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Testimonies for the Church Volume 9
Mrs. White had seen the work of the administration of the
church develop from a committee of three which was appointed
in 1863 to take charge of the General Conference, to its present
status of organization with General Conference departments and
with Division and Union Conference organizations dividing the
responsibilities among hundreds who carried the burden of the work
in various parts of the world field. In her closing words she pleaded
for unity and consecration. In her written statements she dealt with
the authority of the General Conference and the importance of the
actions taken by the General Conference in full session. She wrote
of the distribution of responsibility and the need of humility and of
faith. These counsels form an important part of the closing section
of volume 9
.
At the turn of the century Mrs. White had begun to appeal for
a renewed interest in the evangelizing of the millions in the great
metropolitan centers of the world. These needs had been emphasized
again and again in the counsels which had been sent to the leading
workers. In response to these messages, interests in city work was
revived. Large centers were entered. Many evangelistic efforts
were held, old churches were strengthened, and new churches were
established. To preserve the appeals for this work and the counsels
[6]
as to its conduct in permanent form, an entire section of volume 9 is
devoted to this important subject
.
We were in days, too, when the various enterprises which were
entered into called for the talents and energies of our lay members.
It began to be clear that this work could never be finished unless the
laity vigorously united with the ministry in carrying the message
to the world. The work of laymen took on new importance. In the
last two volumes of the
Testimonies
increasing emphasis had been
placed upon the work of the laymen, and this is brought to a climax
in volume 9. Following a picture of the last crisis and events to take
place in the closing scenes of earth’s history, several chapters are
devoted to the call for every Seventh-day Adventist to take an active
part in evangelism, in home missionary work, and in the circulation
of literature
.
There were two other lines of detailed counsel which are repre-
sented in this volume for the first time in the
Testimonies
, though
considerable instruction had been given through the years relating to