A little History on the book SP1 or Spirit Of Prophecy Volume 1
The years passed, the number of believers rapidly increased, and there was a call for the republication of the little Spiritual Gifts volumes, which the people had learned to love. Mrs. White, however, felt that she could not consent to this. Since their publication she had been favored with revelations in which many of the views had been repeated in more detail; so she pleaded for time and opportunity to present the subjects more completely before they were published again. Definite plans were laid for a series of four volumes, of about four hundred pages each, to contain a fuller account of the great conflict from its inception to its close, to be published under the general title of Spirit of Prophecy.
The work on this new series moved forward more slowly than had been anticipated. James White’s recovery from a severe stroke in 1865 was long and tedious, and caring for him drew heavily on Mrs. White’s time and strength. Volume 1, which was issued in 1870, told the conflict story from the fall of Lucifer and the Creation to the time of Solomon, paralleling with some expansion the account as published in 1864 in Spiritual Gifts, Volumes 3 and 4. Again James White furnished an introduction dealing with the present-day manifestation of the gift of prophecy. This statement he also published in the Review and Herald.
Volume 2, issued in 1877, dealt with the life and work of Christ to the story of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Volume 3, published the next year, completed the life of Christ and carried the story to the midst of the ministry of Paul. It closes on page 392 with the chapter “Opposition at Thessalonica.” Ellen White and the publishers endeavored to keep each of the volumes at approximately 400 pages.
It had been her plan, as she undertook the preparation of Volume 4, to resume the story of The Acts of the Apostles where it was left at the end of Volume 3, for she had prepared the chapters completing the story of the early Christian church, concluding with the martyrdom of Paul and Peter. She was, however, instructed by the Lord in vision to adopt the plan now seen in The Great Controversy and begin the fourth volume with the account of the destruction of Jerusalem. The reason for this soon became apparent. But this created a gap in the story as already published, and Mrs. White was left with five unused chapters. These were introduced in the second printing of Volume 3, bringing it from 392 pages to 442. Thus the full account of the life of Jesus and the work of the apostles was neatly confined to the two volumes, Spirit of Prophecy, Volumes 2 and 3.
From the Book Spirit of Prophecy Volume 1 starting page 81 tells us what is to come out of the earth.
"Before the flood there were immense forests. The trees were many times larger than any trees which we now see. They were of great durability. They would know nothing of decay for hundreds of years. At the time of the flood, these forests were torn up or broken down and buried in the earth. In some places large quantities of these immense trees were thrown together and covered with stones and earth by the commotions of the flood. They have since petrified and become coal, which accounts for the large coal beds which are now found. This coal has produced oil. God causes large quantities of coal and oil to ignite and burn. Rocks are intensely heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. Water and fire under the surface of the earth meet. The action of water upon the limestone adds fury to the intense heat, and causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery issues. The action of fire and water upon the ledges of rocks and ore causes loud explosions which sound like muffled thunder. These wonderful exhibitions will be more numerous and terrible just before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, as signs of its speedy destruction. 1SP 81.3
Coal and oil are generally to be found where there are no burning mountains or fiery issues. When fire and water under the surface of the earth meet, the fiery issues cannot give sufficient vent to the heated elements beneath. The earth is convulsed, the ground heaves, and rises into swells or waves, and there are heavy sounds like thunder under ground. The air is heated, and suffocating. The earth quickly opens, and I saw villages, cities and burning mountains carried down together into the earth. 1SP 82.1
God controls all these elements; they are his instruments to do his will; he calls them into action to serve his purpose. These fiery issues have been, and will be, his agents to blot out from the earth very wicked cities. Like Korah, Dathan and Abiram, they go down alive into the pit. These are evidences of God’s power. Those who have beheld these burning mountains pouring forth fire, and flame, and a vast amount of melted ore, drying up rivers and causing them to disappear, have been struck with terror at the grandeur of the scene. They have been filled with awe as though they were beholding the infinite power of God.1SP 82.2
These manifestations bear the special marks of God’s power, and are designed to cause the people of the earth to tremble before him, and to silence those who, like Pharaoh, would proudly say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” Isaiah refers to these exhibitions of God’s power where he exclaims, “Oh! that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.” Isaiah 64:1-3. 1SP 83.1
“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, 1SP 83.2
and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” Nahum 1:3-6. 1SP 83.2
“Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.” Psalm 144:5, 6. 1SP 84.1
Greater wonders than have yet been seen will be witnessed by those upon the earth a short period previous to the coming of Christ. “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.” “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” 1SP 84.2
The bowels of the earth were the Lord’s arsenal, from which he drew forth the weapons he employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters in the bowels of the earth gushed forth, and united with the waters from heaven, to accomplish the work of destruction. Since the flood, God has used both water and fire in the earth as his agents to destroy wicked cities. 1SP 84.3
In the day of the Lord, just before the coming of Christ, God will send lightnings from heaven in his wrath, which will unite with fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and will pour forth terrible streams of lava, destroying gardens and fields, villages and cities; and as they pour their melted ore, rocks and heated mud, into the rivers, will cause them to boil like a pot, and send forth massive rocks, and scatter their broken fragments upon the land with indescribable violence. Whole rivers will be dried up. The earth will be convulsed, and there will be dreadful eruptions and earthquakes everywhere. God will plague the wicked inhabitants of the earth until they are destroyed from off it. The saints are preserved in the earth in the midst of these dreadful commotions, as Noah was preserved in the ark at the time of the flood. 1SP 84.4
"From the Book Spirit of Prophecy Volume 1 starting page 81 tells us what is to come out of the earth.
