Spurred by the light given in the vision of December 25, and encouraged by the upturn in James White's struggle with ill health that followed the Sabbath of fasting and prayer during the General Conference session, Ellen White determined to test the benefits of travel. The monthly meeting scheduled for June 2 and 3 at Monterey, where they had many friends, seemed to provide an appropriate opportunity to venture out. Wednesday, May 30, accompanied by Dr. Lay, James and Ellen made the two-day trip in their carriage. The weather was favorable, and James stood the trip well. Writing of the experience, he stated, "Were glad to meet Brethren Bates and Waggoner, and a large attendance of the brethren from the region round about."--The Review and Herald, June 19, 1866. Joseph Bates reported that following Waggoner's Sabbath morning sermon:
Brother White followed, giving a brief statement of his recent severe affliction, and what the Lord had done and was doing for him in answer to prayer, and closed with an affectionate address to the congregation, especially the youth.--Ibid.
On Sabbath afternoon Ellen White gave her testimony on health reform. There was a full schedule of meetings Sunday, and in these, health reform figured prominently. The Whites remained over until the second Sabbath, when James White took the morning service. He closed his report of the trip to Monterey with these words:
We reached home, after having been absent nearly two weeks, June 11. We traveled with our team about 250 miles. In point of health, we sleep better, enjoy our food better, a better condition of the stomach and bowels is established, and we are gaining slowly in weight. Of our sufferings in the past none but God has known; but we trust they are mostly in the past. Brethren, pray for us. To know that we have the prayers of those who pray in faith is our highest earthly joy.--Ibid.
Beyond this, the records are quite silent. The appendix statement in the 1888 edition of Life Sketches informs us that "the journey [to Monterey] proving beneficial to the invalid, many similar excursions were made during the summer."--22LS 354.
The Snook and Brinkerhoff Rebellion and Confession
Just before James White's breakdown in mid-August, 1865, he and Ellen had attended a special session of the Iowa Conference to deal with the rebellion of its leading officers, B. F. Snook, president, and W. H. Brinkerhoff, secretary. Rejection of the visions and opposition to organization, as well as doctrinal differences, were at the heart of the rebellion. Patiently James and Ellen White answered questions and criticisms, and the two men freely acknowledged their mistakes and confessed their wrongs. The July 25, 1865, issue of the Review and Herald carried heartfelt confessions from each of the men, and seemingly the rebellion had been quelled. Explained Snook in his extended confession:
Brother White: Permit me, an unworthy worm of the dust, to address the brethren and sisters as follows:
I wish to relieve my mind before you, and my God, by confessing that I now feel that I have been led by the wicked one in my movements of late, especially in my opposition to the body. Apparent difficulties in relation to Sister White's visions have been accumulating in my mind for some time. These were magnified by the enemy until doubts resulted in unbelief and rebellion.
In this distressed state of mind I attended the General Conference at Battle Creek last May. While there, my mind was impressed that the church there was fast becoming conformed to the world. Without unbosoming myself to the brethren there, and calling for an explanation, I kept these matters to myself till I had a good opportunity to give vent to my feelings by publishing these matters which were a trial to me, to the brethren away from there.
I am now convinced that the church at Battle Creek fellowship none of the extravagant fashions that I saw there, and I am now led to believe that they are doing what they can to live out the truth and preserve the waymarks of our faith.
I wish to say to my good brethren and sisters of the Battle Creek church that I do most deeply deplore this wrong, and humbly beg them to forgive me. I also beg the pardon of Brother and Sister White for the influence that I have tried to exert against them on account of these things. I also entreat my brethren and sisters in Iowa to forgive me for talking these things to them and thereby inflaming them to wrong feelings. I do most sorrowfully repent of this grievous wrong and pray that God and my brethren may forgive me.--The Review and Herald, July 25, 1865.
