The fruitage of the work of Mrs E. G. White cannot be adequately estimated in words. Its influence and guidance have been the chosen instrument in God's hand to motivate the onward march of the third angel's message in the advent movement. Its timely counsel has many times changed the course of the church away from the perilous pathway of error and defective human judgment, into the channel of truth and wisdom.
In my own personal experience the writings of the Spirit of prophecy have wonderfully helped me to keep more perfectly the proper balance between the enablings of divine energy and the outlay of human effort. 'That inner recuperation which has come through these divinely inspired works has built within me spiritual faith and courage in times of seeming defeat. Through these writings helpful reappraisal of my own life and labor has often come to me amid the surfeit of these restless, pushing, materialistic days, and has removed much distortion from my scale of values.
Speeding along in the work as we do, at a factory-made pace, we are often prevented from sensing the hidden significance and realities of the present hour. To be sure, this rushing stream of life turns the water wheels. But when we wish to catch the reflection of the sky, we must stop beside quiet pools, such as the Bible and the wonderful writings of Sister White, and in their calm depths see heaven mirrored. Hours spent with these books have provided precious periods of meditation such as cannot be found elsewhere. Through their pages it becomes easier to follow the Shepherd who "leadeth me beside the still waters."
Too much cannot be said concerning the marvelous influence of the writings of the Spirit of prophecy from the standpoint of their power to help us repossess ourselves. Life and service often leave us as ministers and workers with "spent" feelings and energies dissipated. These trying, stressful, uncertain times tend to tempt us to doubt and despair, if we are not constantly drinking anew from the fountain of spiritual inspiration. At such times the influence of the Spirit of prophecy comes to me, bidding me compare the complex designs of these days with the simple patterns of God's own counsel. It helps me to recapture the certitudes which have been so clear in fleeting moments of spiritual insight. This wonderful gift helps to steady me in the midst of the fluctuations of feelings and the moods which now and then come to all of us. It makes continuous the hours of exultant faith, wherein one senses the goodness and guidance of God and the real worth of one's fellow men.
The peerless statements of these blessed volumes pull us up out of the lowlands of our perverse nature, and banish the cynical hours when we are tempted to discount the motives of our fellow men and lose interest in noble causes. Above all else, in these pages we touch in an intimate, understandable way the One who alone can sustain our temporary moods of goodness until they become our dominant motives of godliness.
