Times of Volume Eight
xi
There were problems incident to this loss much greater than that
of replacing destroyed property. For years the spirit of prophecy coun-
sels had called for a dispersion of believers from battle creek and the
establishment of sanitarium, educational, and publishing interests else-
where. Our people had been urged not to congregate in large numbers
at the headquarters of the work. It was in response to these counsels
that the old Battle Creek College had been moved to the country loca-
tion of Berrien Springs, Michigan. Now with the manufacturing plant
of the Review and Herald destroyed by fire, it seemed to the leaders
to be a propitious time to relocate the work of the publishing house at
some other point, and appropriate steps were taken in that direction
.
From the outset the General Conference headquarters had been
located near the Review and Herald office. The two seemed insep-
arable. Any plan to move one would involve the other. In response
to guidance through the spirit of prophecy, suitable locations were
sought, and finally, in the suburbs of Washington, D. C., The nation’s
capital, acceptable properties were found, and the work of the pub-
lishing house and the General Conference offices were moved to that
center in August, 1903
.
[8]
To help Seventh-day Adventists understand the background of the
cause of the disaster which wiped out the publishing house, and the
need of re-establishing the work on a new basis and in a new location,
“Counsels Often Repeated” were set forth in volume 8
.
These issues, involving our medical work, our publishing work,
and the very doctrines of the church, were large and could easily
divert the attention of our people around the world from the main task
before us—that of carrying the everlasting gospel to all the world.
Even though volume 8 was issued primarily to meet these crises, and
to make the correct course forever clear to Seventh-day Adventists,
Ellen White made a positive approach. The book opens, not with a
picture of the problems confronting us, but rather with the section
entitled “Present Opportunities” in which “Our Work” is set forth
in appealing terms. Then follow chapters on “The Commission,”
“The Power Promised,” and views of our responsibilities at home and
abroad, with special mention of “The Work in Europe.” How it would
have pleased the great enemy of truth if the minds and thoughts of the
people of God could have been turned from the great unfinished task
by speculations regarding the Godhead, by fanaticism, or by confused