“The Loud Cry” Pamphlet

One of these movements arose in 1893. A pamphlet entitled “The Loud Cry” was circulated widely among Seventh-day Adventists, in which the position was taken that the church had so completely apostatized that she had become Babylon, and that all of God’s true people should heed the call to come out of her. It was asserted that from those who thus came out of Babylon, God’s “remnant church” would be made up. As evidence of the alleged corruption of the church, the strongest reproofs found in the Testimonies for individuals and for the church in general, were compiled, isolated from any words of hope or courage, and interspersed with the comments of the writer of the tract.SDACBB 2.1

Of this movement, Mrs. White wrote from Wellington, New Zealand, under date of June 12, 1893:SDACBB 2.2

“Those who have published the ‘Loud Cry’ tract have not consulted me upon the subject. They have quoted largely from my writings, and put their own construction upon them. They claim to have a special message from God, to pronounce the Seventh-day Adventist Church Babylon, proclaim her fall, and call the people of God to come out of her, and try to make the testimonies substantiate their theory....

“How could they...proclaim that the loud cry was that the commandment-keeping people were Babylon? Satan was saying that same thing to Christ when Joshua stood before the angel. Satan was declaring his sins to be so great that he should not be restrained from destroying him. The words of Christ are applicable to these brethren, and to all who advance similar sentiments.

“‘And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee; is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?’”—The Review and Herald, November 8, 1953. (Ms 21, 1893.)

In a series of articles entitled, “The Remnant Church Not Babylon,” Mrs. White emphatically protested against this use of her writings. These articles were published in the Review and Herald in August and September, 1893. They are reprinted in Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, and may be found on pages 32-62.SDACBB 2.3

A few statements from them are worthy of note in this connection.SDACBB 2.4

In the very first paragraph are pointed out the entirely opposite aims of the author of the Testimonies and the advocate of the theory that the church had become Babylon:SDACBB 2.5

“Those who have proclaimed the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Babylon, have made use of the Testimonies in giving their position a seeming support; but why is it that they did not present that which for years has been the burden of my message—the unity of the church? Why did they not quote the words of the angel, ‘Press together, press together, press together’? Why did they not repeat the admonition and state the principle that ‘in union there is strength, in division there is weakness’?

“It is such messages as these men have borne that divide the church, and put us to shame before the enemies of truth, and in such messages is plainly revealed the specious working of the great deceiver, who would hinder the church from attaining unto perfection in unity.”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 56.

The following paragraph clearly intimates that the Seventh-day Adventist Church alone is giving the final message as set forth in the prophecy, and expresses astonishment that any among them should unite with the “accuser of the brethren“:SDACBB 3.1

“There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren. Is it possible that men will arise from among us, who speak perverse things, and give voice to the very sentiments that Satan would have disseminated in the world in regard to those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus?”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 50, 51.

Mrs. White plainly and emphatically protested against the use of her Testimonies in any attempt to identify the Seventh-day Adventist church with Babylon. She declared that only by setting her Testimonies in a framework of error, could anyone place such a construction upon them.SDACBB 3.2

“To claim that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon is to make the same claim as does Satan, who is an accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God night and day. By this misusing of the Testimonies souls are placed in perplexity because they cannot understand the relation of the Testimonies to such a position as is taken by those in error; for God intended that the Testimonies should always have a setting in the framework of truth.”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 42, 43.SDACBB 3.3