At the 1901 General Conference, Ellen White had just returned from her ten years of exile to Australia. Although the Lord had abundantly blessed her work there, at the hub of the Church in Battle Creek there had been ever-growing problems. On the opening day of the General Conference, Tuesday, April 2, following the president's address by G. I. Irwin, the Conference was formally opened. No sooner had Irwin asked the question, "What is your pleasure," than Ellen White came forward to speak:
I feel a special interest in the movements and decisions that shall be made at this Conference regarding the things that should have been done years ago, and especially ten years ago [1891], when we were assembled in Conference, and the Spirit and power of God came into our meeting, testifying that God was ready to work for this people if they would come into working order. The brethren assented to the light God had given, but there were those connected with our institutions, especially with the Review and Herald Office and the [General] Conference, who brought in elements of unbelief, so that the light that was given was not acted upon. It was assented to, but no special change was made to bring about such a condition of things that the power of God could be revealed among his people.
The light then given me was that this people should stand higher than any other people on the face of the whole earth, that they should be a loyal people, a people who would rightly represent truth. The sanctifying power of the truth, revealed in their lives, was to distinguish them from the world. They were to stand in moral dignity, having such a close connection with heaven that the Lord God of Israel could give them a place in the earth.
Year after year the same acknowledgment was made, but the principles which exalt a people were not woven into the work. God gave them clear light as to what they should do, and what they should not do, but they departed from that light, and it is a marvel to me that we stand in as much prosperity as we do today. It is because of the great mercy of our God, not because of our righteousness, but that his name should not be dishonored in the world.[1]
The message of righteousness by faith, which had come to the church leadership at the 1888 Minneapolis session and had been convincingly proclaimed far and wide for many years after, would have if fully accepted brought a positive change into every area of individual experience and organized Church work. Through a deeper Christian experience not only would there be a maturing of experiential theological understanding, but positive changes would be seen in organization, finances, publications, education, evangelism, health reform, medical missionary and ministerial work and the general work of beneficence. Nevertheless, through elements of unbelief the light from heaven had only be assented to and the life changing principles were not woven into the work. The prosperity and growth in church membership and expanding institutions was not an indication of an accepted message or of the counsel given, but a reflection of the great mercy of God.
Ellen White continued her comments at the Conference by speaking of some of the problems that still existed in the different institutions in Battle Creek. She stated that "men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be,-that is past. What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle." But it was more than just a structural reorganization that Ellen White was calling for-it was new operating "principles" that were to guide the men leading the Church. The changes would not take place, however, "by entrusting responsibilities to men who have had light poured upon them year after year for the last ten or fifteen years, and yet have not heeded the light that God has given them."[2]* Through the remainder of the Conference, Ellen White would push for both structural and experiential changes.
Both A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner would describe similar conditions that resulted from a mere assent to light and truth, which had not been truly taken to heart in a way that would bring about a change in the life. At the 1893 General Conference Jones had summarized the response to the message of righteousness by faith up to that time:
[W]hen it was presented four years ago [in 1888], and all along since, some accepted it just as it was given, and were glad of the news that God had righteousness that would pass the judgment. ... Others would not have anything to do with it at all but rejected the whole thing. Others seemed to take a middle position. ... And so, all the way between open and free deliberate surrender and acceptance of it, to open, deliberate, and positive rejection of it-all the way between-the compromisers have been scattered ever since; and those who have taken that compromising position are no better prepared tonight to discern what is the message of the righteousness of Christ than they were four years ago.[3]
Years later Jones would once again summarize the response of those who only assented to the message: "But as you know Sr. White stood out openly and strongly all the way for righteousness by faith; and after the [1888] conference was over the preaching of righteousness by faith was followed up by her and Bro. Waggoner and me. ... This went on through the winter and spring. Than when camp-meetings time came we all three visited the camp-meetings with the message of righteousness by faith and religious liberty; sometime all three of us being in the same meeting." The result of their combined labors were well noted, but this did not seem to bring about lasting change. Jones explains: "This turned the tide with the people, and apparently with most of the leading men. But this latter was only apparent; it was never real, for all the time in the General Conference Committee and amongst others there was a secret antagonism always carried on."[4]
Waggoner would also echo the comments Ellen White made at the 1901 conference. Writing to A. G. Daniells in 1903, Waggoner recalled the conditions in America during the years Daniells was in Australia:
Meanwhile things got no better in America [in the 1890s], as you know. ... It was solely due to the fact that while, after much opposition, the denomination had officially accepted the advance truth of the message, they had not taken into practically. They took it in as one of the things that "we as a people believe," but not as a thing by which to conduct business, teach the sciences, etc. They did not see in the light that the Lord sent, a principle that was to solve every problem, and reorganize, or rather, organize, put life into it, the entire work. Worst of all, they did not accept the advancing light of the message. Having made one move, they felt irritated at the intimation that they ought to go on. They thought that they were entitled to credit for great enterprise for getting out of one rut into another. ...
