Introduction

The great controversy between good and evil,

To unfold the scenes of the great controversy,

between truth and error.

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 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 [d]

“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 a 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

intrusted to earthen vessels, yet it is, none the less, 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, Revised Version.

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

[e] 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 entire 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 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 [f] “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 us-ward 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 master-mind 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

[g] 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, Reevised Version.

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 what has thus been revealed,—to

trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially to so

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 [h]

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 except in a few instances no specific credit has been

given, since they are not quoted 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 occasionally 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 upon 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 fully make 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.

Healdsburg, Cal.,

May, 1888.