As the organization of churches followed rather quickly the evangelistic efforts of Seventh-day Adventist ministers, church leaders often dealt with men and women who had recently come into the Adventist faith from various religious backgrounds or from no religious background at all. Many had much to learn and experience. What is more, this was the "remnant" church of the last days, against which Satan had declared war. In the Eastern States the progress was slow but steady. In the Western States organization was undertaken under the leadership of ministers who held variant views and positions; some were extreme and others were lax.
In Michigan there was steady and gratifying progress, with the Battle Creek church leading out. But in nearby States there were trouble spots. In Iowa at the turn of the year some members were involved in rebellion. In Ohio there were opposition and disunion. In Wisconsin fanaticism had reigned; T. M. Steward and his wife had been involved in spurious visions, and problems still loomed.
Announcement was made of the availability of Testimony No. 9.
A communication from B. F. Snook, president of the Iowa Conference, [Within a short time Snook himself led in a rebellion and dropped out of the work of the Church.] reported in the Review and Herald of January 6, 1863, on the "rebel conference," made up of those "Adventists who oppose organization and Sister White's visions": the item mentioned the resolutions passed by this dissident group on November 27, 1862. This rebellion had been precipitated by the proposal that the Iowa Conference organize as outlined in the Review.
The Dissident Group in Iowa
Snook recounted the origin of the dissident group:
When the subject of organization was first spoken of in the Review [some of the Sabbathkeeping Adventists in Marion, Iowa] began to murmur and complain. Soon a meeting was called for to investigate the visions. In the interim I had a conversation with the main leader of the rebellion, in which he said, "I will admit that all that Sister White has yet seen is according to the Advent doctrine."
"Then," said I, "you must admit that her visions are good so far." He assented that they were. "Now," said I, "my impression is that if it were not for the fact that her visions are against your tobacco, you would receive them."
"Yes," said he; "because she is against me I will be against her."--Ibid., January 6, 1863
Snook continued:
He was the leader of the rebellion, and he was led by tobacco with which Satan baited the hook which he was fast upon. The cry of separation was then raised.... After a lapse of some weeks the subject of organization was again talked of. Those who opposed the visions said it would be best for us to organize, that it would be no worse for them, and they would meet with us as they had done before....
The brethren then who were ready went into ... organization. The rest in a short time went off by themselves and established another meeting.--Ibid.
The spirit of the group was further made plain at their conference held November 27, 1862, in the charge that "one object of organization was to secure the recognition of Brother White as the 'latter-day Moses.'"--Ibid.
The next issue of the Review carried an article from the pen of Uriah Smith titled "The Secession Movement in Iowa"; it characterized the situation as "the anti-vision movement which has been inaugurated in Iowa" (Ibid., January 13, 1863). This was accompanied by a Smith editorial of three columns titled "Do We Discard the Bible by Endorsing the Visions?" The editorial was obviously aimed at holding the lines steady in that critical time when companies of Sabbathkeeping Adventists were moving into church organization. Smith introduced a telling illustration:
Suppose we are about to start upon a voyage. The owner of the vessel gives us a book of directions, telling us that it contains instructions sufficient for our whole journey, and that if we will heed them, we shall reach in safety our port of destination.
Setting sail, we open our book to learn its contents. We find that the author lays down general principles to govern us in our voyage, and instructs us as far as practicable, touching the various contingencies that may arise, till the end; but he also tells us that the latter part of our journey will be especially perilous; that the features of the coast are ever changing by reason of quicksands and tempests; "but for this part of the journey," says he, "I have provided you a pilot, who will meet you, and give you such directions as the surrounding circumstances and dangers may require; and to him you must give heed."
With these directions we reach the perilous time specified, and the pilot, according to promise, appears. But some of the crew, as he offers his services, rise up against him. "We have the original book of directions," say they, "and that is enough for us. We stand upon that, and that alone; we want nothing of you."
Who now heed that original book of directions? those who reject the pilot, or those who receive him, as that book instructs them? Judge ye.
But some ... may meet us at this point like this: "Then you would have us take Sister White as our pilot, would you?"
