Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

The Intensity of the Warfare

She was aware, of course, of the warfare against her work, and particularly alert to the deplorable conditions existing in the Battle Creek church. With the closing of the college in the summer of 1882, the outgoing president, Dr. McLearn, and his family remained in the city for some months, seemingly at a loss to know what to do. Matters were greatly complicated by the sympathetic attitude Uriah Smith and the Battle Creek church had toward him. McLearn declared that he had been treated unfairly, even though his salary of $800 a year exceeded that of any other Seventh-day Adventist executive or minister. He threatened to bring suit against the church and declared he would publish against Seventh-day Adventists if justice, as he saw it, was not done to him at the forthcoming General Conference session. Wrote G. I. Butler to Ellen White on November 28, 1882: “He has no faith, whatever, in the Testimonies, I think, and looking at things as he does, it will be a hard matter to hold on long.” 3BIO 221.4

Butler thought McLearn would soon affiliate with the Seventh Day Baptists, which he eventually did, but not before linking up for a time with the split-off group at Marion, Iowa. In this, a Seventh-day Adventist attorney of Battle Creek, J. S. Green, joined him. Working with A. C. Long, of the Church of God, Adventist, the two engaged in writing articles and tracts against Ellen White and the administration of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that were widely distributed, especially among Adventists. 3BIO 222.1

G. W. Amadon stated: “Such an outburst of malevolence would hardly be expected in his [McLearn's] case.”—RH, Supplement, August 14, 1883. 3BIO 222.2

The republication in 1882 of the three earliest E. G. White works in Early Writings triggered the Church of God group, joined by McLearn and Green, to a new attack in their church organ, the Sabbath Advocate. In the spring of 1883, A. C. Long issued a sixteen-page pamphlet titled “Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White With Later Publications.” Then the trio of dissidents united in the production of an “Extra” of the Sabbath Advocate, in which were presented a number of criticisms of Ellen White. At first the criticism was ignored. Then its wide distribution, especially among Adventists, gave rise to questions demanding answers. The first answer came from the pen of Wolcott Littlejohn in the Review in May, 1883. 3BIO 222.3