The Spirit of Prophecy in the Advent Movement

No Wonder Satan Attacks

A gift that stands so directly for the essential things of the Christian life, merits the opposition of the enemy of souls. And it has met this from earliest days. In the sixties, Uriah Smith, lifelong editor of the church organ, wrote of these writings: SPIAM 59.1

“They tend to the purest morality. They discountenance every vice, and exhort to the practice of every virtue.... They have aroused and rearoused us to greater consecration to God, more zealous efforts for holiness of heart, and greater diligence in the cause and service of our Master.... Yet with all this array of good fruit which they are able to present, with all this innocency of any charge of evil that can be brought against them, they everywhere encounter the bitterest opposition.... Why is all this? Whence all this war against that of which no evil can be said?”—The Review and Herald, June 12, 1866. SPIAM 59.2

The answer is that the prophecy foretold the special wrath of the enemy against the remnant church that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:17. That explains the otherwise inexplicable. The first Seventh-day Adventist minister ever to set foot in Ireland, the late R. F. Andrews, visited the North of Ireland counties in 1885. Not a note had ever been struck there by us. But he found that an American minister, of a group of no-law opponents of our work in • the United States, had gone to and fro over there, warning the people against the writings and work of Mrs. E. G. White. Strange how loyalty to the law of God, and possession of this gift of the Spirit of prophecy, brings forth the bitter attacks, as foretold. SPIAM 59.3

In 1886 a minister, formerly prominent among us, left the movement. Others, he said, had turned and fought their former brethren, but this he would never do. But almost at the first dash he was called by some church circles to fight the Adventists. He it was of whom J. H. Waggoner, one of our editorial pioneers, wrote in 1887: SPIAM 59.4

“A certain man advertised to give a lecture in a village in California, in which he promised to ‘expose the visions of Mrs. E. G. White.’ At the close of his lecture a gentleman not connected with the Adventists asked the lecturer, ‘What is the nature and the tendency of these visions? What is their moral tone, and what would be the effect of a person’s living in strict harmony with their teachings?’ The lecturer admitted that the morality taught therein is pure, and that any one would be saved who lived up to what they teach. One who was present said to the writer of this article, ‘I wondered what a man could think of himself, advertising to oppose and expose writings which are morally pure and which would lead to salvation any one who would heed them.’ ”—The Review and Herald, May 3, 1887. SPIAM 60.1

Those who called for such help to oppose the Adventists in California, quickly found that they were only helping the cause they desired to check. People of other churches did not appreciate the attack upon a Christian lady. They said, “We know Mrs. White. She is a good woman, and her life and influence among us have been such that attacks of this character are an offense to us.” SPIAM 60.2

While no doubt printed misrepresentations of this gift and its agent have turned some from investigation of the truth, on the other hand, many in various lands tell how the bitter spirit of the attacks has turned their hearts to this way. One such, Mr. J. L. Branford, of Australia, years ago told of an experience: SPIAM 60.3

“When I accepted the Sabbath truth, two books were placed in my hands almost immediately. One was ‘Early Writings,’ the other was a book written by Mr. Canright. I read Canright’s book first. I had not gone very far before I was convinced that the spirit that actuated that man was from beneath. I could not contradict the statements he made against Mrs. White nor against the denomination, but I knew the man had not the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not until I read Mrs. White’s writings myself, and saw that they convinced me of sin, and pointed out my faults, that I realized that to follow their teachings would lead me to the kingdom of God. It was that that convinced me that the Spirit of prophecy was from God.”—Australasian Record. SPIAM 60.4

This is typical of the experience of many. On that same occasion when the above statement was made, Pastor Robert Hare, one of the first of our ministers to be ordained for Australasia, said: “When I read the ‘Testimonies,’ the Spirit of Christ talks to me. When I read the things men have written against Mrs. White, I see there a spirit of bitterness and hatred. But a tenderness flows into my soul when I read the ‘Testimonies,’ and I know it comes from heaven.” SPIAM 61.1