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Replies to Elder Canright’s Attacks on Seventh-day Adventists

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    THE “OPPRESSION OF S. D. ADVENTISTS.”

    PERHAPS there is no point upon which Eld. Canright and others like him who start out in a raid against S.D.Adventists, try harder to excite prejudice against our people and draw sympathy to themselves, than upon the supposed “oppression” and “bondage” connected with this people. One would almost think there was some terrible inquisition, with thumb-screws,racks, and infernal machines hidden away somewhere, with which poor souls were tortured. We quote from Eld. Canright’s article in the Michigan Christian Advocate of July 16, 1887, showing the terrible suffering [?] existing among our people. He gives extracts from private letters which he says he has received from some of our ministers. One is supposed to say,—RCASDA 27.1

    “I have had many blue times in my experience because of these doubts.... Once I decided I must follow the convictions of my own judgment in these things; but when the time came, the pressure was so strong that I tried to convince myself that I was wrong.... The facts are, I am just miserable.... It seems a terrible thing to take a course that will cause all the cherished friends of this world to look upon you as one fallen from grace. And here I am bound with these chains.” And here the Elder adds: “And there he and hundreds of others remain to-day.”RCASDA 27.2

    Poor souls: What do they stay for if they desire so much to get away? Why do they not step out and be free? No one would hinder their going if they chose to do so. No one who ever left us received any injury from our people. If they go out and quietly attend to their own business, and let us alone, we always treat them as courteously as other people. But if they commence a raid upon us, we only defend ourselves as best we can, as we are now doing in his case.RCASDA 28.1

    He quotes another: “It seems to me that the views held by Seventh-day Adventists are so burdensome that they will crush me. They are a yoke of bondage which I cannot stand up under.” Says another: “How am I straitened while the fetters are being forged for most unwilling limbs:... What a distress we are in as a people: How miserable: and is there no relief?” “Another talented minister writes me.” says the Elder: “Our ministers, and people as well, are growing to be a denomination of hypocrites by a slavish fear of expressing an honest belief.... I am sick and disheartened.... The basis of confidence is gone, and I shall only wait the come-out of this matter,” Then another: “There is a fear on the part of the powers that be, of free thought and free discussion.” And so on and so forth. If such stuff was not provoking, it would be simply amusing. What can men be thinking of to write such twaddle, such nonsense as this, in these United States of America?RCASDA 28.2

    Here is a little, scattered, unpopular people, with small churches here and there, surrounded by all the popular religious bodies of the land. If these persons prefer their fellowship to that of S.D. Adventists, why do they hesitate to step out and join them? These churches would be most happy to welcome them. They rejoice greatly at such opportunities. Why should they stay with us a single hour if they feel so wretched in our communion? We are sure our people will gladly let them go if they are so miserable with us. And if they will not prejudice the people against us, and lie about us after they are gone, we are certain we will never speak a word to their detriment, but will always treat them courteously. If our fellowship is so irksome, they truly cannot desire it. For our part, we will most gladly welcome their departure if they feel so unhappy in our company. We have long desired to see the day when none should be called S.D. Adventists only those who heartily accept the doctrines they teach.RCASDA 28.3

    In what does this terrible suffering and oppression from which these ministers experience such agony consist? Are they fearful they will not be supported well? Are they afraid they will come to want? Or is it not the apprehension which reigns in their hearts in spite of their worldly desires, there darkness and unbelief, that, after all, the doctrines of this people are the truth of God, and that they jeopardize their souls when they apostatize from them? We firmly believe this is the difficulty with many of them. The truths held by this people are so plain, and the evidences that God is in this work are so strong, and the tokens of God’s acceptance when they were whole-hearted in this truth were so convincing, that now, when they follow the leadings of unbelief and Satan’s temptations, a fearful mental struggle ensues, and they are wretched indeed. Eld. Canright himself continued in this condition for years. God’s Spirit strove with him along time before he fully broke away from its restraining influences. Many a time the influences of God’s Spirit were felt powerfully upon his heart. Then all was light, and God’s blessing rested upon him. Then he had no difficulty whatever in seeing that God was with this people. He has not forgotten a meeting at Otsego, Mich, some four years since, when he stood upon his feet in the church there, and confessed this fact with great trembling and many tears. He said then he should never doubt that God was in this work. In his Confession [printed on another page] he himself states fully another similar experience. But when he cherished dark unbelief, the blessing of Heaven departed. The great struggle in his own heart continued till he finally cast aside all these evidences of the past, and wholly severed his connection with the work which he had hundreds of times before declared he knew to be the work of God. Then the struggle ceased. But, alas! his experience since then has shown too well what spirit now leads his mind. Others can obtain the same experience if they choose, and find the same kind of rest in the same way. But such ventures are taken at a terrible cost.RCASDA 29.1

    S.D. Adventists “oppress” no one. This effort to fix odium upon this people, comparing them to Catholics and Mormons as an “oppressive” people, is a wicked slander. History furnishes the record of millions of people put to death by Catholics, by the sword, the fagot, the rack, and the dungeon. Wars of extermination were carried on, and the streets of cities were reddened with gore. Tortures, fires, imprisonments, and the horrors of the Inquisition speak of their “oppression.” Mormons have put to death men, women, and children; have harassed those not of their faith, hunted those fleeing from them, and persecuted many in various ways. But we defy Eld. Canright and all the world to put their finger on a single instance in which S.D. Adventists as a religious body have ever “oppressed” or injured unjustly anybody in life, limb, property, or character.RCASDA 29.2

    This people believe in speaking the truth sometimes when it is not pleasant. They believe in what the apostle teaches as a duty of the ministry; viz, to “reprove rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2. There doubtless may have been instances where men in leading positions have made mistakes and given reproof which was not deserved; but they supposed they were doing right, and apologized when they found they were not. All men are liable to such mistakes. But S.D. Adventists are a people who try “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.” We indignantly repel statements and insinuations carrying the impression that this people “oppress” anybody. G. I. B.RCASDA 30.1

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