Book: General Conference Committee, A Statement Refuting Charges Made by A. T. Jones Against the Spirit of Prophecy and the Plan of Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination (Washington, DC: General Conference Committee, 1906). HTML, Scan.
Contents: Refutes charges made by A. T. Jones after he had united with J. H. Kellogg in undermining the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Chapter 12: Location of the General Conference of 1903
Elder Jones claims that not only the General Conference Committee is free to disregard the Testimonies, but that Sister White also disregards them. He endeavors to show that they contain such contradictions and mistakes that they are rendered unreliable, and can not be followed; and as evidence he gives the following statement regarding the location of the General Conference of 1903:—
“The General Conference was to be held in California in 1903. I was then president of the California Conference. We spent much time in considering and deciding the question as to the place where the Conference should be held Sacramento, Fresno, Oakland, Healdsburg. It was finally decided that it should be held in Oakland. After that there came to the a written communication from Sister, White, saying that if the Healdsburg church would entertain the delegation, Healdsburg was the better place than,Oakland to hold the Conference; and that this would be according to the light to get out of the cities to the quiet of the country. The matter was presented to the Healdsburg church. They gladly agreed to entertain the delegation, and began immediately to arrange for the holding of the Conference there; and the arrangements for and by Oakland were dropped. But not long afterward we learned that Sister White had given directions to prepare for her a house in Oakland during the Conference. We at Healdsburg could not believe it. Not long afterward I went from Healdsburg to the St. Helena Sanitarium, and the-re I learned that it was true concerning the getting ready of a house in Oakland for her during the coming General Conference. Then I had several of the Oakland brethren to come up to St. Helena Sanitarium to consider the matter, with Sister White present. Without any other writing it was very readily decided [p. 57] that the General Conference should be in Oakland; and the Healdsburg church, their committees and other arrangements, and the writing that said that the Conference should be held there as ‘in harmony with the light,’ etc. were all just as readily ignored. The matter of where the Conference should be held was nothing to me personally; and I let it all go without any further discussion, except that I said to W. C. White shortly afterward, ‘Will, what does this mean? I have supposed that when a thing was written and sent out, it was final and was to be accepted and followed. And now here is this writing saying what it does, but counted as nothing. Was that thing true when it was sent to me at Healdsburg?’ His answer was, ‘It depends on the information that she had.’ Before this I knew by many experiences with him that he cared nothing for a communication from that source after it was written and sent out, if it did not meet his mind; but I never did know before that the thing went back to the very source itself, and made the trustworthiness of the communication to depend ‘on the information that she had.’
“Now to you I say, What was that communication that was sent to me? The place of holding the Conference had already been decided to be Oakland. And to the ignoring of this communication, even by herself, the Conference was held in Oakland. Then what was the good of that communication, and what was the purpose of it, sent to me? In recognition of it the Oakland arrangements were thrown over, and Healdsburg arrangements were entered upon; then in the ignoring of it, Healdsburg arrangements were thrown over, and the Oakland arrangements, after having been so disconcerted, were all gathered up again and carried forward. Could we not all have done better than that without having that communication at all? If it had not come at all, we should have all gone on quietly and steadily with the arrangements for Oakland, and the Conference would have been held in Oakland, just where it was held anyhow. What then was that communication? [p. 58] Was it a Testimony, or was it not? If it was, then why was it disregarded by her? If it was not, then why was it sent to me, only to create unnecessary confusion; or why was it written at all?”
The above positive and unqualified assertions certainly place the Testimonies, W. C. White, and Sister White herself, in a very unfavorable light. Are these statements true? The best and most satisfactory answer that can be made is the communication itself to which reference is made. A careful comparison of the communication with what Elder Jones says, will show that he has made the following incorrect representations:—
1. It is not true, as his statement represents, that the initiative in the proposal to change the place of holding the Conference from Oakland to Healdsburg was taken by Sister White; for her letter shows conclusively that before she wrote Elder Jones, the Healdsburg church had considered the matter, had decided to furnish free entertainment, and had communicated their action and desire to Sister White.
2. Sister White did not claim to have special instruction from the Lord that the General Conference should be held in Healdsburg; neither did she say that it should be held there. Therefore it is not true that she “readily ignored” what she had written.
3. The brethren asked if she had any “preference to express.” Having stated how she would feel personally about the matter, providing the Healdsburg church would furnish free entertainment, she said, “I desire my personal preferences to have no special influence in determining where the Conference shall be held.” Instead of saying where it should be held, she plainly expressed the desire that her personal preference should have “no special influence” in deciding the question, and left the matter wholly with the brethren.
All this is made plain by the following communication to which Elder Jones refers:—
[p. 59]
“‘Elmshaven,’ Sanitarium, California,
“January 27, 1903.
“Alonzo T. Jones, C. H. Jones, and M. C. Wilcox,
“My dear brethren in positions of trust,—
“I received your letter this morning, and will respond at once.
