This issue features Alonzo T. Jones. Volume 8, Number 1 will feature writings on "Righteousness by Faith" by A. T. Jones.
1888 -- The Minneapolis General Conference
By Bruno W. Steinweg, Theologian and retired missionary to South and Central America
"Satan had a council as to how he should keep pen and voice of Seventh-day Adventists silent."
The General Conference of 1888, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is considered one of the most important General Conferences ever held by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. During this Conference, Seventh-day Adventists began to emphasize the message of Righteousness by Faith. In spite of the misunderstandings this Conference generated, it was a turning point in the important teaching of Righteousness by Faith. There were those who claimed the subject was not important because it was not among the "land-marks" or "pillars" to be given the world. But in Revelation 14:12, the Three Angels' Messages close with these words: "Here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
Reasons for the Controversy at Minneapolis
The tension at the Conference did not come directly from the presentation of Righteousness by Faith. Rather it came from divergent views held on other subjects by Alonzo T. Jones and Ellet J. Waggoner, who led out in the presentation of Righteousness by Faith. E. J. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times (then a weekly), believed that the law spoken of in Galatians 3:24 was the Moral Law, whereas the almost unanimous position held by denominational leaders at that time was that Galatians spoke of the Ceremonial Law. A. T. Jones believed that the Alemanni and not the Huns, should be counted among the ten horns of the fourth beast in Daniel 7.
Several denominational leaders held that these differences should not be aired at the conference. Mrs. Ellen G. White felt that they should be discussed in a spirit of humility because they had been made public in our denominational journals and other publications prior to the conference. She felt that the truth could not lose anything by close investigation. On August 5, 1888, Mrs. White stated that she was impressed that the up-coming General Conference would be the most important meeting that the members had ever attended.[1]
However, those who led out in the 1888 conference did not manifest the kindliest spirit. Mrs. White declared, "My heart was pained to see the spirit that controlled some of our ministering brethren, and this spirit seemed to be contagious. There was much talking done. ... I became the subject of remarks and criticism. ... The spirit I had seen manifested at the meeting was unreasonable. I insisted that there should be a right spirit, a Christlike spirit manifested, such as Elder E. J. Waggoner had shown all through the presentation of his views. ..."[2]
Opposition to the message of Righteousness by Faith was due not only to its being presented by those holding divergent views on the horns of Daniel 7 and on the law as presented in Galatians. Those who opposed "regarded this message as a veiled accusation against themselves, their belief, and their preaching ... [as inferring] that Righteousness by Faith was something new, something that our ministers had never understood, believed, or preached."[3]
Mrs. White felt she had done all that she could do at the conference in presenting the light the Lord had given her. Such was the rebellion that she considered quietly withdrawing from the conference. But "the Angel of the Lord stood by me, [she declared,] and said, 'Not so: God has a work for you to do in this place. The people are acting over the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. I have placed you in your proper position, which those who are not in the light will not acknowledge. ... It is not you they are despising, but the messengers and the message. ...'"[4]
Based on this divine counsel, she remained at the conference where she had to confront not only the opposition of leaders of the Church towards the men who were bringing the message of Righteousness by Faith, but also their alienation towards her. She pointed out regarding their attitude that "prejudice, and unbelief, jealousy and evil-surmising barred the door of their hearts that nothing from this source should find entrance. ..."[5] [and] "... a delusion was upon our brethren. They had lost confidence in Sister White, not because Sister White had changed but because another spirit had taken possession and control of them. ... If our brethren had been divested of prejudice, if they had had the Spirit of Christ and spiritual discernment, reasoning from cause to effect, they would not have ... made the statement that Sister White was influenced by W. C. White, A. T. Jones, and E. J. Waggoner."[6]
Happily, this attitude was not diffused through all who attended the General Conference at Minneapolis in 1888. "Many delegates later maintained that 'their true Christian experience in the gospel' began at this time."[7]
Ellen White later noted that this contentious attitude orginated with Satan. He sought to distract from important business that should be accomplished at this conference. "New missions had been opened ... new churches organized. All should be in harmony freely to consult together as brethren at work in the great harvest field. ... If ever there was a time when, as a conference, we needed the special grace and enlightenment of the Spirit of God, it was at this meeting. There was a power from beneath moving agencies to bring about a change in the Constitution and laws of our nation, which will bind the consciences of all those who keep the Bible Sabbath. ...
