While I can speak to you in words of warning, you may ask many questions that it is not my duty or in my power to answer. “Your letter is received, and I would be glad to satisfy your mind on every point, but that is not in my power. Here is a portion of what I wrote you then: 21LtMs, Lt 242, 1906, par. 3ĭo you remember the counsel which I gave you in my letter of April, 1894? This was in answer to your letter expressing deep regret over the part you had taken in an unwise movement and you appealed to me for instruction, that you might ever avoid such mistakes. You trust in your own wisdom, and that is often foolishness. It causes you to swell to large proportions. The Lord has said, “Weighed in the balance and found wanting.” 21LtMs, Lt 242, 1906, par. Had you understood the work that needed to be done at that time, a very different presentation would have been made at that meeting. Though you had full confidence in yourself, you were out of the path of duty when, in order to criticize and reprove the work of your brethren, you, with others, interrupted the meeting called especially for prayer and confession and for seeking for a spirit of unity. You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Since the Berrien Springs meeting, your attitude and the attitude of several others has grieved the Spirit of God. When you were called to the important work at Washington, you had need of far more of the humble grace that becometh a Christian. I am now instructed to say to you, You have had a large knowledge of truth, and less, far less, spiritual understanding. + NoteĪgain and again your case has been presented before me.

Portions of this letter are published in KC 33-40.

Beloved Enemy by Ellen Jones