Advent Movement Survey 10

Transcription

1 Advent Movement Survey 10 The 1888 Conference Study given by W. D. Frazee - March 7, 1962 Today, we are continuing our study of Advent Movement Survey. And I would like to have you repeat with me that wonderful statement about the importance of knowing how God has led us: We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, page 196. So, security comes from remembering how God has led us in this denomination, and His teaching in our past history. I think it is generally agreed that the 1888 General Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of the outstanding way marks in the history of this denomination. I don t know very many experiences in the history of the movement, regarding which, there are such different ideas. There are those who present the Minneapolis experience as a great defeat, as a time when the denomination rejected a certain teaching of the Lord; and the sad consequences following. There are others who present it as a time of glorious victory, as a time when God came very near and blessed His church, and changed certain things that needed changing. There are others who see certain features of the 1888 conference that are quite discouraging, while they see others as encouraging. I trust that from the available material and sources, we shall gather, at least, sufficient information to be intelligent in regard to what took place, both in Minneapolis and afterward. Because, as we shall see, it occupies sufficient space in the inspired writings - the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy - that without some understanding of it, we will not fully grasp the meaning of what is written concerning this great truth, and its bearing upon our development as a movement. What is righteousness by faith? That was the great message presented at Minneapolis, and that s what people are usually thinking of when they talk about the Minneapolis meeting. Minneapolis was the name of the city, of course, where this conference was held. What is this righteousness by faith message? What do we mean by righteousness by faith? Well, we will not take time this afternoon for an extended study of it, but I would like to introduce one text: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no Παγε 1 οφ 12

2 flesh be justified Galatians 2:16. Here we see a contrast drawn between being justified by what? The works of the law and justified by the faith of Christ. Three times here it is saying that it is not by the works of the law. And it is stated that nobody can be justified by the works of the law. Some might say, well, haven t Seventh-day Adventists always believed that? And the theoretical answer is yes. I think that would be generally agreed. As a doctrine, anyone who studies the Bible, and certainly anyone who is acquainted with the sanctuary teaching (which was one of the great, leading pillars in this message from its rise), must acknowledge that salvation is through faith in Christ, and that man apart from Christ cannot keep the law. Therefore, man apart from Christ cannot be saved. His own works do not merit anything. And so, righteousness by faith means the turning from any feeling that what we have done or can do, can give us salvation. We accept Jesus, what He did for us upon the cross; what He did for us before the cross; in living the righteous life here on earth; and what, after His death, He has done and is doing in His mediatorial work in the sanctuary above; what He ministers to us and for us and through us in the gift of His Spirit - all this is included in righteousness by faith. It means that we know that we cannot live His life without Him, and that all good works which we ever do, are not because of anything naturally good in us, but because of the gift of His righteousness. Righteousness by faith takes in two great phases, shall I say. We speak of imputed righteousness, or justification by faith, and that deals with the past. We speak of imparted righteousness, and that means the power of Jesus imparted to us to cause us to live that righteous life. Righteousness imputed. Righteousness imparted. Righteousness imputed is given to us when we accept Jesus. No matter how much we ve sinned in the past, what does He do? He forgives us and treats us as if we had not sinned. That takes care of the past. Righteousness imparted means that, day by day, that same life of Jesus which He counts to me for the past, is to live in me. It s His grace that gives it to me to live by, just as it is His grace that counts it to me for the past. Another very important thing is that all the while we are having this experience of imparted righteousness, there are still many weaknesses and defects where the imputed righteousness must make up. I can illustrate it this way. Here is a man who knows nothing about the Sabbath, but he accepts Jesus as his Saviour and gives up his lying and stealing and that sort of thing, but he continues to break the Sabbath ignorantly. He has received the imputed righteousness of Christ for all his past. Now he is receiving the imparted righteousness of Christ to keep him from lying and stealing. But still, thank God, there is imputed righteousness to cover his Sabbath breaking that he doesn t know about. He needs both. As long as you and I have one thing yet to learn of what God requires of us in order to cease fully from sinning, we need imputed righteousness as well as imparted, right? So, you see something of what is included in righteousness by faith. And as this text in Galatians 2 says, Παγε 2 οφ 12

