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Introduction
Before the
entrance of sin, Adam enjoyed open communion with his Maker; but since man
separated himself from God by transgression, the human race has been cut off
from this high privilege. By the plan of redemption, however, a way has been
opened whereby the inhabitants of the earth may still have connection with
heaven. God has communicated with men by His Spirit, and divine light has been
imparted to the world by revelations to His chosen servants. “Holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
2
Peter 1:21.
During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there was no
written revelation. Those who had been taught of God, communicated their
knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to son, through
successive generations. The preparation of the written word began in the time of
Moses. Inspired revelations were then embodied in an inspired book. This work
continued during the long period of sixteen hundred years—from Moses, the
historian of creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the most sublime
truths of the gospel.
The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands;
and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics
of the several writers. The truths revealed are all “given by inspiration of
God” (2
Timothy 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words of men. The Infinite One
by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He
has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth
was thus revealed have themselves embodied the thought in human language.
The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His
own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible, with
its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the
divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the
Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of
Christ, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
John
1:14.
Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and
occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible
present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of the
subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by different
writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by one than by
another. And as several writers present a subject under varied aspects and
relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or prejudiced reader,
to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with
clearer insight, discerns the underlying harmony.
As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in
its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the
subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his
power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase; and
each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly
impressed upon his own mind—a different aspect of the truth in each, but a
perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus revealed unite to form a
perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men in all the circumstances and
experiences of life.
God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human
agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled them to
do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to
write. The treasure was entrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, nonetheless,
from Heaven. The testimony is conveyed through the imperfect expression of human
language, yet it is the testimony of God; and the obedient, believing child of
God beholds in it the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.
In His word, God has committed to men the knowledge necessary for
salvation. The Holy Scriptures are to be accepted as an authoritative,
infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the
revealer of doctrines, and the test of experience. “Every scripture inspired of
God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction which is in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete,
furnished completely unto every good work.”
2
Timothy 3:16, 17, R.V.
Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to men through His word, has
not rendered needless the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit. On
the contrary, the Spirit was promised by our Saviour, to open the word to His
servants, to illuminate and apply its teachings. And since it was the Spirit of
God that inspired the Bible, it is impossible that the teaching of the Spirit
should ever be contrary to that of the word.
The Spirit was not given—nor can it ever be bestowed— to supersede the
Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the word of God is the standard
by which all teaching and experience must be tested. Says the apostle John,
“Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
1
John 4:1. And Isaiah declares, “To the law and to the testimony: if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Isaiah 8:20.
Great reproach has been cast upon the work of the Holy Spirit by the
errors of a class that, claiming its enlightenment, profess to have no further
need of guidance from the word of God. They are governed by impressions which
they regard as the voice of God in the soul. But the spirit that controls them
is not the Spirit of God. This following of impressions, to the neglect of the
Scriptures, can lead only to confusion, to deception and ruin. It serves only to
further the designs of the evil one. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is of
vital importance to the church of Christ, it is one of the devices of Satan,
through the errors of extremists and fanatics, to cast contempt upon the work of
the Spirit and cause the people of God to neglect this source of strength which
our Lord Himself has provided.
In harmony with the word of God, His Spirit was to continue its work
throughout the period of the gospel dispensation. During the ages while the
Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament were being given, the Holy
Spirit did not cease to communicate light to individual minds, apart from the
revelations to be embodied in the Sacred Canon. The Bible itself relates how,
through the Holy Spirit, men received warning, reproof, counsel, and
instruction, in matters in no way relating to the giving of the Scriptures. And
mention is made of prophets in different ages, of whose utterances nothing is
recorded. In like manner, after the close of the canon of the Scripture, the
Holy Spirit was still to continue its work, to enlighten, warn, and comfort the
children of God.
Jesus promised His disciples, “The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” “When He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: . . . and He will
show you things to come.”
John
14:26;
16:13. Scripture plainly teaches that these promises, so far from being
limited to apostolic days, extend to the church of Christ in all ages. The
Saviour assures His followers, “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world.”
Matthew 28:20. And Paul declares that the gifts and manifestations of the
Spirit were set in the church “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:12, 13.
For the believers at Ephesus the apostle prayed, “That the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and . . .
what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe.”
Ephesians 1:17-19. The ministry of the divine Spirit in enlightening the
understanding and opening to the mind the deep things of God’s holy word, was
the blessing which Paul thus besought for the Ephesian church.
