Near the close of 1896, on November 8, Ellen White wrote a five-page document titled "Testimony Concerning the Views of Prophecy Held by Brother John Bell." Bell held divergent views regarding the location in time of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. The testimony opens:
I have not been able to sleep since half past one o'clock. I was bearing to Brother John Bell [of Melbourne] a message which the Lord had given me for him. The peculiar views he holds are a mixture of truth and error. If he had passed through the experiences of God's people as He has led them for the last forty years, he would be better prepared to make the correct application of Scripture. The great waymarks of truth, showing us our bearings in prophetic history, are to be carefully guarded, lest they be torn down, and replaced with theories that would bring confusion rather than genuine light.
Ellen White likened John Bell's work to some met in the past:
Some will take the truth applicable to their time, and place it in the future. Events in the train of prophecy that had their fulfillment away in the past are made future, and thus by these theories the faith of some is undermined. From the light that the Lord has been pleased to give me, you are in danger of doing the same work, presenting before others truths which have had their place and done their specific work for the time, in the history of the faith of the people of God.
You recognize these facts in Bible history as true, but apply them to the future. They have their force still in their proper place, in the chain of events that have made us as a people what we are today, and as such, they are to be presented to those who are in the darkness of error.
God's Leading in Pioneer Days
The five-page testimony closes with a review of early Seventh-day Adventist history in the establishment of doctrinal truth:
Many theories were advanced, bearing a semblance of truth, but so mingled with Scriptures misinterpreted and misapplied that they led to dangerous errors. Very well do we know how every point of truth was established, and the seal set upon it by the Holy Spirit of God.
And all the time voices were heard, "Here is the truth." "I have the truth, follow me." But the warnings came, "Go not ye after them. I have not sent them, but they ran." The leadings of the Lord were marked, and most wonderful were His revelations of what is truth. Point after point was established by the Lord God of heaven. That which was truth then is truth today.
Then Ellen White drives the matter home, addressing the words of warning to John Bell:
According to the light God has given me, you are on the same track. That which appears to you to be a chain of truth is in some lines misplacing the prophecies, and counter working that which God has revealed as truth. The third angel's message is our burden to the people. It is the gospel of peace and righteousness and truth. Here is our work, to stand firmly to proclaim this. We need now to have every piece of the armor on.--Manuscript 31, 1896.
The Three Angels' Messages Placed in the Future
Bell apparently was placing the three angels' messages as future. Ellen White wrote out in a document of twenty-one pages a more detailed presentation dealing with Bell's position. This, too, carried the title "Testimony Concerning the Views of Prophecy Held by Brother John Bell." Its opening words sound the keynote of warning:
The proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages has been located by the Word of Inspiration. Not a peg or pin is to be removed.--Manuscript 32, 1896.
Not only was Bell altering the position of the three angels' messages, but he was also introducing time-setting elements. She met both points squarely. Her statement may be read in Selected Messages 2:104-117. Here and there in this exposure of error and confirmation of truth are timeless, thought-provoking expressions, such as:
God's people, who in their belief and fulfillment of prophecy have acted a part in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages, know where they stand. They have an experience that is more precious than fine gold. They are to stand firm as a rock, holding the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end.
A transforming power attended the proclamation of the first and second angels' messages, as it attends the message of the third angel. Lasting convictions were made upon human minds. The power of the Holy Spirit was manifested. There was diligent study of the Scriptures, point by point. Almost entire nights were devoted to earnest searching of the Word. We searched for the truth as for hidden treasures. The Lord revealed Himself to us. Light was shed on the prophecies, and we knew that we received divine instruction.--Ibid., 2:109.
The Lord will not lead minds now to set aside the truth that the Holy Spirit has moved upon His servants in the past to proclaim.--Ibid., 2:110.
The Lord does not lay upon those who have not had an experience in His work the burden of making a new exposition of those prophecies which He has, by His Holy Spirit, moved upon His chosen servants to explain. According to the light God has given me, this is the work which you, Brother F. [Bell], have been attempting to do.--Ibid., 2:112.
