On the afternoon of March 4, 1899, the president of the General Conference read to the delegates assembled in a General Conference session a number of timely messages written from Australia by Mrs. White especially for the conference. These contained most solemn warnings that there was danger that subtle, deceptive teachings would be introduced into the doctrines of the church. "Satan will get up every kind of theory to pervert the truth," it was asserted. "There are many beliefs which the mind has no right to entertain." "Satan is still doing the same work begun in the garden of Eden. He is working vigilantly, that men may accept his assertions as proof against God. ... By every species of deception, he is endeavoring to induce man to eat of the forbidden tree."--The General Conference Daily Bulletin, March 6, 1899.
On God and Nature
One of the manuscripts by Mrs. White was entitled "The True Relation of God and Nature." It specifically referred to erroneous teachings tending to identify the Creator with the works of His hands. One might at the time well have wondered why Seventh-day Adventists needed to be reminded of such elementary truths as the following:
"Nature is not God, and never was God. The voice of nature testifies of God, declaring His glory; but nature itself is not God. As God's created work, it but bears a testimony of His power. ...
"Christ came to the world as a personal Saviour. He represented a personal God. He ascended on high as a personal Saviour, and He will come again as He ascended to heaven--a personal Saviour. We need carefully to consider this; for in their human wisdom, the wise men of the world, knowing not God, foolishly deify nature and the laws of nature. ...
"We may look up, through nature, to nature's God. The beautiful things of nature have been given us for our pleasure. Then let us not turn our blessings into a curse by being led away from God in the worship of the creature rather than the Creator."--Ibid. (Italics mine.)
The urgent need for the cautions contained in this message becomes evident when, in the light of later developments, one looks over certain utterances that were pronounced during the session of the conference to which the message was sent. For example we find speakers at the session maintaining that the air we breathe is the medium through which the Holy Spirit is given to us. Thus it was asserted that "when Christ breathed upon His disciples and said, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost,' it was to teach us that when we recognize Him in the breath of life which He gives to us, we are to receive the Holy Ghost, which is as free as the air; and just as the air will come in when there is a vacuum, so wherever there is a place for the Spirit of God to enter, there it will come in. There is a wonderful connection between this air we breathe and the Spirit. ... When a man knows and recognizes that every breath he draws is a direct breathing of God into his nostrils, he lives in the presence of God and has a Spirit-filled life."--Ibid., February 23, 1899.
Erroneous Teachings
According to this presentation, the most important feature of the work of the church is to give to the world the message "that this is God's life--that it is His Spirit which fills all space; that air is a means of conveying His Spirit to us; and that it is God's own life--then we see that air is the power of God to purify, to give life. You take in the life and live by it; thus we see the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses from all sin."--Ibid.
Righteousness, according to this teaching, was received by manifesting faith that the very life of God is in the air, in food, and in drink. "Everything that God has given by which to convey life is the means of conveying righteousness to us."
Justification by faith was defined as recognizing the literal life of God in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, and in the water we drink. "We must let God live through us in everything; let God live His own life in us, and the power of that life will resist the disease, while we hold to that power by faith. That is justification by faith. So the doctors at the sanitarium should teach justification by faith, although they do not call it by just those words."--Ibid.
Health reform was defined as "the gospel of life, health, and peace." "There is power, life, in the pure water, because God's life is in it." In reply to an inquiry as to whether the life of God is in the bread we eat, one speaker replied in the affirmative; and it was asserted that when Jesus said of the communion bread, "This is my body," He was speaking not figuratively but literally, and that the error in the papal dogma regarding transubstantiation is therefore not in the recognition of the literal body of Christ in the wafer, but only in the belief that it was the word of the priest that changed it from ordinary bread into the very body of Christ. It was said that "the whole question of the Papacy is the question of disbelieving the Word of God, and putting one's own work in the place of it."--Ibid.
It was even taught as a logical conclusion of such theories that if man would only recognize these "truths" and have faith in them, he might expect to live till the Lord should come. There would be a vitality to resist all the inroads of disease, for "the life of God" would swallow up all germs. "Suppose a man recognized that fact, and therefore let God have His own way in controlling the human body, so that He might fill it with His life. What disease could affect him? Would He not ward off all disease, as He did in Christ Himself? Certainly. That is why this gospel of good health has come up for us in these last days."--Ibid.
Workings of the Leaven of Speculation
According to another speaker, the message of health reform was the one essential feature of the gospel to be given at this time:
"We have come to a time when we have the truth presented to us--this one message, this message of healthful living. We ought to go to the world with this gospel--a gospel so visible, so tangible, that all can see it. ... The message of health reform now centers just as much in that simple statement, 'This is my body,' as it centers in that simple statement, 'The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.'"--Ibid.
