The Standing of Elder Uriah Smith

(A statement made by Arthur L. White in response to inquiries addressed to the office of the Ellen G. White Estate.) SUS 1.1

You have asked certain questions concerning Elder Uriah Smith. It would seem that there has come to your attention certain statements from Ellen White’s pen making reference to Elder Smith’s negative attitude toward Ellen White and her message. This is being used to discount the whole work which was done by Elder Smith and the value of his book, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, which has had such a wide circulation and accomplished so much good. SUS 1.2

You refer to the testimony that was sent to Elder Smith and you inquire also about the dependence we can place on his work. Elder Smith entered our work in the very early years. He was twenty-one years of age when he joined Elder White in Rochester, New York. His first work was operating the hand press. Then he soon became editor of the Review and Herald. Through the years he held many responsible positions. He served as the first secretary of the General Conference. He was the first Bible teacher in our first college. He was a tower of strength. But Elder Smith was human. There were times in his experience when he made mistakes. There were times in his experience when he wrestled with problems that had to do with his relationship to the Spirit of prophecy, and it was at just such a time that the testimony to which you make reference was written. SUS 1.3

In the year 1882 a pamphlet of eighty-four pages was published entitled, “Testimonies for the Battle Creek Church.” In a note to the reader introducing this, we find the statement: “The following pages contain instruction, warning and admonition of special importance to the Battle Creek Church at the present crisis.” Some portions of this pamphlet, in fact the larger part of it, have appeared in Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5, in articles entitled, “Our College,” beginning on page 21, “Important Testimony,” beginning on page 45, “The Testimonies Slighted,” page 62, and “The Workers in Our College,” beginning on page 84. Inasmuch as portions of this material deal more particularly with the situation at Battle Creek and personalities there, certain individuals are named, and this more personal portion of the pamphlet Ellen White did not include in Testimonies, Volume 5. The reasons are obvious. SUS 1.4

Now, about the statement concerning Elder Smith. The statements to which you have made reference are found in the pamphlet on pages 42 and 43 in the chapter entitled, “The Testimonies Rejected.” I will quote the fuller setting that you may see just what Ellen White did write: SUS 1.5

“The minds of many have been so darkened and confused by worldly customs, worldly practices, and worldly influences, that all power to discriminate between light and darkness, truth and error, seems destroyed. I had little hope that my words would be understood, but when the Lord moved upon me so decidedly I would not resist His Spirit. Knowing that you were involving yourselves in the snares of Satan, I felt that the danger was too great for me to keep silent. Hence I wrote to you as I did; but Eld. Smith felt at liberty to withhold the testimony from the church for weeks, If God was leading him and those who united with him and counseled him in this act, he was not leading me; the burden which moved me to write was a false burden, imposed by another spirit. SUS 1.6

“Further than this, Eld. Smith questioned the propriety of bringing the testimony before the church at all. Thus he takes the responsibility of standing between God’s word of reproof and the people. I committed the matter to Elder Smith as an officer of the church. But in consideration of my past position in this work, in consideration of the connection God has been pleased to give me with his cause from its very rise, was it the prerogative of Eld.Smith, or of those whom he took into his counsel, to even question this matter? Shall he sit in judgment upon my work, or on my letters of warning of the church? This man, who has so long avoided disagreeable responsibility; who has let matters drift whichever way they were disposed to go, rather than brace himself for duty, and with moral courage reprove and rebuke wrong; who has shunned so many duties belonging to him in his position of trust,—has now ventured to act in a new character, and to assume responsibilities which God hath not given him. He has placed himself and his influence in direct opposition to my work, so that I cannot reach the people to impress upon them the testimonies which God has given me. And there are others equally blinded, who will follow in this path. SUS 1.7

“For years the Lord has been presenting the situation of the church before you. Again and again reproofs and warnings have been given.” SUS 2.1

On succeeding pages there were also some reference to Elder Smith along the same line, but they add little to the actual thought presented. So I shall not make detailed reference to this. SUS 2.2