He then reviewed in some detail his experience in rebellion and related how, when the Whites were at the Pilot Grove meeting, he began to see his true position and, as he wrote, "began to restore me from my crazy opposition." In his July confession he returned to one of the main reasons why he had taken the course he did--his attitude toward the visions.
There were the visions so full of imaginary wrongs and difficulties; how could I get right on them? I listened to the mighty testimonies of Brother and Sister White, driven home to my heart by the power of God. Hard as I had made my heart, it had to break, and well up with many tears that gushed from my eyes. Thought I, Can it be possible that these who speak with so much Spirit and power of God are deceivers, are impostors? No, no! Such a thing cannot be. God would not bless the devil's servants with so much of His Spirit. I then felt the good Spirit of God upon my heart, and the more of that Spirit I felt, the better the visions appeared; and the discrepancies and difficulties soon began to take wings and fly away.
I now believe firmly that the devil was working upon me for my overthrow and ruin. But I rejoice that God directed Brother and Sister White this way. They truly have been instrumental in my salvation from the devil's snare. I hereby entreat their pardon for the grievous trial and heart-rending anguish that I have so wickedly brought upon them. May all my brethren, and may God, forgive me.--Ibid.
Snook closed his confession with a reassertion of his confidence in the order and organization in the church. W. H. Brinkerhoff also confessed. In the heart of his rather extended statement, which was worded much like that of his conference president, B. F. Snook, he declared:
I am now fully satisfied that God is leading this people, and that the visit of Brother and Sister White, and Brother Loughborough, was not only timely, but blessed of God, and under His guidance; and that great good has already resulted therefrom. I went there without any confidence in the testimonies of Sister White, and also with doubts on our position in regard to the sanctuary. I would now say that my feet are taken out of the miry clay, and fixed upon the sure foundation of truth, the testimonies not excepted.--Ibid.
Brinkerhoff's confession was full and heartfelt, and in his closing paragraph he speaks of the lesson he had learned from the experience:
And let me here say that my experience, though a sad one, has taught me that to doubt this truth, and the instrumentalities used to bring it out by the Lord, is to speedily lead one into the enemy's dark dominions, where he can be taken captive at his will.--Ibid.
There was no hesitancy on the part of those injured, the Battle Creek church and James and Ellen White, to extend hands of forgiveness. Loughborough, who was with the Whites at the Pilot Grove meeting in late June and early July, stated that a day or two after the meeting he saw each of the men hand their written confessions, from which we have quoted, to James White, and they were soon published. It would be well if the story could close at this point, but it does not.
A Second Rebellion Worse than the First
Loughborough stayed close to Brinkerhoff for a time, joining him in evangelistic work in Iowa for a few weeks. Then he went on to other tasks. He later recounted:
After a few days, it seems that B. F. Snook's objections revived. He began to communicate with Brinkerhoff, who left his field, and went home to Lisbon. That soon ended their labors in our ranks, and they were again at work on their scheme of "independence of the churches." This did not, however, assume its final fighting form for several months.--Pacific Union Recorder, November 21, 1912.
Continuing his account, Loughborough stated that "in the spring of 1866, the 'Snook and Brinkerhoff company,' as we called them in that day, had succeeded in drawing off with them forty-five of the sixty members of the Marion church." They obtained the handpress used by the Hope of Israel party and started a paper they called The Advent and Sabbath Advocate. They boasted, like the former owners of the press, that "when we get rid of the testimonies, the message will go."--Ibid. This was clearly a case of bold rebellion, the type of opposition concerning which Ellen White in later years wrote, "I question whether genuine rebellion is ever curable."--Manuscript 185, 1897 (see also Selected Messages 2:393).