Well would it have been if all had carefully considered the clear presentation of the true relation of God and nature as set forth in the communication from Mrs. White read to the conference a few days after the foregoing statements were presented. Doubtless there were indeed many who were helped by its instruction, and who were kept from readily accepting the new views regarding a universal divine essence pervading all nature. But the leaven of subtle speculation had been introduced, and the minds of some were permeated by it.
The speakers who had been foremost in presenting these theories to the General Conference were among those in whom the people had confidence as Bible expositors. They had been giving lectures in the sanitarium in Battle Creek, and it was at the request of the superintendent of that institution that they spoke to the delegates. These near-pantheistic views were heartily accepted by him and were later made very prominent in his lectures before the patients, the sanitarium helpers, and the medical students. How fully they were endorsed by him is revealed by an analysis of talks that he gave before the following General Conference, which convened in 1901 in Battle Creek, regarding which we have already written. In introducing an illustrated stereopticon lecture, he said, "I have been asked to talk to you tonight on the question of the divine life in man."--General Conference Bulletin, Second Quarter, 1901.
A Few Excerpts
A few excerpts from this address are here given:
"It is God in the sunflower that makes it do this [follow the sun]. ...
"There is an intelligence that is present in the plant, in all vegetation. ...
"We can see there is a divine Master there [in the protoplasm cells of the plant], who is certainly directing every movement. ...
"God makes you now just as much as He made Adam; God is working in us today in exactly the same way that He worked in making Adam. ...
"God is within. ... There is an intelligence, a power, a will within, that is commanding the functions of our bodies and controlling them. ...
"Wherever God's life is, God Himself is. You cannot separate God and His life. That is the reason why God is everywhere. ...
"God is in me, and everything I do is God's power; every single act is a creative act of God."--Ibid.
Such views of the Creator, set forth by a few connected with the ministry and leadership of Seventh-day Adventists, might lead to personal discussion, but no one at that time fully understood the implications involved. As long as it remained more or less of an individual interpretation of the nature of God, it might without controversy find utterance in private discussions, in periodical articles, and even in general gatherings. But a series of events soon made of this matter a sharp issue that threatened to disrupt the church, and which proved to be the outstanding feature in the final separation of the sanitarium at Battle Creek from the denomination, together with the physician whose name had for many years been linked with the institution.
A Series of Significant Events
The first of these related events was the burning of the great sanitarium and hospital in Battle Creek in the early morning of February 18, 1902. The question of rebuilding, with decisions as to location, size, cost, and the financing of the work, naturally arose at once.
On March 17, 1902, a council was held in Battle Creek, attended by the General Conference president, the union conference presidents, and other leading workers among Seventh-day Adventists, at which time these questions were considered. From a brief report of the judgment of those present, we quote:
"In view of the attitude of the people of Battle Creek toward the sanitarium and its work, ... the council advised that the new building should be erected in this city. ... That only one building be built in place of the two which were burned; and that this building should be five stories in height, not to exceed 450 feet in length."--The Review and Herald, March 25, 1902.
It was not long before it became evident that the new structure was to exceed in size that which had been recommended by the council. A cut of the front elevation of the new building appeared, stating that it would be 550 feet in length, with rear extensions aggregating 500 feet more, and that it would furnish accommodation for more than 1,000 patients. The promise was made also that when finished it would be "the most complete, thoroughly equipped, and perfect establishment of the sort in the world."--The Battle Creek Sanitarium Food Idea, Vol. 1, No. 1, November 15, 1902.
Through the years many messages had been received from Mrs. White in protest against the centralization of so many lines of denominational work in Battle Creek, and the frequent enlargement of the institutions there. During the summer and autumn of 1902, while construction on the new building was rapidly progressing, there came, in harmony with these former counsels, messages from Mrs. White that might well have given pause to the enterprise, had they been heartily accepted. On May 1, 1902, she wrote: "Last night I was instructed to tell you that the great display you are making in Battle Creek is not after God's order. You are planning to build in Battle Creek a larger sanitarium than should be erected there."--E. G. White Letter 125, 1902.
A few weeks later another admonition followed, saying: "It is time for us to think soberly. ... We should read the providence of God in His movements. Was the Battle Creek Sanitarium consumed by fire in order that the plans might be enlarged, greater buildings erected, and more display made? ... My brethren, let your building plans be reconsidered. Bring your building within your means."--E. G. White Letter 128, 1902. (Written July 6, 1902.)
