"Lev. xvi, 8. Aaron shall cast lots. one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9. upon which the Lord's lot fell.
10. on which the lot fell.
Num. xxvi 55. the land shall be divided by lot.
56. according to the lot shall the...
See also Num. xxxiii, 54; xxxiv, 13; xxxvi, 2, 3; Josh. xiv, 2; xv, 1;
xvi, 1; xvii, 1, 14, 17; xviii, 6, 8, 10, 11; xix, 1, 10, 17, 24, 32, 40, 51;
xxi, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 20, 40; Jud. i, 3; xx, 9; 1 Chron. vi, 54, 61, 63, 65;
xxiv, 5, 7, 31; xxv, 8, 9; xxvi, 13, 14; Neh. x, 34; xi, 1; Est. iii, 7; ix, 24;
Ps. xvi, 5; xxii, 18; cxxv, 3; Prov. i, 14; xvi, 33; xviii, 18; Isa. xvii, 14;
xxxiv, 17; lvii, 6; Jer. xii, 25; Eze. xxiv, 6; Dan. xii, 13; Joel iii, 3;
Obad. 11; Jonah i, 7; Micah ii, 5; Nah. iii, 10.
There is another word [gheh-vel] which is translated "region," "country," "lot of inheritance," &c., as in Deut. iii, 4, 13, 14; xxxii, 9; Josh. xvii, 5, 14; xix, 9, 29.
It will now be seen that Daniel does not stand in the "lot of his inheritance," as it has been expressed, at the end of the 1335 days, but he stands in his lot in the decisions of the judgment of the righteous dead.
When did those days end? Evidences are conclusive that the 1335 days ended with the 2300, with the Midnight Cry in 1844. Then the angel [Rev. x, 1-6] swore that time should be no longer. Time here cannot mean duration, as measured in months and years, for 1000 years are measured after this; but it must refer to prophetic time, which was the burden of the angel's message. As Daniel was to stand in his lot at the end of the days, we must conclude that the judgment of the righteous dead commenced at that time, and has been progressing more than twelve years.
When will the cases of the living saints pass in review in the investigative judgment of the house of God? This is a question worthy the candid and most solemn consideration of all who have a case pending in the court of heaven, and hope to overcome. In the order of heaven, we must look for their judgment to follow that of the dead, and to occur near the close of their probation.
It is most reasonable to conclude that there is a special call to the remnant, and a special work to be performed by them, and for them, preparatory to the decisions of the judgment in regard to them, and that their salvation depends upon fully obeying the calls and counsel to them. And we most solemnly believe that this preparatory call and work is brought to view in the testimony to the Laodiceans, and parallel portions of the word of God.
The judgment call and counsel to the Laodiceans finds them lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot. It finds them in a state where it is necessary for them to be zealous in the work of repentance, that they may find pardon, and obtain that preparation necessary to stand in the judgment. Those who do not fully receive and obey this testimony, but remain lukewarm, Christ will spew out of his mouth, or cast them from his favor and blot their names out of the book of life. The decisive hour is at hand. In this awful hour either sins or names will be blotted out. Those who are zealous and repent of all their sins, buy the gold tried in the fire, (true faith) the white raiment, (the same as the wedding garment, or white linen, which is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that saints will be clothed with—but one place to buy it—Jesus says, buy of me,) and have their eyes anointed with eye-salve, (the anointing of the Holy Ghost,) will have their sins blotted out, while those who remain careless, disobedient and lukewarm, will have their names blotted out of the book of life. Life and death are in this judgment call of the dear Saviour. It is life to fully receive it; death to be careless and neglect it. Now is the time to fully understand what it is to overcome.
J.W.
Battle Creek, May 24, '81
Bro. Canright:
The Review will tell of our future plans. We shall depend on you to help us at Monterey next Sabbath and Sunday at the Spring Arbor camp meeting, at the Lapeer Dedication and at the Alma camp meeting. Then we hope you can join us in our labors east. There will be efforts made to get you to Wisconsin to have you go here and there with the tent. But I think we should labor in poor, deserted New England.
God is in this work. God has worked for and with you. Let us mend and not throw away the past. I think wife has been more severe than the Lord really required her to be in some cases. Satan has taken great advantage. I hope we shall all see our way out clear and be able to labor in union.
