some early adventists struggled with the trinity doctrine

8/3/2019 Some Early Adventists Struggled With the Trinity Doctrine

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Some Early Adventists Struggled With the Trinity Doctrineby Frank Klinmaranathamedia.com

In the Discussion Questions on Friday, January 6 online edition of the 2012 Glimpsesof Our God Sabbath School lessons on the trinity we read the following:

"Though some early Adventists struggled with the doctrine, our church today hastaken a firm and* unrelenting* stand on this teaching." *These two words wereremoved from the print edition.

As a non-trinitarian I am in agreement that some early Adventists did struggle with thetrinity doctrine. Allow me to share why. When I began to study the truth of the Fatherand Son in Scripture I also set out to discover what the pioneers of our faith wrote onthe subject. I learned that as the pillars were established our pioneers spoke out againstthe trinity. The church now teaches, They were against the Catholic trinity. The

Adventist faith supports the true Biblical trinity.

Based on what others say about her would Ellen White fit the criteria as someone whomay have struggled with the trinity? Turning to her writings I found beautiful harmony onthe truth about God from the beginning of her ministry to the end without a singlemention of the trinity or triune god. We have no documentation from her of a personalinternal struggle over the doctrine, so I have eliminated her is as a candidate. Yes, afew of her statements seemed puzzling and could lead one to think she had trinitarianleanings. Well meaning people have the idea she had always secretly been a trinitarianbecause of her Methodist upbringing and when her husband passed away she "subtly"let the church know what she had believed all along when she wro te The Desire of

Ages. Here are a couple of those voices.

But, some say, the Adventist pioneers did not believe in the Trinity. Actually,some Adventist pioneers did believe in the Trinity and others did not. Ellen Whitewas one Adventist pioneer. She had before that been a Methodist. Methodistsare Trinitarians. Ellen White throughout her life also believed that God is one,and that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three distinct persons. So I think weare in good company when we hold to this as Bible truth. (Pastor LarryKirkpatrick, First Comforter, sermon given at Northern Idaho RegionalCampmeeting, Bonners Ferry, ID, USA, June, 2011)

Arian views were quite pervasive in the writings of early Seventh-day Adventism.In fact, it was possibly almost as widespread as convictions regarding theimminence of Christ's return. It has been hard for many 20th Century Adventiststo grasp this fact in the light of the complete and official triumph of Trinitarianismin the movement in this century. (Woodrow Whidden, Arianism, Adventismand Methodism: The Healing of Trinitarian Teaching and Soteriology, froma paper presented to The Tenth Oxford, MI (USA) Institute of MethodistTheological Studies Working Group: History of Wesleyan Traditions:Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries August 12-22, 1997 Oxford UniversitySomerville College)
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What then is to be made of Adventism's simultaneous emergence out of bothunwitting legalism and a rather strongly held Arian stance? Clear-cut answers area bit hard to come by in this area of Adventist history, but it does appear that thefollowing factors were the most decisive: (Woodrow Whidden, SalvationPilgrimage, Ministry Magazing, April, 1998 & paper presented to The Tenth

Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies Working Group)

1)The obvious spiritual needs of the church: here both James and Ellen White,later supported by Jones and Waggoner, took the lead. We have no record thatthey sat up one day and said: "This Arianism business is simply killing our peoplewith legalistic attitudes that are bringing on a terrible spiritual condition in thechurch!" What seems more apparent is that they sensed the severe dangersinherent in the obviously legalistic trends within the movement, began to studymore carefully the causes of the condition and then began to instinctively sensethe need for a more Trinitarian undergirding of soteriology (the doctrine ofsalvation). (Ibid)

This basic phenomenon is especially evident in Ellen White. I have simply notfound any instances where she self-consciously set out to reflect on thesoteriological implications of the full deity of Christ and the personhood of theHoly Spirit. She, however, seemed to be able to draw not only on Scripture, butalso on the resources of her Methodist matrix. While she never admitted anydirect debt to the Wesleyan/Methodist Tradition for her soteriology, it was clearlyher baseline in her ministry from the very beginning. This is especially true of herattempts to keep a balance between the primacy of justification by faith, while atthe same time giving great emphasis to sanctification and Holiness of heart andlife. It appears that the same might be said for the Trinitarian consciousness

raising power of her Wesleyan/Methodist background. (Ibid)

If we take the ideas that were just presented to their logical conclusion then Adventistsare trinitarian because Methodists are. Methodists also believe in Sunday sacrednessand the immorality of the soul. Where should we stop? Continuing along those lines willevidence show that Adventists are also trinitarian because the Church of England is?Read on.

Since we cannot substantiate that SisterWhite drew on the sources of someMethodistmatrix, or apurported Trinitarian consciousness then we must not state these ideasas fact. From personal research have not uncovered writings from any other early

Adventist non-trinitarian documenting a struggle to personally accept the trinity. So howam I in agreement with the statement from the Sabbath School lesson?

Interestingly we do have written evidence of some early Trinitarian Adventists who didstruggle with what the Adventist church officially taught from Scripture about the Father,Son and Holy Spirit, and that is the reason for this treatise. That premise is why I canagree that some early Adventists struggled with the doctrine and it is because of theirinfluence that over time our church could take a firm unrelenting stand on this teaching


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today. While many of you will be familiar with these two men, watch as we unfold afascinating account of influence and conditioning that may not have been revealedbefore.

