A Letter

Bro. ——, I was shown, December 10, 1871, that there were serious defects in your character which, unless seen and overcome, will prove your ruin; and you will not only be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and found wanting yourself, but your influence will determine the destiny of others. You are either gathering with Christ or scattering abroad.T22 182.1

I was shown that you have a deeply rooted love for the world. The love of money is the root of all evil. You flatter yourself that you are about right, when you are not. God seeth not as man seeth. He looks at the heart. His ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. Your great care and anxiety is to acquire means. This absorbing passion has been increasing upon you until it is overbalancing your love of the truth. Your soul is being corrupted through your love of money. Your love for the truth and the advancement of the cause of truth is very weak. Your earthly treasures claim and hold your affections.T22 182.2

You have a knowledge of the truth; you are not ignorant of the claims of Scripture; you know your Master's will, for he has plainly revealed it. But your heart is not inclined to follow the light which shines upon your pathway. You have a large measure of self-conceit. Your love for yourself is greater than your love for the cause of present truth. Your self-confidence and your self-sufficiency will certainly prove your ruin, unless you can see your weakness, your errors, and reform. You are arbitrary. You have a set will of your own to maintain, and although the opinions of others may be correct, and your judgment wrong, yet you are not the man to yield. You hold firmly to your advanced opinion, irrespective of the judgment of others. I wish you could see the danger of pursuing the course you have. If your eyes could be enlightened by the Spirit of God, you would see these things clearly. Your wife loves the truth, and she is a practical woman, and a woman of principle. You do not appreciate the value of your wife. She has worked hard for the mutual good of the family, and you have not given her your confidence. You have not counseled with her as was your duty. You keep your matters very much to yourself. You do not love to open your heart to your wife, and let her know your exercises of mind, and your real faith and feelings. You are secretive. Your wife does not hold the honored place in your family that she deserves, and that she is capable of filling.T22 183.1

You feel that your wife should not interfere with your arrangements and plans, and you too frequently set your will and plans of operation in opposition to those of your wife. You act as though your wife's identity should be submerged in you. You are not satisfied to have her act as though she had an individuality, and an identity of her own. God holds her accountable for her individuality. You cannot save her. She cannot save you. She has a conscience of her own which she must be guided by. You are too willing to be conscience for your wife, and, sometimes, for your children. God has claims upon your wife higher than you can have. She must form a character for herself, and she is accountable to God for the character she develops.T22 184.1

You have a character to form, and you are accountable to God for the character you develop. You have a controlling influence, a dictatorial spirit, which is not in accordance with the will of God. You must cease to be so exacting. You have prided yourself upon your fine taste and organization. You have nice ideas, but you have not carried this exact and fine perception in your character, or in your deportment. You have failed to perfect a symmetrical character. You have good ideas of order and arrangement, but all these nice qualities of the mind have become blunted by being perverted. You have not complied with the conditions laid down in the word of God for becoming a son of God. All the promises of God are upon conditions. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” This experience you have yet to obtain. You love to get into the company of unbelievers, and hear them talk, and talk yourself. Jesus could not be glorified with your conversation; and if you had the spirit of Jesus, you could not have been so much in the society of those who had no love for the truth of God.T22 184.2

You have felt that there were hindrances to your children's becoming Christians. You have felt that others were to blame, But do not deceive yourself in regard to this matter. Your influence as a father has been sufficient, if there was nothing else to hinder, to stand in their way. Your example and your conversation have been of that character that your children could not believe that your course was consistent with your profession. Your conversation with unbelievers has been so light—jesting, joking, and of a low order—that your influence could never elevate them. Your deal with others has not always been strictly honest. You have not loved God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. You would, if in your power, advantage yourself at your neighbor's disadvantage. Every dollar which comes to you in this manner will carry with it a curse which you will feel sooner or later. God marks; he does not pass over one act of injustice, be it done to believer or unbeliever. Your disposition of acquisitiveness is to you a snare. Your deal with your fellow-men cannot endure the test of the Judgment.T22 185.1

