One of the great mysteries in Seventh-day Adventist history is A.T. Jones’ and E.J. Waggoner’s later failure. The usual understanding of such failure is that the basic tendencies toward it existed in character from the beginning of one’s church connection. Such is the thought expressed by the apostle John:
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us (1 John 2:19).This principle seems to have applied in the case of D. M. Canright. Long before he left us, he was, spiritually speaking, "not of us." He repressed his buried doubts from time to time with abject confessions, but the doubts were never eradicated. The graphic story is told in the Testimonies (Vol. 5, pp. 516-20, 571-3, 621-28).
The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. … God gave to His messengers just what the people needed (TM 91, 95).How could such words be written about men who were "radical" or "extreme"?
God is presenting to the minds of men divinely appointed precious gems of truth, appropriate for our time (Ms. 8a, 1888; Olson, p. 279).
God had sent these young men to bear a special message (Ms. S24, 1892).
A Mysterious Providence
We are faced here with a unique problem. Two phenomena are evident: (a) A master mind of evil rejoices in this apparently conclusive rejection of the message. (b) The Lord Himself mysteriously permits this tragedy to be a stumblingblock to all who want some reason for rejecting the reality of the latter rain message.The Deep-Seated Nature of the Opposition
Criticizing the messengers imposed on them a burden that was heavier to carry than normal opposition:Whatever course the messenger may pursue, it will be objectionable to the opposers of truth; and they will make capital of every defect in the manners, customs, or character of its advocate (RH, Oct. 18, 1892).The two men spoke positively and strongly. Keen perceptions of truth often lead those who are "only men" to speak that way. But that was offensive to human nature which was looking for an excuse to reject the message :
Some of our brethren … full of jealousy and evil surmising, … are ever ready to show in just what way they differ with Elder Jones or Waggoner (Letter S24, 1892).
Let no soul complain of the servants of God who have come to them with a heaven-sent message. Do not any longer pick flaws in them, saying, "They are too positive; they talk too strongly." They may talk strongly; but is it not needed? …The Lord Himself had clothed His personal messengers with evidences of authority, "heavenly credentials." They had lost sight of self in their love for Christ and His special message. The still-uncrucified self in others was piqued:
Ministers, do not dishonor your God and grieve His Holy Spirit, by casting reflections on the ways and manners of the men He would choose … He sees the temperament of the men He has chosen. He knows that none but earnest, firm, determined, strong-feeling men will view this work in its vital importance, and will put such firmness and decision into their testimonies that they will make a break against the barriers of Satan (TM 410-413).
If the rays of light which shone at Minneapolis were permitted to excert their convincing power upon those who took their stand against light, … they would have received the richest blessings, disappointed the enemy, and stood as faithful men, true to their convictions. They would have had a rich experience; but self said, No. Self was not to be refused; self struggled for the mastery (Letter O 19, 1892).Thus the principle underlying this rejection of truth is that which the Jew’s demonstrated in their rejection of Christ. Caiaphas regarded Christ as his rival; he felt personal jealousy of Him (DA 704). Interwoven with that jealousy of Him who appeared to be a mere man, Caiaphas was expressing the enmity of the natural heart against God and His righteousness. Likewise, at Minneapolis, the personality of Jones and Waggoner became the visible, conscious stumblingblock for the invisible, unconscious rejection of Christ the Word. This is evident, as follows:
Men professing godliness have despised Christ in the person of His messengers. Like the Jews, they reject God’s message. The Jews asked regarding Christ, "Who is this? Is not this Joseph’s son?" He was not the Christ that the Jews had looked for. So to-day the agencies that God sends are not what men have looked for (FE 472).