Early in 1866 W. S. Ingraham visited Marion, Iowa, where Snook still resided. From there he reported in a letter to James White that he found "a bad state of things" (The Review and Herald, January 23, 1866). He noted the doctrinal disagreements with the church, and after referring to the experience of meeting Snook and Brinkerhoff in 1865 and the confession of the two men, stated, "We find them...in a second rebellion worse than the first." Ingraham added, "Knowing the object of these men, my duty demands that I should raise a warning voice. Let the brethren beware of them." The publication of his letter in the Review served notice to the church generally, and leading men in Battle Creek followed it with "Remarks," pointing out that "many of the fundamental principles of present truth" had been abandoned by the dissident leaders in Iowa. The notice stated:
Their downward course commenced with opposition to the visions. Long weeks they spent framing and writing out objections, and blowing up to a white heat in their own hearts the fires of opposition against the cause of present truth and its leaders.--Ibid.
The loyal members in Iowa were urged to hold on, steadfast and unmovable. A layman, J. Dorcas, reported in the Review of February 13, 1866, what he had found at Marion:
The saints in that place are now again on their way, rejoicing in the truth. I have also visited other parts of the work, as Fairview, Anamosa, and Lisbon, and am happy to say that I have no doubt of the fixed purpose of the brethren and sisters generally to hold on to the old landmarks. I believe they realize the necessity of a deeper work of grace, which may the Lord grant, is my prayer.--Ibid., February 13, 1866
As many of the churches in Iowa reported one by one through the Review, they declared their determination to hold on to the "old landmarks" in spite of the visits of the men in apostasy and the earnest work they did to unsettle the believers.
Administrative committees in the General Conference, as well as in Iowa, took action dismissing the leaders in the rebellion. Thirty-two-year-old George I. Butler, a layman, was called to the presidency of the Iowa Conference (Ibid., May 22, 1866; Ibid., July 17, 1866).
What Happened to the Men and the Movement?
J. N. Loughborough, who was well acquainted with the men and the circumstances, told of the outcome:
The career of these two men among Sabbathkeeping opponents was quite limited. Their new departure in the "independence of the churches" did not "pan out" as they expected.... Before many months elapsed, both S. and B. dropped their interest in the Advocate [their paper], and gave up the keeping of the Sabbath. Brinkerhoff engaged in school-teaching, and the study of law. Snook engaged in preaching universalism, at a salary of $1,000 a year.--Pacific Union Recorder, January 9, 1913.
They left little groups of disaffected Sabbathkeepers who in time were joined by others of like mind. Among such were two brothers, Abe and William Long, from Missouri. They moved the press to Stanberry, Missouri, and continued to publish the Advocate, with warnings against Ellen White's testimonies their principal stock-in-trade. A third brother, Levi, remained loyal to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Abe and William operated under the name Church of God (Adventist), with headquarters in Missouri. In 1933, there was a division; the new group took on the name Church of God (Seventh Day), with headquarters in Salem, West Virginia. The census reports of religious bodies in the United States in 1936 gave a combined membership of the two groups as 2,400.
W. H. Brinkerhoff and William Long had second thoughts. When G. B. Starr was baptized as a young man into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Iowa, Brinkerhoff was present. As Starr came out of the water Brinkerhoff shook his hand and stated:
"I am glad to see you take your stand to go with this people. They have the truth, and I am sorry I ever left them. It is too late for me now to join them. I have opposed them, and have trained my family in that opposition." ... And then in sadness he said, "I am a lost man."--Ibid.
J. S. Rouse, one-time president of the Missouri Conference, reported that in 1915 he was acquainted with William Long. When Life Sketches was published shortly after Ellen White's death, he took a copy to Long. The latter promptly read it and, when finished, declared to Rouse, "We have been fighting a good woman and a good work." Mrs. Long overheard the remark; she came into the room with tears in her eyes and said,
"Oh, the thousands of dollars we have put into this movement and it is lost. We have made a mistake. If we had only done as Brother and Sister White wanted us to. They were here and pleaded with us, but we would not listen to them. We were stubborn. Oh, the money we have wasted!"
He said, "Mother, don't talk about the thousands of dollars. That is nothing. I care not for that. But when a man comes to my position, and my age, and realizes that he has wasted his life, thrown it away, that is what worries me."--DF 503a, "Some History and Some Information Regarding the Church of God," pp. 23, 24.
