Former Things — Eighth Paper
By Uriah Smith
We have reached the text now which lets us right into the heart of our work, since the recovery from the disappointment of 1844. We have already noted the words of the angel, when he said to those in whose stomachs the honey-sweetness of the “little book” suddenly turned to “picra” as they awoke to the fact that they were not then to enter upon the fruition of their blessed hope: “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Rev. 10: 11. Another text reveals the nature of the experience into which we were then plunged: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman [the church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [the last remnant of true believers], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12: 17. Strife and opposition and war were the conditions we were to meet. The dragon went to make war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. These were the storm-centers around which our cause was to revolve,—“the commandments of God and . . . the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The commandments of God were suggested by what was seen in the ark of his testament when the temple of God was opened in heaven. Rev. 11: 19. This, as we have seen, opens before us one great subject on which our attention was to be focused; and the second is no less clearly defined. John, overcome by the majesty of the one communicating with him, fell at his feet, and was about to worship him; but the angel restrained him. “See thou do it not,” said he, “I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19: 10. The spirit of prophecy excites the wrath of the dragon, no less than the commandments of God. The dragon can not endure to see people forsaking his standard, and turning in loyalty to the true God, and obeying him. Neither can he endure to see the saints turning for instruction to the testimony of Jesus; for this is the spirit of prophecy: and he knows that his own spirit and his deceitful working will be exposed more fully and disastrously to himself by this means than by any other means of which the church can avail itself. The testimony of Jesus is defined to be the “spirit of prophecy.” But the “spirit of prophecy” is one of the “gifts” set in the church, which causes the Word of God to be a “lamp to our feet, and a light to our path.” The “spirit of prophecy” we understand to be that power which God sometimes imparts to individuals, enabling them to have wonderful perceptions of the things of the Spirit of God, imparting to them light in regard to their own duty and that of others; and oftentimes opening to their minds views of things to occur in the future. This Spirit works in a diversity of ways, God “dividing to every man severally as he will.” See 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. Not far from the time when the twenty-three hundred days ended, in 1844, and believers began to find their bearings after the bitter disappointment of that year, light began to be shed upon the path of this people by the gift of the spirit of prophecy. This first appeared in the experience of Miss Ellen G. Harmon, now Mrs. E. G. White, whose first two visions bear date of 1845. In 1849 the first paper devoted to the promulgation of the third angel’s message, and called The Present Truth, was issued at Middletown, Conn., by Elder James White. In 1850 the first number of the ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD was issued at Paris, Me. Aug. 5, 1851, No. 1, of Vol. 2, of THE REVIEW AND HERALD was issued at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., James White being editor, and Joseph Bates, Hiram Edson, and J. N. Andrews being members of the publishing committee. The first article by J. N. Andrews, on the Sabbath question, bore the date of Nov. 15, 1850, and he soon began to labor publicly in the cause. The first article on what is now a prominent part of our faith—namely, The United States in Prophecy—was written by Elder J. N. Andrews, and was published in the REVIEW of May 19, 1851. In 1851 Elder J. H. Waggoner enlisted in the message. No. 1, of Vol. 3, of THE REVIEW AND HERALD was issued in Rochester, N. Y. James White was the editor, and Joseph Bates, J. N. Andrews, and Joseph Baker were the members of the publishing committee. An article on the sanctuary was written by Elder J. N. Andrews, Dec. 23, 1852. The first obituary notice appeared in the REVIEW of Dec. 23, 1852. In Vol. 3, 1852, the writer became connected with the Review Office, and the publishing committee was changed to J. N. Andrews, R. F. Cottrell, and U. Smith. In November, 1855, the REVIEW was moved from Rochester, N. Y., into a two-story building in Battle Creek, Mich. The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association was duly and legally incorporated, May 3, 1861. Our thirty-year charter having expired, the Association was reincorporated in 1891. When the writer became connected with the Office, we found the gift of which we have spoken, well established among this people. The arguments for the perpetuity of spiritual gifts were well supported by the Scriptures; and subjected to every test by which such manifestations could be honestly tested, they stood without a flaw. The condition of those in possession of any of these gifts, of which we have an account in the Scriptures, corresponded exactly with what we saw before us. But this was one of the things on which the dragon was to make war. It has been our privilege time and again to witness this gift as seen among Seventh-day Adventists. We have also witnessed the manifestations of spiritism, and have seen the contortions and uncouth displays that accompany such manifestations, and we are happy to testify that nothing of this kind attends the manifestations seen in this work. On the other hand, there is a spirit of sobriety and solemnity, such as we might expect to accompany manifestations of this kind, on the supposition that they are the genuine manifestations of the Spirit of God. U. S.