No man ever had a better opening, or started in better, than Brother Olsen did, fourteen years ago last spring. [1889] But he could not stand against the old guard. Then Brother [Irwin] started in under an exceptionally favorable circumstances; and his ministration was speedily demonstrated to be a failure. It is useless to say that the fault was in the man; that is, that they were not good men; they were just as good men and just as sincere Christians as any. ... All that there was wrong about the men if [any] was their inability to see a principle of truth that could solve every problem, and crop every difficult situation. And [so] the old leaven remained and worked.[5]
A. G. Daniells, who would be voted in as president at the 1901 Conference, preached the evening sermon on Sunday, April 14. He spoke of the message of Christ's righteousness that was to go to the world from the Adventists scattered around the globe. "O, that God would touch our lips with a live coal from off his altar!" Daniells proclaimed, "until the righteousness thereof-that righteousness we have talked so much about during the last ten or twelve years-go forth as a lamp that burneth." But while that message had been talked about much, Daniells feared that "somehow we have not laid hold of it as we might, as we ought to. I fear that it has been too much in theory! But I know there is blessed power in it."[6] Daniels would continue to express such thoughts for years to come. The unlimited power of the loud cry and latter rain message had not been realized, although the message had been emphasized for over a decade.
The following evening, April 15, W. W. Prescott would also share his ever-growing convictions of the monumental times in which they lived. He spoke of the examples of history from which lessons could be learned. Knowing that "history repeats itself," Prescott presented from the light of God's Word, "three times when the same set of circumstances led to the same experiences." He covered the time period just before God's people "were carried off into Babylon," the time "just before the destruction of Jerusalem," and the "present time" in 1901. Each of the three periods he covered had been proceeded by the message of righteousness by faith, dire results from rejecting that message, and calls for acknowledgement, confession and repentance to remedy the divine punishment that followed. "And now we are passing the same circumstances over again," Prescott declared. The church was "threatened with destruction. And why?-For the very same reason as in the olden time-because they had refused the truth, because they had refused the message of God, because they had turned away from heart service, and had accepted form and ceremony in place of that working of God's life in the heart and soul."[7]
Prescott now referred his audience back to the law-oriented 1880s and reminded them that "thirteen years ago at Minneapolis, God sent a message to this people to deliver them out of that experience." But getting to the heart of his sermon, Prescott summarized the history of the treatment of that message ever since 1888, and the implications that such treatment called for in 1901:
What has been the history of this people and this work since that time? Where do we stand now with reference to this message? How far has that truth been received-not simply assented to, but actually received?-Not far, I tell you. How far has the ministry of this denomination been baptized into that Spirit?-Not far, I tell you. For the past thirteen years this light has been rejected and turned against by many, and they are rejecting it and turning from it to-day; and I say to every such one, 'Beware lest that come upon you which was spoken of the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish.'"
What is the remedy?-The very same as of old, and no other-repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Lord under those circumstances that I have set forth, what was his message? "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." When Christ himself appeared, and began his work, what did he say?-"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." When he sent out his disciples, the apostles, in his stead, to carry on his work after he ascended, what did they preach?-"Repent ye therefore, and be converted." What are the messages to the churches?-Repent, repent, repent. What is the message to the Laodicean church?-"Be zealous therefore and repent."[8]
Yet as Prescott had observed during the Conference, which was now nearing the final week, the repentance God was calling for had not taken place. Were they following in the footsteps of the first two examples found in Scripture?
