Eph. 4:11: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
From this text we see some of the features of true gifts. While they are not a revelation to take the place of the Bible, the church is edified by the light given from the Scriptures from this source. We have seen this abundantly illustrated in the lessons already given by different speakers during this institute. We have made a comparison of the gift, as manifested among this people, with that of the ancient prophets.
There is another feature to which I wish to call your attention to-day, which I will introduce by quoting from 2 Kings 8:8-11: "And the king said unto Hazael, Take a present in thine hand, and go, meet the man of God, and enquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: Howbeit the Lord hath showed me that he shall surely die. And he settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed: and the man of God wept." Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord. And he said, For the mischief that you will do, for the Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.
We see in this case that as he had a view of this man's countenance it brought to view what he had seen concerning him before. I could refer in the experience of Sister White to hundreds of cases where she has delineated the character of persons whom we knew she had never seen before, only as she had seen them in vision.
The first case I will refer to is a vision which was given to her in Tyrone, Michigan, in May, 1853, the first meeting she ever held here in this state, and which was the first time she had ever been west of Buffalo, N. Y. In this vision she had a view of all the Sabbath-keepers in the State, which comprised five or six companies, numbering in all about 150 persons. This vision she wrote out in Jackson, June 2nd. I had been laboring three weeks in the western part of the State, and met Brother and Sister White at Jackson that evening, and obtained a copy of the vision, which consisted of eight pages of foolscap. In the vision was described a woman who made great pretensions to holiness, but who at the same time was shown to her as living in adultery with a young man with whom she was travelling. The vision stated just what the woman would say when she would reprove her, namely, "The -- Lord -- knows -- my heart."
In company with Brother and Sister White I held meetings in Jackson, Battle Creek, and Bedford. Next we came to Vergennes, Kent Co., which proved to be the place where the said woman lived. The meetings were held in a new barn. This woman came into the meeting fifteen minutes after it commenced, from three miles in an opposite direction from which we reached the place. Her husband, and the young man with whom she was traveling, came in at the same time. Sister White, as her husband was speaking at one end of the stand, whispered to me, as I was sitting next to her on the rostrum, calling my attention to the woman and the men, and said "That is the woman I saw in the vision." She also told me that as soon as Brother White got through speaking she would relate the vision, adding, "We then will see whether she is the one or not."
After a short discourse, Brother White gave liberty for others to speak. Sister White arose, and commenced by speaking of the deportment of persons preaching, how careful they should be to shun every appearance of evil. She said that if God called women to preach they should not travel around the country with some other man than their husband, and adding, "What I am speaking of is right here in your midst; that tall woman who just sat down near the door is traveling around through the country with this young man who is seated on the front seat, and this old gentleman who sits by her side, God pity him, is toiling at home to raise the means to support them in their iniquity." She added, "I am ashamed of my sex. For all this woman's pretensions to holiness, God has shown me that she and this young man are guilty of violating the seventh commandment."
As Sister White sat down every eye in the barn was turned toward the woman, expecting of course if she was guilty she would deny the charge, and if she was not guilty she would certainly deny it. I confess my heart was filled with anxiety to see what the woman would say, for I had in my pocket a writing written nearly three weeks before, which I knew was written more than a hundred miles from that place by a person that never had seen the woman with her natural eyes, telling just what she would say. The woman slowly arose to her feet, and in a very sanctimonious manner, said "The -- Lord -- knows -- my -- heart."! She did not utter another word, but took her seat.
Among many other instances I might mention, I refer to a case where Sister White bore testimony in Greenville, Mich. Coming into a room where Brother John Byington and myself were organizing a church, she noticed that there were other persons present. She knew the name of but one of the persons in the room aside from Brother Byington and myself, never having seen them before. She said they must excuse her if she pointed them out by describing their persons. "I will first speak," she said, "of that man in the corner of the room, the one with one eye." Someone spoke his name, -- Pratt. "Well," says she, "I will call him Mr. Pratt. Don't ever take that man into your church unless you want trouble, for he never has been converted; he doesn't live up to his agreements; he makes promises to his neighbors that he doesn't fulfill, spends most of his time around the stores and shops arguing on the truth, sitting around on the dry goods boxes, talking theology, while his wife is at home cultivating the garden, digging potatoes, or providing the man's dinner for him when he gets home, or perhaps pulling brush out of the snow to cut up for firewood. His talking the truth merely disgusts the people. They think he would better be at home engaged in some honest labor to pay his debts."
