Ellen G. White: The Australian Years: 1891-1900 (vol. 4)

The Camp Meeting Follow-up

Interest was at its very peak when they came to the last Sunday of the camp meeting. The question was put to the audience,“Shall the meetings be continued one week longer?” “The outsiders,” Ellen White wrote, “voted decidedly for it, with upraised hands.”—Letter 136, 1897. 4BIO 338.4

The decision was made to continue night meetings. The big tent had to go to Melbourne for the meeting that would soon open there, but a splice was put in the forty-foot tent, and with a few key ministers remaining to foster the interest, the meetings continued (Letter 91, 1897). 4BIO 338.5

Ellen White gave up any expectation of going to Melbourne for the camp meeting there, but she promised to run down from Cooranbong to Sydney for some weekends. On November 22 she reported: “Forty have now commenced keeping the Sabbath in Stanmore, and still the interest is widespread. I believe we shall have a church of one hundred souls.”—Letter 20, 1897. People were beginning to ask, both Sabbathkeepers and some not yet decided, “What about your meetinghouse? Are you deciding to build?”—Letter 205, 1897. 4BIO 338.6

On December 20, she wrote: 4BIO 339.1

I am to look at the site for the meetinghouse here, and it is considered a good location in Newtown.... We must “arise and build.” We cannot delay.—Letter 163, 1897.

Nothing pleased Ellen White more than to engage in an evangelistic thrust, and she seemed energized by the eager interest of those who for the first time were hearing the message. She was true to her promise to return frequently for speaking engagements. On January 1, 1898, she reported: 4BIO 339.2

Since the camp meeting I have visited Stanmore often, and have spoken eight times, on Sabbath and Sunday afternoons. The interest is wide and extended.—Letter 143, 1898. 4BIO 339.3

On the occasion of one visit, Ellen White remained longer than usual and stood before the people again on Tuesday night. Describing the meeting, she wrote that no effort on her part was required to speak, for it seemed that the Spirit of the Lord spoke through her. The response was excellent, and someone proposed that she stay over and continue with night meetings. The people promised that they would come every night to hear her. But for two good reasons she could not accept the invitation. Evening meetings were too great a drain on her strength, and the book work at Cooranbong pressed hard (Letter 38, 1898). However, the movement to erect a meetinghouse to serve this new company of believers and become the “Sydney church” continued gaining impetus (Letter 6, 1898). 4BIO 339.4