M. E. Cornell to Go to Ohio

These were sensitive and vitally important times. James and Ellen White found that being badly worn, they dared not attempt to fill appointments made for them in Ohio. M. E. Cornell, known for his good judgment and evangelistic perception, was sent in their place. There he met agitation over the adoption of a name and also over spiritual gifts. At Green Spring when his work was brought to a close, he reported that out of a hundred believers only eight or ten were not satisfied and ready to express their “confidence in the gifts, and in those whom the Lord has placed at the head of this work.” At Lovett's Grove he found some who thought there was danger of exalting the gifts above the Bible. Through an apt illustration he showed that this was impossible:1BIO 458.6

Take a small vessel and a large one, and connect them with a small tube; then if you pour water into the small vessel it will rise in the large one. So in proportion as our interest increases in that which the Holy Spirit communicates at one time, it will increase in all that it has ever revealed. Like the law, if we fail in one point we fail in all, because in slighting one we offer insult to all.... There is not a caution in all the Bible against thinking too much of what God has revealed, any more than there is against becoming too pure or too holy.—Ibid., November 12, 1861.1BIO 459.1

Before Cornell left, Ohio was organized into a conference, and the plan followed at Battle Creek was recommended in the organization of churches.1BIO 459.2