The Personal Burden Which Jones and Waggoner Bore
Few have appreciated the effect which the opposition inevitably had on the young messengers. They knew that the message of Christ’s righteousness was of God. They knew that they had been reined up by the Spirit of God to speak boldly in its defence. And they could not be blind to the obvious fact that a most determined resistance to that message was the reaction of the leadership of the one true remnant church which must eventually triumph.Just as the natural result of throwing a lighted match into a pile of shavings is to produce a fire, … so the natural result of cheating a man, or "keeping him down" or neglecting him, is to arouse resentment; that is, to impose upon him the temptation of becoming what the Psalmists were when they wrote the vindictive passages. He may succeed in resisting the temptation; or he may not. … If that sin utterly corrupts him, I have in a sense debauched or seduced him. I was the tempter (p. 24).Ellen White keenly felt the burden they carried. In 1892 she wrote to the General Conference president concerning them:
I wish that all would see that the very same spirit which refused to accept Christ, the light that would dispel the moral darkness, is far from being extinct in this age. …At about the same time she wrote to Uriah Smith intimating that they might not be strong enough to bear the strain and pressure brought against them:
Some may say, "I do not hate my brother; I am not so bad as that." But how little they understand their own hearts. They may think they have a zeal for God in their feelings against their brother if his ideas seem in any way to conflict with theirs; feelings are brought to the surface that have no kinship with love. … They would as leave be at swords point with their brother as not, and yet he may be bearing a message from God to the people. …
They … [believe] they are right in their bitterness of feeling against their brethren. Will the Lord’s messenger bear the pressure brought against him? If so, it is because God bids him stand in His strength, and vindicate the truth that he is sent of God. …
Should the Lord’s messengers, after standing manfully for the truth for a time, fall under temptation, and dishonor Him who has given them their work, will that be proof that the message is not true? No. … Sin on the part of the messenger of God would cause Satan to rejoice, and those who have rejected the message and the messenger would triumph; but it would not at all clear the men who are guilty of rejecting the message of God. …
I have deep sorrow of heart because I have seen how readily a word or action of Elder Jones or Elder Waggoner is criticized. How readily many minds overlook all the good that has been done by them in the few years past, and see no evidence that God is working through these instrumentalities. They hunt for something to condemn, and their attitude toward these brethren who are zealously engaged in doing a good work, shows that feelings of enmity and bitterness are in the heart (Letter O19, 1892).
It is quite possible that Elder Jones or Waggoner may be overthrown by the temptations of the enemy; but if they should be, this would not prove that they had had no message from God, or that the work that they had done was all a mistake. But should this happen, how many would take this position and enter into a fatal delusion because they are not under the control of the Spirit of God. … This is the very position many would take if either of these men were to fall, and I pray that these men upon whom God has laid the burden of a solemn work, may be able to give the trumpet a certain sound, and honor God at every step, and that their path at every step may grow brighter and brighter until the close of time (Letter S24, 1892; emphasis added).This information throws much light on the Jones and Waggoner tragedy: (1) They suffered definite brotherly hatred. Brethren were eagerly criticizing "a word or action, " hunting for things to condemn. There was a subjective attitude of enmity, bitterness and suspicion as late as 1892, after the confessions had been made.
It is not the inspiration from heaven that leads one to be suspicious, watching for a chance and greedily seizing upon it to prove that those brethren who differ from us in some interpretations of Scripture are not sound in the faith. There is danger that this course of action will produce the very result assumed; and to a great degree the guilt will rest upon those who are watching for evil. …It was that "laborious and soul trying task," "suspicion," "hunting for something to condemn," "dullness of some and opposition of others," seizing upon atoms to prove that they were "unsound in the faith, " which produced the "very result" anticipated—their failure. The proper, honest, inspired word for the opposition was "persecution:"
The opposition in our own ranks has imposed upon the Lord’s messengers a laborious and soul trying task; for they have had to meet difficulties and obstacles which need not have existed. … Love and confidence constitute a moral force that would have united our churches, and insured harmony of action; but coldness and distrust have brought disunion that has shorn us of our strength (Letter, Jan. 6, 1893; GCB 1893, pp. 419-421).
We should be the last people on the earth to indulge in the slightest degree the spirit of persecution against those who are bearing the message of God to the world. This is the most terrible feature of unchristlikeness that has manifested itself among us since the Minneapolis meeting (GCB 1893, p. 184).However, suffering persecution was no excuse for Jones and Waggoner to lose their way.
What Was A. T. Jones’ Problem?
One lone letter from Ellen White to Jones in 1893 is often cited as evidence that his message was extreme. Taken out of its context, this letter leaves on some minds the impression that his righteousness-by-faith message was unbalanced. But the letter must be read in context.In my dream you were presenting the subject of faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith. You repeated several times that works amounted to nothing, that there were no conditions. The matter was presented in that light that I knew minds would be confused. … You state this matter too strongly. … I know your meaning, but you leave a wrong impression upon many minds. …Careful search of Jones’ voluminous writings and sermons fails to yield even one example of his saying that "works amount to nothing," or anything of a similar extreme nature on the subject. We would expect to find some instance of an unwise statement on faith and works in his twenty-four sermons at the 1893 session which closed just before she wrote this letter; but we find just the opposite—strong expressions giving a proper balance of faith and works, upholding works was not only necessary but as the fruit of genuine faith in Christ.
You look in reality upon these subjects as I do, yet you make these subjects, through your expressions, confusing to minds. … These strong assertions in regard to works never make our position any stronger. The expressions weaken our position, for there are many who will consider you an extremist, and will lose the rich lessons you have for them upon the very subjects they need to know. … Do not lay one pebble for a soul that is weak in the faith to stumble over, in overwrought presentations or expressions. … Remember that there are some whose eyes are intently fixed upon you, expecting that you will overreach the mark, and stumble, and fall (Letter 44, 1893, April 9; 1 SM 377-79).
