General Conference Bulletin, vol. 6

THE DEVOTIONAL MEETING

W. A. Spicer, C. P. Bollman, I. H. Evans, C. M. Snow, T. E. Bowen

May 14, 6 A. M.

The early morning hour has been set apart as a time for prayer and praise and thanksgiving. The Friday morning meeting was led by Elder A. O. Olsen, who spoke of the privilege of all assembled to pray for God’s special blessing to rest upon this Conference, for divine guidance in all the deliberations, and for the restraining power of the Holy Spirit over every hindering influence. He called particular attention to God’s protecting care over those who had journeyed from the ends of the earth to this meeting, and to the opportunity now offered to praise the Lord for his manifold mercies. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.1

Elders Irwin, Daniells, and Olsen led the congregation in a blessed season of prayer. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.2

The social service that followed gave many delegates and others their first opportunity of expressing gratitude to God for the privilege of meeting once more in council with their brethren. Mere words are inadequate to express the spirit of these testimonies, coming, as they did, from those who had long prayed for rich blessings at the time of the Conference, and who, on their journeyings to the meeting, have earnestly sought God for more of his presence and power. A few brief expressions of hope and trust and loyalty and consecration are all that space will allow us to record. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.3

L. R. Conradi: I praise God for his protection and care over me since the last General Conference. In all my travels over land and sea, from country to country, from continent to continent, amid dangers seen and unseen, he has in mercy preserved me. I thank him for the presence of his Spirit; but brethren and sisters, I for one have come to this place to seek for a greater measure of the Holy Spirit’s power in my life and work. My desire is to drink deep of the waters of salvation, and return filled with the Spirit of God. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.4

F. W. Spies: I feel grateful that after sixteen years of labor in Brazil, it is my privilege to assemble with God’s people once more in General Conference. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.5

C. Santee: My confidence in this message has never been greater than it is to-day. I am thankful for the life that God has given me in the third angel’s message. I was born in this message, and in this time of peril and apostasy it is my heart’s desire and prayer to stand firm even to the end. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.6

A Sister: I praise God that I have lived to see this message go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.7

J. F. Jones: Thirty-four years ago I and my family were about the only representatives of the third angel’s message in all the territory embraced in the eastern portion of the Columbia Union Conference; and to-day, as I view this vast assembly, and realize how many churches and companies you represent, my heart is filled with gratitude to God for all that he has wrought, and for his keeping power over me and my children even to this day. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.8

W. H. Meredith [Great Britain]: My heart is overwhelmed with joy and gladness. I am trusting in this third angel’s message. To me, it is the one only thing in this world. I have given my life for it, and I expect to triumph with it. May we all meet in the grand reunion by and by. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.9

R. F. Andrews: My confidence in God, in his work, and in his people, is stronger to-day than at any other time during all the passing years of the half century and more that I have been connected with this movement. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.10

Dr. Amy I Bascom: I am trusting in God’s promises. By his help, I consecrate everything I have to his service. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.11

Dr. D. H. Kress: I am grateful to God for being here. I have the utmost confidence in the work that God is carrying forward in the earth,—confidence in this people, and in the instrumentalities he has chosen. I believe God is leading this people to a glorious triumph, and I am going to triumph with you, by his grace. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.12

D. E. Blake: I prayed earnestly for the privilege of attending this meeting, and God has marvelously opened the way for me to come, as a representative of the Rock City Sanitarium for colored people. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.13

W. Jay Tanner [Haiti]: After nine years on the firing line, this is like drinking clear waters from a pure fountain, and feeding in green pastures. My heart is full of love for this message. I desire to receive at this Conference that which will help me to do more efficient work upon my return. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.14

J. A. Burden: All through the thirty years of my experience in the message, the present truth has seemed more and more precious, and the only thing worth while. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.15

G. B. Starr [Australasia]: I am grateful for the privilege of uniting with you in a general council once more, after eighteen years of absence from the United States. It gives me great joy to look into the faces of my brethren and sisters, and to share with you the opportunities of this great gathering. I rejoice that the Lord, our precious Leader, is opening wide many doors of missionary activity in all parts of the earth. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.16

