The General Conference session of 1905 was due to open on May 11 in Washington, D.C., and Ellen White questioned whether she should attend. In her correspondence she intimated that she probably would not make the trip. The work on her books called for her attention, and she felt that she should stay by this. Yet, as the time for the session approached, she began to plan to go if it seemed her duty to do so.
Night after night in visions she seemed to be either speaking to large congregations or attending important committee meetings. She wrote of how she had had "presentations regarding the deceptions that Satan is bringing in at this time" (Letter 99, 1905). She called for the reprinting of articles published in church journals in former years, written by the pioneers and testifying to the certainty of the message, and she predicted: "There will be constant warfare with seducing spirits that will bring in theories to counteract the truth of God."-- Ibid.
Was she referring to the recent disclosure in correspondence that Elder A. F. Ballenger, a worker in England, was teaching views on the sanctuary truth that would nullify the well-founded understanding of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary? Was it the intensification that was to come of the Kellogg views, which she once declared "virtually destroyed, the Lord God Himself" (Letter 300, 1903)? Could it be the growing apostasy of A. T. Jones?
When A. G. Daniells, president of the General Conference, learned that there was some question in Ellen White's mind as to whether she would attend the conference, he wrote to her:
I did not know there was any question at all about your coming.... The members of the General Conference Committee located in Washington, and the leading brethren living here, desire that you shall attend this meeting, and we send you a hearty invitation to come.--AGD to EGW, April 19, 1905.
As Daniells continued his appeal, he disclosed in what high esteem church leaders held the Spirit of Prophecy:
Here is our large conference coming on. This will be an important meeting. We are longing and looking for a special blessing from the Lord. There has never been a time in our history when we have needed clear views of our work, our responsibilities, et cetera, more than just now. We have confidence in the voice of the Spirit of Prophecy that has been with this cause from the first day, and I know that all the delegates will greatly appreciate having you present at the coming conference.
As I fully expect you will come, I will not write more regarding this matter. We shall make the best arrangements we know how for your entertainment.-- Ibid.
By this time it seemed that she must attend the session, and she wrote:
If I have to bear the burden of the perplexities here at home, and I must write constantly to the brethren assembled, I feel that I would prefer to be on the field of battle rather than where it takes two weeks to write and receive a reply. I only desire to do the will of my heavenly Father. If it is according to His will, I am willing to go. But it is a problem what to do with the matters here at home.--Letter 111, 1905.
The matters "here at home" to which she referred included the fact that Mrs. Nelson, for several years her housekeeper, had just left to complete the nurses's course; Lucinda Abbey Hall, whom she considered closer than a sister, was called East because of the illness of her family; Sara McEnterfer, her faithful traveling companion and nurse, was undergoing treatment in San Francisco for a serious eye affliction and could not make the trip East. Ellen White felt lost without Sara as a traveling companion, for Sara understood her needs and wants so well.
Then Dores Robinson, one of her secretaries, came up with a proposed solution. He was engaged to be married to Ella White, W. C. White's oldest daughter, and he suggested that their wedding plans be advanced and they marry before the party should leave for the East. Then he and Ella would take care of W. C. White's children, Henry, Herbert, and Grace, leaving May, W. C.'s wife, free to travel East with Ellen White.
The proposal was accepted by all concerned, and arrangements were made for the wedding on Monday afternoon, May 1. It was planned for outdoors, but rain threatened, so the ceremony took place in the Sanitarium chapel. Ellen White offered the prayer and made appropriate remarks.
With the most difficult hurdles out of the way, she was ready to make the trip East. "If the Lord will," she wrote on Sunday before the wedding, "I shall join the party leaving Wednesday morning [May 3] for the General Conference."--Letter 133, 1905.
The Southern route was chosen for the trip, and there would be twenty to twenty-five people traveling together, their party almost filling the tourist car that would carry them to Washington.
At the Los Angeles railroad station Elder J. A. Burden came into the car, met Ellen White, and hastily told her of a beautiful property he had found near San Bernardino and Redlands that might be suitable for sanitarium work--Loma Linda. He suggested that as the train went by she look out the window on the right side and see the building. But her berth was on the left, and there is no record that she noticed Loma Linda as the train passed the property.