John Bell read thoughtfully and prayerfully the two communications, and accepted them as messages of warning from God to him. He dropped his fanciful and misleading teachings and embraced without reservation the doctrinal teachings of the church. Of this experience A. G. Daniells wrote to W. C. White on May 6, 1897: "John [Bell] has taken a splendid position on the testimony concerning his book. He has set aside his erroneous views altogether, and stands in the best position I have known him at all."--A. G. Daniells letter in 11 WCW, p. 435.
The McCullagh Apostasy
Following close on the Bell experience was the apostasy of Stephen McCullagh. Ellen White was more saddened than surprised when she received a telegram late in March, 1897, from A. G. Daniells that Elders McCullagh and C. F. Hawkins had turned away from the message. Hawkins, a relatively new believer who had come from the ministry in the Wesleyan Church, had been led away by McCullagh, with whom he had been assigned to work. McCullagh had a background of nine years in the Adventist ministry and was a dedicated and efficient evangelist, working both in New Zealand and Australia. Now he had repudiated the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was drawing with him other members of the Adelaide church, which he pastored. In situations of this kind, there is usually no one cause to which such actions can be assigned. In this case it would seem that the home situation figured largely; it could be traced back to the time Ellen White first met him and his wife in New Zealand.
On August 16, 1893, at Hastings, New Zealand, while Ellen White was working with the McCullaghs, she picked up her pen and wrote them a letter:
Dear Brother and Sister McCullagh,
It is with sadness that I learn of your affliction. I sympathize with you in your daughter's illness, and we all pray for you. But, my brother and sister, there is a work that must be done for yourselves, as well as for your child, and I have hope that this work will be done. But let me tell you that unless you are willing to learn, you will not, cannot, obtain that Christian experience which it is so essential for every one of us to have. I have been much pained as I have thought of your family.
She wrote of right impulses that often motivated Mrs. McCullagh, and also of a very critical attitude toward others in the church, and the negative influence she exerted on her husband. She cited an instance of this kind, in the experience of another couple, that had taken place within the decade. The Lord allowed the accusing and critical tongue of the wife of a prominent minister to be forever silenced by paralysis, limiting her vocabulary to a word or two. Mrs. White observed: "Thus a talent, which if rightly employed would have done good to the church and to the world, was laid in ruins." Both husband and wife were left almost useless in the work of the Lord.
Referring to the same couple, she mentioned also that "neither he nor his wife accepted the principles of health reform, chiefly because of her insinuations and misinterpretations." She referred to still another case of a husband-and-wife team engaged in evangelism; he was a powerful speaker and his wife possessed unusual ability and influence.
She wrote of the indulgence and mismanagement in the family that led to sad results, and told of how" today this family have no connection with the truth. Because of mismanagement, father, mother, and children are lost to the cause of God.--Letter 40, 1893.
The Testimony not Sent
But the testimony in which these points were made to Elder and Mrs. McCullagh was not sent. Three years later she explained why:
I intended to give it to you [Elder McCullagh], but did not do so because I gave a discourse there in which I took up very plainly the principles stated in this letter. You both heard my words, spoken under the power of the Holy Spirit, and Sister McCullagh told me that she received this message as given to herself, for she needed it. She said that she had never seen the case presented in that light before, and that she would make a decided change in her course of action in regard to her child. But this work has been strangely neglected.
Then Mrs. White explained the procedure often followed in her work, which many times proved effective and avoided a confrontation that could repel rather than win:
It is my first duty to present Bible principles. Then, unless there is a decided, conscientious reform made by those whose cases have been presented before me, I must appeal to them personally. I have often spoken in the presence of you both on these important subjects, but have never felt that the time had come for me to address you personally, for I could not be sure that you would understand the warning, and work diligently to reform, and I feared that you would both make a wrong use of the matter sent you.--Letter 69, 1896.
