The Battle Creek Institute by G. W. Amadon

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 14, 1911

The Battle Creek Institute

By G. W. Amadon

NOVEMBER 6-19 was the time allotted to this very important gathering. As related to the third angel’s message, Battle Creek is historic ground. Since 1855, when the Review Office was moved here from Rochester, N. Y., the mighty message from heaven has radiated from this point. Our educational and health work started in Battle Creek, and it was here that the publishing work received an impetus that has known no abatement to the present time. How fitting, then, in view of these considerations, and others that need not be mentioned, that a ministerial convention should be held in Battle Creek.

As all should know, this grand meeting embraced the seven conferences of the Lake Union,—Wisconsin, Northern and Southern Illinois, Indiana, and East, West, and North Michigan. The general laborers at this institute were Elders A. G. Daniells, G. B. Thompson, and W. A. Spicer all the time, Elder I. H. Evans and Drs. Geo. Thomason and David Paulson for a few days, and later Elder G. B. Starr. All the presidents of the Lake Union conferences were in attendance; also Elder E. K. Slade, of Ohio. Elder Allen Moon, president of the Lake Union, presided at the sessions, and otherwise assisted. Prof. H. R. Salisbury, the head of the educational work of the denomination, was present during part of the convention, and assisted in the instruction given. Most of the ministers and Bible workers of the Lake Union and many canvassers were at this very important meeting.

The program for the institute was a practical one, and was carried out with exactness. Seven sessions each day were held.

Ever since the remarkable occasion at Philadelphia, months ago, the report of which brought such a thrill of joy to the readers of the REVIEW, we have been on the tiptoe of expectation looking for more and greater manifestations of the Spirit’s power among God’s people. We have been told that there was a like experience at Walla Walla, and that wherever the subject of the reception of the Holy Spirit is dwelt upon, this feature of the message is received with gladness. We are fully justified in stating that it was even thus at Battle Creek. The writer is doubly sure that at this meeting it was very easy for the servants of God to present such instruction as they brought from the treasure-house of the Scriptures. Most literally the word of God had free course, and those present felt that they were sitting in a heavenly place in Christ Jesus.

In the absolute sense there was no doctrinal preaching at the institute. In all the public discourses, in all the Scriptural studies (and there were four each day—nearly fifty in all), and in the devotional exercises, the one great bent seemed to be, to be right with God, where the Holy Spirit could use the human instrument more effectively. At the close of one service a brother remarked, “I am so filled with a sense of God’s presence that probably I shall keep awake most of the night.” To this the response was in the words of the doxology, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”

This account of the Battle Creek institute should contain more than a casual reference to the labors of Brethren Daniells, Thompson, and Spicer, who had the brunt of the teaching on their shoulders. From the first meeting it was evident that these brethren felt that the occasion was one of momentous importance, and that in Christ’s stead they were instructing those who were charged with the most solemn message that God ever sent to the human race. Indeed, it seemed that in their labors they were like a cart pressed beneath the weight of the sheaves. Amos 2:13. Toward the close of the convention Elder Daniells said that if revival efforts did not follow this institute, there would be grave responsibilities resting on the ministers; and this was not stating it too strongly.

From the very first day the alpha and omega of all the instruction seemed to be that the believers in this cause might “be filled with the Holy Spirit.” How often was this text, and many of like import, made use of: “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” It was literally, “line upon line,” “precept upon precept,” “here a little and there a little,” on this all-important subject, as the prophet says. Isa. 28:13. The interest increased as the time sped by, even to the very close, so that the scripture was fulfilled, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” Eccl. 7:8. And what holy resolves filled

the hearts of all those who listened to the instruction poured forth from the platform.

It was intensely soul-inspiring to listen to those earnest men of God. They had a message, and what a mighty convincing power attended its presentation! Paul to the Thessalonians wrote: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” 1 Thess. 1:5. It was even so in this meeting.

In such an article as this it is absolutely impossible to present verbatim reports of sermons or studies. A few condensed statements must suffice.

