The week spent in Battle Creek indicated to Ellen White that while the battle was not yet won, there were encouraging changes.
Having in earnestness and kindness sounded a warning that she hoped would help to stabilize those who might have been wavering, she pressed on to Massachusetts. The camp meeting in Worcester opened Wednesday, August 22. Beginning with the Massachusetts meeting she had a full schedule until October 10: Vermont, Maine, New York, Nebraska, Michigan, and Indiana. Fellow laborers included Butler, Van Horn, and, for the three later meetings, Haskell.
As had become the practice, she was advertised as the Sunday afternoon speaker, with the public invited to hear her. Four thousand attended the Worcester meeting to hear her speak on Christian temperance in its broad aspects. When she came onto the grounds in Maine, the people were pleased to see that she was accompanied by one of her sisters (The Signs of the Times, September 27, 1883). At many of the camp meetings she would speak once each day and attend various auxiliary meetings, joining in with appropriate remarks or counsel. Haskell, who had recently come from California, reported in the Signs of the Times:
Our friends will be pleased to hear that Sister White has been specially sustained of God, and her testimony was never clearer and more powerful than upon this trip east. For all of these blessings we only say, Praise the Lord for His goodness manifested to His people.--October 18, 1883.
Battle Creek College Reopens
With a more accurate comprehension of the whole situation on the part of the Battle Creek church, and upon its members making a thorough confession and a pledge of loyalty to the Spirit of Prophecy and to church leadership, the board of trustees of Battle Creek College looked forward to the reopening of the college. Butler, chairman of the board, as well as president of the General Conference, presented an extended statement on the situation in the Review of July 31, 1883, under the title of "Our College at Battle Creek":
Let us consider some of the questions involved in the reopening of the college. It has remained closed for one year. Why? Because as conducted for some time previous to its closing, it did not answer the purpose for which it was established. And further, because the state of feeling existing in the community surrounding it was such that those to whom its management was entrusted felt that there was no reasonable hope that a better state of things could then be obtained....
The last year the college was opened a crisis was reached. The principal employed was a man of little experience in this message, who seemed to think he knew better what was needed than those of long experience in the work. His ideas were sanctioned by many of the church and many of the students. The wrong tendency above mentioned was greatly strengthened. The influence of some of the older teachers was cut off, and their lot made very bitter. The authority of the board of trustees was treated with contempt and defiance....
A very different spirit is manifest in the church at Battle Creek the present year from that which was seen last year. Many persons have expressed themselves as deeply regretting the course they pursued in the troubles of the college. We have met in our travels quite a number of our young men whose influence was cast against the board, who have come to us and expressed much regret at the course they pursued.... All these things prepare the way for the college to open with favorable prospects of success.
Yet there are great difficulties to be met if we have such a school as will meet the mind of the Spirit of God. It will require men of sound judgment, deep piety, and those whose whole hearts are enlisted in the work of God, to mold and manage it, if it ever fully succeeds....
To bring about the true spirit in our college will require a great effort. To secure proper officers and teachers who will exert the right influences, and bring into the school the Spirit of Christ, and lead the minds of the pupils to the truth, is a difficult problem, and one which the board of trustees is now trying to solve. We hope for such success as will enable us soon to announce the time when our college will open.
The Review and Herald, August 14, 1883, carried the announcement that Battle Creek College would open Wednesday, September 5, for the coming college year.
Eighty students were present for the opening. W. H. Littlejohn, who had shown his loyalty to the church and to the Spirit of Prophecy counsels, had been chosen president. He served for two years.
The operation of the college was in the hands of the SDA Educational Society; school matters would come to its attention at the annual meeting to be held during the General Conference session.
The Michigan Camp Meeting and the Uriah Smith Turnaround
After the distressing year in Michigan and particularly at Battle Creek, the Michigan camp meeting, held on the Battle Creek fairgrounds and billed as "The State Meeting," was particularly significant. Smith, who had been under a cloud for months, presented an encouraging report of the meeting. There were one hundred and thirty family tents on the ground, with meetings held in the large 80- by 120-foot tent. About fifty ministers and licentiates were present, and some powerful sermons were preached. Smith reported that "a first-day Adventist minister who was present Sabbath and Sunday said that it seemed like 1844." Smith added:
The presence of Brethren Haskell and W. C. White from the Pacific Coast added to the interest of the meeting.... The benefit of the labors and attendance of Sister White at this meeting cannot be overestimated. Her exhortations moved the people to seek the Lord with earnestness and contrition of heart, as could have been done by no others. A meeting of this character on Monday forenoon which continued without intermission till nearly 2:00 P.M. was considered by some who have had large experience in religious things the most impressive occasion, and one marked by the most solemnity and power of any meeting they ever attended.--Ibid., October 9, 1883
Smith continued his comments on the importance and effect of Ellen White's ministry, which clearly betokened a change of attitude on his part. He wrote from personal experience:
Sister White has a work to do, and is trying faithfully to perform it, which no others can do. It is one which has a most intimate connection with the prosperity of the cause. For this she is especially qualified by the gift she has in exercise of "visions and revelations of the Lord." Through this she is able to perceive more vividly the dangers and duties pertaining to these closing moments of time, and thus more understandingly instruct and warn the little flock; and he who would try to destroy confidence in her work, or weaken her hands, is taking a course hostile to the best interests of this cause....
