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Appendix Notes
423
Seventh-day Adventists, as a separate and peculiar people, should
not become involved in political questions
.
Page 342.
Attitude toward the testimonies
: The statement that
some who stood as counselors had declared “that they would not
receive the testimonies given” highlights the situation which existed
in the mid-1890’s as described in the historical foreword. However,
at the General Conference session of 1901, more men who were
firm in their confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy were drawn into
positions of leadership
.
In the opening session of that conference, after Ellen White
had called for a reorganization of the work of the church, A. G.
Daniells, who had been in Australia for many years, and who at this
conference was to become the leading officer of the church, made his
position clear when he stated, “We all feel that our only safety lies in
obedience, following our great Leader.... If we walk in the light we
have, go just as far as we can today, God will give us further light;
He will bring us out of bondage into glorious liberty.”—
General
Conference Bulletin, April 3, 1901, 27
.
[530]
Certain leaders in the institutional work failed to respond to the
messages of entreaty, warning, and counsel, and the changes which
were called for were not made
.
Page 342.
The president of the General Conference
: In 1896,
the year of the writing of the message addressed to conference
presidents and counselors in which Ellen White stated, “It is not
wise to choose one man as president of the General Conference,”
the officers of the General Conference consisted of (1) a president,
(2) a corresponding secretary, and (3) a recording secretary and
treasurer. In this particular year, the foreign mission secretary and
the educational secretary were also listed as officers of the General
Conference, but in 1901, we find the officers listed only as president,
secretary, and treasurer. The context of the statement made by Ellen
White in 1896 makes it clear that she does not intend to teach that
there should not be a president of the General Conference, but rather,
as is stated on page 343, “counselors of the character that God chose
for Moses are needed by the president of the General Conference.”
At no time in the writings of Ellen White, either prior to the year
1901, or subsequently, did she indicate that in the denominational
plan of organization there should not be a president chosen by the