The year 1905 was only one hour old when Ellen White rose on a Sunday morning and made her way to her writing room.
It is a cool morning. Built my fire. Bowed before the Lord in prayer. I have so many things burdening my mind. I ask the Lord Jesus to direct me, to guide me....
I need the Great Guide to control my mind.... Oh, how much I feel that I need the guidance of the Holy Spirit! (Manuscript 173, 1905).
It was to be a momentous year. At the very hour she was writing, a part of the Melrose Sanitarium in New England was being ravaged by fire. She would learn of this later, of course. Two new sanitariums in southern California, started in response to her urgent calls, were struggling to their feet, and she would soon call for a third. The denomination was in the throes of agony over the defection of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his associates. The growing work in the South faced many needs.
The General Conference session of 1905 was scheduled to open on May 11 in Washington, D.C. Ellen White was invited, but 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 laid plans 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).
Was she referring to the recent disclosure in correspondence that 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 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.).
With this urging by the General Conference president, Mrs. White decided to attend. Arrangements were quickly made to take care of personnel and travel plans. The southern route was chosen for the trip. Twenty to twenty-five people would be traveling together, their party almost filling the tourist car that would carry them to Washington.
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 10:00. 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 in Takoma Park, where four rooms were given over to them. Two rooms were for Mrs. White (a bedroom and a working room), one room was 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 had 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." 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 (Letter 135, 1905).
Elder Daniells planned that this General Conference session would be deeply spiritual. He saw the importance of upgrading the ministry, so plans were laid for a ministerial institute to run though the session, with an hour each day devoted to the presentation of appropriate topics. Departmental meetings also would be held.
But it was the spiritual interest of the cause that weighed most heavily on his heart. This was 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."
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 A. F. Ballenger present his views on the sanctuary. Ellen White was to address these views in a somewhat veiled way in her talks, and more specifically in a face-to-face confrontation.
The Ballenger Teachings
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 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 efforts 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.
Elder Ballenger considered his discoveries as new light and early in the 1905 session laid before the leading brethren his "discoveries." Not surprisingly, the brethren were unable to accept his reasoning, and pointed out the errors of his application of Scripture.
In her Tuesday afternoon address to the session, Ellen White's mind turned to the teachings on the sanctuary truth 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 (The Review and Herald, May 25, 1905).
In an obvious reference to 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.).
Ellen White Speaks Out On The Ballenger Views
About this time Mrs. White met Elder Ballenger in the hallway of the dormitory where she was staying. Of this experience she wrote:
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 the paper would be largely increased."
In her account of the experience, as recorded in her journal, Ellen White explained why she had 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 (Ibid.).
On Wednesday, May 24, in a message entitled "A Warning Against False Theories," Mrs. 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. In plain language she declared:
Our Instructor spoke words to Brother Ballenger: "... 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" (Manuscript 62, 1905).
A part of Elder Farnsworth's evaluation of Elder Ballenger's views follows:
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).
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.
Elder A. T. Jones
The work of the 1905 General Conference session continued at an even pace. Ten times Ellen White addressed the session."The Lord has helped me," she wrote near the close of the meeting, "to make the discourses impressive....I still have a work to do on the grounds, for certain individuals" (Letter 149, 1905). One of these individuals was A. T. Jones, still a member of the General Conference Committee but now closely associated with Dr. J. H. Kellogg and in full sympathy with him.
Sometime during the session a vision was given Ellen White in which "Elder Jones's case was again presented to me" (Letter 116, 1906). This led her to have an extended interview with him in which she discussed the peril of his being in Battle Creek in close association with Dr. Kellogg. But the interview was unproductive, for Jones felt he was in no danger. His presence at the 1905 General Conference session marked the close of his connection with the church in an official capacity--a connection that in its earlier years was marked by outstanding contributions.
At the age of 23 Alonzo T. Jones, an officer in the United States Army, became a Seventh-day Adventist. An earnest, studious, self-made man, he prepared himself for the ministry, to which he was called in 1885. He soon distinguished himself as an associate editor of the Signs of the Times. Not long afterward he was joined by a physician-turned-minister, Dr. Ellet J. Waggoner. At the General Conference session of 1888 the two led out in presentations on righteousness by faith. They carried the strong support of Ellen White as advocate of this precious truth. When she could, she traveled and worked with them for two years following the session, carrying the message to churches, ministerial institutes, institutions, and camp meetings.
