Manuscript Releases, vol. 11 [Nos. 851-920]

MR No. 917—Ellen White's Generosity in Australia

In this country I have found destitution and poverty everywhere, and had I not means to relieve the distressed, to clothe the naked, to take the youth who are too poor to help themselves and place them in schools, and to help the churches in building houses of worship, we should have left the field long ago; for it would be useless to attempt to do anything, hampered on every side. In a letter of mine copied by someone at the Pacific Press, the statement appears that I had spent $100 to educate students. It was $1,000, and $2,000 has been used in helping in different places where help was really needed. 11MR 360.1

Suppose that my brethren at the Review and Herald had been able to bring me to their terms in the publication of my books; what could I have done among this poverty-stricken people? I not only tell them what must be done, but shoulder a large part of the burden myself. I know that God sent me here, but if I had been more closely bound about for want of facilities, I might have worn my life out, and died in disappointment that I could not relieve the situation. I will have Emily Campbell give you the figures showing what I have expended solely for the education of students in our school. I am satisfied with the outlay. It pays, thank God, it pays.—Letter 5, 1895, p. 19. (To “Brethren in Responsible Positions in America,” July 24, 1895.) 11MR 360.2

White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

March 11, 1982.