Please see the place you hold her in your statements made in your unbelief which you have not modified. She could hardly feel free to join with you without something on your part to help her feelings. She makes no demands of you in this matter. I speak of them without her knowledge. She is feeble and must be treated tenderly, or she can do nothing.
Elder Butler and Haskell have had an influence over her that I hope to see broken. It has nearly ruined her. These men must not be suffered by our people to do as they have done until all our ministers are fully discouraged. Young men are kept out of the ministry by their blind, narrow course. I want you to unite with me, and in a proper manner, and in the fear of God let us help matters. It is time there was a change in the officers of the General Conference. I trust that if we are true and faithful the Lord will be pleased that we should constitute two of that board.
But when I see you we can talk these matters over more fully. I
hope to hear from you at once.
James White
Dr. J. H. Kellogg,
Battle Creek, Michigan.
Very dear Doctor,—
Yours of May 24, to Elder Haskell and myself, reached me just a little while before I was to start for Nashville. There was not time to write you; and, in fact, I was in no mood to write. I haven't written for a week until since I returned here. My head was under a constant strain, thinking, thinking, thinking of the peculiar aspects of the meeting; of you, and of the precious Cause we love, and so I have not gotten to it until now. I had an article to get off this morning. It is now Friday, just after dinner.
Of course, I realize that the perfect union which all the laborers in the work ought to reach is not yet consummated, but I do believe a great step has been taken in the right direction, and I assure you it does me a great deal of good. In my judgment, the back of the pressure and onslaught is broken. I firmly believe that, in their hearts, Elders Daniells, Prescott and White will be mighty glad for a let out of their condition. Their plans for the meeting were utterly wrecked, and they find themselves on the losing side. They find a different influence coming to the front, and they begin to see, as the boys say, "where they are at."
I do not know that our going to Berrien Springs was of any great importance, though I rather think that it had considerable influence, in one way or another. Neither Elder Haskell nor I said very much in public, but sometimes silence is golden, and more oppressive than loud talking. Of course, Elder Haskell and I, as "Old Hands" in the Cause, must act wisely and judiciously; we must not get off our bearings, nor rattled in any way; we must take a calm, judicious view of things, without personal influence or selfish desire for advancement in any way. I trust we are both beyond such motives.
For example: What have I to gain? Haven't I had all the offices possible in the denomination? I have had them until they are a weariness to my soul. I long to be free from them. I love this Cause better than I do my life, Doctor. I think I say it with full understanding of what that means. It means a good deal. I have seen many a day when I was perfectly willing to die, if the Lord was willing I should. I do not feel that I am of very much importance anyway, but I do desire greatly, while I live, to be true to the cause I espoused some forty years since, and to which I have given the best of my life.
I feel deeply interested in you, and in seeing you brought back to that position of confidence and esteem which your labors have entitled you to.
I thank you for your kind words of appreciation of the little we have done, and for the statement that you give us credit for good motives. This is all true.
Elder Jones did a grand work in that meeting, for which I honor him, and I believe that God was honored by the manful, straightforward, judicious course he pursued. His work, you say convinced you that the people, some of them, at least, are coming to a little thinking for themselves; that they are not altogether paralyzed. This is true, and there is more than this true. You took an exaggerated view, as was very natural under the painful circumstances which you were placed, of the real feelings of our people. I have an opportunity to know this better than you do. Of course, there were a large number who were carried away by the surging of the current as this raid and pressure was brought to bear upon you, and they went along thinking the accusations were all right, but there is a very large, solid body of our people who felt pained all the time, and could not enter into the spirit of this raid at all. This I know. Probably most of them would not feel free to express their views in public, fearing lest somebody would whack them over the head, and put them into a disagreeable position. Of course, some of these men like myself, who are very independent in their organization, and who have the courage of their convictions, would speak out as I did.
