A feeling of exhilaration and excitement filled the air on Tuesday morning, April 2, as workers and church members began to assemble in the Battle Creek Tabernacle a little before nine o'clock. This would be the largest General Conference session ever held. What is more, Ellen White would be there, and it would be the first session she had attended in ten years. The 267 delegates represented a church of 75,000 members. Four fifths of these members resided in the United States.
Many of the workers came with feelings of apprehension. It was very clear that the church had outgrown its organization. While at the sessions of 1897 and 1899 there was a recognition that some changes should be made, no one knew just what to do. At this juncture it would be well to review the overall picture and reconstruct the stage, as it were, for what took place.
The Organizational Status of the Church
The basic structure of church organization with its local conferences bound together in a General Conference had remained unchanged from 1863 to 1901. In 1889 the thirty-three conferences and missions in the United States were divided into six districts. But these had no organizational or administrative status. The leaders in each district served merely in an advisory capacity. A union conference was formed in Australia in 1894 and steps were under way toward forming a general conference in Europe. But the basic constitutional structure stood unchanged from what it was since the church had been organized. There were two recognized organizational
levels--the local conference and the General Conference. And when the delegates were seated for the conference of 1901 it was on the basis of local conferences within a General Conference; they are so listed in the daily Bulletin. Of the forty-five local conferences, thirty-one were within the United States.
Michigan, with its 7,122 members, was the largest State conference; California was second, with 4,485. The smallest was South Australia, with 193 members. At the time of the organization of the General Conference in 1863, the church had one institution--a publishing house at Battle Creek. But the work of the denomination soon expanded. The health work began with the establishment of a sanitarium in 1866. Educational work was started with the opening of Battle Creek College in 1874. Other publishing houses were added, and sanitariums and schools were opened.
As work in different lines developed, associations were formed to foster the interests. There were the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association; the International Sabbath School Association; and the International Tract Society, which fostered "home missionary" interests. Certain issues in the United States led the church into the religious-liberty field. From this activity the National Religious Liberty Association was organized. To aid in the development of a foreign mission program, a foreign mission board was set up, with headquarters in New York City.
These were all autonomous organizations represented by independent corporations, operated by Seventh-day Adventists but not integral parts of the General Conference organization. The various branches of the work were not thought of or directed as departments of the General Conference, but as independent entities.
As the institutional interests in Battle Creek grew, businessmen were drawn in to head them, and a strong center developed. A General Conference Executive Committee, beginning with three members in 1863, some twenty years later was increased to five. Its work was "to carry out the plans of the body, and to direct the affairs of the denomination in all parts of the world when the conference is not in session."--Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1889, p. 4.
In 1887 the Committee was increased to seven, and in 1889 it was enlarged to nine. There it stood for four years until 1893, when it was increased to eleven, and in 1899 to thirteen. Even so, the group was widely scattered and did not often meet for a full meeting. Six of the thirteen men were the district leaders spread out across North America. Two men represented overseas work and resided overseas. This left four members of the General Conference Executive Committee resident in Battle Creek. These, with the secretary and the treasurer of the General Conference, who were not members of the Committee, formed a sort of unofficial officer group that carried the day-to-day responsibilities of the operation of the church.
It is not difficult, then, to grasp the situation that developed with the world work outgrowing the organizational structure that must administer it. Those at headquarters naturally felt that they were prepared to give the wisest and best management to even the minute details of Seventh-day Adventist interests in the remotest parts of the world. One area in particular in which serious problems developed was in financial support of the cause. Without carefully planned budgets to serve as guidelines in the expenditure of funds, great inequities developed, with the needs nearest at hand often gaining the favor of the treasury men.
Problems that Loomed Large
Beginning with 1889 certain measures were strongly promoted to consolidate and centralize various features of the denominational work. This would begin with the publishing interests and then reach out to the educational and medical lines.
As a diversified and growing denominational work with multiplied business interests rapidly developed, spiritual fervor waned, and in some areas there was a failure to heed the counsels God sent to alert of dangers and to guard the cause.
