The General European Conference
By Guy Dail
As indicative of the feeling of the delegates, as they reviewed the workings of God the past two years, this resolution was unanimously and heartily adopted by all the brethren and sisters present:— “Resolved, That we express our thanks to God for his good hand upon us since our last conference, graciously blessing the efforts of the laborers and believers, and giving prosperity to the cause of the third angel’s message in Europe.” These resolutions, introduced by the Educational Committee, were unanimously adopted:— “Whereas, We find that many individuals, upon receiving the truth, desire to enter upon some line of work among us, such as canvassing, nursing, and other missionary work; therefore,— “Resolved, When such individuals have but a limited knowledge of the fundamental principles of the third angel’s message, and, consequently, are not fully qualified to represent these great truths, that such be first thoroughly instructed in one of our schools or institutes in the fundamental principles of present truth, and in other lines necessary to equip them for the work they desire to enter.” “Whereas, There is a lack of properly qualified laborers to meet the calls which come from needy fields; therefore,— “Resolved, That we urge all who look forward to giving themselves to the work, to seek such instruction and training as will prepare them to be qualified workers; and,— “That, We encourage our training-schools already established to increase their facilities, and raise their standard of work so as to meet these demands; and,— “That, We further urge those fields which have as yet no training-schools to put forth every possible effort to provide training for native workers.” These resolutions called forth hearty comment on the part of Elders O. A. Johnson, W. A. Spicer, O. A. Olsen, and L. R. Conradi, emphasizing the importance of having tact and proper training before one undertakes to present the truth to others, and the need of quickly multiplying our institutions as far as may be necessary to turn out the number of workers we ought to have in the field; and the danger of Satan’s employing the powers of our youth unless these powers are utilized in carrying out the mission God has given us for these times; and, to close the discussion, it was shown that while in the United States we have one evangelical laborer for every one hundred thousand of the inhabitants, it would require five thousand in the General European Conference to make the proportion equal what it is in America, or, in other words, we should have four thousand eight hundred more ministers, licentiates, and Bible workers, to train which, with our present facilities, would require thirty years. There were a number of resolutions of a general nature passed at this meeting. One of these referred to the kindness of the Mission Board and our American brethren, in so liberally supplying funds and laborers for the work in Europe during the past two years. Another matter of general interest was the leading providence of God in so carefully directing the transfer of our headquarters to the national capital. This experience was briefly reviewed by Elder Spicer, and so thankful were we for the evidence that God is yet the leader of his people that a resolution to this effect was also unanimously passed. Our brethren feel a deep interest in the missionary revivals that are reported as taking place from time to time in various local churches and conferences. However, they also realize that at such religious awakenings, where enthusiasm runs high, some are apt to be only temporarily influenced to offer themselves for service in the regions beyond, who, when they see the hardships to be encountered, the self-denial to be practised, and the severe work to be done, will want to return to the land from whence they came. That all who contemplate entering these fields might not too lightly deal with this matter, it was thought best to emphasize the manner in which we view the question by a reindorsement of the following resolution passed at Skodsborg, in January, 1903:— “Whereas, The General European Conference calls loudly for more consecrated, self-denying laborers from the United States, who are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers already on the ground; therefore,— “Resolved, That we would heartily welcome all such, and only such, as are willing to take equal lot, and bear an equal cross in every respect with those in the field.” More and more it becomes evident that the cause of God is one great unit, and that no one department is to receive overmuch or too little attention, if we would preserve the beauty and symmetry that ought to be shown in the development of his kingdom on earth. It is felt that the workers and the various departments of the third angel’s message ought to be as closely knit together as are the divisions of a great and well-organized army. Therefore these preambles and recommendations:— “Whereas, We consider the evangelical and institutional work of our conferences as equally important parts of one great whole; and,— “Whereas, We heartily believe that mutual co-operation