Your Christian character is spotted with avarice. These spots will have to be removed, or you will lose eternal life. We each have a work to do for the Master. We each have talents to improve. The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to others. They may not realize that they are doing any special good, but they may start waves of blessing by their unconscious influence, which shall deepen, and widen, and they never know the happy result of their words and consistent deportment, until the final distribution of the rewards. They did not feel or know that they were doing anything great. They were not required to weary themselves with anxieties about success. They had only to go forward, not with many words, and vain glorying, and boasting, but quietly, faithfully doing the work which God's providence assigned to them. They will not lose their reward. Thus will it be in your case. The memorial of your life will be written in the book of records; and, if you are finally an overcomer, there will be souls saved through your efforts, by your self-denial, your good words, and consistent Christian life. And in the final distribution of rewards to all as their works have been, redeemed souls will call you blessed, and the Master will say “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”T22 186.1

The world indeed is full of hurry, of pride, of selfishness, avarice and violence, and it may seem to us that it is a waste of time and breath to be ever in season and out of season, on all occasions to hold ourselves in readiness to speak words that are gentle, right, pure, elevating, chaste and holy, in the face of the whirlwind of confusion, and bustle, and strife. And yet words fitly spoken, coming from sanctified hearts and lips, sustained by a godly consistent Christian deportment, will be as apples of gold in pictures of silver. You have been as one of the vain talkers, and have appeared as one of the world. In your words and actions you have been careless, and sometimes reckless in your conversation, and have lowered yourself as a Christian in the opinion of unbelievers. You have sometimes spoken of the truth; but your words have not borne that serious, anxious interest that would affect the heart. They have been accompanied with light, trivial remarks, that would lead those with whom you converse to decide that your faith was not genuine, and that you did not believe the truths you profess. Words in favor of the truth, spoken in the calm self-possession of a right purpose, and from a pure heart, will do much to disarm opposition and win souls. A harsh, selfish, denunciatory spirit, will only drive farther from the truth and awaken a spirit of opposition.T22 187.1

You are not to wait for great occasions, or to expect extraordinary abilities before you work in earnest for God. You need not have a thought of what the world will think of you. If your intercourse with them, and your godly conversation, are a living testimony to them of your purity, and sincerity of faith, and they are convinced that you desire to benefit them, your words will not be wholly lost upon them, but will be productive of good.T22 187.2

The servant of Jesus Christ, in any department of the Christian service, by precept and by example, will have a saving influence upon others. The good seed sown may lie in a worldly, cold, and selfish heart for some time without evidencing that it has taken root; but frequently the Spirit of God operates upon that heart, and waters it with the dew of heaven, and the long hidden seed springs up and finally bears fruit to the glory of God. We know not in our lifework which shall prosper, this or that. These are not questions for us poor mortals to settle. We are to do our work, leaving the result with God. If you were ignorant, and in darkness, you would not be as guilty. But you have had great light. You have heard much truth, but you are not a doer of the word.T22 188.1

Christ's life is the pattern for us all. His example of self denial, self-sacrifice and disinterested benevolence, is for us to follow. The entire life of Christ is an infinite demonstration of his great love and condescension to save sinful man. Love one another, as I have loved you, says Christ. How will our life of self-denial, and sacrifice, and benevolence, hear comparison with the life of Christ. “Ye are” says Christ, addressing his disciples, “the light of the world.” “Ye are the salt of the earth.” If this is our privilege, and also our duty, and we are bodies of darkness and of unbelief, what a fearful responsibility we assume. We may be channels of light or of darkness. If we have neglected to improve the light God has given us, and have failed to advance in knowledge and true holiness as the light has directed the way, we are guilty, and in darkness according to the light and truth we have neglected to improve. In these days of iniquity and peril, the character and works of professed Christians will not generally bear the test, nor endure the exposure, when examined by the light that now shines upon them. There is no concord between Christ and Belial. There is no communion between light and darkness. How then can the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world be in harmony? The Lord our God is a jealous God. He requires the sincere affection and unreserved confidence of those who profess to love him. Says the psalmist, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”T22 188.2

