Hidden Dangers Revealed
Not always was it easy for individuals to see the dangers or wrongs pointed out in their experience by the testimonies. But prayerful meditation and self-examination in time revealed hidden traits and characteristics. One worker of years gone by, Willard A. Saxby, recounted his experience for the readers of the Review. In this case the testimony was given by Mrs. White to a third person to read to the man addressed. Here is his account:EGWMR 19.6
“Several years ago, while attending the Ohio camp meeting as a conference laborer, I received a testimony from the servant of the Lord. It had been sent to one of our leading brethren, to be read to me. At the close of an evening meeting we retired to his tent. Elder A (for so I shall call him) said, ‘You believe in the Testimonies?’ I replied, ‘Certainly I do.’ We united in prayer, after which he slowly read the manuscript (it was in Sister White’s own handwriting). The first five pages pertained to me personally; the next six were counsels more general in character, applying especially to anyone in charge of a city mission, etc.EGWMR 19.7
“After Elder A had read a few paragraphs, he read a personal statement to which I objected, saying with emphasis, ‘That is not so!’ He stopped and said, ‘Brother Saxby, you say it is so, and the Lord will help you to see that it is so.’ ‘But how can I say a thing is so when I know it is not so?’ He repeated, slowly, substantially what he had said, and continued reading. After a page or more, I said again, concerning another statement, “That is not so.” He repeated what he had said before, talked a while, and then resumed his reading.EGWMR 19.8
“I objected four times in all; but it was on the first point that I was especially positive.EGWMR 19.9
“At my request. Elder A lent me the testimony until the next day. I returned rather late to my room, and Mrs. Saxby was anxious to know why I was so late. When I told her my experience, she asked me to read the testimony. I said, ‘No, it will take too much time tonight; but here is one paragraph I will read. I told Elder A it was not so.’ It was a matter between my wife and me; and I shall never forget how, after I had read this paragraph, she rose up in bed and said, with all the earnestness of her being, pointing to me with her index finger, ‘Willard, that is so!’EGWMR 19.10
“I began to reason very seriously, like this: My wife says it is so; and Elder A, because of his confidence in the Spirit of prophecy, says it is so; and, above all, the Lord through His servant says it is so: it must be so—three against one. As I sought the Lord by fasting and prayer, I soon saw things in the true light. The testimony was a photograph of my inner life, and I could see that it was.EGWMR 19.11
“It is comparatively easy to believe a testimony in reproof of someone else; but to one’s own self it is altogether a different proposition, at least I found it so.”—Review and Herald, May 18, 1916.EGWMR 19.12
We present another response to a straight personal testimony, wherein the man addressed accepted the message given him, “sentence by sentence.”EGWMR 19.13
“Your letter written the 20th of January, 1893, was received by me Tuesday evening, February 21. This communication by your hand to me I heartily accept as a testimony from the Lord. It reveals to me the sad condition I have been in since the Minneapolis meeting, and this reproof from the Lord is just and true.... Late in the evening I went to my room where all alone I read it three times over with much weeping, accepting it sentence by sentence, as I read. I bowed before the Lord in prayer, and confessed it all to Him....EGWMR 19.14
“The next morning I went into the ministers’ meeting, and made a more earnest and extended confession of my wrong before my brethren who knew of my course, and it brought great light and blessing into my soul. I am now a free man again, thank the Lord, having found pardon and peace. I will walk softly before the Lord, and will cherish His presence in my heart, that I may have power from Him.... I shall need counsel and instruction. If you have anything further that would give me more light, showing me more clearly my true condition, I shall be very glad to receive it.”—Letter to Mrs. E. G. White, March 9, 1893.EGWMR 19.15