Uriah Smith Answers Objections to the Visions
The questions and criticisms regarding Ellen White and the Spirit of prophecy were quite widely disseminated by the dissident group. In the June 12, 1866, issue of the Review, on the front page, Uriah Smith began the publication of answers to the objections that had been raised. The back page carries his note of explanation:
We commence this week the publication of "Answers to Objections Against the Visions." It may be proper here to state that this manuscript was prepared before our late conference [commencing May 16, 1866]; but its publication was withheld till it could be submitted to the ministering brethren who might then assemble, for them to decide upon its merits, and the disposition that should be made of it. It was examined by them, and received their approval, with a decision that it should be published.--The Review and Herald, June 12, 1866.
Smith informed the readers of the Review:
In preparing these answers we have had no consultation whatever with Sister White, nor received any suggestion or explanation from her on any point. We take the visions as they are published, and base our explanation of any apparent discrepancy, on the language as it stands.--Ibid.
The first of the Smith series of six extended articles opened:
Seventh-day Adventists believe in the gifts of the Spirit. They believe that the varied operations of the Spirit of God, having been once expressly set in the church, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, were designed to continue therein to the end.... To them, the doctrine of spiritual gifts, as set forth in the chapters referred to, is as much a special doctrine of revelation as is the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the state of the dead, or the Second Advent. Taking the Scriptures to be in deed and in truth the Word of God, they cannot reject it. They can as easily explain away the Sabbath, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, as the doctrine of spiritual gifts, and hence believe that to reject it is to be guilty of error, and that to receive it is essential to the unity of the faith.--Ibid.
He then took up these objections in numbered answers. Objection 1 was "The Bible and the Bible Alone." The series closed July 31, 1866, with Objection 39, the supposed suppression of the E. G. White writings. Two years later, in 1868, Smith added thirteen more points, and the material was issued in a widely distributed pamphlet of 144 pages. This was titled The Visions of Mrs. E. G. White, a Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts According to the Scriptures.
The Slow Recovery of James White
With James White making a very gradual recovery, his wife's attention was given almost wholly to his care. She found there must be a constant perseverance to encourage him to manifest faith and exert himself in those activities that would keep his mind off his weakness and discomforts, and keep the way open for his restoration. Thus during the summer of 1866, following the successful visit to Monterey in mid-June, other trips were taken by carriage to nearby churches, with beneficial results. During this time James did no writing and carried no responsibilities. But communications from the field to the Review were addressed to "Brother White," in spite of the fact that the editor, Uriah Smith, carried the full burden of the paper.
The large enterprise calling for attention in Battle Creek was getting the Health Reform Institute into full swing. As noted, J. N. Loughborough was leading out in this. [For a detailed account of launching the medical institution in battle creek, and a portrayal of the vicissitudes in learning to finance and operate the western health reform institute, see The Story of Our Health Message, 143-190.] In fact, as noted earlier, Loughborough was really the active administrator of both the Michigan Conference and the General Conference, being a member of both committees.
Ellen White was able to get in a little writing of personal testimonies. Most likely the article "Dress," published in Testimonies, volume 1, pages 456-466, was largely written at this time. Her husband's recovery was her prime interest.
The Autumn Journey East
It was to this end that the two launched on a journey east in the autumn of 1866. Ellen was on the lookout for situations that would challenge her husband's faith and strength. The announcement of the New York State meeting, to be held September 28 to October 1, caught her eye. This was to convene at Roosevelt, New York, a town not too far from the Lindsays in Olcott, and the Abbeys at Brookfield. Both families were close friends of long standing--the Lindsays were among those James had called to Rochester to join in prayer for his healing. Then too, Ellen's father, living with the Beldens in Connecticut, was ill and apparently dying. He was urging her to come that he might see her once more. She decided to take her husband and Willie, and start out for Connecticut by way of Roosevelt, New York. The following announcement appeared on the back page of the Review.
