Chapter 8—Recognizing the Divine Call

When God, by His Holy Spirit, calls men to the work of apostles or prophets, will they themselves recognize the source of their call? We believe they will. This has been demonstrated many times in the history of the church. Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other prophets of the Old Testament era well understood the work they were given to do and the authority by which they were to utter their messages of warning and reproof.TOJ 50.1

The apostle Paul declared that he was called, not of men, but of God, and he tells repeatedly how God laid upon him the apostleship to the Gentile world. When messengers from the Jewish authorities interrogated John as to his mission, they were met with no cringing or apologetic excuse. He knew the work that God had called him to do. He declares in unmistakable terms: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”TOJ 50.2

Did Mrs. E. G. White recognize her call to holy office? She came with no high-sounding titles, with no vainglorious pretensions, with no ostentatious show. She was instructed that she was the Lord’s messenger. She recognized this call and proved true to her divine commission. In the The Review and Herald, July 26, 1906, she discussed in considerable detail the work to which she had been called. We believe it will be profitable, in this connection, to read this statement. We therefore reproduce it entire:TOJ 50.3