Truly the Spirit of prophecy is a special gift of God to the remnant church of the prophecy. The gift was planned from ancient times, as the Lord looked forward to the work to be done by this church in carrying the last gospel message of salvation “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” If ever in the history of Christ’s church special help was needed, such help is needed now by this remnant church. And, thank God, that help has been given. WEWMM 179.1
It fills the heart with awe to see in prophecy and history the rise of this advent movement, timed exactly to the hour. It is the work of the living God before our eyes! And timed also to the very hour, with the rise of the movement there came also the gift of the Spirit of prophecy to open to us in a special way the truths of Holy Scripture, and to direct and guide us in a special way in these critical closing days. WEWMM 179.2
Always, in approaching the part the Spirit of prophecy acts in our day, it is good to look, if for but a moment, to the sure foundation of this gift in Holy Scripture. There is something living and vital about this advent movement. The touch of the divine hand appears at every turn of its story. WEWMM 179.3
Our pioneers, unaided, could no more have brought out and built up such a movement than could Moses and Aaron, of themselves, have brought Israel out of Egypt and led them over the wilderness journey those forty years. When the time of the prophecy came in that ancient day, the living God set His hand to lead the movement. In order to guide it in the right way, He placed the gift of the Spirit of prophecy in the midst of it: WEWMM 179.4
“And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). WEWMM 180.1
That was the Lord’s way of instructing and guiding an organized movement in the ancient days. And now the time has come when the Lord has “set His hand again the second time” to lead an organized movement, this time to gather “the remnant of His people” from all “the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11, 12). It is a world movement, led by the living God. WEWMM 180.2
And the specific prophecy of this work for the remnant church declares that the last church is to keep the commandments of God and have the Spirit of prophecy in its midst: WEWMM 180.3
“The dragon was wroth with the woman [the church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). “For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Chapter 19:10). WEWMM 180.4
As the appointed hour of the prophecy came, in 1844, this advent movement rose. The people of the prophecy appeared, keeping “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Soon they were armed with the full gospel message for the judgment hour, to carry to every tongue and people the proclamation: “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” And in their midst appeared the special gift of the Spirit of prophecy, as foretold (Revelation 12:17; 19:10). WEWMM 180.5
In 1844 the Spirit of the Lord spoke in vision to a young woman of one of the early Adventist groups in New England, giving messages to be told to the people of the advent movement. The name of the young woman was Ellen G. Harmon (later married to James White, pioneer leader of this movement in the early years). The frail, youthful agent begged the Lord to lay the burden on someone else. “All the light I could get,” she said, “was, ‘Make known to others what I have revealed to you.’ ... Said the angel, ‘If you deliver the messages faithfully, and endure unto the end, you shall eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and drink of the water of the river of life.’”—Early Writings, 20, 21. WEWMM 180.6
That young woman rose from prayer, accepting the burden, and for seventy years her voice was heard bearing messages in the movement, and for seventy years that pen, untrained for literary work by any institution of learning, was writing messages that insistently call us to deeper experiences in the grace of Christ, and lead us wonderfully into the green pastures of Bible truth. When the call came, the chosen instrument found her hand so trembling she could not hold a pen steadily. “While in vision,” she said many years later, “I was commanded by an angel to write the vision. I obeyed, and wrote rapidly. My nerves were strengthened, and from that day to this my hand has been steady.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 90. WEWMM 181.1
And what writings came from that pen! The writings of the youthful days show the unwavering touch of certainty. The same certainty in counsel and in writing was shown to ripe old age, when it might have been thought that years would weaken the service. As a matter of fact, we saw that gift in old age doing some of the strongest and most effective work of all Mrs. White’s lifetime, meeting subtle and intricate situations that threatened peril to the cause. Again and again we had to say to ourselves, “Mrs. White never, never could have sent that counsel of her own knowledge.” WEWMM 181.2