Turning to another, an old gentleman, who sat nearer to her, she said, "This aged brother," -- here some one spoke and said "Brother Barr". "Yes," said she, "Brother Barr, your trouble has been that you could not think the Lord could be merciful enough to you to forgive your sins. You have confessed to the Lord many times all the sins you knew of, and the Lord told me to say to you that he had forgiven your sins thirty-five years ago if you had only believed it." This poor old man, on whose countenance had been a look of great sadness, when this expression was made, said with a smile, "Has he?" "Yes," said Sister White, "Your sins are forgiven, come along and go with the church." The brother cried out "I will." We had been trying for half an hour to get him to even give his name for the church, but he thought he was not worthy. Sister White said, "This man's case was presented before me in contrast with the other: he is a man that is punctual in all his obligations, deals uprightly with all his neighbors, provides well for his family, and the community have perfect confidence in him. He fears to say anything about the truth for fear he will mar it," adding, "Brother Barr, talk the truth to your neighbors, it will have a good effect." She then turned again to Mr. Pratt, and said, "If you could feel for about six months as Brother Barr has felt for years, as though there was no help for you, it would do you good."
Other cases were delineated in the same meeting; a man and his wife, between whom there had been some variance, were reconciled by the testimony that was brought in. At the close of the meeting this Mr. Pratt, who had been seated on the wood-box in the corner of the room, jumped down on the floor, and with great vehemence said, "I will tell you what it is, there is no kind of use in going with this people and trying to play hypocrite: you cannot do it."
Another feature of our text is the expression that these gifts are for the work of the ministry. There is not a minister among our ranks, who has carefully read the Testimonies, but who must acknowledge the benefit derived in many directions in his work from what is pointed out through this gift. (Here the speaker said, holding up a copy of the book, "Gospel Workers,") Here is a volume filled with instruction of this character, not giving us a new Bible, but bringing to us the instructions of Scripture, and showing us how we can be more efficient laborers for God. Even taking the one point of how to care for our health, how to use our voices to preserve strength, it is invaluable. Scores, who are now sleeping in their graves might be with us to-day had they given heed to instruction of this character.
I humbly acknowledge benefits received from this source in entering upon new missions. As I went to California with Elder Bourdeau, via Central America, in 1868, the Lord gave Sister White instruction concerning our work, which being sent overland we received on arriving at San Francisco. This gave us instructions concerning the habits of the people, how to labor to reach them, holding it up in contrast with the New England field in which I had been laboring more or less, showing that what might be called economy in New England would be considered penny-wise dealing in California, "that the people must be met with the liberal spirit they possessed, yet not in a spendthrift manner."
We saw the result of heeding this admonition in our very first meeting. When the people were questioning how we would sell penny tracts and five cent books when there was no change made in the country less than a ten cent piece we were led to make calculations, and so commenced on this liberal plan, and gave them away by scores. The people shortly met us by saying, "This isn't like the preachers that have been coming across the plains to this country." They rushed up to buy our books, and favored us in every way they could, and in that one tent-meeting the people bought over three hundred dollars' worth of books, and a lumberman, who before we commenced the meeting, refused to trust us with a dollar's worth of lumber on the ground that he had no confidence whatever in preachers, said, "Sir, I will lend you 36,000 feet of lumber, if you want it, without any security whatever." If Sister White had lived in that country five years, she could not have given better counsel than was given in that testimony, which was simply the result of what the Lord had shown her in vision.
In 1878, when it was decided that I should go to Old England, and enter upon a mission there, as I was laboring in Reno, Nevada, I received another testimony from Sister White, stating that I could not labor in the same manner as in California, calling attention to the habits of the people, and giving most valuable instructions, which I found a great aid in entering upon that mission. But, while we speak of what might be called temporal blessings from this source, we would especially emphasize those instructions through this gift that pointed the laborer to Christ as the only source of help and strength in the work.
In concluding this last of the series of lessons appointed to me on this subject, I will state that during the last six months, since receiving notice, I have prayed much over the line that I should pursue. My attention would invariably be called, even while praying, to the fourth chapter of Ephesians, and with it the impression, "Compare what is said there of the work of the true manifestation of the gifts, with what has been manifested in connection with this gift for the last forty years and over, and it will show a complete fulfillment in every particular." So, I will say to-day, as my subject was to be "The Study of the Gifts," Study them, their connection with this work, the manner of their manifestation, what has been accomplished by them in bringing a people to the unity of the faith, and what they are accomplishing, by the grace of God, in what is allotted for this time; and we can but acknowledge that the gift of prophecy, manifested in connection with the third angel's message, is the work of God.