Ms 133, 1906

Diary

St. Helena, California

April 6, 1905

Previously unpublished.

The past night I could not sleep after twelve o’clock. I cry to the Lord to be my helper and my strength. I plead with God for Dr. Kellogg. From the light given me, I am afraid that he is losing his opportunities to become sound in the faith, and that strong delusions will place him still further on the enemy’s side. His case is still kept before me, but in such a way that I am made to understand that I am not to write letters to him or speak words from which he could gain encouragement to think that he has been doing the work that God requires him to do. The words are spoken, “His heart is not right with God.” The heart that is full of enmity must be thoroughly changed. There will be an endeavor to cover up the true sentiments, a feigning to be just and righteous; yet the true sentiments of the man will be but cloaked and will be expressed when there seems to be an opportunity. Jesus knows and reads the thoughts, and all are written in the book. The underlying tendencies are known, and all presentations feigning to be just are worthless. When the heart is changed, all the bitterness of character will be seen in its true, hateful character. When the heart is changed, the fact will appear in words and deeds. The heart is the root, and good words and deeds are the fruit of a changed heart. Truth, and truth only, will be expressed21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 1

Grace reigning in the heart produces heavenly principles. The words and acts make known the nature of the spirit cherished. When the life reveals the refining influence of a true, pure heart, there will be truth in the inward parts, and the principles and acts will be just. But unless the heart is transformed, the life is a deception and a fraud. While the root of bitterness is cherished in the heart, it will bear the fruit of gall and wormwood. The heart is the fountain; the words are the streams that flow forth.21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 2

I have great sorrow in my heart. I pray for the Lord to open blind eyes and take not His Holy Spirit away. I plead with Him in behalf of His people. I wish, O so much, to bear my message to those who will hear it and receive it into good and honest hearts. What a work might be done if all who have a knowledge of the truth would bear fruit unto eternal life.21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 3

I am not sure of my life at any time. I may be removed by death, and I carry a burden of soul and have carried it for a long time. Last night I was pleading with the Lord to teach us His will and His way. The question is asked by One who knows, What are men doing with their property? How are the great cities to be warned?21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 4

I was instructed that the life of Christ and the manner of His teaching are to be seen in our work and in our teaching of the truth. There are occasions when the truth must find entrance by being proclaimed for a time in more expensive buildings than Seventh-day Adventists can own. This method should not be discouraged. It must sometimes be followed. The truth must be proclaimed with a loud voice: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” [Revelation 18:2.]21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 5

The proclamation, “Come out of her, My people,” is to be given with no indistinct voice. [Verse 4.] The wonderful scenes described in the eighteenth chapter of Revelation are to take place in the near future.21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 6

My brethren and sisters, I speak to you the words of the Lord. We must now be careful to make no unadvised movements. Christ, the Prince of heaven, revealed to the inhabitants of the world the way in which the truth is to be proclaimed in our cities. God is not glorified by the making of extravagant displays in any place. We cannot afford to use the Lord’s treasure of means in making such display as the world feels at liberty to make. We are not required to make any great display. Take up the work in our cities in accordance with the example of Christ. The Lord forbids us to give the impression that a great display is necessary in order to open the way for the truth to find access to the people. It is the endowment of the Holy Spirit upon the messengers of God that will enable them to proclaim the truth in such a way as to impress minds. The way in which Elder Franke attempted to give the truth in Greater New York was not after the order of our Lord Jesus Christ. His expensive style consumed means that were needed elsewhere and produced results that were not after the Lord’s order. This is not the way to proclaim the message of the Lord’s soon coming. With the greatest solemnity and highest spirituality, and in all meekness and lowliness, the messages were given in 1842, 1843, and 1844.21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 7

The truth of heavenly origin was brought to our world by Christ in person. If great display were necessary to make an impression on the minds of human beings, to call them to repentance, Christ would have adopted that plan. All the expense could have been met by Him who said, “The gold and the silver are Mine.” [Haggai 2:8.] But Christ made no display. He might have come to the world accompanied by a retinue of angelic beings; but He did not. He was commanded in the heavenly courts, but He laid aside His kingly crown and His royal robes and clothed His divinity with humanity, coming to this world as a helpless babe. He came to meet all the temptations wherewith human beings are beset. For our sake, He stood at the head of the fallen race, to give men and women an opportunity to see that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for He was before me. And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” [John 1:10-18.]21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 8

Christ encircled the human race with His arm of humanity, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of divinity, that man might be a partaker of the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world through lust. Christ gave to the world the command, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” [Matthew 16:24.]21LtMs, Ms 133, 1906, par. 9