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Old Faces: G. I. Butler
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August 11 - Meet G. I. Butler

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A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Prov. 24:16.

Some people are just tougher than others.

Such was the case of George I. Butler, president of the General Conference in 1888. In his better moments he could be quite honest about himself. Perhaps he made his most accurate and perceptive self-analysis in 1886 when he wrote: "I. . .naturally [have] . . .too much iron in my nature" and not enough of the love of Jesus. "The school in which I have had to be trained to meet every kind of influence," he added, "has been very favorable to keep the iron in me and make me stiff."

That last remark may help us understand the "toughness" of many of the nineteenth-century Adventist leaders. It was not easy to lead a small and despised movement that provided no earlthly security and had virtually no institutions to lend prestige in an era when the Millerite disapoointment was still a vivid memory among the general population. Only strong-willed individuals could succeed when Butler began his early administrative posts. An iron will was a necessity for most Adventist pioneers before Adventism became a more "comfortable" and respectable religion.

Butler had what took to survive in such an era, but the price to pay had been the "iron." Thus he described himself in 1886 as being "a little on the fighting order." Sensing early in his controversy with Waggoner over Galatians that he was too belligerent, he penned to Ellen White that "he wanted to be like Jesus-wise, patient, kind, tender-hearted, [and] frank," with "a love of justice and fairness to all." He lamented the fact "that there is considerable human nature left in me" and that "I have great struggles with the old man." Butler wanted his old nature "to die, WHOLLY DIE."

Such a wish, however, was slow of fulfillment. With him, as with most of us, the process of sanctificaton was truly the work of a lifetime. Writing to J. H. Kellogg in 1905, the elderly Butler noted: "I am a pretty touch old customer, think for myself. You hit it pretty well once when you said, 'You might as well reason with a post as to reason with Elder Butler, when he gets his stakes set."

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My Father, I'm afraid there is a little of Butler in me. Help me today to WHOLLY DIE.
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