I have not seen and do not see now in this Conference, that real response to the message that God has sent to us, that will be of any effective result in his work. I am willing to face the fact, but it is a fact. I say that there ought to come upon us ministers of the word of Jesus Christ, such a spirit of repentance as many of us have not known for many years. There ought to be a work wrought at this Conference that we have seen no signs of yet. I have prayed and prayed, that God would work it; and he is the only one who can work it. I say to my brethren in the ministry, as well as to others, If we go away from this Conference, this crisis in God's work, this time when we, God's people, stand for the third and the last time facing that very experience that we have studied in the scripture-if we go away from this Conference without a decided and most marked change coming over us different from what we have had-may God pity his people and work!
Perhaps you think I am speaking too plainly, but I say to you, my brethren, my soul is burdened under this, and I must deliver my message. I believe that God by the messages from his word, by the messages from his servant [Ellen White], has spoken here words that ought to make ears tingle. If the word that has been spoken here ought not to make our ears tingle and bring us down in repentance and humility before God, what ever can do it? Yet it has not come, and here we are, two thirds of the way through this Conference. Is it going on in this way until the close of this Conference? Are we going back without power, without new light? Are we going back to go through these same experiences over again?[9]
As Prescott neared the close of his sermon, he assured his ministerial brethren that the message was the same after thirteen years: righteousness by faith. Yet not as a theory but as an experience that will change the heart. Thus the changes that were needed in organization would not bring about the desired changes if they didn't include an inward change. Was it not the duty of the ministers to lead the way?
The message is just as simple. "The just shall live by faith." ... That is the message now. That is the message which came to this people thirteen years ago, and it has been held off and been held off as if it were not the message; and it is the message. And those who have been shutting their eyes to it, lo these many years, I fear that they will never see it clearly. I fear that there are those who have actually lost the power of discernment so they will not be able to know the message now, to discern the truth; but can this work, and this people be led out of its present confused, dark, and discouraged condition by any such leading [men] and teaching as that? I tell you no. God must work. He must put the power on someone who is willing to receive it, who will stand forth and give the message with clearness and power and lead the way out of the confusion and darkness.
It will not be by outward form of organization. Our minds have been busily occupied during the last week formulating plans for organization, and my own spiritual sense has said to me that we have been losing ground in the work of organization. Do not think that it will be by change of plan, by change of administration, by a new way of doing things. The change that is needed is a complete change of heart. When a complete change of heart comes to God's ministry, the power that is in that will sweep away all these extraneous things. ... It is not in this outward form and plan of operation. That is all right, it ought to be changed; but if our minds are resting upon that, the work will not be accomplished that way. ...
If God does not help us, who will? and if he does not give us his Spirit of true repentance and of turning to him, who will? My brethren in the ministry, shall we not lead the way for the people? I ask every one here, every minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, called to a high or a low calling, Shall we not lead the people in the way they should go? Is it not time for us to take God's message to our own selves, and to know that he is speaking to us, and means us, and is waiting for a response from us?[10]
Prescott's concern about outward organizational changes being made without a heart change should be well noted. Although such changes would be beneficial to the church for years to come, they would not answer the underlying conditions which were holding back the promises of God. The 1901 conference ended one week later on April 23, and with great organizational changes, at least structurally speaking.
Ellen White who had feared greatly for the outcome of the Conference stated on the final day that she "was never more astonished in my life than at the turn things have taken at this meeting. This is not our work. God has brought it about." How had this taken place? God had sent his angels to give them "right and peaceable minds. They have been among us to work the works of God, to keep back the powers of darkness, that the work God designed should be done should not be hindered."[11] Although the 1901 General Conference ended with a note victory, it would soon be seen that the changes Ellen White was really hoping for-and all heaven too, for that matter-had not taken place.[12]*
1901 in Retrospect
In December of 1901, Ellen White gives a hint that still, even after the changes made at the General Conference, all was not well. Writing to P. T. Magan during his early endeavors to re-establish the college from Battle Creek to Berrien Springs, Michigan, she reminded him amidst his struggles that "the hand of providence is holding the machinery." And it was only when His hand "starts the wheel then all things will begin to move." However, Ellen White also made it clear as she surveyed the past, that it wasn't God's fault that the wheel of progress was being held back:
His people have been far behind. Human agencies under the divine planning may recover something of what is lost because the people who had great light did not have corresponding piety, sanctification, and zeal in working out God's specified plans. They have lost to their own disadvantage what they might have gained to the advancement of the truth if they had carried out the plans and will of God. Man cannot possibly stretch over that gulf that has been made by the workers who have not been following the divine Leader.