The trip was pleasant and rather uneventful. On Sabbath and Sunday the Adventists joined in song services, and Elder Corliss spoke to the group on Sunday morning. All in the car, including a few non-Adventists, listened attentively.
Accompanying Ellen White was her son W. C. White, his wife, May, and Maggie Hare. The party arrived at the Washington station on Tuesday morning, May 9, at ten o'clock. After staying overnight at the little temporary sanitarium being opened in Washington in a rented building, the party moved to the newly completed boys' dormitory, where four rooms were given over to them. Two rooms were for Ellen White (a bedroom and a working room); there was one room for W. C. White and his wife, and another for Maggie Hare.
Ellen White was pleased to witness the development of the work at the school. When she left Washington in mid-August, 1904, construction was just getting under way. Now this building was completed, and work was progressing on others.
She reported that she had "stood the trip remarkably well, and was stronger when I left the cars at Washington than when I got on board at San Francisco." And she declared:
I can but feel that the Lord is in my coming to Washington at this time. I have a message to bear. God helping me, I will stand firm for the right, presenting truth unmixed with the falsities that have been stealthily creeping in. Those who are on the Lord's side will refuse to be drawn astray by false science, which makes a jingle of the true word of prophecy. May the Lord give me much of His grace, that in every work and act I may reveal the light of truth.--Letter 135, 1905.
Elder Daniells planned that this General Conference session would be deeply spiritual. He saw the importance of upgrading the ministry; plans were laid for a ministerial institute to run through the session, with an hour each day devoted to the presentation of appropriate topics. It was also a time when he looked forward to the rounding out of the work of the newly formed General Conference departments. Departmental meetings would be held throughout the session. But it was the spiritual interest of the cause that weighed most heavily on his heart. This is reflected in the opening meeting, at 10:30 A.M. on Thursday, May 11.
The 1905 Session Opens
Elder Daniells took Ellen White onto the platform with the group of ministers who were to open the important session. A spirit of solemnity pervaded the assembly as they gathered in the large tent pitched near the new college building. Many had the feeling that this would be "one of the most important gatherings of God's people ever assembled on the earth" (The Review and Herald, May 18, 1905). For days almost everyone had been praying that the meeting might be attended by the power of the Holy Spirit and that there might be given to the work such an impetus as to hasten the message to all parts of the earth and bring an end to the long controversy between truth and error. The report is that "the Lord did not disappoint His people."-- Ibid.
Elders Loughborough and Farnsworth led in the opening prayers, and then the meeting took an unexpected turn. "No special business was transacted," but rather "the presence and power of the Lord filled all hearts, and the time was devoted to a praise service, in which many expressed their confidence in the speedy triumph of the message."-- Ibid.
In that morning meeting Ellen White addressed the session. She emphasized the need of repentance and humiliation before God and one another. In this last day of the great day of atonement it is time to make sure that every sin is confessed and forgiven. She urged that "all through this meeting should be heard voices proclaiming, 'He has pardoned my transgressions, He has made me clean from my unrighteousness.' 'Clear the King's highway' is the word to us now. 'Gather out the stones, that a path may be made clear for the Holy Spirit to go through our midst, that the blessing of God may come to us in this conference. Depart from iniquity, and the Lord will make your feet to stand upon high and holy ground.'"-- Ibid. She told of how the night before in vision she seemed to be giving that message.
In her address she pointed out that:
Some pass over their wrongdoings, or, if they have confessions to make, they think that they will not confess, because to do this would lessen the confidence that their brethren have in them. God wants us to look to Him, and to Him alone, and have everything straight between our souls and God. We need to seek the Lord with all our hearts, that we may find Him; we need to come into close relation with the cross of Calvary.... If you have confessed your sins, if you have planted your feet on vantage ground, and are sorry for your sins, so sorry that you will not repeat them, you will receive pardon.-- Ibid.