The Cost and Display
Not alone in the size of the new sanitarium, but in the cost and the display, was there a departure from the plain counsels that came through Mrs. White, and the recommendation of the joint council with the General Conference officers. The grandeur of the new building, as well as its monumental size, is indicated by a statement published a few days before the dedication. From this description we quote briefly:
"The general style of the building is that known by architects as the Italian renaissance. ... The floors of the great structure make up an area of five acres of marble mosaic, the construction of which was superintended by the Italian artist in that line of work, who had charge of the beautiful mosaic work of the Congressional Library building at Washington, D.C. ... When fully completed, it will stand as one of the beautiful buildings of Michigan, creditable to the city and to the state in which it is located."--Hon. Perry F. Powers, auditor-general of the State of Michigan.
Among the plans to raise money for the erection of the new sanitarium was one making provision for the sale by members of the denomination of a new book to be written by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, all the profits to be given by author, publisher, and distributor.
When all the type had been set and the galley proofs of the book were sent to a few persons for examination, it was then discovered that the author had made very prominent the teachings regarding the immanence of the life of God in all things, as he had presented them before the General Conference of 1901. In the galley proofs of the new book The Living Temple, the same theory was advanced. It was asserted that "God is the explanation of nature--not a God outside of nature, but in nature, manifesting Himself through and in all the objects, movements, and varied phenomena of the universe."--The Living Temple, 28.
"We have a physiological proof of the existence within the body of some power superior to the material composition or substance of the body, which exercises a constant supervision and control whereby individual identity is maintained. This can be nothing less than the Power which builds, which creates--it is God Himself, the divine Presence in the temple."--Ibid., 52.
Much Discussion
Some who read the galley proofs believed that the statement of the Apostle Paul, "Ye are God's temple," referred only to the Christian into whose heart the Holy Spirit had been welcomed by faith, and that it was unscriptural to call unregenerate sinners "temples of God." With this difference of interpretation it was impossible to carry out the plan for the denomination to enter wholeheartedly into the publication and circulation of the book with its teaching that the divine presence was literally in all living matter. There was some talk of attempting to revise the manuscript in its questionable portions, but no definite action was taken, and the project was deferred, though it was the subject of debate among certain members of the General Conference Committee.
Thus matters stood at the time for the General Conference of 1903, in Oakland, California. The mammoth new sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, was nearing completion, and it was found to have cost much more than the estimates submitted. The raising of the many thousands of dollars necessary to pay for its construction was a serious problem, especially in view of the fact that many of those attending the session felt that its size and grandeur were opposed to the counsel that had been received. But most weighty and serious of the differences between the conference administration and the medical missionary leaders were the doctrinal differences that had arisen.
During the conference Mrs. White made a plea for reformatory work in all the institutions and for loyalty to the message committed to Seventh-day Adventists. She said: "Those who stand as teachers and leaders in our institutions are to be sound in the faith and in the principles of the third angel's message. God wants His people to know that we have the message as He gave it to us in 1843 and 1844. We knew then what the message meant, and we call upon our people today to obey the word, 'Bind up the law among my disciples.'"--The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.
Mrs. White's Earnest Labor
Most earnestly did Mrs. White work during this conference session for a healing of the breach that seemed to be widening between the General Conference and the leaders in the medical missionary work. She realized that if she were to make public all the counsels she had given to the leaders in the denomination regarding the stand they should take on the points at issue, the crisis might be precipitated. To some it was a matter of surprise and even of perplexity that she rather emphasized the failure on the part of many to accept heartily all the principles of the health message, which had given many of the leaders cause for severe adverse criticism.
Referring to the perplexity in the minds of some because Mrs. White had advocated standing by the sanitarium, despite its having been so greatly enlarged beyond what her counsel had called for, she said: "You were surprised to hear me say that we are not to let the Battle Creek Sanitarium go into the hands of the world; that we are to make another effort to place our institutions on solid ground. If you will trust in the Lord, this institution can be placed on vantage ground."--Ibid., April 6, 1903.
The conditions upon which the institution might still be saved to the denomination were outlined in the following forceful words: "When the sanitarium is placed on its proper foundation; when our people can see it as it was when it was first established; when they can understand that the institution belongs to the work of the Lord, and can see that no one man is to have the control of everything in it; then God will help them all to take hold with courage to build it up. Today you do not know just where it is."--Ibid.
That the leader of the medical department should "stand acknowledged and supported in his God-given work" was Mrs. White's expressed desire, but followed with the solemn declaration: "This he will be if his feet are planted on the truth of the living God. If they are not planted on this truth, specious temptations will come in, through scientific problems and scientific theories regarding God and His Word. Spurious scientific theories are coming in as a thief in the night, stealing away the landmarks and undermining the pillars of our faith."--Ibid.
