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- At the McDearmon Home
- The Plano Camp Meeting
- The Fluctuating Plans of James and Ellen White
- Working at Home in Denison, Texas
- Miss Marian Davis Joins the White Forces
- The Home Situation
- Outreach in Missionary Endeavor
- Evangelism in Nearby Communities
- Texas, a Needy Field of Labor
- Preparing for the Exodus from Texas
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- A New President for Battle Creek College
- The College Problems Enumerated
- New Schools in the East and the West
- The Healdsburg School
- Ellen White Finds a Home Base
- The Battle Creek Church, Uriah Smith, and the Testimonies
- The Fourth of July Picnic
- The E. G. White Home in the Town of Healdsburg
- Healed at the Camp Meeting
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- Early Writings of Ellen G. White
- New Year's Day, 1883
- Holiday Articles in the Review and Signs
- Practical Gift Suggestions
- Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4
- Instructed to Trace the History of the Controversy
- Chapters Published in Signs of the Times
- The Relation of Ellen White's Articles to D'Aubigne
- Sketches from the Life of Paul
- The Call for an Ellen G. White Lesson Help
- Testimonies for the Church, Volumes 1 to 4
- The General Conference on Record Regarding Inspiration
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- The Meetings in Sweden
- The Conference Session
- The Two Weeks in Christiania
- Dealing Carefully and Firmly with the Church Situation
- The Week in Denmark
- The European Missionary Council
- The Week-Long Council Meeting
- Evangelistic Labor in Nimes, France
- The Visit to the Watch Factory
- The Third Visit to Italy
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- News of D. M. Canright's Final Defection
- Writing Letters and Preparing Book Manuscript
- Visit to Zurich
- Starting on the Long Journey Home
- Meetings at Vohwinkel
- The Meetings in Copenhagen
- First European Camp Meeting at Moss, Norway
- The Fifth Session of the European Council
- The Well-Attended Meetings in Sweden
- On to the British Mission
- The Illness of Mary K. White
- Across the Atlantic on the City of Rome
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- The Law in Galatians at Last Introduced
- Satan's Diverting Strategy
- The Landmarks and the Pillars
- Ellen White's Objective
- A Heart-Searching Appeal
- The Conference Session Closes on the Upbeat
- W. C. White's Appraisal
- W. C. White Acting General Conference President
- The Story that Contemporary Records Tell
- Righteousness by Faith Defined
- A Personal and Frail Experience
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- Her Resume of Labors Through 1889
- Michigan State Meeting at Potterville
- Ellen White's Sixty-First Birthday
- The Remarkable Revival in Battle Creek
- The Revival at South Lancaster
- Revivals Across the Land
- The Williamsport Camp Meeting
- The 1889 General Conference Session
- E. G. White Review Articles Tell The Story
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- Attention Turned to the Great Controversy
- An Enlightening Experience
- Experience in Europe Benefited the Book
- Enlargement of Chapter on Huss
- Deletion of Materials Especially Intended for Adventists
- The Great Controversy Finished at Healdsburg
- Materials Quoted from Historians
- Patriarchs and Prophets
- Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White
- Testimonies for the Church,
- Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
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- Consolidation of Denominational Interests
- Opening the Way for the Enemy to Control
- Reading and Working in Battle Creek
- Schools for Ministers
- Early-Morning Devotionals Drew Large Attendance
- Ellen White's Bold Testimony Bears Fruit
- The Backbone of Rebellion Broken
- The Spirit of Prophecy the Real Issue
- A Statement Clarifying Issues
- What is the Evidence?
