Our Removal to Washington
By A. G. Daniells
THE headquarters of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists are now being removed from Battle Creek, Mich., to Washington, D. C. This change of the location of our general offices means much to our cause. It involves so much that it should not be made without good and sufficient reasons. Realizing something of the meaning of this step, and knowing the deep interest our people everywhere feel in changes that vitally affect the cause with which they are identified, I esteem it a pleasure to place before all a statement of the situation. The headquarters of this cause were established in Battle Creek in 1855. Prior to that time, the work had been managed in the East. In “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, are given some statements relative to the removal of the headquarters from the East to Battle Creek. From these statements I quote the following:— “In 1855 the brethren in Michigan opened the way for the office of publication to be removed to Battle Creek. . . . The cause had apparently come to a halt, orders for publications were very few and small. . . . Those were days of sadness. . . . From the time we moved to Battle Creek, the Lord began to turn our captivity. . . . New life was given to the cause, and success attended the labors of our preachers. The publications were called for, and proved to be just what the cause demanded. “I saw that special efforts should be made in the West with tents; for the angels of God are preparing minds there to receive the truth. This is why God has moved on some in the East to move to the West. Their gifts can accomplish more in the West than in the East. The burden of the work is in the West, and it is of the greatest importance that the servants of God should move in his opening providence. “I saw that when the message shall increase greatly in power, then the providence of God will open and prepare the way in the East for much more to be accomplished than can be at the present time. God will then send some of his servants in power to visit places where little or nothing can now be done; and some who are now indifferent will be aroused, and will take hold of the truth.” From these statements, we see that at the time of the removal to the West, conditions in the East were such that it was difficult to carry on the work there; that the way was open in the West for the message to make rapid progress; that the cause would in time become strong in the West; and that when it had obtained a strong foothold in the West, and changes for the better had taken place in the East, God would then send some of his servants back to the East to do what could not be done at the time of the transfer to the West. All this has been fulfilled. The cause has become strong in the West. Prejudice has to a large extent disappeared in the East. And now the Lord, through the spirit of prophecy, is directing us to return to the East, and we are following the counsel given. A. G. DANIELLS.