The “Review and Herald” and the Visions
It is well to analyze another chapter in our early history having to do with the attitude of our early pioneers toward the gift of prophecy. A number of the visions were published in the Present Truth in 1849 and 1850. It must be remembered, however, that the Review and Herald, which followed in 1850 and on, was both the church paper and the vehicle for presenting the truth to non-church members as well. Some of the brethren were afraid that the visions and testimonies intended primarily for the church members (1 Corinthians 14:3, 4, 22) would prejudice the non-church member readers of the Review. They decided that such material should be printed on a separate sheet and placed in papers going only to our own people.BHP 70.1
James White explained all this in a Review and Herald Extra in these words:BHP 70.2
“This sheet is the form of the paper that we hope to publish once in two weeks…. We do not design this extra for so general circulation as the regular paper, for the reason that strong prejudice exists in many minds against a portion of its contents. Those who judge of a matter before fore they hear are unwise. Says Paul, ‘Despise not prophesyings, prove all things, hold fast that which is good.’ 1 Thess. v. 20, 21.BHP 70.3
“We believe that God is unchangeable, that he is ‘the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.’ And that it is his will and purpose to teach his tried people, at this the most important period in the history of God’s people, in the same manner as in past time. But as many are prejudiced against visions, we think best at present not to insert anything of the kind in the regular paper. We will therefore publish the visions by themselves for the benefit of those who believe that God can fulfill his word and give visions ‘in the last days.’”—July 21, 1851.BHP 71.1
For five years the Review published none of Mrs. White’s visions and only five articles from her pen of a general hortatory nature. The leaders thought their position sound and commendable, but the results among the Advent people were not so wholesome. There seemed to result a general lack of appreciation of the gift, and a lowering of its place of importance in the work. This has been the general tendency all through the years, for the individual Adventist as well as for the movement as a whole, when there has been a neglect of the prophetic gift. “Where there is no vision [or an indifference to it], the people perish” seems to be as true in our times as it was in ancient Israel.BHP 71.2
A general meeting in 1855 brought a realization that all was not well. There seemed to be a partial withdrawal of the gift of prophecy. From two sources we draw the conclusion that a disregard for the gift and a desire to push it somewhat into the background had met with Heaven’s disfavor.BHP 71.3
First, we note an action taken by the business session of the conference in 1855, which reads, “That Joseph Bates, J. H. Waggoner, and M. E. Cornell be appointed to address the saints in behalf of the Conference, on the gifts of the church.” The report which the small committee drew up in response to this action was published in the Review. We extract a few key sentences:BHP 72.1
“Confession”
“In view of the present low state of the precious cause of our blessed Master, we feel to humble ourselves before God, and confess our unfaithfulness and departure from the way of the Lord, whereby the spirit of holiness has been grieved, our own souls burdened, and an occasion given to the enemy of all righteousness to rejoice over the decline of faith and spirituality amongst the scattered flock.”BHP 72.2
“Gifts”
“Nor have we appreciated the glorious privilege of claiming the gifts which our blessed Master has vouchsafed to his people; and we greatly fear that we have grieved the Spirit by neglecting the blessings already conferred upon the church.”BHP 72.3
“Appreciated in Past”
“We have also, in our past experience, been made to rejoice in the goodness of our God who has manifested his care for his people by leading us in his way and correcting our errors, through the operations of his Spirit; and the majority of Sabbath-keepers in the Third Angel’s Message, have firmly believed that the Lord was calling his church out of the wilderness by the means appointed to bring us to the unity of the faith. We refer to the visions which God has promised to the remnant ‘in the last days.’”BHP 72.4
“Not to Take Place of Bible”
“Nor do we, as some contend, exalt these gifts or their manifestations, above the Bible; on the contrary, we test them by the Bible, making it the great rule of judgment in all things; so that whatever is not in accordance with it, in its spirit and its teachings, we unhesitatingly reject. But as we cannot believe that a fountain sends forth at the same place sweet water and bitter, or that an evil tree brings forth good fruit, so we cannot believe that that is of the enemy which tends to unite the hearts of the saints, to lead to meekness and humility and holy living, and incites to deep heart-searching before God, and a confession of our wrongs.”BHP 73.1
“An Attitude Displeasing to God”
“While we hold these views as emanating from the divine Mind, we would confess the inconsistency (which we believe has been displeasing to God) of professedly regarding them as messages from God, and really putting them on a level with the inventions of men. We fear that this has resulted from an unwillingness to bear the reproach of Christ, (which is indeed greater riches than the treasures of earth,) and a desire to conciliate the feelings of our opponents; but the Word and our own experience have taught us that God is not honored, nor his cause advanced, by such a course. While we regard them as coming from God, and entirely harmonizing with his written word, we must acknowledge ourselves under obligation to abide by their teachings, and be corrected by their admonitions. To say that they are of God, and yet we will not be tested by them, is to say that God’s will is not a test or rule for Christians, which is inconsistent and absurd.”—Report of Conference in The Review and Herald, December 4, 1855, pp. 78, 79.BHP 73.2
The conference began November 15, 1855, and the declaration of confession and neglect was made by the brethren. Then on November 20, Ellen G. White was given a vision, of which she wrote:BHP 74.1
“November 20, 1855, while in prayer, the Spirit of the Lord came suddenly and powerfully upon me, and I was taken off in vision. I saw that the Spirit of the Lord has been dying away from the church.”—Testimonies for the Church 1:113.BHP 74.2
A few weeks later Mrs. White wrote:BHP 74.3
“The visions have been of late less and less frequent, and my testimony for God’s children has been gone. I have thought that my work in God’s cause was done, and that I had no further duty to do, but to save my own soul, and carefully attend to my little family….BHP 74.4
“At our late Conference at Battle Creek, in Nov. God wrought for us. The minds of the servants of God were exercised as to the gifts of the Church, and if God’s frown had been brought upon his people because the gifts had been slighted and neglected, there was a pleasing prospect that his smiles would again be upon us, and he would graciously and mercifully revive the gifts again, and they would live in the Church, to encourage the desponding and fainting soul, and to correct and reprove the erring.”—The Review and Herald, January 10, 1856, p. 118.BHP 74.5