For instance, just as the movement was taking shape in Europe, Mrs. White was called to spend two years or more there. Writing of a council at Basel, Switzerland, in 1885, one of the first held in Europe, one of our pioneers in the French work, D. T. Bourdeau, wrote: SPIAM 62.2
“Never was the gift of prophecy more needed and its service more timely, than on this occasion. Errors and difficulties that had baffled human wisdom and effort were pointed out, corrected, and removed, with that tenderness, plainness, faithfulness, and impartiality which have characterized this gift during the entire period of its manifestation among us.” SPIAM 62.3
As he observed the manner in which this gift laid hold of the actual problems in that new field, he wrote of the methods: SPIAM 62.4
“It not only probes the wound, but it also pours in the oil, binds the wound, and hastens the process of restoration.... It identifies itself with those for whom it labors, bearing their burdens in earnest, persevering prayer, forgetful of self and ease, and keeping the glory of God and the salvation of souls in view, aiming to secure these at any sacrifice. It brings with it the supernatural discernment that Peter evinced in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. It brings with it the miraculous, without which religion were a formal, heartless, lifeless, human affair.”—The Review and Herald, November 10, 1885. SPIAM 62.5