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

Writing Messages to Encourage and Instruct

The Australian Conference session would convene in Melbourne beginning Friday, January 6, and continue to Sunday, January 15, 1893. Ellen White, with gaining strength, took up residence in the now nearly deserted school building and devoted her time to writing and speaking in the intervening weeks. 4BIO 56.2

She wrote several letters to leading men in Battle Creek who stood in some peril. One was to Dr. J. H. Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In a twenty-one-page communication she urged him to maintain confidence in his brethren in the gospel ministry and called upon him to uphold Christian principles in his medical ministry. Then turning to a discussion of conditions and needs in Australia, she wrote: 4BIO 56.3

My brother, our stay here must be prolonged. We cannot leave the field as it is. We will be compelled to add the third year to the two we specified. Poverty and distress are in our large cities in Australia. Seventeen thousand persons have moved out of Melbourne to keep from perishing with hunger. Some of our own people can find nothing to do. Some who have commanded $30 and $40 per week as tailors or cutters have nothing to do. The brethren and sisters have found them sick, and suffering for bread to eat.—Letter 86a, 1893. 4BIO 56.4

There was a twenty-two-page letter to the manager of the Review and Herald, a man of experience and ability who felt he could no longer continue in denominational employment. He found it difficult to live on the salary he received, and proposed leaving his work for a more lucrative position elsewhere. The first five pages of the letter were devoted to a report of her activities in Australia. Expressing her gratitude for the opportunity to serve, she wrote: 4BIO 56.5

I am so grateful for the privilege of being connected with God in any way. I feel highly honored. All I ask is that the Lord, in His great mercy and lovingkindness, will give me strength to use in His service, not to minister to my own ease or selfish indulgence, but that I may labor for Christ in the salvation of souls. I am waiting and believing, and receiving His rich blessing, although I am unworthy. 4BIO 57.1

Then she came to the burden of her message: 4BIO 57.2

The word of the Lord has come to me in clear lines in reference to the principles and practices of those connected with the Review office. There has been need of self-examination on the part of the workers. Every man who has to do with sacred things should perform his work in a Christlike manner. There must be no sharp practice.

“In your letter,” she wrote, “you speak of leaving the Review office. I am sorry that you can be willing to separate from the work for the reasons you mention. They reveal that you have a much deeper experience to gain than you now have.” She reminded him: 4BIO 57.3

Other families, much larger than yours, sustain themselves, without one word of complaint, on half the wages you have. We have been over the ground, and I know what I am talking about.—Letter 20a, 1893. 4BIO 57.4

She likened his course of action to that of deserters from the army of the Lord and urged that, rather than to take such a course as he proposed, he bring about changes in his home that would make it possible to live within his means. The heart of this testimony may be found in Selected Messages 2:210-218. This promising leader failed to heed the counsel. 4BIO 57.5

She wrote several messages that would be of service in the coming General Conference session, some of which have served to remind the church that God was at the helm. 4BIO 57.6