3 it s not by the works of the law, not what we have done, but it s what Jesus has done that we accept. That s what takes care of the past, and that s the way we live for the future. Now, during the first four decades of the Advent movement emphasis was particularly on what we speak of as the doctrines. There are several reasons why this was so. In the first place, many of those who came into the Seventh-day Adventist movement in its early years already knew what conversion was. They were good Methodists, or a member of some other church where they had learned to give their hearts to God and trust in Jesus for salvation. When they came into the Seventh-day Adventist church the change was a matter of what day they kept, and whether they believed that the dead were in their graves, instead of believing, as they had, that they had gone to heaven or to hell. In other words, their theology was changed but they had already trusted in Jesus for salvation. Naturally, since that was so, the sermons that were preached to them, and the Bible studies that were given them, and the literature that was furnished them, was to endeavor to change their ideas on those doctrinal subjects. You can see how that would be. That s the way the Seventh-day Adventist movement arose. As that pattern developed, as the years went by, even though there were many others coming into the church who were not converted, nevertheless, that pattern of the teaching of the prophecies and the doctrines, became, to a certain extent, stereotyped. And the result was that there was very little emphasis given, very little attention given, comparatively, to what we now speak of as the doctrine of righteousness by faith. You will find that this is freely admitted and presented in Spaulding s book, Captains of the Host. He has a wonderful chapter here on the 1888 conference, the preludes and the conference itself beginning on page 583. I would suggest that all of you who have access to this book, Captains of the Host, read this chapter, Chapter 36. It s a wonderful presentation of a wonderful subject. As we look back at it now, it seems strange that there was so little emphasis given. Some who have made research into the subject, find very few articles in our church paper, for instance, the Review and Herald, during all those years, on this subject of righteousness by faith. Very little. The truth of the matter is, the speakers and writers on this subject, are largely confined to James White, Ellen White, and one of the pioneers by the name of Waggoner, J. H. Waggoner. Apart from them, there is little on the subject in the first four decades. Remember that this doesn t mean that nobody knew anything about righteousness by faith. Shall we say, it was taken for granted by many. With great emphasis on the law and the Sabbath, along with the sanctuary and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, righteousness by faith was not given so much attention. Now, there was another reason for this. As our men went out to preach this message, they, of course, received opposition from other churches, other preachers. Sometimes they were challenged to debate. And of course, the debate was usually on this question of the Sabbath and non-immortality of the soul, and related subjects. And with the arguments from the Bible, if our men were intelligent at all on our doctrines, they could win the victory, couldn t they? Because truth wins whenever it is fully explained. But the spirit of debate is not the spirit, as a rule, of love and gentleness, and it tends to make men argumentative rather than to Παγε 3 οφ 12