In the afternoon the conference moved into its regular business proceedings. Elder Daniells was pleased to report that the General Conference departments were operating very successfully. These were: Education, Publishing, Religious Liberty, Sabbath School, and Young People's. Earlier he had expressed the urgency of organizing a Medical Department and also a Home Foreign Department to care for the increasing number of believers in the United States who preferred to worship in languages of their homelands.
In 1901, when the General Conference departments were arranged for, the medical work of the church was strong, but dominated by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. In the four years since, a change had come. The medical work was veering off in independence; it was clear that there should be a Medical Department in the General Conference. This matter would come up for early consideration.
At the opening of the Friday-evening service Elder Daniells remarked that the camp seemed to be a holy and sacred place. There was rejoicing that the counsel to hold a conference in the open air had been followed. Sabbath morning dawned a "perfect day of rest." At the eleven-o'clock service Ellen White, although 77, spoke to a packed tent with "old-time clearness and power." Using Philippians 2:1-11 as her text, she urged church members not to be on the negative side but on the affirmative side with God. His word to His people "'Advance! Forward! pressing together unto victory.'" She urged that the words of His people should "'be of a character to comfort and bless,'" and that Christ's followers should begin to educate their voices "'to speak kindly and pleasantly.'" She pointed out that "'there is a heaven to win and there is a hell to shun.'"--The Review and Herald, May 18, 1905 (see The Desire of Ages, 636).
At the ministerial institute, which was held each day at eleven o'clock, many valuable papers were read. Some noted how refreshing it was "at this meeting to see and hear the work of the gospel ministry given the place which God has ordained that it should fill" (The Review and Herald, May 25, 1905).
On several evenings during the conference large meetings were also held in downtown Washington in the Pythian Temple. Elders Conradi, Gilbert, and Prescott presented topics of interest to the general public. Elder Conradi told of his experiences in Russia.
Arrangements were made also for a delegation from the session to call on President Theodore Roosevelt to pay him the church's respects and to express to him the denomination's views and attitude toward civil government (Ibid.). The delegation of twenty ministers reported a satisfactory and profitable interview with the President. He expressed his appreciation for a parchment bearing an address from the session. He read it carefully while the delegation was there. The public press carried a copy of the message, which appeared also on the cover of the June 1 Review and Herald.
Divergent Teachings on the Sanctuary Truth
But behind the scenes, and not mentioned in the Review and Herald in the formal report of the session, a number of important things were taking place. One of these was three early morning meetings in which church leaders heard Elder A. F. Ballenger present his views on the sanctuary. Ellen White was to address herself in a somewhat veiled way to these views in her talks, and more specifically in a face-to-face confrontation.
In her Tuesday-afternoon address to the session on "The Work for This Time," she discussed a number of subjects, among which was the work developing in Washington:
I want those present at this meeting to realize that it has meant a hard struggle to bring the work in this place to its present state of advancement. The Lord God has been at work. My brethren, instead of criticizing what has been done, save your speech for the great cities that have not yet been worked, such as New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis....
I ask you never to find fault with what has been done here, for I have seen the angels of God working here, encouraging the workers, and leading them to lift up their eyes to see their Redeemer and be strengthened. I have seen the angels of God on this ground with the youth and with the other workers. I have seen the power of God at work here, and I wish to tell you that I want this meeting to be an everlasting cure of your faultfinding and murmuring and trying to find someone to criticize. May God help us all to humble our hearts before Him and be converted.-- Ibid.
Her mind turned to the teachings on the sanctuary truths that were being quietly met by church leaders. She told of how in the early days errors crept in, and how the Lord sent her into the field to meet fanaticism and misleading teachings. She declared:
We shall have to meet these same false doctrines again. There will be those who will claim to have visions. When God gives you clear evidence that the vision is from Him, you may accept it, but do not accept it on any other evidence; for people are going to be led more and more astray in foreign countries and in America. The Lord wants His people to act like men and women of sense.-- Ibid.
Then she came to the point, making a prediction:
In the future, deception of every kind is to arise, and we want solid ground for our feet. We want solid pillars for the building. Not one pin is to be removed from that which the Lord has established. The enemy will bring in false theories, such as the doctrine that there is no sanctuary. This is one of the points on which there will be a departing from the faith. Where shall we find safety unless it be in the truths that the Lord has been giving for the last fifty years?-- Ibid.
