S. C. WELLCOME by S. C. Wellcome

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 10, 1859

S. C. WELLCOME

By S. C. Wellcome

From Bro. Welcome.

DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I praise the Lord for what he has done for me. He has showed me my sinful and lost condition while walking in disobedience to his commands, and revealed to me the way of life and salvation; and I was enabled by his grace to yield myself up in obedience to his requirements, submitting my own will to his; and while presenting myself a living sacrifice to God, I laid hold of his promises by faith, believing that he accepted the sacrifice, unworthy as it was. Having nothing but sinful self to give, and that being all that he required, he shed abroad his love in my heart by the Holy Ghost, and I was enabled to rejoice in him, the God of my salvation. O what glory filled my soul! what a fullness in Jesus! what perfect love to God and man! It seemed that I was bathing in the boundless ocean of his love. What peace in believing, and joy in the Holy Ghost! I was enabled to reckon myself all the Lord's, and his Spirit witnessed with my spirit that I was his child; and glory to his name, I still have that witness in my poor heart, and rejoice that the longer I travel in the way that was cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk, the brighter the way appears. Sometimes it seems that I can see the gates of the holy city by faith, and have a foretaste of the joys in store for the weary pilgrim. O my brethren and sisters, let us have that faith in God that brings a present salvation, that does not have to look back to past experience and an old hope to depend upon for salvation, but that which enables us to come fully to the throne of grace and ask, believing that we receive; having a firm reliance in God's word, which enables us to depend wholly on him; knowing our own weakness, for the just shall live by faith, and having a living faith we shall render implicit obedience to all the commands of God. Our wills are lost in the will of God. His law will be our delight. We shall be saying continually in our hearts, Lord, teach me what thy will is, and by thy grace I will do it.

O let us watch and pray in these perilous times, and not rest without a present evidence in our hearts that we are saved from sin; that we are prepared at all times to meet our blessed Saviour; for when he comes how little faith will he find on the earth! How few will be keeping the commands of God and the faith of Jesus! how few imitating the meek and lowly Jesus! O how I tremble sometimes while I see the example set us to follow. How humble, how self-denying! His only object to do good, even at the expense of extreme suffering, and the shedding of his own blood; and then to see our unwillingness to suffer for him, how unwilling to deny ourselves here and follow our Master. Even when we meet together for social worship, how afraid we are that we shall not speak or pray just right. We think of what others will say; and some think they ought to write occasionally for the Review, but fear they cannot write just as they ought, therefore we never hear from them; is this self-denial? O may God give us that perfect love that casts out fear, that when he says, Go, we shall be ready to start on any errand he has for us to do. We want to love God so fervently that we shall fear to offend him even in the smallest matter. If we have the principle of obedience in our hearts as it should be, we shall be willing servants and obedient children. We shall deny ourselves of everything that is wrong. We shall not seek to please the eyes and ears of our fellow-men, but to be pure in the sight of the Lord; for God's people must be pure in order to stand justified before him. It is a day when many have a form of godliness, but God knoweth the hearts of men. He is not deceived; all that work righteousness will be accepted of him; and if accepted of him we shall have strength to live in the evil day. Although all the powers of darkness be in array against us, we shall come off victorious if we lean on the arm of the Lord.

There is but a little handful of us in this place that are striving to live in obedience to God's holy law; but our trust is in God. We have had to pass through trials which would have been grievous to bear had not our Father been with us to protect us and to comfort our hearts; for many that profess to be followers of Christ, instead of meeting with us to see what kind of people we were, have stood at a distance in order to stone us to death as they did Stephen of old, by reporting all manner of false stories about us to frighten people against us. But the Spirit of the Lord has been in our midst as we have met from time to time in our social meetings, and we are all striving to have on the whole armor of God, and to be filled with all his fullness. Some two or three have left off keeping the Sabbath, having loved this present world more than God. May God pity them and bring them to see their true condition.

The little church held a two-days meeting at Fish Lake the 18th and 19th days of Dec. The school house was filled to overflowing. I was sick, confined to my bed, and therefore unable to attend, but many who did go say that it was the best meeting they have been to in the State. Some brethren were present from Mackford, Kingston and Poysippi. Some that were hungering and thirsting after righteousness were filled, and went home rejoicing in the God of their salvation. I think some prejudice was removed from the minds of Sunday-keepers in the vicinity. The preachers present were Elds. Perry, my brother, M. Wellcome, and Brn. Rood and Prentice from Dacotati. I hope and trust that much good will result from this meeting. There are some honest ones yet in this vicinity that I hope may be led to embrace the truth. O let us give all the light we can. May our daily lives correspond with our professions. Let us not only profess to keep all the commands of God, but may we keep them in sincerity and truth. Let us candidly yet earnestly urge upon those around us the necessity of obedience to God's holy law. We must continually pray for them, and if they do not immediately embrace the truth, we must not reject them and cast them off as reprobates; for we must remember what a struggle we had to give up our preconceived opinions; therefore we will patiently labor in the vineyard of the Lord, asking wisdom of him that giveth liberally and upbraideth not. May we be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, while the signs are so fast fulfilling and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Yes, praise God, the scattered flock will soon be gathered into the fold. May we all be prepared to meet our great Shepherd, is the prayer of your unworthy brother.

S. C. WELLCOME

Almond, Wis.