In that ancient movement, when “by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,” the prophet continued bearing messages by voice, and writing the instruction from God until the movement was nearing the land of Canaan. Then the Lord laid His servant away; and a little later, under the instruction written, the movement entered the land. As this advent movement nears the end of the way, the Lord has laid away the human agent in this gift, and with the fullness of instruction in the Holy Scriptures and in the printed volumes of the Spirit of prophecy, in a little while the advent movement is to enter the heavenly Canaan. WEWMM 181.3
These volumes of the writings of the Spirit of prophecy are living words. They deal with the things the people of the remnant church need to know now. In the files of the General Conference is a letter written by Mrs. White in 1906 to O. A. Olsen, one of the veteran early leaders. She wrote: WEWMM 181.4
“The question is sometimes raised, ‘What if Mrs. White should die?’ I answer: The books that she has written will not die. They are a living witness to what saith the Scripture. Of myself I could not have brought out the truths in these books, but the Lord has given me the help of His Holy Spirit.” WEWMM 182.1
As the later years came, Mrs. White felt more than ever the necessity of haste in writing out more fully the things impressed upon her mind by the Spirit. She cried out: “I am weighted as a cart beneath sheaves.” “I have every reason,” she wrote, “to praise my heavenly Father for the clearness of thought that He has given me in regard to Bible subjects.” She longed to hasten the work of bringing out these “precious things” for “ministers and people.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 432. WEWMM 182.2
And here these volumes are—written under the inspiration of the Spirit’s power that worked mightily in this feeble human agent from youth to old age. They are for us. It is a special gift to all believers. How can any believer live in neglect of this precious instruction and expect to be kept in fullness of blessing in these testing days! The Spirit of prophecy is not something merely to be affirmed as a doctrine. It is a gift for use and service. We cannot leave these books on the shelves and get the help that is in them, any more than we can lay away perfectly good food in the cupboard and live without feeding upon it. These volumes, produced in our day, in so extraordinary a way, are gifts of God to us, who need them for spiritual food if our souls are to live and grow. WEWMM 182.3
Look at that “Conflict Series.” That is the set of volumes that covers the great controversy between good and evil from the rebellion in heaven to the end of sin and Satan, and the entry of the saints into the eternal inheritance. As we open these books, we behold as in a pageant the working out of the whole plan of redemption. There is nothing like it in modern writing. Every one of those volumes has a history too long to tell here. WEWMM 182.4
The Great Controversy—That was the first of this series prepared. People of the world hear something unusual in its messages. A “publishers’ reader,” an expert for one of the big publishers of London, read this book. “Was Mrs. White an educated woman?” he asked one of our ministers. “No; she was not, as the term is commonly understood.” “Well, it is a wonderful book,” said the reader. “It is almost perfect in composition. I have read thousands of manuscripts, but none more beautiful than this book.” WEWMM 182.5
We repeat, It is a “wonderful book,” thinking not of literary merit, but of the truths given there to guide our feet through the coming time of trouble, which will be a time “such as never was since there was a nation.” Are our people everywhere reading it? WEWMM 183.1
A wealthy Southern woman, leader of society in her town, bought a copy. She said to the colporteur later: “I never read anything like it. It seemed to me as I read I could see the very picture of the scenes written about.” We know why the woman felt thus, as thousands of others have doubtless felt without reporting it in this way. Mrs. White told of her experience in writing this book: WEWMM 183.2
“The book Great Controversy I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. While writing the manuscript of Great Controversy I was often conscious of the presence of the angels of God. And many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind.” WEWMM 183.3
The Desire of Ages—A woman of New England, a professed Christian, she said, had found her experience with Christ but formal and unreal. She then read this book, and wrote: WEWMM 183.4
“As soon as I began to read it, I felt as never before how real is the gospel story. Where before it had seemed like ancient history, it now seemed like something happening today. Peace came to my troubled soul. I see in Him a living personal Saviour who is with me all the time.” WEWMM 183.5
When Mrs. White was writing that book, under heavy pressure to reproduce the scenes that had been caused to pass before her, she wrote to a friend: WEWMM 183.6
