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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
it was to preserve them; by the learned, by the bishops. I doubt not
indeed that the truth has still found an abode in some few hearts.”
“Poor husbandmen and simple children in these days understand
more of Jesus Christ than the pope, the bishops, or the doctors.”
When Wm. Miller was charged with showing contempt for the
doctors of divinity, he pointed to the word of God as the standard by
which all doctrines and theories must be tested; and, knowing that
he had truth on his side, he went forward in his work undismayed.
In every age, God has called his servants to lift up their voices
against the prevailing errors and sins of the multitude. Noah was
called to stand alone to warn the antediluvian world. Moses and
Aaron were alone against king and princes, magicians and wise men,
and the multitudes of Egypt. Elijah was alone when he testified
against an apostate king and a backsliding people. Daniel and his
fellows stood alone against the decrees of mighty monarchs. The
majority are usually to be found on the side of error and falsehood.
The fact that doctors of divinity have the world on their side does
not prove them to be on the side of truth and of God. The wide gate
and the broad road attract the multitudes, while the strait gate and
the narrow way are sought only by the few.
If ministers and people had really desired to know the truth, and
had given to the Advent doctrine the earnest, prayerful attention
which its importance demands, they would have seen that it was in
harmony with the Scriptures. Had they united with its advocates in
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their labors, there would have resulted such a revival of the work
of God as the world has never witnessed. As Whitefield and the
Wesleys were urged by the Holy Spirit to arouse the formal and
world-loving churches of their time, so was Wm. Miller moved
to proclaim the coming of Christ and the necessity of a work of
preparation. His only offense was that of opening to the world the
“sure word of prophecy, whereunto,” says the apostle Peter, “ye do
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” [
2
Peter 1:19
.] He urged its truths upon the people, not with harshness,
but in a more mild and persuasive manner than was employed by
other reformers.
The opposition which he encountered was very similar to that
which had been experienced by Wesley and his fellow-laborers.
Let the popular churches of today remember that the men whose