An Attempt That Failed

An experience related by A. G. Daniells is of interest in this connection. Early in his administration as president of the General Conference, a leader in one branch of the work was grieved because he did not secure from Elder Daniells all the support and cooperation which he felt he should have. Knowing that for years the messages of the Spirit of prophecy had strongly supported the work in which he was primarily interested, he endeavored deliberately to influence Mrs. White against Elder Daniells and in favor of the enterprises he had in mind. In so doing, he dictated a seventy-page letter to her, setting forth matters in the strongest possible light. He was one who had been in Mrs. White’s home as a young man, one whom she regarded very highly, one to whom many messages of encouragement had been sent, and if any individual could have influenced her it would have been this man. In due time the letter was received by Mrs. White. We still have it in our files.EGWMR 17.2

Word that such a letter had been written passed from the secretary who transcribed the letter to those who informed Elder Daniells, together with the main points which were embodied in it. Aroused at the seeming injustice, Elder Daniells sat down one evening, saying to himself, “I must give Mrs. White my side of the story.” Painstakingly he wrote two pages, and was on the third when he caught himself.EGWMR 17.3

“What am I doing?” he asked himself. “If Mrs. White is God’s messenger I need not write a word to her. She knows the whole story in its correct setting. Why should I endeavor to inform her?” And tearing the sheets to bits, he threw them into the wastebasket. But still he wondered. What would be Mrs. White’s attitude when they met a few months hence at the forthcoming General Conference in Oakland? Would the strong arguments and the misrepresentations of the seventy-page letter influence her? Or would she maintain an attitude indicating a true perception of the situation?EGWMR 17.4

The time came for the General Conference. Reaching Oakland before the Conference opened, he, as president of the General Conference, went to the home where Mrs. White was staying, to greet her and welcome her to the Conference. Still in his mind was the question, what would her attitude be as they met?EGWMR 17.5

As he entered the home where Mrs. White was staying, and walked down the long hallway, she heard his step and rose to greet him. Extending her hand, she grasped his in a cordial and firm handshake, and declared that the work was in a crisis. She made it clear that she understood well the whole situation. Then Elder Daniells knew that Mrs. White had not been influenced one whit by the long communication sent her by his critic a few months earlier. As she presented her messages at the Conference, it was clear to those close to her that the representations made to her had not caused her testimony to vary a hair’s breadth.EGWMR 17.6

We are reminded of the experience of two prophets, and of the endeavors made to influence them. Balaam was forced to answer, even against his own will, “What the Lord saith, that will I speak.” Numbers 24:13. And Micaiah answered, when the messenger proposed that the four hundred prophets summoned by Ahab had foretold good and he was now to speak good to the king, “As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.” 2 Chronicles 18:13.EGWMR 17.7