The Return of the Latter Rain

The Religious Liberty Crisis in America and in the Church

Upon returning to Battle Creek, Ellen White learned of the many reports that had been brought back from Minneapolis leading the people to believe that “‘Sister White must be a changed woman’” and that her testimony had “‘changed in its character.’” Speaking to the people in a meeting at Battle Creek, she was given opportunity to make her “position plain, but not a word of response came from the men who should have stood with [her]. … Not one ventured to say, ‘I am with you, Sister White. I will stand by you.’” Although “several shook hands” with her following the meeting and were relieved to hear “the truth of the matter,” there were “quite a number who held fast their evil surmisings and clung to the distorted representations made. … It seemed to be their preference to believe the false reports.” After an absence from Battle Creek, Ellen White would customarily speak at the Tabernacle on her first Sabbath back in town. This she was invited to do, but because “the impressions were so strong” that she had changed, two church elders, brothers Amadon and Sisley, came on Sabbath morning inquiring as to what she planned to speak upon. Ellen White well understood the intent of the question and rebuked the elders, asking as well that A. T. Jones be given a chance to speak “the message given him of God”:

“Brethren, you leave that matter with the Lord and Sister White, for neither the Lord nor Sister White will need to be dictated to by the brethren as to what subject she will bring before them. I am at home in Battle Creek … and we ask not permission to take the desk in the tabernacle. I take it as my rightful position accorded me of God. But there is Brother Jones, who cannot feel as I do, and who will wait an invitation from you. You should do your duty in regard to this matter and open the way before him.”

The elders stated they did not feel free to invite him to speak until they had consulted Brother Smith to know whether he would sanction it, for Elder Smith was older than they. I said, “Then do this at once, for time is precious and there is a message to come to this people and the Lord requires you to open the way.”

After nearly a week with no invitation for Jones to speak to the people, Ellen White sent for the elders of the church to ask the reason for the delay. “Prescott, Amadon, and Sicily [sic] brought a united testimony” that brother Smith had “‘decided it would not be best to ask [Jones] because he took strong positions, and carried the subject of national reform too far.’” Smith felt that “Jones was rather extravagant in his expressions, and took an extreme view, and he hardly thought it best to ask him to speak.” Upon hearing their response, Ellen White “felt deeply stirred with indignation at the persistent efforts to close the door to every ray of heaven’s light.” She bore “a very plain testimony” for about fifteen minutes, and it was “pointed and earnest as [she] had ever made in [her] life.” “She told them her mind quite fully about that sort of planning”:

I answered, Well, if Elder Smith takes that position God will surely remove him out of the way, for God has not given him the authority to say what shall come into the tabernacle from our own people and what shall not. But if he holds that position we will secure a hall in the city and the words God has given Bro. Jones to speak the people shall have them.

I told them a little of how matters had been carried [on] at Minneapolis, and stated the position I had taken, that Pharisaism had been at work leavening the camp here at Battle Creek, and the Seventh-day Adventist churches were affected. …

[S]piritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities and privileges. As reformers they had come out of the denominational churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches acted [in 1844]. We hoped that there would not be the necessity for another coming out.

As if trying to keep Jones out of the Tabernacle were not enough, “arrangements were made to shut him out of the school for fear something should come in that would be at variance with what [had] been taught.” In April of 1888, the General Conference Committee had suggested the appointment of A. T. Jones to teach at Battle Creek College, “and although he came East with the expectation of teaching in the College, it looked as though there was to be no place given him.” When the resolution to restrict what could be taught at the College failed to pass at the Minneapolis Conference, the school Board of Trustees, led by Uriah Smith, realized “they had taken no formal action about having A. T. [Jones] teach.” Thus, “they voted to employ U. Smith and F. D. Starr to teach the Biblical course” instead.