Herbert Camden Lacey (1871-1950), was born in England and raised in India and

Tasmania. In 1888 the entire family joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Lacey,who was a student in an Episcopal college in Hobart at thattime, then traveled to the United States to study at HealdsburgCollege, forerunner of Pacific Union College, where hecompleted the ministerial program in 1892. (Seventh-dayAdventist Encyclopedia, etc)

He next enrolled at Battle Creek College and graduated fromthe classical course in 1895, at age 24. Immediately followinggraduation, he married Lillian Yarnell of Orange, California. Theday after the wedding, they left for Australia to assist Ellen

White in establishing a new training school at Cooranbong inNew South Wales now Avondale. (Ibid)

Later he served on the faculty at Healdsburg and as President of the forerunner oftoday's Newbold College in England. He taught in a series of American Colleges andalso spent time in the Far East. Later he pastored churches in New York and SouthernCalifornia and was also, for a time, professor of Biblical Exegesis at what we now knowas Loma Linda University. (Ibid)

LeRoy Edwin Froom (1890-1974), author, editor, scholar and church leader. Froomfounded Ministry magazine and was its editor for 22 years. A specialist in historical

research, Froom also taught historical theology each summerat Andrews University. His written legacy is significant andincludes the four volume The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers,the two volume, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, [and]

Movement of Destiny **Frooms The Coming of theComforter (1928) [was] the first book by an Adventist tofeature the Holy Spirit as a Person. (synopsis of the entry inthe SDA Encyclopedia, **George R. Knight, A Search forIdentity: The Development of Seventh-Day AdventistBeliefs)

Froom studied at Pacific Union College and Walla WallaCollege, now University, before graduating from Washington Training Center, nowColumbia Union College. He began his career as a pastor and then trained to be aneditor at Pacific Press Publishing Association. He was living in Takoma Park, Maryland,and working on a final book, The Holy Spirit - Executive of the Godhead, when he diedat age 83. (Wayne Hooper's Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal)


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L. E. Froom was also one of the authors ofQuestions on Doctrine. No other book hasaroused so much controversy in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church...Published in 1957 as a direct result of the dialogues between evangelicals Walter Martinand Donald Grey Barnhouse and a select group of Adventist leaders, Questions onDoctrine was hailed initially as the apology par excellence of Adventism by its writers

and promoters. However, when the book came out, it created great uproar amongAdventists who questioned whether it accurately represented Adventist theology andthe writings of Ellen White, in particular. (Andrews University Website, Questions OnDoctrine 50thAnniversary announcement)

In a letter dated August 8, 1945 and written by Elder Froom to brother Lacey he asksspecifically about the beginnings of the discussion of Trinitariansim versus Arianism asit pertains to the topic of certain Ellen White statements, most of which appeared in theDesire of Ages.

Dear Brother Lacey: Elder Andreasen has been under the impression that

when Mrs. White began to write those statementsthat relate to the eternalexistence of Christ and His oneness with the Father through all past time thatthere was no agitation or discussion of any sort.

On the contrary, Elder D. E. Robinson of the White Estate, is under theimpression, I believe from something told him by you, that over at Cooranbongaround 1898 or 1899 you were giving a series of studies on the Trinity and werechallenged by some of the brethren

I assure you that I am not seeking to create any difficulty or to indulge in anyagitation. It is simply a matter of information in the background of discussions of

Arianism and Trinitarianism which periodically arise.

A letter dated August 30, 1945 brought Elder Laceys reply to Froom which states therewas no special controversy or agitation over the trinity relating to Sister Whitesstatements in the Desire of Agesabout the eternal existence of Christ and His onenesswith the Father. He also shares why:

As to any special controversy, or agitation, over the matter of the Trinity, Icannot recall anything serious at all. I have always known that Elder Uriah Smithwas an Arian in belief, (Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation reveal that!) andthat our people undoubtedly generally followed that view.

As we continue with Laceys letter we are able to document where a personal conflictover the doctrine of the trinity came from and what angle the conflict related tospecifically:

But we, as a family, had been brought up in the Church of England, and werenaturally, may I say, Trinitarians. We just believed it, subconsciously, and I do notremember our ever discussing the question with the brethren who brought us into
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the Truth, Elder M. C. Israel, and young brother W. L. H. Baker. One thing I dorecall is my mothers remarking on the strange language used by our ministers inspeaking of the Holy Ghost as it and its as though they thought of the HolySpirit as an influence, instead of as a Person. That seemed very strange to her,and in a measure to me also (I was about 17 then). Now this bring[s] me to the

second point in my letter; The angle in which I was involved in that convention atCooranbong was not the Eternity of the Son, but the Personality of the HolyGhost.

Being raised trinitarian through the Church of England seeds had been plantedconcerning the Personality of the Holy Ghost which made him doubt what the

Adventist church was teaching on the subject. He plainly states why this would be:

As I already stated, I was really a Trinitarian at heart. And I went throughHealdsburg College, and Battle Creek College, with a dim sort of a feeling thatthere was something wrong about our teaching on the Ministry and Personality of

the Holy Ghost. (Of course, that term was never used, except in reading from theBible,it was always Holy Spirit and referred to as it.) And then in theTestimonies I noticed that, practically everywhere, the same language wasused, Holy Spirit it its etc., as though the Spirit of God were an influence,instead of a Person, the Third Person of the Godhead.