E. E. Andross: I thank God for his tender care over us during all the many thousands of miles we have traveled. I have given myself to God and his truth, and I am glad of this. I wish to triumph with it. GCB May 16, 1909, page 13.17

J. W. Westphal [South America]: It was not without struggles that I left our field in South America to come here. When I thought of the long time it would take, the difficulties and uncertainties of the way,—for it is more than three months and a half since I left home, and I just reached Washington yesterday morning,—there were no attractions to me in the journey. Besides, when I looked over our field, its needs, and the work left undone, it was a struggle with me as to whether I ought to come. We are continually calling for help, and I disliked to leave for several months. But, brethren, I am thankful to be with you. I am thankful for the privilege of greeting our brethren again in General Conference. I feel this morning a longing desire for more of the blessings of God. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.1

[NOTE: So deeply was Elder Westphal affected by a realization of the needs of his great field, “the Neglected Continent,” as he referred to his struggles of mind in deciding to leave South America in order to attend this Conference, that the entire congregation seemed for a moment to catch a glimpse of the unfinished work that he had left behind. In the hearts of many there was created a desire to respond in some way to the calls for help to which Elder Westphal so touchingly referred. Hearts were melted; eyes were filled with tears; the Holy Spirit seemed to come specially near in a silent yet powerful appeal to us all to rise to our opportunities in the South American Union Conference.—ED.] GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.2

E. W. Thomann [Bolivia]: Upon my arrival here yesterday, it was just two months since I started for the General Conference. The brethren on the West Coast of South America have bidden me extend to you their greetings on the occasion of this, my first meeting with you in North America. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.3

W. A. Westworth: I pray that the Spirit of God may fill our hearts, so that this mighty concourse shall not have been in vain, but that we may go forth in the power of God to finish this work quickly. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.4

J. E. Fulton [Australasia]: Since the first day of last October, I have been on my way to this General Conference. Along the way it has been my privilege to visit islands both large and small, in many parts of the broad Pacific, and I bring you words of greeting from many peoples of many lands. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.5

M. C. Wilcox: I, with all the rest of these brethren, praise God for this truth, for this blessed message which has brought us together, and for the blessed message which binds us to him as well as to each other. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.6

W. C. White: I thank God for his manifold mercies and for his abundant blessings. I have prayed earnestly that he would prepare my heart to receive his blessings. I praise God most of all this morning for the privilege of meeting these dear brethren from the far-off lands, and of hearing their words of cheer and their reports of progress, and of seeing the blessing that God has put into their hearts. I thank God for his mercy and care in bringing us here, and his blessings that he gave to mother on her journey here. Leaving home in feebleness, she was strengthened along the way to speak to our people in colleges and different churches, fourteen times during the thirty-days journey. Although weary, and not feeling free to spend any of her strength in meeting personal friends, she has good courage that the Lord will give her strength to speak to you occasionally during this Conference. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.7

J. M. Johanson [Australasia]: It is a great privilege to meet for the first time with brethren of like precious faith in America. I praise God for his mercies toward me, and I pray that this meeting may be a source of strength and encouragement to me, and give me a better fitting up for service. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.8

W. C. Ising [Syria]: I have special reasons to be thankful to God for his protecting care over our people in Turkey during the troublous times of the past year, and particularly so during the recent past, when the lives of so many have been imperiled in Constantinople and elsewhere. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.9

J. V. Willson [South Africa]: I thank God that after eleven years of service in the dark continent, I have no discouraging word to bring to my brethren in the home land. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.10

J. N. Anderson [China]: By the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord says to this church, I will “give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;” and as I have seen this great congregation this morning, I have thought that we are here for the whole world. We are to receive great blessings for ourselves; and yet, in an important sense, we are priests for the whole world. We are to receive blessings for these heathen people in these great, dark lands. The question for us to consider is, How much shall we receive for these heathen peoples? I hope, brethren, that we may be in a position where we shall receive great blessings for the heathen peoples among whom we expect to labor upon our return. Let us pray not only that the workers may be blessed and prospered in those lands, but that the Lord will send his Spirit upon the heathen, and cause them to receive the message that God has given to us. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.11

The benediction was pronounced by Elder J. O. Corliss. GCB May 16, 1909, page 14.12