Elders Jones and Waggoner were catapulted into the position of the leading Bible expositors in the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists, a role they held through much of the 1890s. Jones attended all General Conference sessions, and it was not uncommon for each of the two men to lead out in 10 to 20 or more consecutive Bible studies. Jones spent much time in Battle Creek and stood as a prominent leader, holding several important positions.
But these two men, so highly honored of God because of their wide influence for good, became the special point of attack of the great adversary. The Ellen White communications to both men through a 15-year period following 1888 reveal that each had weaknesses in his experience, each was confronted with dangers, and each had made mistakes. This, however, did not disqualify them to do God's service.
Ellen White had occasion in April 1893 to caution Elder Jones regarding his extreme views in his presentation of the relation of faith and works (see Selected Messages 1:377-380). Again the following year she reproved him for giving wholehearted support to Anna Rice Phillips, who claimed the gift of prophecy (see Ibid., 2:85-95). From time to time she counseled him to exercise caution in his manner of speaking and writing so as to avoid giving offense.
In February 1897 Jones was elected as one of the 13 members of the General Conference Committee, and eight months later was installed as editor of the Review and Herald, a position he held for four years. With this arrangement it was stated that "instead of speaking to comparatively few of our people in annual gatherings, he will address all of them every week" (The Review and Herald, October 5, 1897). Through a portion of this time he was chairman of the board of the Review and Herald Publishing Association.
Jones took a prominent place at the 1901 session of the General Conference, and urged that in the reorganization of the General Conference there be "no kings." He was influential in developing a constitution that did not provide for the election of leading General Conference officers by the delegates, but left the responsibility to an executive committee of 25.
Reappointed to the new General Conference Committee in 1901, Jones was assigned to general work that took him to the summer camp meetings in the West. After persuading local conferences in the Northwest to follow the lead of the General Conference and elect no presidents, he himself accepted the presidency of the California Conference. This conference, except for Michigan, was the largest and strongest local conference in the world.
His harsh, domineering spirit soon cost him the confidence of those with whom he worked. Ellen White labored with him diligently, and he promised to reform. Then, with her encouragement, he was elected to a second term in 1902.
In the summer of 1903, at a time when affairs in the California Conference were most uncomfortable, he had an interview with Ellen White at Elmshaven in which he told her that at the request of Dr. J. H. Kellogg he was planning to go to Battle Creek to teach Bible in the American Medical Missionary College. He hoped to be able to help Dr. Kellogg. She counseled him not to go. He promised her that he would be guarded. She had been warned in vision that such a move on his part would lead to his downfall.
Ellen White watched the inevitable results and agonized for his spiritual welfare. His plan to stay in Battle Creek only one year was soon forgotten as he became more and more entrenched there.
In vision Ellen White had been shown what Jones's attitude would be, and now she witnessed it. In "place of receiving the warnings, he was full of self-confidence" (Letter 116, 1906).
"I warned Elder Jones," wrote Mrs. White, "but he felt that he was not in the least danger. But the fine threads have been woven about him, and he is now a man deluded and deceived. Though claiming to believe the Testimonies, he does not believe them" (Ibid.).
To watch a man who had been used mightily of God rejecting light and spurning every appeal weighed heavily on the heart of the Lord's messenger, and deeply troubled church leaders. In this experience at the 1905 General Conference session A. T. Jones took an important step in his apostasy. Matters reached such a point that in 1909 it seemed necessary to drop his name from the church rolls.
Dr. J. H. Kellogg
On the final Tuesday morning of the session Ellen White spoke concerning Dr. Kellogg and Battle Creek problems. In her address on these sensitive points, she stated:
It has been presented to me that in view of Dr. Kellogg's course of action at the Berrien Springs meetings [May 17-26, 1904], we are not to treat him as a man led of the Lord, who should be invited to attend our general meetings as a teacher and leader (Manuscript 70, 1905).
The feelings of distress and some of the burdens she carried because of the defections of Dr. J. H. Kellogg and Elders A. T. Jones and A. F. Ballenger she could not lay aside. She had seen that Kellogg's pantheistic views, because they took away the personality of God and Jesus Christ, undercut the sanctuary truth, the cornerstone of the message, so precious to the pioneers. Now with Ballenger's direct attack on this point, there was occasion for added concern.
Two days after the close of the session she wrote words that forecast distressing times:
The Lord now calls upon me to make plain to others that which has been made plain to me.... I have no liberty to withhold any longer the matters that I have written. There is much that must be brought out (Letter 319, 1905).