Inadvertently the Adventist church actually played a part in germinating Laceys seedsof trinitarianism relating to the Holy Spirit through the influence of a source outside thechurch:

During my college course at Battle Creek, in March 1894, I attended as adelegate from the College the second international convention of the StudentVolunteer Movement of Foreign Missions, held at Detroit Michigan. There I heardsuch men as Mr. J.R. Mott, Mr. Robert Speer, and such Spirit-filled servants ofthe Lord as J. Hudson Taylor, A.T. Pierson, A.J. Gordon, with Miss GeraldineGuinness, and others. I remember too how Sr. Georgia Burruss (who was alsoa delegate at that convention, and who became afterwards our first womanmissionary to India, I believe) was impressed by the spiritual teachings andappeals of these men. I recall her saying something like this: Brother Lacey,these men are not Sabbath-keepers, as we understand it, but the Lord iscertainly using them mightily: I have never felt the deep moving of the Spirit ofGod upon my heart, as I have here at this convention. And I couldnt helpagreeing with her exactly.

Well now, one thing I noticed vividly; the emphasis placed by all these teachersupon the ministry of the Holy Ghost in our lives as Gods servants andmissionaries, a ministry as of a real, definite, divine person, always with us, andin us, the Comforter as taught by Jesus Christ in His last pascal discourse


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Who were these individuals that left their imprint on Herbert Lacey and Sister Burruss?Would you like to be a delegate at the Convention? Praise the Father you can becourtesy of the book,The student missionary enterprise: addresses and discussions ofthe Second International Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for ForeignMissions, held at Detroit, Mich., Feb. 28 to Mar. 4, 1894 where we learn one thousand

and eighty-two student delegates, from two hundred and ninety-four institutions oflearning in the United States and Canada, were in attendance. The key-note of theConvention wasThe enduement of the Holy Ghost for service.

We will now give an introduction to each person that brother Lacey named and share afew of the thoughts they presented to the young people in attendance.

John R. Mott (18651955). By the time Mott was 32, he was called "Protestantism'sleading statesman," at 58, the "father of the young people of the world," and at age 81,in 1946, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize It was evangelistic passion thatmade Mott his generation's most popular evangelist to university students and the

promoter of the emerging ecumenical movement. (Mark Galli, John R. Mott:Evangelist and Ecumenist, Christianity Today, January 2000)

The New-York-born-and-Iowa-raised Mott was nurtured in adevout Methodist home. He was led into "a reasonable and vitalfaith" at Cornell University after hearing and speaking personallywith C. T. Studd, the renowned cricket-player-turned-evangelist(and one of the "Cambridge Seven" who later worked withHudson Taylor in China). Mott was struck by Studd'sadmonition, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek themnot. Seek ye first the kingdom of God." That same year, at the1886 Northfield (Massachusetts) Student Conference led byDwight Moody, Mott stepped up and became one of the 100men who volunteered for foreign missions. (Ibid)

Mott's destiny, however, lay not in foreign missions but in evangelizing college studentsand inspiring others to foreign mission work. He became college secretary of the YMCAin 1888, when the organization was consciously evangelical and aggressivelyevangelistic. That same year, he helped organize the Student Volunteer Movement forForeign Missions (SVM), a branch of the YMCA and YWCA ( Ibid)

In 1893 he helped found the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, and in1910, he helped pull together and chair the massive Edinburgh MissionaryConferenceits 1,200 delegates represented 160 mission boards or societies. (Ibid)

All these movements, and a few more with which Mott was involved, eventuallyblossomed at the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948. Mott was not onlyofficially named honorary president at the inaugural session, he has since earned theinformal title of "father of the ecumenical movement." ( Ibid)
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As a founder of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions twenty-nine yearold Mott introduced the speakers, conducted a consecration service, read variousreports and offered prayers at the Detroit Convention. His appeals and calls to thedelegates recorded in the book fit well with the theme, The enduement of the HolyGhost for service.

Robert E. Speer (18671947), ** one of the major figures in Presbyterian andecumenical church history. In college, Speer was profoundly influenced by Dwight L.Moody, the preeminent evangelist of the day, and committedhimself to foreign missions. **(John F. Piper, Biography ofRobert E. Speer, 2000)

Twenty-seven year old Speer gave the opening address of theConvention. Incidentally he did not speak on the Holy Spirit. Hismessage was Christ centered with a study on Paul, the GreatMissionary Example. Here is an excerpt:

There are two things about Pauls message which impressus: the first was the wholeness of itThe second thing was itssimplicity. It was so simple that a little child could preach hisgospel. "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ andHim crucified " ---that was the burden of it all. "This is a faithful saying and worthyof all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whomI am chief." Fellow students, that is our Gospel. Don't preach a system of truth.What good is a system of truth anyhow? Don't preach salvation; don't preachredemption. Preach the Saviour. Preach the Redeemer. What is wanted theworld round is not more truth; it is a Divine Person. What is wanted is not a largerdoctrine; it is the advent of the Divine life. And however much we shall fail, as wesurely shall fail, if we go preaching a large and concrete and well-connectedsystem, we shall never fail if we go preaching the simple, the omnipotent, theirresistible Christ.

Brother Spear also gave the closing address, once again focusing on Jesus. Here is aportion:

[T]hose of us who have caught that voice, and have resolved in these days tofollow, have learned much if we have decided also to learn of Him. Howmarvellously He will teach us in that school of prayer which He opened years andyears ago when His disciples, anxious to be taught to praycame to Him saying,"Lord, teach us to pray." How marvellously He will teach us in that school ofhumility in which He taught when He took a little child and told them, "Of such isthe kingdom of heaven." And how lovingly He will teach us to serve, as Herepeats in our lives the scene at the supper, and in our ears His divine words, "Iam among you as He that serveth." If we have learned to be infants in thekindergarten of the Master teacher, we have learned where and how to learn.


