hall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover,” Mark 16:17,
18. On the day of pentecost, when the Christian dispensation was
fully opened, some of these gifts were manifested in a wonderful
manner. Acts 2:1-11. Luke, in giving account of his travels with
Paul and others, when a quarter of a century of the Christian
age had already passed, after speaking of entering into the house
of Philip, the evangelist, says: “And the same man had four
daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there
many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named
Agabus.” Acts 21:9, 10. Again, still later, we see the beloved
John, in the Isle of Patmos, imbued with the spirit of prophecy
in all its fullness. The wonderful Revelation was given unto him
when more than half a century of the Christian age had passed.
And here the New-Testament record leaves us without a single
intimation that the gifts of the Spirit should cease from the church
till the day of glory should be ushered in by the second appearing
of Jesus Christ.
Since the great apostasy, these gifts have rarely been
manifested; and for this reason, professed Christians generally
suppose that they were designed to be limited to the period
of the primitive church. But from the time of the primitive
Christians to the present there have been manifestations among
the most devoted followers of Jesus, which have been recognized
by nearly all of the leading denominations as the gifts of the Holy
Spirit. Then should not the errors and the unbelief of the church
be assigned as reasons why these manifestations have been so
seldom, rather than that God has taken these blessings from the
church? When the people of God attain to primitive faith and
practice, as they most certainly will under the last message, the
latter rain will be poured out, and all the gifts will be revived. The
former rain was given at the commencement of the Christian
9
age, in the time of the sowing of the gospel seed, to cause it to
germinate and take good root. Then the church enjoyed the gifts.
And when the latter rain shall be poured out at the close of the
dispensation, to ripen the golden harvest for the garner of God,
then will the gifts of the Holy Spirit be manifested in all their
fullness.
To this agree the words of the prophet, as quoted by Peter:
“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. And I will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.”
Acts 2:17-20. The spirit of prophecy is here seen among the
especial signs of the last days. Its revival in the last days was
to constitute one of the most noted signs of the approaching end.
This is evident from its being classed with the most prominent
signs, in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and such wonders,
in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, as blood, and fire,
and vapor of smoke.
Of all the blessings which God has bestowed upon his peo
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ple,
the gift of His Son excepted, none have been so sacred, and so
important to their welfare, as the gift of his holy law, and his
Holy Spirit. And none have been so well calculated to thwart the
plans of Satan, and, consequently, to stir his rage, as these. And
when that people should arise in the last generation of men, who
should be observing all ten of the precepts of God’s holy law,
and should recognize the revival of the spirit of prophecy, they
might expect to feel that bitterness from their op