In the publishing house in Battle Creek, the employees devoted a large part of their time to commercial printing. This included fiction, Wild West stories, Roman Catholic books, and works on sex and hypnosis. When cautioned, men in positions of management at the Review office declared that they were printers and not censors. Often, commercial work was done to the neglect of denominational printing. The cause of God was marred by self-interest on the part of some workers who were demanding abnormally high wages. Discouragement developed. The sale of message-filled books plummeted. It was during this period in the 1890s that many of the startling messages addressed to church leaders and ministry now found in the book Testimonies to Ministers were penned and sent to the leaders at Battle Creek.
Medical missionary work, under the brilliant and dedicated leadership of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, had grown rapidly into a large, strong program. The Battle Creek Sanitarium, with all its facilities, could care for more than one thousand guests. By the year 1901 two thousand persons were employed in medical work in Battle Creek and in the medical institutions in other parts of the country and overseas, while those employed by the denomination in conference, evangelistic, and other lines of work numbered only 1,500. The medical workers were directed by the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, under Kellogg's leadership, and not by the General Conference or local conference committees.
Though missionaries were being sent abroad and the work of the church was growing in other parts of the world field, the situation in Battle Creek often led to sad neglect of the growing work. Failure to provide the funds to sustain missionary workers sometimes brought on suffering and want. Workers were sent to the world field by three different Seventh-day Adventist organizations--the General Conference, the Foreign Mission Board, and the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, with resultant confusion.
Church leaders, without resources and without budgets, often borrowed money with which to launch sanitariums and to operate the church's mission program. The cause was badly in debt. Leading men, so wrapped up in the interests at headquarters, had insufficient time to deal with the problems of the far-flung work, which was very disheartening to those laboring at a distance from Battle Creek.
Ellen White's Concern
Little wonder, then, that it was with apprehension that the delegates gathered for the General Conference session that Tuesday morning, April 2. All were profoundly thankful that Ellen White was to be there, and she carried a heavy burden for the meeting. It was this conference with its challenges and its opportunities that had in a large part led Ellen White to close up her work in Australia and hasten back to the United States. Her concern continued while she was in her home in California. In one of her addresses at the conference she said, "I was troubled before leaving California. I did not want to come to Battle Creek. I was afraid the burdens I would have to bear would cost my life."--The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 204.
Very shortly after reaching Battle Creek, her addresses revealed her deep concern for the session. As she spoke to the publishing leaders Thursday night, March 28, in the Review and Herald chapel, her mind turned from the smaller group to the larger meeting that was about to open. Her address began:
I feel an intense desire that at this meeting we shall come into right relation with God. We may have great ambition, all the ambition it is possible for us to have; we may have all the activity it is essential for us to have; but unless we are close to our Saviour, unless His power and grace are with us individually, we may be sure that we shall go from this place thinking that we have not had a very wonderful meeting.--Manuscript 29, 1901.
She pointed out that every time the church assembles, angels of God are present and evil angels are also present. Her appeal was for the right personal relationship between each individual worker and God. She declared:
There are solemn and important decisions to be made at this meeting, and God wants every one of us to stand in right relation to Him. He wants us to do a great deal more praying and a great deal less talking. He wants us to keep the windows of the soul opened heavenward.-- Ibid.
Then she stated:
Some have said that they thought that at this meeting several days ought to be spent in prayer to God for the Holy Spirit, as at the day of Pentecost. I wish to say to you that the business which may be carried on at this meeting is just as much a part of the service of God as is prayer. The business meeting is to be just as much under the dictation of the Spirit as the prayer meeting. There is danger of our getting a sentimental, impulsive religion. Let the business transacted at this meeting stand forth in such sacredness that the heavenly host can approve of it. We are to guard most sacredly the business lines of our work. Every line of business carried on here is to be in accordance with the principles of heaven.
God wants you to stand in a position where He can breathe upon you the Holy Spirit, where Christ can abide in the heart. He wants you at the beginning of this meeting to lay off whatever of controversy, of strife, of dissension, of murmuring, you have been carrying. What we need is a great deal more of Christ and none of self. The Saviour says, "Without me ye can do nothing."-- Ibid.
The Meeting in the College Library
Two days before the General Conference session opened, church leaders held some unofficial precouncil meetings. Such a group gathered on Sunday evening, March 31. As they moved into their discussions, they decided to adjourn until a meeting could be held that would be a little more widely attended, and at which Sister White could be present. The hour was set for two-thirty the following afternoon, in the college library. Monday morning Elders Irwin, Haskell, Olsen, and Daniells went over to the Kellogg home to call on Sister White and to chat with her and invite her to the meeting planned for the afternoon. She consented to be present and to lay some matters before the brethren that had been opened up to her mind.
