Extracts from Letters

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1859

Extracts from Letters.

Bro. W. Morse writes from Deerfield, Minnesota.

"I have often thought of those passages in Matt. xxi. 23—28, where the chief priests and elders came to Jesus and said, By what authority doest thou these things?" Our Saviour did not go on to show them that he was the Christ, or by what authority he did those things; but he refers them back to the baptism of John, saying: "Whence was it? From heaven or of men?" He well knew that there was a gate they must go through; or, that they must believe John's preaching and receive that message as from God, or it would be in vain for him to try to show them that he or his authority was from God. Just so at the present day. If a man cannot be made to see that God has sent out his servants to proclaim the hour of his judgment come, or the first angel's message and also the second; it is in vain to try to show them the third, and the Sabbath through that message. I often think the reason some give up the Sabbath is, that they do not see it through the third message. We cannot patch this message upon the creeds of the churches. We cannot keep the Sabbath in the churches, any more than the children of Israel could keep it in slave-holding Egypt; hence we see that the second angel's message was given in the right time to bring us out and prepare a people for the third. In Matt. ix, 16 Jesus taught that no man putteth new cloth into an old garment, neither do men put new wine into old bottles. As new cloth would shrink by wearing, of course a piece of new sawed into an old garment would soon make the rent worse. Just so in the other case. As their bottles were made of leather, they were capable of stretching as the wine fermented; but after they became old, stiff and unyielding, if new was put into them, as it began to work, it would immediately burst the bottles. This parable fits well upon some at the present day. The Sabbath, the three angels' messages and sanctuary with their kindred truth, the churches cannot bear.

"Dear brethren, let me say in conclusion that I fully believe that here is the patience of the saints. Truly we have need of patience, for yet a little while and he that shall come will come and not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith.

"I cannot express my feelings of thankfulness while I write. It is said in Heb. xiii, 16—17, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves," for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account; that they may do it with joy and not with grief. I feel truly thankful to those that have watched over me; and I am sorry to say that I fear they have borne it with grief. Pray for us still in this far off land, that we may possess a humble teachable spirit and be prepared to sing the song of triumph with the redeemed on Mt. Zion."