rials drawn in to augment certain areas of counsel. Section
I, “The Church of Christ,” gives assurance of the tender regard in which
God holds his church, and contains clear-cut promises of the church’s
triumph. This is followed by Warnings and Counsels to Ministers and
Administrators.
The decade of the 1890’s was an interesting, yet in some ways
distressing, period in the experience of Seventh-day Adventists.
The church was growing, more than doubling its membership in
the ten-year period. With rapidity its workers were entering new
countries. Institutions at home and abroad were brought into being.
The original provisions for organization devised at the first general
conference session in 1863 were being rapidly outgrown. Older
established institutions were expanding and entering upon a period
of popularity with both Seventh-day Adventists and the world. This
growth was fraught with many perils, from liberalism on one hand
to consolidation and centralization on the other hand. Then, in and
through the experience of this period, there were elements reflecting the
aftermath of the 1888 General Conference session held in Minneapolis,
Minnesota,
15
where certain doctrinal issues were discussed heatedly and at length.
A number of men identified themselves with one camp or the other,
with their decisions influenced not alone by the doctrinal arguments
presented, but also molded by attitudes toward the spirit of prophecy
counsels. In some cases these attitudes were not wholesome. Through
most of this period, Ellen White was in Australia, laboring to build up
the work in that newly entered land and leading out in the establishment
of a college and a sanitarium in that continent.
This volume bears the title of Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel
Workers. It is not devoted essentially to instruction as to how the work
of the minister should be conducted, as is Gospel Workers. This volume
contains messages given to admonish, warn, reprove, and counsel the
ministers of the church, with special attention given to perils peculiar to
men who stand in positions of responsibility. Some of the reproofs are
severe, but the assurance is given that God in his chastening, “wounds
only that he may heal, not cause to perish.”—Testimonies to Ministers
and Gospel Workers, 23.
The reproofs and counsels directed to ministers and especially
administrators were not published initially by Ellen G. White, but rather
by the President of the General Conference, and later the General
Conference Committee. For the most part they were messages directed
originally to the President of the General Conference, O. A. Olsen,
and his associates in administrative work, particularly in Battle Creek.
He and his committee placed them in print that their fellow ministers
and fellow administrators might have the benefit of the reproofs which
pointed out wrongs, and the counsels and encouragement associated
with the reproof.
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A REVIEW OF SIGNIFICANT HISTORY
As we review certain situations in our church history which form
the background for the messages of the 1890’s, we uncover clues which
enable us better to understand these messages. Let us turn back the
pages of history and look at some important developments.
From the very outset, Sabbath-keeping Adventists were characterized
by their eagerness to understand God’s will and to walk in his way. In
their Advent experience of the mid-1840’s they had witnessed the stable
Protestant churches, with their creedal stakes firmly driven, turn from
great truths taught in the word of God. Many of these Adventists had
been cast out of these churches because of their Advent hope, a hope
which sprang from the Scriptures. They had seen their former brethren
enter into active opposition to those who held and expounded Bible
truths. This led them to be fearful of formality and church organization.
But as the way began to open for the heralding of the third angel’s
message, the need for organization developed, and in January, 1850,
Ellen White was shown that the Sabbath-keeping Adventists should
bring their work into order, for “everything in heaven was in perfect
order.”—Ms. 11, 1850.
Earnest efforts to bring about church organization spanned the
decade of the 1850’s. They culminated in 1860 in the choice of
the name “Seventh-day Adventists,” And, in 1861, in plans for the
organization of local churches and state conferences. Then in 1863,
the state conferences were bound together in the General Conference.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
Painstaking care was exercised to avoid the first step in forming a creed,
for it was apparent that the church could not have cr