4 lead them to melt their way to the hearts. As we approached the time of the Minneapolis conference we find in a number of those preceding years, earnest warnings from the Spirit of Prophecy to our ministers urging them not to seek debate, to avoid it where possible, and what was still more important, to avoid the debating spirit, the argumentative spirit. You will be interested in an experience that I heard Elder G. B. Star, tell. It will help to illustrate what we are dealing with. One of our ministers, and by the way, he was a man who led in the opposition at Minneapolis, as we are coming to study presently, was holding a series of meetings in a tent. Associated with him were two younger ministers. One day, as they were doing some things there around the tent (it was in the morning), a young man came in and engaged the leader in conversation. He asked him certain questions about the things that were being taught there in the tent meetings. In the course of the conversation, as this young man asked these questions, this leading minister said to him, You can t meet the argument. And He pressed it home. But, the young man tried in a courteous way to ask some more questions. But again he said, You can t meet the argument. And he kept on in that tone and that attitude. Finally the young man turned to him and said, You are no minister of Christ, Sir. You are a controversialist. You are just making controversy. And he turned over to a young man that was helping in the meeting and he said, There is a minister of Christ, and he went away. Sister White told them later that that was an angel from heaven that had come there. That s quite a way to talk to an angel, wasn t it? Yes. But that helps to illustrate the spirit that some had developed. So there was great emphasis on the law, great emphasis on the Sabbath, great emphasis on the doctrines, but little on these practical things of Christian experience. In contrast with that, we might note that from the very beginning, Sister White s testimonies have given precious instruction on this point. You remember Sister White s early life, as a girl, before she ever knew anything about the Sabbath, you remember her conversion and how she had to learn to rely wholly on Christ. And you remember how, as she sought the Lord very earnestly, He revealed Himself to her, and she knew that Christ had taken her sins away. Although at times she lost the sense of that, the Lord, in His mercy, brought her back. When a girl of only sixteen she was called for to tell her experience, her Christian experience, before others. This, of course, was before she knew anything about the Sabbath. At the age of seventeen she was called to be God s messenger. Anyone who will read through the early volumes of the Testimonies, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, and 4, all written before the 1880s, will recognize how again and again there are most precious references to the atonement, to the sacrifice of Christ, to the need of His precious blood to cleanse from sin. So the writings and the work of Sister White were bringing to our people some measure of understanding all through these years. But, strange to say, there was little echo of those particular points, by others. Παγε 4 οφ 12

5 In saying this I want to recognize what will be recognized by any careful student. That the writings of Sister White, herself, bring out these beautiful truths more and more as time goes by. In other words, there is more in the 1880s than in preceding years, and the 1890s are full of it. Think of the books that came out in the 1890s - Patriarchs and Prophets in 1890, Steps to Christ in 1892, The Desire of Ages in Can you think of any more wonderful presentations of righteousness by faith than those books? And, by the way, let me say at this point, parenthetically, but nonetheless important, if you and I want a presentation of righteousness by faith, we need not dig back into the misty and musty archives of the past to get it. If we want to know the fullness of the message of righteousness by faith as it was given by God Himself in the 1890s, we have only to read and throughly study Steps to Christ and The Desire of Ages, and some of these other inspired volumes. Don t misunderstand me. I would not discourage historical research or the reading of other things that were produced at that time. I simply say, friends, we are not dependent on that at all. We have at hand in Steps to Christ the most comprehensive yet brief, and the most brief yet comprehensive presentation of righteousness by faith that has ever been written. Wonderful Steps to Christ! Somebody might say, Why, is that it? Is righteousness by faith what s in Steps to Christ? Yes, exactly. And if you have any concept of righteousness by faith which isn t in Steps to Christ, friends, you can be afraid of what you got. Because you will never find anything more wonderful or more true or more accurate in presenting true righteousness by faith than those inspired volumes of the Spirit of Prophecy. Coming back, now, to the time before During the 1870s E. J. Waggoner, the son of old Elder J. H. Waggoner, became editor of the Signs of the Times, published out on the Pacific coast, and began to put in articles dealing with this subject of justification by faith. Apparently he was making a study of Galatians and Romans. It is interesting to note that Sister White had no particular contact with either, Jones or Waggoner, until the Minneapolis meeting. I mean, they didn t sit down and have extended interviews and plan things out. Sister White came to the Minneapolis meeting and she said she heard for the first time there, Elder Waggoner s presentation. That was where she heard it, in Minneapolis. Doubtless this was all in the order of God. It was also in the order of God that these young men, Waggoner and Jones, should have had several years of digging into these subjects before they came to this General Conference. The president of the General Conference at this time was Elder George I. Butler. He had been president since the death of Elder James White back in In fact, he was president, I believe, when James White died. Elder Butler was one of the older men. Elder Uriah Smith, who was editor of the Review and Herald, was one of the older men. And there was a feeling, sort of an understanding, that various subjects were going to be presented at this Minneapolis meeting, which might bring about some controversy. Elder Butler was not able to come to this General Conference. He was sick and unable to attend. But he sent word, Stand by the old landmarks. And as we shall see, in this conference, that meant to those who heard that, Be careful and be afraid of what these young men, Jones and Waggoner are presenting. Παγε 5 οφ 12