Brother and Sister White left Battle Creek for the East, Tuesday, September 11. It was thought that the journey, and the change of associations and influences, might be of benefit to him, while she wishes to visit an aged father now residing in Connecticut, and other friends there. We trust the move will surpass the anticipations of all in its beneficial results.--The Review and Herald, September 18, 1866.
That not all had faith in the venture is evident from the tone of the closing sentence of the announcement.
From this point on, the readers of the Review were left in the dark as to the Whites' activities, and any progress James might be making healthwise, until January, 1867. Edson was left in Michigan--with whom, the records do not disclose. From Ellen's letters to him we gain some word on the journey.
Ellen took James to the Ira Abbey home, at Brookfield. To her disappointment, he was too ill to attempt to attend the meetings at Roosevelt. She could now see that James could not accompany her to visit her father in Connecticut. This trip would take her away from James for several weeks. She would leave him at the Abbey home.
The Visit to Father Harmon
Robert Harmon, now very feeble, was living with his daughter, Sarah Belden, and her family in Kensington, Connecticut. This was not more than ten miles from Rocky Hill, where the first of the Sabbath Conferences was held in the Albert Belden home in 1848. Rapidly declining in health, Robert was eager to have Ellen make a visit so they could have a little time together. From the Abbey home she wrote to Edson on Sunday, October 7:
I am preparing to go to Connecticut. Your father is still very feeble. Willie will remain with him. I think I never was more perplexed in my life to know what is my duty.
Your grandfather Harmon is very low and cannot live long. He feels that he cannot be denied seeing his Ellen once more. He talks of it by day and by night, and here is your father so sick. If I leave him I fear I shall not see him again. He is too sick to accompany me.
Your father feels that it is my duty to go to my father's dying call. I am worn with anxiety and want of sleep. Today while I was praying over the matter, duty seemed to demand I should go to your grandfather.--Letter 5, 1866.
She added a few words of a personal nature:
I have prepared you comfortable clothing for winter, which I send to you by Elder Loughborough. I hope they will give you as much pleasure in wearing them as I have taken pleasure in making them for you. I have sat up late and arisen early, before anyone was astir, to work upon them. Prayers that you may be clothed with Christ's righteousness are stitched into these garments.--Ibid.
By the weekend she was with her father and her sister Sarah and her family, and wrote of the five children, who were doing well. Finding her father at death's door, she sent for her twin sister Elizabeth and older sister Mary. Sabbath she met with the church for morning and afternoon meetings. Before returning to Brookfield and her husband, she made a brief tour that took her to several churches and down to New York City. Her father passed to his rest a few days after her visit.
It was "leaf season" in New England. "The scenery," she declared, "was beautiful." She added:
The trees with their varied hues, the beautiful evergreens interspersed among them, the green grass, the high and lofty mountains, the high bluffs of rocks--all are interesting to the eye. These things I could enjoy, but I am alone.
The strong, manly arm I have ever leaned upon is not now my support. Tears are my meat night and day. My spirit is constantly bowed down by grief. I cannot consent that your father shall go down into the grave. Oh, that God would pity and heal him!--Letter 16, 1866.
Return to Battle Creek
In late November or early December, James and Ellen White returned to Battle Creek. There had been a turn for the better in his health. On December 8, writing to Edson, she reported:
Your father seems much improved. He is gaining victories in regard to his eating. We could not ask him to do better than he has been doing. He seems more like himself--interests himself in matters transpiring around him and is more social. I am greatly encouraged in his case. I have been out riding with him almost every day the past week. Have visited Richard [Godsmark], Brother Graves twice, Sister Sawyers, and Eliza Bovee. I shall stand by your father in his efforts to overcome. I know that he has a hard struggle and needs the help of God.--Letter 6, 1866.
It seemed that at long last an appreciable change was coming in James White's experience, and that the year of captivity was nearing its end.