Not long after, however, the General Conference Committee suggested that F. D. Starr go to Indiana because they were “in a great straight for a man,” and once again advised the College to “have a talk with Jones” since he had come east by their advice. A special committee of three, made up of G. I. Butler, Uriah Smith, and W. W. Prescott (President of the Battle Creek College), had a “long conference with Eld. Jones,” and what a conference it was. The committee insisted that he assure them “in a very positive manner that if he should be employed to assist in the Lectures he would not knowingly teach any opinions contrary to those which the Board desired to be taught.” What they had failed to pass by resolution at Minneapolis, they now imposed upon Jones directly.

Ellen White was incensed at such actions. A short time later, she asked if all the attempts to keep Jones out of the school and the Tabernacle were “inspired by the Spirit of God?” Her answer: “Certainly there was not the spirit of inspiration upon you from God, but from another source.” This situation led her to muse: “How few comprehend or try to ascertain the mysteries of the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles.”

Religious Liberty

The very large and deeply attentive audiences which have attended these lectures are as indicative of the great interest taken in them by our citizens, as they are complimentary of the able and eloquent manner in which the subject has been presented. Mr. Jones in his third lecture spoke over two hours, holding his audience in breathless attention throughout.

The following week, Jones accompanied Ellen White to Potterville, Michigan, where meetings were held November 22 through 27. Ellen White had been invited by Brother Van Horn and was happy to attend hoping that by her presence the prejudice against Jones and Waggoner would be removed. During the morning meetings “when only our brethren were present,” Ellen White spoke very plainly about the Minneapolis Conference, “stating the light the Lord had been pleased to give [her] in warnings and reproof for His people.” She warned the brethren of the danger of becoming “dwarfs in spiritual things” because they were placing their trust “upon one man”—G. I. Butler. The men were separating themselves from God, by giving homage to human beings. Ellen White also spoke of the atmosphere that had surrounded them by their laughing, jesting, and joking.

A. T. Jones gave three discourses at Potterville similar to the ones presented at Battle Creek, “two of which related to our nation, with the impending issues relating to church and state, and the warning—the third angel’s message— that must be given to our people.” Although I. D. Van Horn reported in the Review that there was “no manifestation of levity or lightness” and that Ellen White’s testimony each day, “evidently dictated by the Spirit of God, added much to the interest and power of the meeting,” her assessment was much different. Speaking in latter rain language, she stated plainly that their course at Minneapolis “was cruelty to the Spirit of God” and “begged them to stop just where they were.” She had hoped that the Potterville meetings would make a difference, “but the position of Elder Butler and Elder Smith influenced them to make no change but stand where they did. No confession was made. The blessed meeting closed. Many were strengthened, but doubt and darkness enveloped some closer than before. The dew and showers of grace from heaven which softened many hearts did not wet their souls.”

Ellen White had a good reason to be concerned. Throughout the 1880s, Sunday legislation and persecution for Sunday law violation had grown in strength and scope, but now, at a time when Seventh-day Adventists should be keenly interested in such topics, many were busy quibbling over doctrines and ignoring the religious liberty issues at stake.

Between 1885 and 1887, nearly twenty Sabbath keepers in Arkansas alone had been charged with Sunday desecration and fined up to $500 each. In 1887, the Prohibition Party and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union sided with the National Reform Association in its drive to establish Sunday laws as a means of improving American morality. In early 1888 the wellknown Roman Catholic Cardinal James Gibbons joined forces with many Protestants in endorsing a petition to Congress on behalf of national Sunday legislation. This Sunday movement peaked on May 21, 1888, when Senator H. W. Blair introduced a bill into the United States Senate to promote the observance of “the Lord’s day … as a day of religious worship.” Only a few days later, Blair submitted a proposal to amend the United States Constitution and Christianize the nation’s public school system. This was the first such legislation to go before Congress since the establishment of the Advent movement in the 1840s.