"Satan had a council as to how he should keep pen and voice of Seventh-day Adventists silent. If he could only engage their attention and divert their powers in a direction to weaken and divide them, his prospect would be fair. ... Satan had been having things his own way; but the Lord has raised up men and given them a solemn message to bear to His people. ... This message Satan sought to make of none effect, and when every voice and every pen should have been intensely at work to stay the workings and powers of Satan, there was a drawing apart; there were differences of opinion."[8]
The conference ended with Ellen White's strong support of the message brought by Jones and Waggoner. They had been God's instruments to bring forth in a clear, dynamic and gentlemanly manner, the truth that she had been teaching all along. About eight months after the Minneapolis Conference, on June 19, 1889, while at Rome, New York, Ellen White preached the following regarding the light the men had been presenting. "I have been presenting it to you for the last 45 years--the matchless charms of Christ. ... When Brother Waggoner brought out these ideas in Minneapolis, it was the first clear teaching on this subject from any human lips I had heard, excepting the conversations between myself and my husband. I have said to myself, It is because God has presented it to me in vision that I see it so clearly, and they cannot. ... And when another presented it, every fiber of my heart said, Amen."[9]
Though O. A. Olsen was not present in Minneapolis in 1888, he was elected president of the General Conference at that time to replace Elder George Butler. Seven years later, Mrs. White commented to Elder Olsen: "The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It represented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God. Many had lost sight of Jesus. They needed to have their eyes directed to His divine person, His merits, and His changeless love for the human family. All power is given into His hands, so that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure."[10]
This powerful truth Mrs. White soon amplified in the book Steps to Christ: "Since we are sinful, unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the holy law of God. We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God. But Christ has made a way of escape for us. ... He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Savior, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.
"More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him, and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. ... We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us."[11]
Taking the Message to the Churches
Ellen White revealed her enthusiastic support of the message presented at the General Conference by joining A. T. Jones in carrying the glorious truth of Righteousness by Faith to the churches.[12] In early 1889 they held meetings in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. They attended camp meetings at Williamsport, Pennsylvania; at Rome, New York and at Ottawa, Kansas.
At the Kansas camp meeting, there was, at first, resistance to the revival emphasis, but in the end "great victories" were gained. In South Lancaster, "as our brethren and sisters opened their hearts to the light, they obtained a better knowledge of what constitutes faith. The Lord was very precious; he was ready to strengthen his people. The meetings continued a week beyond their first appointment. ... Eld. Jones came from Boston and labored most earnestly for the people, speaking twice and sometimes three times a day. ... The very message the Lord has sent to the people of this time was presented. ... The flock of God were fed with soul-nourishing food."[13]
General Conference, 1889, Battle Creek
The spirit of contention present at Minneapolis was absent, and harmony and brotherly love prevailed throughout the meeting. "Ellen White noted a major difference: 'The spirit that was in the meeting at Minneapolis is not here'. ... Instead of the ridicule and jesting ... there were many testimonies 'that the past year has been the best of their life; the light shining forth from the Word of God has been clear and distinct--justification by faith, Christ our righteousness.'"[14]
After that conference, Ellen White went to the field again, working alone or with Elders Jones and Waggoner. She wrote, "I consider it a privilege to stand by the side of my brethren and give my testimony with the message for the hour; and I saw that the power of God attended the message whenever it was spoken."[15]
The Message Set Forth by the Printed Page
The message of Righteousness by Faith was set forth in books so each member could study for himself. In 1890 E. J. Waggoner wrote Christ and His Righteousness, a 96-page presentation.[16] Some of the chapter headings from this book are: Is Christ God? Is Christ a Created Being? God Manifest in the Flesh; Important Practical Lesson; Christ the Law-giver; The Righteousness of God; The Lord Our Righteousness; Acceptance With God; The Victory of Faith; and Bond-Servants and Freemen.
The following books by Ellen White "which had woven in their pages, in simple but effective form, the great truths of man's need to depend completely upon Jesus for both justification and sanctification,"[17] were published during the decade of the 90's:[18]
Patriarchs and Prophets (1890); Steps to Christ (1892); Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing (1896); The Desire of Ages (1899); and Christ's Object Lessons (1900).
