ELLEN G. WHITE'S LETTER TO URIAH SMITH
In Defense of the 1888 Message
by E. G. White
ELLEN G. WHITE'S LETTER TO URIAH SMITH
Satan will invent every possible device that he may attract the attention of the people from the issue that is just before us.
He will seek to make confusion among us, causing the expression of various different opinions so that the people of God shall not be found in their proper position, confessing their sins and afflicting their souls, that they may have a living experience in the things of God, but shall become confused....
I do not wish one word to you that will discourage you or bring upon you one pang of anguish. I have a love for your soul, and I desire that you shall bear the banner of truth until the close of this earth's history. But to say that you will do this, I cannot. I am compelled to say to you that you are in danger, and your only safety lies in walking humbly with your God. Be careful what steps you take in expressing your differences with your brethren. You cannot know how it pains me to see some of our brethren taking a course that I know is not pleasing to God. They are full of jealously and evil surmising, and are ever ready to show in just what way they differ with Elder Jones or Waggoner. The same spirit that was manifest in the past manifests at every opportunity; but this is not from the impulse of the Spirit of God....I can never forget the experience we had in Minneapolis, or the things that were then revealed to me in regard to the spirit that controlled men, the words spoken, the actions done in obedience to the powers of evil.
Some have made confession, yourself among the number. Others have made no confession, for they were too proud to do this, and they have not come to the light. They were moved at the meeting by another spirit, and they knew not the God had sent these young men, Elders Jones and Waggoner, to bear a special message to them, which they treated with ridicule and contempt, not realizing that the heavenly intelligences were looking upon them and registering their words in the books of heaven.
The words and actions of everyone who took part in this work will stand registered against them until they make confession of their wrong. Those who do not repent of their sin will, if circumstances permit, repeat the same actions. I know at that time the Spirit of God was insulted....
It is quite possible that Elder Jones or Waggoner may be overthrown by the temptations of the enemy; but if they should be, this would not prove that they had no message from God, or that the work that they had done was all a mistake. But should this happen, how many would take this position, and enter into a fatal delusion because they are not under control of the Spirit of God....
....The message that the messengers have been proclaiming is the message to the Laodicean church. [Rev. 3:14-20 quoted: 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.]
....Many have treated the Laodiceans as it has come to them, as the word of man. Both message and messenger have been held in doubt by those who should have been the first to discern and act upon it as the word of God....
Those who name the name of Christ should adopt Christian maxims. They should fear to ridicule the message or the messenger....the message given us by AT Jones and EJ Waggoner is the message of God to the Loadicean church, and woe to unto anyone who professes to believe the truth and yet does not reflect to others the God given rays....
The Laodicean message has been sounding. Take this message in all its phases and sound it forth to the people wherever Providence opens the way.
Justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ are the themes to be presented to a perishing world. Oh, that you may open the door of your heart to Jesus! The voice of Jesus, the great vendor of heavenly treasures, is calling you, "I counsel thee to buy of me Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed."--Excerpts from a letter to Uriah Smith, September 19,1892. (EGW 1888 Materials, Vol. 3, pp 1040-1054).
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