We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel, but for Christ's sake, His people should not add sin to sin (Isa. 30:1) [13]* by charging God with the consequence of their own wrong course of action.[14]
That wrong course of action and insubordination included much more than just that which had taken place in the educational work at Battle Creek-which Magan and others were now trying to remedy. It especially included the course of action taken at Minneapolis and following, which had affected so many other areas of God's work in the church over the years. Yet all of these problems could have been resolved had there been Laodicean repentance and an accepting of God's true remedies. Writing to the new General Conference Committee and the Medical Missionary Board the following summer, Ellen White expressed these very thoughts in the context of the 1901 General Conference:
A wonderful work could have been done for the vast company gathered in Battle Creek at the General Conference of 1901, if the leaders of our work had taken themselves in hand. Had thorough work been done at this conference; had there been, as God designed there should be, a breaking up of the fallow ground of the heart by the men who had been bearing responsibilities; had they, in humility of soul, led out in the work of confession and consecration, giving evidence that they received the counsels and warnings sent by the Lord to correct their mistakes, there would have been one of the greatest revivals that there has been since the day of Pentecost.
But the work that all heaven was waiting to do as soon as men prepared the way, was not done; for the leaders in the work closed and bolted the door against the Spirit's entrance. There was a stopping short of entire surrender to God. Hearts that might have been purified from error were strengthened in wrong doing. The doors were barred against the heavenly current that would have swept away all evil. Men left their sins unconfessed. They built themselves up in their wrong doing, and said to the Spirit of God, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee."
The Lord calls for the close self-examination to be made now, that was not made at the last General Conference, when He was waiting to be gracious. The present is our sowing time for eternity. We must reap the fruit of the evil seed we sow, unless we repent the sowing, and ask forgiveness for the mistakes we have made. Those who, given opportunity to repent and reform, pass over the ground without humbling the heart before God, without putting away that which He reproves, will become hardened against the counsel of the Lord Jesus.[15]
Ellen White made it evident that if the proper work had been done in 1901, a thorough repentance would have taken place for the mistakes that had been made over the last decade, and the Holy Spirit would have been poured out in Pentecostal measure. But alas, that work had not been done.
In February of 1902, Uriah Smith, reinstated editor of the Review, made it obvious that old controversies had not yet been laid to rest and unbelief was still being directed toward the Minneapolis message. Smith ran a three-part series in the Review by W. M. Brickey, which once again brought into question the positions of Jones and Waggoner on the law in Galatians and the covenants-key components to the 1888 message which Ellen White had supported.[16]* A. G. Daniells, General Conference president, declared to W. C. White that the articles were "as crooked and unsound as they could be," and that they "were an open and vicious attack on the message of righteousness by faith presented at Minneapolis." He could not understand how Smith could "proclaim his unbounded confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy, and reject the Minneapolis message" at the same time. Yet it wasn't just Smith that Daniells was concerned about, but "the whole brood of old-covenant men who are continually raising doubts and unbelief regarding the light that came at the Minneapolis meeting."[17]*
Ellen White would eventually respond to the threatening controversy in November, 1902. Years before, she had related heaven-sent counsel to Smith, informing him that an unwillingness to accept the truth that the law in Galatians was primarily speaking of the moral law, lay at the foundation of the opposition to the message as presented by Jones and Waggoner. By such actions Satan had succeeded in shutting away the latter rain power which would have enabled them to share the loud cry message with the world. And the very light of the loud cry message had in a great degree been resisted by many of the brethren, in which Smith played a significant part.[18] Now was not the time to revive old controversies and make this a test question of church fellowship, and over an issue that had already thwarted the Holy Spirit and delayed the Lord's return.
