Light BearersAR qf to the Remnant Light Bearers to the Remnant Denominational History Textbook for Seventh-day Adventist College Classes by R. W. Schwarz Prepared by the Depai iment of Education General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Mountain. View, California Omaha, Nebraska Oshawa, Ontario 1919 Copyright © 1979 by Pacific Press Publishing Association Litho in United States of America All Rights Reserved Design by Ichiro Nakashima Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 78-70730 FOREWORD Seventh-day Adventists must never forget the precious heritage that is ours. The message we refer to affectionately as the "Three Angels' Mes- sages," or simply as "the truth," has come to us as a legacy of long hours and days of prayer and study by men and women of God. The organization of our church is not the result of happenstance—God used men and women of commitment and ability to design the church structure that has served so effectively through the years. Light bearers these men and women were, indeed. They were God-led, God-blessed light bearers— light bearers who bore the torch gloriously through the years. We pause a moment to honor their memory—to pay tribute to all who were used of God to accomplish so much for the cause of present truth. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not in the world today only as another ecclesiastical organization. The advent movement was heaven- born. It has been heaven-blessed through the decades of its existence and, thank God, it is heaven-bound. The message that has made us a people is a Christ-centered, Bible-based message. Every doctrine rightly lifts up Jesus as the world's great Lover and Redeemer. Our early pioneers, under divine guidance, founded this church upon the solid Rock. As a result, it has grown and it reaches out to most parts of planet Earth—from one country to 192 during the lifetime of Seventh-day Adventists now living (1979). Strong institutions ministering to the spiritual, physical, and intel- lectual needs of Adventists and non-Adventists have been established and continue to prosper. The advent message goes with power over the airways, from the public platform, through the medium of the printed page, and through the effective witness of personal ministry. It is well that the youth of the advent movement read and hear in the classroom and out of the classroom the story of the triumph of God's love, that they may absorb a sense of their heritage in Christ Jesus and in His last-church laborers. Always we need to keep in mind that "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, p. 196. Robert H. Pierson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists I PREFACE When Edward Gibbon began his "candid but rational inquiry into the progress and establishment of Christianity," he posed the question as to how its "remarkable" victory over the prevailing religious systems of the day could be explained. With tongue in cheek Gibbon made ironic obei- sance to the "obvious but satisfactory answer" that this was due "to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author."' Then followed over fifty pages devoted to explaining the rise of the Christian church solely in the light of the social, intellec- tual, and political currents of the first centuries after Christ. In spite of his skeptic's orientation Gibbon had a point. It seems easier for historians to explain the past on the basis of tangible events: the interaction of men, institutions, economic forces, social groups, even the intellectual "climate," than to discover "behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the coun- sels of His own will."2 Trained to be critical, to prefer several eyewitnesses and documents produced by impartial, competent observers close to an event, the histo- rian reaches for certainty about the past in terms of things he knows, things that can be seen, heard, and read. He may be confident, as was the ancient prophet Daniel, that the God of heaven "changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings" (Dan. 2:21). He may, with Nebuchadnezzar, be certain that the Most High "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth" (Dan. 4:35). Yet to inject this all-powerful God into his interpretation of past events requires an act of faith in the Unseen and seemingly Intangi- ble which runs counter to his training as a historian. It is frequently more comfortable to follow Gibbonian reason and package an explanation of the past in terms of "the will and prowess of man. his power, ambition, or caprice."3 Faced with this dilemma, the Seventh-day Adventist historian must frankly recognize that he is not only a historian, he is also a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. As he approaches the past, and particularly the past of his own church, he does so in this dual role—and finds that it is not always easy to keep the two roles separate. Many things he will find easy to explain in terms of human passions, social forces, and psychological "insights." Yet he must also be conscious that his theological beliefs color his selection and interpretation of facts. These beliefs provide, in essence, the "glasses" through which he views the past. In the following interpretation of the origins, development, and spread of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a conscious effort has been made to heed Leopold von Ranke's famous injunction to "tell it as it actually happened.- Yet there has been the constant realization that to do so would require much more information and insight than is available. At the same time the writer has tried to heed the warning of an outstanding European church historian. "Men are so much in love with their own opinions," wrote Fra Paolo Sarpi, "that they persuade themselves that God favors them as much as they do themselves."4 While attempting to portray the rise and development of Seventh-day Adventists as accurately as possible, this account also seeks to avoid a dogmatic interpretation of events as occurring "because God ordained them so." This should not be taken to mean that there are not many aspects of Seventh-day Adventist history which can be fully understood only in the light of the great controversy which continues to rage between Christ and Satan. To the Seventh-day Adventist historian the existence of that controversy provides the real key to a true understanding of all history, including that of his own church. The student is challenged to keep this continuing conflict constantly in mind and thus to develop his own in- sights into the divine leadings in our past history. 1. E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 5 vols. (1900), I: 507, 508. 2. E. G. White, Education (1952), p. 173. 3. Ibid. 4. Quoted in P. Burke, ed., Serpi (1967), p. xxxii. CONTENTS Foreword Preface FIRST SECTION 1. The World in Which Adventism Began 13 2. The Great Advent Awakening 24 3. The Millerite Movement, 1839-1844 37 4. After the Disappointment 53 5. Using the Printed Page 72 6. Organizational Birth Pangs 86 SECOND SECTION 7. Becoming Health Reformers 104 8. Starting an Educational System 118 9. Worldwide Outreach, 1868-1885 134 10. Organizational Developments, 1864-1887 151 11. Doctrinal Developments, 1849-1888 166 12. Righteousness by Faith: Minneapolis and Its Aftermath 183 THIRD SECTION 13. The Expansion of Institutions, 1877-1900 198 14. Mission Advance, 1887-1900 214 15. Entering a Neglected Field 233 16. Troubles Within and Without 250 17. The Reorganization Movement, 1888-1903 267 FOURTH SECTION 18. The Kellogg Crisis, 1901-1907 282 19. The Dispersion From Battle Creek 299 20. New Institutions, New Challenges 314 21. Giving the Trumpet "A Certain Sound" 333 22. Into All the World 354 23. Organizational Refinements 373 24. Debates Over Nonessentials 393 25. The Final Years of Ellen White 408 26. Two World Wars Affect a World Church 424 FIFTH SECTION 27. Dissident Movements 445 28. Bright Lights Flicker and Fade 462 29. Developing a Professional Ministry 481 30. Meeting Financial Pressures 497 31. The Church Confronts the Secular World 512 32. Relationships With Other Christians 531 33. The Expanding Role of Laymen 547 34. The Rise of Indigenous and Ethnic Leadership 564 35. Dramatic Breakthroughs in Evangelism 579 36. Impact of the Health Message 598 37. Still a Bible-oriented Church 615 38. What of the Future? 628 Chronological Data 630 Again and again I have been shown that the past experiences of God's people are not to be counted as dead facts. We are not to treat the record of these experiences as we would treat last year's almanac. The record is to be kept in mind; for history will repeat itself. The darkness of the mysteries of the night is to be illuminated with the light of heaven. E. G. White to A. G. Daniells November 1, 1903 (MS Release #346) In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels' messages.