Chapter 4—Intimate Friendship With Worldlings
December 10, 1871, I was shown, Brother E, that you and your
sisters were in a very dangerous condition; and that which makes your
position the more dangerous is that you do not realize your true state.
I saw you enveloped in darkness. This darkness has not settled upon
you suddenly. You commenced to enter the mist of darkness gradually,
and almost imperceptibly, until the darkness is as light to you, yet
the cloud is becoming more dense every day. Now and then I saw
a gleaming of light separating the darkness from you; then again it
would close about you, firmer and more dense than before.
Your singing schools have ever been a snare to you. Neither you
nor your sisters have a depth of experience that will enable you to
be brought in contact with the influences you meet in your singing
schools, without being affected. It would take stronger minds, with
greater decision of character than you three possess, to be brought
into the society you are and not be affected. Listen to the words
[40]
of Christ: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an
hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under
a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are
in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Have
your example and influence been of that positive character that has
impressed and convicted your associates? I think not. You have been
injured. Darkness has settled upon you and dimmed your light so that
it has not burned with that luster to dispel the darkness about others.
You have been separating further and further from God.
You, my brother, have but a faint sense of what you have been
doing. You have been standing directly in the way of your sisters’
advancement in the divine life. They, more especially F, have been
entangled with the bewitching, satanic wiles of spiritualism, and if
she rids herself of this unholy slime of Satan, which has perverted her
sense of eternal things, she will have to make a mighty effort. It will
be but a hairbreadth escape. You have been blinded, deceived, and
39