THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.
By Stephen N. Haskell
The greatest evidence of the inspiration of the Bible is found in the Bible itself. This is equally true concerning the Spirit of Prophecy. The Lord has given special directions by which we may test those who claim to be prophets of God. As many as twenty-three distinct tests have been found and enumerated by those giving the question careful study; all of which will apply to Sister White in vision and to the nature of her writings. But the fulfillment of all these tests, although proving the genuineness of a prophet, is not the greatest evidence of the inspiration of the Testimonies as we have them to-day. God’s thoughts never change toward the human family. We do not know much of anything, but God knows everything. He sees the end from the beginning. “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Acts 15:18. That is the nature of the mind of God. In “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 43, is an expression which reads, “He that ruleth in the heavens is the one who sees the end from the beginning,—the one before whom the mysteries of the past and the future are alike outspread, and who, beyond the woe and darkness and ruin that sin has wrought, beholds the accomplishment of his own purposes of love and blessing.” The future is just the same as the past with God, and the past just the same as the future. There is no difference. Ps. 90:4 expresses the thought: “A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” This proves that God comprehends everything, past, present, and future, in the same moment. Four thousand years ago, when Moses was writing the books of the Pentateuch, God saw at the same time Jeremiah and Isaiah writing, and all the New Testament apostles writing, and Sister White writing, and every prophet who has ever lived, writing. God saw them all writing at the same time: which indeed is not time, for with him is only eternity. There is no measurement nor separation with God: the future is just like the27past, and the past is like a watch in the night; so with God it is all present tense. Since God saw all the writers writing at the same time, would they not all write the same things? Could there possibly be any contradiction in what was written? Was not the same mind, at the same “time,” dictating to Moses, to Daniel, to John the Revelator, to Sister White, and to all the inspired writers? This is why there is perfect harmony in the books of the Bible. The Scriptures harmonize with the writings and teachings of all true prophets who have lived since the times of the early church. God spoke through all, and a contradiction is impossible. One thought runs through all the Bible. That thought is Jesus Christ. And that thought is put in a thousand different ways, is dressed in as many different forms, all expressing the infinite love of God. Like a kaleidoscope, turn it which way you will, it sparkles with gems of beauty, revealing new phases and manifestations of the perfection there is in Jesus Christ. Gen. 3:15—a very familiar text—contains all the gospel, and it is expressed in three different ways: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” All of the gospel is in each of the expressions, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman;” and “between thy seed and her seed;” and “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Whatever is written in the Bible after this text, is simply a further development of the truths in the one verse. There are no abstract truths; they all center in Christ. All that has been given through inspired prophets since the fall of man is no more than a development of what is in that verse. If not, it is not an inspired testimony. If Mrs. White’s writings are more than a development of the gospel as contained in this verse, they are not of God. If they are less, they are not of God. There is no principle in the Bible that is not in the Testimonies; and nothing is in the Testimonies or Spirit of Prophecy but what is in the Bible. Like the seed which is the undeveloped tree, so in each expressed thought of God is the entire plan of salvation. As there are no two limbs of a tree just alike, so there are few expressions in the Bible alike. No two characters are the same, no two battles fought under the direction of God are just alike; but each and all reveal the same thought proceeding from an infinite mind. In the little book, “Early Writings,” we have all that has been brought out by the Spirit of Prophecy. “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Great Controversy,” and “The Desire of Ages” are only a development of the truths given in “Early Writings.” Every family should have a copy of “Early Writings,” and should study the book carefully. S. N. H.