McCullagh, and possibly his wife, were present at the Monday-morning workers' meeting in October, 1894, at the Ashfield camp meeting when Ellen White was led by the Spirit of God to present a very close testimony to the workers present. Soon after this meeting she noted in her diary:
I must write that Elder Corliss and Elder McCullagh are in greater danger than they or anyone suppose. Elder McCullagh is tempted, and is gathering darkness to his soul.--Manuscript 41, 1894.
Five months before this, McCullagh had been miraculously healed at the counsel meeting at Dora Creek. Ellen White mentioned this on several occasions:
We had had a most precious season of prayer while at Dora Creek for Brother McCullagh. The Lord graciously heard our prayers, and the inflammation left his throat and lungs, and he was healed. He has been improving ever since, and the Lord has sustained him in doing a large amount of work.--Letter 29, 1894.
While residing for the year or more at Granville, Ellen White worked very closely with McCullagh in his evangelistic ministry in the suburbs of Sydney. He often ate at her table. It would be most unlikely that with such opportunities as they conversed, she would not endeavor to give guidance on some of the points where he and his wife showed weakness. Both McCullagh and Ellen White wrote of their close working relationship. A letter to her written February 15, 1895, opens:
My Dear Mother,
I hope that you will not think me presumptuous in addressing you thus, but your great interest in me and the many blessings the Lord has sent me through you, and the counsel and encouragements which I have received, seem to make you a mother to me.
But matters in the McCullagh home did not rise to the point God would have them. He was ill in the early weeks of 1896, and as plans were laid for the institute to be held at Avondale for a month beginning March 26, Ellen White invited him and his wife to attend. This was followed by a letter dated March 25. In this she pointed out that there was need of a different atmosphere in their home life and there was a deficiency in the cooking, calling for a remedy.
After describing here experience in following the health reform principles, she wrote in tender terms:
I did not ask you to come here to hurt you in any way, but to change the order of things, which your wife will not properly do unless the Holy Spirit of God shall mold and fashion her character. When this is done she can be a much greater help to her husband, spiritually and physically, than she ever has been; and you will have order and system in your family management.--Letter 66, 1896.
Elder and Mrs. McCullagh responded to the invitation and went up to Cooranbong, but instead of staying at Ellen White's home they chose to stay with a family living at some distance from the school.
A Significant Testimony
At two o'clock Monday morning, March 30, Ellen White was aroused to write, as she said, "those things which force themselves upon my mind." She penned these words:
Dear Brother and Sister McCullagh,
I have been glad to receive encouraging letters from you. I am anxious that in every respect both of you shall meet the approval of God.... The Lord has given you talents for His service, and He longs to see you reveal Him to others. You have an influence with people; your speaking is acceptable to them. But you need to give more time and more earnest study to the Bible.--Letter 67, 1896.
After writing in this vein for a time, she turned to health reform and the influence ministers exert, and then to the McCullagh home. She called for a change to be made in their experience and in the experience of their daughter. "Your daughter," she wrote, "has not had proper training; she has not been brought up with the careful restraint that God requires." She admonished, "In the home and in the world the love of God must occupy the first place. God must be enthroned in each heart." She called for Elder McCullagh to set his own home in order. In stark words she declared, "If this is not done, you will be more trammeled by the wrong influence felt there than by any other power that can be brought against you." Near the close she wrote:
Think me not your enemy because I tell you the truth; let not the words I have written discourage you, but let them restore, strengthen, and uphold you. I respect and love you both, and for this reason, I entreat you to heed the message God has given me for you. Do not lightly esteem the voice of the Holy Spirit. God wants you to have liberty in Him, and by placing yourself in His hands, you may abound in every good work, and represent Him to the world. In much love.--Ibid.