and counsel between the different branches and general management of the work is eminently beneficial; therefore,— “We recommend, (1) That this principle be followed in the transfer of laborers from one field to another, and in the engagement of new laborers to fill important positions in the different branches of the cause; and,— “(2) That, This same principle of mutual co-operation and counsel be recognized and followed in regard to important financial matters, especially in the inauguration of new plans and policies.” The matter of a change in the Constitution and By-Laws was considered at some length, and several changes and amendments were adopted. Dr. J. C. Ottosen, of the Skodsborg Sanitarium, Denmark, introduced the medical reports by a full description of the success which has attended our medical work in Scandinavia, especially in Denmark. He expressed his thankfulness for the privilege of seeing his patients converted to the message, and alluded to the many representative men of the country who have been guests at Skodsborg—government officials of high standing; physicians of influence who formerly scoffed at our principles but who are now using some of these methods themselves; pastors; leading educators; and well-known merchants. So wide-spread is the interest in our health principles becoming that he has invitations to lecture to large conventions, where he has had as many as four thousand hearers in a single audience. There is an awakening on the subject of temperance and healthful living, hygiene, and the care of the human body. At Skodsborg one hundred and seventy patients are now under treatment. The branch sanitarium at Frederikshavn has about thirty-five or forty patients. Our health-food factory in Copenhagen is doing a good work, and having fair earnings. Medical missionary work is being successfully carried forward in other parts of these northern countries, as in Christiania and Hamar in Norway, and Örebro, Sweden, etc. Dr. Olsen, of Caterham, England, stated that a former step in the work of establishing this branch of the third angel’s message in Great Britain was taken by the publication of Good Health, in November, 1901; and the paper now has a monthly issue of from forty-five to fifty thousand. The next step was the introduction of the Good Health League movement, in Birmingham, in 1902, and to-day there are hundreds of members in this society throughout the kingdom. Jan. 1, 1903, the14Belfast Sanitarium opened its doors; May 30, 1903, the Caterham Sanitarium began operations; and the Leicester Sanitarium commenced its work, Feb. 8, 1904. Dr. DeForest stated that in 1896 when the Institut Sanitaire began sanitarium work in the quarters formerly occupied by our Basel publishing house, there was a great deal of prejudice against our people because of the Sunday persecutions we had been passing through in that city; but one of the very policemen who helped to arrest Elder Holser at that time, has recently been under treatment in the Institut Sanitaire, and is now recommending our principles to his comrades. This is one evidence that our health work is to remove prejudice, just as the “Testimonies” have told us it would. Within the last six months, seven have taken hold of the truth, as the result of their stay at the sanitarium. Dr. Hoenes reported the total number of patients this year at the Friedensau Sanitarium to be one hundred and ninety-five, and, including those living in tents, there are now seventy-three under treatment. More and more our sanitarium principles are working in our favor. Our nurses are having better success in securing plenty of nursing to do as they go out from the institution during the less busy season. Last year there was practically no loss in operating the sanitarium. Thirty-three of our young people who have completed the nurses’ training-school are in the work, and there are twenty in our nurses’ class now. As the embodiment of the convictions of the conference on the importance of the circulation of health literature, and the necessity of training other young people as medical missionaries in the great European field, these actions were taken:— “Whereas, The proclamation of our complete message calls for the necessity of teaching the people the health principles as well as the other features of our faith; therefore,— “Resolved, That we recognize our health literature—periodicals, books, pamphlets, etc.—as one of the best means of educating the people in these principles, and that we give this literature as extensive a circulation as possible; also,— “Resolved, That we encourage our people and workers to study this phase of the message, and to support it by their sympathy and means, and by living and teaching its principles.” “Whereas, The training and sending out of nurses has proved a success, and has been a great benefit in the advancement of the third angel’s message throughout our conference; therefore,— “Resolved, That we encourage promising young people to devote their lives to this branch of the work, to enter our training-schools and sanitariums, and fit themselves to take part in medical missionary efforts in different parts of the world.”