In her closing remarks she reminded the audience:
Do not think that Satan is not doing anything. Do not think that his army is passive. He and his agencies are on the ground today. We are to put on the whole armor of God. Having done all, we are to stand, meeting principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. And if we have on the heavenly armor, we shall find that the assaults of the enemy will not have power over us. Angels of God will be round about us to protect us.-- Ibid.
In an obvious reference to Elder A. F. Ballenger and some of his friends attending the session, she said, "I am praying that the power of the Saviour will be exerted in behalf of those who have entered into the temptations of the enemy."-- Ibid.
The Ballenger Teachings
Elder A. F. Ballenger, a brother of E. S. Ballenger in southern California, for a time was a minister in Great Britain. Associated with him in the work in Britain were such men as Elder E. W. Farnsworth and E. E. Andross. The latter, in a series of talks given in 1911, gave a little of the background of the Ballenger experience:
[In early 1905] A. F. Ballenger was over in Great Britain while I was there, and he had not been very thoroughly instructed in some points of the faith. He had been preaching around over the country on certain practical points of the faith, and had had considerable success in that line, but he had not been thoroughly grounded in the doctrinal points of the faith. One night while laboring with me in London, it came his turn to preach on the subject of the sanctuary. He did so, but he was very much discouraged over his effort on the subject of the sanctuary that night. And then he said, "If the Lord will help me, I will never preach again until I know what I am preaching. "I am not going to get it from our books. If our brethren could obtain it from the original sources, why can't I? ... I will go to the books or commentaries and all these various sources from which Elder Uriah Smith obtained light on the subject of the sanctuary, and I will get it from the same sources that he did. I will not know it because Elder Uriah Smith knew it, but I will know it because God is teaching it to me directly."--DF 178, E. E. Andross, "Bible Study No. II," July 13, 1911, pp. 13, 14.
Elder Andross then explained that Ballenger did not realize the source from which Elder Smith obtained the sanctuary truth. There was earnest Bible study by the pioneers of the Advent Movement, and with them was the messenger of the Lord. As the brethren continued their study, there was in their midst one through whom the Spirit of God was able to point out what was truth and what was error.
But as to Ballenger, Elder Andross explained in his 1911 statement:
The result was, he developed a theory with reference to the sanctuary that is very subtle, and resulted in his being disconnected from the work entirely since 1905 at the General Conference.-- Ibid., 14
Elder Ballenger considered his discoveries as new light and he presented them at a meeting of the British Union Conference held in London in early 1905. Elder E. W. Farnsworth reported this experience by letter to the General Conference president, who in turn conveyed the information to W. C. White on March 16, 1905.
Elder E. W. Farnsworth's Report on the Ballenger Position
Here is Farnsworth's contemporary summation:
"There was another feature of the meeting which was really sad to me. Brother Ballenger has got into a condition of mind which would seem to me to unfit him entirely to preach the message. He has been studying the subject of the sanctuary a good deal lately, and he comes to the conclusion that the atonement was made when Christ was crucified and that when He ascended He went immediately into the Most Holy Place and that His ministry has been carried on there ever since.
"He takes such texts as Hebrews 6:19 and compares them with twenty-five or thirty expressions of the same character in the Old Testament where he claims that in every instance the term "within the veil" signifies within the Most Holy Place. He says the outer veil or the door of the tabernacle is never called the veil of the tabernacle ...[except] once, and then by implication (Hebrews 9:3), and does not think that one instance should be so construed as to practically overthrow the rest.
"He sees clearly that his view cannot be made to harmonize with the testimonies, at least he admits freely that he is totally unable to do so, and even in his own mind, as far as he is able to see at present, there is an irreconcilable difference. This, of course, involves the authenticity of the Testimonies and practically upsets them--I mean, in his mind.
"It also upsets our views concerning the sanctuary and its work, though he does not really think that way. It also involves to a greater or lesser extent our views of the two covenants, and how much more I was not able to ascertain."--E. W. Farnsworth to AGD, in AGD to WCW, March 16, 1905.