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But He has a deeper word even than this for the man that will take it from Him:"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except itabide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye arethe branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth muchfruit: for without me ye can do nothing." It will be much to us to gain the larger

power of the Holy Spirit. It will be more, fellow students, if any of us have not yetlearned to abide in Christ, to obey that message of His and say, "Yes, Thou truevine, I will abide in Thee." Very few of us will ever be conspicuous in Christianservice. Very few of us will ever be picked out as men and women of exceptionalgifts whom God has used in marvellously exceptional ways. We must be contentto bear that fruit which comes from simple abiding in Him, and from our trust andconfidence in His Word, which He has said shall not return unto Him void

Fellow students, are we Christ? Is Christ re-incarnated in us? Have you beenmistaken for Him? Have any of the things that we have done been mistaken forHis deeds, so that men crossing our paths have said, "We have crossed the path

of the Christ?" Eighteen hundred years ago He went away, but He is not away. Inthousands of lives still, in the life of every one who has caught the spirit of Hislife, Christ lives again. And as we go, fellow students, let it not be the sense of alarge enthusiasm begotten by these large numbers; let it not be the strength of adeep feeling stirred by the sweeping of His hand over the heartstrings of our livesin the days of this gathering, ---let it be the living, abiding, enduring, undepartingChrist, re-living His Divine life in our lives, that shall help us to serve Him. Andthen what matters the end? What matters it if a life shall be laid on African shoresbefore the lips ever begin to speak one of Africa's tongues? What matter if onevery isle of every sea some volunteer shall lay down his life to rest until thefootsteps of our Lord gleam gloriously at His reappearing? What matter, if we areliving Christ?

James Hudson Taylor (18321905), was born in Yorkshire, England. After a briefperiod of teenage skepticism, he came to Christ by reading a Christian tract in hisfather's apothecary store. A few months after his conversion, heconsecrated himself wholly to the Lord's work. He sensed theLord was calling him to China. In 1853, the twenty-one-year-oldTaylor sailed for China as an agent of a new mission society.(Compiled from biographies by Diane Severance, Ed Reeceand wikipedia)

During his total of 51 years in the China mission field hefounded the China Inland Mission (CIM). The society that hebegan was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to thecountry who began 125 schools and directly resulted in 18,000Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of morethan 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces.(Ibid)


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In 1887Taylor went back to England to speak at the Keswick Convention and challengerecruits to join him in China. Taylor was about to return when urgent invitations fromHenry Frost came to visit America in December. He decided to go and on his first trip to

America he preached at Dwight Moody's Northfield student conference and at theNiagara Bible Conference in Ontario.As he went back to China in the Fall of 1888, he

was able to take 14 candidates along from America. (Ibid)

In May, 1900, Taylor was brought to the very doors of death by the terrible news of theChinese Boxer Rebellion, the resulting disruption of the work and murder of hundreds ofmissionaries along with the native Christians, and as the telegrams came telling of riotsand massacres, he gasped, "I cannot read, I cannot pray, I can scarcely think...but I cantrust." (Ibid)

This elder brother in missions work spoke passionately to the young people gathered forthe Convention about an earnest personal desire:

And I do earnestly desire that the result of this Convention to many, many of youshall be, that you may know the Holy Ghost as a living bright reality, as a distinctpersonality, as a lover, as a friend. It was many a year after I was a Christianbefore the Holy Ghost was more than an influence to me. But it is so blessed toknow Him as a person, to know Him as a guide, as a leader, a mighty power,always at hand, and ready to meet our infirmities and to help and to use us. Ledby that infallible guide you will never be led astray, and oh, He will throw such alight on the precious Word of God as will make it to you a new book altogether.

Arthur Tappan Pierson (18371911), was an American Presbyterian pastor, earlyfundamentalist leader, and writer who preached over 13,000

sermons, wrote over fifty books, and gave Bible lectures aspart of a transatlantic preaching ministry that made him famousin Scotland and England. Pierson spoke with D. L. Moody athis Northfield Conferences (wikipedia)

Dr. Pierson attended the Keswick Convention in England, moreoften than any other speaker from America, attending regularlyfrom 1897 to 1909. He dominated the Convention with hisunique abilities and spiritual and intellectual power. (PleasantPlaces Author Biographies)

As a missionary speaker A.T. Pierson influenced Robert Elliott Speer, Samuel Zwemer,and John R. Mott to give their lives to missions. (wikipedia)

At the Convention brother Pierson traces his history of the forward movement.

There never was a movement in history more directly traceable to the Father ofus all than this Student Volunteer Movement Beloved brethren and fellow-students and fellow-evangelists, all through the history of the Church of God
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some of the true sayings of God have become the signal-cry and the trumpet-peal of the forward movement. In the apostolic days there were five words in theGreek which had more continual and incessant use than almost any others. Andsome think when Paul said he would rather speak five words with hisunderstanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue, he referred to the

five words that almost immediately succeed this utterance: "Christ died for oursins." When Luther stepped out from the convent gates and sounded the clarionpeal of the great Reformation, there were these words, alike from the GreekTestament, that became to him the rallying cry: "The just shall live by faith." It is acurious fact that just eight hundred years ago this year 1894, Peter the Hermit,that emaciated dwarf, reduced to a skeleton by his austerities, swept overEurope north of the Alps and roused the Teutonic tribes for the first assault onthe Saracens by two words taken from the Vulgate, Deus Vult.

Deus vult (Latin for "God wills it") was the cry of the people at the declaration of theFirst Crusade by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095. (wikipedia)

The Higher Life movement is sometimes referred to as the Keswick movement,because it promoted Christian holiness at conventions in Keswick, England, whichcontinue to this day. Its name comes from a book by William Boardman, entitled TheHigher Christian Life, which was published in 1858. (Ibid)

Ellen White knew well of William Boardman and his book. See the section An Egg,Banana and Shampooin Adventist Trinity Primer.

