The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

A New Philosophy

One whose indefatigable energy, whose scientific research, whose skill as physician and surgeon, and whose devotion to benevolent and humanitarian principles had greatly endeared him to the denomination was one of the chief exponents of what was sometimes termed the “new philosophy.” In defining God, he had reached the place where he actually said in 1897, before the General Conference: AGP 331.2

“Gravitation acts instantaneously throughout all space. By this mysterious force of gravitation the whole universe is held together in a bond of unity…. We have here the evidence of a universal presence, an intelligent presence, an all-wise presence, an all-powerful presence, a presence by the aid of which every atom of the universe is kept in touch with every other atom. This force that holds all things together, that is everywhere present, that thrills throughout the whole universe, that acts instantaneously through boundless space, can be nothing else than God Himself. What a wonderful thought that this same God is in us and in everything!” The General Conference Bulletin, February 12, 1897, p. 83.

After my return from Australia, and when I entered upon my official duties in connection with the General Conference, I made my home in Battle Creek. It was not long before I heard this new teaching, setting aside the personality of God and making Him merely a pervading essence. One of the illustrations used to furnish a supposed analogy was later printed as follows: AGP 331.3

“Suppose now we have a boot before us,—not an ordinary boot, but a living boot, and as we look at it, we see little boots crowding out at the seams, pushing out at the toes, dropping off at the heels, and leaping out at the top,—scores, hundreds, thousands of boots, a swarm of boots continually issuing from our living boot,—would we not be compelled to say, ‘There is a shoemaker in the boot’? So there is present in the tree a power which creates and maintains it, a tree maker in the tree.” “The Living Temple,” J. H. Kellogg, p. 29. Battle Creek, Michigan: Good Health Publishing Company, 1903.

The logical conclusion was drawn that man, instead of looking to some great being sitting on a throne in some far-away heaven, should look within himself to find the God to whom he should pray. AGP 332.1

Such teaching troubled me, and all the more as I found that it had to some degree been accepted by certain of the teachers in Battle Creek College, and was being taught to the students. A number of physicians, prominent in the denomination, were fascinated by this new conception of God, which made Him seem so near to the individual. Even ministers who were honored and revered by the church defended the doctrine when it was questioned. None of us, however, at that time realized fully the subtle danger that lay in such a conception of God. AGP 332.2