Ellen White ardently warned the brethren: "Never should that which God has not given as a test be carried as was the subject of the law in Galatians. I have been instructed that the terrible experience at the Minneapolis Conference is one of the saddest chapters in the history of the believers in present truth."[19]
One month later, Ellen White was still losing sleep at night as the condition of God's people, "both ministers and lay members," was brought to her attention. In a long manuscript written to those in the ministry, Ellen White declared that in "every church in our land" there was need for "confession, repentance, and conversion." Unless this was to take place "speedily," the deceptions of the last days "would overtake them," and light would soon become darkness and darkness light:
God calls for repentance without delay. So long have many trifled with salvation that their spiritual eyesight is dimmed, and they cannot discern between light and darkness. Christ is humiliated in His people. The first love is gone; the faith is weak, there is need of a thorough transformation. ...
Self-righteousness is not the wedding garment. A failure to follow the clear light of truth is our fearful danger. The message to the Laodicean church reveals our condition as a people. Give heed to this message. [Revelation 3:14-18 quoted.]
Oh, what a description! How many there are in this fearful condition. I earnestly entreat every minister to study diligently the third chapter of Revelation, for in it is portrayed the condition of things existing in the last days. Study carefully every verse in this chapter, for through these words Jesus is speaking to you.
If ever a people were represented by the Laodicean message, it is the people who have had great light, the revelation of the Scriptures, that Seventh-day Adventists have received. In the place of exalting self by manifesting pride, self-reliance, and self-importance; in the place of revealing personal weakness of character by remaining proud, boastful, and unconverted; God's professed people should realize their need of the graces of the Spirit of truth and righteousness.[20]
To continue in the Laodicean condition, refusing to repent, was not only a detriment to the people of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it was humiliating to Christ. Such a condition would only continue to prolong the great controversy with Satan, with all his accusations against the government of God. In what might be one of the most heart wrenching statements Ellen White ever wrote in regard to the feelings of Jesus over our continued Laodicean condition, she positively declared: "the disappointment of Christ is beyond description."
Although Ellen White had an intense desire to see the church "walking in the light, as Christ is in the light," and prayed most earnestly for the brethren to this end, she did not "fail to see that the light God has given me is not favorable to our ministers or our churches." Such attitudes toward the work God had given her to do revealed that needed changes had not taken place at the 1901 Conference. She now indicated she no longer had a desire to attend the next General Conference, in March of 1903:
My brethren, I feel great sorrow of heart. I shall not appear before you again in our general gatherings unless I am impressed by the Spirit of God that I should. The last General Conference that I attended [in 1901] gave you all the evidence that you will ever have in any meeting that shall be convened. If that meeting did not convince you that God is working by His Spirit through His humble servant, it is because the candlestick has been removed out of its place. I thought that after the last General Conference there would be a change of heart, but during that meeting the work was not done that ought to have been done that God might come in, nor has this work been done since that time. God is knocking at the door of the heart; but as yet the door has not opened to let Him enter and take full possession of the soul-temple.[21]
So it was that nearly two years after the 1901 General Conference, the heart work that should have been done had still been left undone, and primarily due to a reluctance to listen to the True Witness' call to repentance given through His Testimonies. Two weeks later, Ellen White would once again be brought to realize the enormity of such conditions, this time through a dream she had while writing on the failed reform following the 1901 General Conference:
One day at noon I was writing of the work that might have been done at the last General Conference if the men in positions of trust had followed the will and way of God. Those who have had great light have not walked in the light. The meeting was closed, and the break was not made. Men did not humble themselves before the Lord as they should have done, and the Holy Spirit was not imparted. I had written thus far when I lost consciousness, and I seemed to be witnessing a scene in Battle Creek.
We were assembled in the auditorium of the Tabernacle. Prayer was offered, a hymn was sung, and prayer was again offered. Most earnest supplication was made to God. The meeting was marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The work went deep, and some present were weeping aloud.
One arose from his bowed position and said that in the past he had not been in union with certain ones and had felt no love for them, but that now he saw himself as he was. With great solemnity he repeated the message to the Laodicean church: "'Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.' In my self-sufficiency this is just the way I felt," he said. "'And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' I now see that this is my condition. My eyes are opened. My spirit has been hard and unjust. I thought myself righteous, but my heart is broken, and I see my need of the precious counsel of the One who has searched me through and through. Oh, how gracious and compassionate and loving are the words, 'I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.'" Revelation 3:17, 18.
