In Defense of the Faith

Chapter 17 — Mr. Canright’s Remarkable Admission

On page 49 of Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, Mr. Canright makes a strange admission of insincerity. He tells of the time when he was still a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and when he temporarily dropped out of ministerial work and went onto a farm. After spending two years on the farm, he attended a camp. meeting and made the confession referred to by us in chapter 50. Of this experience he says: DOF 368.1

“In the fall of 1884, Elder Butler, my old friend, and now at the head of the advent work, made a great effort to get me reconciled and back at work again. He wrote me several times, to which I made no answer. Finally he telegraphed me, and paid my fare to a camp meeting. Here I met old friends and associations, tried to see things as favorable as possible, heard explanations, etc., etc., till at last I yielded again. I was sick of an undecided position. I thought I could do some good here anyway; all my friends were here; I believed much of the doctrine still, and I might go to ruin if I left them, etc. Now I resolved to swallow all my doubts, believe the whole thing anyway, and stay with them for better or for worse. So I made a strong confession, of which I was ashamed before it was cold.”—Seventh-day Adventism Renounced. DOF 368.2

The confession to which he refers is the one made at the time when he had a wonderful experience with God, to which we referred in chapter 1. In it he declared: “I am fully satisfied that my own salvation and my usefulness in saving others depends upon my being connected with this people and this work.” He tells of a reconversion, “the most remarkable change that I ever experienced all my life.” DOF 368.3

Now, in his book, he informs us that he was ashamed of this confession before it was cold. And yet, after it was cold, and after the meeting at which it was made was adjourned, he published it in the church paper! Ashamed ‘of it, and yet publishes it! What would such an admission be called if made in court, and what standing as a witness could one have after making such a statement? DOF 369.1

Nor is this the worst. In relating his experience at the time of making this confession, he declared that the Holy Spirit was working upon his heart. Said he: “I never felt such a change before, not even when first converted, nor when I embraced the message, nor at any other time. I believe it was directly from heaven-the work of the Spirit of God.”—The Review and Herald, October 7, 1884. DOF 369.2

And yet he was “ashamed” of this confession “before it was cold.” Think of it! A clergyman has a remarkable experience, publicly attributes it to the work of the Spirit of God, and then almost immediately is ashamed of this public utterance because it is insincere. What shall this be called? DOF 369.3

How, then, shall a man who has thus made a mockery of the work of the Holy Spirit come forth in two or three years’ time as a Moses to lead the people of God out of darkness and deliver them from a “yoke of bondage”? Is he not of those against whom Isaiah warned the church, saying: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20. DOF 369.4