Elder L. E. Froom includes in his list of books on Righteousness by Faith a college textbook written by W. W. Prescott in 1930, The Doctrine of Christ. Elder Prescott felt that "Every truth he held should be the direct outshining of Christ in some capacity, as Creator, Lawgiver, Revealer, Prophet, Example, Sacrifice, Redeemer, Source of Righteousness, Mediator, Advocate, Judge, Life-giver, and Returning King."[19]
A. G. Daniells, after his 21 years as President of the General Conference (1901-1922) took a special interest in the subject of Righteousness by Faith as it was emphasized in the General Conference of 1888. The results of his study appear in Christ Our Righteousness, a 128- page book published by the Ministerial Association of SDA's in 1926. Daniells led out at the Ministerial Institute of the General Conference session of 1926 held at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[20]
Conclusion
The controversy still rages today just as the Enemy managed to manipulate in 1888. Great energies are diverted from the pressing urgency to unite together to finish the work. Battle lines are drawn between those who say that the church rejected the Message of Justification by Faith in the Righteousness of Christ presented in 1888 and those who deny this assertion. The facts remain that many delegates to the conference, in fact, received the message gladly. In addition to this, important leaders resisted the message in 1888 and influenced others to do the same. Most of those leaders, including Uriah Smith, George Butler, I. D. Van Horn, Leroy Nicola and J. H. Morrison, later confessed their error (particularly in opposing E.G.W.) and assented to confidence in the message, although they varied in their success in grasping and revealing the evidence of the message in their lives.[21]
The challenge today is to "remember the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history."[22] "Of all professing Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world. The proclamation of the third angel's message calls for the presentation of the Sabbath truth. This truth, with others included in the message, is to be proclaimed; but the great center of attraction, Christ Jesus, must not be left out. It is at the cross of Christ that mercy and truth meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. The sinner must be led to look to Calvary; with the simple faith of a little child he must trust in the merits of the Savior, accepting His righteousness, believing in His mercy."[23] As Elder A. G. Daniells so aptly challenged, "Shall we not do all in our power to redeem the past?"[24]
A. T. Jones -- Editor, Author, Preacher
by Marlene Steinweg
Pastor Alonzo Trevier Jones is one of the most controversial Seventh-day Adventists who ever lived. He and Dr. Ellet J. Waggoner initiated in 1888 a powerful spiritual revival the impact of which is reverberating even today. The life of A. T. Jones perplexes Bible and Church History scholars who seek to trace how this brilliant, dedicated author, editor and preacher finally was finally disfellowshipped from the church. His life demonstrates that when God uses human instruments to exalt truth to His people, this does not guarantee the message will be received as it should. Nor does the message safeguard that person's relationship with Christ unless it is taken into the heart and lived in the life. Man is still allowed freedom of choice, as was A. T. Jones.
Jones was born in Ohio on April 21, 1850 (some authors say April 26). His early childhood and youth are practically unknown. This biography begins with an anecdote that occurred when Jones was in the United States Army, stationed at Fort Walla Walla, Washington.
Troops from Fort Walla Walla under the leadership of General E. R. S. Canby were agitated because their leader had fallen in battle. He was gravely wounded by members of the rebellious Modoc Indian Tribe led by Chief Kintpuash, also known as "Captain Jack". The Modoc Indians had not been able to support their families at the Klamath reservation where they had been moved in 1864. In 1872 the Indians returned to their native Lost River Valley on the California-Oregon border. Troops from Fort Walla Walla were sent to quell the rebellion and force them to return. During the battle, General Canby was gravely wounded. Sergeant A. T. Jones joined other soldiers in providing cover by firing over the heads of the team that rescued their mortally wounded General. The Indians fled, but Kintpuash was eventually captured and hanged, and the rebellion ended.
Alonzo T. Jones served for five years in the United States Army. He spent much of his free time studying religious books and his Bible. He obtained Seventh-day Adventist publications and came out from the Fort to attend evangelistic meetings held by Elder Isaac Van Horn, who had recently begun working in Oregon.
