f the Scriptures. Many who were lacking in faith and
experience, but who had considerable self-sufficiency, and who loved to
hear and tell some new thing, were beguiled by the pretensions of the new
teachers, and they joined the agents of Satan in their work of tearing
down what God had moved Luther to build up. And the Wesleys, and others
who blessed the world by their influence and their faith, encountered at
every step the wiles of Satan in pushing overzealous, unbalanced, and
unsanctified ones into fanaticism of every grade.

William Miller had no sympathy with those influences that led to
fanaticism. He declared, with Luther, that every spirit should be tested
by the word of God. "The devil," said Miller, "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.'... 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.... 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."(646) "The spirit of error will
lead us from the truth; and the Spirit of God will lead us into truth.
But, say you, a man may be in an error, and think he has the truth. What
then? We answer, The Spirit and word agree. If a man judges himself by the
word of God, and finds a perfect harmony through the whole word, then he
must believe he has the truth; but if he finds the spirit by which he is
led does not harmonize with the whole tenor of God's law or book, then let
him walk carefully, lest he be caught in the snare of the devil."(647) "I
have often obtained more evidence of inward piety from a kindling eye, a
wet cheek, and a choked utterance, than from all the noise in
Christendom."(648)

In the days of the Reformation its enemies charged all the evils of
fanaticism upon the very ones who were laboring most earnestly against it.
A similar course was pursued by the opposers of the Advent Movement. And
not content with misrepresenting and exaggerating the errors of extremists
and fanatics, they circulated unfavorable reports that had not the
slightest semblance of truth. These per