless the workers in these institutions link up with Christ Jesus and walk and work in accordance with the Divine Pattern. We need to be converted anew and to form Christlike character. We need to receive the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. All haughtiness, which impedes the advancement of God’s work, must be put away. Self must be subdued. My dear brother and sister, Take hold of the sacred work for which the Melrose Sanitarium has been established. With pure, unalloyed motives, work on with an eye single to the glory of God. Let the language of the heart be, “I have set the Lord ever before me.” [Psalm 16:8.] 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 10
Turn away your eyes from men who have hindered the work of God for years. I now address you as one who knows. The Lord has placed Boston before you as a city to be worked, and you are to act a part in saving souls ready to perish. This is the very work the Lord designs shall be done. You have acted a part in fitting up a place from which may be carried an influence to Boston and to other important cities. The messengers of God have a high mission to fulfil; and, in His providence, you have been placed where you can act a part in advancing His cause. You have already taken a part interestedly in efforts to accomplish a work in Boston. As you continue these efforts, your intelligence regarding health reform, and the truths of the Bible applicable to these times, will make you Christ’s workers. You are not to go to Battle Creek. God forbids it. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 11
After Christ had warned His disciples against the adversary’s manner of attack, He charged them to be ever on the watch. Turning to them, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” [Luke 10:23, 24.] 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 12
I have been shown in vision that many from the humble walks of life who are willing to learn of Christ, the great Teacher, rather than to put their trust in men, will be raised up to do a work for God. The time is very near when those of defective character will be removed because they reveal their unconverted self and place a wrong mold on the work of God, thus hindering its advancement. 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 13
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” [James 1:5, 6.] 21LtMs, Lt 174, 1906, par. 14