Of the dangerous tendencies of these new theories, and of their influence in undermining the faith of the believers, she said further: "The most specious temptations of the enemy are coming in, and they are coming in on the highest, most elevated plane. These spiritualize the doctrines of present truth until there is no distinction between the substance and the shadow. ...
"The warning has come: Nothing is to be allowed to come in that will disturb the foundation of the faith upon which we have been building ever since the message came in 1842, 1843, and 1844. ... We do not propose to take our feet off the platform on which they were placed as day by day we sought the Lord with earnest prayer, seeking for light. ... It is to be as the Rock of Ages."--Ibid.
The Living Temple
This conference of 1903 closed with no open rupture between those advocating opposing principles. The controversial issues were not made public, but a delicate situation soon arose when the book The Living Temple was published, put on sale, and denominational tract societies were urged to carry it in stock and advertise it. Pressed by the inquiries that followed this action, the General Conference officials could only reply that while the General Conference Committee deemed it not proper "to pass formally upon any question of religious teaching, it was likewise not a proper thing to recommend the circulation of literature so seriously criticized," especially in view of the instruction given at the recent General Conference session regarding the "spurious scientific theories ... coming in as a thief in the night, stealing away the landmarks." (Letter sent by the president and the secretary of the General Conference to conference presidents, July 31, 1903.)
In October, 1903, the Autumn Council met for the first time in Washington, D.C., to which place the Review and Herald Publishing Company and the General Conference headquarters had been moved. Attempts were made to press forward urgent matters pertaining to the worldwide movement; but, like a dark shadow over the council, again loomed the controversial questions regarding the teaching of The Living Temple and its circulation among and by the church members.
After a day spent largely in the consideration of this perplexing matter, there arrived in the evening mail from faraway California a document from Mrs. White entitled "Decided Action to Be Taken Now." Declaring that the communication followed the presentation of many things to her mind by the Spirit of God, she said regarding the serious implications that would follow the acceptance of the teachings in the book:
"Few can see the meaning of the present apostasy. But the Lord has lifted the curtain and has shown me its meaning, and the result that it will have if allowed to continue.
"Those doctrines, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They estimate as nothing the light that Christ came from heaven to give John to give to His people. They teach that the scenes just before us are not of sufficient importance to be given special attention. They make of no effect the truth of heavenly origin, and rob the people of God of their past experiences, giving them instead a false science."--Special Testimonies, Series B, 7:36, 37.
A Timely Communication
So timely was this message, so providential the arrival of the communication from California at the very time when the question was under discussion with strong convictions on both sides, so evident was it that of her own self the writer could have known nothing of the crisis to which they had come, and so clear was the analysis of the dangers of the theory under discussion, that there was an almost unanimous conviction among those present in the council that it had been indited by One more than human. The result was a sharp cleavage between those who accepted it and a very few who continued to maintain and teach the theory of God's actual presence throughout the universe. The Battle Creek Sanitarium became the headquarters of this group, and the Medical Missionary its official publication. There was no immediate change of denominational affiliation, however.
The subtle dangers connected with the new conception of God were clearly pointed out by the ministry of the denomination by voice and pen. While "claiming to be a new revelation of the greatness and the nearness of God," it was shown that in reality it "belittles God in His true character, and puts Him far away. That concept of God which makes Him too large to sit upon His throne in heaven as a personal being, and diffuses Him throughout the universe, really reduces Him to nothingness, and puts Him outside the universe." It strikes at the heart of the heavenly sanctuary, and its cleansing, with the personal ministry of Christ as high priest. Furthermore, as pointed out editorially in the Review and Herald, when such a doctrine is accepted, "the way is prepared to reverse the whole order of faith, and to exalt self to the place which belongs to God by substituting a so-called 'spiritual consciousness' for the revelation of divine truth, and by looking to self-effort in the way of evolution rather than to faith in the direct working of another actual being in a new creation."--The Review and Herald, January 7, 1904.
Another Vital Difference
Another vital difference between the two conceptions of the Creator was set forth a few weeks later in another editorial statement in the church organ, as follows: "Where shall we look to find the God of our salvation? Shall we look within or without? Is the power for righteousness developed from within, or is it a gift from without? In the gospel according to man we are instructed to look within, and to develop the power within. In the gospel according to God we are invited to accept power from without. ... We may well be afraid of any teaching which leads us to look within for salvation, even though it claims to find God within. ... 'From within ... proceed ... wickedness, deceit, ... pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within.' 'Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.'"--Ibid., March 10, 1904.
