The Prophetic Gift in the Gospel Church

VISION OF THE CIVIL WAR

In the further study of this question we refer to a prediction made in a vision by Mrs. White, at Parkville, Michigan, January 12, 1861, concerning the Civil War that was to come in the United States. At that time only one state, South Carolina, had passed a secession ordinance. ¹ The people in the North little thought of a war growing out of that. In the New York Tribune of that week, Horace Greeley, the editor, said, “A few old women with broomsticks could go down there and beat out all the rebellion there is in South Carolina.” In speaking of it the week before, he said: “If some one with the firmness of Andrew Jackson should go down there and say, ‘South Carolina, where are you going?’ they would reply, ‘Back into the Union again, sir.’” PGGC 79.2

After Mrs. White came out of the vision already referred to, she arose before the congregation, and said: “There is not a person in this house that has even dreamed of the trouble that is coming upon this land. People are making light of the secession ordinance of South Carolina [some of the leading men of Parkville, while she thus spoke, sneered at the ideas she was advancing], but I have just been shown that a large number of states will join that state, and there will be a most terrible war. In this vision I have seen large armies of both sides gathered on the field of battle. I heard the booming of the cannon, and saw the dead and dying on every hand. I saw the field after the battle, all covered with the dead and dying. Then I was carried to prisons, and saw the sufferings of those in want who were wasting away,” etc. She further stated, “There are men in this house who will lose sons in that war.” ¹ PGGC 79.3

This vision, when given, was directly contrary to all Northern sentiment, but was nevertheless accurately fulfilled. Before the month of May, 1861, eleven states had seceded, and elected their Confederate president. On the twelfth of April the first gun of the war was fired on Fort Sumter, which surrendered on the thirteenth. The Northern idea of the war was then so meager that even President Lincoln called for only seventy-five thousand men for three months, to put down the rebellion. Little did the people in responsible places think they were entering upon a war to continue to the spring of 1865,—a war in which the North would have in the field 2,859,132 men, and the South probably half that number. PGGC 80.1

Not only was this vision accurately fulfilled concerning the secession of the states and the war itself,, but as the war continued, other things were predicted. At first the war was conducted with the thought of preserving the Union, allowing slavery to remain; but while that was the case, the North met many sad reverses. As I heard expressed by Governor St. John, of Kansas, “Had we whipped the rebels, the politicians would have patched up a peace, and the Union would have then continued with slavery, and we would have it to-day.” ¹ PGGC 80.2

As the Northern army met these reverses, national fast-days were appointed, and all Christians were to plead with the Lord to manifest His power in bringing the war to a close. In a vision given to Mrs. White January 4, 1862, speaking of these fasts, she said: “And yet a national fast is proclaimed! Saith the Lord, ‘Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?’ When our nation observes the fast which God hath chosen, then will He accept their prayers as far as the war is concerned; but now they enter not into His ear.” PGGC 81.1

Five months after this vision, the politicians of the North began to call for desperate measures. In June, 1862, the Republican Standard, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, said, “It is time to put into vigorous exercise that severity which is the truest mercy; it is time to proclaim freedom to the slave, and thus strike treason to the heart.” PGGC 81.2

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. Of it Governor St. John, in the speech previously mentioned, said, “But after Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, we had swung round on God’s side, and could not lose.” From that time it was a course of almost continuous success that attended the Northern army. PGGC 82.1

Of the predictions through Mrs. White concerning the war, we can truly say, “All this came;” and can we not, with firmer faith than exhibited by the queen of Babylon, truly say that it was the Spirit of God that taught these things? Daniel 5:10-12. PGGC 82.2

The Lord’s revelation of what He would do was through His servants the prophets (“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7); and when the thing predicted came to pass, He expected all who professed to be His people to acknowledge it as a proof that He spoke the word, and that the instrument through whom He spoke was one of His true prophets. This principle is just as true in these modern days as in ancient times, and should be kept in mind when studying the instruction given by Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:21, to “prove all things” that come in the form of prophesyings.” PGGC 82.3