On August 8, 1874, in Walla Walla, Washington, the largest town in the Territory, he surrendered to his Lord in baptism. Mrs. Adelia Van Horn reported to the Review and Herald (August 25, 1874, p. 78) that six souls had been baptized by Elder Van Horn. She described each baptismal candidate but without giving their names. She referred to Jones when she said, "The next one that came forward was a young man, a soldier from the garrison." She described this soldier's conversion: "For weeks he has been earnestly seeking the Lord, and a few days hence received bright evidence of sins forgiven. After being buried with Christ he arose exclaiming with upraised hands, 'Dead to the world, and alive to thee, O my God!'" He completed his enlistment term and fourteen months after his baptism, on November 2, 1875, he was discharged from the Army with the rank of sergeant.
Jones dedicated his life to winning others to the precious truths he had found. This new convert was nearly six feet tall, angular, with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and light brown hair. Although he was naturally abrupt, and some described him as having uncouth posturing and gestures, singularity of speech and manner, within a few years, God was using him in the gospel work in the Oregon-Washington Territory. He helped Elder Van Horn raise up churches and served as tentmaster during evangelistic meetings.
Jones met Elder Van Horn's sister-in-law, Miss Frances E. Patton and formed a special friendship. On April 15, 1877 he and Frances were married.
In October 1877 the North Pacific Conference was formed. Elder Van Horn was president; his wife was secretary; A. T. Jones was treasurer. In Oregon the following year, Jones was ordained to the ministry along with two other ministers, Elders I. D. Van Horn and W. L. Raymond.
Two years later, in 1880, he became the first secretary of the newly-formed Upper Columbia Conference. Since there were only two pastors in the Conference, he himself and G. W. Colcord, the president, Jones was the only possible choice for the position. Around 1880 he also helped establish a church at Damascus, Oregon, just east of Portland.
In 1883, while living in Farmington, Washington, a very small town on the eastern border of the state, he and Frances had their first child, Laneta. Sad for this family, Laneta was retarded, and her care often caused difficulties and tension in their marriage.
J. H. Waggoner, Ellet's father, was impressed with Jones' ability with words and invited him to work at the Pacific Press Publishing Association in Oakland, California. In 1885 he became assistant editor of Signs of the Times and began teaching Bible at Healdsburg College. In one of his favorite classes, he reviewed the ten horns of the fourth prophetic beast in Daniel 7. Soon he was convinced that one of the ten horns of the prophecy was the Huns rather than the Alemanni as traditionally taught by Uriah Smith.
At the Pacfic Press he met and worked with E. J. Waggoner. These two West-coast men became co-editors of the Signs in 1886 when Elder J. H. Waggoner went to Europe to help out in the work in Switzerland. Soon articles appeared in the Signs teaching Jones' theories regarding the ten horns of the prophecy in Daniel 7 that directly disagreed with Uriah Smith's view. This caused objections to arise from the Review and Herald and General Conference leadership. A vote was taken during the 1887 General Conference that no Seventh-day Adventist press should print controversial points of doctrine.
In 1887 Jones and his wife had a second daughter, Desi. This same year he and Waggoner began editing the American Sentinel and became active in the movement to oppose Sunday laws. For a time, Jones was pastor of the Healdsburg SDA Church.
At the General Conference of 1888, preconference session, Jones spoke his views regarding the 10 kingdoms which succeeded the Roman Empire. He supported his colleague E. J. Waggoner in his presentation on Righteousness by Faith. When it was moved that the discussion regarding Righteousness by Faith be postponed for another time, Jones and Waggoner read a series of verses that greatly impressed the hearers and avoided postponement.
In 1889 Jones traveled with Ellen White, speaking at camp meetings and ministerial institutes. He was the first Seventh-day Adventist who, with J. O. Corliss, spoke before legislators in Washington, D.C., for the cause of separation of church and state. In 1890 Jones gave instructions on Righteousness by Faith at a special ministerial institute held at Battle Creek.
Mrs. White cautioned him in 1893 that he was in danger of expressing extreme views on the relationship between faith and works.
In April of 1894, Jones made the grave error of announcing at the Battle Creek Tabernacle his full support of Anna Rice Phillips who claimed to have the gift of prophecy. Mrs. White reproved him for supporting her, and he was quick to acknowledge his error--RH, July, 4, 1949, p. 10, W. M. Adams. Regardless of this error in judgement, Jones co-edited the American Sentinel with C. P. Bollman from 1894 to 1896 and edited the journal during 1896 and 1897.