6 There are some things about this that seem trivial. And they were trivial, but they are important that we understand, because they have a bearing on what took place at Minneapolis. The subject of righteousness by faith or justification by faith, was not the only subject considered at that time. There was an institute of several days prior to the opening of the General Conference. During the institute and during the General Conference that followed, one of the subjects on which there was a great deal of discussion and agitation, public presentation and private debate, was what do you suppose? Whether one of the ten horns of Daniel 7 meant the Huns or the Allamani. Now I don t know how many of you know which one it was, whether it was the Huns or the Allamani, but the leading theological minds of this denomination were locked in debate on that subject, in Minneapolis. They all agreed that the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, the Ostragoths, the Suave, the Burgundians, and the Vandals were part of the ten. But, Uriah Smith in his book, Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation, had given the list as these all and the Huns. But A. T. Jones (By the way, he was a self-educated man. He accepted this truth as a private in the United States Army several years before, and by a great deal of reading and earnest study in both history and the Bible, he had come to be a very earnest exponent of the message.) lists the Allamani. His thought was that the Huns did not make a permanent kingdom in Western Europe. They made inroads into the Roman Empire, but withdrew. But that the Allamani came into what was the territory of Western Rome and set up the nation which eventually became Germany. Well, as I say I don t know which one you are for, but do you know that feelings at Minneapolis were such that some people, as they met others, would say, Are you a Hun or an Allamani? In other words, Which one of these do you stand for? It s very unfortunate that the great subjects of righteousness by faith, justification, and the relation of the law and the gospel, should have been put in the same bundle, mixed in the same pot as some little thing like that. And here is the sad thing. Because of the controversy on some subjects like that, it prejudiced some minds against the men that were teaching this message of righteousness by faith. I wonder if that could be a lesson to us, friends? I wonder if it could? I wonder if it might be well for us to distinguish between the trivial and the important? And I wonder also, if it might be a good thing for us to be careful not to press minor issues, and thereby prejudice our hearers when we come to present major points? I think that s one of the great lessons coming down from the Minneapolis meeting, one of the great lessons. As we shall see, Sister White was careful to show that she appreciated the message and the work of Jones and Waggoner. If you will turn in your book, Testimonies to Ministers, page 91, you will find a message written in This is seven years after the Minneapolis meeting: The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones Testimonies to Ministers, page 91. Παγε 6 οφ 12

7 You d think that would settle a lot of things, wouldn t you? You d think it would have settled many things back there. But you remember in the last three lessons that we ve had, that only a few years before this, in Battle Creek, there had been a crisis in our educational work. And you will remember that certain leaders had taken the position that when Sister White championed Bell in that college crisis, she was merely giving her own opinion. And they did not accept it as a testimony. I am sorry to tell you that some of the same people who were on the wrong side in 1881 and 1882, were on the wrong side in 1888 and thereafter. And I think it s more than a coincidence, my friends. I think the failure to accept fully the light that came in 1881 and 1882 prepared the way for the rejection of God s message, by some, as it came in That is one of the reasons why I studied with you in the last three lessons, as much as we did, and why I want to urge you to keep studying those first 100 pages in Volume 5. If the first 100 pages in volume 5 had been different, I mean if the things they described had been different, I am of the opinion that we could have come up as a people to the 1888 message and received it wholeheartedly and unitedly, and probably been in the kingdom before now. But now, coming back to this statement in Testimonies to Ministers: 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 presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made 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, 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 given to the world. It is the third angel s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure Testimonies to Ministers, page 91. Thus did the Lord s messenger take her stand in a strong way, by the side of these two men. And you notice that she takes this message that they were presenting, of righteousness by faith, and says that this is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel s message. The interesting thing is that those who opposed the message at Minneapolis and thereafter, very seldom said anything that sounded like they didn t believe that a man is justified by faith. Rather, they took this position, and they were doubtless good men that did it, in the first place, they said these men are talking about this subject as though it were something new and wonderful. Seventh-day Adventists have always believed in righteousness by faith. That was part of the rebuttal. The other part was this. They feared that so much emphasis on righteousness by faith would lead away from interest in the specific doctrines of this Παγε 7 οφ 12