At the time of writing, Ellen White did not put this message in their hands, even though the McCullaghs were at Cooranbong. Either she felt the time had not come or she did not have a suitable opportunity. On July 28 she mailed the testimony to them in Adelaide. Her hope that it might be received wholeheartedly was not fulfilled. The reproof, though spoken kindly, roiled their hearts, and during the Adelaide camp meeting held in October, Fannie Bolton freely sowed seeds of falsehood, questioning, and doubt about Ellen White's work, which bore a dire harvest. The accumulation led Elder McCullagh on March 23, 1897, to turn from the message and in bitterness tender his resignation as a minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
This sparked a line of action: an immediate and hurried trip by Daniells and Colcord from Melbourne to Adelaide to meet with and attempt to save the two ministers, McCullagh and Hawkins, and the church. Calls were made for S. N. Haskell, now at Cooranbong, and G. B. Starr in Queensland to go to Adelaide also, and to expect to spend some time there. Of course, there were communications from Ellen G. White to the parties concerned and to the church.
Daniells and Colcord found that McCullagh and Hawkins had brought the tent meetings at Adelaide to a close, but the tent was still standing. Announcements were out that the two ministers would be speaking in the Knights Templars' hall on Sunday evening. The church members were confused. As Haskell and Starr took up work in the city, they found, as Daniells did, that the prime point at issue was Ellen G. White and her messages. Following closely was the advocacy of a holiness experience and the calling in question of the sanctuary truth.
The Spirit of Prophecy a Prime Point of Truths Rejected
In his letter of resignation McCullagh declared: "I utterly reject Mrs. E. G. White's claims that 'in these days God speaks to men by the testimonies of His Spirit' through Mrs. White."
I also regret Seventh-day Adventists' views of the atonement. I dare not believe that the blood of Christ had no real efficacy until 1844. I have found by observation that the views of the sanctuary placing the atonement of Christ at 1844 takes from the people their confidence in the perfection of the most glorious gospel of full salvation, made perfect by the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ once and for all.--DF 504b, "Apostasies, McCullagh and Hawkins," S. McCullagh resignation, March 23, 1897.
[You] yourselves know also that a minister in your connection would not be tolerated as such if he should express his unbelief in the plenary inspiration in every word of Mrs. White's writings.
The same is true of the doctrine of discrimination between meats and drinks--commonly termed amongst us "Health Reform." The rigid rules of diet as a test in religious standing, and further, in being made a final test for heaven, are a very decided article of faith. Members have been turned out of the churches on account of their unbelief in these, in the sanctuary question, and other lines of creed.-- Ibid.
C. F. Hawkins, who had been only a few months in the faith but was ordained to the ministry at the camp meeting in Adelaide in October, was less explicit as he wrote his letter of resignation. He declared that he could not harmonize with the Word of God much of the writings of Mrs. E. G. White, or her claim to inspiration (Ibid., C. F. Hawkins resignation, March 23, 1897).
Ellen White's Reaction
Writing from Sunnyside, Cooranbong, March 30, 1897, to "Dear Brethren," Ellen White, after expressing her feelings of sadness over the developments, declared:
This is no sudden movement. The enemy has been at work for a long period of time. I knew that Brother and Sister McCullagh would be strongly tempted in the very direction in which they are now. I knew that a crisis would come, that they would either see the defects in their home management, or else that Satan would blind their perception, so that the sin of Eli would become their sin. These things must be kept before the people, whether men will hear or refuse the warnings.
I have not to study the consequences which may be the sure result to me. I have put myself in the hands of God. If He shall permit the enemy to do to me as he did to my Saviour, shall I complain?
In her closing lines of the six-page communication, she wrote:
You may inquire, "What effect does this have upon you?" Sorrow only, sorrow of soul, but peace and perfect rest, and trust in Jesus. To vindicate myself, my position, or my mission, I would not utter ten words. I would not seek to give evidence of my work. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
She added, "We have never made meat eating a test of fellowship, never."--Letter 14, 1897.
On April 5 she addressed a communication to the church at Adelaide. It opened with words that may offer a basis for using the names of individuals in the recital of this experience:
It is your privilege and duty to stand firmly in the faith. I wish you now to see that which I never meant to be made public. It will explain to you the reason of this wonderful apostasy.
Brother Haskell, I think, has the matter in clear lines, written to Brother McCullagh after he had received a special blessing at the Cooranbong Bible Institute. Brother McCullagh thanked me for reading this to him....
As he has poured out his tirade against me publicly, when I was not present to answer for myself, I think it just and right that his accusations shall be presented in writing or before others, that we may be able to answer them, point by point, and thus to disappoint the enemy in his determined efforts to accuse. This accusing spirit will continue till the close of time, but let none suppose that the Holy Spirit prompts them to work out Satan's attributes. They are working under another leader. We have seen this acted over and over again in our experience.--Letter 4, 1897. (Italics supplied.)
S. N. Haskell, soon after reaching Adelaide, listed in a letter to Ellen White the charges being made by McCullagh in his public meetings and in his visiting the church members from house to house. Some of these points were:
1. That you are worth from £10,000 to £20,000.
2. That all your testimonies are written upon the testimony you received from others.
3. That you have tried to separate Brother and Sister McCullagh.
4. That tea drinking and flesh eating are made tests among us and especially among the ministers.
5. That ministers have been disfellowshiped because they would not give them up.
6. That you have spent $3,000 on a sixteen-room house and have an awful household expense, and yet profess to believe the Lord is coming soon.
7. That your books are prepared by others and that you only give them ideas and books to select from.
8. That we do not educate people for the ministry, only for the canvassing work, and that your being located where you are is only to build up a school to educate canvassers to sell your books.
9. That in some meeting where a number of the brethren were, myself [Haskell] included, you saw that we all would live till the Lord would come and that we would all be saved, but many are dying, to our confusion.
Haskell added: "And now their burden in name is Christian perfection, but in reality it is to attack positions on the sanctuary."--S. N. Haskell to EGW, April 5, 1897.
Ellen White's assessment of the situation on Monday, April 6, is mentioned in her letter to Edson:
By the letters enclosed, you will learn that Brethren Hawkins and McCullagh, who were laboring in Adelaide, have given up their position on the truth, and are going in for holiness altogether. They have come out against the testimonies of the Spirit of the Lord. Elder Daniells telegraphed this to us, and we at once made arrangements for Brother Starr and wife to go to Adelaide....
Brother Haskell has left us for a week or two to visit Adelaide. We deemed it advisable for him to go.... We thought that as Brother Haskell had ordained both Brethren McCullagh and Hawkins, he might possibly save these poor, deluded men. He left us last Wednesday.--Letter 152, 1897.
Both Haskell and Starr gave frequent reports to Ellen White of the progress in their attempts to reclaim the men who were departing from the church. They labored hard with the two couples, but without success. Most of the members of the Adelaide church were soon standing firm, however. The hall meetings of McCullagh and Hawkins collapsed. Both men, with their wives, gave up the Sabbath. Hawkins found a position as pastor of a Baptist church in the little town of Mannum about forty miles east of Adelaide.
Reports came in occasionally of McCullagh filling appointments in Baptist churches; in July he was reported to have gone to a little Baptist church about fifty miles from Adelaide.
McCullagh Returns to the Faith--Briefly
Two years went by, and little was heard of McCullagh. Then on January 7, 1899, having apparently made a complete turnaround, he wrote a rather extended confession to Ellen White at Cooranbong. On January 24 he carried it with him to the Ballarat camp meeting to show to A. G. Daniells and confer with him concerning the possibility of his return to the Adventist ministry. As Daniells took the sheets, he read the opening sentence:
Dear Sister White,
Ever since my mysterious and unjustifiable fall about two years ago, we have been in a state of spiritual unrest.--S. McCullagh to EGW, January 7, 1899.
Daniells read the extended confession thoughtfully, and after his visit with McCullagh he wrote Ellen White, mentioning the experience:
Now I must tell you about Brother McCullagh. He is here with us; arrived this morning by the Adelaide express. I have had a long talk with him, and have read a letter that he wrote to you nearly three weeks ago. He says that he has had two years of solitude, captivity, and anguish, during which time he has reflected a great deal upon his situation.
He has studied over the different features of the message, and he and his wife have become thoroughly satisfied that this work is of God, and that their only hope of eternal life rests upon their connection with it and faithful obedience to its requirements. He says that he wants to come back to the house of his Father. He wants to again unite with us as a people and devote his life to the proclamation of this truth. He blames himself altogether for his mysterious course. He says that he has not one single thing to justify that course. He tells me that the Lord has taken out of his heart every bit of hard feeling that he has held toward any of our people and every feature of our work.
Daniells told Ellen White of the rejoicing of heart this experience brought to him, and added:
So far as I can see, he seems to have got hold of the Saviour, and feels greatly humbled. I feel to receive him with open arms and a warm heart. I stood strictly against the course he took when he left us, but now I wish to take hold of his hand and help him all that I possibly can. He says he cannot see how you can have any confidence in him or love for him. He feels that he has wounded you, and the cause that is dearer to you than life, to such an extent he can never be worthy of your confidence. I tell him there is no one who will forgive him more quickly and heartily and will do more to help him find the solid Rock and stand there forever than you will do.--A. G. Daniells to EGW, January 24, 1899.
Ellen White, as was fully expected, rejoiced in the return of the McCullagh family, but with her experience and insights she approached the matter with some caution, which is seen in her letter of response written February 12, 1899. She made it clear that she fully forgave him and his wife for the strange and malignant attitudes they had taken against her, but pointed out that under the circumstances, most earnest work must be performed by them not only in confession but in attempting to counter the evil work that had been done so publicly in bringing injury to the cause of God. It was not vindictiveness on her part, but only what must be done to be right with God and his erstwhile fellow workers. She wrote:
As far as I am concerned, I can forgive everything where I have been held personally before the people as a fraud. When by confession you make things right with God, He will abundantly pardon. Be sure that in this work with God you realize that you have greatly dishonored the Lord. Every principle, every action, heart, life, and character, are put into the golden scale and weighed. Infinite Justice watches the beam, and weighs accurately every imagination of the heart, determining the value of the whole man--his thoughts, his words, his works.
The letter was a long one, and she employed some interesting illustrations as she wrote:
Were you only a common soldier, instead of a captain in the army of the Lord, it would not be necessary to make these statements. But as your future may be spent in opening the Scriptures to others, it is of the greatest importance that you understand your position. It is not possible that we can come to you, but you can come to us.
There is need of the deep moving of the Spirit of God, that if the word shall come to you, "Put on the armor, and fill your appointed place," you will not serve with eye service, but as the servant of Christ.--Letter 33, 1899.
As McCullagh moved back into the work of the church, he wrote a deep-feeling confession that was published in the May 20 issue of the Union Conference Record. In this he emphasized his renewed confidence in the message and his relationship to Ellen G. White and her work.
He was one of the delegates sent to the union conference session held at Cooranbong in July, 1899, and continued with his ministry for another year or two. Then it happened again. Independent in spirit and restless in his work, while in the midst of an evangelistic tent meeting, probably in early 1902, he withdrew from the work. He declared, in an undated statement addressed to the conference committee of the Victorian Conference, that he considered a salaried ministry to be a curse to the ministry and to the church, a machine of the devil for the manufacture of hypocrites (S. McCullagh, in "Received Correspondence File," 1900-1901).
He expressed the desire to close his labors as an employee at the end of the month. On the sheet bearing his resignation, the conference president, G. B. Starr, added this note:
McCullagh had done no work in the tent meetings for about a fortnight before writing this. He said he was sick. Sick in his mind. He was paid in full to the end of the month. The committee acted upon his resignation at once, accepting it and dismissing him from conference employ.--G. B. Starr, in "Received Letter File," S. McCullagh.
McCullagh's later years were spent quite apart from any religious interests. Ellen White had declared in one of her letters dealing with the McCullagh apostasy (Letter 1, 1897, and found in her comments in The SDA Bible Commentary, on Numbers 16:1-50, page 1114):
I question whether genuine rebellion is ever curable.... Rebellion and apostasy are in the very air we breathe.