It is to forestall any efforts in this direction that this sentence is penned. We say no such thing. What we do say is distinctly this: that the gifts of the Spirit are given for our pilot through these perilous times, and wherever and in whomsoever we find genuine manifestations of these, we are bound to respect them, nor can we do otherwise without insofar rejecting the Word of God, which directs us to receive them. Who now stand upon the Bible, and the Bible alone?--Ibid.
Extreme Positions in Wisconsin
Some months before this, as the believers in Wisconsin were moving to organize, a view was given to Ellen White of the influences at work and the discouraging results:
Satan has used as agents individuals professing to believe a part of present truth, while they were warring against a part. Such he can use more successfully than those who are at war with all our faith. His artful manner of bringing in error through partial believers in the truth has deceived many, and distracted and scattered their faith. This is the cause of the divisions in northern Wisconsin. Some receive a part of the message, and reject another portion. Some accept the Sabbath and reject the third angel's message; yet because they have received the Sabbath they claim the fellowship of those who believe all the present truth.--Testimonies for the Church, 1:326.
As she wrote at length she referred to honest souls who would see the "straight chain of present truth" with harmonious connections, link after link uniting into a great whole. Referring again to Wisconsin, she declared:
Had professed Sabbathkeepers in Wisconsin earnestly sought and labored to be in union with the prayer of Christ, to be one as He is one with the Father, Satan's work would have been defeated. If all had sought to be in union with the body, the fanaticism which has brought so deep a strain upon the cause of present truth in northern Wisconsin would not have arisen; for it is the result of drawing off from the body, and seeking to have an original, independent faith, regardless of the faith of the body.--Ibid., 1:327.
The Unwise Course Followed at Marquette, Wisconsin
In Marquette, some twenty or thirty miles from Mauston, T. M. Steward and his wife recently had been involved in fanaticism, claiming Mrs. Steward had received visions. Of the course taken there, Ellen White wrote:
In the last vision given at Battle Creek I was shown that an unwise course was taken at Marquette in regard to the visions at the time of the organization of the church there. There were some in Marquette who were God's children, and yet doubted the visions. Others had no opposition, yet dared not take a decided stand in regard to them.... The false visions and fanatical exercises, and the wretched fruits following, had an influence upon the cause in Wisconsin to make minds jealous of everything bearing the name of visions.
All these things should have been taken into consideration, and wisdom exercised. There should be no trial or labor with those who have never seen the individual having visions, and who have had no personal knowledge of the influence of the visions. Such should not be deprived of the benefits and privileges of the church, if their Christian course is otherwise correct, and they have formed a good Christian character.--Ibid., 1:327, 328.
Present-day applications of these statements should take their context into consideration. It is clear that there were unusual circumstances that should be judiciously recognized.
The setting was that of a community of believers in Christ's second advent who kept the seventh-day Sabbath. They were newly come to these positions, and most likely held divergent views on many points. Further it was a community of people whose next-door neighbors, and perhaps those who had brought the Sabbath and Second Advent truths to them, had within recent months been involved in fanaticism and false visions. Now steps were being taken to lead these new believers into organization and church discipline. Ellen White points out that "all these things should have been taken into consideration, and wisdom exercised."
Also, at this time, publications from the pen of Ellen White were limited to two small volumes and eight testimony pamphlets. Opportunity for the relatively new believers in Wisconsin to judge the matter on the basis of its fruits had been very limited. These are the circumstances that led Ellen White to write as she did. She continued:
Some, I was shown, could receive the published visions, judging of the tree by its fruits. Others are like doubting Thomas; they cannot believe the published Testimonies, nor receive evidence through the testimony of others, but must see and have the evidence for themselves.
Such must not be set aside, but long patience and brotherly love should be exercised toward them until they find their position and become established for or against. If they fight against the visions, of which they have no knowledge; if they carry their opposition so far as to oppose that in which they have had no experience, and feel annoyed when those who believe that the visions are of God speak of them in meeting, and comfort themselves with the instruction given through vision, the church may know that they are not right.
God's people should not cringe and yield, and give up their liberty to such disaffected ones. God has placed the gifts in the church that the church might be benefited by them; and when professed believers in the truth oppose these gifts, and fight against the visions, souls are in danger through their influence, and it is time then to labor with them, that the weak may not be led astray by their influence.--Ibid., 1:328, 329.
