p. 5 | Organization-No. 1 by Arthur G. Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 31, 1907

Organization—No. 1

By Arthur G. Daniells

A Brief Account of Its History in the Development of the Cause of the Third Angel’s Message

Organization, as it is related to the churches, conferences, departments, and institutions of the religious movement being carried forward by Seventh-day Adventists, has an interesting, instructive, and important history. Its beginning, development, and effects may all be easily and clearly traced in our denominational records. Its purpose is well defined, and its place is firmly established.

The system of organization adopted by Seventh-day Adventists and applied to the administrative affairs of the denomination has not come by chance, or mere happen-so. It did not take shape without thought, study, or purpose on the part of the pioneers of this cause. The subject of organization received the most careful consideration and thorough study from the ablest men associated with this movement in its early days. Organization had friends and foes. By these it was both approved and condemned. The brethren discussed and agitated the question for years before the agreement was reached that organization should have a place in this movement.

The fear of organization and the opposition to it by the pioneers of this cause may be easily and reasonably accounted for. The majority of those who at the first embraced the third angel’s message had been in the movement under the first angel’s message. In that movement, organization had no place. The purpose of the proclamation of the first angel’s message, the manner in which the proclamation was made, and the brief period of time it covered, appear to have made little demand for organization. In explaining the purpose and methods of this work, William Miller, the recognized leader in the proclamation of the first message, said:—

In all my labors I never had the desire or thought to establish any separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another. . . . The great majority of those who were converted under my

labors united with the various existing churches. When individuals came to me to inquire respecting their duty, I always told them to go where they would feel at home, and I never favored any one denomination in my advice to such.—“Life of Miller,” page 361.

Joshua V. Himes, who ranked next in importance to William Miller in proclaiming the first message, states the case as follows:—

He [William Miller] made no attempt to convert men to a sect or party in religion. Hence he labored among all parties and sects, without interfering with their organization or discipline, believing that the members of the different communions could retain their standing, and at the same time prepare for the advent of their King, and labor for the salvation of men in these relations until the consummation of their hope. When we were persuaded of the truth of the advent at hand, and embraced the doctrine publicly (in 1840), we entertained the same views, and pursued the same course among the different sects, where we were called, in the providence of God, to labor.—Review and Herald, Vol. 2; page 76.

The prevailing sentiment regarding organization was clearly expressed by Josiah Litch in the Advent Shield, May, 1844, as quoted in the REVIEW, Vol. 8, page 43. Mr. Litch was a prominent minister and writer in the first message. He said:—

No provision has been made for the establishment of permanent institutions, among Adventists. Indeed, we have no means of ascertaining the number of ministers, and others, who have embraced the advent faith. . . . All peculiarities of creed or policy have been lost sight of in the absorbing inquiry concerning the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. Those who have engaged in this enterprise are from all the various sects in the land. . . . All these have agreed to work together for the accomplishment of a certain object; and the organization to which this has given rise, so far as there is anything which may be called an organization, is of the most simple, voluntary, and primitive form. . . . We neither expect nor desire any other organization, until we reach the New Jerusalem, and organize under the King of kings.

When the movement under the first angel’s message neared its culmination in 1844, the masses of those who embraced it, being unable to remain in their churches in peace, separated from them. The situation at that time was explained by Geo. Storrs, a prominent minister in the movement. Speaking of the attitude of the churches, he said:—

Which of them will suffer a soul to remain among them in peace, that openly and fearlessly avows his faith in the advent at the door? Are not the terms of remaining among them undisturbed, that you wholly refrain from a public expression of faith in the coming of the Lord this year, whatever your convictions may be on the subject, and however important you may feel it to be to cry, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come”?—“The Church and Its Organization,” page 89.

Of this time and experience William Miller writes thus:—

Previously to this, in the fall of 1843, some of my brethren began to call the churches Babylon, and to urge that it was the duty of Adventists to come out of them. With this I was much grieved, as not only the effect was very bad, but I regarded it as a perversion of the word of God, a wresting of Scripture. But the practise spread extensively; and, from that time, the churches, as might have been expected, were closed against us. It prejudiced many against us, and created a deep feeling of hostility between Adventists and those who did not embrace the doctrine; so that most of the Adventists were separated from their respective churches. This was a result which I never desired nor expected; but it was brought about by unforeseen circumstances. We could, then, only act in accordance with the position in which we were thus placed.—“Life of Miller,” page 363.

This experience led Mr. Storrs and many of his associates in the ministry to give the following advice to those who believed the advent message and found themselves separated from their churches:—

Take care that you do not seek to organize another church. No church can be organized by man’s invention but what it becomes Babylon the moment it is organized. The Lord organized his own church by the strong bond of love. Stronger than that can not be made; and when such bonds will not hold together the professed followers of Christ, they cease to be his followers, and drop off from the body as a matter of course.—“The Church and Its Organization,” page 87.

It was in this unorganized condition that thousands of those believers came up to the close of the prophetic period, at which time they fully expected the Lord would come. The terrible disappointment they experienced because he did not come, threw them into utter confusion, and the great mass fell to pieces like a rope of sand.

A. G. DANIELLS.