kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof,
and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but
they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to
deliver thee.” Jeremiah 1:17-19.
We returned home from this tour just before a great fall of rain which
carried off the snow. This storm prevented the next Sabbath meeting, and
I immediately commenced to prepare matter for Testimony No. 14. We
also had the privilege of caring for our dear Brother King, whom we
brought to our home with a terrible injury upon the head and face. We
took him to our house to die, for we could not think it possible for one
with the skull so terribly broken in to recover. But with the blessing of
God upon a very gentle use of water, a very spare diet till the danger of
fever was past, and well-ventilated rooms day and night, in three weeks
he was able to return to his home and attend to his farming interests. He
did not take one grain of medicine from first to last. Although he was
considerably reduced by loss of blood from his wounds and by spare
diet, yet when he could take a more liberal amount of food he came up
rapidly.
About this time we commenced labor for our brethren and friends
near Greenville. As is the case in many places, our brethren needed
help. There were some who kept the Sabbath, yet did not belong to the
church, and also some who had given up the Sabbath, who needed help.
We felt disposed to help these poor souls, but the past course and present
position of leading members of the church in relation to these persons
made it almost impossible for us to approach them. In laboring with the
erring, some of our brethren had been too rigid, too cutting in remarks.
And when some were disposed to reject their counsel and separate from
them, they would say: “Well, if they want to go off, let them go.” While
such a lack of the compassion, and long-suffering, and tenderness of
Jesus
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was manifested by His professed followers, these poor, erring,
inexperienced souls, buffeted by Satan, were certain to make shipwreck
of faith. However great may be the wrongs and sins of the erring, our
brethren must learn to manifest not only the tenderness of the Great
Shepherd, but also His undying care and love for the poor, straying
sheep. Our ministers toil and lecture week after week, and rejoice that
a few souls embrace the truth; and yet brethren of a prompt, decided
turn of mind may, in five minutes, destroy their work by indulging the
feelings which prompt words like these: “Well, if they want to leave us,
let them go.”
We found that we could do nothing for the scattered sheep near us
until we had first corrected the wrongs in many of the members of the
church. They had let these poor souls wander. They felt no burden for
them. In fact, they seemed shut up to themselves, and were dying a
spiritual death for want of spiritual exercise. They still loved the general
cause, and were ready to help sustain it. They would take good care of
the servants of God. But there was a decided want of care for widows,
orphans, and the feeble of the flock. Besides some interest for the cause
in general, there was but little apparent interest for any only their own
families. With so narrow a religion they were dying a spiritual death.
There were some who kept the Sabbath, attended meeting, and paid
systematic benevolence, yet were out of the church. And it is true that
they were not fit to belong to any church. But while leading church
members stood as some in that church did, giving them little or no
encouragement, it was almost impossible for them to arise in the strength
of God and do better. As we began to labor with the church, and teach
them that they must have a spirit of labor for the erring, much that I had
seen relative to the cause in that place, opened before me, and I wrote out
pointed testimonies not only for those who had erred greatly and were
out of the church, but
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for those members in the church who had erred greatly in not going
in search of the lost sheep. And I was never more disappointed in the
manner in which these testimonies were received. When those who had
been greatly in fault were reproved by most pointed testimonies, read to
them publicly, they received them, and confessed with tears. But some
