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 19: Conclusion
We have reached the time when the cup of the world’s iniquity is almost full. Nations are making their last moves on the world’s chess-board, preparatory to their final plunge into the lake of fire. The cloud of doom overshadows the world, and the seven last plagues are impending. On every hand distress and perplexity are increasing in the earth. Earthquakes and fires are sweeping populous cities with the besom of destruction, and the loftiest works of proud, ambitious men are being laid in ruins. Calamities, hitherto unknown for their severity, are speaking to the quaking hearts of humanity concerning the final consummation of all things. At such an hour as this, and with the last message men will ever hear, to carry to the world,—a message which gives the only explanation of the tremendous events transpiring around us,—we felt that we had neither the time, the strength, nor the disposition to pause in the midst of our work to engage in this sort of controversy. Had we not felt that the exigencies of the case demanded it, we would have held our peace.
This attack against our work comes from one who in the past has exerted an influence in our midst, and now holds credentials from the denomination. To have allowed his misleading statements, glaring inaccuracies, and false charges to pass unchallenged might have been misunderstood by some. Besides this, his extravagant assumptions are put forth in such a way that those not familiar with the facts might be unsettled and confused were they not refuted. That the mask might be removed, the truth fully, [p. 93] vindicated, and confiding souls saved from being deceived, is our sole object in sending out this review.
Considerable attention has been given to a consideration of the indictment which Elder Jones has brought against our organized work. Without proof, he puts forth charges of the most damaging character. We urge that what is here presented concerning our denominational organization be carefully studied by all our people. Champions of disorganization have been with us more or less from the beginning, and have improved every opportunity to sow the baneful seeds of disunion and disintegration. It seems to be a choice weapon of apostasy to criticize and seek to pull down all properly constituted organization. Lucifer began his terrible work in the heavenly courts by assailing the organization and administrative affairs of the government of heaven. He charged that a tyranny had been enthroned. The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram was of a similar character. But proper steps to maintain system and order are at all times pleasing to the Lord. Special efforts have been made during the last few years to develop and perfect our organization, and the Lord has greatly blessed in this. As the message increases; and reaches out to every part of the world, we shall doubtless find it necessary to still fur!her adjust and strengthen our plan of organization.
The evidence herewith presented against the charges preferred is invulnerable. We have not produced hearsay evidence, nor trusted to the “best of our memory.” But in refutation of the things set forth in the leaflet under review to show the unreliability of the Testimonies, we have gone to the files of the author, and secured the original copies of the Testimonies which are questioned. These Testimonies stand before us as mute, yet unimpeachable witnesses against the assumptions made, showing that they do not contain the contradictory statements and inaccuracies with which are claimed to be found in them. It is upon the sure foundation of the Testimonies [p. 94] themselves that we have built our argument concerning their integrity.
And, while deeply regretting the need of refuting the charges sent forth by Elder Jones, in comparing and analyzing the Testimonies questioned, our faith and confidence in the divine source of these messages have been greatly strengthened, and we feel sure that the perusal of the evidence of their reliability here presented will also greatly strengthen the faith of our people in the spirit of prophecy.
Concerning those who sow the seeds of doubt regarding the Testimonies we have been instructed as follows: “If you seek to turn aside the counsel of God to suit yourselves; if you lessen the confidence of God’s people in the Testimonies he has sent them, you are rebelling against God as certainly as were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
We are truly living in the shaking time. “In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.” As champions forsake the ranks, and standard bearers permit the colors to trail in the dust; when defenders of the faith are few, then strong, courageous hearts must come to the front. “At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.”
A ship floating on the broad bosom of the ocean far from the harbor may deviate from her course without special danger. She may even “run before the storm” for a time with comparative safety. But it is vastly different when nearing port. Then the slightest divergence from her course is disastrous. She must face the storm and breakers at all hazards, or be wrecked on the rocks.
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So with us; we are nearing the end. The weary pilgrim so long rocked on the restless wave can discern in the distance the haven of rest. Our vessel is nearing the port, and it is a time of special peril to every soul. A very little deviation now from the course prescribed may mean destruction to the soul who thus wavers.
In conclusion, may we not express the hope that Elder Jones, for whom we entertain only the most friendly feelings, may himself see the error into which he has fallen, and again place his feet upon the solid rock of truth, and take his stand with the people of God to battle for the right, and triumph with them in the soon-coming kingdom.
And now, brethren, we “commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
General Conference Committee.
Note.— In closing the letter to me which Elder Jones has published in the leaflet we have reviewed, he states that he has no desire nor purpose to make the letter public; and that if it, or any parts of it, should get out, I would be the one who would let it out. He further states that my course may cause him to publish it as an “Open Letter” to me and to “all the people.” After reading the letter I decided not to make it public in any way, and held to my purpose until after Elder Jones himself made it public. Sunday night, March 4, 1906, he read the most of the letter to a large congregation in the Battle Creek Sanitarium chapel. A report of that meeting was printed in one of the Battle Creek daily papers, and that report gave the leading points of his letter. So it was Elder Jones, and not myself, who first made the letter public, both to our people and to the world.
A. G. D.
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“Generality is the cloak of fiction,
While minuteness is the mantle of truth.”