Australasian Union Conference Record
September 21, 1908
Extracts from Private Communications
A grand work is to be done by our people for the W.C.T.U. The Lord has in that association many precious souls, who will accept the truth and become one with our labourers. These workers will be a great help to us in temperance lines. And the education our people have had in Bible truth and in a knowledge of the requirements of the law of Jehovah, they will impart to those who come in among us. Thus a union of sympathy will be created where in the past prejudice has existed. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 1
We need the help that these women can give us; they need the help we can give them in a knowledge of the gospel Sabbath. By holding ourselves aloof from the workers in the W.C.T.U., our people have lost much; and the members of the W.C.T.U. have also been on losing ground. If every possible effort is now made to reach these people, prejudice will be removed, and souls will be reached whom our people have thought would never accept this present truth. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 2
Every possible ray of light that we can shed upon the W.C.T.U. should be given. If we had 100 soundly converted workers from this body, the cause of present truth would be greatly helped. Many of our own labourers would be taught wherein they might come up on higher ground, and our sisters would learn how they might exert a wider and more uplifting influence than they have in the past. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 3
We need the temperance question revived among our own people. It would be a good thing if at our camp-meetings we should invite the members of the W.C.T.U. to take part in our exercises. This will help them to become acquainted with the reasons of our faith, and will open the way for us to unite with them in the temperance work. If we will do this we will come to see that the temperance question means more than many of us have supposed; and we in turn can teach these workers many things. They will hear the truth, and many will be converted to the faith. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 4
In his labours, my husband, whenever he had opportunity, invited the workers in the temperance cause to his meetings and gave them an opportunity to speak. And when invitations were given us to attend their gatherings, we always responded. I have had some opportunity to see the great advantage to be gained by connecting with the W.C.T.U. workers, and I have been much surprised as I have seen the indifference of many of our leaders to this organization. I call upon my brethren to awake.... We cannot do a better work than to unite, so far as we can do without compromise, with the W.C.T.U. workers. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 5
Years ago we regarded the spread of temperance principles as one of our most important duties. It should be so today. Our schools and sanitariums are to reveal the power of the grace of Christ to transform the life. They should be important factors in the temperance cause. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 6
To J. A. Burden, September 2, 1907.
I am being aroused anew on this subject. We have a work to do along this line besides that of speaking in public. We must present our principles in pamphlets and in our papers. We must use every possible means of arousing our people to their duty to get in connection with those who know not the truth. The success we have had in missionary work has been fully proportionate to the self-denying, self-sacrificing efforts we have made. The Lord alone knows how much we might have accomplished if as a people we had humbled ourselves before Him and proclaimed the temperance truths in clear, straight lines. A large work of seed-sowing is yet to be done. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 7
To Dr. Lillis Wood-Starr, September 5, 1907.
To Mrs. S. M. I. Henry, Sister White wrote June 21, 1899, and recopied August 15, 1907: AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 8
I hope, my sister, that you will have an influence in the W.C.T.U. association to draw many precious souls to the standard of truth. The Lord is drawing many to an examination of the truth, and you need not fail nor be discouraged. Sow beside all waters. These are good waters in which you can sow the seeds of truth. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 9
In a communication received from Sister White by the last American mail, she says: AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 10
Great good will result from bringing the books “Ministry of Healing” and “Christ's Object Lessons” to the attention of the leaders of the W.C.T.U. We should invite these workers to our meetings and give them an opportunity to become acquainted with our people. Place these precious books in their hands, and tell them the story of their gift to the cause, and its results. Explain how, by the sale of “Ministry of Healing,” patients may be brought to the sanitarium for healing who could never get there unaided: and how through this means assistance will be rendered in the establishment of sanitariums in places where they are greatly needed. If our sanitariums are wisely managed by men and women who have the fear of God before them, they will be the means of bringing us in connection with the workers in the W.C.T.U., and these workers will not be slow to see the advantage of the medical branch of our work. As a result of their contact with our medical work, some of them will learn truths that they need to know for the perfection of Christian character. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 11
The book “Ministry of Healing” may do the same work for our sanitariums and health institutions that “Christ's Object Lessons” has done for our schools. This book contains the wisdom of the Great Physician. AUCR September 21, 1908, par. 12