A Request in Behalf of the Coming Conference
By A. G. Daniells
As the coming session of the General Conference draws near, the importance of the gathering presses with increasing weight upon our hearts. There was a time when all the delegates to the General Conference were from the United States alone. The most of the proceedings of the conference related to affairs in the United States. There were few laborers and fewer organized conferences and enterprises outside of this country. But all this is in the past. A great change has come. We have hundreds of laborers, thousands of believers, and scores of organized conferences and missions outside of the United States. Many members of the General Conference Committee are located in other countries. This cause is as strong today outside of the United States as it was in all the world in 1884. Delegates from all parts of the world will attend the coming conference. They will bring their share of conference business with them. They are coming to place before the conference the situation and needs of the great fields they represent; and as their fields' needs and opportunities are so great, the conference must of necessity be a world's conference. We can not in justice confine our attention chiefly to interests in America. To know just what to do and what not to do in such a conference will require more than human wisdom. The Spirit of God must brood over our gathering7to enlighten our minds that we may be able to discern what is vital and essential. We must exclude local details that belong to union conferences, and give ourselves to the great fundamentals upon which the success of this cause in all the world rests. In view of these considerations, we crave the prayers of God's people during the conference. May we not ask the ministers and church officers to bring these considerations before the people? May we not ask all our brethren and sisters to pray for us every day at family worship? May we not ask that earnest supplications of secret devotion be made in your homes, that the special blessing of God shall rest upon this meeting? We are doing all that we know how to make thorough preparation for it. The Lord knows just what we need most. He will regard and answer the cries of his people. No power can stand in his way. Earnest, persevering, triumphant prayer is needed.