Brother Jones' effort has left a mark which cannot be obliterated, and Sister White's efforts, which I fear you are not quite willing to regard in the same light I do, were fully as efficient. Brother Jones' exposure of the course of Brother Prescott in the past was a just and a proper thing, and just what was needed in the emergency, but anyone who would study Sister White's remarks in regard to Sister Magan's death, and the influences under which those brethren had labored, and the pressure that was brought upon them, which really drove poor Sister Magan insane, could but realize that they affected the triumvirate who were pushing this raid more than anybody else. For my part, it seemed to me one of the most terrible ordeals through which leading men were ever called to pass. You may be sure my eyes were all about the congregation. I watched all three of them, and every one of them had their faces covered, and Will looked as red as a beet. They realized that these words surely meant them, and I have not the slightest doubt but what Sister White did it just in that way, purposely to make that impression, only, under the circumstances, she could not well launch right out in public against the men who were occupying the highest stations in the Denomination. She never did that way, unless terribly pressed to it. She never used to wade into her husband when he was pushing things against her ideas, only on one occasion she did come right in and reprove him in public, before the General Conference, and it almost killed him. She never heard the last of it, and I think finally almost questioned the propriety of the step she took.
When I was President, she never made a practice of attacking us in public. It is something I have been very shy of doing myself. She has taught that when men were put into the highest offices, after praying earnestly to God that they might be led under the best judgment of the Conference, the appointment had something more than mere human opinion behind it, and that these men should not be made a public spectacle of. It was so when Saul was so terribly persecuting David. They seemed to be successful, in a measure, and the Lord did not see fit, at first, to accept him, and that is one strong reason why I felt called upon to do as I did. I felt that the course they were pursuing towards you, in view of the responsibilities upon you, was contrary to the whole tradition of our Denomination. I wrote this to Sister White, and the very fact that they have carried this thing so far, under the circumstances, endeavoring to break you down, and your reputation, probably under a mistaken sense of duty, was, I think, unjustifiable, nevertheless; so her statements in public were, in a measure guarded, so that many did not realize the full force of them, but those most intelligent did.
I made careful inquiries of Professor Spaulding, where we staid [sic], if those remarks concerning Sister Magan's death were applicable to any persons living near or connected with the School. He and she both said they knew of no such persons, and virtually admitted that it was the leading men who really caused the trouble with them. Hence there is no escape from the conclusion that Sister White really meant them as the ones who were brought into this reflection of hers, in view of the treatment of Brother Magan and the condition of his wife. I fully believe that the dear brethren realized that it meant them.
After you went away we had a meeting of the General Conference Committee, to do some little business, and it was very evident that they all felt very quiet, and had none of that rampant spirit which they manifested previously thereto.
Elder Prescott had a telegram from Washington that he must come right back immediately. W. C. White spoke up and urged that he should have a long talk with you. We all expressed that opinion decidedly, and the Professor seemed rather willing to do so. Of course, I did not know, at the time, just what course he would take, but was well satisfied, in my own mind, that he would be in a very calm and receptive position when he met you.
As we came through Chicago we met Doctor Rand returning to Colorado. He had had an opportunity to see you after the interview with Brother Prescott, and from what he said, we concluded that he was quite conciliatory in his interview with you.
I do not know what Brother Daniells will do. It will be rather harder for him, perhaps, to submit to such an ordeal than any of the rest. He is differently made up, though I have full more confidence in him than I have in either of the others myself, but he is very stiff.
I tell you, Doctor, the admissions of Brother White, and his humbling himself to talk with you a long period, and Brother Prescott's going there, are very strong evidences that the backbone of the thing is broken, and that any more raids upon you will not be apt to occur. I view this so, most certainly. I think you will find that my views on this point are correct, and if they are correct, it well becomes us to look carefully to what steps we take. I say "we" because you know I have had a deep sympathy for and interest in you in this matter, and because I have felt that this raid was unjust.
What I long to see is hearty union. It does seem to me that God has wonderfully interfered in this meeting, and I think if you do not agree with me in this that you fail to see omens of light that you ought to see. I believe you do see it.
In reference to the second point in your letter, where you say you have no fault to find with the Lord's dealings with you; that you have received no more chastisement than you deserve and need, and have no disposition to complain of the Lord; that whenever you have seemed to complain and to be rebellious, it was only because of the large share of the old Adam which is in you still, and which you hope the Lord will help you to get rid of; that you are trying hard to learn to be patient in tribulation, and to be meek and gentle: these sentiments, if you will stick to them, Doctor, will bring the thing out all right. Here has been my only fear, and you will bear me witness that, in the long letters I have written in reply to yours, I have insisted strongly that this was the only safe position for you to take. I hardly felt like charging you with what you admit yourself, that it was all old Adam that was behind some of your talking and writing, but when you say it yourself, I suppose I ought to receive it and believe it, and I hope you will believe it, right straight along. If you do, all will be well.