Concerning the magnitude of the threat to the very existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as shown to her in vision, she wrote a few months later:
Had the theories contained in Living Temple been received by our people, had not a message been sent by the Lord to counteract these theories, the third angel's message would no longer have been given to the world, but pleasing fables would have been proclaimed everywhere. Men would have been led to believe a lie instead of the truth of the Word of God. An army of those who take pleasure in unrighteousness would have sprung into action.
The roll was spread before me. The presentation was as though that against which the Lord was warning His people had actually taken place. I shall not attempt to describe the presentation, but to me it was a living reality. I saw that if the erroneous sentiments contained in Living Temple were received, souls would be bound up in fallacies. Men would be so completely controlled by the mind of one man that they would act as if they were subjects of his will. Working through men, Satan was trying to turn into fables the truths that have made us what we are (Letter 338, 1905).
In document after document in the months that followed the 1905 General Conference session, Ellen White wrote not only of the threat of the Kellogg teachings but dealt explicitly with the error of Ballenger's positions on the sanctuary truth, basing her warnings on repeated visions. She made it clear that if there was one fundamental truth that had come to the pioneers by Bible study and revelation, it was the sanctuary truth, and she indicated that Satan would bring one attack after another on this fundamental point.
The year 1905 marked the rapidly growing rift between the medical interests, headed by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, and church leaders and the church organization itself.
The steps taken following the General Conference sessions of 1901 and 1903 to bind the medical work to the denomination were seen by Dr. Kellogg as a challenge to the institution he dominated. The organization of a medical department and the appointment of a medical department secretary confirmed this in his mind. In seeming desperation he launched an aggressive program to develop Battle Creek Sanitarium into an even stronger base of influence, and entered upon an aggressive campaign to unsettle confidence in Ellen White and church leaders.
It was now clear to the leaders of the medical missionary interests in Battle Creek that medical work fostered by the Seventh-day Adventist Church was to be under the control of the church, for it was a branch of the work of the church. It was not to be dominated by leaders of medical interests in Battle Creek who had set about to make the medical missionary work undenominational.
Emissaries of Dr. Kellogg were sent out to hold a line of allegiance to him and the policies for which he stood. These Battle Creek-directed emissaries were sent to parts of the world where medical missionary work was promulgated. In a quiet and stealthy way they struck at the foundations of confidence in the Ellen White counsels (AGD to WCW, October 12, 1905).
The groundwork for this had been established in the critical attitude toward church leaders and Ellen White's support for moving the headquarters of the church and the Review and Herald publishing plant to Washington, D.C. The issues were intensified as plans now blossomed to make Battle Creek a great educational center--greater and more influential than anything that had preceded it.
Kellogg Plans A University In Battle Creek
A great deal concerning the Battle Creek situation had been written by Ellen White to church leaders, but the question with her was: When should it be broadcast generally? She explained the delay: she had been restrained until the appropriate time--when Dr. Kellogg made his first move.
The announcement in the September issue of the Medical Missionary, published in Battle Creek, of plans to launch a university in Battle Creek, was the "first move." Two years before, steps being taken to reopen Battle Creek College were laid aside because of Ellen White's clear counsel. Now the counsel itself was laid aside, and articles and catalogs proclaimed the opening of a number of schools--virtually a university (AGD to WCW, October 12, 1905).
There would be "many courses of study offered by various schools carried on in connection with the Battle Creek Sanitarium"--"professional, scientific, literary, biblical, technical." Forty courses would lead to diplomas and degrees. In addition to the above, numerous trades would be taught, such as steamfitting, plumbing, blacksmithing, carpentry, painting, tinsmithing, steam and electrical engineering, shoemaking, and dressmaking.
All these were offered to Seventh-day Adventist youth who had no money. They could meet expenses by working at the sanitarium (The Medical Missionary, October, 1905; AGD to EGW, October 11, 1905).
To draw Seventh-day Adventist youth to Battle Creek, most attractive inducements were made in courses and work opportunities offered. But there were the warnings sounded for two years that Seventh-day Adventist youth should not go to Battle Creek in pursuit of an education. The work of undercutting the Testimonies began with meetings held by Dr. Kellogg and A. T. Jones with the sanitarium workers and was advanced by correspondence with Seventh-day Adventist youth throughout the field.
In Daniells' opinion the whole denomination should be informed as to what was going on at Battle Creek. He pleaded with Ellen White: "Has not the time come to give the people enough of what God has revealed to you to fully inform and arouse them? ... Has not the time come for the ship to strike the iceberg?"