No Sin is Ever Excusable
It was a sin of impatience of mind or ill temper of heart which finally ended Waggoner’s and Jones’ ministry. But Moses’ experience on the borders of Canaan illustrates what happened to them. His sin was likewise inexcusable and he had to die for it, a sin of impatience with Israel. Passionately and impatiently he called them "rebels," which fact was true while his spirit was not:Thus the people were given occasion to question whether his past course of action had been under the direction of God, and to excuse their own sins. Moses, as well as they, had offended God. His course, they said, had from the first been open to criticism and censure. They had now found the pretext which they desired for rejecting all the reproofs that God had sent them through His servant (PP 417).Had Jones and Waggoner not covered their names with disgrace, we of a later generation would likely accord them almost idolatrous respect. "Many who had been unwilling to heed the counsels of Moses while he was with them, would have been in danger of committing idolatry over his dead body, had they known the place of his burial" (ibid., pp. 477, 478). The truth and logic of Jones’ and Waggoner’s position were so overwhelming that not long after 1888 many began to realize it. But the latter rain had to be postponed until a future generation. Now the messengers must be "buried" secretly—that is, all occasion for idolatry must be removed on the part of those unborn generations that must yet come. What better method of "burial" than to allow the messengers to lose their way in disgrace?
When the message of justification by faith began to be preached in this denomination, 2 the enemy was deeply stirred, and made a strong effort to stop its spread. Failing in this, he changed his plan of opposition to a method that promised greater success. This plan was so to fasten the minds of the people upon the instruments that the Lord had called to promulgate the message, that these men would come to be regarded as the oracles of God, and the people’s faith would become centered in them rather than upon Jesus Christ, the author of the message. It was reckoned by the enemy that the praise and flattery of the people would so inflate these men that they would come to feel that their opinions and judgment must prevail in all matters pertaining both to the Scriptures and to the management of the Lord’s work on the earth (G.A. Irwin, RH July 4, 1912).Ellen White insisted that the unchristlike persecution they suffered was the primary cause of their failure. It separated them from the love and confidence of their brethren, which they needed. The havoc wrought by unwise adulation became secondary.
How Good Men Can Lose Their Way
Our history gives further evidence of how "those who … rejected the message and the messenger would triumph" (Letter O19, 1892). The 1888 General Conference president, G. I. Butler, was one of the principal initial rejectors. He was a good man with a strong macho gift of executive leadership, but the problem he had to handle was unprecedented. No former president had been confronted by the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry! Ellen White tried to help him:You refer to your office as President of the General Conference, as if this justified your course of action. … You have no right to wound the feelings of your brethren. You speak of them in a manner which I cannot sanction. … You call brethren Jones and Waggoner fledglings (Letter 21, 1888).Due to his wife’s illness, Elder Butler retired for some years after 1888 to a lonely farm in Florida. Eventually he confessed his wrong attitudes and returned to positions of high responsibility. The Lord accepted his further labors, as was the case with Uriah Smith. But the golden opportunity of proclaiming the latter rain and loud cry message was conclusively lost to both of them.
These dear brethren do not know the difficulties that we had before organization.In the 1901 session Ellen White had emphatically warned against "kingly power in our ranks to control this or that branch of the work" (GCB 1901, pp. 25, 26). This was the main reason why for years she had been calling for reorganization and reformation. The tendency to restrict laborers had been a notable feature of Elder Butler’s former presidency (cf. TM 297-300). It was especially prominent in his 1886-1888 era. Her rebukes to him are now well known. In 1903 she said, "The kingly power formerly revealed in the General Conference at Battle Creek is not to be perpetuated" (8T 233). Yet Elder Butler publicly contradicts those statements, denying that it was even possible for any "kingly power" to occur in the General Conference presidency:
Now, it does seem to me that if some of these things are carried out the way some of the good brethren have spoken, it would finally bring about, if carried out fully, just about the same state of disorganization that we started in on in the first place. … I do not want to say anything now to hurt Brother Jones feelings, for I love Brother Jones dearly (GCB 1903, pp. 146-163).
You will pardon one of the old hands, who has been in the work for so many years, and who has had the presidency of the General Conference for thirteen terms, for saying that he fails to see that anything of a kingly nature can be brought into it. I do not believe there can. … I held it thirteen terms. … I should be very sorry to believe there was any kingly power in it. … Though I held the office for thirteen terms, I was never reproved for any such thing, as I can remember (GCB 1903, p.163).We humans do have a tendency to forget!
