Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Problems For The Nominating Committee

But not all were in sympathy with such an advanced step. Chief among them was H. W. Cottrell, the president of the Pacific Union Conference. Ellen White was aware of this, as also were some on the nominating committee. Someone asked, “Are we to reelect the incumbent who will stand as a stone wall to block the way of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists?” WV 521.4

On Thursday afternoon two members of the nominating committee interviewed Ellen White regarding the names that should be brought forward as the future officers of the Pacific Union Conference. She advised “a change in the presidency” (WCW to AGD, January 28, 1910). When this was reported to the delegates at the afternoon businesses session, it “created quite a sensation” (Ibid.). WV 521.5

That afternoon Mrs. White wrote a six-page letter to the president that included these words: WV 521.6

I am instructed by the Lord to advise our brethren to choose some other man to stand in your place as president of the Pacific Union Conference. This would make it less difficult than otherwise for you to put away some traits of character that are not Christlike (Letter 18, 1910). WV 522.1

She assured him that Jesus stood ready to help him overcome “objectionable traits” and fit him “for continued usefulness in His cause.” She then spoke of the church's institutions as agencies of divine appointment, and stated that at times we should come into possession of favorable properties even though all the money for their purchase was not in hand. At such times, she said, “we are to learn to walk by faith when necessary.” WV 522.2

The president received this testimony Thursday evening. Ellen White was to take the devotional hour on Friday morning. She chose to read to the congregation this letter that she had written the day before to the president, whose term would close with the session. This she followed with remarks that filled eight manuscript pages. She told of how since coming to the union session she had “been writing out the things that” she was “required to write,” for, she explained, “the end desired could not be accomplished unless matters were brought before” the conference “plainly and decidedly.” She told of the distress of soul this had caused her, but she said, “When messages come to me for the people of God, I must not conceal them, but must write them out, and speak of them” (Manuscript 25, 1910). WV 522.3

In the light of these most earnest words a deep solemnity came over the delegates. Turning to the work before them in the few closing hours of the conference, they appointed a new nominating committee, for the original committee had lapsed. WV 522.4

Later, on Sunday morning, the nominating committee brought in its report, presenting the name of G. A. Irwin for president of the Pacific Union Conference. Irwin was a seasoned administrator; for four years he had been president of the General Conference (1897-1901), with subsequent experience as president of the Australasian Union Conference and then as General Conference vice president. He was known to have unbounded confidence in the counsels of the messenger of the Lord. J. J. Ireland, a son-in-law of J. N. Loughborough, would stand by his side as secretary-treasurer. WV 522.5