The Inspired Challenger

Who was it that stirred up the hearts of the brethren with the challenge of the world field? Who was it that declared to them that they must go out? Who was it that said: “I declare to you our vision must be extended. We see things nigh, but not afar off.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 210. Yes, it was Mrs. White who said this. She records an experience she had in California in the year 1874 when she had “an impressive dream.” You may read it in Life Sketches, beginning on page 208. It seems that the leading brethren were hesitant even to spread the work in California, which seemed far from Battle Creek, Michigan, which was then our headquarters. Further, they were hesitant to attempt evangelism in the large cities. Then she tells of how in her dream—a vision of the night—she heard one speak who said:WBEGW 64.1

“‘You are entertaining too limited ideas of the work for this time. You are trying to plan the work so that you can embrace it in your arms. You must take broader views. Your light must not be put under a bushel or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Your house is the world.’”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 208, 209.WBEGW 64.2

A little farther on in the chapter she declares:WBEGW 64.3

“In my last vision I was shown that we should have a part to act in California in extending and confirming the work already commenced. I was shown that missionary labor must be put forth in California, Australia, Oregon, and other territories far more extensively than our people have imagined, or ever contemplated and planned.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 209.WBEGW 64.4

To whom was Mrs. White here speaking., to ill-informed laymen out on the fringes of the Advent Movement? No. She was writing to the leaders of the work, to the best minds we had, who were directing the policies and the program of the work. How strange, how remarkable! Someone of pathetically limited education, and a woman, standing up to speak to the leaders of the work, telling them what they ought to do and how they ought to do it. Even more remarkable, they followed her counsel and the work grew and enlarged on every side. In this fact lies the explanation why the Seventh-day Adventist Church did not settle down as simply one more of a wide array of small Protestant bodies confined to America, but became, instead, ever more widely spread over the whole earth. This fact in itself is a phenomenon of no mean proportions—a phenomenon that cannot be casually explained away. We think the reader will agree that the simplest, most reasonable, most obvious, explanation is that inspired counsel guided the leadership as they increasingly moved outward to the ends of the earth.WBEGW 64.5