8 message, such as the Sabbath and the binding claims of the law. They felt, and I am sure some of them were sincere, that to make good Seventh-day Adventists, you had to preach the second coming, the non-immortality of the soul, the seventh-day Sabbath, the binding claims of the law. And you do, don t you? Yes. And so there was controversy back and forth there at Minneapolis, public and private. And that went on day after day. Sad to say, there were sometimes outbursts of a spirit on both sides that didn t show the spirit of Jesus. Sister White, in vision, heard workers and ministers talking in their rooms and ridiculing Jones and Waggoner, and even talking against Sister White because she was trying to encourage the people to listen to their presentation. That went on right there at the conference, right in the rooms where people were staying, and the prophet of God heard it all in vision. But on the other hand, Jones sometimes engaged in remarks that were not helpful. For example, Spaulding tells here of an experience that happened here at this General Conference, where Uriah Smith was speaking on the ten horns, and Jones answered him. Spaulding says: Jones was aggressive and at times obstreperous, and he gave just cause for resentment. Yet most of his hearers could forgive occasional crudities in view of his evident sincerity and his forceful presentation. Not so with some of the older ministers. Uriah Smith was a modest man, unobtrusive, retiring. He always preferred an obscure seat to the limelight, yet his ability had kept him in the front ranks of the church s theologians, and his lovable qualities made him friends from high to low Arthur Spaulding, Captains of the Host. In the appendix, Spaulding tells of an experience, and this is a sad experience. But I want to bring it in to show you, friends, that the faults in this way of criticism and human attitudes were not all on one side. Page 690, Spaulding is quoting from a minister who was present at the convention, the conference: Elders Uriah Smith and A. T. Jones were discussing some features in connection with the ten kingdoms into which Western Rome was divided. One day Elder Smith, in his characteristic modesty stated that he did not claim originality for the view he held on the subject, that he had taken statements from such men as Clark, Barnes, Scott, and other men, and drawn his conclusions from such authorities. In opening his reply, Elder Jones in his characteristic style began by saying, Elder Smith has told you that he does not know anything about this matter. I do, and I don t want you to Παγε 8 οφ 12