You have stood directly in the way of the salvation of your children. You lay their indifference to religious things to other causes than the true. Your example is a stumbling block to your children. They know by your fruits, by your words and works, that you do not believe in the near coming of Christ. Some of your children do not hesitate to make sport of the idea of the near coming of Christ, and of the shortness of time. They take great satisfaction when you drive a sharp bargain. They think father is keen in a trade, and that nobody can get the better of you. They are following in your footsteps. Faith without works is dead, being alone. Money has given you power, and you have used that power to take advantage of the necessities of others. Your speculations in your business life have not been honest. You have not been just with your fellow men. You have, by your trades, sacrificed your reputation as a Christian, and as an honest man. Means that came into your possession by fair trading, did not come fast enough to satisfy your thirst for gain, and you have frequently made the poor man's burdens heavier, by taking advantage of his necessity to increase your property. Look carefully, Bro. ——. You are making fearful losses for earthly gain. You are losing manly integrity and heavenly virtue, in the hour of temptation. Is this gain? or loss? Are you richer or poorer for all such increase? To you it is a fearful loss, for it takes just so much from the treasure you might have been accumulating in Heaven.T22 189.1

Every opportunity to help a brother in need, or to aid the cause of God in the spread of the truth, is a pearl that you can send beforehand and deposit in the bank of Heaven for safe keeping. God is testing you. He is proving you. God has been giving his blessings to you with a lavish hand, and is now watching to see what use you are making of them. If you help those who need help, if you feel the worth of souls and do what you can with the means God has intrusted to you, every opportunity improved adds to your heavenly treasure. But love of self has led you to prefer earthly possessions to the sacrifice of the heavenly. You choose the treasures that moth and rust doth corrupt to the treasures enduring as eternity. The gem of tender compassion, and to bless others, is offered to your acceptance, but your eyes are so blinded by the god of this world you cannot discern the blessings of doing good, of being rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up for yourself a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life. You are neglecting to avail yourself of precious opportunities to secure the heavenly treasure, at the peril of your soul. Are you really richer for your penuriousness and close managing? God is proving you. It is for you to determine whether you will come out gold or valueless dross. Should your probation close to night, how stands your life record? Not a dollar could you take with you of what you have gained. The curse of every unjust act will attend you. Your sharpness in trade when viewed in the mirror that God will present before you, will not lead to self-congratulation. Covetousness is idolatry.T22 190.1

Your only hope is to humble your heart before God. “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” I entreat of you, Do not close your eyes to your danger. Do not be blind to the higher interests of the soul, to the blessed and glorious prospects of the better life. The anxious, burdened gain seekers of this world are blind and insane. They turn from the immortal, imperishable treasure to this world. The glitter and tinsel of this world captivate their senses, and eternal things are not valued. They labor for that which satisfieth not. They spend their money for that which is not bread, when Jesus offers them peace, and hope, and infinite blessings, for a life of obedience. All the treasures of the earth would not be rich enough to buy these precious gifts. Yet many are insane, and turn from the heavenly inducement. Christ will keep the names of all who count no sacrifice too costly to be offered upon the altar of faith and love to him. He sacrificed all for fallen humanity. The names of the obedient, self-sacrificing, and faithful, shall be engraved upon the palms of his hands, and they will not be spued from his mouth, but taken in his lips, and he will especially plead in their behalf before the Father. They will be remembered. When the selfish and proud are forgotten, their names shall be immortalized. In order to be happy ourselves, we must live to make others happy. Better is it for us to yield our possessions, talents, and affections, in grateful devotion to Christ, and in that way find happiness here, and immortal glory hereafter.T22 191.1

The long night of watching, of toil, and hardship, is nearly past. Christ is soon to come. Get ready. The angels of God are seeking to attract you from yourself, and from earthly things. Let them not labor in vain. Faith, living faith, you want; faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Remember Calvary, the infinite and awful sacrifice there made for man. Jesus now invites you to come to him just as you are, and make him your strength and everlasting friend.T22 192.1

E. G. W.