The testimony included the following sidelight:
I was shown the case of Sister H. She was presented before me in connection with a professed sister who was strongly prejudiced against my husband and myself, and opposed to the visions. This spirit had led her to love and cherish every lying report in regard to us and the visions, and she has communicated this to Sister H. She has had a bitter spirit of war against me, when she had no personal knowledge of me. She was unacquainted with my labors, yet has nourished the most wicked feelings and prejudice against me, and has influenced Sister H, and they have united together in their bitter remarks and speeches.--Ibid., 1:329.
Wrong Use of the Visions
In Testimony No. 9, published in January, 1863, Ellen White devoted a chapter to the wrong use of the visions. In it she refers to the counsel quoted above from Number 8. She writes of some who were misusing the visions in Iowa, and of the patience and care that should be exercised in leading new believers into an understanding of the place of the visions in the church. At the same time, she gave counsel on dealing with dissident elements among those who had been long in the message:
Some of our brethren have had long experience in the truth and have for years been acquainted with me and with the influence of the visions. They have tested the truthfulness of these testimonies and asserted their belief in them. They have felt the powerful influence of the Spirit of God resting upon them to witness to the truthfulness of the visions. If such, when reproved through vision, rise up against them, and work secretly to injure our influence, they should be faithfully dealt with, for their influence is endangering those who lack experience.--Ibid., 1:382, 383.
She declared:
Ministers should have compassion of some, making a difference; others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. God's ministers should have wisdom to give to everyone his portion of meat and to make that difference with different persons which their cases require.
The course pursued with some in Iowa who are unacquainted with me has not been careful and consistent. Those who were, comparatively, strangers to the visions have been dealt with in the same manner as those who have had much light and experience in the visions.--Ibid., 1:382.
Through this experience the church was finding its way in dealing with a very sensitive and yet very vital matter relating to its welfare. [See appendix A, "relation to church fellowship," for a significant statement by F. M. Wilcox. He was a longtime editor of the Review and Herald and one of the five trustees appointed by Ellen White to care for her writings.]
In one of the chapters published in May, 1862, in Testimony No. 8, Ellen White told how she was shown, in regard to James and herself, that Satan had sought in various ways to destroy their usefulness and even to take their lives:
He had laid his plans to remove us from the work of God; he had come in different ways, and through different agencies, to accomplish his purposes; but through the ministration of holy angels he had been defeated.
I saw that in our journeying from place to place, he had frequently placed his evil angels in our path to cause accident which would destroy our lives; but holy angels were sent upon the ground to deliver.... I saw that we had been the special objects of Satan's attacks, because of our interest in and connection with the work of God.--Ibid., 1:347.
One way the great adversary sought to cripple the work of James White was in the circulation of rumors and falsehoods regarding his business integrity and honesty. Such criticism centered in northern Wisconsin, influenced by T. M. Steward (see Ibid., 1:311-323). But criticisms were being heard from other areas where organization had been resisted. In early 1863 the Battle Creek church took steps to halt the malicious criticism. They recognized that James White's reputation was not only of great value to him but also to "those who may be connected with the cause." At a business meeting convened on Sunday, March 29, actions were taken to clear his name:
Resolved, That we, the church of Seventh-day Adventists of Battle Creek, deem it our duty to take measures to ascertain the grounds of the charges, complaints, and murmurs that are in circulation, that they may be sustained, and action taken accordingly, or may be proved to be groundless, and the envenomed mouth of calumny and slander be effectually stopped.
Resolved, That we appoint Brethren U. Smith, G. W. Amadon, and E. S. Walker, a committee to take this matter in charge.--The Review and Herald, March 31, 1863.
The breadth of the proposed investigation is seen in the next action taken by the church:
Resolved, That we hereby earnestly request all those far and near who think they have any grounds of complaint against Elder White, all who have handed to him means that he has not appropriated as directed, all who think that he has wronged the aged, the widow, and the fatherless, or that he has not in all his dealings in temporal matters manifested the strictest integrity, probity, and uprightness, to immediately report their grievances, and the grounds upon which they base them, to Uriah Smith, chairman of the above named committee, that they may be received previous to the middle of May next.--Ibid.
Testimonials were solicited from all who had had dealings with James White since the beginning of his public ministry. These were to be laid before the coming General Conference session, called for late May.
