p. 346 | ANARCHY OR ORDER - WHICH?

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 28, 1901

ANARCHY OR ORDER — WHICH?

By John Norton Loughborough

“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. . . . Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Heb. 10:32, 33, 35–37.

In these scriptures reference is made to the experience of the early Christians, and also to the experience of those waiting for Christ’s second coming. By comparison a similarity in the situations is seen. The disciples met with a disappointment in their expectations; so did those proclaiming the second advent of Christ. It was said of the early Christians that the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. John 9:22. The believers in Christ’s second Advent were excluded from the churches for even daring to express their hope in Christ’s near coming. Because of reproach and persecution the early Christians were “made a gazingstock.” After the close of the twenty-three hundred days,—Oct. 22, 1844,—one who would still avow himself an Adventist was made the butt of ridicule by both professors and non-professors.

Our younger brethren, who did not pass through that experience, but have later become the “companions of them that were so used,” have but a faint conception of the sore trial of the “come outers,” as those were then called who had separated themselves from the churches for the truth’s sake.

George Storrs said of the churches, while the Second Angel’s Message was being given in 1844, “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’?”

L. D. Mansfield, who was laboring at that time in Oneida, N. Y., said: “I am more fully persuaded than ever before, that the religious organizations of the present day constitute no small portion of that Babylon which is to be thrown down with violence, and found no more at all. . . . It seems to me, however, that in some of the organizations the resemblance to the little horn is most striking.”

He, to show the animosity of the churches against the doctrine, spoke of a class leader in the place who said that if any man should come into his house and say he believed Christ would come this year, he would turn him out of doors.

The wicked were emboldened in their hatred and rage against the doctrine by the opposition of professed Christians. To show to what length some church-members went in their opposition, Brother Mansfield referred to a circumstance which took place near Oneida. He said an Adventist minister had an appointment to speak one evening, but failed to reach the place by sixteen miles, but a minister of one of the churches came “at the head of a mob, with tar and feathers, for the purpose of applying them to the servant of the Most High God.” This calls to mind a circumstance in the experience of Paul and Silas while they were laboring at Thessalonica, when “the Jews which believed

not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,” etc. Acts 17:5.

The violence of the wicked against the Adventists increased more and more as the time drew near for the termination of the prophetic days. In the Midnight Cry of Oct. 31, 1844, is a statement from the editor concerning the course pursued by the mobs in various places. He says of them, “They were enraged that any should believe in the advent of the Lord. . . . We could only liken the conduct of the mob to that which surrounded the door of Lot, on the evening pending the destruction of Sodom. In New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other places, the wicked manifested the same feelings, and on Sunday, the 13th instant, the Advent meetings in many places were broken up by them.”

The opposition that raged in the time of the Second Angel’s Message, especially that of the churches in circumscribing everything to just the tenor of their creeds, led the mass of those who separated from them to look with disfavor on any form of organization. Even some of their teachers favored such conclusions. The following from the pen of George Storrs, one of the earnest laborers, will serve as a sample of that teaching:—

“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 cannot 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.”

A gathering of Adventists at Boston, Mass., seemed to realize that there was danger in taking too “extreme” a position in the matter, so they issued an address, signed by William Miller, Elon Galusha, N. N. Whiting, Apollos Hale, and J. V. Himes. Among other excellent advice they cautioned against the danger of “yielding to a spirit of revenge against the churches on account of their injustice toward us, and of waging an indiscriminate warfare against all such organizations.” This advice was given a few weeks after Brother Storrs’s strong statement against any form of organization. It seemed designed of the Lord to hold the people from assuming too ultra ground on the subject of church order.

While we can recognize the hand of the Lord in bringing out a people by the Second Angel’s Message, free from the power of creeds; and placed in condition where they might search for and accept His truth, this liberty was not a permission to run into anarchy and confusion. It was just as true now as in the days of the apostles, when it was said to the Galatians, “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”

The Lord’s purpose in this separation of His people from their oppressors very soon became apparent. Light on the great theme of “life and death,” or no immortality out of Christ, was published in that stirring pamphlet of George Storrs’s, containing his six sermons on future punishment, the nature of man, the state of the dead, etc. This shed still clearer light on the coming of Christ as the only hope of future life to God’s people. This truth gave joy indeed to the hearts of the saints waiting and expecting the immediate advent of their King.

After the close of the prophetic period,—Oct. 22, 1844,—and until the Adventists got an understanding of the real event to occur at the “end of the days,” they were like sheep without a shepherd. It could be said of them, as in olden time, “There was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges 17:6. Not in every respect just like the ancients. Then the man Micah, who was an Ephraimite, “had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.” Verse 5.

Elder James White said of the situation in the autumn of 1844, and following: “After the time passed, there was great confusion, and the majority were strongly opposed to any organization, holding that it was inconsistent with the perfect liberty of the gospel. Mrs. White was always opposed to every form of fanaticism, and early announced that some form of organization was necessary to prevent and correct confusion. Few at the present time can appreciate the firmness which was then required to maintain her position against the prevailing anarchy.” Note in Supplement to Experience and Views, page 12.

The prophet Isaiah exhorts us to “look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” Isa. 51:1. We call attention to the ideas held by the people from whom the majority came who first accepted the Third Angel’s Message, to show the difficulties to be overcome in order to save our ranks from confusion, and to establish a people in true gospel order.

The writer being privileged to hear the First Angel’s Message in December, 1843, witnessed to some extent the conflict between the churches and the Adventists, and having united with the latter by baptism in the spring of 1849, has a distinct recollection of the situation among that people from the time of his association with them, up to September, 1852, when he heard the Third Angel’s Message, and united with this people. During the three and one-half years of his connection with the First-day Adventists, he preached the doctrine. As a body we were opposed to any form of church organization . No church records were kept, not even a list of members. If a person was sincere in his faith and was baptized, his name was considered enrolled in the “Lamb’s book of life.” It was claimed that was record enough. During the period of the three and one-half years no mention was made of needing church officers, and no ordination of any kind except that of one preacher, who in 1851 urged that, according to the New Testament plan, those going forth to preach and baptize should be ordained. To some of the leading ministers he mentioned, and even urged, his own ordination. They reluctantly consented to it, but instead of its being a solemn and impressive ceremony before the body of believers, the ministers waited until the congregation had left, when one of the ministers offered a dry, formal prayer. There was no laying on of hands; no charge given.

Neither had that people any system of raising money for the support of their work. If any one felt disposed to give to the ministry, he gave to the minister direct. If special fancy was taken to a particular minister, he received many gifts. Another might be just as efficient, perhaps more consecrated, but if retiring in his manners, and diffident about pleading his own needs, he might be left to largely support himself by manual labor.

As we “call to remembrance the former days” of relaxed ideas of order, it makes it clear now why it required years of patient labor and prayerful study to develop and perfect the system of order that now exists among Seventh-day Adventists.

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.