These brethren say they do not propose to tear down organization. Well, I do not think they mean to, but it seems to me that, after all, you get to where you don’t have any constitution or order at all. "After all," they said in the early days, "we are all brethren. If we will seek the Lord, He will guide us" (p. 164).Was this a knife plunged in their back? Jones and Waggoner could be pardoned for feeling that it was. Rather pathetically, Jones arose at this point to make a plea to the delegates. It may mark a wound that never healed:
I would like to make a request now to all the delegation and all the people who read the "Bulletin." When these speeches come out, please look at Brother Waggoner’s and Brother [P.T.] Magan’s, and then mine; read them over carefully, and if you can find anything in any one of them that strikes at organization in any sense whatever, I hope you will mark it, and send it to us, so that we can repent of it (idem.).Jones’ challenge stood then and it stands even today. He and Waggoner had made a plea for a submission to Christ and the Holy Spirit, which they thought was in harmony with the 1888 message, a submission that would make possible the leading of the Lord in the finishing of His work in all the world. They did not oppose organization; what they wanted to see was organization submissive to Christ for finishing the gospel commission. They wanted Christ to be recognized as the true Head of the church, in control of its organization.
I hold precisely the same opinions that I always have held since I came to be a Bible student. … The later crop that came on to run things after I went out of office [as General Conference president] have remodeled things somewhat. Elder Waggoner was a leading spirit in these changes. He seems to have remodeled himself from a preacher into a doctor. Perhaps it is just as well for him and all concerned. I wish him well in every way (Letter, September 9, 1904).Coming at just this time, one wonders how such a letter could have helped Dr. Kellogg!
The 1888 Spirit and the Kellogg Tragedy
Ellen White tells us that Dr. Kellogg was truly converted at the Minneapolis meeting (GCB 1903, p. 86). Her endorsements of his character and sincere devotion are multitudinous. Here is one of the last ones:God has given Dr. Kellogg the success that he has had. … God does not endorse the efforts put forth by different ones to make the work of Dr. Kellogg as hard as possible. … Those who rejected [the light on health reform] rejected God. One and another who knew better said that it all came from Dr. Kellogg, and they made war upon him. This had a bad influence on the doctor. He put on the coat of irritation and retaliation (GCB 1903, p. 86).A letter to Elder Butler, the 1888 General Conference president, indicates that Kellogg’s eventual apostasy was "in a large measure" our responsibility. For sure, it was not God’s will:
It will be seen sometime that our brethren and sisters have not been inspired by the spirit of Christ in their manner of dealing with Dr. Kellogg. I know that your views of the doctor are not correct. Your attitude toward him will not bear the approval of God. … You can pursue a course that will so weaken his confidence in his brethren that they cannot help him when and where he needs to be helped. …The "manna" of 1888 had been rejected, and now it began to do what the ancient manna in Israel did when it was not eaten fresh. It spoiled. Highly nutritious food spoils more quickly than devitalized food. "We" lost three outstanding, gifted men who at one time gave evidence of being truly heaven-ordained. The spoiled manna became unpleasant to deal with, and the story is sad.
Dr. Kellogg has done a work that no man I know of among us has had qualifications to do. He has needed the sympathy and confidence of his brethren. … They should have pursued a course that would have gained and retained his confidence. … But there has been instead, a spirit of suspicion and criticism.
If the doctor fails in doing his duty and being an overcomer at last, those brethren who have failed in their want of wisdom and discernment to help the man when and where he needed their help, will be in a large measure responsible. … His brethren do at times really feel that God is using the doctor to do a work that no other one is fitted to do. But then they meet so strong a current of reports to his detriment, they are perplexed. They partially accept them, and decide that Dr. Kellogg must really be hypocritical and dishonest. … How must the doctor feel to be ever regarded with suspicion? … Must it ever be thus? … Christ paid the redemption price for his soul and the devil will do his utmost to ruin his soul. Let none of us help him in his work (Letter B21, 1888).
Those at the very heart of the work indulged their own wishes in a way that dishonored God. … Dr. Kellogg was not sustained in the health reform work. … [He] took up the work they did not do. The spirit of criticism shown to his work from the first has been very unjust, and had made his work hard. … It is a fact that our ministers are very slow to become health reformers. … This has caused Dr. Kellogg to lose confidence in them (Ms. 13, 1901, Diary, January 1898).
Conclusion
The last words which Waggoner wrote before his sudden death on May 28, 1916 are these closing sentences of a letter to M.C. Wilcox: "I do not question, but freely acknowledge, the superior goodness of the brethren in the denomination. I should be recreant to God if I did not recognize the light that He has given me; I could never understand why it was given to me, except on the ground that His gifts are bestowed, not according to deserts, but according to need."