In a last-page note in the next issue of the Review, White called attention to the action of the Battle Creek church. He stated:
The church deemed it necessary, for the good of the cause, that there should be an investigation of our business career connected with the cause, and a printed report made. If flying reports be true, we should be separated from the cause. If an open and critical investigation proves them false, a printed report in the hands of the friends of the cause with which we have been connected may, in some instances at least, paralyze the tongue of slander.--Ibid., April 7, 1863
He urged a prompt response "for the sake of the cause."
The Call for a General Conference
The same issue of the Review carried the call for a meeting of General Conference, at which it was hoped that church organization could be rounded out by binding the State conferences together in a unified body of believers across the land. The delegates were called to meet on Wednesday, May 20. The notice stated:
The several conference committees in the different States are requested to send delegates, or letters at their discretion. The brethren in those localities where there is no State conference can also be represented in the conference by delegates or letters.--Ibid.
On Wednesday afternoon, May 20, twenty ministers and laymen assembled in Battle Creek were ready to present their credentials. The conference moved into its work, in organizing the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, as noted elsewhere (Ellen G. White: The Early Years, pp. 479-481). The conference elected John Byington as president; Uriah Smith, secretary; and E. S. Walker, treasurer. James White was first unanimously elected to the presidency, but he thought it best to let another carry that responsibility. Byington would be joined by J. N. Andrews and G. W. Amadon, making an executive committee of three. The main thrust of the conference related to organization in both the State conferences and the General Conference.
Further Business of the Conference
The wording was brief, but the results were far-reaching. Actions were taken relating to the publication of charts for use in public proclamation of the message: a new prophetic chart, and one on the Ten Commandments (Ibid., May 26, 1863).
The General Conference took action regarding the survey of James White's business integrity:
As no one had reported any grievances pertaining to the subject in hand, according to the request in the Review, the committee could only report that fact to the conference, and place in its hands the more than threescore and ten fervent testimonials which have been received on the other side, with the recommendation that, as it seemed that no one dared appear, to sustain the aforesaid reports, some action be taken by this conference to show the falsity of these reports, and vindicate before the world the character and course of Brother White....
Resolved, That the committee employed by the Battle Creek church be empowered to act further in this matter in behalf of this conference, and prepare for publication a record of the action of the Battle Creek church relative to the accusations against Brother James White, and the substance of the responses received.--Ibid.
It was thought well to hold open the time for reports on White for another two months. The report finally appeared in the form of a forty-page pamphlet, which was circulated under the title Vindication of the Business Career of Elder James White. The introduction to the pamphlet, signed by the committee of three, declared that "no one has reported himself aggrieved." It added:
His enemies have thus betrayed their utter want of confidence in the work they have been doing. Their silence has sealed their ignominy. Hereafter, in view of this fact, none will be willing to place themselves in the contemptible position of circulating such reports, except those whose enmity and prejudice overcome their convictions of right and reason.--Vindication of the Business Career of Elder James White, pp. 3, 4.
The "Vindication" pamphlet consists of the signed statements of some seventy individuals who were well acquainted with White; many of these had had business dealings with him.
The conference was the first official General Conference session. It marked the completion of the organizational structure among Seventh-day Adventists. Attendance was such that meetings were held in the tent on the green across the street from the Review office. Uriah Smith, in his editorial report, declared:
Taking a general view of this meeting as a religious gathering, we hardly know what feature of the joyful occasion to notice first. We can say to the readers of the Review, Think of everything good that has been written of every previous meeting, and apply it to this. All this would be true, and more than this.
Perhaps no previous meeting that we have ever enjoyed was characterized by such unity of feeling and harmony of sentiment. In all the important steps taken at this conference, in the organization of a General Conference, and the further perfecting of State conferences, defining the authority of each, and the important duties belonging to their various officers, there was not a dissenting voice, and we may reasonably doubt if there was even a dissenting thought. Such union, on such points, affords the strongest grounds of hope for the immediate advancement of the cause, and its future glorious prosperity and triumph.--Ibid., May 26, 1863
This step in organization brought the church into a unified denominational structure in time to meet the emergencies of the military draft, and prepared to make advance steps as the health message came, through vision, two weeks after the session.