Higher life teachingpromotes passivity or quietism. Let go and let God, has beentaken to extremes by a number of higher life teachers. William Boardman and C. G.Trumbull have been two of its most vocal proponents. Victory supposedly can onlybecome habitual when passivity is cultivated. Passivity is what quietists think is themeans of releasing the Spirit. Personal initiative of any sort is attributed to the flesh.Passivity allows God to work through the person by promptings and impressions.

Annihilation of selfhood is key. When self is out of the way, the divine life can flowfreely through the individual. William Boardman was also a proponent of the slidingscale view of sin. The claims of Gods law were adjusted or graduated according tothe sinners ability. (Jay Wegter, A Critique of the Higher Life Movement)

Adoniram Judson Gordon (18361895), was an American Baptist preacher, writer,composer, and founder of Gordon College and GordonConwell Theological Seminary.He was a close friend of D. L. Moody, and assisted him in hiswork in Boston. He also was a frequent speaker at MoodysNorthfield Conferences. (wikipedia, etc)

Many aspects of the Holy Ghost are brought to the fore in theaddress by A.J. Gordon. You will discover later in this recordthat the gentleman was well-versed on the subject.
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Now, dwell just a moment upon the Word. I believe that this Scripture not onlywas inspired but is inspired; that the Spirit of God lives and breathes in its lettersand sentences. Just as my blood is in every part of my body, the Spirit of God isin every part of this Word. I hold in my hand a seed, and that seed has in it thewaving harvest. I hold in my hand an acorn, and that acorn holds the oak ---the

wide-striking roots and the far-reaching branches all wrapped up in the acorn.Now, we have that marvellous characterization of the Scriptures as "theincorruptible seed of the Word."

Beloved brethren, at this late hour and after a weary day I am very well awarethat the Spirit alone can lift us up to the high plane on which I desire to speakvery briefly to-night; and I pray that the Spirit will help us to consider the greattheme of "The Spirit in His Work and Preparation for the Missionary Enterprise."

Just as Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost that He might be thefirst great missionary, so every one of us must have the same preparation if we

are to follow in His steps and worthily accomplish the work which He hascommitted to our hands. Think just a moment of what preparation He had for Hisgreat missionary work. Begotten of the Holy Ghost, at twelve years of age soinstructed in the Holy Scriptures that He was able to dispute with the doctors inthe temple. And then that beautiful manhood! What more did He need? And yetwe find Him, before entering upon His public ministry, praying at the Jordan,seeking now the enduement of the Holy Ghost; and as He prayed the Spiritdescended and rested upon Him. That is to say, He depended upon the HolyGhost for the accomplishment of His ministry, just as we depend upon the HolyGhost. Ask Him about His miracles. The answer comes, "I, by the Spirit of God,cast out devils." Ask Him concerning His great sacrifice for the sins of the world,and you read that He "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot untoGod." Ask concerning the giving of the great commission, and we read, "Afterthat He through the Holy Ghost had given commandment unto the apostles." In aword, Jesus Christ depended upon the Holy Ghost from the beginning to the endof His ministry

Now, I want to deal just a moment upon having the Spirit. I think these phrases,the baptism of the Holy Ghost" and the "anointing of the Holy Spirit," havebewildered a great many. Let me state what I believe the plainest putting of thematter: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I tell a sinner simply toaccept Christ"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, thatwhosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," and allthat one has to do is to receive Him. Now, Jesus Christ went away, and the thirdPerson of the Trinity came down. Just as truly as Jesus Christ for thirty-threeyears walked upon the earth, the Holy Ghost has been in the Church ever sincethe day of Pentecost. Now, young men and women, as you received Jesus Christfor your justification, have you solemnly received the Holy Ghost for yoursanctification, for your power, for your Divine personal helper, so that henceforth


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He can use you completely? That is receiving the Holy Ghost. It is a simpleexperience of faith, and there are many that bear testimony to its reality.

But that is not all. There is the sun: what good is it except I have an eye? It can'tbring its image upon the retina of my eye if I am blind. Here is the air all about,

and I have the air; and yet I shall be a dead man unless the air has my lungsthrough which it can lay hold of me. This company of Christians here to-night Imay represent as the lungs of the Holy Ghost; He is the air. Suppose that ninetyout of one hundred of the air cells of the human lungs are stopped up, how can aman live and be in health? He has pneumonia. And so exactly it is in the Churchof Jesus Christ. We have the Holy Ghost, but He must have us; He must be sorelated to us that we can inhale and exhale Him, that He may be in us while weare in Him. Blessed experience, if truly the Holy Ghost has possession of us!

Mary Geraldine Guinness Taylor (18651949), was a British Protestant Christianmissionary to China, and author of many missionary

biographies regarding the history of the China Inland Mission(renamed as Overseas Missionary Fellowship, (now OMFInternational). She was the daughter of the famous revivalistpreacher and author Henry Grattan Guinness, a friend ofJames Hudson Taylor, founder of the CIM. She becameTaylor's daughter-in-law when she married his son (and fellowCIM missionary), Frederick Howard Taylor. (wikipedia)

One can understand from reading the following portion of heraddress how this eloquent young woman, who was not yetthirty years old, would be a lasting impression on many of the

college students at the Convention:

Do you know the Holy Spirit as a person, a personal reality, just as real as theLord Jesus Christ, just as real as God the Father, one with whom you have to doin your daily life? Do you know what the communion of the Holy Ghost is? If not,seek Him now, oh, seek Him now. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you before Hecalls you out into the field at all. Friends, I can't put it into words, ---there are nowords to express it,--- but if you know Him you will know it; if He is real to you,you will know it. He was not real to me when I went out to China in the sense thatHe is now. Thank God we all of us have the Holy Spirit in our hearts. But do weknow Him as a friend to whom we can turn at all times to make the great realitiesof eternity real to us, to make impossible things possible to us, to fill our ownhearts with Jesus, and fill our lives to reveal Jesus to others? We want Him hereat home just as much as we do there. Will you, oh, will you seek to know Himmore and more fully as you go on, and pray for us that we may know Him more?