Farnsworth reported that a number of Adventist ministers in Great Britain were taking up these new views on the sanctuary, and confusion was coming in. He declared to Elder Daniells, "'You will readily see from this condition of things that it was not all real sunshine for us at the conference. Somehow this dark cloud of apostasy made it hard for us.'"-- Ibid.
In his 1911 talks at the Oakland camp meeting Elder Andross carefully traces through various texts that were employed by Ballenger in support of his views. Then he traces through the interpretation of these texts as held by Seventh-day Adventists, a position strongly supported by the repeated testimony of Ellen White as having been given to her in confirmation of truth in the early days of studying doctrinal points.
Early in the 1905 session Ballenger laid before the leading brethren what he felt was new light, but they were unable to accept his reasoning and pointed out the errors in his application of Scripture.
Ellen White Speaks Out on the Ballenger Views
At about this time Ellen White met Elder Ballenger in the hallway of the dormitory where she was staying. Writing of the experience, on May 20 she says:
As I spoke to him, it came vividly to my mind that this was the man whom I had seen in an assembly bringing before those present certain subjects, and placing upon passages in the Word of God a construction that could not be maintained as truth. He was gathering together a mass of scriptures such as would confuse minds because of his assertions and his misapplication of these scriptures, for the application was misleading and had not the bearing upon the subject at all which he claimed justified his position. Anyone can do this, and will follow his example to testify to a false position; but it was his own.--Manuscript 59, 1905.
She told Elder Ballenger that he was the minister that the Lord had presented before her in vision in Salamanca, New York, in 1890, as standing with a party who was "urging that if the Sabbath truth were left out of the [American] Sentinel, the circulation of that paper would be largely increased."
In her account of the experience, as recorded in her journal, she tells of how Ballenger accepted the testimony back in 1891 and took a right position. She says:
Now again our Brother Ballenger is presenting theories that cannot be substantiated by the Word of God. It will be one of the great evils that will come to our people to have the Scriptures taken out of their true place and so interpreted as to substantiate error that contradicts the light and the Testimonies that God has been giving us for the past half century.-- Ibid.
Continuing her account, she explains why she had to come to Washington:
I declare in the name of the Lord that the most dangerous heresies are seeking to find entrance among us as a people, and Elder Ballenger is making spoil of his own soul. The Lord has strengthened me to come the long journey to Washington to this meeting to bear my testimony in vindication of the truth of God's Word and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in confirmation of Bible truth. The Word is sure and steadfast, and will stand the test. Human investigations will be brought in, but the Lord lives, and He will bring to naught these inventions.
We are to proclaim the full truth of the Word of God with decision and unalterable firmness. There is not truth in the explanations of Scripture that Elder Ballenger and those associated with him are presenting. The words are right, but misapplied to vindicate error. We must not give countenance to his reasoning. He is not led of God. Our work is to bind up the Testimonies God has given, and seal the law among His disciples.-- Ibid.
Ellen White added:
I am instructed to say to Elder Ballenger, Your theories, which have multitudes of fine threads, and need so many explanations, are not truth, and are not to be brought to the flock of God. The good that you and your associates might have received at this meeting you have not received. God forbids your course of action--making the blessed Scriptures, by grouping them in your way, to testify to build up a falsehood. Let us all cling to the established truth of the sanctuary.-- Ibid.
Little wonder that as Ellen White addressed the session on Tuesday, May 16, she was led to recount early experiences. It was in this connection that she repeated a statement first made two years earlier concerning the development of doctrinal truths:
After the passing of the time in 1844 we searched for the truth as for hidden treasure. I met with the brethren, and we studied and prayed earnestly. Often we remained together until late at night, and sometimes through the entire night, praying for light and studying the Word. Again and again these brethren came together to study the Bible, in order that they might know its meaning, and be prepared to teach it with power.
When they came to the point in their study where they said, "We can do nothing more," the Spirit of the Lord would come upon me. I would be taken off in vision, and a clear explanation of the passages we had been studying would be given me, with instruction as to how we were to labor and teach effectively. Thus light was given that helped us to understand the Scriptures in regard to Christ, His mission, and His priesthood. A line of truth extending from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me, and I gave to others the instruction that the Lord had given me.