9 blame me for what he does not know. This rash statement called forth an open rebuke from Sister White who was present in the meeting Arthur Spaulding, Captains of the Host, page 690. I bring that in to show two very important things. One is that although Sister White endorsed the great message that Jones and Waggoner were giving on righteousness by faith, she was free to rebuke Jones for not showing the spirit of the Master on this particular occasion. And thus, you will see from that, that just because (and this is so important) just because Sister White encouraged Jones and Waggoner, and rebuked those who criticized them and fought them, that doesn t mean that every word they ever said, and everything they ever wrote, should be cherished as pearls of truth. It doesn t mean anything of the kind, my friends. In fact, right at the Minneapolis meeting, Sister White publicly told the delegates that she was not convinced on everything that Waggoner taught at that conference. She said that. We have her writing on it. But she did endorse and sponsor the strong emphasis on righteousness by faith. However, Jones presentation on this, sometimes called for earnest remonstrance from her. Take, please, your book, Selected Messages, Book 1 and turn to page 377. I want you to give earnest study to this chapter. As you will note it s written from New Zealand in 1893, five years after the Minneapolis meeting. This is running ahead of our story a little just now, but I want you to get this, because it bears upon the Minneapolis meeting itself. The point we are making is that while Sister White encouraged these men and endorsed their great message on righteousness by faith, she didn t endorse everything they said or the way they said it. This, you will notice, is addressed to Brother A. T. Jones: I was attending a meeting, and a large congregation were present. 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, and would not receive the correct impression in reference to faith and works, and I decided to write to you. You state this matter too strongly Selected Messages, Book 1, page 377. Then, if it were possible for us to gather up everything that Jones said and wrote on this subject, would we have an infallible presentation of it? Why, no. If we had the sermon he preached that day we would have something where the messenger of the Lord said he stated something what? Too strongly on this matter of faith and works. Now, another point that I want to raise is this; and this should give us all courage. God uses men that are willing to be used, even though sometimes they may state some things too strongly, and may be crude and even rude, as Jones was, on occasion. That should encourage us all to do the best we can to speak for Jesus and help others to know Him. Is that right? Παγε 9 οφ 12

10 But, oh, friends, it should also help us to realize that God wants us to improve. And if He blesses us as He blessed those men, if He should pour out His Spirit in such a wonderful way as He did there, ah, if we should take it in any measure, as endorsing our crudeness and rudeness and our stating things too strongly, we would only be getting ready to make shipwreck of things. Another point that I want to give, and here again I am running ahead of my story, but you need it for the setting. Do you know that both Jones and Waggoner died outside the Seventhday Adventist church? Isn t that a sad thing? As early as 1892, when they were in the height of their work, Sister White said that these men might fall somewhere along the line, and that if they did, that opponents would try to make capital of it, but that it would in no wise prove that their message was wrong. But nevertheless, they both made shipwreck of faith. Friends, as I have studied the lives of these two men, Jones and Waggoner, I have thought of this lesson that should come to all of us. We must not only go as far as they went, but we must go farther. We must succeed where they failed. We must learn the lessons that they failed to learn. God help us to do it, what do you say? That s one of the great reasons I am studying this subject with you in this class, that we may discern something of the road over which they traveled. Because remember: We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, page 196. Very well, now, going back to this in Testimonies to Ministers. I called your attention to this wonderful statement which is a fine summing up of the message of righteousness by faith as it was presented in 1888 there on pages 91 and 92. Who was it that gave that message through Jones and Waggoner? God was giving it. That doesn t mean they were infallible. I have gone over the points that prove they weren t infallible. They were poor, weak men. They lacked, particularly Jones, in being always courteous. Waggoner was more educated, cultured, and nicer in his manner, but Jones gave offense at time. Yet God was using him. God rebuked the men who opposed and criticized Jones and Waggoner, and yet He took pains to try to correct Jones and Waggoner, too. Now, notice as stated on page 92, one of the great reasons that God permitted this light to come in 1888 at Minneapolis, and what God intended to bring it into, in this movement. In the next paragraph there in the middle of 92, it pictures beautifully the uplifted Saviour as the Lamb slain, sitting upon His throne to dispense the priceless covenant blessings. It presents Christ pleading for His church in the heavenly courts above. And then the closing sentence says: The message of the gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear and distinct lines, that the world should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, but do not teach or believe Christ Testimonies to Ministers, page 92. What is implied in this statement? Apparently in that time before 1888, at least the time Παγε 10 οφ 12