And let us commit our lives utterly to Him, because He can make us sufficientwherever we are to show forth the living Christ in all His gracious saving power


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Now, dear brothers and sisters, there is no reason why any one of us should goaway from this city until the Holy Spirit of God has taken real, full, deeppossession of our whole being, and transformed our lives, in some sense madeus to be born again into a new life, a life in the power of the Holy Ghost. Will youprayerfully search your Bibles, or if you have already done so, do it again, to find

what we are to expect from the Holy Spirit of God? I think, if you will look all thepassages carefully over in which the Lord Jesus tells us what the Holy Spirit isgiven to us for, you will find, as I did not so very long ago, that He is really given

just to meet the deepest needs of our souls, and to be to us just the very thing welong for most. Victory over sin, think of that! Read the sixth chapter of Romans,the seventh, the eighth of Romans, and if you pray over that and the Spiritenlightens your soul, you will see there that the fullest, the most complete andpermanent victory over sin is promised to us through the Holy Ghost. And thenliberty, liberty from self, from fear, from everything that would hinder us and keepus back from the fullest blessing, it is all promised to us in Him; the liberty thatmakes us free. If you know yourself in bondage to anything at all in your life that

is keeping you back from what your life might be, oh, remember you will find inHim the promise of liberty, the fullest, deepest liberty of soul.

And then that reproducing of the life of Christ. Take for example a passage inSecond Corinthians, the life of Christ lived over again in us. Listen to this:"Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministeredby us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God;" and then furtherdown in the chapter: "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the gloryof the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by theSpirit of the Lord." That reproducing of the life of Christ, that re-incarnation thatwe heard about last night, that we all want so much in our lives, it is through Him.Everything we need is for us in Him, through Him, if we will only give over ourlives to Him and believe in His power and wait before Him until He has completepossession of us and can manifest that power through our lives. Then, blessingto others, power with men, where does it all come from? "He that believeth onme, from him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake lie of the Spirit."There is not a need we have anywhere in our lives, there is not a blessing thatwe want, that is not secured for us in the indwelling fullness of the Spirit of God

And one night a stranger, almost a stranger, in a meeting said something to meabout blessing and fullness of power in one's life. I said, " I know very little aboutit, but I want to know more, I want to know more about the power of the HolySpirit," He turned to me and said, " What, don't you know the fullness of the HolySpirit in your life?" That startled me. I had never thought of it before. I said, " No, Idon't." Then I went away and thought about it, and I thought, that is just it, I don'tknow, I don't know what it is to have the real fullness of the Holy Ghost in my life.

And then I began to pray for it.

The next day two men from that man-of-war came up to speak about their souls.They wanted to find Christ. They were most un-godly men, but something had


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touched them, and they wanted to find Christ. And about three hours that Sundayafternoon I was with those two men, pointing them to Jesus, and I saw ineverything I said to them something for myself. I just said to them, "Now, whatyou must do is this: you must just open your heart to receive Jesus Christ. Hecan do all that you need. That is just what you want. He is willing to come into

your heart, and take possession of your heart, and save you for time and foreternity. You must receive Him, you must receive Jesus Christ as He is, all He is.You won't understand it just at first, but He will reveal Himself to you by degrees.Don't wait for feelings; don't wait to be any better; don't be kept back by fear youcouldn't keep it, as you say; don't be kept back by fear of the result. Just takeHim as He is, all He is, as you are, and let Him come into your heart and do allthe rest." And in their difficulties, in their struggle, because it was a hard strugglewith both those men, I saw my own life reflected; I saw that what I needed to dowas just to take the Holy Spirit as I urged those men to take Jesus Christ, orrather to let Jesus Christ take them, to give over their lives to Him. And I saw thatI needed to do the same, to give over my life to the Holy Spirit of God and just let

Him come in all His grace and His fullness that I knew so little about, and take mylife and make it what it ought to be. Of course, the first feeling was doubt aboutthe result. What might He do? How far might one have to go? I had seen somelives that went far beyond mine, and I felt as if I could not live as they did; it wastoo much for me, ---such consecration to God, such devotion to His service, suchutter death to self. I feared what might be the result of really being filled with theSpirit of God. When these men said the same thing about receiving Jesus, I said,"Don't you mind that; He will give you strength for whatever you need." And justtalking to them like that made everything so clear to me. Those two men gavetheir hearts to Christ that day, and the next morning, the 21st of December, Inever shall forget it, I gave my life to the Spirit of God.

We have only been able to partake of a small portion of what was shared at the StudentForeign Missions Convention and from this taste maybe you have an inkling of theprofound effect the speakers had on the then twenty-three year old Adventist collegestudent struggling with the doctrine of the trinity. I imagine that being there was likecoming home for our brother. He had found fellowship outside the church with peoplewho spoke his language. We know this practice of mingling continues today in thename of ecumenism, missions and unity. Oh if the Adventist church could onlyunderstand what damage these forays are doing.