Quite a wide, representative group met in the college library that Monday afternoon. It included the General Conference Committee, the Foreign Mission Board, conference presidents, and institutional leaders. The room was packed. Elder Daniells took along a secretary, Clarence C. Crisler; and Dr. Kellogg took his private secretary to report the meeting. The records of the meeting include the reports as transcribed by both men, with some understandable slight variations in wording.
Although Elder Irwin was president of the General Conference, Elder Daniells, who had recently come from Australia, was in the chair. In Australia he, with W. C. White, had developed the union conference, binding the local conferences in Australia together in an effective organization.
After making an introductory statement and telling of the meeting with Sister White in the morning, Daniells expressed his pleasure that she was present, and invited her to speak. She replied: "I did not expect to lead out in this meeting. I thought I would let you lead out, and then if I had anything to say, I would say it."--Manuscript 43a, 1901. To this Daniells replied, "Well, it seemed to me (and I think to all of us who counseled with you this morning) that we had said about as much as we wished to until we heard from you."
Ellen White came directly to the point:
I would prefer not to speak today, though not because I have nothing to say. I have something to say. The state of things that has existed in the Conference is not clearly understood by some who occupy positions in the Conference or by others who bear responsibilities in other lines of the work.
The work has been increasing; it has been growing. The light that I have had from the Lord has been expressed over and over again, not to as many as there are here today, but to different individuals. The plans upon which God wishes us to work have been laid down.
Never should the mind of one man or the minds of a few men be regarded as sufficient in wisdom and power to control the work and say what plans shall be followed. The burden of the work in this broad field should not rest upon two or three men. We are not reaching the high standard which, with the great and important truth we are handling, God expects us to reach.--Manuscript 43, 1901.
Speaking of the General Conference, she said:
Over and over again men have said, "The voice of the Conference is the voice of God; therefore everything must be referred to the Conference. The Conference must permit or restrict in the various lines of work." As the matter has been presented to me, there is a narrow compass [as she said this, she drew a circle with her finger on the book she had in her hand], and within this narrow compass, all the entrances to which are locked, are those who would like to exercise kingly power. But the work carried on all over the field demands an entirely different course of action.-- Ibid.
Then she introduced the thought of reorganization by declaring:
There is need of the laying of a foundation different from the foundation which has been laid in the past. We have heard much about everything moving in the regular lines. When we see that the "regular lines" are purified and refined, that they bear the mold of the God of heaven, then it will be time to endorse these lines. But when we see that message after message given by God has been received and accepted, yet no change has been made, we know that new power must be brought into the regular lines. The management of the regular lines must be entirely changed, newly organized.
There must be a committee, not composed of half a dozen men, but of representatives from all lines of our work, from our publishing houses, from our educational institutions, and from our sanitariums, which have life in them, which are constantly working, constantly broadening.-- Ibid.
She asked why more had not been done to open up new fields even in America, and continued by saying:
To have this conference pass on and close up as the [other] conferences have done, with the same manipulating, with the very same tone and the same order--God forbid! God forbid, brethren.... Why, from the light that God has given me, everything about this conference should be the most sacred. Why? Why, because it is to put ideas and plans and work upon its proper basis, and this thing has been acted and re-acted for the last fifteen years or more, and God calls for a change.--Manuscript 43a, 1901.
From one point to another she moved. She branded as "contemptible in the sight of God, contemptible" (Ibid.) the selfish, grasping financial policies of some, particularly in the publishing houses, who demanded high wages. She called for men to "stand as true to principle as the needle to the pole" (Manuscript 43, 1901). She referred to "sharp dealings" in the publishing houses, which actually resulted in losses instead of gains, and she exhorted:
God means what He says. He calls for a change. The same things are being repeated, the same ideas followed, the same committees appointed. In a small section a king reigns, and all others are secondary, when there are other men who are better able to do the work, because they have not been working on narrow plans.-- Ibid.
