What Might Have Been
St. Helena, California,
January 5, 1903.
To the Battle Creek Church
One day at noon I was writing of the work that might have been
done at the last General Conference if the men in positions of trust had
followed the will and way of God. Those who have had great light
have not walked in the light. The meeting was closed, and the break
was not made. Men did not humble themselves before the Lord as they
should have done, and the Holy Spirit was not imparted.
I had written thus far when I lost consciousness, and I seemed to
be witnessing a scene in Battle Creek.
We were assembled in the auditorium of the Tabernacle. Prayer
was offered, a hymn was sung, and prayer was again offered. Most
earnest supplication was made to God. The meeting was marked by
the presence of the Holy Spirit. The work went deep, and some present
were weeping aloud.
One arose from his bowed position and said that in the past he had
not been in union with certain ones and had felt no love for them, but
that now he saw himself as he was. With great solemnity he repeated
the message to the Laodicean church: “‘Because thou sayest, I am
rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’ In my
self-sufficiency this is just the way I felt,” he said. “‘And knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked.’ I now see that this is my condition. My eyes are opened. My
spirit has been hard and unjust. I thought myself righteous, but my
heart is broken, and I see my need of the precious counsel of the One
who has searched me through and through. Oh, how gracious and
compassionate and loving are the words, ‘I counsel thee to buy of Me
gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that
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thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.’”
Revelation 3:17, 18
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