Laceys reaction to the Conference penetrated his mind so deeply that fifty -one yearslater he was able to recall certain speakers by name and elicite vividly; the emphasis

placed by all these teachers upon the ministry of the Holy Ghost in our lives as Godsservants and missionaries, a ministry as of a real, definite, divine person, always withus, and in us, the Comforter as taught by Jesus Christ Brother Lacey goes on torelate to Elder Froom what the appeal and messages of these new teachers wrought inhim.

On the voyage back to Australia during September 1895, I made that theme, thePersonality and Work of the Holy Ghost, a special subject of study. And I became


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convinced for myself! So when I was asked to conduct a series of Bible studiesat the 9:00 oclock hour at a convention in Cooranbong in 1896 I presented thattheme

While we have no records of this 1896 series of studies would it be safe to say that

based on his testimony of trinitarian roots from the Church of England and a faith re-affirmed by those speakers at the Student Foreign Missions Convention just two yearsprior, our brother no longer wrestled with the doctrine of the trinity? His theme of thePersonality and Work of the Holy Ghost as expounded upon in Cooranbong may verywell have been the first of its kind to be presented publicly in the Adventist Church. Thiswas a marked departure from Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Psalms 139:7,the foundational Scripture verses the pioneers of the church had laid concerning theFather, Son and Spirit.

Brother Lacey also felt, as did Dr. Kellogg with his book The Living Temple, that EllenWhites writings agreed with his suppositions as his letter to Froom states:

"When the Desire of Ages came out in 1898, Brother Daniells himself called myattention to the expression found on page 671, where the Spirit is spoken of asthe third person of the Godhead (I had not at that time seen a printed copy) andmade some kindly comments. Later, in Testimonies for the Church, Series B,No. 7 on page 63 (Nov 1905) I found this paragraph:-

The Comforter that Christ promised to send after He ascended to heaven,is the Spirit in all the fullness of the Godhead, making manifest the powerof divine grace to all who receive and believe in Christ as a personalSaviour. THERE ARE THREE LIVING PERSONS OF THE HEAVENLY

TRIO; in the name of these three great powers the Father, the Son, andthe Holy Spirit, those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, andthese powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in theirefforts to live the new life of Christ.

exactly as I had endeavored to teach 9 years previously.

In this same connection I was interested to note the language used in the articleThe Holy Spirit in our Schools found in 8T. 61, 62, and bearing [the] date May10, 1896 Cooranbong N. S. W., where every time the Holy Spirit is referred to,the pronouns He, Him, His are employed. And He is called a heavenlymessenger The heavenly guest repeatedly, and apparently the great TeacherHimself.

HERE is a link to the original letter exchange between Elders Froom and Lacey.

Also another letterwritten by Lacey in 1947 to A.W. Spalding will give more insights intohis trinitarianism. There again he points to his lectures and studies at Cooranbong in
http://www.maranathamedia.com/site/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&Itemid=52&id=6664:l-e-froom-a-h-c-lacey-letters-aug-8-1945http://www.maranathamedia.com/site/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&Itemid=52&id=6663:h-c-lacey-ltr-to-a-w-spalding-june-5-1947http://www.maranathamedia.com/site/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&Itemid=52&id=6663:h-c-lacey-ltr-to-a-w-spalding-june-5-1947http://www.maranathamedia.com/site/index.php?option=com_rokdownloads&view=file&Itemid=52&id=6664:l-e-froom-a-h-c-lacey-letters-aug-8-1945


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1896 noting how Sister White followed in tow with his teachings in her writings. Becauseof this he could declare:

Since which time the doctrine of the Trinity has been established among us, -although, apparently, not fully accepted by all!

Conduct a personal study to discern for yourself if Sister Whites use of three livingpersons of the heavenly trio, Godhead, three highest powers, or three dignitaries iscompatible with the trinity doctrine.Also see ifThe mighty agency of the third person ofthe Godhead, heavenly messenger, or The heavenly guest is in sync with what istaught by Christendom, Lacey and the Adventist church today concerning the thirdperson of the trinity. Compare her writings with the portions of the Conventionaddresses you found here to determine if she was teaching the same thing as thosespeakers. Her corrections and comments on the writings of William Boardman andrebuke to Dr. Kellogg will be good clues to the answer.

How does all this relate to LeRoy Froom? As Herbert Laceys lectures may very wellhave been the first of its kind by an Adventist presenting the Holy Ghost as a real,definite, divine person remember George Knight stated, Frooms The Coming of theComforter [was] the first book by an Adventist to feature the Holy Spirit as a Person.Where did the ideas for his book come from? We offer his personal confession:

May I here make a frank personal confession? When, back between 1926 and1928, I was asked by our leaders to give a series of studies on the HolySpirit, covering the North American union ministerial institutes of 1928, I foundthat, aside from priceless leads found in the Spirit of Prophecy, there waspractically nothing in our literature setting forth a sound Biblical exposition

in this tremendous field of study.

There were no previous pathfindingbooks on the question in our literature. (Leroy Edwin Froom, Movement ofDestiny, p. 322 [1971])

I was compelled to search out a score of valuable books written by menoutside of our faith. . . men likeMurray, Simpson, Gordon, Holden, Meyer,McNeill, Moody, Waugh, McConkey, Scroggie, Howden, Smith, McKensie,Mclntosh, Brooks, Dixon, Kyle, Morgan, Needham, Pierson, Seiss, Thomas,West, and a score of othersfor initial clues and suggestions, and to open upbeckoning vistas to intensive personal study. Having these, I went on from there.But they were decided early helps. And scores, if not hundreds, could confirmthe same sobering conviction that some of these other men frequently hada deeper insight into the spiritual things of God than many of our own menthen had on the Holy Spirit and the triumphant life. It was still a largelyobscure theme. (Ibid, page 324)