She urged that until they were ready to take the Bible and make that their food and drink, she did not want them to repeat "'Sister White said this'" and "'Sister White said that'" and "'Sister White said the other thing.'" She admonished that they ask, "'What saith the Lord God of Israel?'" and then urged that they "do just what the Lord God of Israel does and what He says" (Manuscript 43a, 1901). Then her mind turned to the health reform and to the efforts of Dr. Kellogg to lead people to change their lives. She thought of the slowness of some to respond. Mentioning Dr. Kellogg, she said, "I do not suppose he is here, I do not know that he is, but at any rate---"
At this point Elder Daniells broke in to say, "Yes, he is here," to which Ellen White replied, "Well, I cannot see. I have to have congregational glasses that I can discern the faces; but I cannot see."-- Ibid.
Then she pointed out that God did not want the medical work separated from the gospel work, that the medical missionary work should be considered the pioneer work, "the breaking-up plow." She said that "God wants every soul to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dr. Kellogg." She referred to his work in Chicago as she had seen it a few days before. Then she went on to point out that Kellogg should work to reach the higher classes and the wealthy classes. Her closing words were in exaltation of the Word of God.
It was a solemn meeting. Ellen White had not failed to deal with the matters that were heavy on her heart--matters that concerned the welfare of the General Conference session about to open and the welfare of the work of the church at large. It pointed in the direction the General Conference should take in its work. The session, scheduled for a full three weeks, opened the next morning.
The 1901 General Conference Session
At nine o'clock Tuesday morning, with the president of the General Conference, G. A. Irwin, in the chair, the thirty-fourth session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was called to order. J. N. Loughborough read Psalm 106, and S. N. Haskell led in prayer. President Irwin then opened the way for business.
The first item was the roll call of delegates. Four newly organized local conferences were admitted to the General Conference--Queensland and South Australia in Australia, and Cumberland and Ontario in North America. The president gave his address and reviewed the progress of the work over the preceding two years of his administration. He concluded with a declaration that undoubtedly was tempered by some of the things he had heard the day before in the special meeting in the college library:
Ours is a momentous time, and this is a momentous occasion. The wisdom of no human agent is sufficient for the planning and devising that needs to be done.--The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 23.
His address completed and his office surrendered, the work of the church was now in the hands of the delegates. As chairman, Elder Irwin declared: "The conference is now formally opened. What is your pleasure?"-- Ibid.
Ellen White, seated in the audience, arose and went to the front. She ascended the steps to the speaker's platform and approached the desk. The floor was granted to her. She first pointed out the privilege of the Advent people to stand high above the world, sanctified by the truth and having a close connection with Heaven. Then she turned to the immediate situation. The following statements have been gleaned from her address:
Every soul in every conference, in every part of the Lord's vineyard, has the privilege of knowing the truth. But truth is not truth to those who do not practice it. Truth is only truth to you when you live it in the daily life, showing the world what those people must be who are at last saved.... Why, I ask you, are men who have not brought self into subjection allowed to stand in important positions of truth and handle sacred things? ...
The principles of heaven are to be carried out in every family, in the discipline of every church, in every establishment, in every institution, in every school, and in everything that shall be managed. You have no right to manage, unless you manage in God's order. Are you under the control of God? Do you see your responsibility to Him? ...
Oh, my very soul is drawn out in these things! Men who have not learned to submit themselves to the control and discipline of God are not competent to train the youth, to deal with human minds. It is just as much an impossibility for them to do this work as it would be for them to make a world.
That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be as the voice of God to the people, as we once believed the General Conference to be--that is past. What we want now is a reorganization. We want to begin at the foundation, and to build upon a different principle....
Here are men who are standing at the head of our various institutions, of the educational interests, and of the conferences in different localities and in different States. All these are to stand as representative men, to have a voice in molding and fashioning the plans that shall be carried out. There are to be more than one or two or three men to consider the whole vast field. The work is great, and there is no one human mind that can plan for the work which needs to be done....
According to the light that has been given me--and just how it is to be accomplished I cannot say--greater strength must be brought into the managing force of the conference....
God wants you to be converted, and may He help, that this work may go forward. He is a power for His people when they come into order. There must be a renovation, a reorganization; a power and strength must be brought into the committees that are necessary....
If we will take hold of the Master, take hold of all the power He has given us, the salvation of God will be revealed.--The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 24-26.