Other issues of a minor nature were involved in the controversy between the denomination and some of the leaders in the medical work, but those we have noted--especially the questions of denominational control and conflicting doctrinal teachings--were the outstanding causes of the final separation.
A brief statement of facts pertaining to the transfer of ownership and control of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and other properties from the denomination may be of interest. As already related, the Health Reform Institute had been owned and controlled by stockholders forming a corporation known as the Health Reform Institute, who--according to the original bylaws--must be Seventh-day Adventists, persons "keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ." The constituency meetings of the Health Reform Institute were usually held in connection with the General Conference sessions, and none but church members participated in the operation of the institution. But the institution was incorporated for only thirty years, and according to law the charter expired in 1897. It was then legally necessary to dissolve the corporation and to sell the property by auction to the highest bidder. The sale was put off until July 1, 1898.
Anxiety and Prayer
As the time for the appointed auction drew near, there was much anxiety and prayer. A few weeks prior to the time certain parties representing a syndicate of millionaires came to see the sanitarium, and examined the books, which was permissible according to law. They announced their purpose of bidding for it at auction and made flattering financial offers to Dr. Kellogg and his associates to retain their connection with it under the new ownership. Although they were told that they would be unable to hire such workers at any figure, the prospective purchasers felt assured that they would have their co-operation. However, before the day of the sale other opportunities for profitable investment turned their attention from their purpose to gain possession of the sanitarium.
Steps had been taken to meet the critical situation of the reorganization of the institution in such a manner as to inspire the continuation of the work in harmony with its original purpose. A mass meeting of friends of the institution was called to meet in the gymnasium of the sanitarium July 8, 1897. Those present appointed a committee of twenty-seven persons to act in the organization of an association to take charge of and carry on the work formerly conducted by the Health Reform Institute. This committee recommended to the court the appointment of Dr. J.H. Kellogg as receiver of the old corporation, to carry out the instructions of the court regarding the disposition of all its available assets. The Gospel of Health, August, 1897. They also recommended the formation of a new corporation to purchase the assets of the old corporation.
July 1, 1898, the public sale was held at the Court House in Marshall, Michigan. S.S. Hulbert, attorney for the association recommended by this committee of twenty-seven, submitted the only bid and bought the sanitarium for those duly appointed to form the nucleus of the new organization, known as the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association, which thus became the successor of the Health Reform Institute.
A New Idea
Thus to the rank and file of Seventh-day Adventists it appeared that the institution still remained under denominational ownership. True, there was one seeming difference between the bylaws of the two corporations. In the former the privilege of holding stock was limited to members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The latter, in its declaration of principles, which every stockholder was required to sign, declared its purpose to be the maintenance of a health institution, and the performance of work of "an un-denominational, unsectarian, humanitarian, and philanthropic nature." It was also set forth that all of its works and acts were to be "un-denominational and unsectarian, and purely charitable, benevolent, Christian, and philanthropic."
These expressions in the bylaws were generally understood, in harmony with the interpretation given publicly by Dr. J.H. Kellogg, as meaning "simply that it is to be conducted as a medical institution, that it may have the advantages of the statutes of the state; as a hospital, it must be carried on as an un-denominational institution. It cannot give benefits to a certain class, but must be for the benefit of any who are sick." Medical Missionary Conference Bulletin, May, 1899. Opportunity was given for all former stockholders to renew their membership in the new corporation, the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association. At the General Conference session following the transfer of the property, out of 150 shares that were placed in the hands of the board of directors for distribution, 125 were assigned to delegates who were present, ministers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Battle Creek Sanitarium continued to be listed among its denominational institutions until the year 1906.
By that time, 1906, the differences between the denomination and those managing the institution had become so marked as to have led to virtual separation. In an article regarding the ownership of the institution, the medical superintendent now declared that as used in the charter, the word "denominational" meant "those things which have for their specific object the advancement of the sectarian or denominational interests; and when we say un-denominational we mean that this work is doing those things which are not simply for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but which will help forward the Christian religion, and help forward the general welfare of humanity. ... These things are to be done, as stated by our charter, in the interests of the public; not in the interest of any church or any set of men, but for humanity." He, therefore, concluded that "the denomination does not own the property, and never can own it, for it belongs to the public." (The Medical Missionary, February, 1906.)
The loss to the denomination of the sanitarium at Battle Creek, together with some of the medical leaders, for a time brought questioning and perplexity to many minds not acquainted with all the facts. This separation seemed to be a severe blow to the medical missionary work, but He who had led and guided His people by divine counsel pointed the way not only to a compensation for what had seemed to be lost, but to important advance moves.