Chapter 2—Statement of principle

The fact that this position was established at such an early date in our church history is remarkable. Those who have written since to clarify our belief on this issue have used this resolution as a statement of principle that continues to apply.RVSE 3.2

Writing a few years later, Joseph Clarke, a layman residing in Ohio, and a frequent contributor to the Review, said:RVSE 3.3

“Shall we meddle with politics? No, if we must mingle in the noisy crowd, and shout the praises of the poor, puny man who is to be raised to the pinnacle of power. No, if we must give currency to the many-voiced, slanderous reports, which fill the political atmosphere with clouds and mists. But we may deposit a ballot quietly in the box in behalf of freedom, and as quietly give a reason therefore.”—The Review and Herald, December 14, 1876.

Discussing the coming political campaign of 1880 in one of his last editorials, James White said:RVSE 3.4

“We as a people, as Adventists, have before us an all-absorbing subject, and a work of the greatest importance, from which our minds should not be diverted....

“It should be our duty to adapt ourselves, as far as possible without compromising truth, to all who come within the reach of our influence, and at the same time stand free from the strife and corruptions of the parties that are striving for the mastery.”—The Review and Herald, March 11, 1880.

Writing from Australia in 1898, Ellen White emphasized the same points:RVSE 3.5

“We are not as a people to become mixed up with political questions.... Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers in political strife, nor bind with them in their attachments.... Keep your voting to yourself. Do not feel it your duty to urge everyone to do as you do.”—Selected Messages 2:336, 337.

Just one month before the death of James White, Seventh-day Adventists were gathered for camp meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. A proposed action was placed before the delegates which read:RVSE 3.6

“Resolved, That we express our deep interest in the temperance movement now going forward in this state; and that we instruct all our ministers to use their influence among our churches and with the people at large to induce them to put forth every consistent effort, by personal labor, and at the ballot box, in favor of the prohibitory amendment of the Constitution, which the friends of temperance are seeking to secure.”—The Review and Herald, July 5, 1881.

Some disagreed with the clause that called for action at “the ballot box,” and urged that it be taken out. Ellen White, who was attending this camp meeting, had retired for the night, but she was called to give her counsel. Writing of it at the time, she said:RVSE 3.7

“‘I dressed and found I was to speak to the point of whether our people should vote for prohibition. I told them “Yes,” and spoke twenty minutes.’”—Temperance, 255.

Ellen White never changed that position. In an article written for the Review just a year before her death she reemphasized the responsibility of every citizen to exercise every influence within his power, including his vote, to work for temperance and virtue:RVSE 3.8

“While we are in no wise to become involved in political questions, yet it is our privilege to take our stand decidedly on all questions relating to temperance reform....There is a cause for the moral paralysis upon society. Our laws sustain an evil which is sapping their very foundations. Many deplore the wrongs which they know exist, but consider themselves free from all responsibility in the matter. This cannot be. Every individual exerts an influence in society. In our favored land, every voter has some voice in determining what laws shall control the nation. Should not that influence and that vote be cast on the side of temperance and virtue?”—The Review and Herald, October 15, 1914. (Italics supplied.)