Amidst these monumental movements, which were seen as fulfillments of Bible prophecy, one of the greatest controversies in the history of the Adventist church had taken place in Minneapolis. There, “the manifestations of the Holy Spirit,” which would prepare a people to stand during such times, “were attributed to fanaticism.” Ellen White had spoken pointedly at the Conference: “Because the ideas of some are not exactly in accordance with their own on every point of doctrine … the great question of the nation’s religious liberty, now involving so much, is to many a matter of little consequence.” Seeing the opposition against Jones and Waggoner as a result of the Minneapolis controversy greatly disturbed Ellen White as well. Because both men were so actively involved in the Church’s religious liberty work, prejudice against them would likely spill over into this important work.

Both Jones and Waggoner were co-editors of the American Sentinel (the Church’s monthly religious liberty magazine that began in 1886), and were presumably the most active and well-versed writers and teachers on the subject. Both men had been asked to read over Ellen White’s new edition of the Great Controversy to “give careful criticism and corrections” before its printing in 1888.

Not only that, but Jones’preaching on the subject received a good response from “prominent citizens” when he presented at the Tabernacle. As the first Adventist to stand before the United States Senate (testifying before the Committee on Education and Labor against the Blair Sunday Bill on December 13, 1888), his efforts were just as praiseworthy. Although Jones was basically self-educated, having never had the opportunity to attend an Adventist school as a student, his defense of freedom of conscience and religious liberty before the Senate was impressive. The arguments he presented were similar to those shared at the Tabernacle, but during the ninety minutes he was allowed to speak, he was interrupted by the Chairman alone (Senator Blair), one hundred and sixty-nine times. Yet the Lord gave Jones words to speak, and the legislation died with the expiration of the fiftieth Congress.

Week of Prayer Revival

A great crisis awaits the people of God. Very soon our nation will attempt to enforce upon all, the observance of the first day of the week as a sacred day. … [T]here must be, among God’s commandment-keeping people, more spirituality and a deeper consecration to God. …

Unless you arise to a higher, holier attitude in your religious life you will not be ready for the appearing of our Lord. … As great light has been given them, God expects proportionate zeal, devotion, and faithfulness upon the part of his people. But there will be proportionate darkness, unbelief, and blindness as the truth is not appreciated and acted upon. …

If our people continue in the listless attitude in which they have been, God cannot pour upon them his Spirit. They are unprepared to cooperate with him. They do not realize the threatened danger, and are not awake to the situation. …

The third angel’s message comprehends more than many suppose. What interpretation do they give to the passage which says an angel descended from heaven, and the earth was lightened with his glory? This is not a time when we can be excused for inactivity. …

The people need to be aroused in regard to the dangers of the present time. The watchmen are asleep. We are years behind.

In a sermon delivered at Battle Creek on December 8, Ellen White pleaded with the people to “get ready for the week of prayer by humbling [their] hearts before God.” She warned that they were “drawing near the close of probation” and there was a great work to do for God. The time had come when the people’s attention was to be called “to the sanctuary in heaven.” She exclaimed that God was “working for his people” that they “would not be left in darkness.” He would have their eyes anointed that they might “discern between the workings of the powers of darkness and the movings of the Spirit of God.”

In an article printed for the Week of Prayer, Ellen White wrote of the coming crisis and told the people plainly: “We have been asleep, and our lamps are going out. … The Laodicean message is applicable to the people of God at this time. They are saying, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’” She warned the brethren of the “grievous sin” of Pharisaism that had come into their midst which was leading them to feel “that we are righteous, and all our acts are meritorious, when we are far from cherishing the right spirit toward God or toward our brethren.” In their resistance to the message brought by Jones and Waggoner, they had been “making a man an offender for a word.”

As the Week of Prayer began, Ellen White tried to arouse the attention of the brethren to what their true feelings were in regard to Jones and Waggoner and their work being done for religious liberty. Regardless of their claims, their actions spoke louder than words. The warnings in the American Sentinel had not influenced the people as they should have, because there had not been a united recommendation by those in leadership positions. As a result, the church was “far behind in making preparations for the work,” and as a result, God’s blessings had “been withdrawn”:

Much might have been done with the Sentinel, if counter-influences had not been at work to hinder it. Even though nothing may be said against it, actions reveal the indifference that is felt in regard to it. …

The Sentinel has been, in God’s order, one of the voices sounding the alarm, that the people might hear, and realize their danger, and do the work required at the present time. … The voice of the True Witness has been heard in reproof, but has not been obeyed. …

Let every worker for God comprehend the situation, and place the Sentinel before our churches, explaining its contents, and urging home the warnings and facts it contains. … Let not unsanctified feelings lead anyone to resist the appeals of the Spirit of God.

