“During Mr. Miller’s confinement by his sickness, he had not come in contact with any of these things; but, on his last tour into Massachusetts, he had seen something of it, and took the earliest opportunity to do his duty respecting it, by a prompt disclaimer. Before reaching home, he stopped a day at Castleton, Vt., and wrote the following letter, which was published in the Signs of the Times of November 8, 1843:—
“‘Dear Brother: My heart was deeply pained, during my tour east, to see in some few of my former friends a proneness to wild and foolish extremes and vain delusions, such as working miracles, discerning of spirits, vague and loose views on sanctification, &c.
“‘As it respects the working of miracles, I have no faith in those who pretend beforehand that they can work miracles. See Rev. 13:13, 14: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” Whenever God has seen fit to work miracles, the instruments have seemingly been unconscious of having the power, until the work was done. They have, in no instance that I recollect, proclaimed as with a trumpet that they could or would work a miracle. Moses and the apostles were more modest than these modern pretenders to this power. You may depend upon it, whosoever claims the power has the spirit of Antichrist. Rev. 16:14: “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
“‘I know they pretend to prove that men are to have this power unto the end of the world, by Mark 16:17. But take the whole passage together, and what does it prove? Not that all believers can do these miracles, but that these miracles would follow those who believe; that is, those who believed in the record that God had given would, in the apostolic age, have a confirmation of the truth of that word by those miracles, which would follow them.[25] The word would be thus confirmed by miracles, performed by prophets and apostles, who were inspired to write the Old and New Testaments. I see no reason for the working of miracles in this age; “for if they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither would they believe though one should arise from the dead.” Since the apostles’ day, none have worked miracles but the anti-Christian beast.
“‘The discerning of spirits is, I fear, another fanatical movement to draw off Adventists from the truth, and to lead men to depend on the feeling, exercise, and conceit of their own mind, more than on the word of God. It builds up a spirit of pride and self-righteousness, and thus loses sight of the humbling doctrine, to account others better than ourselves. If all Christians were to possess this gift, how should we live by faith? Each would stand upon the spiritual gifts of his brother, and, if possessed of the true Spirit of God, could never err. Surely the devil has great power over the minds of some at the present day. And how shall we know what manner of spirit they are of? The Bible answers: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Then it is not by the spirit.
“‘I think those who claim this power will soon manifest, by their fruits, that they have another rule than the Bible. I have observed that those persons who think that they have been baptized by the Holy Ghost, as they term it, become more sensitive of themselves, and very jealous for their own glory; less patient, and full of the denunciatory spirit against others who are not so fortunate as themselves. There are many spirits gone out into the world; and we are commanded to try the spirits. The spirit that does not cause us to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, is not the spirit of Christ. I am more and more convinced that Satan has much to do in these wild movements. He has come down, having great wrath, knowing he hath but a short time; and he will, if possible, deceive the very elect.
“‘On sanctification I have but little at present to say. Sanctification has two prominent meanings in Scripture: setting apart for holy purposes; and being cleansed from all sin and pollution. Every soul converted to God is sanctified in the first sense. He devotes himself to God, to love, serve, and obey him forever. Every one who obtains complete redemption, body, soul, and spirit, is sanctified in the second sense. The first kind is, or ought to be, now enjoyed by every true believer in Christ. The other will never be accomplished till the resurrection of the just, when these vile bodies shall be changed. We are sanctified, in the first sense, through faith and a knowledge of the truth; and, in my opinion, are not perfect until we are perfect in faith and knowledge of the word of God. Yet many among us, who pretend to be wholly sanctified, are following the traditions of men, and apparently are as ignorant of truth as others who make no such pretensions, and are not half so modest. I must confess that they have to me an appearance of boasting.
“‘I would not judge harshly; but I cannot see any reason to believe them any more holy than many others who make no such claims. I would say nothing to prevent any man or woman from living holy. This is what we are all seeking after, and what I expect to attain, when Christ shall come and blot out my sins, according to his promise. Acts 3:19. I think those with whom I have conversed, who pretend to have obtained this grace, instead of enjoying more than others, labor, in their arguments, to lower down the standard of holiness to their present capacity. Instead of looking for a blessed hope at the appearing of Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, and raise our capacity to enjoy and adore him forever, in an infinitely higher state of perfection, they think they are actually enjoying all the promises now, and are not in need of any further work of grace to give them a right to the eternal inheritance of the saints.
“‘If this be so, and we are truly perfect, sanctified, and prepared for our possession in Heaven, then every moment we are debarred our right of entering and taking possession of our inheritance would be an illegal withholding of us from our just rights of participating in the enjoyment of the will of our blessed Master. But it is not so. We are minors, and subjects of chastisements. Prov. 3:11, 12: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” Heb. 12:5-9: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?”