p. 6 | Untitled article by Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 22, 1906

A Statement of Facts Concerning Our Present Situation—No. 3

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

It is that which Seventh-day Adventists believe the Bible teaches that makes them a separate and distinct people in the world. The teaching of the Scriptures regarding the sanctuary has brought into one harmonious, consistent, convincing system, the whole range of gospel truth. This is our theology, our philosophy of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. It was this that appealed to the pioneers of this cause, separated them from all other organizations, and inaugurated this world-wide movement which we are carrying forward.

The doctrines we hold not only created our denomination, but our denominational aim, purpose, or policy, as well. This denominational purpose or policy is formed by our views of what the Bible teaches. It is peculiar to our denomination. It differs from the policies of other denominations and organizations as widely as our doctrinal views differ from theirs.

Seventh-day Adventists believe what they teach. They believe it with their whole hearts. They believe, too, in the general denominational policy. They have held to this one great aim from the beginning of their work. While they have adjusted the smaller details of their policy to meet the changing conditions of the growth and enlargement of the cause, they have maintained the same general plan of administration to the present time.

It is very evident that a people holding such pronounced views regarding Bible teaching and plans of administration, could not be easily moved from their positions. And it must be plain to all that any effort to introduce either a teaching or a policy of management that would displace the doctrinal teaching or the general plan of administration, would be met with resistance.

Many efforts have been made during the short history of this denomination to add to, and to take from, the great fundamentals of this cause as they were revealed to, and adopted by, its pioneers. Every such effort has been met with prompt, decided opposition. This has created disturbance and conflict in our ranks. Denominational differences are to be deplored, and every loyal adherent to a good cause deplores them. But intelligent, loyal adherents of a good cause would rather have conflict than to have disaster and ruin come to their cause.

As already pointed out in this series of articles, it has been the steady, persistent effort to bring in, and establish among us, both a teaching and a plan of administration utterly subversive of our cause, that has been primarily responsible for the differences that have existed between the main body and the medical branch. This is not simply the opinion of one party in the conflict: it is the plain, positive, oft-repeated teaching of the spirit of prophecy.

In the first article of this series there were given three primary causes of the differences which have existed in our denomination between the main body and what was its medical branch. The first has been dealt with as fully as space will permit at this time. The second cause specified was this:—

Plans of administration which, if carried out, would make the medical missionary work the body instead of the right arm of this cause, and would give to a central board of management and a single individual a controlling, dominating power that would utterly pervert God's plan of organization.

The first part of this second proposition will be considered in this article. The relationship and relative importance of the evangelical and medical missionary parts of this cause are clearly defined by the Testimonies that have come to us, as the following quotations will show:—

Medical missionary work is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry. The Lord has specified that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body. Without this union neither part of the work is complete. The medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration. But God did not design that the medical missionary work should eclipse the work of the third angel's message. The arm is not to become the body.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, pages 240-41.

Medical missionary work was ever to be as the arm to the great work that was to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God so soon to be realized. “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” The gospel ministry of truth for these last days, in its sacred dignity, is to stand as the body; Christ himself is the head; and the medical missionary work is to be the arm and the hand.—Unpublished Testimony, written at Cooranbong, N. S. W., Australia, Feb. 27, 1900.

I must caution you to restrain the influence you may exert in a wrong direction, under the name of the medical missionary work. Be careful lest this work become the body rather than the arm of the body.

I was instructed by the Lord that your temptation would be to make your medical missionary work stand above every other work independent of the conference. But this plan is not right.

Light has been given me that you have carried so-called medical missionary work altogether too far. For a long time warnings and cautions have been sent to you. You have made this work not the arm, but the body. God has

instructed me that the work you have set yourself to do is not the work he has given you to do.—Unpublished Testimony, addressed to the Superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, in 1899.

That view of things which would lead to giving undue prominence to the medical missionary work, would naturally lead to the criticism of those who could not work to this plan, and this would mean conflict. Many warnings, such as the following, have been given on this point:—

The ministry is not to be belittled or criticized. The men appointed to the ministry are not to be censured because they do not give soul and body to that which is termed medical missionary work. God has given to every man his work. It is not the duty of the ministers to do as you have done. If they did, they would rob the destitute, suffering fields.

The third angel's message is virtually ignored by you. You have belittled the work of the gospel ministry, while you have made the medical missionary work disproportionately important. You have weakened where you should have strengthened.—Unpublished Testimony, addressed to the Superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, in 1900.

The next step that would naturally follow the above, would be to separate the medical work from the general work of the cause. Repeated warnings of this danger have been given us.

The Holy Spirit never has, and never will in the future, divorce the medical missionary work from the gospel ministry. They can not be divorced. Bound up with Jesus Christ, the ministry of the word and the healing of the sick are one.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Series B, No. 7, page 64.

Never, never, should a sanitarium be established to become an interest independent of the church. Genuine medical missionary work is in no case to become divorced from the gospel ministry. The cross is the center of all religious institutions. These institutions are to be under the control of the Spirit of God, and no one man is to be the sole head in these institutions. The divine mind has men for every place.—Unpublished Testimony to the Superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, written in 1899.

As the medical missionary work becomes more extended, there will be a temptation to make it independent of our conferences. But it has been presented to me that this plan is not right. The different lines of our work are but parts of one great whole. They have one center.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 235.

The medical missionary work should be a part of the work of every church in our land. Disconnected from the church, it would soon become a strange medley of disorganized atoms. . . . The gospel ministry is needed to give permanence and stability to the medical missionary work; and the ministry needs the medical missionary work to demonstrate the practical working of the gospel. Neither part of the work is complete without the other.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 289.

Some of the ministers, physicians, and nurses prominently connected with our work have for years understood the causes of our trouble, and the dangers threatening this movement as presented in the foregoing quotations. They have been anxious to correct the evils, but have not known how to do so without apparently increasing the complications. Many have chosen to remain silent rather than do anything that would seem to widen the breach. But this silence has neither corrected the wrongs nor prevented the differences from becoming greater. The suspense endured for years by some has been almost unbearable. All this time the spirit of prophecy has been faithfully instructing the responsible parties. And now the servant of the Lord is instructed to “no longer appeal privately as heretofore to the individuals who have been cautioned and warned.” And further:—

The light that has been given I dare not withhold. The Lord has appointed me as his messenger, and I must speak the words he gives me. The Testimonies that have been given by the Lord for nearly half a century in regard to the ministerial work, and the management of our sanitariums, must come before the people, that our brethren and sisters in the faith shall understand the light that God has been pleased to give regarding the different branches of the work to be carried on at this time.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Series B, No. 7, page 49.

Already light is coming to many who have long been perplexed and confused, faith in the Testimonies is being restored and strengthened, and confidence in the sure and speedy triumph of this cause is being revived. A. G. DANIELLS.