I have not a doubt in my mind but what, if you will maintain that calm, patient, humble spirit which true Christians ought ever to show, but which, alas! none of us do show sometimes as much as we should, our vexatious troubles will come to a close.
Now, let me say one thing: I would far rather be in your position today, as you stand before our Denomination, than to be in theirs. I fully believe that you stand on vantage ground. You have quietly submitted to a great deal that was unjust. You have made mistakes, but you have borne your reproofs patiently, so far as the public can see. They must stand, for aught I can see, in the light, among all our people, ere long, if not already, as making an unjust raid upon you, and upon your medical brethren, that was wholly unjustifiable. They have been tearing the breach wide open until they have enthused their spirit into a large number of people who never would have felt so otherwise, whereas you have been the one ill treated.
Now, you know, from my past letters, Doctor, that I have not spared you on some points. I do not think you have borne your woes altogether with the patience it would have been well for you to bear them with. I think you have at times talked against the Testimonies in a way that is not for the best, and is not justifiable, I think you have not felt as kindly towards Sister White as you ought to, in view of her long standing in your defense, and helping you in many ways, in times of great need, until you had built up a great reputation among our people, for you must know, as well as I know and I do know it for a certainty, that during many years in the past, away back at the College trouble, and perhaps before that, had she not stood behind you, you would have found it about impossible to have carried things through in the successful way you have carried them. And I do not think, either, that you have given heed to the Testimonies, in many ways, as you ought to have done.
This I know you will not like to hear, but I do think so. I think I can give good reasons for it, but do not wish to expatiate upon these things. I say this merely that you shall realize that it is not altogether correct to say you have been wholly on right grounds. You have pressed the matter harder than justice will warrant, in regard to W. C's. running his Mother, etc. You admit that she is a Prophet of the Lord; you believe she has done great things for this Cause, and has really been the leader in it; you admit that God has given her great light; you know she is a woman seventy-six years old, and has hung almost on the border of the grave.
You ought to know about Samuel's history, one of the greatest and noblest of all the Prophets, how that in his old age he seemed to uphold his children in actual sin, taking bribes, etc., which really caused that uprising of the people to have a king. The Lord did not cast him off; he had become weak, and was in a measure under the influence of his sons; but who would ever think of bringing them up as an accusation against Samuel? the blessed man who had stood at the head of the whole kingdom for years, as the mouthpiece of God.
We know how it was with David, what awful mistakes he made after he had advanced in years and got a little top heavy; and Solomon also, and yet Solomon wrote three books of the Bible; David furnished some of the most wonderful, poetic, grand and glorious writings that the world has ever seen in his exaltation of God.
Prophets, like other people, are human. When they do not have light, they are liable to make mistakes and errors.
Balaam himself was once a Prophet of the Lord. So was Peter, and Paul, and many others. Moses, the man of God, committed a sin, in his old age, under terrible pressure so that he could not enter the Promised Land.
Sister White, in her weakness, in great distress, and having none other to lean upon than her son, has, no doubt, been brought into a position of perplexity; but oh! what an evil it would be in any of us who are younger to go to reflecting upon her, and saying anything that would have a tendency to break down her influence after the wonderful life she has exhibited before the world in the history of this people. We ought to shut our mouths against any such thing.
Now, you remember what you said in regard to Sister White's remarks on the Wednesday before I reached Berrien Springs, when you talked with Haskell and I down on the little brook. I should have judged by your remarks that she had deliberately set herself to break you down, and justified everything that Prescott and Daniells had done or said, but this was not really so. I have the best reason to believe that she had no such intention, but was urged strongly to stand before the people and cast her influence in favor of the work in which they were engaged, but that she had little freedom; that when she closed, she regretted very much that she had said anything. The woman was placed in an awful hard spot....
Very sincerely, Your Brother in the Work,
George Butler
S. N. Haskell