"Before the flood there were immense forests. The trees were many times larger than any trees which we now see. They were of great durability. They would know nothing of decay for hundreds of years. At the time of the flood, these forests were torn up or broken down and buried in the earth. In some places large quantities of these immense trees were thrown together and covered with stones and earth by the commotions of the flood. They have since petrified and become coal, which accounts for the large coal beds which are now found. This coal has produced oil. God causes large quantities of coal and oil to ignite and burn. Rocks are intensely heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. Water and fire under the surface of the earth meet. The action of water upon the limestone adds fury to the intense heat, and causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery issues. The action of fire and water upon the ledges of rocks and ore causes loud explosions which sound like muffled thunder. These wonderful exhibitions will be more numerous and terrible just before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, as signs of its speedy destruction. 1SP 81.3 Coal and oil are generally to be found where there are no burning mountains or fiery issues. When fire and water under the surface of the earth meet, the fiery issues cannot give sufficient vent to the heated elements beneath. The earth is convulsed, the ground heaves, and rises into swells or waves, and there are heavy sounds like thunder under ground. The air is heated, and suffocating. The earth quickly opens, and I saw villages, cities and burning mountains carried down together into the earth. 1SP 82.1
God controls all these elements; they are his instruments to do his will; he calls them into action to serve his purpose. These fiery issues have been, and will be, his agents to blot out from the earth very wicked cities. Like Korah, Dathan and Abiram, they go down alive into the pit. These are evidences of God’s power. Those who have beheld these burning mountains pouring forth fire, and flame, and a vast amount of melted ore, drying up rivers and causing them to disappear, have been struck with terror at the grandeur of the scene. They have been filled with awe as though they were beholding the infinite power of God.1SP 82.2
These manifestations bear the special marks of God’s power, and are designed to cause the people of the earth to tremble before him, and to silence those who, like Pharaoh, would proudly say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” Isaiah refers to these exhibitions of God’s power where he exclaims, “Oh! that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.” Isaiah 64:1-3. 1SP 83.1“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, 1SP 83.2
and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” Nahum 1:3-6. 1SP 83.2
“Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.” Psalm 144:5, 6. 1SP 84.1
The bowels of the earth were the Lord’s arsenal, from which he drew forth the weapons he employed in the destruction of the old world. Waters in the bowels of the earth gushed forth, and united with the waters from heaven, to accomplish the work of destruction. Since the flood, God has used both water and fire in the earth as his agents to destroy wicked cities. 1SP 84.3
In the day of the Lord, just before the coming of Christ, God will send lightnings from heaven in his wrath, which will unite with fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and will pour forth terrible streams of lava, destroying gardens and fields, villages and cities; and as they pour their melted ore, rocks and heated mud, into the rivers, will cause them to boil like a pot, and send forth massive rocks, and scatter their broken fragments upon the land with indescribable violence. Whole rivers will be dried up. The earth will be convulsed, and there will be dreadful eruptions and earthquakes everywhere. God will plague the wicked inhabitants of the earth until they are destroyed from off it. The saints are preserved in the earth in the midst of these dreadful commotions, as Noah was preserved in the ark at the time of the flood. 1SP 84.4
