at midnight, letters that have gone across the continent and, arriving at a
crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my
work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke
wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-six years
from above or from beneath?
Suppose—some would make it appear, incorrectly however—that I
was influenced to write as I did by letters received from members of the
church. How was it with the apostle Paul? The news he received through
the household of Chloe concerning the condition of the church at Corinth
was what caused him to write his first epistle to that church. Private letters
had come to him stating the facts as they existed, and in his answer he laid
down general principles which if heeded would correct the existing evils.
With great tenderness and wisdom he exhorts them to all speak the same
things, that there be no divisions among them.
Paul was an inspired apostle, yet the Lord did not reveal to him at all
times just the condition of His people. Those who were interested in the
prosperity of the church, and saw evils creeping in, presented the matter
before him, and from the light which he had previously received he was
prepared to judge of the true character of these developments. Because
the Lord had not given him a new revelation for that special time, those
who were really seeking light did not cast his message aside as only a
common letter. No, indeed. The Lord had shown him the difficulties and
dangers which would arise in the churches, that when they should develop
he might know just how to treat them.
He was set for the defense of the church. He was to watch for souls as
one that must render account to God, and should
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he not take notice of the reports concerning their state of anarchy and
division? Most assuredly; and the reproof he sent them was written just as
much under the inspiration of the Spirit of God as were any of his epistles.
But when these reproofs came, some would not be corrected. They took
the position that God had not spoken to them through Paul, that he had
merely given them his opinion as a man, and they regarded their own
judgment as good as that of Paul.
So it is with many among our people who have drifted away from the
old landmarks and who have followed their own understanding. What a
great relief it would be to such could they quiet their conscience with the
belief that my work is not of God. But your unbelief will not change the
facts in the case. You are defective in character, in moral and religious
experience. Close your eyes to the fact if you will, but this does not make
you one particle more perfect. The only remedy is to wash in the blood of
the Lamb.
If you seek to turn aside the counsel of God to suit yourselves, if you
lessen the confidence of God’s people in the testimonies He has sent them,
you are rebelling against God as certainly as were Korah, Dathan, and
Abiram. You have their history. You know how stubborn they were in
their own opinions. They decided that their judgment was better than
that of Moses and that Moses was doing great injury to Israel. Those
who united with them were so set in their opinions that, notwithstanding
the judgments of God in a marked manner destroyed the leaders and the
princes, the next morning the survivors came to Moses and said: “Ye have
killed the people of the Lord.” We see what fearful deception will come
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upon the human mind. How hard it is to convince souls that have become
imbued with a spirit which is not of God. As Christ’s ambassador, I would
say to you: Be careful what positions you take. This is God’s work, and
you must render
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to Him an account for the manner in which you treat His message
