Calvary at Sinai

Chapter 6

“That Terrible Conference”

By August, 1886, Elder Butler was pleading to Sister White in Switzerland, to settle the law issue in Galatians that was facing the church.

Of course it would be quite a shock to me, after studying the question so long and having it seem so clear to me, if it should be shown to you the position I hold was wrong. But I feel sure I would accept it and at least keep quiet if I could not clearly understand it. ... May God guide you, my dear Sister, and if you have light to help me to move carefully, I shall be very glad.

When there was no reply from Ellen White after repeated appeals, Butler complained to her.

But when Dr. Waggoner came out in our pioneer paper with nine long articles directly presenting the subject, I felt that this course could not go on. So I wrote to you several times, but got no reply.

With the General Conference session in Battle Creek approaching, November 18, 1886, Elder Butler wrote an open letter to E. J. Waggoner entitled, The Law in the Book of Galatians. It was distributed to all the delegates of the conference.

Two days before the opening meeting he wrote in ominous tones to Ellen White:

We expect to call our good Signs brethren to an account for the way they have done in reference to some of the disputed points of our faith, the law in Galatians. They have been publishing a lot of articles in the Signs about their position, setting that forth in our pioneer paper as the opinion of this denomination.

Elder Butler sought to maintain strict control over the theological content of the denominational journal, the Signs. He decided to handle the conflict by the appointment of a Theological Committee to discuss the matter and make a recommendation to the general session. Butler explained to Ellen White what transpired within the committee: committee:

Brother E. J. Waggoner came on, . . . loaded for the conflict. The Theological Committee was ordered. I was to act as chairman but declined as I, being a party in the matter might be supposed to favor one side. Elder Haskell was chosen as Chairman and appointed the Committee. It stood four-Haskell, Whitney, Wilcox and Waggoner in favor of the Signs position. Five-Smith, Canright, Covert, J. H. Morrison and self opposed. We had an argument of several hours but neither side was convinced. The question was whether we should take this into the Conference and have a big public fight over it or not. I could not advise it and all thought it would be most unhappy and result only in heat and debate. I did advise and draw up preambles and resolutions bearing upon our public course in such matters.

The split of the committee meant that Butler did not get all he had hoped to gain. Elder S. N. Haskell, president of the California Conference, was chairman of the committee. Elder Butler was frustrated with Haskell's dissimulation:

But Brother Haskell comes on and comes into my private family, enjoying my hospitality throughout the meeting, with Brother B. L. Whitney also both filled with this spirit of opposition. They knew well my feelings. They knew well what perplexity and trouble of mind I had over these things and yet their influence sustained Dr. Waggoner every way they knew how during the whole meeting. Their great effort was to keep Dr. Waggoner from being censured and help him all they could.

Elder Butler had hoped to gain a public censure of Elder Waggoner. What he received was a compromise. The General Conference session passed a resolution which was obviously aimed at Jones and Waggoner. It was directed to editors and teachers in the Adventist school system. The resolution was a slap on their hands. It said, that boards, Sabbath School leaders, and editors of publications should-

. . . not . . . permit doctrinal views not held by a fair majority of our people, to be made part of the public instruction of said schools, or to be published in our denominational papers . . . before they are examined and approved by the leading brethren of experience.

The tensions that existed between brethren over the theological issues was palpable.

Elder Butler looked back upon the 1886 Conference as one of the worst experiences of his life. It literally made him sick. He wrote to Ellen White:

My mind has been much exercised over these things, and I cannot keep them from agitating me much, because the whole matter seemed to me so unjust and inconsistent, but I rallied after two months of sickness, and was finally able to go through that terrible conference [1886] we had here the last held in Battle Creek.

The theological and personal conflict at the conference was so intense it made Elder Butler sick.

Ellen White agreed with him on one thing. She replied to Elder Butler:

You speak, dear brother, of that terrible conference, the last held in Battle Creek, while I was in Switzerland. That conference was presented to me in the night season. My guide said, "Follow me; I have some things to show you." He led me where I was a spectator of the scenes that transpired at that meeting. I was shown the attitude of some of the ministers, yourself in particular, at that meeting, and I can say with you, my brother, it was a terrible conference.

Heaven had recorded the events transpiring within the church and revealed them to Ellen White in far off Europe.

The animosities and rancor that would later flourish in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference were all aroused by the time of the 1886 Battle Creek Conference, primarily over the issue of the law in Galatians 3.