A Marked Confidence-Confirming Experience

Daniells could hardly wait to read the testimonies Ellen White had sent to him. With a fellow minister he read the communications. They noted that while each of the two documents had been copied on Thursday, December 21, 1905, one was penned in August 1903 and the other June 1, 1904.WV 487.9

Arrangements were made immediately for a meeting in the tabernacle that evening at 7:30, at which the testimonies would be read to the whole church. At 7:30 the tabernacle was full—auditorium, vestries, and gallery. Dr. Kellogg was not there. His brother, W. K., and a number of the doctor's supporters were there. Elder Daniells took the lead, telling the congregation of how, in times of old, God communicated with His people. Sometimes the prophet delivered in person God's message; sometimes it was delivered through others. He pointed out that “from the earliest days of this cause the Spirit of Prophecy had been in our midst, and had been recognized by those who were loyal to this message, and that the messenger had always claimed liberty to deliver the message either in person or by sending it to others to be read” (Ibid.).WV 487.10

He read the telegram instructing him to wait in Battle Creek for the testimonies. Now he had the two documents in his hands: Manuscript 120, 1905, “The Result of a Failure to Heed God's Warnings,” and Manuscript 122, 1905, “A Solemn Appeal.” He pointed out that both were penned by Ellen White in her journal, one as much as two years before, but were not copied until she was impressed to do so, Thursday, December 21. Both documents carried solemn messages pointing out that leaders who were spiritually blind were leading the blind, and unless “converted and transformed,” “leaders and their followers” “cannot be laborers together with God” (Manuscript 120, 1905).WV 487.11

Both of the testimonies were read without comment. As Elder Daniells read on, page after page, a number in the large tabernacle audience could not help noting how accurately they described the words and attitudes witnessed just the night before as Dr. Kellogg addressed sanitarium leaders. It was 9:00 when Daniells finished reading the 16 pages of the two documents.”It seemed to me as I read,” he wrote the next day, “that I never felt the burning power of words reaching my own soul as these” (AGD to G. A. Irwin, December 27, 1905).WV 488.1

“We ought to resort to earnest prayer,” he told the hushed audience, and suggested that those who wished to do so “retire to the north vestry.” But too many wished to pray, and so the audience turned back to the main auditorium.WV 488.2

During the break three men who had been in Dr. Kellogg's six-hour meeting came to Daniells and told him that the meeting held the previous night had been clearly described in the messages Ellen White had sent. They also said that “if there had been a doubt in their minds regarding the source of the testimonies, it would have been swept away by their own statements [as set forth by Ellen G. White] in the testimonies” (Ibid.).WV 488.3

From 9:15 to 10:00 all united in prayer that their eyes might be opened to see things as God sees them. They prayed that Dr. Kellogg and his associates and all the sanitarium helpers might be led to receive and obey the solemn messages that had come to them.WV 488.4

The next few days in old Battle Creek there was much discussion of how the Spirit of the Lord on the previous Thursday had led Ellen White in California to have the message she wrote two years before copied and sent to Battle Creek to arrive just after the notable meeting was held by Dr. Kellogg in the college building. Some said of the Monday night meeting that “if they had not been well grounded, they would have been turned away entirely from the testimonies. One said that he would be driven into infidelity if he believed the things the doctor related to them” (Ibid.).WV 488.5

Elder Daniells felt impelled to express his feelings.”I know,” he firmly averred, “that God is rewarding us for our pledge of unswerving loyalty to the Spirit of Prophecy as well as all the rest of this message.” “Victory has been given to this cause” (Ibid.).WV 488.6

And indeed it was a victory.WV 488.7

As for Dr. Kellogg, no change was observed in his attitude. Two days after the memorable Tuesday night meeting he called the sanitarium family together and for three hours reviewed the history of the institution, endeavoring to prove that it was never a Seventh-day Adventist establishment but rather the property of the stockholders.WV 488.8

The Review and Herald, December 28, 1905, carried a six-column editorial by W. W. Prescott titled “The Battle Creek University.” In it the editor bared his own soul as he stated:WV 489.1

We know from personal experience something about the bitterness of the experience which results from listening to constant insinuations about the fundamental truths of this message borne to the world by Seventh-day Adventists. We know what it means to struggle with the doubts and fears aroused by skillful misrepresentations of warnings and counsels given through the Spirit of Prophecy.... We have learned our lessons through an experience from which we would gladly protect others, and therefore feel justified in speaking plainly when we see the snare set so seductively.WV 489.2

Battle Creek did not become the educational center some had anticipated; nor did it attract large numbers of Seventh-day Adventist youth. Union conference colleges were strengthened to meet the needs of the cause, and soon the College of Medical Evangelists was established by the church at Loma Linda.WV 489.3