The General Conference by A. G. DANIELLS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 15, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 20.

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The General Conference

By A. G. DANIELLS

Thirty-Eighth Session, May 15 to June 8, 1913

Outline of the President's Address

A Review of the Quadrennial Term

Necessary Preparation for the Finishing of the Work

A. G. DANIELLS

To the delegates of the thirty-eighth session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Greeting.

As we gather here to-day for the opening of this session of our General Conference, we greet the largest number of delegates from our world-wide field ever assembled in the history of our cause. And with us are a large number of our brethren and sisters who, at their own personal expense, have come to this meeting to be with us in our deliberations, and to receive with us the inspiration and spiritual uplift which all are hoping this Conference will bring.

The members of the General Conference Committee most heartily greet the delegates from all the fields, and we all unite in extending a cordial welcome to our people who have been pleased to come to the Conference.

Nor must we forget the thousands of our associate workers and fellow believers in all parts of the world, who will be with us in spirit, in prayer, and all good wishes. Truly this interest is mutual. We most sincerely pray that this Conference will bring new courage, hope, and consecration to them as well as to us.

The quadrennial period which closes with the opening of this Conference session has been crowded with evidences of God's love and care for his people, and of his presence in the work they have endeavored to do for him. In the many terrible disasters at sea and in the frequent railway wrecks on land, not one of our workers has perished, nor has any been seriously injured. In the destructive fires, storms, and floods that have wrought havoc in so many places, only two of our people, so far as we know, have lost their lives, and our losses in property have been small. There has been some sickness among our workers in the foreign fields, and a few dear ones have fallen in death; but when we remember that we are scattered over nearly all the world, living and working in the most unhealthful climates and in daily contact with the most deadly diseases, we feel that truly God's protecting care has been over us. We have enjoyed a large measure of liberty in the proclamation of the message committed to us, notwithstanding the difficulties under which we labor in many lands where freedom of conscience is not recognized.

For these and many other blessings too varied and numerous to mention, we praise and magnify the Lord. Truly we may all say with the psalmist:—

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.” Ps. 121:1-8.

Progress of the Movement

As those in charge of the different phases of our work will present clear, full reports, this address will, with the exception of a few brief statements, omit the usual review of the work in general.

The reports to be rendered at this Conference will all record progress. They will show greater advancement in the last four years than during any similar period in our history. The number of Sabbath-keepers has increased from 97,579 to 114,206, a gain of 16,627. This is one of the largest gains we have ever made in any four-year period.

We shall all be encouraged by the reports from our representatives who are here from other lands. From these we shall see that this movement has taken firm root in all parts of the world, and that in the foreign countries where it has been established the longest, it is making great strides. But if we consider the shortness of the time and the urgency of the work committed to this people, surely none can feel satisfied with this gain. One of the most important questions to be considered at this Conference is how we may achieve greater success in persuading men and women to take their stand for the truth, how we may make far greater conquests in soul-winning endeavor. This is the goal, the supreme purpose, of all gospel service. Whatever of success may attend our activities in various phases of the work, we can never be satisfied with anything less than leading men to obey God. At the same time we must thankfully recognize the value of faithful service, whether those labored for obey or not.

Our secretary will present a cheering review of the triumphs of this cause in many mission fields. This review will give convincing evidence that the gifts of workers and means made by our people in the United States to other countries have not been lost. It will also show that the conditions we now face in all these fields testify that the hour has surely come to give this advent message to all the world.

The treasurer's report will show a great increase in tithes and offerings. The tithes for the year 1912 exceed those for 1908 by more than five hundred thousand dollars, a gain of more than fifty per cent. In other words, the increase in the annual tithe during the last four years amounts to more than half the sum we paid in 1908, at the close of sixty-five

years of steady growth. Some may wish the exact figures. The total tithe for 1908 was $1,101,396.47; the total for 1912 was $1,653,624.54. Gain, $552,228.07.

The increase in offerings to foreign missions is even greater, amounting to practically one hundred per cent. For the year 1908, preceding the last General Conference, the offerings to foreign missions were $308,045.68. The amount contributed during 1912 was $595,004.76, a gain of $286,959.08, only $22,000 less than the total offering for 1908. Thus in 1912 we added to our offerings to missions an amount almost equal to all we were giving in 1908.

This record will surely encourage the hearts of all God's loyal, self-sacrificing people. And it is the more gratifying because there is every reason to believe that this increase is permanent. It is the result of systematic giving. Each member gives a stipulated sum weekly throughout the year.

Our representatives who have come from mission fields to this Conference will tell of the great help and encouragement this increase of gifts to their fields has been to them and their associates. We are all well aware that of itself money can accomplish nothing; but when it is given by men and women who love God and his cause, and is expended in heathen lands by consecrated workers in earnest efforts to save the lost, money is of great value. It occupies an important place among the facilities to be used in doing the Master's work. Moreover, it brings spiritual blessings to the giver, so that every loyal Christian must rejoice to see money flow freely into the treasury of God's cause.

