Ellen White: Woman of Vision

The 1909 General Conference Session

As in 1905, this General Conference session was held in a large tent pitched on the grounds of Washington Missionary College. The opening meeting convened at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, May 13. There were 328 delegates present, a number that swelled a little as the conference progressed. WV 508.6

The session itself was quite routine, with a great deal of time given over to reports of the progress of the cause around the world. A portion of each day was devoted to individual meetings of the various departments and to the business of the quadrennial session. WV 508.7

Sabbath morning, May 15, at 11:00 Ellen White addressed the session in the big tent. The Bulletin reported that it “was a day long to be remembered” as the “aged servant of God” stood in that large tent speaking to an audience of more than 1,000 people. She seemed to “lay upon those assembled representatives of the third angel's message the importance of rightly representing Christ to the world in our speech, in our character, in all our dealing with our fellow men, in order that we shall not be found fruitless in the great day of harvest” (p. 28). WV 508.8

She spoke 11 times in the big tent, taking the Sabbath morning services on three of the four Sabbaths of the session. WV 509.1

How did the voice of this little woman of 81 come through to the audience? Those who were there reported that they all heard her clearly and distinctly. One curious young minister, A. V. Olson, attending his first General Conference session, eager to find out for himself, sat near the front, where he heard her well. He went outside the tent, and even there her voice came through in clear tones. She did not shout. She had no public address system, but with a steady, low voice supported by her abdominal muscles, she spoke as she had been instructed by God (see Evangelism, 669). She made all hear, with no one straining to catch her words. WV 509.2

Reviewing instruction on the importance of healthful living, she listed strict temperance in eating as one reason for her ability to do so much work in speaking and writing (Letter 50, 1908). Addressing one influential minister on March 28, 1909, she declared, “True conversion to the message of present truth embraces conversion to the principles of health reform” (Letter 62, 1909). She also said: WV 509.3

It is our duty to act wisely in regard to our habits of eating, to be temperate, and to learn to reason from cause to effect. If we will do our part, then the Lord will do His part in preserving our brain-nerve power (Letter 50, 1908). WV 509.4

Ellen White used the opportunities given to her to speak in admonishing, encouraging, and instructing. Her prime theme was evangelistic outreach, with emphasis on both personal and city evangelism. Health reform and health interests were a close second. She had attended General Conference sessions from 1863 on, missing some while in Europe and Australia. She had been at the first general gathering of Sabbathkeeping Adventists in 1848, and at succeeding Sabbath Conferences had been with the brethren as they diligently studied the Word and formed the doctrinal structure of the church based on that Word. WV 509.5

The last meeting, Sunday afternoon at 3:00, June 6, was given to her.”Partakers of the Divine Nature” was her theme. It came too late to be included in the Bulletin, but it was referred to in the last issue under the title “A Touching Farewell.” WV 509.6

Thus closed the last sermon Ellen White was to make at a General Conference session. She moved away from the desk and started to her seat, then turned and came back, picked up the Bible from which she had read, opened it, and held it out on extended hands that trembled with age. She admonished, “Brethren and Sisters, I commend unto you this Book” (reported by W. A. Spicer, then secretary of the General Conference, in The Spirit of Prophecy in the Advent Movement, p. 30). WV 509.7

Thus in her last words to the leaders of the church officially assembled in conference Ellen White elevated the Word of God—that Word that had been so precious to her and that she freely used and ever kept before the church and the world. WV 510.1