During this whole time I could not understand the reasoning of the brethren. My mind was locked, as it were, and I could not comprehend the meaning of the Scriptures we were studying. This was one of the greatest sorrows of my life. I was in this condition of mind until all the principal points of our faith were made clear to our minds, in harmony with the Word of God. The brethren knew that, when not in vision, I could not understand these matters, and they accepted, as light directly from heaven, the revelations given.--The Review and Herald, May 25, 1905.
On Wednesday, May 24, in a message titled "A Warning Against False Theories," Ellen White addressed herself to the subject in a document that most likely was read to a rather limited group. A copy was placed in Elder Ballenger's hands:
I am bidden to bear a message to our people. In the name of the Lord I am bidden to warn our ministers not to mingle erroneous theories with the truth of God. Pure Bible truth is to stand forth in its nobility and sanctity. It is not to be classified and adjusted according to man's wisdom. The ministers of the gospel are to present truth in its simplicity through the blessing of God, making the Scriptures profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. "Rightly dividing the word of truth"--this is the word that should be spoken of all our ministers.--Manuscript 62, 1905.
And she warns:
Our message does not need that which Brother Ballenger is trying to draw into the web. He draws out certain passages so fine that they lose their force. Let our ministers be content to take the Word as Christ has given it....
In clear, plain language I am to say to those in attendance at this conference that Brother Ballenger has been allowing his mind to receive and believe specious error. He has been misinterpreting and misapplying the scriptures upon which he has fastened his mind. He is building up theories that are not founded in truth. A warning is now to come to him and to the people, for God has not indited the message that he is bearing. This message, if accepted, would undermine the pillars of our faith. Brother Ballenger does not discern what he is doing.-- Ibid.
Midway in this presentation she declared:
Let not any man enter upon the work of tearing down the foundations of the truth that have made us what we are. God has led His people forward step by step, though there are pitfalls of error on every side. Under the wonderful guidance of a plain "Thus saith the Lord," a truth has been established that has stood the test of trial. When men arise and attempt to draw away disciples after them, meet them with the truths that have been tried as by fire.-- Ibid.
Then Ellen White points out in no uncertain terms:
Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties, and to set the people of God adrift, without an anchor.-- Ibid.
In plain language she declares:
If the theories that Brother Ballenger presents were received, they would lead many to depart from the faith. They would counterwork the truths upon which the people of God have stood for the past fifty years. I am bidden to say in the name of the Lord that Elder Ballenger is following a false light. The Lord has not given him the message that he is bearing regarding the sanctuary service.
Our Instructor spoke words to Brother Ballenger: "You are bringing in confusion and perplexity by your interpretations of the Scriptures. You think that you have been given new light, but your light will become darkness to those who receive it.... Those who receive your interpretation of Scripture regarding the sanctuary service are receiving error and following in false paths. The enemy will work the minds of those who are eager for something new, preparing them to receive false theories and false expositions of the Scriptures.-- Ibid.
Ellen White then calls upon those of experience to stand firmly for the truth:
When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit, let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly, and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals. Gather up the rays of divine light that God has given as He has led His people on step by step in the way of truth. This truth will stand the test of time and trial.-- Ibid.
Unlike his immediate and hearty response to the testimony of correction in 1891, Elder Ballenger this time turned from the message and appeal of Ellen White and the counsel of his brethren and held tenaciously to his cherished views. This led to his being dropped from the ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was a bitter experience for all concerned.
He went forth to labor among his former brethren, introducing views that the Lord through His servant declared were not sound. He was instrumental in time in winning his father, Elder J. F. Ballenger, and his brother Elder E. S. Ballenger, educational secretary of the Southern California Conference, to his views. At no time did he gain a following of more than a few dissidents from Adventist ranks. But the time came when, in sadness, he spoke of how he would cherish words of encouragement from Sister White if they could be given, and of how he longed for association with his former brethren where he could "'appear again in the great congregation, and we would weep and pray and praise together as before"' (DF 178, E. E. Andross, "Studies in the Sanctuary No. III," July 16, 1911, p. 15a).