The speaker turned to those who had been praying, and said: "We have something to do. We must confess our sins, and humble our hearts before God." He made heartbroken confessions and then stepped up to several of the brethren, one after another, and extended his hand, asking forgiveness. Those to whom he spoke sprang to their feet, making confession and asking forgiveness, and they fell upon one another's necks, weeping. The spirit of confession spread through the entire congregation. It was a Pentecostal season. God's praises were sung, and far into the night, until nearly morning, the work was carried on.[22]
Ellen White no doubt had feelings of unutterable joy as she witnessed such a scene, as the work of confession went on: "No one seemed to be too proud to make heartfelt confession, and those who led in this work were the ones who had influence, but had not before had courage to confess their sins. There was rejoicing such as never before had been heard in the Tabernacle." As Ellen White aroused from her unconsciousness, for a short while she could not think of where she was. Her pen remained in her hand. And then the words were spoken: "'This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.'" Ellen White "thought of where we might have been had thorough work been done at the last [1901] General Conference, and an agony of disappointment came over me as I realized that what I had witnessed was not a reality."[23]*
Two weeks later, Ellen White wrote to Jude Jesse Arthur, a man who had little experience with her gift of prophecy. In the course of encouraging him not to be pulled in with the questioners of that gift, she assured him of how God had been sustaining her in her work:
His power was with me all the way through the last General Conference, and had the men in responsibility felt one quarter of the burden that rested on me, there would have been heartfelt confession and repentance. A work would have been done by the Holy Spirit such as has never yet been seen in Battle Creek. Those who at that time heard my message, and refused to humble their hearts before God, are without excuse. No greater proof will ever come to them.
The result of the last General Conference has been the greatest, the most terrible, sorrow of my life. No change was made. The spirit that should have been brought into the whole work as the result of that meeting was not brought in because men did not receive the testimonies of the Spirit of God. As they went to their several fields of labor, they did not walk in the light that the Lord had flashed upon their pathway, but carried into their work the wrong principles that had been prevailing in the work at Battle Creek.
The Lord has marked every movement made by the leading men in our institutions and conferences. It is a perilous thing to reject the light that God sends. To Chorazin and Bethsaida heaven's richest blessings had been freely offered. ... But they refused the heavenly Gift. ... So today upon those who have had light and evidence, but who have refused to heed the Lord's warnings and entreaties, heaven's woe is pronounced.[24]
Ellen White was obviously not talking about structural changes in organization, which did take place in 1901. She was talking about the "spirit that should have been brought into the whole work."
On February 18, 1902, the main Battle Creek Sanitarium building-the hospital-had burned down. Ten months later, on December 30, 1902, the Review and Herald experienced the same fate. Ellen White was led, against her earlier feelings, to attend the General Conference a few months later in Oakland, California. While there her attention was drawn in the night season to the story of Josiah, which was presented to her as a lesson that she "should bring to the attention of [the] Conference." She would thus share these thoughts before the General Conference on April 1, 1903.
King Josiah was true to the God of Israel. "He did not repeat his father's sin in walking in the way of unrighteousness," Ellen White instructed. He had chosen not to walk in the errors of his ancestry but to try and build up the worship of God. When Josiah found the book of the law (Deuteronomy) and read for the first time the blessings and curses, he rent his clothing, realizing that Israel for centuries had walked contrary to God's commandments. He realized that the cumulative sins of the nation were about to bring upon them the speedy judgments of God. As Ellen White continued to share the story to those gathered before her at the Conference, she drew parallels to Adventism in their day:
As [Josiah] had in the past seen the idolatry and the impiety existing among them, he had been much troubled. Now as he read in the book of the law of the punishment that would surely follow such practices, great sorrow filled his heart. Never before had he so fully realized God's abhorrence for sin. ...
The king did not pass the matter by as of little consequence. To the priests and the other men in holy office he gave the command, "Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not harkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that is written concerning us." Josiah did not say, "I knew nothing about this book. These are ancient precepts, and times have changed." He appointed men to investigate the matter, and these men went to Huldah, the prophetess. ...