The word of God is not silent in regard to this momentous time, and it will be understood by all who do not resist his Spirit. … The Lord’s messages of light have been before us for years, but there have been influences working indirectly to make of no effect the warnings coming through the Sentinel and the “Testimonies,” and through other instrumentalities which the Lord sends to his people. Stand not in the way of this light.

Such appeals, delivered through the pages of the Review, along with messages given during the Week of Prayer, began to produce results. Ellen White, A. T. Jones and J. O. Corliss “labored earnestly, speaking at the sanitarium in the early morning, and at the office chapel … and at the tabernacle.” Jones spoke on the current issue of the religious amendment, but according to Ellen White, the “principal topic dwelt upon was justification by faith, and this truth came as meat in due season upon the people of God. The living oracles of God were presented in new and precious light.” The message given was “not alone the commandments of God—a part of the third angel’s message—but [also] the faith of Jesus, which comprehends more than is generally supposed.” Thus Ellen White could joyfully proclaim: “The truth as it is in Jesus, accompanied by divine energy, has been brought before the people, and we have reason to praise God.”

The message of righteousness by faith was recognized as having greater significance because it was presented in the context of religious liberty and freedom of conscience, the very foundation upon which God’s government is based. The “Holy Spirit” revealed the “deep significance” of these truths as they were related to “new and startling movements in the development of the Religious Amendment to the Constitution.” This gave the meetings “more than usual interest as the application of prophecy was plainly made” to their own time.

The message borne “had a wonderful effect on those that heard it. There were many not of our faith who were deeply stirred with the importance of doing something and doing it now, in the struggle for religious freedom.” Ellen White could candidly proclaim: “God has sent messengers [Jones and Waggoner] who have studied their Bibles to find what is truth, and studied the movements of those who are acting their part in fulfilling prophecy in bringing about the religious amendment. … And shall no voice be raised of direct warning to arouse the churches to their danger?” She saw the time was soon coming when those not of our faith would, as a result of this message, “come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt [His] law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty.”

Because of the interest created by the Week of Prayer meetings, even among visitors and patients at the Sanitarium, meetings held in various locations in Battle Creek, continued for a month. Writing a short time later about the experience, Ellen White expressed joy at the sight of heaven’s light shining upon the people, and the positive results:

Many have sought the Lord with confession of sins and contrition of soul. … Those who have hitherto been almost destitute of faith have discerned its simplicity, and have been enabled to lay hold of the promises of God. … [T]heir faith was directed to Christ, our Righteousness. …

Meetings were held in the College which were intensely interesting. The Spirit of the Lord wrought upon hearts, and there was a precious work done in the conversion of souls. There has been no excitement felt or manifested. The work has been accomplished by the deep movings of the Spirit of God. … As one after another of these students of Battle Creek College, hitherto ignorant of the truth and of the saving grace of God, espoused the cause of Christ, what joy was there in the heavenly courts … and gratitude to God [was] expressed by the workers. …

Meetings were held in the … Sanitarium Hospital. … There were many whose minds had been clouded with doubt, but the light received from the explanation of Scripture encouraged their faith, while the truth was revealed to their minds and hearts in a light in which they had never before seen it. They … realized something of how dishonoring to their Maker was their unbelief. … [W]e deeply regretted that [the meetings] could not have been longer continued. …

Meetings were held with the workers of the publishing house. … Many good testimonies were borne, and it made my heart glad to see those who had been connected with the publishing work for a period of thirty years, rejoice as young converts rejoice in their first love. They expressed their gladness and gratitude of heart for the sermons that had been preached by Bro. A. T. Jones; they saw the truth, goodness, mercy, and love of God as they never before had seen it. They humbled their hearts, confessed their sins, and removed everything that had separated their souls from God, and the Lord had put a new song into their mouth, even praises unto his name. … O, how we long to have every soul come out into the liberty of the sons of God! Will any of these who have tasted of the Bread of Life ever loathe the manna that has been so sweet to their souls at these meetings?

