Spiritual Gifts by L. D. Santee

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 27, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 22

Spiritual Gifts.

By L. D. Santee

BY ELD. L. D. SANTEE.

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets.” “To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy.” —Paul, in 1 Cor. 12: 1, 28, 10.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Quoted by Peter, in Acts 2: 17, 18.

It is easy to trace the gift of prophecy through the apostolic age, outside of the apostles. “And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” Acts 21: 9. Verse 10 also refers to another prophet, not of the twelve.

In the last chapter of Mark is found a record of the commission authorizing Christian ministers to labor throughout the gospel age. Christ, realizing that his earthly work is done, sends them as ambassadors for him, to preach the gospel of reconciliation. He charges them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This charge reaches to the end of time; for as soon as this work is accomplished, the end comes. Matt. 24: 14.

Why thus preach? To induce belief. What then? “These signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16: 15–18.

The apostles had these gifts when listening to the charge. Luke 10: 17–19. The promise, therefore, was to future believers. These signs and gifts do not abound in the Christian churches, because they have departed from the faith once delivered to the saints. As we read the promise of these gifts and then look, almost in vain, for their fulfillment, we naturally ask the question,—

Why come not angels from the realms of glory To visit earth as in the days of old,— The times of ancient writ and sacred story? Is Heaven more distant? or has earth grown cold?

Unbelief seems to have been the sunken reef upon which the church has wrecked her spirituality. In Matt. 13: 58 I read of Jesus, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief;” also Mark 6: 5, 6.

It is evident that God designed the Holy Spirit to exist in the church until the advent of her Lord should forever end her sorrows. It came through the prayer of Christ, and was to abide with believers forever. John 14: 16. The gifts and signs that were to follow believers were given by the same Spirit. 1 Cor. 12: 4–12. It is equally evident that the unbelief which prevented the work of Jesus, would also hinder the Holy Spirit from performing its office.

Says the angel to John on the Isle of Patmos, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Let us try to comprehend this grand saying. In the 11th chapter of Matthew I read of John the Baptist in Herod’s prison. He had doubts as to whether Jesus was the one that was to fulfill all the prophecies concerning the Messiah, and he sends two of his disciples to Christ, asking him the question, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Jesus, without giving a direct answer, shows them his works and then says, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.” It was sufficient, and to John an undoubted testimony of Jesus. As long as the gifts are manifested in the church, they are a proof of the divinity of the commission, a testimony of Jesus. If unbelief is followed by spiritual death, how important that we pray as did the disciples, “Lord, increase our faith.” Luke 17: 5. The wonderful spread of the gospel in early ages was largely due to the signs following believers. Mark 16: 20: “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.” Let us look back, and trace the gradual decline of spiritual gifts in the church. When the canon of Inspiration closes, we find the church possessing the gifts, and longing for the return of her covenant Lord. Secular history takes up the theme, and we follow it through its gradations.

One of the first testimonies comes to us from Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Later Christian Fathers aver that he listened to the preaching of the apostle John, led a blameless life, and was wonderfully favored with spiritual gifts. He saw in a vision his “pillow on fire,” and exclaimed, “I shall certainly be burnt alive.” The words proved true.

Almost like an echo to the first comes the testimony of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who was arrested by Trajan and exposed to lions in a Roman Amphitheater. He asserts that he had heard the angels sing, and he went to his death as to a bridal.

Apollinaris, bishop of Ravenna, according to ecclesiastical history, went with Peter to Rome. History says that he was “miraculously gifted;” that he opened the eyes of the blind, and wrought many cures by the laying on of hands.

Irenæus was endowed with prophetic gifts. Eusebius quotes him as saying, “Some most certainly cast out demons. Others have a knowledge of things to come, as also visions and prophetic communications, and still others heal the sick by the imposition of hands. . . . We hear of many of the brethren in the church who have prophetic gifts, . . . who also bring to light the secret things of men for their benefit.” Eusebius, in referring to the reasons why these spiritual gifts had measurably declined in the church in his time, says, “The churches had become unworthy of them.”

Tertullian, born at Carthage, A. D. 160, was fearless in his affirmation of spiritual gifts. We quote from his work De Anima: “We had a right to expect, after what was said by St. John, to anticipate prophecies; and we not only acknowledge spiritual gifts, but we are permitted to enjoy the gift of a prophetess. There is a sister among us who possesses the faculty of revelation. Commonly during religious service she falls into a trance, holding then communion with the angels, beholding Jesus himself, hearing divine mysteries explained, reading the hearts of some persons, and administering to such as require it.”

Origen, born in Alexandria, A. D. 185, says in his writings, “There are no longer any prophets or miracles among the Jews, but many vestiges of miraculous works among the Christians.”

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, swells the amount of testimony. He says, “Besides visions of the night, even boys among us are filled with the Holy Spirit, and in fits of ecstasy see, hear, and speak, things by which the Lord sees fit to instruct us.”

We next consider an extract from Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1, p. 105. This is in the fourth century. He says, “I cannot assent to the opinions of those who maintain that in this century miracles had entirely ceased, and that at this period the Christian church was not favored with any extraordinary or supernatural mark of a Divine power engaged in its cause.” Constantine’s conversion filled the church with pride and worldly ambition, and a rapid decline of spiritual gifts ensued.

The Roman Catholic Church, enveloped as it is in superstition and darkness, still has one souvenir of her ancient faith. The 2d of October is the Feast of Angel Guardians, “In commemoration,” as Alban

Butler says, “of a communication of spiritual commerce between us on earth and his holy angels, whose companions we hope one day to be in the kingdom of his glory.”

The Church of England brought this same faith into its homilies. The following is a sample: “The Holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts; namely, by the word of wisdom; by the word of knowledge, which is the understanding of the Scriptures; by faith in doing of miracles; by healing them that are diseased; by prophecy, which is the distribution of God’s mysteries; by discerning of spirits; by diversities of tongues; and so forth.”

As we think of the sneers and the scorn that attend those who enjoy the gifts God has set in the church, the ridicule of those money-changers in the temple, we are constrained to use the eloquent words of another: “Look within, O dying church, and behold thyself entombed with the real Gadarene. Blank skepticism, wintry atheism, ‘legion’ of doubts and bigotries.” In contrast with this is the Eternal Father, whose power bears up the universe. His great heart of love throbs in tenderness down through all time, and sends us as his last gift of affection the spirit of prophecy. Let us whose pale foreheads are lighting up with the dawn of a brighter day, when the Sun of righteousness shall arise,—let us value the gifts God has set in the church.

“Every sentence, oh how tender, Every line was full of love.”

Whether as a comforter or a reprover, the Holy Spirit is sent to save us. Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.