Today God is watching His people. We should seek to find out what He means when He sweeps away our sanitarium and our publishing house. Let us not move along as if there were nothing wrong. King Josiah rent his robe and rent his heart. He wept and mourned because he had not had the book of the law, and knew not of the punishments that it threatened. God wants us to come to our senses. He wants us to seek for the meaning of the calamities that have overtaken us, that we may not tread in the footsteps of Israel, and say, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are we," when we are not this at all.[25]
As Ellen White continued, she applied such counsel to the work that should have been done at the last General Conference in 1901, which was still waiting to be done then:
In every institution among us there needs to be a reformation. This is the message that at the last General Conference I bore as the word of the Lord. At that meeting I carried a very heavy burden, and I have carried it ever since. We did not gain the victory that we might have gained at that meeting. Why?-Because there were so few who followed the course of Josiah. There were those at that meeting who did not see the work that needed to be done. If they had confessed their sins, if they had made a break, if they had taken their stand on vantage ground, the power of God would have gone through the meeting, and we should have had a Pentecostal season.
The Lord has shown me what might have been had the work been done that ought to have been done. In the night season I was present in a meeting where brother was confessing to brother. Those present fell upon one another's necks, and made heart-broken confessions. The Spirit and power of God were revealed. No one seemed too proud to bow before God in humility and contrition. Those who led in this work were the ones who had not before had the courage to confess their sins. This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.[26]
A short time after the fire had destroyed the Review and Herald Office, an article by Ellen White was printed in the Review, "in which it was plainly stated that the destruction of the Sanitarium and the Review Office by fire was a visitation from God on account of the persistent departure from his ways, and the failure to act upon the warning and instruction which had been given for many years through the spirit of prophecy."[27] Ellen White pled with those in Battle Creek who had "resisted light and evidence, refusing to listen to God's warnings," that they would see in the "destruction of the Review and Herald Office an appeal to them from God to turn to Him with full purpose of heart."[28] Yet, a short time after the 1903 General Conference session, at a "meeting of the stockholders of the Review and Herald, the statement was reiterated before a public audience that these fires were not the judgments of God."[29]
Shortly after the above meeting occurred, W. W. Prescott spoke to a large gathering at the Battle Creek Tabernacle on Sabbath, May 9. Here, he directed the Adventist audience to the book of Jeremiah, "dealing with the experience connected with the destruction and overthrow of Jerusalem, with the hope that we may mark well the real cause of its overthrow and the captivity of the people." As Prescott got to the heart of his message, he recalled for his listeners the dealings of God with His people since the Minneapolis session:
Those who are familiar with the circumstances of our work and our institutions here, especially for the last ten or fifteen years, need not be reminded of the many words of warning and instruction which the Lord has sent to us through His chosen mouthpiece, until the judgment of God has fallen upon us for our failure to obey, and it is utterly useless, and worse than useless, to attempt to hide this from our own eyes or from the eyes of the world. What we might have saved by heeding the words of instruction and warning has now become a public calamity upon us, but in spite of all this there are still voices raised which say this is no judgment upon us. Now it is time for those who fear God to respond to His instruction, and warning, and counsel. [Voices, "Amen."] I believe it is time for God's people to rise up in response, and make answer that they believe in the Lord their God, even when He visits them with judgments. I believe it is time that this people and this church openly and publicly should take their stand in response to these words of instruction and warning, and acknowledge before God and the world that the Lord has visited us in judgment, and that we do repent and turn to Him.[30]
The attitudes and actions of those who had refused the Minneapolis message over the previous decade had spread a debilitating effect on the success of the Church in nearly every capacity. The greatest evil had resulted from the disregard of heaven-sent counsel, given for every aspect of life and church responsibility, due to the growing unbelief in the Spirit of Prophecy following the Minneapolis rebellion. One thing was certain-although great changes in organizational structure were brought about at the 1901 General Conference, changes which remain with us today, the Laodicean repentance and latter rain experience never occurred. By 1903 challenges of every kind faced the church. Unfortunately, the two Minneapolis messengers, Jones and Waggoner, soon fell away from the church, largely due to the constant opposition which they had endured since 1886. Both had unfortunately become caught up with the departing Kellogg. Waggoner had imbibed Kellogg's pantheistic ideas by 1899, and Jones had joined him in his rebellion against the organized church by 1905, both no longer listening to the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy through Ellen White.[31]* Even Prescott, who had worked so powerfully in the 1890s, began to question the validity of Ellen White's gift shortly before her death.[32] Ellen White would go to her death in 1915, without living to see the Second Coming she had long awaited; the blessed latter rain having been thwarted and ultimately withdrawn.
Notes: