To Ellen White the year 1891 gave promise of being a good year for writing and book production. The crisis at the General Conference session of 1888 at Minneapolis and the resistance on the part of some church leaders to the wholehearted acceptance of the message of righteousness by faith had, upon the confessions of certain key men, largely subsided. In her oral ministry and writing Ellen White had for much of two years helped to stem the tide of negative reaction, and the Bible-based doctrine of justification by faith was by 1891 quite generally accepted.
During the preceding five or six years she had made good progress, with the aid of her literary assistants, in enlarging and preparing for colporteur sale volumes one and four of The Spirit of Prophecy. The Great Controversy bore the publication date of 1888, and Patriarchs and Prophets came from the press in 1890. Both were substantial, well-illustrated books, appropriate for sale both to the world and to the church. It was now Ellen White's ambition to take up the life of Christ, bringing out a book that would stand between the Patriarchs and Controversy, replacing The Spirit of Prophecy volumes two and three. She felt that if she could just have a good year without too many interruptions, she could get this done and have the book in the field fulfilling its mission.
The manuscript for Steps to Christ was in the hands of a religious publisher in Chicago. The little volume had been prepared at the suggestion of evangelists that some of the choice materials from Ellen White on conversion and the Christian life could have a wide sale and most fruitful mission. It was suggested also that if the book were put out by a religious book publisher in Chicago or New York, its circulation and acceptance would be enhanced. Fleming H. Revell was pleased to receive the manuscript for publication.
The work of the church was expanding overseas. A decade and a half earlier, in 1874, John N. Andrews had been sent to Europe to lead out in the work there. Indeed, it was on April 1 of that year that Ellen White, residing in California, had been given a vision that the time had come to break away from limited ideas of the work and take broader views. The "young man" she had "frequently seen" in her visions declared:
Your light must not be put under a bushel or under a bed, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house. Your house is the world.... The message will go in power to all parts of the world, to Oregon, to Europe, to Australia, to the islands of the sea, to all nations, tongues, and peoples.--Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 209.
Eight months later, at the dedication of Battle Creek College, Ellen White described a vision given the day before in which she saw printing presses in different countries, publishing the message. When James, her husband, pressed her to name the countries, she said she could not recall the names. "Oh, yes," she said, "I remember one--the angel said 'Australia.'"--DF 105j, WCW, "A Comprehensive Vision." S. N. Haskell was present, and he made up his mind he would proclaim the message in Australia. But it was ten years before the church reached the point in growth that it felt it could support him in carrying the message to that faraway land in the South Pacific.
At its 1884 session the General Conference took an action to send Haskell to lead out in opening up the work of Seventh-day Adventists in Australia. Being a practical man, he chose four families to help him start the work in the southern continent: J. O. Corliss, evangelist and editor; M. C. Israel, pastor and evangelist; William Arnold, a colporteur; and Henry Scott, a printer. The five families traveled to Australia in 1885, arriving in June, the winter season in Australia. They threw themselves wholeheartedly into the work; through two evangelistic efforts, supplemented by book distribution, there soon was a church of ninety members in Melbourne and a fledgling monthly magazine, The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times.
Six years later, 1891, the combined membership in Australia and New Zealand had reached seven hundred; among these were a number of young people eager to enter the work of spreading the church's message in the South Pacific. As Haskell, who had returned to the States, revisited the field, he saw clearly the need for a training school, and voiced his convictions in a letter to O. A. Olsen, president of the General Conference.
The General Conference Takes Action
The twenty-ninth session of the General Conference was held in Battle Creek, Michigan, commencing Thursday morning, March 5, 1891. It was a meeting marked with a broadening vision, particularly in lines of education. On Friday morning Haskell, having recently completed a tour among missions in Africa, India, and other countries, spoke on the importance of training workers in their native countries rather than sending them overseas where they often lost touch with their home situations. Sunday morning W. W. Prescott, General Conference educational secretary, gave his report, in which he mentioned a number of calls for schools. He stated that "a request also comes in for the opening of a school in Australia."--The General Conference Bulletin, 1891, 39. On Monday morning, the Committee on Education brought in the following recommendation:
We recommend,
1. That as soon as practicable, an English Bible school be opened in Australia, to continue from twelve to sixteen weeks.
2. That at least two teachers be sent from this country to have charge of this school.
3. That the expense of maintaining this school be met by the brethren in Australia in such a manner as may seem best to them.
4. That the establishment of this school be regarded as the first step toward a permanent school for children of all ages, in case the brethren in Australia so desire.--Ibid., 48
Haskell was convinced that if Ellen G. White were to visit the field she could bring strength and inspiration, and promote the school idea as a training center. Others were inclined to side with him in this. So the idea of a visit by Ellen White to Australia began to develop.
Ellen White hoped that there would be no invitation for her to leave America. "I long for rest, for quietude, and to get out the 'Life of Christ,'" she wrote.--Manuscript 29, 1891. In fact, in anticipation of a concerted program of writing, she had purchased a lot in Petoskey, in a resort area on Lake Michigan, and was having a home built where she and her staff could work without the interruptions they would have to contend with in Battle Creek.
It was just at this point that word of the invitation of the Foreign Mission Board reached her, asking her to go to Australia. The action read:
Whereas, In our judgment it would be a great blessing to the cause in Australia and adjacent colonies for Sister White to visit that field; Therefore,
Resolved, That we hereby invite her to do so, as soon as the coming autumn, if her own judgment, and the light she may have in the matter, shall be in accordance with this request; it being understood that W. C. White shall accompany her on this visit.--Ibid., 1891, 256
The meeting in Battle Creek at which this action was taken was chaired by O. A. Olsen, president of the General Conference; the secretary was W. C. White, her own son. Looking back on what her two-year visit to Europe had meant to the cause, church leaders anticipated that the Australian sojourn would occupy about the same period of time.
On June 2, 1891, the Review and Herald carried an article written by Olsen entitled "Our Duty to Advance," in which he informed the church at large:
Since the conference, the Foreign Mission Board has recommended that Sister White go to Australia, if it be in harmony with her sense of duty; also that Elder W. C. White accompany her. There has been a long and urgent call from Australia for Sister White to come there, but the way has not been open; and even now it seems like an unreasonable undertaking for her, at her age and in her worn condition, to attempt such a journey; but she is of good courage, and has responded favorably, and it is quite probable that she and Elder White will sail for Australia next November.
To Go or Not to Go
The action of the Foreign Mission Board calling for Ellen White to go to Australia carried a clause that left the final decision with her. As the summer wore on, she sought the Lord for light, but she received none.
On August 5, 1891, she wrote in her diary: [Ellen White kept a journal, sometimes with just brief entries as to her activities and other times serving as a place in which she might write at some length on subjects to which the Lord led her mind. These blank books in which she thus wrote she called her diary. These materials have been copied and introduced into the manuscript file, bearing appropriate numbers that appear here as source credits.--Author.]
This morning my mind is anxious and troubled in regard to my duty. Can it be the will of God that I go to Australia? This involves a great deal with me. I have not special light to leave America for this far-off country. Nevertheless, if I knew it was the voice of God, I would go. But I cannot understand this matter.
Some who are bearing responsibilities in America seem to be very persistent that my special work should be to go to Europe and to Australia. I finally did go to Europe and worked there in that new field with all the power and influence God had given me. My home and my goods in America became scattered, and I sustained much loss in this line. I offered my home for sale, and Dr. Kellogg purchased it. The price I received I needed, and it was a small price. I did wish it could have been double, for I had, with W. C. White, to open new fields, and I invested this means in school homes, in meetinghouses, and in opening new fields.--Manuscript 44, 1891.
Time was running out. Soon a decision had to be made. On August 20 she wrote:
There is much talk in regard to our journey to Australia, but I cannot see my way clear to go. Brethren say that Sister White will have no such burdens to bear, as she has here in America, that she can write her books so much more readily without carrying so many responsibilities, but I know it is no use to tell them that all their flattering anticipations on my behalf does not lessen my ideas that going to Australia means work, responsibility to bear a message to the people who are not what the Lord would have them to be. If it were not thus, I would feel authorized to remain in America. As it is, I dare not mention the state of things in the office [of publication in Australia] presented to me, for I am then sure they would firmly conclude I must go.
There is work to be done there, and although those who have been there all testify that they will gladly receive any message that the Lord will give me to bear to them, I am not so sanguine in regard to this as my brethren in Australia. They know nothing of me and my work personally, only through my writings. Reproof is unpleasant to the natural heart, and the reproof coming to the people as I know it will come to them with opposition. Already envy and evil surmisings and jealousies are at work, lest someone shall have a higher place in the work than themselves. There is want of spiritual knowledge, spiritual eyesight to discern the work that needs to be done as the Lord shall open the way.--Manuscript 29, 1891.
Nonetheless, she decided to go. As she later wrote of it, she had adopted the practice of responding to the requests of the General Conference unless she had special light to the contrary (Letter 18a, 1892). The brethren had asked her to go; in vision she had been shown conditions in Australia, which to her seemed to be an indication that she should go; and since the Lord gave her no direct word as to the course she should follow, she would go, even though she wished she might be released from going.
