Chapter 10—The “Moving Into Line” Vision “The Unity” 1913

The thirty-eighth session of the General Conference was scheduled to convene in Takoma Park, Maryland, a growing suburb of Washington, D.C., from May 15 to June 8, 1913. The Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters had been relocated here from Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1903, as had the Review and Herald publishing enterprise, both at the instance of Ellen White. ^{1SDAE 493, 1214.}GVEGW 132.1

The following year, 1904, the Adventist presence in Takoma Park had been augmented by the establishment of Washington Training College, known today as Columbia Union College. ^{2Early Writings, 333. The school would be renamed, successively, as Washington Foreign Mission Seminary (1904), Washington Missionary College (1913), and Columbia Union College (1961).} It was on the 20-acre campus of the college that a large tent was pitched in 1913, to accommodate the 372 delegates expected to attend the session. ^{3Early Writings, 502.}GVEGW 132.2

Sessions were now held every four years. From the founding of the General Conference in 1863 until 1889, sessions had been held annually, then biennially until 1905. ^4Ibid.GVEGW 132.3

After her return from Australia, Ellen White had attended and addressed the sessions of 1901, 1903, 1905, and 1909. ^{55Bio 75, 241, 408; 6Bio 196.} The latter session was the last at which she personally appeared. Her parting words to the delegates upon this occasion—actually a postscript to her sermon—were spoken as she held aloft her Bible: “Brethren and sisters, I commend unto you this Book.” ^{66Bio 197.}GVEGW 132.4

Now, in 1913, too feeble to make the arduous journey from her Elmshaven home in northern California, she had to settle for sending a written message of greeting and counsel by the hand of her son, W. C. White. ^{7Early Writings, 387.} This was the last General Conference session she addressed; she died on July 16, 1915.GVEGW 132.5

The brief eight-paragraph letter was addressed to “My dear Brethren.” She began, typically, by encouraging the delegates to “cherish a spirit of hopefulness and courage.” Always positive in word and tone, she urged her brethren to focus their attention upon Christ, to daily “be endowed ... with a rich measure of His Holy Spirit,” to seek deeper consecration, and to consider carefully and seriously “the times in which we are living,” in the context of the soon return of Jesus.GVEGW 133.1

The exhortation concluded with these stirring words: “I have been deeply impressed by scenes that have recently passed before me in the night season. There seemed to be a great movement—a work of revival—going forward in many places. Our people were moving into line, responding to God’s call. My brethren, the Lord is speaking to us. Shall we not heed His voice? Shall we not trim our lamps, and act like men who look for their Lord to come? The time is one that calls for light bearing, for action.” ^{8The General Conference Bulletin, 1913, 34; republished in Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 513-515. (Italics supplied.)}GVEGW 133.2

“Our people were moving into line.”GVEGW 133.3

What did she mean by this interesting metaphor? Was she referring to what the British call a “queue”—a line of people waiting to board a bus, or to be served in a bank or post office? Hardly.GVEGW 133.4

Several paragraphs earlier she had spoken of the importance of church workers being “on the Lord’s side”—an obvious reference to the great controversy between Christ and Satan. In this military motif she added, “I see a crisis before us, and the Lord calls for His laborers to come into line.” ^{9Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 514.} Into a military-like line of march, a line of battle. God’s people were called to present a united front against the enemy.GVEGW 133.5

This expression must be seen in the context of the great “sifting” or “shaking” ^{10Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 11Testimonies for the Church 1:179-184; Early Writings, 269-273.} that would decimate the church just before the close of probation, with a “great proportion” ^{11Testimonies for the Church 5:136; The Great Controversy, 608; Selected Messages 2:368; Evangelism, 301.} of its members (as then constituted) abandoning the remnant church. But while many would leave, others—under the influence of the “latter rain” of the Holy Spirit—would come in to take their places. There would be no diminution of numbers, and the church would then prepare for its final conflict with Satan and evil. ^{12See Roger W. Coon, “Ellen G. White and the Final ‘Shaking’ of Adventism” (unpublished lecture outline, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Oct. 21, 1987) for a summary of the Ellen G. White position.}GVEGW 133.6

It is this purified, unified church that she now beheld “coming into line.”GVEGW 133.7