Speaking of conditions in Russia, Elder Daniells, who lately visited that vast empire, said:—

“We found the people there as ready as any other people in the world to engage in missionary work. We have 4,000 believers in Russia, with three organized conferences and six great mission fields. Their tithe amounts to about $25,000 a year, and some 800 persons are baptized each year. The Russians are a religious people, and this message is making more rapid progress in that difficult field than in any other country on the globe, unless it may be in China. Such facts should cause the hearts of Seventh-day Adventists everywhere to thrill with gratitude and joy. As evidence of the zeal and faithfulness of this people, a Russian minister who is now serving out a sentence in prison for his faith, has managed to bring the truths of the third angel’s message to more than forty of his fellow prisoners. Thus the word of God grows and multiplies as in the early church.” Acts 12:24.

Elder Spicer, in one of his sermons, told his hearers of the beginning of this work, how that in 1845 Elder Joseph Bates, after much study and prayer, began to observe the Bible Sabbath; and in 1846 published the first Sabbath tract. In 1847 quite a company had taken their stand for this glorious truth, and in 1848 they were preparing to publish it. In 1849 the first Seventh-day Adventist paper was printed at Middletown, Conn., by the late Elder James White. Then “mightily grew the word of God,” as in the days of Paul. Acts 19:20. He said that a certain Methodist journal accused the Sabbath-keeping Adventists of having “a purpose to run the world.” The speaker confessed that the one object of this people is to run into all the world with this Heaven-sent message; and now we see God’s work fast approaching its completion.

Elder Thompson in his telling studies on the reception of the Spirit said that the best book to study about the Holy Spirit is the Bible. We have an infallible guide in the Holy Spirit, which is the real vicar of Christ; when Jesus went up, the Comforter came down. It is absolutely of no use to preach without the Spirit. Quoting from “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 447, he read: “No one can tell how much is lost by attempting to preach without the unction of the Holy Spirit.” Our only safety is to be in continual communion with the Spirit. The Saviour said that he could do nothing of himself. That is the condition of all his servants. Christ’s first anointing for service was after his baptism; if Jesus needed that unction for service, how much more his followers! How truly all need that life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit! The promise is: “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hosea 6:3.

On the evening of November 13, Dr. Thomason, recently from South Africa, gave a very practical lecture on the gospel of health. Among the many good things said here are a few excerpts:—

To-day we see physical degeneracy on every hand. Recently in England two thirds of the men who applied for admission into the army were rejected because of physical unfitness. Last year in the same country 60,000 people died of tuberculosis, and 32,000 died of cancer. The number of persons who attain to great age is diminishing, and more subtle diseases are making inroads each year; such as, diseases of the liver, the tissues, kidneys, and heart. Kidney diseases alone have increased 1,500 per cent during the last fifty years. Mental diseases also are alarmingly on the increase. Insanity in a lifetime has increased 400 per cent, and feeble-mindedness is greatly increasing. In England alone there are 122,000 feeble-minded children, with 85,000 others who are as physically well as mentally deficient. This sad condition is largely attributable to pernicious habits of eating, drinking, and unsanitary living; and the use of liquor, that curse of curses, is responsible to a great degree for the present sad conditions of the race.

Shall not Seventh-day Adventists, who have such a flood of light on health and temperance, take up this subject anew, and in all things be obedient to the heavenly message until Jesus comes?

But alas, that the multitude of excellent things set forth at the institute can only be referred to in the main, and not given in detail to the readers. A full history of the convention would make a volume of several hundred pages. The writer has twenty-nine pages of closely prepared notes, which to this meeting are only as the chapter headings are to a book. Altogether too soon the convention reached the last day, and Elder Daniells, in the evening service of November 19, with words of timely importance to ministers, Bible workers, and others, brought the great Battle Creek Institute to its close.

This notable gathering, which began in the Spirit, and continued in the Spirit, closed in the same blessed manner. It was indeed a godsend to the Lake Union Conference in general, and to the Battle Creek church locally. To God be all the praise.

G. W. AMADON.

1404 Lake View Avenue, St. Joseph, Mich.