Long-Standing Adventist and His Mistress
119
humility all the rest of your life than to lose your own soul and be the
means of other souls being lost through your course of action. Sin
does not appear exceeding sinful to you, but God says, “I know thy
works.” So every deception you have practiced, every false word you
have uttered, and to every unholy action there has been a watcher from
whom you could not exclude yourself.
At Belshazzar’s Feast—Little did Belshazzar think on that night
of that sacrilegious feast that there was a messenger from heaven
watching his every movement; and that night the performance in that
palace brought the figures of his evil works to their full measure. He
was no longer to be protected and shielded by God. The restraining
power was no longer to ward off the evil; he was to fall, his kingdom
was to pass into other hands, and his body was to be slain.
[140]
Appeals From God’s Word—My heart is full of sadness. I in-
quire, Must these souls be left to come up in the second resurrection;
left to be outside the city of God among dogs and sorcerers and adul-
terers and those who “loveth and maketh a lie”? What can I say to
you? You have a strong, hard spirit, unless you have fallen upon the
Rock and are broken.
The Lord has said, “Come now, and let us reason together: ...
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” [
Isaiah 1:18
]. “Seek ye
the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:
and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” [
Isaiah 55:6, 7
]. “If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” [
1 John 1:9,
10
].
I beseech of you, let the work go deep; make thorough work. In
the place of carrying your supposed grievances to Ira K, a poor, erring,
sinful mortal, to obtain sympathy, take your grievances to Jesus. He
has invited you, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For
My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” [
Matthew 11:28-30
].—
Letter
23a, 1890
.