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The Abiding Gift of Prophecy - Contents
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    God Chooses His Messenger

    In the great crisis of 1844, an unbelieving world was arrayed against God’s disappointed people. Some shunned them, some ridiculed them, and many were hostile to them. They were surely a forsaken and scattered flock, knowing not what to do. Among them were some who, like Jehoshaphat and Judah, kept their eyes upon God and offered importunate prayer for divine guidance. The Lord heard their prayers, and gave them a remarkable answer through the prophetic gift. He chose for His messenger Miss Ellen Gould Harmon of Portland, Maine,—one of the truly devout and sorely disappointed believers in the coming of the Lord in 1844. She gives the following interesting information regarding a part of her Christian experience prior to her call to act as the Lord’s special messenger:AGP 258.3

    “At the age of eleven years [1838-9] I was converted, and when twelve years old was baptized, and joined the Methodist Church. At the age of thirteen I heard William Miller deliver his second course of lectures in Portland, Maine. I then felt that I was not holy, not ready to see Jesus. And when the invitation was given for church members and sinners to come forward for prayers, I embraced the first opportunity, for I knew that I must have a great work done for me to fit me for heaven. My soul was thirsting for full and free salvation, but knew not how to obtain it.

    “In 1842, I constantly attended the second advent meetings in Portland, Maine, and fully believed that the Lord was coming. I was hungering and thirsting for full salvation, an entire conformity to the will of God. Day and night I was struggling to obtain this priceless treasure, that all the riches of earth could not purchase.” “Early Writings of Mrs. E. G. White,” p. 11, 1920 edition.

    For four and a half years, therefore, during the most impressionable period of her life, Ellen Harmon’s all-absorbing interest had been in her preparation for the coming of Christ, and in doing her part to make known to others the Saviour she had found. Delicate in health, and deprived of opportunities for an education and of worldly prospects by an accident that had befallen her when she was nine years old, she was providentially led to find her comfort and joy in the anticipation of the future glory, which to her was a living reality.AGP 259.1

    We may well believe that to such a one especially, the disappointment of October, 1844, came with crushing force. She did not lose her faith in the Saviour; but, in common with most of the advent believers in Portland, she feared that the advent movement, which had brought so much joy to her heart, had been a terrible mistake, from which could come only sorrow and regret.AGP 259.2

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