It is with me thus to write this day, for my spirit has been bowed, in view of the nature of man's transgression of the law of his God. How insidious are the means used by the old enemy of man's peace, to draw him away from the Lord, his Creator, and thus produce enmity between him and his God.
For you, children, who are in an especial manner the object of his embrace, for you, are these lines penned. My desire for you is that Satan may not have you to sift you as wheat is sifted, and to destroy the seed of the Kingdom that has been sown by the good Husbandman in your heart--hence I feel to warn you of his devices. The means he is now employing are not those to lead you into any apparently wicked ways; it is not the gratification of your sensual appetites, of your carnal desires, that is leading you astray; oh, no; but a more deceitful course is he taking, by presenting evil in a refined dress, and calling you to the performance of "good works;" even to upholding the glorious principles that Jesus Christ bore testimony to. It is not in breaking the commandments of the law, but in doing the works called for by the Gospel, that the enemy of man is slaying thousands. Oh, see how artful are his ways, for it remains to be true that he is the most subtle of all the beasts that the Lord God has made! He is now trying to teach you that by obeying him, you can do justly, become temperate, plead the cause of the poor and oppressed; yea, even love your enemies, and have a knowledge of God. Thus, dear children, though you see him not, and know him not, is he stealthily leading you away.
Mine eye having been opened to see these things, in the love of the Gospel I write unto you to warn you and to assure you that this seducer is the father of lies; that he is, and ever will continue to be, a liar, for the truth is not in him.
Oh, ye sons and daughters who are thus being led captive, for you is my spirit under deep exercise, and I feel called upon to write to you and to remind you that the Lord your God is watching over you for your redemption, and that "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps"(3) aright. The outward acts of the Gospel may be done in our own will; but to be availing they must be performed in the Spirit of the Gospel; for as faith without works is dead, so likewise works without faith are dead;(4) and here is the evil spoken of; we are resting on works; the activity of the natural man has opened a way for the enemy to come into the mind, and to lead it astray into the performance of labor as a good work. But no work is really good unless it has been blessed; and the Lord will never bless that which He has not called for. I allude to spiritual labor at which you may be toiling, but not receiving any reward.
The cause, dear children, of your being thus led captive by the prince of the power of the air, has been the want of your keeping silence before God. Ye have not waited for Him; ye have not learned patience, one of the great virtues, one of the essential ingredients in the character of the Lamb's followers. I have known this from experience; and I now believe myself bound to write and declare that it is not the amount of labor we perform that will be accounted unto us for righteousness, but in what we do, being done by and under the immediate direction of our Heavenly Parent; and that one of the most important lessons we have to learn in our Christian travel, is that of being willing to do nothing; to be still. "Be still, and know that I am God"(5) was a Divine injunction; and from it we learn that without a stillness of all that would be active, we cannot know God. Such has been the experience of the Lord's servants in all ages; the prophet of the Lord knew it, when he commanded, "Keep silence before me, all ye islands, and let the people renew their strength."(6) If this was necessary for a renewal of strength, how much more so to obtain that strength in the first place, that we may be able to wield those potent weapons which will ward off the assaults of him who is the enemy of our soul's peace.
I write thus, not because I wish to discourage any in the performance of a duty that the Lord is requiring at their hands, be it seemingly great or small; but that ye may know that many who are laboring are receiving no reward.
Like the children of Israel, you have, because of the famine, gone down into Egypt, and have
there increased and multiplied, and a king has arisen who knew not Joseph; and you will, sooner
or later, feel the persecuting power inflicted upon you. Oh! then, come out of Egypt, and prefer
rather to suffer with the Seed in traveling through the wilderness, than to remain where you are;
knowing that the Land of Canaan has been promised unto our fathers, even a land flowing with
milk and honey. Then will you see that the weapons of the Lord's warfare are not carnal, but
spiritual, and mighty, through God, to the breaking down of the strongholds of oppression and
violence, of hatred and debauchery, with which the land is filled. The Hivites and the Perizzites
and the Arnorites all these enemies will be destroyed by the power of the Lord. It was only as
Israel dwelt alone, separated from the surrounding nations, that they overcame their foes; it was
only as they followed the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, that they were safe;
and we see the evils that befell them for want of patience, even after they had beheld the fire of
the Lord upon the mount, and had heard the thunderings and the voice--yet, because their leader
tarried, they became impatient, and demanded that a god should be made, and a golden calf was
made; and even this people, that had been so highly favored, worshiped it; and said, "These be thy
gods, O, Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."(7) Such was their idolatry, even
after they had beheld the Almighty Power of God, so marvelously displayed unto them. May not
we, of the present day, find deep instruction in this account, and learn from it the necessity of
being patient, and of not desiring to awake our beloved "until He please." If we can only learn the
important lesson of tarrying at Jerusalem until "endued with power from on high"(8)--well will it be
for us; for then shall we be preserved in safety, and "the arrows of the enemy will fail harmless" by
our side.
Samuel J. Levick.
First Month 10th, 1844.
1. 1.... Pages 239-243.
2. 2.... See Matthew 25:31-46.
3. 3.... Jeremiah 10:23.
4. 4.... See James 2.
5. 5.... Psalm 46:10.
6. 6.... Isaiah 41:1.
7. 7.... Exodus 32:4.
8. 8.... Luke 24:49.