There are some who would take this testimony to Elder Smith in such a way as to discount all of his work and discredit that which he accomplished in the later years of his life. This is a most unfair and unrighteous use to make of such information. We must never overlook the fact that the very reason for giving a testimony of reproof was to bring about a change. Writing to a young lady who was guilty of a very sinful course of action, Ellen White said: SUS 2.3

“I do not consider your case hopeless; if I did, my pen would not be tracing these lines.” — Testimonies for the Church 2:562. SUS 2.4

In the year 1890 Ellen White, speaking of Elder Smith’s experience, said: SUS 2.5

“The Lord has seen fit to counsel Elder Smith, to give him words of reproof because he had erred; but is this an evidence that God has forsaken him?—No. ‘As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent’ (Revelation 3:19). The Lord reproves wrongs in His people, but is this an evidence that He has rejected them?—No.” — Letter 11, 1890, quoted in Selected Messages 2:81. SUS 2.6

In 1891 Sister White referred to the confession of Elder Smith, his acceptance of the testimonies, and speaks of him falling on the rock and being broken. SUS 2.7

Another very interesting fact which demonstrates Ellen White’s confidence in Elder Smith is that he was asked to prepare a statement which should serve as the introduction to her very important book, Patriarchs and Prophets published in 1890. Elder Smith prepared a very fine statement defending the Spirit of prophecy and setting it before the general public. It has appeared in the book from 1890 to the present. Surely Ellen White would not have turned to Elder Smith for this important work if she had lost confidence in him. SUS 2.8

In 1892, two years later, while Sister White was in Australia, she sent Elder Smith documents from her pen asking him to exercise his judgment as to what should come before the people in print. She pointed out that he was close to the situation in the United States and would understand what would be of most service, and indicated her confidence by saying, “Your judgment is evidently in harmony with what is best.” Surely this indicates Ellen White’s strong confidence in the integrity of Elder Smith, even though there were times when messages of reproof were addressed to him. Ten years later, in 1902, and just a year before Elder Smith died, Sister White touchingly wrote of Elder Smith as follows: SUS 2.9

“Elder Smith was connected with us at the beginning of the publishing work. He labored in connection with my husband. We hope always to see his name in the Review and Herald at the head of the list of editors; for thus it should be. Those who began the work, who fought bravely when the battle went so hard, must not lose their hold now. They are to be honored by those who entered the work after the hardest privation had been borne. SUS 3.1

“I feel very tender toward Elder Smith. My life-interest in the publishing work is bound up with his. He came to us as a young man, possessing talents that qualified him to stand in his lot and place as an editor. How I rejoice as I read his article in the Review—so excellent, so full of spiritual truth. I thank God for them. I feel a strong sympathy for Elder Smith, and I believe that his name should always appear in the Review as the name of the leading editor. Thus God would have it. When, some years ago, his name was placed second, I felt hurt. When it was again placed first, I wept, and said, “Thank God.” May it always be there, as God designs it shall be, while Elder Smith’s right hand can hold a pen. And when the power of his hand fails, let his sons write at his dictation.” — Letter 47, 1902. SUS 3.2

It may be stated that it is disturbing to those who know the facts to find individuals today who, when they learn that a message of reproof was sent to a certain man, are inclined to disparage the man and lose confidence in his work and in his experience. This is not right. All of us make mistakes. If a man makes a mistake, can see his error, and makes confession and makes wrong right, and picks himself up, and goes on in the way the Lord would have him go, it is positively wrong to take testimonies sent to him at an earlier date and use them in a way to destroy confidence in the integrity of his experience. SUS 3.3

All this makes it clear why Ellen White could not put into print in her books for general circulation personal testimonies addressed to individual workers revealing their identity and pointing out wrongs in their experience. SUS 3.4

There is another exhibit which we wish to call to your attention in this connection. In the year 1887, and this was five years after her testimony was sent to Elder Smith to which we made reference, Elder Smith wrote for the Review and Herald a little article entitled, “The Weight of Evidence,” in which he recounts his own experience of wavering confidence in the Spirit of prophecy. We reproduce it here: SUS 3.5