In mid-August the Foreign Mission Board and the General Conference Committee took action appointing G. B. Starr and his wife to accompany Ellen White and her party to Australia (The Review and Herald, October 13, 1891).
The September 15, 1891, Review and Herald carried the word:
Sister White left Battle Creek [Wednesday] September 9, in company with Brother W. C. White, and others, on her Western journey. She will attend the camp meetings in Colorado and California, and then sail for Australia.
The Threat of the Walling Lawsuit
While at the Colorado camp meeting in Colorado Springs, Ellen White met with a unique experience. Her diary entry for September 12, penned on Saturday night, declares:
Today, a lawyer came into my tent and presented me with papers made out in behalf of W. B. Walling, suing me for $25,000 damages. He charges that I have alienated from him the affections of his daughters, Addie and May.--Manuscript 34, 1891.
The two girls were the daughters of Ellen White's niece, who in 1873 resided with her husband, Will Walling, in Colorado. When trouble developed in the family, Walling asked James and Ellen White to take and care for the children for a few months. Once relieved of their care, however, he took no steps to terminate the temporary arrangement. James and Ellen White--and Ellen alone after her husband's death--reared and educated the two girls as if they were their own. Now, some eighteen years later, when the girls were young women, the father, who was living alone, sought their return to make a home for him. They refused, choosing to stay with their Aunt Ellen, and Walling brought suit against Ellen White, claiming that she had alienated the affection of his daughters.
Litigation continued over a period of four years until finally Ellen White, through Harmon Lindsay, an officer of the General Conference to whom she had entrusted her business affairs while in Australia, arranged for a settlement out of court. Ellen White made a cash payment to remove the nuisance lawsuit and to render unnecessary the girls' having to appear in court to testify against their father.
Still in Uncertainty Concerning Australia
In the South Pacific, anticipation of Ellen White's visit heightened. James Harris, of New Zealand, wrote:
Our Sabbathkeepers, and indeed outsiders also, are on the tiptoe of expectation in the contemplated visit of Sister White. We believe her sojourn among us will disarm much of the prejudice at present existing in the minds of those opposed to our principles and teaching.--Ibid., October 13, 1891
At the last minute Sara McEnterfer was stricken rather seriously with illness. As it was clear she could not accompany Ellen White across the Pacific, Miss Fannie Bolton was chosen to go in her stead. She had been one of Ellen White's literary assistants, and it was thought she could render a dual service (Ibid., September 15, 1891). But Ellen White still questioned the matter of going. To O. A. Olsen she wrote on October 12:
I am considering, Can it be my duty to go to Australia? Shall I not meet the same objections in the sanctuary line in Australia that I met in Switzerland? What can I do? I am presenting the case before the Lord and I believe He will guide me.--Letter 57, 1891.
Why, as one who was so close to the Lord, and one to whom He had so often communicated in positive ways that could leave no question, was she left without some special light from God? Was it that she, like others who serve in God's cause, after carefully and prayerfully examining all the factors involved, must make a decision? Was this an experience that would prepare her for the difficult days ahead? The question was one to which she would have occasion to come back again and again. But the die was cast. She would go.
Off to Australia
About twenty-five friends of Ellen White, W. C. White, [W. C. White was a widower, his wife, mary, having died in 1890. Anticipating that the stay in australia would be limited to two years and that much of this would be in travel, he left his two motherless daughters, ella and mabel, in battle creek, living in his home in the care of miss mary mortensen.] and the three assistants who traveled with them, were at the wharf in San Francisco Thursday afternoon, November 12, 1891, to bid them farewell as they embarked on the S.S. Alameda for Australia. The three assistants were May Walling, Fannie Bolton, and Emily Campbell. Ellen White readily chose Emily to be her cabin mate. She was energetic, outgoing, even-tempered, a schoolteacher with whom she became acquainted in Michigan. Mrs. White felt she would make a valuable member of her staff, even though she had to learn to type on shipboard.
George B. Starr and his wife, Nellie, who in the initial planning were to be a part of the group, had gone on to Honolulu a few weeks before, when it was seen that Ellen White would be somewhat delayed.
In the baggage were trunks holding copies of the E. G. White manuscripts and letters, letter books, E. G. White books, reference books, and other working materials that would be needed in setting up an office in Australia. The letter-size manuscript documents were folded in half and placed in oilcloth bags made for the purpose. Ellen White, of course, had writing materials readily at hand so that she could work as she traveled.
