Untitled article by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, February 4, 1868

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 8

CONVERSATIONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS. NO. 3.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Minister. Now, brethren, if you are ready, we will go on with our conversation. If any of you have any-thing further on your minds, be free to talk it out.

Sister C. Since our last meeting, I have been thinking much on the subject of the visions. No one can tell how I feel about it. You have removed many objections from my mind which have troubled me before. I cannot express how I have felt about this subject. I want to do just right. I am willing to make any sacrifice in the world to know the truth and obey God, but I cannot believe without evidence. I would give any thing in this world only to know whether Sr. White's visions are of God or not. The Lord knows my heart, that I want to be his child.

Min. Pardon me, Sr. C., but it is my candid opinion that you do not care to know whether her visions are of God or not. I do not believe you would give one dollar to know.

Sr. C. What! do you mean to say I lie?

Min. Not exactly that; but I think you are very much deceived about your willingness to sacrifice. Let me ask you a few questions. Have you read Sr. White's writings clear through? Have you studied them carefully?

Sr. C. No, I have not.

Min. Have you read her Testimonies?

Sr. C. No.

Min. Well, now, have you read them at all? Have you read any of them?

Sr. C. I confess that I have not.

Min. Have you not been able to buy them? They only cost a small sum, and if you could not have bought them, some one would have lent them to you.

Sr. C. Oh, yes! I know that; I have seen them on the stand a good many times for sale, and could have bought them if I had desired to; but I was afraid that if I should read them, I should believe them and be led away by them as others have been.

Min. Now you see that I told the truth. You have not interest enough in this matter to give ten cents to know about it. I do not believe you care enough about it to spend one day's time to get light upon it.

Sr. C. But I think you are altogether too severe upon me.

Min. Very well, let us see about that. You only live about ten miles from N.; Sr. White was there a short time ago and spent several weeks. She spoke a good many times, and had testimonies for several persons whom you knew. Did you attend those meetings?

Sr. C. I did not.

Min. Sr. White was at A. two Sabbaths, only a few miles from your house, where you often attend meetings. Did you hear her speak there?

Sr. C. Well, I confess that I did not.

Min. Well, have you ever sought a personal interview with Sr. W.,—asked her questions, or in any way tried to become acquainted with her, to know of what spirit she is, and what her character is?

Sr. C. No, I have not. There, I don't feel as though I cared to. I have heard so many stories that I do not know what to believe; but the Lord knows my heart, and how I have wept over this matter for days.

Min. I have not one particle of sympathy for your tears. You are deceived by the Devil. I repeat what I said on the start, You would not give one dollar, nor spend one day, nor go one mile, to know about this matter. You are willingly ignorant about it. You have had every opportunity to learn, but have improved none of them. You are prepared to believe every wicked report that is circulated about the visions, and totally unprepared to know anything in their favor. Suppose that one of your neighbors should be very desirous to know about the Sabbath question, but would neither attend meetings where the subject was discussed, nor read books upon it; would you have a great deal of faith in his desire to know about the Sabbath? You would not. We judge you by the same rule.

Bro. B. I think, Sr. C., that you have not taken the right course in this matter. You should have read and investigated the subject. I have done so to some extent, and I must say that I am very favorably impressed thus far. I hope you will take pains to get the visions and read them.

Sr. C. Perhaps I have looked at things in a wrong light.

Min. It leaves us no chance to say any thing to Sr. C. about the character of the visions, of their purity, and of their influence upon those who read them, &c., because she knows nothing about them, whether they are bad or good. If God has sent his servant to us with special warnings for these times, we cannot neglect them and be guiltless. If we do so, we shall soon find ourselves in the dark. This, I find is the case with all who oppose and neglect the visions. Ever since the message began, different men, at different times all the way along, have risen up and fought the visions, yet professed to believe the rest of the message. Now, have they prospered? Has God been with them? Has the cause advanced under their labors? They have started papers, published books, sent out preachers, &c., to preach the Sabbath and oppose the visions. Every time these persons have made a failure and come to naught. After a short time they generally give up the whole truth. I notice, also, that those members in different churches who are the strongest, are the ones who read the visions most, and have the utmost confidence in them. They are the pillars of the different churches. On the other hand I know of several in this vicinity, who have within the last year, as they themselves confess, backslidden and lost their religion by opposing the visions. This would not be so if the visions were not of God. This ought to teach us caution in this matter.

Bro. D. This thing has had as strong weight in my mind as anything I have seen in favor of the visions; that is, that those who oppose them invariably backslide and give up the truth, while those who endorse them have the blessing of God.

Min. Bro. G., how are you getting along in your investigation of the visions? Have you concluded they are of God, or not?

Bro. G. I have not fully made up my mind yet. I like them very well so far as I have read; but I do not wish to endorse a thing till I know the reasons why. When I see clearly that they are right, I will step out upon them as quick as any other man. You must give me time to investigate.

Min. That is very plausible, indeed; but I would like to know how long you have been investigating?

Bro. G. It has been about a year and a half since I have had the writings.

