THE CAUSE IN THE WEST by James White

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 6, 1858

THE CAUSE IN THE WEST.

By James White

It is becoming apparent that the West is emphatically the great field of labor in the Third Angel's Message. This, of course, would include all the northern States where it has not been preached to any great extent; viz., Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota; but our present remarks are intended more particularly for those sections where efforts have already been made to spread the truth.

What are the difficulties that meet us in these fields and what is required to render labor effectual? In one sense, the difficulties are the same everywhere, as the heart of man is the same in all places; yet there are peculiar difficulties in the West where the present truth has been taught.

The first and most prominent is the influence of those who formerly professed and preached the truth, whose unchristian course has brought a reproach that is yet felt, especially in Wisconsin. As a brother has remarked, we have been apt to suppose that all who embraced the Third Angel's Message were honest; and when Stephenson and Hall professed the faith, we hoped that its sanctifying influence would correct their worldly habits, and Campbellite principles. For a time their course seemed to justify our expectations; but in 1854, their horse trading alone brought more disgrace on the cause than all their preaching ever benefitted it. Their friends have more than once been caused to blush by hearing them lauded as "smart preachers and good horse-jockies." It is with shame that I think such things have ever been transacted among us; but "facts are stubborn things." In the neighborhood where the Message first found J. M. Stephenson, a single horse trade entirely destroyed his influence. And in the village where it found D. P. Hall, a practised horse-trader told me that "Dwight Hall was the sharpest horse-jockey in Fond du Lac county." It is just to say that these things were never countenanced by us; but we hoped they would be corrected. In this we were disappointed, and the issue is well known. One wrong led to another, and to accomplish their selfish, ambitious purposes, they resorted to the basest practices. It was testified at our meeting at Koskonong, that Hall confessed that at the time of his visit to Rochester, he pretended to be Bro. White's friend, in order to get all the information he desired concerning the Office, &c., and then returned to Wisconsin, saying that Bro. W. was speculating on the property of the church; that the Office was owned by him, and so on. What a comment on such reports was the resignation of Bro. White as Editor! He had borne the burden (which had several times brought him to the verge of the grave) as long as he could endure it; he was compelled to throw it off; and thus the church of necessity chose another Editor.

And it is a source of happiness to all concerned, that our present arrangements leave the Editor free, in part, from the burdens which Bro. W. so long and faithfully bore. The course of Stephenson, in his eastern tour, was similar to that of Hall. He went the professed friend of Bro. White, but in reality his enemy, as his conversation with his own friends, and his subsequent actions and letters proved. In this we have learned a lesson: to be more careful when we approve as ministers, and to seek the assurance that devotion to God, and not selfishness, is the ruling motive of those who volunteer to preach the truth. These matters we regret to speak or think of; but it is due to the cause in that State, that the people know how we look at these things; also to the brethren who may hereafter labor there, that they may understand in what manner the cause has been disgraced, and what unhallowed influences they will have to meet. That a bitter prejudice exists there is no wonder; indeed, we are gratified to know that our opponents despise such actions, and we hope that the brethren in that section will bear in mind that "well-doing" is the only means of removing the ill feeling that prevails in many places against the truth.

Another difficulty to be met in that State is the long continued efforts to amalgamate the Message with opposing doctrines and errors, particularly the Age-to-come. This has been persevered in to such an extent that many of the most honest-hearted, and with the best apparent intentions, have imbibed views of the prophecies subversive of the first principles of the present truth. This arises from the fact that they have not thoroughly studied the harmony of the scriptures on the present truth, nor the relation of the present truth to the prophecies and to the other scriptures. It has long been a matter of regret that we had not more Bible students among the number of Sabbath-keepers. Most of them are mere Bible readers. Many of our best publications are but little read. Very few can be found that understand the subject of the Sanctuary as presented in our pamphlets; and the same remark will hold good in regard to other points. Were our books all carefully read by our brethren and sisters generally, they would find themselves prepared to meet almost every objection that could arise against our faith. We often find those whose minds have been perplexed for weeks, and even months, on points that are made perfectly clear and satisfactory on a single page of a tract on their own shelves; and when it is pointed out they wonder that they had not noticed it. The cause cannot progress on. The laborers are few, and the churches will be weak, and necessarily demand the time of that few unless they prayerfully search for the light of truth, to be sanctified thereby. These remarks are applicable to all parts of the field, especially at this time when so many theories seem to be obtaining in our very midst. Much of the precious time of the laborers, and even of the Editor of the REVIEW, is taken up in refuting and exposing fallacies and fanciful notions springing up almost everywhere, some of which are claimed by their propagators as the all-important truths which are to silence all opposition, and give the Third Angel's Message life and power; yet in most cases they strike at the very foundation of our position. This is the work of the Enemy, the dreadful consequences of which we cannot enumerate or even notice now. We would be far from despising the weak members of the body, knowing that the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. But if the feet aspire to be heads, or the hands to perform the office of an eye, there will be confusion. Our present convictions are that we need a larger proportion of hands and feet in the body, or else the present supply must perform their office more faithfully.

But these remarks will apply with less force to the West than to the East, inasmuch as one of the most pressing wants of the West has hitherto been almost entirely neglected. We refer to a work on the

prophecies, or the Age-to-come. On our late trip West, the inquiry was raised in almost every place, why we have no work on that subject. In many places the brethren are continually assailed by ministers and others who have made the Age-to-come almost their sole study; and who seem to know, and care for, nothing else. It cannot be expected that the brethren and sisters should be able to meet all the wiles and fallacies of these cavaliers (for they are nothing else) without assistance from those who are called of God to the work of studying and preaching; neither can the preachers do the work without the assistance of pamphlets and tracts. And it would have been a great pleasure to us to have been able to give them some satisfaction in reference to the matter of their inquiries; but the present position of the cause in regard to the means and facilities for producing and publishing such a work, must of necessity cause its indefinite postponement. Yet it is the firm conviction of messengers and others in the West that no thorough and effective system of labor can be devised or entered upon without the assistance of a work on this subject. At present, regrets are all that can be offered on this subject; and so it will be till the spirit of sacrifice for the truth shall more extensively prevail, and the church generally feel more of the burden of the cause. J. H. W. (To be Continued)