“Brother Harper came to St. Helena last week especially to lay before me the question of the location of the General Conference soon to be held. He told me that the brethren and sisters of the Healdsburg church offered to entertain the delegates free of cost, if the General Conference Would be held there. He asked if I had any preference to express.. I told him that if the Healdsburg church proposed to entertain the delegates free, the Conference would be held at Healdsburg, if I had any voice in deciding the matter; for to hold it there would be much more in accordance with the light given to leave the cities as much as possible, than holding it in Oakland would be.
“I thought that if the brethren and sisters at Healdsburg would do what I was told they were so desirous of doing, to hold the Conference there would be much more desirable than to hold it in Oakland at this time of the year. I knew that accommodations f in Oakland for entertaining so large a company were very limited, and expensive.
“I desire my personal preferences to have no special influence in determining where the Conference shall be held; for unless especially convinced by the Spirit of the Lord that it is my duty to be present, I will not attend, no matter where the meeting may be held. If I knew that I should have to attend the Conference, might express my preference for Healdsburg as the location; for I could drive over, and have my horse and carriage there to use at any time, and to return when necessary.
“(Signed) Ellen G. White.”
[p. 60]
The glaring discrepancies which appear in this instance between what the Testimonies really say and what Elder Jones says they say, are to be seen in all his arguments that follow. He tells us that he has changed his belief respecting the Testimonies; that he can not believe them now as he once did, and cites as a reason certain Testimonies which he claims contain plain contradictions. But, when these very Testimonies themselves are produced in which the alleged contradictions occur, no such contradictions appear. We invite particular attention to this fact as we examine each of the charges which he prefers against the Testimonies. One of two things is certainly true; either Elder Jones has quoted from memory, or he has knowingly perverted the plain statements of the Testimonies. He can impale himself on either horn of this dilemma he chooses. For ourselves we are loth to believe that he knowingly perverted them. And the seriousness, in this instance, of misquoting, even unintentionally, leads us to admonish him to study the following advice which he gave the Sanitarium family in an address delivered February 4, 1906. He said:—
“Let me give you a little practise lesson. Just watch, and practise on yourself, and see how downright hard it is to tell a thing exactly as you hear it. . . . Just take that for a task, brethren, and practise trying to tell, not to other people, but to yourself, just the words that were said. When you get it so that you can do it exactly, by that time you will have enough practise that you will not try to do it at all.”
He will never be able to find in the Testimonies some of the things he says are there. Are we as a people going to abandon our confidence in the Testimonies on the mere assertions and quotations from memory of those who are opposing them?
There is one very noticeable difference in Elder Jones’s style of writing in this leaflet from his style in the past. Formerly he was very particular and exact in making quotations [p. 61] of the words and writings of others, as well as in giving the references to them. In his present effort to prove that the Testimonies are unreliable he has departed widely from this custom, and manifested an inexcusable recklessness.
In dealing with this most important question, he asserts, in a general way, that the Testimonies say certain things; often we are not told where. The most meager quotations are given, and few references cited. In the foregoing instance he made one effort to give a quotation from the Testimony, enclosing five words in quotation marks. But on examination, these five words are found to be incorrectly quoted, as will be seen by reading the communication itself. In his present open attack upon the Testimonies, he clearly proves the truthfulness of one given August I, 1904, which says: “Our Counselor then laid his hands on the shoulders of Elders A. T. Jones and and said, ‘You are confused. You are in the mist and fog. You have need of the heavenly anointing.’”
As further evidence of the true position Sister White held regarding this question, we give the following statement which she sent to the President of the General Conference:—
“‘Elmshaven,’ Sanitarium, California,
“January 23, 1903.
“Elder A. G. Daniells,
“Washington, D. C.
“Dear Brother,—
“Yesterday the question as to where the General Conference should be held was brought before me, and an urgent petition was made that it be held in Healdsburg. The Healdsburg church say that they will entertain the delegates free of charge, and they are very anxious that the meeting be held there. I did not know until recently that they thought they would be able to entertain the [p. 62] delegates; but they say they can do this, and they wish me to use my influence to have the meeting held there.
“Seeing that the church is willing to entertain the delegates free of charge, would it not be better to hold the Conference in Healdsburg instead of in Oakland? The meeting will not be as large as the last General Conference, and I think that perhaps Healdsburg would be a more favorable place than Oakland. But I merely present the earnest petition of the Healdsburg church, as I was requested to tell you of their great desire that the meeting be held in that place.
“For myself, I have little to say about where the Conference should be held; for it is a question with me whether I shall attend at all. I have been and I am still carrying very heavy burdens, and I want no more. My soul is sick and discouraged at the outlook.
“I will say no more. Only I can not see why, since Healdsburg pleads so hard for the Conference, it can not be held there. I know that it would be very difficult to find accommodation for all the delegates in Oakland; for every nook and corner seems to be filled.
“Please understand that, in referring to this matter, I am speaking for others, not for myself; for I do not expect to attend the Conference.
“(Signed) Ellen G. White.”