Thus Ellen White gave what was in reality the keynote address. She spoke for an hour. The very serious nature of the situation that had developed she fearlessly and clearly delineated. Help from God was promised if they would take hold of Him. There must be a change. It was one of the most solemn messages ever delivered to the church in a General Conference assembly.
The Response to Heaven's Call
A solemn silence pervaded the assembly as Ellen White made her way to a chair. Elder Irwin stepped forward and said in response:
These are certainly very plain words that we have listened to, and it seems to me they come in very timely, right in the commencement of our conference. We notice the burden of the testimony was reorganization. This must first begin with us as individuals, and I trust that it may begin in each heart. I, for one, want to accept the testimony that has been borne, and I want that work of reorganization and regeneration to be not only begun, but completed, in my life. I am glad that these words were spoken right now, at the very commencement of our General Conference.
I take it that the reorganization means a change in our method of procedure, in the General Conference, and now, as we are just ready to organize the delegation that has been called, it seems to me it is an opportune time to begin the work of reorganization. I am sure we all want the Lord to lead in this conference; and if there is any method that we have been working along that has bound the Spirit of the Lord--and surely, if I can understand the meaning of what has been said, we have been bound about by regulations and restrictions--now is the time to break loose from these things, and to make a new start. So again I ask, What is the pleasure of the conference at this time?--Ibid., 27.
What next took place came as no surprise to the president. A.G. Daniells, a man 43 years of age and in his prime, who for the past thirteen years had labored in New Zealand and Australia, now asked for the floor. He walked down to the front of the Tabernacle, mounted the stairs, and stepped up to the desk. He told of the meeting held in the college library on the preceding day, at which Ellen White had given similar counsel. He declared:
We all feel that our only safety lies in obedience, in following our great Leader. We feel that we should begin at the very beginning of this work at this meeting, and just as nearly as we know how, build on His foundation.-- Ibid.
Then Elder Daniells offered the following comprehensive motion:
"I move that the usual rules and precedents for arranging and transacting the business of the conference be suspended, and that a General Committee be hereby appointed, to consist of the following persons: The presidents and secretaries of the General Conference, of the General Conference Association, of the European and Australasian union conferences; of the Review and Herald, Pacific Press, and Echo publishing companies; of the Foreign Mission Board, Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association; of Battle Creek, Healdsburg, and Union colleges; and the following named persons: J. N. Loughborough, S. N. Haskell, A. T. Jones, W. W. Prescott, and such other persons as may be necessary to represent the important enterprises and interests connected with the work of the Seventh-day Adventists throughout the world, the same to be named by the committee when organized, and this committee to constitute a general or central committee, which shall do such work as necessarily must be done in forwarding the work of the conference, and preparing the business to bring before the delegates."-- Ibid.
Elder Daniells confidently predicted that if we would "step out boldly to follow the light that He gives us, whether we can see clear through to the end or not--if we walk in the light we have, go just as far as we can today, God will give us further light; He will bring us out of bondage into glorious liberty." In his closing remarks he expressed his appreciation that "we have a definite, certain voice to speak to us." And he declared, "I am so glad that all through this meeting we can receive instruction and help....May God help us for His own name's sake."-- Ibid.
The delegates then entered upon an earnest discussion of the proposal before them. When there seemed to be an overcautious attitude, Ellen White arose and urged that no one block what was being proposed. After a season of prayer, the matter was placed before the assembly and after a little more discussion and the answering of questions, the chair put the matter to the vote and the record is that it "was carried unanimously" (Ibid., 29.
The session was adjourned to meet again at three o'clock in the afternoon, with a Bible study to be given by Elder Haskell.
The large committee that had been appointed became known as the Committee on Counsel. The next day a number of names were added, raising the members to about seventy-five. In response to some questions from some fearful delegates, all were assured that it was not the intent of this committee to take over the business of the Conference, but rather to guide the work of the session along the lines suggested by Ellen White.
Sermons, Bible studies, reports from the various parts of the world field, and devotional meetings filled much of the next few days while the Committee on Counsel tackled its rather amorphous task of reorganization.
Changes had been called for by the Lord. Changes had to be made. Steps must be taken that would distribute the responsibility of men to points near where the work was being done.