THE PROBLEM OF MEN LORDING OVER THEIR FELLOW MEN LIKE KINGS WAS ALMOST SOLVED BY THE CONSTITUITION OF 1901 GENERAL CONFERENCE MEETING:

Mrs. White made this statement in 1903 General Conference as part of what was referred to as the "minority of the committee". The "minority of the committee" was against the decision of the majority of the General Conference 1903 participants who had made the decision to be more centralized or hierarchical in their method of organizing the work of the churches in the world, though the same individuals had supported E.G.White position in 1901 General Conference against it. The "minority of the committee" had men as Willie White, E.A. Sutherland and A.T.Jones.

The Minority of the Committee on Plans and Constitution presented a protest, in writing, against any reversal of the 1901 constitution (GCB 1903 pg.146,147) as follows:

“The majority of your committee on Plans and Constitution beg leave to submit that the Constitution proposed by the majority of the committee appears to be so subversive to the principles of organization given to us at the General Conference of 1897 & 1901, and embodied in the present constitution and this, before that Constitution or the organization according to it, has ever had adequate trial. We therefore recommend that the Constitution of 1901 be given a fair trial before it be annihilated”.

GCB 1903 P165 A.T.Jones – One object of the organization under the Constitution [1901] that we had was that the work should be the unifying agency instead of the controlling agency; it would be an advisory and unifying agency of the different departments of the work of the cause”

GCB 1903 pg 167,168 E.E.Sutherland – “Now it seems to me the thing we are to fear more than anything else in this is the danger of centralization and consolidating. It is a fact that during the last two years, in spite of everything, there has been a tendency to centralize … and we know that the work has been retarded because of that spirit”

GCB P.87 E.G. White - “God’s hand must hold every worker, and must guide and control every worker. Men are not to make rules and regulations for their fellow men. The bible has given the rules and regulations we are to follow. We are to study the bible and learn from it the duty of man to his fellow man. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

Testimonies to Ministers pg.321 “The arrangement that all money go through Battle Greek and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of managing. There are altogether too many weighty responsibilities given to a few men, and some do not make God their counselor”

The Minority of the Committee on Plans and Constitution presented a protest, in writing, against any reversal of the 1901 constitution (GCB 1903 pg.146,147) as follows:

“The majority of your committee on Plans and Constitution beg leave to submit that the Constitution proposed by the majority of the committee appears to be so subversive to the principles of organization given to us at the General Conference of 1897 & 1901, and embodied in the present constitution and this, before that Constitution or the organization according to it, has ever had adequate trial. We therefore recommend that the Constitution of 1901 be given a fair trial before it be annihilated”.

"God's organization must come from the Head, which is Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, and it reaches to the individual ...There was here presented today and endorsed, and appeal of local self- government in a certain place, Very good. And then it was said here that that was to adopted in other parts. Very good … but the same process must go further - each Conference must be a self- governing local conference, and each church must be a local self-governing church, and each individual must be a local self-governing individual. But no man in this world can be a self-governing individual except as God in Jesus Christ is his Head and the man is governed by the power of God." 1901 General Conference Bulletin pg.26 A.T. Jones

"Where was Jesus Chrsit authority? When He did not have a position or a place? ... It was in the truth he preached from God..." A.T. Jones GCB pg.42

In 1903 as part of the "Minority of the Committee' Elder E.T. Jones together with others pleaded with the majority to hold to the past constitution of 1901:

GCB 1903 pg,154-156 "The Conference Committee governs itself, attends to its own business, and lets other people's business alone. The Union Conference itself is a self-governing committee. It governs itself, not the Confererence, not any of the churches, nobody in the conference. The General Conference Committee is to be a self-governing committee, not to govern any other conference, or anybody at all but itself. And this Constitution opens the way for the committee – I do not say that the members intended it – it opens the way for them to encroach and govern somebody beside themselves. What I am after is that we shall everlastingly make that thing impossible; and the present Constitution does it” pg.154

“What is the work of the committee for? What is its work? Its work is to work, and not try to boss somebody else that is at work, whether Conference Committee, Union Conference Committee, General Conference Committee, or what not, and not try to superintend somebody else at work, but to work so that, when the committee meets, we meets as a Committee. We study the work each one comes in from his field, and in committee he reports the condition in his field, reports the needs of that field and then all report. We study it together, and discuss together – our own work, and somebody else’s. Then, when the committee is adjourned, we go on to carry on our work and not try to see whether somebody else is doing his work right.” Pg.155 He was asked " What would you do with a man that would not preach just as the committee taught he should? He replied " Let him preach the gospel. I do not know what is in that question; but you all know what to do. A man is not to preach for the committee; he is not employed by the committee; he does not belong to the committee. He preaches for Jesus Christ; he belongs to Jesus Christ, and the committee must belong to Jesus Christ, and serve Christ, and let the other man alone, and let him preach the gospel which Christ gives." A.T. Jones 1903 General Conference Bulletin pg.156

GCB 1903 P165 A.T.Jones – One object of the organization under the Constitution [1901] that we had was that the work should be the unifying agency instead of the controlling agency; it would be an advisory and unifying agency of the different departments of the work of the cause”

GCB pg 167,168 E.E.Sutherland – “Now it seems to me the thing we are to fear more than anything else in this is the danger of centralization and consolidating. It is a fact that during the last two years, in spite of everything, there has been a tendency to centralize … and we know that the work has been retarded because of that spirit”

GCB P.87 E.G. White - “God’s hand must hold every worker, and must guide and control every worker. Men are not to make rules and regulations for their fellow men. The bible has given the rules and regulations we are to follow. We are to study the bible and learn from it the duty of man to his fellow man. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

Testimonies to Ministers pg.321 “The arrangement that all money go through Battle Greek and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of managing. There are altogether too many weighty responsibilities given to a few men, and some do not make God their counselor”

The Minority of the Committee on Plans and Constitution presented a protest, in writing, against any reversal of the 1901 constitution (GCB 1903 pg.146,147) as follows:

“The majority of your committee on Plans and Constitution beg leave to submit that the Constitution proposed by the majority of the committee appears to be so subversive to the principles of organization given to us at the General Conference of 1897 & 1901, and embodied in the present constitution and this, before that Constitution or the organization according to it, has ever had adequate trial. We therefore recommend that the Constitution of 1901 be given a fair trial before it be annihilated”.

"The Conference Committee governs itself, attends to its own business, and lets other people's business alone. The Union Conference itself is a self governing committee. It governs itself, not the Confererence, not any of the churches, nobody in the conference."