After the wonderful manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost, Peter exhorted the people to repentance and baptism in the name of
Christ, for the remission of their sins; and he said: “Ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
Acts
2:38, 39.
In immediate connection with the scenes of the great day of God, the Lord
by the prophet Joel has promised a special manifestation of His Spirit.
Joel
2:28. This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in the outpouring of the
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; but it will reach its full accomplishment in the
manifestation of divine grace which will attend the closing work of the gospel.
The great controversy between good and evil will increase in intensity to
the very close of time. In all ages the wrath of Satan has been manifested
against the church of Christ; and God has bestowed His grace and Spirit upon His
people to strengthen them to stand against the power of the evil one. When the
apostles of Christ were to bear His gospel to the world and to record it for all
future ages, they were especially endowed with the enlightenment of the Spirit.
But as the church approaches her final deliverance, Satan is to work with
greater power. He comes down “having great wrath, because he knoweth that he
hath but a short time.”
Revelation 12:12. He will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders.”
2
Thessalonians 2:9. For six thousand years that mastermind that once was
highest among the angels of God has been wholly bent to the work of deception
and ruin. And all the depths of satanic skill and subtlety acquired, all the
cruelty developed, during these struggles of the ages, will be brought to bear
against God’s people in the final conflict. And in this time of peril the
followers of Christ are to bear to the world the warning of the Lord’s second
advent; and a people are to be prepared to stand before Him at His coming,
“without spot, and blameless.”
2
Peter 3:14. At this time the special endowment of divine grace and power is
not less needful to the church than in apostolic days.
Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the
long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of
these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in
different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the
Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the
first transgressor of God’s holy law. Satan’s enmity against Christ has been
manifested against His followers. The same hatred of the principles of God’s
law, the same policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by
which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are led to worship
the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the history of the
past. Satan’s efforts to misrepresent the character of God, to cause men to
cherish a false conception of the Creator, and thus to regard Him with fear and
hate rather than with love; his endeavors to set aside the divine law, leading
the people to think themselves free from its requirements; and his persecution
of those who dare to resist his deceptions, have been steadfastly pursued in all
ages. They may be traced in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles,
of martyrs and reformers.
In the great final conflict, Satan will employ the same policy, manifest
the same spirit, and work for the same end as in all preceding ages. That which
has been, will be, except that the coming struggle will be marked with a
terrible intensity such as the world has never witnessed. Satan’s deceptions
will be more subtle, his assaults more determined. If it were possible, he would
lead astray the elect.
Mark
13:22, R.V.
As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His word,
and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to
others that which has thus been revealed—to trace the history of the controversy
in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the
fast-approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this purpose, I have
endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the church in
such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at
different periods have been given to the world, that have excited the wrath of
Satan, and the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained by
the witness of those who “loved not their lives unto the death.”
In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us.
Regarding them in the light of God’s word, and by the illumination of His
Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, and the dangers which
they must shun who would be found “without fault” before the Lord at His coming.
The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past ages are
matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant
world; they are facts which none can gainsay. This history I have presented
briefly, in accordance with the scope of the book, and the brevity which must
necessarily be observed, the facts having been condensed into as little space as
seemed consistent with a proper understanding of their application. In some
cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a
comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient
manner, his words have been quoted; but in some instances no specific credit has
been given, since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that
writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible
presentation of the subject. In narrating the experience and views of those
carrying forward the work of reform in our own time, similar use has been made
of their published works.
It is not so much the object of this book to present new truths concerning
the struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and principles which have a
bearing on coming events. Yet viewed as a part of the controversy between the
forces of light and darkness, all these records of the past are seen to have a
new significance; and through them a light is cast upon the future, illumining
the pathway of those who, like the reformers of past ages, will be called, even
at the peril of all earthly good, to witness “for the word of God, and for the
testimony of Jesus Christ.”
To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error; to
reveal the wiles of Satan, and the means by which he may be successfully
resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great problem of evil,
shedding such a light upon the origin and the final disposition of sin as to
make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealings with
His creatures; and to show the holy, unchanging nature of His law, is the object
of this book. That through its influence souls may be delivered from the power
of darkness, and become “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,”
to the praise of Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us, is the earnest
prayer of the writer. -E.G.W.
Preface
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Index
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First Chapter
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