The Future Outlook

As we review the development and progress of the cause to the present time, one serious question will surely force itself upon the minds of all regarding the future; namely, What can be done to hasten this work to its close? We have long looked for the end of the reign of sin, and we want to see it come. Our faith lays fast hold of the promise of our Saviour that “this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.”

From all that can be seen about us, it seems as if the one thing that stands between us and the end is our unfinished work. If this is true, the one question that looms above all others at this Conference is this: What is called for at this time to quickly finish this work?—what measures shall this Conference adopt? what personal consecration shall we and all our people make? what service shall we render from this day on that will make it possible for the Lord through us to “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness” in fulfilment of his promise? Rom. 9: 28.

Personally, I may say that of late this question has pressed me hard. I shall not in this address attempt to give it a full answer, but there are some steps that seem absolutely necessary to be taken in order to hasten this movement to its close. Some of these I shall venture to suggest here:—

1. The development of a stronger and more efficient ministry. This is all-important. A strong ministry means a strong, triumphant religious movement. The call in our work for strong, earnest, successful preachers is growing more imperative every day. It has become serious, and this Conference should adopt some practical, effective measure for the immediate and steady development of strong, successful ministers.

2. Place greater importance and value upon evangelical work.

The preaching of the gospel is the fundamental part of gospel work. It precedes all other phases of that work. It is that which, more than any other kind of effort, makes disciples, and adds to the church such as are being saved. All other features of gospel work are built upon this. All the administrative and institutional work of the church springs from the results of preaching the gospel. However good and important the administrative and educational work may be, it never can successfully take the place of purely evangelical work. That must go on, or the other departments, which spring from its results, will become of none effect in advancing the cause of Christ.

The pioneers of this movement laid great stress on the proclamation of the gospel as it was revealed to them in the threefold message of Revelation 14. This led to the most earnest, prayerful study of the Word, and to a close and constant association with the people. Their preaching convinced hearers, and led many of them to accept the message. As they pressed forward with their work, and believers were added to their numbers, they began to feel the need of agencies which they could use to multiply their forces, efficiency, and results. This brought the printing-office, the school, the sanitarium, and organization. But all these were designed by the pioneers to be only tools in their hands to hasten the work.

It was no thought of those who launched these administrative and institutional features that they could take the place of the evangelical work that had been carried forward, but the tendency has ever been for these features to paralyze evangelical work. The formal, business, and mechanical duties, needed in the carrying on of the organized work and institutions, can be performed without special spiritual attainments; whereas, successful evangelical work can not be done without much study of the Word, earnest prayer, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. For these reasons the tendency is to swing toward the formal, mechanical, official part of the work, to the neglect of the more spiritual and purely evangelical phase.

Some of us can not forget the earnest, pressing call that came to us through the spirit of prophecy at the last General Conference to turn to the cities in strong evangelical work. Should not this Conference, in response to that call, take a stand for stronger evangelical effort everywhere?

3. Stimulate greater activity in home missionary work.

In the vicinity of the home of every believer in this message there are men and women to be won to Christ by a good Christian life and by judicious missionary effort. If the lives of our people are what they should be, their neighbors will respond to their efforts to unfold the truth to them. And this effort will bring as great joy and blessing to those who make it as it will to those for whom it is made. We should at this time launch the greatest home missionary movement ever known among us.

One of the many other important questions to come before this Conference for action will be the improvement of the finances and administration of our institutions.

In this age evangelical and institutional work are very closely, if not inseparably, connected. It is essential that we hold true conceptions of the place, the purpose, and the value of our institutions. An institution is more than ground, buildings, furniture, and equipment. A very important part of an educational institution is its staff of teachers and its student body, and still more, the efficient, patient labor of teachers, and the steady intellectual and moral development of young men and women under the ceaseless care of teachers,—this is part of an educational institution. The teacher, the lesson, the new ideal formed, the ambition awakened, the association of student life,—these are of greatest value.

The same principles apply to our publishing houses and sanitariums. It is not the financial investment nor the losses and gains, but the purpose, the daily work, and the results obtained that constitute their value to the cause of God. In view of the great service all our institutions have already rendered, and are now more than ever prepared to render, we should at this Conference adopt such measures as will give them an efficient administration and place them on a good financial basis.

Having done all we know how to do to come into harmony with the Lord's purpose, we should with all our hearts pray for the baptism and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. This is more important than all else. Without this all other efforts will fail. When Jesus returned to heaven after his resurrection, he sent the Holy Spirit to make real to men what his death on the cross had made possible. There can be no efficient substitute for that divine Spirit. Learning, eloquence, long experience, material equipment, busy activity, can not take the place of the Holy Spirit in the work of God. I feel deeply impressed that this meeting should mark the beginning of more earnest, importunate prayer for the presence and mighty working of the Holy Spirit in all our work.