64
Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
These men wore excellent clothes, and had an air of ease and
comfort. While we were talking with them, a little boy, about eight
years old, and literally clad in dirty rags, entered the room in which
we were sitting. We were surprised to find that this child was the son
of one of these men. The mother looked exceedingly ashamed and
annoyed; but the father, utterly unconcerned, continued to talk about
his high spiritual attainments, without the slightest recognition of his
little son.
His sanctification had suddenly lost its charm in my eyes. Wrapped
in prayer and meditation, throwing off all the toil and responsibilities
of life, this man had failed to provide for the actual wants of his family
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or to give his children fatherly attention. He seemed to forget that
the greater our love for God, the stronger should be our love and care
for those whom He has given us. The Saviour never taught idleness
and abstract devotion, to the neglect of the duties lying directly in our
pathway.
This husband and father declared that the attainment of true ho-
liness carried the mind above all earthly thoughts. Still he sat at the
table and ate temporal foods. He was not fed by a miracle. Some
one had to provide the food that he ate, although about this matter he
troubled himself little, his time being so entirely devoted to spiritual
things. Not so his wife, upon whom rested the burden of the family.
She toiled unremittingly in every department of household labor to
keep up the home. Her husband declared that she was not sanctified,
that she allowed worldly things to draw her mind away from religious
subjects.
I thought of our Saviour, who labored so untiringly for the good
of others. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (
John 5:17
), He
declared. The sanctification that He taught was shown by deeds of
kindness and mercy, and the love that leads men and women to regard
others better than themselves.
In speaking of faith, one of them said, “All that we have to do is to
believe, and whatever we ask of God will be given us.”
Elder White suggested that there were conditions attached to this
promise. “‘If ye abide in Me,’ Christ said, ‘and My words abide in
you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
John
15:7
. Your theory of faith,” he continued, “must have a foundation.”
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