Very Decided Testimony Sent To Elder Daniells
As the year 1905 was drawing to a close, the matter of a university at Battle Creek was coming to a crisis. Ellen White could no longer withhold her warning. On November 16 W. C. White left the West Coast to attend the first General Conference Medical Missionary Convention, to be held at College View, Nebraska, November 21-26 (29 WCW, p. 664; The Review and Herald, November 16, 1905).
Stirred by plans announced for the College View meeting, the medical people in Battle Creek launched countering measures. Dr. Kellogg called a convention of his new International Medical Missionary Alliance in Chicago for December 18-21 (The Medical Missionary, November, 1905).
The West Michigan Conference invited Elder Daniells to assist in the Week of Prayer in Battle Creek in mid-December. After taking counsel with Elders Irwin, Prescott, White, and Evans, he felt he should accept the invitation. This would give him an opportunity to present the testimonies dealing with the situation. The Week of Prayer would begin Friday night, December 15. Daniells, W. C. White, and one or two others went over on Tuesday, the twelfth. This gave them an opportunity to get the feel of the situation. One of the testimonies Daniells carried with him had been penned by Ellen White on June 28, 1905. It was titled "A Solemn Warning."
When Elders Daniells and W. C. White were in Battle Creek, Ellen White and her assistants continued to collect and copy material. That weekend she wrote to Elders Daniells and Prescott:
I have lost all hope of Dr. Kellogg. He is, I fully believe, past the day of his reprieve. I have not written him a line for about one year. I am instructed not to write to him....
I have been reading over the matter given me for him, and the light is that we must call our people to a decision.... We are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Letter 333, 1905).
Her burden of heart intensified as the week progressed. To W. C. White she wrote:
I have many things I wish you and Elder Daniells and those united with him in his labor in Battle Creek to have just as soon as possible. I have very decided testimony that I am sending in to Battle Creek to Elder Daniells. I fear he will leave before he gets this so I will send a telegraph message to him to tarry till he receives this that I send (Letter 336, 1905).
The message was sent on Thursday, December 21, and Elder Daniells tarried in Battle Creek as the Week of Prayer meetings continued. Dr. Kellogg and many of the medical personnel were in Chicago attending the meeting he had called of the International Medical Missionary Alliance to convene Monday through Thursday, December 18-21. Daniells let it be known that he had changed his plans and was staying to await the message promised in Ellen White's telegram.
Arrival Of The Promised Testimonies
On Tuesday, December 26, Daniells went to his office early (probably his old office in the West Building) to see whether the communications from Ellen White had come. They had not. A few minutes later one of the physicians from the Battle Creek Sanitarium came to see him.
The physician was in great perplexity of mind. He had been brought up to look upon all messages given by Ellen White as emanating from the Lord. But now he was bewildered and confused. The night before, he, with many other leading sanitarium workers, had attended a meeting lasting from 5:00 to 11:00 in which Dr. Kellogg had outlined the recent controversy as he saw it. Kellogg told this group of responsible sanitarium workers that he believed in the Spirit of Prophecy and believed Ellen White "is a good woman and that she had been inspired by the Lord." But, he continued, "all of the communications which were sent out could not be relied upon as coming from the Lord" (AGD to G. A. Irwin, December 27, 1905).
"Now," said the doctor, addressing Elder Daniells, "I want, if possible, that you shall make it plain to me what messages we are to understand are from the Lord, and which ones emanate from men who are influencing Sister White."
Elder Daniells told him that he could not give him any light on the point, that to him they were "all genuine," that "they were all either from the Lord or from the devil."
While the men talked, there was a knock on the door, and a messenger handed Elder Daniells a large envelope with "Elmshaven," Sanitarium, California, as the return address. The next day Daniells told the story:
"Now," said I, "Doctor, we will open this envelope, and you shall be the first to look upon these testimonies; take them, look them over, and tell me whether they are genuine or spurious--whether they were given to her by the Lord, or by some man."
He took them and looked at the titles, the dates, and the signatures, and handing them over, he said to me, "Well, I cannot tell you whether these are from the Lord or from man, whether they are reliable or unreliable. It looks to me," said he, "that it is a question of faith on my part as to whether Sister White is a servant of God or a wicked pretender."
"Well," said I, "you are just as able to tell me who inspired these communications as I am to tell you; you have seen them first; you know just as much about them as I do; I cannot give you the slightest information that you do not possess.
"Now," said I, "the only ground for me to occupy is absolute confidence that God is revealing to His servant that which the church needs to understand, and that every single communication which she sends out emanates from God and not from man" (Ibid.).
The physician said that he saw the whole point and that "he must stand fully on this ground."
