This is one of the most important documents on the will found in the writings of Mrs. White. Henri lived in Basel Switzerland and was one of the individuals working with the our pioneers in Switzerland.
"You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of the will. You may believe and promise all things, but I would not give a straw for your promises or your faith until you put your will over on the believing and doing side. If you will fight the fight of faith with your will power, in the work, I have not the least doubt that you will conquer. Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions are not at all to be trusted, for they are not reliable, especially with your perverted ideas and the knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges."
"You are often discouraged at finding yourself weak in moral power, controlled by habits and customs of your old life in sin, to find yourself in slavery to doubt, and inefficient. You find your emotional nature untrue to your best resolutions, untrue to your most solemn pledges. Nothing seems real. Your own inefficiencies lead you to doubt the sincerity of those who would do you good. The more you struggle in doubt, the more unreal everything looks to you, until it seems that there is no solid ground for you anywhere. Your promises are nothing, they are like ropes of sand, and you regard the words and works of those whom you should trust in the same unreal light. You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of the will. You may believe and promise all things, but I would not give a straw for your promises or your faith until you put your will over on the believing and doing side. If you will fight the fight of faith with your will power, in the work, I have not the least doubt that you will conquer. Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions are not at all to be trusted, for they are not reliable, especially with your perverted ideas and the knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges."
"Say, “I will believe, I do believe that God is my helper,” and you will find that you will be triumphant in God. Every emotion will, by steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, be brought into captivity to the will of Jesus. You will then find your feet on solid rock. It will take, you will find, at times, every particle of will power which you possess, but it is God that is working for you, and you will come forth from the molding process a vessel unto honor. Talk faith. “I will believe, I will believe that God can and will give me, Henri Frey, the victory.” Keep on God’s side of the line. Set not your foot once on the enemy’s side, and the Lord will be your helper, He will do for you that which it is not possible for you to do for yourself. The result will be that you will become a grand cedar of Lebanon. Your life will be noble, your works will be wrought in God, there will be in you a directness, a power, an earnestness and simplicity that will make you a polished instrument in the hands of God. I am not speaking to you idle tales, but words of truth and verity. Try it and see."
Excerpt
Grimsby, England
July 21, 1887
Bro. Frey:
... I feel deeply grieved over your case, not that I look upon you as persecuted, as you say in your letter, but as a deceived, misguided man, who has not Christ’s likeness in his soul, and who is deceiving himself to his certain ruin. {Lt 49, 1887, par. 1}
...
Pure religion has to do with the will. The will is the governing power in the nature of man. If the will is set right, all the rest of the man will come under its sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the choice, the deciding power; the kingly power which works in the children of men unto obedience to God or to disobedience. Now you are a young man of intelligence; you are seeking to make your life such as will give you heaven at last. You are often discouraged at finding yourself weak in moral power, controlled by habits and customs of your old life in sin, to find yourself in slavery to doubt, and inefficient. You find your emotional nature untrue to your best resolutions, untrue to your most solemn pledges. Nothing seems real. Your own inefficiencies lead you to doubt the sincerity of those who would do you good. The more you struggle in doubt, the more unreal everything looks to you, until it seems that there is no solid ground for you anywhere. Your promises are nothing, they are like ropes of sand, and you regard the words and works of those whom you should trust in the same unreal light. You will be in constant peril until you understand the true force of the will. You may believe and promise all things, but I would not give a straw for your promises or your faith until you put your will over on the believing and doing side. If you will fight the fight of faith with your will power, in the work, I have not the least doubt that you will conquer. Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions are not at all to be trusted, for they are not reliable, especially with your perverted ideas and the knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges. {Lt 49, 1887, par. 12}
But I tell you that you need not despair. You must choose to believe, although nothing seems true and real to you. I need not tell you it is yourself that has brought you into this unenviable position; but you must win back your confidence in God and in your brethren. Your part is to put your will over on the side of Christ in the matter of faith. Just as you yield up your will to the will of Jesus Christ, God immediately takes possession of that will, and works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure; and all of your nature is brought under the control of the spirit of Christ, even your thoughts are subject to Him. You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, but you can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your life. Your life, by yielding up your will to Christ, is hid with Christ in God and allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers. You have a strength from God that holds you fast to His strength, and a new life, even the life of living faith, is possible to you. But your will must co-operate with God’s will, not with the will of associates through whom Satan is constantly working to ensnare and destroy you. I do not give you up, Henri. I remember my own oldest son Henry who died in the triumphs of faith a little past sixteen years old. I write to you as I have often written to my own sons and adopted daughters. {Lt 49, 1887, par. 13}
Will you now without delay place yourself in right relations with God? Will you say, “I will give my will to Jesus, and I do it now”? From that moment, be wholly on the Lord’s side. Disregard the pitiful clamoring of appetite, of custom, of passion. Give Satan no chance to say, You are a wretched hypocrite. Close the door so that Satan shall not thus accuse you and dishearten you. Say, “I will believe, I do believe that God is my helper,” and you will find that you will be triumphant in God. Every emotion will, by steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, be brought into captivity to the will of Jesus. You will then find your feet on solid rock. It will take, you will find, at times, every particle of will power which you possess, but it is God that is working for you, and you will come forth from the molding process a vessel unto honor. Talk faith. “I will believe, I will believe that God can and will give me, Henri Frey, the victory.” Keep on God’s side of the line. Set not your foot once on the enemy’s side, and the Lord will be your helper, He will do for you that which it is not possible for you to do for yourself. The result will be that you will become a grand cedar of Lebanon. Your life will be noble, your works will be wrought in God, there will be in you a directness, a power, an earnestness and simplicity that will make you a polished instrument in the hands of God. I am not speaking to you idle tales, but words of truth and verity. Try it and see. {Lt 49, 1887, par. 14}
You need to drink daily at the fountain of truth, that you may understand the secret of pleasure and joy in the Lord. But you need to understand that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will of man that is of so great consequence was at the fall given into the control of Satan, and he has been working in man to will and to do of his own good pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man. Now God made an infinite sacrifice in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become a sacrifice for sin, that God may now say, without violating one principle of His government, “Yield yourself up to Me, give Me that will, take it from the control of Satan, and I will take possession of it, I will work in you to will and to do My good pleasure.” Then He gives you the mind of Christ, the will becomes transformed and the character formed after Christ’s character. Does your will choose to do God’s will? Does your will choose to obey the Scriptures? “He that will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me; so shall he be My disciple.” [Matthew 16:24.] {Lt 49, 1887, par. 15}
There is no such thing as following Christ unless you deny your inclination daily and will to obey God. It is not your feelings, your emotions that make you a child of God, but the doing of God’s will. A life of usefulness is before you, if your will becomes God’s will. Then you may stand in your God-given manhood an example of good works. You will then help to preserve rules instead of helping to break them down. You will help to maintain order in the office, in the mission, instead of despising order and inciting to irregularities of life by your own course of action. I tell you in the fear of God, I know what you may be, if your will is placed on the side of God. “Ye are laborers together with God.” [1 Corinthians 3:9.] You may be doing your work for time and eternity in such a manner that it will stand the test of the judgment. Will you try, Henri, will you now change square about? You are the object of Christ’s love and intercession. Will you now surrender to God and help those who are placed by the Lord as sentinels in the mission at Basel? Will you help them instead of causing them grief and discouragement? I believe you will. May God help you is my prayer. {Lt 49, 1887, par. 16}