As brother Lacey before him, Elder Froom found a source for his beliefs on the HolySpirit outside our faith. Two of the names, Pierson and Gordon have beenhighlighted and underlined. They match the names of two of the men who spoke to


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Herbert Lacey and the other delegates at the 1894 Student Volunteer Movement forForeign Missions Convention. Brother Gordons book, The Ministry of the Holy Spirit,was published the same year as the Detroit Convention. Here are a couple ofexcerpts:

Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son of God, is the one supreme answer to therestlessness and travail of our day. But he cannot, he will not reveal himself.Each person in the Holy Trinity reveals another. The Son reveals the Father, buthis own revelation awaits the testimony of the Holy Ghost, which, though oftengiven directly, is largely through the church. What we need then, and what theworld is waiting for, is the Son of God, borne witness to and revealed in all hisradiant beauty of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as he energizes with and throughthe saints that make up the holy and mystical body, the church.

"It is evident that the present dispensation under which we are is thedispensation of the Spirit, or of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. To him in the

Divine economy, has been committed the office of applying the redemption of theSon to the souls of men by the vocation, justification, and salvation of the elect.We are therefore under the personal guidance of the Third Person, as truly asthe apostles were under the guidance of the Second."Henry Edward Manning.(Quoted in The Ministry of the Spirit)

One year later brother Piersons book, Acts of the Holy Spirit, was published.

The new-born child of God know not and recognizes not his spiritual Begetter!What a challenge to those who preach and teach the gospel to see that disciplesshall not grow up in ignorance of the Spirits character and work! and yet in howmany churches is there systematic teaching upon the third Person of the Trinity?

Do you find it sad that Elder Froom could state, scores, if not hundreds, could confirmthe same sobering conviction that some of these other men frequently had a deeperinsight into the spiritual things of God than many of our own men then had on the HolySpirit and the triumphant life,as the reason for going outside the Adventist faith for hisquest, a faith that had been established for more than 75 years at that time?

From the evidence of their own words I have presented to you two prominent leadingmen in Adventism who struggled with the doctrine of the trinity. When Herbert CamdenLacey joined the Adventist church in 1888 he could not leave behind his trinitarian rootsfrom the Church of England.

We shared previously that at the time of LeRoy Edwin Frooms death he was workingon a final book, The Holy Spirit - Executive of the Godhead. I have been unable touncover the inception of his struggle over the trinity doctrine. We have numerous letters,articles and books documenting how he worked tirelessly to triumph over that conflict. Ifhe were alive now he would be so proud to know that our church today has taken a firmand unrelenting stand on this teaching, but I for one tremble at this thought.


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How does this change over time reveal to us the unfolding nature of truth? In your ownexperience, how have you grown in your understanding of truth? What beliefs did youonce hold that, today, you no longer accept? (2012 Sabbath School lesson on thetrinity Discussion Question)

And that, knowing the time, that now it ishigh time to awake out of sleep: for now isoursalvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let ustherefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. -(Romans 13:11-12 KJV)

Whether or not you are struggling over the doctrine of the trinity, I leave you with a fewmore points to ponder.

"No man drops in one day from perfect faith to gross error; much less do multitudes ofpeople apostatize all at the same time. Error is insidious in its working, and the peoplewho fall away are rarely conscious that any change is taking place in them." (E.J.

Waggoner, Present Truth, Jan. 30, 1902)

A truths initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. Itwasnt the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn t flat. When awell-packed web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, thetruth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic. (Dresden James)

If I depend on a teacher to expound to me (on Scripture), and he sho uld guess at itsmeaning, or desire to have it so on account of his sectarian creed, or to be thoughtwise, then his guessing, desire, creed, or wisdom is my rule, and not the Bible." (EllenG. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 25, 1884 par. 24)

"As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit Sabbath (Sunday worship)other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such assprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life inmisery. The mass who have held these fundamental errors, have doubtless done itignorantly; but can it be that the church of Christ will carry along with these errors till the

judgement scenes burst upon the world? We think not This class who live just prior tothe second advent will not be keeping the traditions of men, neither will they be holdingfundamental errors relative to the plan of salvation through Christ." (James White,Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, March 6, 1855)

God appointed the church to be the light of the world, and at the same time ordainedthat his Word should be the light of the church. But when the church becomes unfaithfulto her trust, and corrupts the pure doctrines of the gospel, as a natural consequence theworld becomes intoxicated with her false doctrine. That the nations of the earth are insuch a condition at the present time is too obvious to be denied. The world isintoxicated in the pursuit of riches and honor, but the sin lies at the door of the church;for the church sanctions what the Lord strictly forbade, and she sets the example to the


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world. If the church had not intoxicated the world with the wine of false doctrines, theplain truths of the Bible would powerfully move the public mind. (Ibid)

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God isone LORD: and thou shalt love the LORD thy Godwith all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. - (Deuteronomy 6:4-5

KJV)

But to us there is butone God, the Father, of whom areall things, and we in him; andone Lord Jesus Christ, by whom areall things, and we by him. - (1 Corinthians 8:6KJV)

Blessed bethe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with allspiritual blessings in heavenly placesin Christ: - (Ephesians 1:3 KJV)

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,whom thou hast sent. - (John 17:3 KJV)

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that wemay know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, evenin his Son Jesus Christ.This is the true God, and eternal life. - (1 John 5:20 KJV)

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall begiven you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but theSpirit of your Father which speaketh in you. - (Matthew 10:19-20)

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Create inme a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thypresence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;and uphold me with thyfree spirit. - (Psalm 139:7; Psalm 51:10-12 KJV)

some early adventists struggled with the trinity doctrine

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