During the persecution of Meaux, the teachers of the reformed faith were deprived of their license to preach, and they departed to other fields. Lefevre after a time made his way to Germany. Farel returned to his native town in eastern France, to spread the light in the home of his childhood. Already tidings had been received of what was going on at Meaux, and the truth, which he taught with fearless zeal, found listeners. Soon the authorities were roused to silence him, and he was banished from the city. Though he could no longer labor publicly, he traversed the plains and villages, teaching in private dwellings and in secluded meadows, and finding shelter in the forests and among the rocky caverns which had been his haunts in boyhood. God was preparing him for greater trials. “The crosses, persecutions, and machinations of Satan, of which I was forewarned, have not been wanting,” he said; “they are even much severer than I could have borne of myself; but God is my Father; He has prov…
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word."
Both passages describe believers being scattered and continuing to preach the word despite persecution. The Acts passage is a general statement, while the EGW passage provides a specific example of Farel's ministry.
"As in apostolic days, persecution had “fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” Philippians 1:12 . Driven from Paris and Meaux, “they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” Acts 8:4 . And thus the light found its way into many of the remote provinces of France. GC 219.2"
"But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;"
Ellen White directly references Philippians 1:12 in this passage.
"Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word."
Ellen White directly references Acts 8:4 in this passage.
"God was still preparing workers to extend His cause. In one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet youth, already giving evidence of a powerful and penetrating mind, and no less marked for the blamelessness of his life than for intellectual ardor and religious devotion. His genius and application soon made him the pride of the college, and it was confidently anticipated that John Calvin would become one of the ablest and most honored defenders of the church. But a ray of divine light penetrated even within the walls of scholasticism and superstition by which Calvin was enclosed. He heard of the new doctrines with a shudder, nothing doubting that the heretics deserved the fire to which they were given. Yet all unwittingly he was brought face to face with the heresy and forced to test the power of Romish theology to combat the Protestant teaching. GC 219.3"
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;"
Both passages illustrate God using unexpected individuals or circumstances to advance His purposes. In 1 Corinthians, it's the 'foolish' and 'weak,' while in the EGW passage, it's Calvin, initially a defender of the church, being exposed to Protestant teachings.