It was thus that the “blessings of that Week of Prayer extended through the church. Confessions were made. Those who had robbed God in tithes and offerings confessed their wrong and made restitution, and many were blessed of God who had never felt that God had forgiven their sins. All these precious fruits evidenced the work of God.” Even some that had so recently been fighting against the messengers God had sent began to recognize their sin. During one of the Week of Prayer meetings, W. W. Prescott arose to give a testimony. He “attempted to speak, but his heart was too full. There he stood five minutes in complete silence, weeping. When he did speak he said, ‘I am glad to be a Christian.’ He made very pointed remarks. His heart seemed to be broken by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Seeing the President of the College in such a state of contrition had an effect on others. Ellen White “invited those who had not accepted the truth, and those who had not the evidence of their acceptance with God, to come forward. It seemed that the whole company were on the move.” That night “many more bore precious testimonies that the Lord had forgiven their sins and given them a new heart. The words of truth spoken by Elder Jones had been blessed to their souls.”

One of the brethren who had been personally present during the Week of Prayer, described Jones’ consecrated labors during the meetings: “Bro. A. T. Jones has been doing most of the preaching. I wish you could have heard some of his sermons. … Some of his sermons are as good, I think, as I ever heard. They are all new too. He is original in his preaching and in his practical preaching seems very tender and deeply feels all he says.” It is no wonder that Ellen White declared: “God … has given these men [Jones and Waggoner] a work to do, and a message to bear which is present truth for this time. … [W]herever this message comes its fruits are good.”

Grieved the Spirit of God

There was precious truth and light presented before the people, but hearts that were obdurate received no blessing. They could not rejoice in the light which, if accepted, would have brought freedom and peace and strength and courage and joy to their souls. … God was at work, but those who had been pursuing a course of their own devising … felt more confirmed and determined to resist. What shall we name this element? It is rebellion, as in the days of Israel. …

The Lord wrought in our midst, but some did not receive the blessing. They had been privileged to hear the most faithful preaching of the gospel, and had listened to the message God had given His servants to give them, with their hearts padlocked. They did not turn unto the Lord … but used all their powers to pick some flaws in the messengers and in the message, and they grieved the Spirit of God. …

A woe is pronounced upon all such unbelief and criticism as was revealed in Minneapolis and as was revealed in Battle Creek. … Evidence at every step that God was at work has not changed the manifest attitude of those who in the very beginning pursued a course of unbelief which was an offense to God. With this barrier they themselves had erected, they—like the Jews— were seeking something to strengthen their unbelief and make it appear they were right. …

Stand out of the way, Brethren. Do not interpose yourselves between God and His work. If you have no burden of the message yourselves, then prepare the way for those who have the burden of the message. …

Satan is doing his utmost to have those who believe present truth deceived … that those who have accepted unpopular truth, who have had great light and great privileges, shall have the spirit that will pervade the world. Even if it is in a less degree, yet it is the same principle that when it has a controlling power over minds, leads to certain results. … The result is the same as with the Jews—fatal hardness of heart.

At the very heart of the work in Battle Creek, there was opposition to heaven-sent light. Instead of the brethren preparing the way for the loud cry and latter rain, they were interposing themselves between God and His work. The very spirit which leads worldly men to pass laws that restrict liberty of conscience, was also active in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Unless something changed, the result would be fatal hardness of heart.

We can be thankful that even though the Spirit of God was grieved at Minneapolis, and at Battle Creek, the Lord did not give up on His church. Unbelief, criticism and resistance were prevalent among the leading brethren, yet the people scattered across the country must have a chance to hear the most precious message. We will take a look at the results of hearing and receiving that message in the next chapters.