From the very beginning, now nearly forty years ago, the manifestation of the Spirit of Prophecy in the visions of Sister White has been connected with this work, and interwoven with every step of its progress. To suppose that during the brief time remaining it is to be separated from it would be took for a singular providence indeed. A change in this respect is now no more possible than it is desirable.
Rather than stop now to question the wisdom of God's providence, in the constitution or history of this work, and spend time and strength in efforts to introduce fundamental changes, we think all would do better to accept it as a whole, give their attention to a careful examination of their own hearts in view of the soon-coming judgment, and be willing to receive instruction from whatever source, and by whatever means the Lord may see fit to send it.
If the work of the ministry, as Paul wrote to Timothy, is, among other things, to "reprove, rebuke, exhort," it would not be strange if this should be a characteristic of a special gift in the church; and if to refuse to receive instruction from the faithful minister would be to neglect duty and suffer spiritual loss, it would, in the other case, be no less so.--Ibid.
Using his editorial report on the Michigan camp meeting to herald to the church the marked change that had come in his personal relationship to the Spirit of Prophecy, Smith stated:
Reference to Sister White's labors at the camp meeting has led us to this digression, in which we have taken occasion to state more fully than in the recent Review Supplement our position on a question which has been the cause of no little agitation of late in some quarters.--Ibid.
In closing his report and personal confession, he wrote significantly:
To return to the meeting, we believe its influence will be to consolidate the work in this State, and bind the hearts of the brethren more closely together. It is one Lord, one cause, and one people. The remnant are going through together, not in straggling squads or hostile sections. Happy will it be for those people who can say, This cause is my cause, and this people is my people.--Ibid.
What a victory had been won. The cause of God now entered a new day. Some time after this Smith wrote at length in the Review and Herald Extra about his experience in going through a period of doubt in his relation to the Testimonies, as mentioned in an earlier chapter (page 200--see page 493, Appendix, for the full statement).
Following the camp meeting, a Bible reading institute arranged by the Michigan Conference was carried through successfully. Ellen White came often and spoke in the meetings about the general interests of the cause. Reportedly, her testimony was accompanied by the Spirit of God (The Signs of the Times, November 22, 1883).
In the interval between the camp meeting and the institute, word was received of the death of the church's first missionary to be sent overseas, J. N. Andrews, in Basel, Switzerland. The life of this faithful servant of God was cut short by tuberculosis at the age of 54.
The 1883 General Conference Session
The General Conference session convened Thursday, November 8. A tender and harmonious spirit prevailed from the first. George Butler, in his opening address, referred to recent experiences in the attacks made on the visions and the Spirit of Prophecy:
The bitter opposition waged against us this year is another source of encouragement. The opposition on the subject of spiritual gifts has created a great interest on that subject, and we should be preparing, by the publication of suitable works, to meet a still greater opposition in this direction in the near future.--The Review and Herald, November 20, 1883.
Ellen White spoke to the ministers each morning. Writing to an Adventist businessman in Oakland near the close of the session, she reported:
The Lord has blessed me greatly since these meetings have been in progress. We have had meetings for the ministers every morning at five o'clock and I have been able to attend and speak a short time to them. I have had special words given me as they were needed.... Our brethren are learning the simple art of believing as well as confessing their sins.--Letter 15a, 1883.
Concerning the session, she declared, "There is a spirit of sweet amity and love among our ministering brethren. Business meetings move off harmoniously."--Ibid. The conference session, together with the auxiliary meetings, ran the full twenty days as planned.
Crucial Meeting of the Educational Society
At the meeting of the S.D.A. Educational Society, held on November 14, the time was given (after the disposing of financial matters) to reports from President Littlejohn. W. C. and Ellen G. White then spoke about the college and educational interests. Ellen White's carefully followed remarks were summed up in the report of the meeting.
Referring to the opening of the college, the influences which led to its closing, and its recent reopening, Sister White expressed the hope that the blessing of God would attend the work there, so that it might carry out the design for which it was started. The object of having a college was to furnish a place where the young could be educated to go out and labor for God. Even as the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, so the Bible should be studied in order to gain an education that will be of lasting benefit to the young. The time should be divided up between study and work, so as to furnish physical as well as mental development, and better advancement would be seen if this plan were followed out.--The Review and Herald, December 4, 1883.
The naming of the appropriate committees signaled a notable change of attitude of one key figure at the headquarters of the church--Uriah Smith. The committee on resolutions, a very important committee at just this time, was named: W. C. White, Uriah Smith, and W. H. Littlejohn. What an omen for better days! The resolutions they laid before the constituency of the Educational Society were equally significant:
Resolved, That we express our gratitude to God for the reopening of our college, and that we recognize His hand in the rapid increase in the number of students since the commencement of the present term, and the exceptional good order which has characterized their deportment thus far.
