J. S. Washburn to E. G. White, Feb. 10, 1897

Extract from
J. S. Washburn to E. G. White
Feb. 10, 1897

I saw some testimonies Brother Waggoner had about the General Conference Association, Brother Olsen, etc., and I know in our own and my own experience those things are so. Brother Waggoner has been misrepresented and worked against in an underhanded way. Brother Olsen has talked and written to Brother Hope and to Brother O. O. Farnsworth and talked to me against D. A. Robinson and Brother Waggoner, and yet not a word directly to them. There has been double dealing, treachery and things that looked to me like falsehood, until they got rid of Brother D. A. Robinson and this all in the name of order and organization, while it was really anarchy and Brother Waggoner has been cruelly misrepresented and treated as a dangerous man who needed to be watched and suspicion cast upon about all he has said or taught—I mean, by the leaders, NOT D. A. Robinson. No one believes more in true order or organization than Brother Waggoner. I have never heard him say a word that would indicate he did not believe in order and organization as taught in the Bible and the Testimonies. but he does not believe in double dealing policy, or tyranny.MMM 302.1

But even before I left Washington, D. C. and came to England [1891], Brother Olsen told me that Jones and Waggoner were not practical men, intimated that they were not safe and this was while he was sending them around, all over the United States to hold institutes. Whether they are safe or practical, I know the doctrine which they and you teach is life and salvation to me.MMM 302.2

Since Minneapolis, my acquaintance with them and talks with you, my mind has been entirely changed and I hope never to go back to those experiences and opinions again and I know from the talks with you and what you have written that you believe they have been the means of great blessing to all our people. I know Brother Waggoner has been a great blessing to the work in England. I am sure he was a great help to Brother D. A. Robinson. I have spoken of Brother Olsen’s talking to others against Brother Waggoner and D. A. Robinson by intimation, but he would say nothing to them directly till THEY spoke to him about it. Brother Olsen had a long talk on those things with me before his talk with them. I was astonished at some things he said. He said that what the General Conference did was the mind of the Holy Spirit. They asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and of course they had it so what they did was right—could not be otherwise; now that is only the doctrine of Papal Infallibility and I told him so.MMM 302.3

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