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- The 1891 General Conference Session
- Religious Interest at a High Point
- References to the Salamanca Vision
- Instructed to Tell what She Saw at Salamanca
- Ellen White's Report
- An Abundance of Testimony
- The Experience Brought Unity
- General Conference Business
- Uriah Smith's Spirit of Prophecy Sermon
- Ellen White Asks for Time
- The Question of Consolidation
- Cheering, Positive Attitudes
- Ellen G. White Following the Session
- Ellen White Shared in Carriage Accident
- To Go or Not To Go
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The Question of Consolidation
In his opening address to the conference Olsen had mentioned the importance of the publishing work of the church and of steps being taken thought to strengthen it:3BIO 486.3
At the time of our last General Conference we recommended this subject as worthy of consideration by this body. The result was the appointment of a representative committee of twenty-one, to take the matter under advisement, learn what could be done, and if the way was open, to go on and effect such consolidation. This committee has done all that circumstances would permit, and will render its report to this body at the proper time.—Ibid., 93BIO 486.4
This report came in to the session on Sunday morning, March 15. The editor of the Bulletin saw in the prompt and full attendance at the meeting, and the fact that many visitors were present, the interest taken in this particular item of business. The report opened:3BIO 486.5
Your committee appointed at the last session of this conference to take into consideration the consolidation of the publishing work under one general management, with power to act, if in their judgment they thought best to do so, would report that we have given the matter referred to us much thought.—Ibid., 1233BIO 486.6
Instead of the formation of a new corporation, the committee recommended that the General Conference Association, which dealt with legal matters, be reorganized. The number of trustees should be increased from five to twenty-one, and all publishing interests should be consolidated under the control of this enlarged corporation board. It was suggested that if the conference acted promptly, the new arrangement could be set up before the close of the session, set for March 25. The recommendation was accepted and followed, and by the time the session closed, a board of twenty-one had been elected and steps taken to place it in a position of responsibility. What was not realized at the time was that the General Conference Association board of twenty-one could soon overpower, in some respects, the General Conference Committee of nine.3BIO 487.1
Among the many matters opened up to Ellen White in the Salamanca vision were dangers relating to the forming of confederacies in the publishing work, as brought to view in Life Sketches, chapter 48, [A reprinting of a tract issued in the early 1890S.] and the danger of covering up the distinctive features of the message, as referred to in chapter 35. She wrote of the vision given at Salamanca:3BIO 487.2
I was taken out of and away from myself to assemblies in different States, where I bore decided testimony of reproof and warning. In Battle Creek a council of ministers and responsible men from the publishing house and other institutions was convened, and I heard those assembled, in no gentle spirit, advance sentiments and urge measures for adoption that filled me with apprehension and distress.3BIO 487.3
Years before, I had been called to pass through a similar experience.... On the night of November 3, these warnings were brought to my mind, and I was commanded to present them before those in responsible offices of truth, and to fail not nor be discouraged. There were laid out before me some things which I could not comprehend.—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 319.3BIO 487.4
Her attention was called particularly to those carrying on the work at Battle Creek. She wrote:3BIO 487.5
Great peril was about the people, but some knew it not. Unbelief and impenitence blinded their eyes, and they trusted to human wisdom in the guidance of the most important interests of the cause of God relating to the publishing work. In the weakness of human judgment, men were gathering into their finite hands the lines of control, while God's will, God's way and counsel, were not sought as indispensable. Men of stubborn, iron-like will, both in and out of the office, were confederating together, determined to drive certain measures through in accordance with their own judgment.—Ibid., 320, 321.3BIO 487.6
Was it because she detected that this was taking place in the moves toward consolidating the publishing interests of the denomination that she was led to say what she did as she addressed the conference session on the last night of the meeting?3BIO 488.1
In this address she sounded warnings in several directions. Although she did not speak directly against the plans developed for the consolidation of the publishing work, it would seem that she had this in mind in her opening remarks:3BIO 488.2
Brethren and sisters, I appeal to you as Seventh-day Adventists to be all that this name signifies. There is danger of departing from the spirit of the message, and adopting measures that will imperil the work of God. As the Lord has presented these things before me at several times and in different places, I have been brought into your assemblies where articles were read and statements made which were false in principle and dangerous in their tendency. I was shown that those who advocated these sentiments were not following the counsel of God.—The General Conference Bulletin, 1891, 256.3BIO 488.3
Among leading workers in her audience there was some uncertainty as to how to apply the counsel. Did it refer to problems over the American Sentinel, or to the matter of consolidation? When they came and inquired of her, she replied that she could not answer that question. At times under similar circumstances she replied: “I cannot explain it; you should understand it better than I. If you do not understand it, pray to the Lord, and He will help you.”—DF 105b, W. C. White address, November 25, 1905.3BIO 488.4
In the closing meeting she devoted some time to the question of their relationship to the Spirit of Prophecy; she challenged them to test her work by the Word and by their observations. She spoke of the Sabbath and the need to prize it and stand in its defense, and that the church's testimony now “is not to be less decided than formerly; our real position is not to be cloaked in order to please the world's great men.”—Ibid., 1891, 2583BIO 489.1
She spoke of the institutions in Battle Creek and of how, as they were founded, the pioneers prayed and sought God day and night. “Now let us continue to pray,” she admonished. “If we needed to pray about the establishment of these institutions, how much more do we need to pray for God to keep them as guardians of the truth.”—Ibid., 261.3BIO 489.2