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The Spirit of Independence
[Manuscript read before the delegates at the General Conference,
Washington, D. C., May 30, 1909.]
Before leaving Australia, and since coming to this country, I
have been instructed that there is a great work to be done in America.
Those who were in the work at the beginning are passing away. Only
a few of the pioneers of the cause now remain among us. Many of
the heavy burdens formerly borne by men of long experience are
now falling upon younger men.
This transfer of responsibilities to laborers whose experience is
more or less limited is attended with some dangers against which we
need to guard. The world is filled with strife for the supremacy. The
spirit of pulling away from fellow laborers, the spirit of disorganiza-
tion, is in the very air we breathe. By some, all efforts to establish
order are regarded as dangerous—as a restriction of personal liberty,
and hence to be feared as popery. These deceived souls regard it
a virtue to boast of their freedom to think and act independently.
They declare that they will not take any man’s say-so, that they are
amenable to no man. I have been instructed that it is Satan’s special
effort to lead men to feel that God is pleased to have them choose
their own course independent of the counsel of their brethren.
Herein lies a grave danger to the prosperity of our work. We
must move discreetly, sensibly, in harmony with the judgment of
God-fearing counselors; for in this course alone lies our safety and
strength. Otherwise God cannot work with us and by us and for us.
Oh, how Satan would rejoice if he could succeed in his efforts to
get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time when
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thorough organization is essential and will be the greatest power to
keep out spurious uprisings and to refute claims not endorsed by the
word of God! We want to hold the lines evenly, that there shall be
no breaking down of the system of organization and order that has
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