Manuscript Releases, vol. 10 [Nos. 771-850]

MR No. 850—Why Ellen White Went to Australia

[On another occasion Ellen White stated: “Again the light given me is: ‘The Lord has sent you to take hold of this work. What you have done in America under the direction of God is to be done in planting the standard of truth, and building up the work in Australia’” (GC Bulletin, 1899, p. 131).

The Lord always knows how to overrule evil for good. He used Ellen White to help build a strong work in australia.]

Dear Brother [O. A.] Olsen,

I have not, I think, revealed the entire working that led me here to Australia. Perhaps you may never fully understand the matter. The Lord was not in our leaving America. He did not reveal that it was His will that I should leave Battle Creek. The Lord did not plan this, but He let you all move after your own imaginings. The Lord would have had W. C. White, his mother, and her workers remain in America. We were needed at the heart of the work.... But the Lord read the hearts of all. There was so great a willingness to have us leave, that the Lord permitted this thing to take place. Those who were weary of the testimonies borne were left without the persons who bore them. Our separation from Battle Creek was to let men have their own will and way, which they thought superior to the way of the Lord. 10MR 392.1

The result is before you. Had you stood in the right position the move would not have been made at that time. The Lord would have worked for Australia by other means and a strong influence would have been held at Battle Creek, the great heart of the work. There we should have stood shoulder to shoulder, creating a healthful atmosphere to be felt in all our conferences. It was not the Lord who devised this matter. I could not get one ray of light to leave America. But when the Lord presented this matter to me as it really was, I opened my lips to no one, because I knew that no one would discern the matter in all its bearings. When we left, relief was felt by many, but not so much by yourself, and the Lord was displeased, for He had set us to stand at the wheels of the moving machinery at Battle Creek. 10MR 392.2

This is the reason I have written you.... Had you said, I cannot bear these responsibilities alone, we would have responded and returned.... 10MR 393.1

That the people of Battle Creek should feel that they could have us leave at the time we did, was the result of man's devising, and not the Lord's. The sum of the matter is proved, and its figures are before you. We are here. The Battle Creek matters have been laid before me at this great distance, and the load I have carried has been very heavy to bear. 10MR 393.2

I do not suppose I shall ever revisit America. I shall be seventy years old next November. The Lord designed that we should be near the publishing houses, that we should have easy access to these institutions that we might counsel together. Because of the moves that have been made, many publications that should have been issued before this have been retarded. The great amount of writing that has been necessary in order to communicate with America has hindered this work. I never expect to visit Africa. I desire quietude. And yet I am here in Australia with funds low, and straining every nerve and muscle to establish the work here.—Letter 127, 1896, pp. 2-4. (Written December 1, 1896, at Cooranbong, NSW, Australia.) 10MR 393.3

White Estate

Washington, D. C.,

April 27, 1981.