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The General Conference

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 3, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 22.

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The General Conference

By O. A. Olsen

The General Conference now assembled has made a profound impression on my mind. The gathering is a large one. But it is not that merely, but rather the spirit and character of those assembled, which have so deeply impressed me. Here we have representatives from all the great nations and countries of the world. These comprise not only men and women who have gone out from America, but the natives of various countries. We hear them testify of the love of God and the power of his grace in their own native tongues, or in broken English,—Germans, Bohemians, Bulgarians, Italians, Scandinavians, Russians, Chinese, and Japanese. Here are representatives from India, Africa, South America, Australia, and the islands of the great ocean, east and west. It is truly a marvelous representation, a world's conference indeed.
In the midst of all this great variety there is the most perfect harmony and oneness of mind and spirit, and also oneness in aim and purpose, and that is “the gospel to all the world in this generation.” One can not help but be impressed with the feeling that the experience on the day of pentecost under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is with us in a large measure.
The beginning of this great movement was not only without worldly show and outward pretensions, but the conditions and surroundings were adverse in every way. The early pioneers were without funds, and labored under great and apparently insurmountable difficulties. But they were men of great faith; and inspired with a heaven-born zeal and courage, they pressed forward, amid all difficulties and hindrances, having implicit trust in God and unbounded confidence in the success of the work; for they knew that it was God's great message of warning and salvation to this last generation of men on earth.
The results that we now see, as evidenced by this Conference, certainly bear evidence to the presence and power of God in this great advent movement. Out of that small beginning in 1845, we now see a work that has reached to the uttermost parts of the earth, and has firmly planted itself in all the great nations and countries of the world. And we can not help but recognize in our present experience the fulfilment of Rev. 18:1,—the coming of the angel with great power, the whole earth being lighted up with his glory.
That God has wrought in a most marvelous manner in this work none who can discern the workings of the Holy Spirit can doubt. The Lord has also chosen his own instrumentalities and given the work the form and shape that has pleased him. At every turn of the wheel of providence, and at every great move in connection with this work, the special guidance of the Lord has been most clearly manifested. It is the presence of God in the work that has given it its power and success.
The plan of organization, while most simple, is still very effective, and meets all the needs of the work. It is also a matter of interest that while it was well fitted to the work in its early stages, there has been no need of change in its fundamental principles to meet the needs of the work since it has become world-wide in its extent. While the work was small, there was not the call for the distribution of responsibility that there now is. But the plan of organization that fitted the work in its early days is equally well adapted to meet the needs at this stage of the work. Nothing could please the great adversary of God and his government more than to have this system of organization destroyed, and thus bring confusion into the work.
As a people we are standing at a most interesting point—holding a position never occupied by any other people. Prophecies are being fulfilled; the last-day signs and tokens have appeared; the conditions in our world, physically, politically, morally, and religiously, are just what the Word of the Lord has foretold they would be in the last days. And this movement itself—the preaching of “this gospel of the kingdom,” the last sign that is to be fulfilled—is to usher in the end.
Truly, no people ever lived in just such a time as this. And the very things that we see in this Conference assembled give evidence of the fact that the Lord is now pouring out his Holy Spirit in the latter rain upon his people. May we all be in such a state that we may individually share in this blessing, act our part in the work with faithfulness, and finally share in the great salvation at the coming of our Lord.
O. A. OLSEN.