11 immediately preceding, the world had been saying that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, and the law, and do not teach or believe Christ, hadn t they? Must have been. And would you gather from this, that the prophet of God thought that there had been some cause for them to talk that way? Yes. But was something being sent from God to change that situation? That was the message of righteousness by faith brought by Jones and Waggoner. And yet, against those men and their message was rallied strong opposition because they were afraid that the law was going to be knocked out of place by this new teaching or this new emphasis. But this says: The message of the gospel of His grace was to be given to the church in clear and distinct lines, that the world should no longer say that Seventh-day Adventists talk the law, the law, but do not teach or believe Christ Testimonies to Ministers, page 92. Another phase of this, that we may appreciate the conference of 1888, you will find in this book, Selected Messages, book 1, beginning on page 350. I bring this in to establish this point that the great thing which brought our people to give new emphasis to this subject was the messages that came through the Spirit of Prophecy preceding This is a good sample of it. This, you see, is the subject presented in what year? 1883 and this is five years before that. This is the message that Sister White, herself, gave to all the ministers at the General Conference in And I want you to study this little chapter. It s not long. It s a morning talk she gave at an early morning meeting and it is one of the most beautiful messages on righteousness by faith that I have ever read anywhere. And remember, it s five years before the Minneapolis meeting. We need to be thoroughly disabused of the idea, some of our critics push it pretty hard, that Seventh-day Adventists went along for over forty years without knowing anything about righteousness by faith. Don t let anybody tell you that. At least don t believe it. And this chapter will help you see that God left His people precious messages on this point all along. The sad thing is that few received them and appreciated them as they should, but the message was there all the while. Now, another thing that I want to present in this opening study, you will find over here in Book 2 of Selected Messages, page 225. It is a sad thing to record that such leaders as Elder George I. Butler, who had been president of the General Conference, Elder Uriah Smith, who was the editor of the Review and one of our leading workers, and others, opposed Jones and Waggoner, and for a time stood on the wrong side of this. Spaulding has brought it right out in the open in this book, Captains of the host, so it is no secret. But I want you to notice this beautiful statement of Sister White s, written in 1902: I feel very tender toward Elder Smith. My life interest in the publishing work is bound up with his.... How I rejoice as I read his articles in the Review - so excellent, so full of spiritual truth. I thank God for them. I feel a strong sympathy for Elder Smith, and I believe that his name should always appear in the Review as the name of the leading editor. Thus God would have it. Παγε 11 οφ 12

12 When, some years ago, his name was placed second, I felt hurt Selected Messages, Book 2, page 225. In 1897, A. T. Jones was put in as the leading editor of the Review. Sister White was over in Australia at the time. When it was again placed first, I wept, and said, Thank God Selected Messages, Book 2, page 225. So, you can see that Sister White, you might say, as a dear mother, was trying to put her hands on all the different people in the different elements, and draw them together into unity, rather than encouraging taking sides and fighting and opposing. I thank the Lord that Uriah Smith, during the 1890s got a different attitude on the matter, and a number of the men who opposed the message in 1888, made earnest and heartfelt confessions, but of that we shall learn more in future lessons. This concludes our study for tonight. I want you to read carefully the chapters from which we have read excerpts tonight - in Selected Messages, Book 1 and this one in Testimonies to Ministers. If you have the book Christ our Righteousness by Elder A. T. Daniels, it would be well for you, especially any of you that have extra time and that can read a little faster, to begin right at the beginning of that little book and read right though it. It will be well worth your time in connection with the study of this subject. If you have Spaulding s book, read the chapter on The Lord Our Saviour. Remember, Friday night I am going to give at our vesper, a practical study on Righteousness by Faith, as it relates to our personal experience, and I think that you will appreciate it in connection with the lesson we have had tonight and the lesson we will have next week. Shall we stand. Our Father, as we look back on that meeting in Minneapolis, oh we pray that Thou wilt help us to discern the issues of the present as a few discerned the issues back there. Keep us, Lord, from becoming debaters, argumentative. Keep us from judging the Spirit of God. Make us willing to accept truth through whatever channels Thou mayest choose to send it. Help us not to become bigoted, if God blesses us a little. In all these experiences give us the great yearning, longing of Jesus for a united church, a perfected people, a triumphant movement. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Παγε 12 οφ 12