Whereas, In our last annual session a resolution was passed to the effect that the trustees make provision for a suitable boardinghouse for the students; also for the performance of manual labor on the part of the students; and, as far as possible, for the conducting of the college upon a plan which shall harmonize in all respects with the light which God has given us upon this point through the Testimonies; and--
Whereas, The carrying out of that resolution will involve the expenditure of $15,000 to $20,000; therefore--
Resolved, We proceed to raise $25,000 during the coming year, in subscriptions to the capital stock, to be used in paying the present indebtedness and in making the proposed improvements.--Ibid.
It was recognized that the main purpose of the college was to train ministers, missionaries, colporteurs, Bible "readers" (instructors), and teachers for auxiliary schools. A new day had dawned for Battle Creek College.
Conference Session Actions
Many facets of the work of the church were considered and acted upon at this session. The General Conference Committee was enlarged from three members to five. George I. Butler was reelected president, Uriah Smith chosen secretary, and A. R. Henry, an Adventist banker from Iowa, treasurer. The new executive committee consisted of Butler, Haskell, W. C. White, J. Fargo, and O. A. Olsen. Ellen White, whose ordination was at the hands of God and not men, was given ministerial credentials.
At the last service, Tuesday night, November 20, W. C. White and A. B. Oyen were ordained to the gospel ministry, followed by a short address by Ellen White.
Among the resolutions passed were several that indicated a firming up of the attitudes on the Spirit of Prophecy.
Actions Relating to the E. G. White Books
Early in the session, action was taken to publish, in the Danish-Norwegian language, a book comprising the major portions of volumes 2 and 3 of Spirit of Prophecy, to be known as The Life of Christ. Already available in this language was a volume of a sketch of Ellen White's life and various extracts from her writings, which had been well received. It was recommended at this session that the sketch of her life and The Life of Christ be published in French, German, and Swedish. These actions called for competent translators, and those present felt the work could best be done in Europe. They voted that A. B. Oyen go at his earliest convenience to Europe. There he could engage in translating with the help of the best scholars and J. G. Matteson (Ibid., November 20, 1883).
An action taken on Tuesday, November 13, helped to strengthen the publishing interests in Europe:
Whereas, It is evident that it will soon be necessary to take advance steps in the way of establishing publishing interests in Europe; and--
Whereas, Brother W. C. White has had experience in this branch of the work; therefore--
Resolved, That we recommend that the said W. C. White so arrange his business the coming year as to be at liberty to render the requisite assistance another season.--Ibid.
Another action relating to the Ellen G. White writings, the one mentioned in the preceding chapter that called for some revision of wording as the Testimonies were to be reprinted in permanent and more convenient form, was taken. The 1883 session would be remembered for this if for nothing else.
Still another far-reaching action relating to Ellen White's ministry read:
Voted, That this conference request that Sister White's talks at the early-morning meetings, and such other matter as may be considered advisable, be published.
This culminated in the publication of twelve articles in the Review and Herald in 1884 and in Gospel Workers, published in 1892.
An action fulfilling the suggestion made by Butler in his opening address called for the preparation of books to be issued on the subject of spiritual gifts; the General Conference Committee was asked to give attention to this.
It was at one of the meetings at this session that Ellen White gave the message recorded in Selected Messages 1:45 and 46, concerning the reception of her testimonies.
In giving his final report on the conference, Uriah Smith wrote:
We have had good and blessed conferences in the past. We have nothing to abate from the report of any previous meeting. Yet some who have known the best of all former occasions of this kind pronounced this better than any of them. Sister White was greatly strengthened and blessed throughout the meeting. We mention as a matter of interest to the reader, as it was to all present at the closing morning meeting, Tuesday, November 20, her statement then made, that this had been the best meeting that she had ever enjoyed. We do not know that anyone left with other than feelings of courage and good cheer.--The Review and Herald, November 27, 1883.
Smith seemed to bubble over with joy and courage; he mentioned the outlook as more hopeful than ever before, the work on a firmer basis, obstacles lessening, and the prospect of success never more flattering. This feeling seemed to be sensed by everyone at the conference. Haskell telegraphed the Pacific Press that it was "the largest and best conference ever held" (The Signs of the Times, November 29, 1883). Ellen White, writing to a friend in Oakland, exclaimed, "This is the best conference ever held among our people."--Letter 15a, 1883.
Back to California
For Ellen White there was a ten-day Bible reading institute at South Lancaster, Massachusetts, following the General Conference. Then she spent a few days in Pennsylvania and attended a meeting at Wellsville, New York.
So many were making the trip from Battle Creek to Oakland that a railroad car was chartered for the journey. Forty-six were in the traveling party that reached Oakland Monday morning, December 24.