Min. You have had Spiritual Gifts and the Testimonies this length of time, have you?

Bro. G. Yes.

Min. Have you read them through?

Bro. G. No, I have not.

Min. Have you read them half through?

Bro. G. No, I have not done that.

Min. Have you read them any?

Bro. G. Well, I confess, the fact is, I have not read but a little in them; none to speak of. I have had so many other things to attend to, and my Bible to read, and other reading matter, that I could seem to get no time.

Min. You say that we must give you time to investigate, and that you cannot believe them until you are thoroughly informed and satisfied on the subject. It is my opinion, Bro. G., that at the rate you have been investigating since you began, you will need the whole temporal Millennium in which to decide; but, by the way, have you not in the mean time borrowed and read the book against the visions?

Bro. G. Well, yes! I—I did. I thought I would like to know what they had to say against them.

Min. Now, Bro. G., do you not see that this was entirely wrong? How could you tell whether their statements were true, whether their quotations from them were correct, or whether they did not misconstrue their meaning, unless you had first read the visions? Do you not see that you took the right course to fill your mind with doubt and prejudice against the visions before you had read them. You think that it did not have this effect on your mind; but I know that it did, because you have not had sufficient interest in the visions to read them. I hope you will see this in a different light, and take a different course.

Bro. B. I would like to ask again, why God should choose a woman for this important work. I know that he has used women before to give revelations to the world, but this seems to be a work of so much more importance that it looks different to me.

Min. I have several answers to give to that question. 1. As Jesus once said, so I think it is still: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” This is one good reason. 2. Paul gives another good reason: “For I see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God has chosen the foolish of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” This is a good reason why God should choose one who would be despised by the world, instead of choosing some learned and eloquent man. In this way the power of God and his truth can be better shown.

Bro. B. I confess that this has been the way that God has always done in the past. I don't know as we should complain if he should choose to do the same now.

Bro. A. Can Sr. White have a vision concerning different individuals at any time she chooses?

Min. Far from it. She has no control of the matter. She cannot have a vision at any time she wishes, nor avoid having them if she would like.

Bro. A. But I would like to know how we can tell whether Sr. White's visions are from the Lord or not. Others, also, profess to have visions, and to be prophets and teachers, and to come with special messages from the Lord. They will even show signs and wonders, do great cures, reveal secrets, &c. I don't know whom to believe, nor whom to disbelieve.

Min. There is a rule in the Bible by which to prove all men. 1. The prophet says, “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.” This is an infallible rule by which to try men. If any one claims to be a teacher sent from God, who teaches men to disregard or lightly estimate the law of God, or to go contrary to it, we may be sure that he is a false prophet; but, on the other hand, if the burden of his testimony is to reprove men for breaking the law of God, if it is to exalt the character of that law before men, teach its sacredness and obligation upon us; if he will even do this at the risk of incurring the displeasure and wrath of his fellow-men, because it is unpopular and opposed by the mass; if he does all this, you may take it as one of the best of evidences that that man is from God. Do you not think that this is so?

Bro. A. Oh, yes! that is manifestly so; for nothing else but the fear of God would prompt them to this.

Min. Very well; now you formally believe in the Sabbath and the law of God. You know that they are unpopular and opposed by the world. You also are well aware that the burden of Sr. White's testimony from the very beginning has been particularly on this point?

Bro. A. Yes, that is a strong evidence to my mind that her testimonies are from the Lord.

Min. Christ has also given a rule by which to try them: “Ye shall know them by their fruits,” said he. Now I appeal to you who have read her testimonies, and have heard her speak, whether the fruit of them is not good, whether the reading of them does not cause you to fear for yourself, that you do not imitate Christ closely enough; whether they do not cause you to search your heart more closely, to read the word of God more, to pray more, to be less worldly and more devoted to God, to be more strict in your daily life, in your walk and conversation? Do they not lead you to the word of God instead of from it? Do they not reprove sin, rebuke wickedness, and expose wrongs and hypocrisies?

Bro. A. Yes, I verily acknowledge that they do all of that, and more too. I am pretty well satisfied that a deceiver would not teach thus.

Bro. D. Yes, this has always been a strong evidence to my mind that the visions were of God. I could see no other reason why Sr. White should do and suffer what she does, and teach as she does, unless the Lord was in it. False prophets teach for gain; hence they will always preach peace, and flatter their followers, that they may be applauded and supported by them. Reproving and rebuking wrong is no part of a false teacher's work.

Bro. E. Yes, we all know that false teachers never do that; on the other hand, the burden of Sr. White's testimony is the rebuking of individuals for their wrongs, and often, too, those who are her very best friends. This shows, to my mind, that she feels compelled to do it by the Lord.

Bro. B. Well, brethren, I have listened to this conversation with great interest. I have had many objections to the visions, and I think they are about gone. I see things in a different light from what I have before. As it is now about time to retire, I wish we might have another meeting to-morrow, and have more present, and have some other things talked over.

Min. Very well, I will meet you to-morrow, and as many more as will come.