D. T. Bourdeau's Printed Testimony

The proceedings of the council were fully reported in the Review, as well as in the Adventist papers in Europe, but D. T. Bourdeau added a special report of his own. In the light of his experience in Basel, the article has an even greater significance.EGWE 84.1

“The labors of Sr. White and her son, Elder W. C. White, were highly appreciated at this general gathering....EGWE 84.2

“How interesting and wonderful it was to hear Sr. White correctly delineate the peculiarities of different fields she had seen only as the Lord had shown them to her, and show how they should be met; to hear her describe case after case of persons she had never seen with her natural vision, and either point out their errors or show important relations they sustained to the cause, and how they should connect with it to better serve its interests!EGWE 84.3

“As I had a fair chance to test the matter, having been on the ground, and knowing that no one had informed Sr. White of these things, while serving as an interpreter, I could not help exclaiming, ‘It is enough. I want no further evidence of its genuineness.’”EGWE 84.4

Then Bourdeau gave some even more intimate reasons for his confidence, reasons tied in with his own personal experience:EGWE 84.5

“Not only does this gift reprove sin without dissimulation and partiality, as did Nathan when he said to David, “Thou art the man’; but it deals in words of encouragement to help those reproved to overcome, and to inspire hope, faith, and courage to the desponding. It not only probes the wound, but it also pours in the oil, binds the wound, and hastens the process of restoration.... It identifies itself with those for whom it labors, bearing their burdens in earnest, persevering prayer, forgetful of self and ease.... It brings with it supernatural discernment.... It brings with it the miraculous, without which, religion were a formal, heartless, lifeless, human affair....EGWE 84.6

“To us this.... is a sure indication that God is about to work mightily through His Spirit and people.”—The Review and Herald, November 10, 1885.EGWE 85.1