“I walk with trembling before God. I know not how to speak or trace with pen the large subjects of the atoning sacrifice. I know not how to present subjects in the living power in which they stand before me. I tremble for fear lest I shall belittle the great plan of salvation by cheap words. I bow my soul in awe and reverence before God and say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’” WEWMM 183.7
“Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me.” WEWMM 184.1
A woman of education in Europe found The Desire of Ages at one of our sanitariums. She was really agitated over it. “Why,” she said, “a little people like you ought not to have this book! It ought to be in the hands of the great London publishers so that it could be brought to the attention of all. That author is inspired!” WEWMM 184.2
Would there were room to tell stories of other volumes of this “Conflict Series.” Each book has its history. Each bears its message. God help us to listen, not now and then merely, but day by day. WEWMM 184.3
Then there are the Testimonies for the Church. One might think these volumes would not be so interesting. But they are largely messages written to persons who needed help—just the help that we all need. They were personal messages to living people, and that is why they come as living words to the heart. Besides the personal messages there is vital matter on every phase of life and service. When nearing the close of her work on this series, Mrs. White wrote: WEWMM 184.4
“I have been impressed to call upon the members of our churches to study the last two volumes of Testimonies for the Church. When I was writing these books, I felt the deep moving of the Spirit of God.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 433. WEWMM 184.5
Every phase of home life, of church relationships, of service, is dealt with in just the way to help the brethren and sisters of today. Those last two volumes just spoken of, were the volumes left for a time by one of our ministers on his train seat while traveling in the Northwest. A gentleman who had picked up the volumes in his absence and read from them said: WEWMM 184.6
“I hold a chair on the faculty of a university in New York. I am continually reading books. But this is the finest literature I have ever read. Where can I get some of these books?” WEWMM 184.7
Shall it ever be that while strangers from the east and west and north and south catch fleeting glimpses of these books, and recognize something unusual about them, we, the children of the kingdom, to whom they are committed, often deprive ourselves of an essential gift given to the remnant church? WEWMM 184.8
We are leaving out volumes full of treasures as rich as those in any books we have named. Look at the whole list—books for workers (and now that means every believer), books on health and temperance, on education, on every department of work among us. It is not ordinary writing. When a former queen of Rumania, before World War days, read Ministry of Healing, she wanted it put in the language of her country, and volunteered to write an introduction. Though in the unsettled times that came, the purpose was never carried out, I believe. WEWMM 185.1
In the prerevolution times in Russia one of our sisters, a woman of the nobility, in the Baltic part of Russia, had Ministry of Healing bound in white morocco, and presented it to the czarina of Russia. Our sister had the queen’s thanks later, and assurance that she was reading it. When we heard of the queen’s sad death, we were glad to remember that she had read that precious volume. WEWMM 185.2
We could tell of cottage homes to which these books have brought the eternal treasures of hope. “This is our Bible,” said a Catholic peasant woman exultantly, bringing out Steps to Christ in her own language. “Lay this book on my breast in the coffin and bury it with me,” said a dying Catholic man in southern Germany. The treasured book was Christ’s Object Lessons. A West Indian man of seventy-eight years always carried the book, Christ Our Saviour, about with him. “When people ask me the reason,” he said, “I reply: ‘This book is my bodyguard.’ From the time I started to read it, I have been a changed man.” WEWMM 185.3
Brethren and sisters, the writings of the Spirit of prophecy are a special gift of God to every member of the remnant church. Somehow—series by series, or one by one—nearly every believer can build up a library of these volumes. The church library surely can make provision for temporary use in cases of extreme scarcity. But by sacrifice and extra effort, every believer should, if possible, have these volumes at hand for constant counsel. Jesus, walking the way to Emmaus with the two disciples, opened the Scriptures to them by the way, so that later they exclaimed to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” In these volumes of the Spirit of prophecy, which is the “testimony of Jesus,” the Master, by His Spirit, still speaks to us in the way, to open the Scriptures to our understanding. We cannot afford to be negligent of these things given as special help to prepare us to stand before Him at His coming. WEWMM 185.4