The Spirit of Prophecy and Military Service

Chapter 9—The First Enrollment Law and the Draft

In March, 1863, a little less than three months after the publication of the testimony article referred to above, with its guiding counsels, the Congress of the United States passed an act for “the enrollment of all able bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five,” and the president was authorized to make drafts for military service. SPMS 13.2

Although this Conscription Bill of March, 1863, made no provision for noncombatant service, it did allow one drafted to be released, either by the furnishing of a substitute, or by the payment of $300. This provision was welcomed by the Adventist believers as a providential means of avoiding combatant service and conflicts over Sabbath observance, but it also carried a threat of a new and growing danger. With such a call for means upon our brethren in the purchasing of substitutes, the financial interest of the cause was imperiled. Recognizing this danger, James White wrote: SPMS 13.3

The advancement of the third message is the highest object on earth for which we can labor. Whatever suffering there may be elsewhere, this cause should be the last to suffer for want of means. Should our brethren be drafted, they should, if necessary, mortgage their property to raise the three hundred, rather than to accept means that should go into the Lord’s treasury. We would say this even of our ministers.—The Review and Herald, November 24, 1863.

In urging that the money raised by Systematic Benevolence should not be lessened nor diverted from the support of the ministry, he cited his own practice. Without lessening his usual annual payment into this fund, he had laid aside an equal amount to help drafted ministers, if necessary. A year later, he claimed as “one privilege,” the payment of “ten dollars to each efficient minister who shall be drafted from among us, to help him pay the $300.”—The Review and Herald, September 27, 1864 SPMS 14.1

Thus he set an example of faithfulness in the support of the cause, and in helping those who might be involved in the draft. A similar spirit was manifest throughout the field. One of our ministers, Elder Isaac Sanborn, facing payment for a note which was soon coming due, inserted a notice in the Review stating that he had borrowed $150.00 to clear another brother from the draft, and inviting the help of any who would like to assist “in this enterprise.” It was this spirit of mutual helpfulness in providing funds for the payment of bounties or exemptions which made it possible, in most cases, for our brethren to avoid serious conflicts over the question of bearing arms. SPMS 14.2