The Fruitage of Spiritual Gifts

Preconference Workers’ Meeting

The Minneapolis session was preceded by a workers’ meeting lasting a week. At this ministerial institute several topics, such as the ten kingdoms of Daniel 2 and 7 and the law in Galatians, were hotly disputed. justification by faith was on the agenda, too, but did not take first place in the early meetings. It was a session of outstanding doctrinal controversy. The two men who especially urged righteousness by faith also advanced certain teachings concerning these two topics, which brought in confusion. Their extreme position on these subjects gave others an unwarranted excuse to question what they taught concerning justification by faith. FSG 229.1

The institute almost took on the form of a public debate, not with outsiders but among our best ministers. J. H. Morrison, an honored minister in our ranks and president of the Iowa Conference, took one side in a discussion with Dr. E. J. Waggoner about the law in Galatians. He was an earnest Christian, and believed in righteousness by faith, but feared the extreme views of Dr. Waggoner on the two laws as taught in Galatians. In later years, when A. T. Jones and others had gone into fanaticism, he defended the advent message with much zeal and success, as is clearly seen by his book on that topic. Uriah Smith debated with A. T. Jones concerning the ten kingdoms. Elder Smith championed the Huns as one of the ten, while Jones claimed, and no doubt rightly so, that the Alamanni were of the ten. Little by little our church came to see that some of Dr. Waggoner’s views on Galatians were unsound and should be given up. Mrs. White said little about the points at issue but warned earnestly against the spirit of strife and hatred. FSG 229.2

The ministers present took sides with one or the other. Elder Smith was a modest but well-informed man; Elder Jones was more rugged and boastful. At one point he said, “The difficulty with Brother Smith is that he does not know who the ten kingdoms are and yet argues for the Huns while I know and can prove my position.” Mrs. White, who usually did not attend these debates, happened to be there, and she arose and severely reprimanded Elder Jones for his disrespect to an old pioneer in the advent movement. Mrs. White strongly urged our people not to discuss and dispute as they had the doctrinal question of the ceremonial law and the ten kingdoms. Concerning this she wrote that other churches had— FSG 230.1

“Quibbled about matters of no special importance which were not given by the Lord as tests, and dwelt upon their differences of opinion till these differences became as mountains, separating them from Christ and from one another, destroying unity and love. FSG 230.2

“We are in danger of falling into similar errors. Never should that which God has not given as a test be carried as was the subject of the law in Galatians. I have been instructed that the terrible experience at the Minneapolis conference is one of the saddest chapters in the history of the believers in present truth. God forbids that the subject of the two laws should ever again be agitated as it then was. Some are not yet healed of their defection and would plunge into this subject once more. Should they do this, differences of opinion would again create division. This question must not be revived.”—Letter 179, 1902. FSG 230.3

As a result of this instruction to cease all debating concerning the epistle to the Galatians, controversy ceased and little by little the true light came as we have it now. This does not mean that we are not to study Galatians, but we are not to encourage needless discussion of minor points. FSG 230.4