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OUR WORK AND WORKERS

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 11, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 10.

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OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

By M. C. W.

Conference Notes.

The California delegates to the General Conference at College View, Neb., left Oakland, February 14, and arrived at Lincoln, Neb., the 17th. College View is five miles from the city of Lincoln, connected with that city by an indifferent electric railway, which runs, when on time, once every hour and twenty minutes. The center of College View is the campus of Lincoln College. The college building is a substantial brick structure, flanked by two substantial brick dormitories, the whole cost of which is about $90,000. Around the campus is the village, consisting to a great extent of families who have moved here to avail themselves of the advantages of education to be here obtained. The institute preceding the General Conference had been in session about ten days when they arrived, and nearly the full delegation of the General Conference were on the ground. We had the privilege of meeting brethren from the different parts of the great harvest-field, the world, and greetings were warm and many between those who had not met for two years, and some for many more.
The principal thing considered in the institute was the general wants of the cause, and Bible study. Those who took the leading part were Elder E. J. Waggoner, of London, England; Elder A. T. Jones, and Prof. W. W. Prescott. During this time meetings had been held in the Y. M. C. A. Hall in Lincoln, conducted by Elder Durland, of Battle Creek, Mich., and Elder G. E. Fifield, of Boston, Mass.
The number of delegates at this Conference is not as large as at our Conferences in the past. This is partially accounted for because of the stress of financial matters through which the world has been passing for some time, and partially also from the fact that the General Conference is not held at the center of the work. The Conference has really just begun business, so it is impossible at this early date to set before our readers any results which have thus far been accomplished. However, all the delegates have come with an object to work, and the institute and the early days of the Conference have been spent in solemn consideration of the responsibilities resting upon our people, who believe that the coming of the Lord is near at hand, and that to them is committed a solemn message to the world. This has been especially marked with reference to new plans for future work, and doubtless the future meetings of the Conference will present new ideas concerning the work, elasticity of organizations, and much broader plans. That which has life must grow. Any human organization never should be that which would hinder the development of life, and yet one of the great difficulties in all the religious history of the past has been that men, in seeking to help along the work of God, have really hindered it by their own plans and methods. This has been especially marked in human organization. Not being content with the statement of just principles of Christian labor and effort, they have encumbered the work of God with details which are not only belittling to his work, but are a hindrance to the workers. It is impossible to state the living truth of God in all its varied forms in mere human words; it is impossible to compass its life and growth with dead human forms. Humanity can see very little beyond the present, especially if it views things in the light of men. But God’s work is not for the present, merely, but for the future. Human rules and regulations at the best bring their work only to the present, and if these rules and regulations are such as to limit the work, the work of the morrow is hindered by the rules and regulations of to-day. It would seem as tho those who have faith in God and the progress of his work, would be content with such simple and expansive regulations that the cause of God would not be hindered, and that his servants could be left free to follow his bidding.
This matter of regulation and organization is one of the questions of solemn consideration at this Conference. The message of the Lord is going to the world, as the reports indicate, rapidly, and it is the earnest hope of the servants of God who have met at this Conference, that not only shall nothing be done that will hinder that work, but that all the plans that are laid shall be helpful in carrying it forward.
Preliminary meetings of the General Conference have been held, also of the International Tract Society and the International Sabbath School Association. The reports of the officers of these organizations show that the work of God is making progress in the different parts of the earth. The address of the president of the Conference, Elder Olsen, was much briefer than usual. Instead of embodying a report from foreign fields, that was left to be covered by the representatives of those fields that are present, and the plans for the future are so uncertain that nothing was suggested only in the most general way. These will be given more fully later.
Brother C. H. Jones, of Oakland, president of the International Sabbath School Association, presented a stirring address in behalf of the work of the Sabbath Schools. The financial report was very encouraging. It showed that during the years of 1895 and 1896 the total amount given to missions through the Sabbath schools was $42,144.71, an increase during the last year, notwithstanding the hard times, of nearly $5,000.
The most important committees for preliminary work have been appointed in the General Conference as follows:—
On Nominations—R. A. Underwood, R. S. Donnell, N. W. Allee, A. T. Jones, W. S. Hyatt, J. W. Watt, F. D. Starr.
On Plans and Resolutions—H. P. Holser, W. C. White, A. E. Place, E. J. Waggoner, N. C. McClure, J. N. Loughborough, F. M. Wilcox.
On Credentials and Licenses—R. M. Kilgore, A. J. Breed, W. B. White, H. W. Cottrell, W. M. Healey, C. M. McReynolds, S. H. Lane, Wm. Covert.
On Distribution of Labor—I. D. Van Horn, D. C. Babcock, J. E. Graham, J. C. Ottosen, G. B. Thompson, T. F. Bicknell, D. T. Jones.
On Education—W. W. Prescott, J. H. Kellogg, W. C. White, J. C. Ottosen, H. P. Holser, G. W. Caviness, E. B. Miller, F. W. Howe, E. A. Sutherland, C. B. Hughes, O. A. Olsen, J. H. Haughey, J. W. Loughhead, W. T. Bland.
On Finances—G. A. Irwin, N. W. Kauble, C. H. Jones, J. H. Morrison, N. P. Nelson, J. E. Jayne, C. Santee.
The Committee of the International Tract Society on Nominations is as follows—R. S. Donnell, N. W. Kauble, S. H. Lane, H. E. Robinson, M. C. Israel.
The two important committees of the International Sabbath School Association on Nominations and Plans of Work, are as given below:—
On Nominations—A. E. Place, S. H. Lane, W. B. White, E. A. Sutherland, H. E. Robinson.
Plans of Work—J. H. Durland, M. H. Brown, W. C. White, J. E. Jayne, W. A. Hennig, Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, Miss Alberta L. Little.
Very important work rests upon these committees, and fewer meetings of these organizations are held than usual, in order to give the committees ample time. It is thought by many that this work would have been expedited if the work had extended more largely over the delegates, instead of placing a few men on so many committees. Upon this we have no disposition to offer criticism in any way. We realize to some extent the responsibility that those must feel who appoint these committees, and are sure they have met the responsibility as seems best to them.
The religious meetings thus far, at least those we have attended, have been excellent. This was especially marked on the Sabbath. Wise counsel was given Sabbath morning by Elder A. J. Breed, of California, from the text, “For if the trumpet shall give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?” In the afternoon it was our privilege to take part in a social service, the like of which we do not remember ever to have witnessed. There must have been between two and three hundred testimonies given, every one of which was full of courage, and there were many original and helpful thoughts expressed. This was noted by many. In most meetings of this kind there are many testimonies which follow in about the same line, and express about the same thing, but in the testimonies Sabbath afternoon there was a marked individuality shown in nearly every testimony borne by those present. Altho the meeting was long, the interest held even to the close, and the Spirit of the Lord was present throughout. This meeting itself seemed a pledge that God was working with his people, and would work with them throughout the entire Conference. We trust that this may be the case, and that this Conference, which is marked at the beginning with so much uncertainty as to what the definite plans of the future will be, will be the best Conference ever held among his people, not only in present spiritual manifestation, but in future results. We hope to be able in our next to give more definite results of the work actually accomplished.
M. C. W.