make a profession of faith in the second advent while his power controlled their hearts , the greater advantage would he gain by calling attention to them as representatives of the whole body of believers .
Satan is " the accuser of the brethren ," and it is his spirit that inspires men to watch for the errors and defects of the Lord ' s people , and to hold them up to notice , while their good deeds are passed by without a mention . He is always active when God is at work for the salvation of souls . When the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord , Satan comes also among them . In every revival he is ready to bring in those who are unsanctified in heart and unbalanced in mind . When these have accepted some points of truth , and gained a place with believers , he works through them to introduce theories that will deceive the unwary . No man is proved to be a true Christian because he is found in company with the children of God , even in the house of worship and around the table of the Lord . Satan is frequently there upon the most solemn occasions in the form of those whom he can use as his agents .
The prince of evil contests every inch of ground over which God ' s people advance in their journey toward the heavenly city . In all the history of the church no reformation has been carried forward without encountering serious obstacles . Thus it was in Paul ' s day . Wherever the apostle raised up a church , there were some who professed to receive the faith , but who brought in heresies , that , if received , would eventually crowd out the love of the truth . Luther also suffered great perplexity and distress from the course of fanatical persons who claimed that God had spoken directly through them , and who therefore set their own ideas and opinions above the testimony of 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
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