After one day of rough weather the sailing was pleasant, the captain remarking that he could hardly remember having so pleasant a voyage. Ellen White describes the ship and the journey:
Our vessel, though comparatively small, and not so elegant as many of the Atlantic boats, was thoroughly comfortable, convenient, and safe. The officers were kind and gentlemanly. We had about eighty cabin passengers, and forty in the steerage. Among the former were about eight ministers, several of whom were returning home from the great Methodist Conference in Washington. Religious services were held in the social hall twice each Sunday, and occasionally on deck for the steerage passengers.--The Review and Herald, February 9, 1892.
She also reported that she had an excellent stateroom, and that "no one could have better attention than we have had."--Letter 32a, 1891. The women placed their chairs on the deck in front of her room. Her hip troubled her some, but with soft mattresses in her deck chair she was quite comfortable.
The Day in Honolulu
It took seven days to sail from San Francisco to the Hawaiian Islands. Of their arrival Ellen White wrote:
We were glad indeed to reach Honolulu. Elder Starr and wife, who had preceded us five weeks in order to bring help to our people and others on this island, met us together with other friends. As soon as we walked the gangplank and stepped on the wharf, men, women, and children greeted us so heartily that we could not feel otherwise than at home. With the exception of May and Fannie, we all assembled at Brother Clinch's house to consult in what manner we could best spend the twelve hours allotted us till the boat sailed.
They were so anxious that I should speak that I consented to do so. Oh, how pleased they were, for it was more than they expected. Brother Burges and Elder Starr went at once to see that the people were notified of the appointment. The large hall of the Young Men's Christian Association building was secured in which to hold the meeting. Ibid.
The day was spent in sightseeing; a picnic lunch at the "pali," a natural attraction in the mountains near Honolulu; a visit to the Kerr home; and then the meeting in the YMCA hall.
The Voyage to Samoa and Australia
As they left Honolulu, Elder and Mrs. Starr joined the traveling group. During the seven days to Samoa they crossed the equator. Somewhat to Ellen White's surprise, she found the weather not uncomfortably hot. On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, she celebrated her sixty-fourth birthday. The sea was calm, and in her comfortable rocking chair on deck she had opportunity to contemplate. Thoughts of God's preserving care and lovingkindness filled her mind, and she wrote:
At times I have been afflicted in body and depressed in spirits, but the Lord has been my Redeemer, my Restorer. Many have been the rich blessings imparted to me. In the time of my greatest need, I have been enabled to hold fast my confidence in my heavenly Father. The bright beams of the righteousness of Christ have been shining into my heart and mind, the powers of darkness are restrained; for Jesus our Advocate lives to make intercession for us.--The Review and Herald, February 16, 1892.
Reaching Samoa Friday morning, the ship cast anchor offshore from Apia, its principal city. Samoans hastened out to the side of the vessel in their boats and canoes, laden with articles for sale. There was an abundance of fruit--pineapples, bananas, oranges, mangoes, limes, coconuts, and some fruits Ellen White had never heard of. They also had shells and coral, mats, baskets, and fans woven from native grasses. Ellen White chose to remain on the ship while her traveling companions went ashore for the brief stay.
Traveling west and south to New Zealand, they crossed the international date line. For the first time in her life Ellen White experienced a six-day week, for Tuesday, December 1, was dropped from the reckoning. They reached Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday morning, December 3. Edward Hare and others took them to his home for lunch. After sightseeing in the afternoon, they met with a sizable congregation in the Seventh-day Adventist house of worship, one of the very few in the South Pacific.
Approaching Australia on Monday, the seventh, she brought her shipboard writing to a close. She noted that she had come short of meeting the goal she had set for herself in writing:
I have not been able to do much writing on this voyage. I have written about one hundred and fifty pages, but I expected to write as much as three hundred pages. I simply had to keep still, and be content not to do much of anything. I have not been able to walk on deck without an assistant, but my limbs [Note: Both ankles, broken in an accident on a camping trip in the rocky mountains, were improperly set, leaving her with a permanent weakness.] are now growing stronger. I was almost completely exhausted in mind and body when I came on board the vessel.--Letter 32a, 1891.
Arrival at Sydney, Australia
At seven o'clock Tuesday morning the steamer entered Sydney harbor. The sea had rolled heavily in the night, and the passengers had kept close to their berths. But with the morning the whole party was on deck to see this harbor, reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the world. As they pulled near the wharf they could see a group of friends waiting to welcome them. Ellen White recognized A. G. Daniells and his wife, Mary, although it had been some years since they were together in Texas. With the others she was unacquainted. Before the ship touched the wharf, they were shouting back and forth, and when the gangplank was down, they were soon shaking hands.
They took breakfast at the Daniells home, and while they were eating, others came in. Soon there was a season of worship, with praise to God for the safe passage across the broad Pacific.