In 1897 Jones was elected as a member of the General Conference Committee. He was also appointed as editor of the Review and Herald, so that "instead of speaking to comparatively few of our people in annual gatherings, he will address all of them every week"--RH, October 5, 1897, p. 640. This appointment ended in 1901 when he was released from that position, so he could "be free to engage in evangelistic work in the field"--RH, May 14, 1901.
Jones supported the organizational changes Ellen White advocated in 1901, including the adoption of a 25-member executive committee to oversee the church in lieu of a president. A. G. Daniells was chosen to chair the 25-member committee, but always considered himself to be the church's president.
Some people are amused to note that, while Jones supported the move to eliminate "kingship", he accepted the presidency of the California Conference, and continued through 1904. He was also a member and president of the SDA Educational Society that "stimulated the move of the original college out of Battle Creek on the basis of Mrs. White's testimony."--Knight, p. 211.
In 1902 Jones refused to accept leadership of the General Conference Committee.
E. G. White wrote a letter April 16, 1903 to Dr. Kellogg and asked A. T. Jones to take it to the medical meetings in Battle Creek. She asked Jones to pray with Kellogg, and when the moment was right, to give him the letter and help him see his danger. He followed her instructions; and apparently a great reconciliation was made between Dr. Kellogg and the leaders there. Later, Ellen White was shown that, in fact, Kellogg had not changed.
During the summer of 1903, Jones returned to Battle Creek at Kellogg's invitation to teach Bible at the American Medical Missionary College. Ellen White strongly counseled against this move. He did not believe her warning that such a move would lead to his downfall. In August, he accepted the presidency of Kellogg's college.
In 1903 Jones wrote a tract entitled, "One-man Power" denouncing the decision made during that General Conference to reinstate the office of president. He viewed this as reestablishment of a "czardom."
In an attempt to recover Jones, Ellen White, in 1905, counseled him to join the religious freedom efforts in Washington, D.C. He went and successfully helped stop a move to teach religion in the public schools. By mid-April he had returned to Battle Creek on the pretext that his wife needed help caring for their elder daughter. Ellen White had a vision of his case showing that he really did not believe the testimonies.
At the 1905 General Conference, Jones' credentials were renewed. He was elected as a member of a group that presented a copy of the conference's stand on civil government and religious liberty to President Roosevelt in a White House ceremony.
March 1906, Jones gave a public talk on his differences with the church. That same month, Ellen White wrote to the Farnsworths that Jones was demonstrating bitterness in very strange speeches. By June, she wrote to the Amadons that Jones' bitterness was as gall, and that he was doing the very work he was warned to avoid doing. In October, she declared that Jones had apostasized. She issued a warning to leaders and members not to be influenced by him. A committee was established to examine whether or not to renew his credentials. On May 22, 1907, the General Conference Committee voted unanimously to ask him to turn in his credentials.--RH, June 27, 1907, pp. 5, 6.
The following year Jones was disfellowshipped from the Berkeley, California Seventh-day Adventist church at the recommendation of S. N. Haskell.--Knight, p. 243, 244. Some writers say his wife was disfellowshipped at this time, and this may be true. Yet records reveal she was a member of the SDA Church when she died in 1946.
In 1909, at Jones' request, the General Conference Committee granted a review of his case at a public hearing. At this meeting, A. G. Daniells pled with him to put aside his grievances and take his place again as a worker in the cause, and though he seemed close to doing just that, in the end, he refused.
In 1912 Jones joined a Kalamazoo, Michigan Seventh-day Adventist reform movement. This church gave him ministerial credentials, but in 1914 disfellowshipped him from their movement. Undaunted, he moved in 1915 to Washington, D.C., where he joined the African American People's Church. But first, he influenced them to separate from the SDA Church.
Soon he started a private journal, the American Sentinel of Religious Liberty, which he used until 1923 to oppose religious legislation, church federation and organization, and to sling mud at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1921 Jones retired to Battle Creek, but continued publishing the Sentinel.
In 1923, Jones became ill and was admitted to the Washington Sanitarium and Hospital. He had nearly recovered from this illness, when he suffered a stroke that took his life, on Sabbath, May 12. He was buried in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Thus ended the life of this messenger whom God had powerfully used to emphasize the doctrine of Righteousness by Faith. Opposition to this message and the resulting bitterness this caused him, combined with his loss of faith in the Testimonies, and the extreme view he urged of what constituted individual and corporate freedom, had completely succeeded in separating this talented preacher from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Notes: