Lt 2, 1858

[Circa March 1858],¹

The original/earliest copy gives no date or place of writing. The letter must, however, have been written after the vision at Green Springs, Ohio (see par. 3), that, as argued in note 8, was received on March 1, 1858. Exactly how long after that date this letter was written is not known, but the context suggests a short time span, hence “circa March 1858.”

n.p.1EGWLM 563.1

Letter to
Azmon Woodruff.²

Identity: Helping to identify “Brother Woodruff” is the information given that he was living in Oswego County, New York. The only Woodruff appearing in the Review during this period who lived in Oswego County was Azmon (or Azmond) Woodruff, of Palermo, New York.

See: 1860 U.S. Federal Census, “Azmon Woodruff,” New York, Oswego County, Palermo, p. 831; search term “Woodruff” in Words of the Pioneers.

1EGWLM 563.2

This letter is published in entirety in Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, pp. 258, 259.

Problems of “wrangling and strife” in churches of Oswego County, New York.1EGWLM 563.3

Dear Brother Woodruff:

I have seen things on the very points you have mentioned in your letter³

This letter is not in the White Estate archives.

and at the time I had the vision for those in New York.4

This vision, as evident from the next two paragraphs, was received before the Green Springs, Ohio, vision of March 1, 1858 (see note 8). The vision that best matches the description found here is that given on July 6, 1857 (Lt 8, 1857 [July 19]) “for the church in New York,” that focused on the believers in Roosevelt, Oswego County. It specifically mentioned Brethren Treadwell, Finch, and Chapel, all of whom also feature in this letter.

I saw a few individual cases. I saw especially the cases of Brother Chapel and wife [Levi R. and Eliza Chapel],5

Identity: The strong suggestion in this letter that Brother Chapel was living in Oswego County, New York, provides useful evidence of his identity. Among the several Chapels mentioned in the Review from this time, only L. R. Chapel had an Oswego County address. His wife's name was found in census records.

See: 1850 U.S. Federal Census, “Levi R. Chapel,” New York, Oswego County, Palermo, p. 33; search term “Chapel” in Words of the Pioneers.

Brother Treadwell [William Treadwell],6

Identity: Without doubt, “Brother Treadwell” is William Treadwell, for no other Treadwell is mentioned in the Review throughout this period. William Treadwell's address is there given as “Gilbert's Mills, N.Y.,” which further confirms his identity, since Gilbert's Mills is in Oswego County, the focus of this letter.

See: Search term “Treadwell” in Words of the Pioneers.

Manley Ross [Manley T. Ross], also Truman Finch [Truman P. Finch], who were the active ones in this matter. They have erred in feeling as they have felt, and the influence I saw was deathly.1EGWLM 563.4

When in Ohio⁷

See: Note 8.

I saw again the wretched state of things in New York. Satan was standing right in your midst, his evil angels exulting that through his temptations—exalting some and tempting others to be very strenuous, professing zeal for the truth and crowding your brethren, thrusting with side and with shoulder, bringing a reproach upon the truth, making yourself a stink to the places around you—you make the truth disgusting, make it an abhorrence. You are as a people accountable to God for the wretched influence cast against the truth.1EGWLM 564.1

I saw that Brother Chapel and wife, Brother Treadwell and others with them, have not seen themselves. They must see their wrong course in being so exacting and watching their brethren to magnify their wrongs. Their own hearts must have a work; self must die with them, and they must possess more of a spirit to live and let live. I saw while at Green Springs, Ohio,⁸

The only known visit by Ellen White to Green Springs, Ohio, during the 1850s or 1860s, took place February 26-March 3, 1858. While there she received a vision on March 1. No earlier copy is extant for the portion copied in the remainder of this letter.

See: James White, “Appointments,” Review, Feb. 18, 1858, p. 120; Ellen G. White, Lt 1, 1858 (Mar. 3).

that the evil angels had much to do with the brethren in Oswego County [New York]. I saw that the holy angels had one after another left you, grieved, displeased, and disgusted with your wrangling and strife.9

The problem of “wrangling and strife” among members in Oswego County, was not a new one. The Roosevelt church in particular seems to have been implicated. In July 1856 Amanda Westcott wrote of internal dissension in Roosevelt, a full-day church “trial,” and the division of the church into two factions. Union seems to have been restored only after intervention from “Bro. Sperry of Vt.” One year later conditions appear to have deteriorated. Ellen White writes of faultfinding (with special mention of Finch and Chapel) and numerous church trials in Roosevelt through which “the professed people of God have disgraced themselves in the eyes of the world” (Lt 8, 1857 [July 19]). Ironically, the “Laodicean” call to the churches “be zealous … and repent” (Rev. 3:19) that had gone out in the late autumn of 1856 seems in certain cases to have led to an increase in dissension and church trials. The problem was that some members had interpreted the Laodicean message as a call to watch for faults among fellow members rather than to repent of their own shortcomings.

See: Amanda Westcott to Mrs. Crawford, July 16, 1856; Ellen G. White, Lt 8, 1857 (July 19); Lt 17, 1859 (Oct. 28); EGWEnc, s.v. “Laodicean Message.”

There is the vision I wrote after the meeting. I will copy it:1EGWLM 564.2

“I saw that the cause of God had been cursed in Oswego County by wrangling and strife. Some will have to unlearn almost all they have been learning for years, for it has been strife, debate, and to smite with a fist of wickedness. I saw that some have placed themselves in a position to watch others, when God has not placed them on the watchtower at all. They have climbed up there themselves and must come down. Some have noticed little things in the house, in dress, the manners, and have reproved and ordered about this, that, and the other. It only hurts their influence and places the individual beyond the reach of their help.1EGWLM 564.3

“It is the duty of preachers to talk the truth, but when they come down from the work to reprove for little things, to bend the individual to see as they see, to feel as they feel, they take upon them the work that belongs to the Spirit of God. I saw that all have something to learn, an experience to obtain for themselves, and if the servants of God stand ready to reprove for all these little things, they will try to please the servants of God and yet they have not learned by their own convictions that these things are wrong.¹⁰

One of the preachers probably alluded to here is Samuel W. Rhodes, who had worked extensively among the Oswego churches. “Many have depended on you to have an experience for them,” Ellen White wrote to Rhodes in 1859, “because you have told them what they must do, and what they must not do. … You have … descended to little particulars, and entered into family matters that in no way concerned you.”

See: Ellen G. White, Lt 16, 1859 (Oct. 28).

Their experience depends upon the one that reproved them. They look to and depend upon him to have an experience for them. Their trust and dependence is taken from God.1EGWLM 565.1

“That is why they are so weak in New York. They fear the servants of God and one another. Their experience grows out of this fear and they do not form a religious character for themselves. They do not have an individual, independent experience. They learn to look to man instead of to God and are bent this way and that way, but are not steadfast, strong in a living experience they have obtained for themselves.1EGWLM 565.2

“Something must be done for the individual by the Lord. They must learn to look to God for duty, not to their minister or brethren, and when an individual strives to bend his brethren to his own peculiar notions or ideas of things, he takes that upon him which God has not laid upon him. Minds are differently constituted; they cannot run in the same channel of ideas or impressions. I saw that it was notions and ideas that some think others must be brought to, that has destroyed spirituality and independent experience in New York. There is a depending upon one another for light and blessing. They have not learned to look to God for duty and counsel in this thing. Do you say in New York, man is made to lose his identity and is made a mere thing to be moved by another's mind, another's experience? God will surely judge for these things.”1EGWLM 565.3