A Marked Confidence-Confirming Experience
Daniells could hardly wait to read the testimonies Ellen White had sent to him. With a fellow minister he read the communications. They noted that while each of the two documents had been copied on Thursday, December 21, 1905, one was penned in August 1903 and the other June 1, 1904.
Arrangements were made immediately for a meeting in the tabernacle that evening at 7:30, at which the testimonies would be read to the whole church. At 7:30 the tabernacle was full--auditorium, vestries, and gallery. Dr. Kellogg was not there. His brother, W. K., and a number of the doctor's supporters were there. Elder Daniells took the lead, telling the congregation of how, in times of old, God communicated with His people. Sometimes the prophet delivered in person God's message; sometimes it was delivered through others. He pointed out that "from the earliest days of this cause the Spirit of Prophecy had been in our midst, and had been recognized by those who were loyal to this message, and that the messenger had always claimed liberty to deliver the message either in person or by sending it to others to be read" (Ibid.).
He read the telegram instructing him to wait in Battle Creek for the testimonies. Now he had the two documents in his hands: Manuscript 120, 1905, "The Result of a Failure to Heed God's Warnings," and Manuscript 122, 1905, "A Solemn Appeal." He pointed out that both were penned by Ellen White in her journal, one as much as two years before, but were not copied until she was impressed to do so, Thursday, December 21. Both documents carried solemn messages pointing out that leaders who were spiritually blind were leading the blind, and unless "converted and transformed," "leaders and their followers" "cannot be laborers together with God" (Manuscript 120, 1905).
Both of the testimonies were read without comment. As Elder Daniells read on, page after page, a number in the large tabernacle audience could not help noting how accurately they described the words and attitudes witnessed just the night before as Dr. Kellogg addressed sanitarium leaders. It was 9:00 when Daniells finished reading the 16 pages of the two documents."It seemed to me as I read," he wrote the next day, "that I never felt the burning power of words reaching my own soul as these" (AGD to G. A. Irwin, December 27, 1905).
"We ought to resort to earnest prayer," he told the hushed audience, and suggested that those who wished to do so "retire to the north vestry." But too many wished to pray, and so the audience turned back to the main auditorium.
During the break three men who had been in Dr. Kellogg's six-hour meeting came to Daniells and told him that the meeting held the previous night had been clearly described in the messages Ellen White had sent. They also said that "if there had been a doubt in their minds regarding the source of the testimonies, it would have been swept away by their own statements [as set forth by Ellen G. White] in the testimonies" (Ibid.).
From 9:15 to 10:00 all united in prayer that their eyes might be opened to see things as God sees them. They prayed that Dr. Kellogg and his associates and all the sanitarium helpers might be led to receive and obey the solemn messages that had come to them.
The next few days in old Battle Creek there was much discussion of how the Spirit of the Lord on the previous Thursday had led Ellen White in California to have the message she wrote two years before copied and sent to Battle Creek to arrive just after the notable meeting was held by Dr. Kellogg in the college building. Some said of the Monday night meeting that "if they had not been well grounded, they would have been turned away entirely from the testimonies. One said that he would be driven into infidelity if he believed the things the doctor related to them" (Ibid.).
Elder Daniells felt impelled to express his feelings."I know," he firmly averred, "that God is rewarding us for our pledge of unswerving loyalty to the Spirit of Prophecy as well as all the rest of this message." "Victory has been given to this cause" (Ibid.).
And indeed it was a victory.
As for Dr. Kellogg, no change was observed in his attitude. Two days after the memorable Tuesday night meeting he called the sanitarium family together and for three hours reviewed the history of the institution, endeavoring to prove that it was never a Seventh-day Adventist establishment but rather the property of the stockholders.
The Review and Herald, December 28, 1905, carried a six-column editorial by W. W. Prescott titled "The Battle Creek University." In it the editor bared his own soul as he stated:
We know from personal experience something about the bitterness of the experience which results from listening to constant insinuations about the fundamental truths of this message borne to the world by Seventh-day Adventists. We know what it means to struggle with the doubts and fears aroused by skillful misrepresentations of warnings and counsels given through the Spirit of Prophecy.... We have learned our lessons through an experience from which we would gladly protect others, and therefore feel justified in speaking plainly when we see the snare set so seductively.
Battle Creek did not become the educational center some had anticipated; nor did it attract large numbers of Seventh-day Adventist youth. Union conference colleges were strengthened to meet the needs of the cause, and soon the College of Medical Evangelists was established by the church at Loma Linda.