When word was brought to Ellen White that the camp meeting to be held in the colony of Queensland was appointed for October 14 to 24, five hundred miles to the north at Brisbane, and she was reminded that a year ago she had promised to attend, she demurred. "It is not consistent," she reasoned, "that I go so far. My workers are here, and the work which I wish to do will be retarded for two months at least, if I go."--Letter 109, 1898. But her thinking was changed by a vision of the night. Of this she wrote:
In the night season I seemed to be making preparation to attend a meeting, not at Cooranbong, but at a distance, where companies in the most destitute spiritual condition were stretching out their arms, and saying, "Oh, give us food; give us the bread of life. We are hungering for the knowledge of the truth.
"What can we do?" I said.
And the cry came back, "Feed us, feed us from the Word."
Then these words were spoken, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and yet cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." ... I saw companies eagerly searching the Scriptures and praying together.
Again I saw a camp meeting gathered in regions beyond, waiting to hear the truth. I saw a representation of cattle, horses, and sheep standing round one who was holding in his hands a sheaf of oats. The hungry animals were seeking to get at the tempting favor, but could not reach it. A voice cried out, "You place the food too high."
Cribs had been made for the sheep, but they could get but little food, for the cribs were too high. We gave a most earnest, painful study as to how we should feed these animals. Again the voice said, "Let down the crib, that the hungry animals may feed." ... After this dream, I decided to go to Queensland.--Letter 86, 1898.
As she reported the experience to the readers of the March 21, 1899, Review and Herald, she declared:
I dreaded the journey to Brisbane, and would fain have believed that this meant Maitland, Newcastle, and the smaller places within thirty miles of Cooranbong. But again the scene of people calling for help was presented before me, and a voice said, "They are as sheep that have no shepherd." Then I said, "I will go to the camp meeting, for the Lord has been teaching me my duty."
Accompanied by Sara McEnterfer, her secretary Minnie Hawkins, and several of the young women from the school who were going to join Mrs. Haskell in Bible work, Ellen White took the train Wednesday evening, October 12, for Brisbane. She was favored in having a little room at the end of the car, shared by Sara. As the train sped on through the night, Ellen White slept, and in her dreams she was standing before many people. With great earnestness she was urging them to trust in God and to have increasing faith in Jesus. Then she awoke and looked out of the window, and saw two white clouds. The Review account continued:
The Two White Clouds of Angels
Then I fell asleep again, and in my dreams these words were spoken to me: "Look at these clouds. It was just such clouds as these that enshrouded the heavenly host who proclaimed to the shepherds the birth of the world's Redeemer."
I awoke and looked out of the car window again, and there were the two large white clouds, as white as snow. They were distinct, separate clouds, but one would approach and touch the other, and for a moment they would blend together; then they would separate, and remain as distinct as before. They did not disappear, but continued in sight throughout the forenoon. At twelve o'clock we changed cars, and I did not see the clouds anymore.
She was led to ponder the thought of the angels of God going before them. She rejoiced in their guardianship and the assurance of heaven's special blessings in the work to be done in Brisbane. It was thought that it would not be a large camp meeting, for there were not more than 175 Sabbathkeepers scattered throughout all of Queensland, and few of these had much to boast of in the way of this world's goods. A. G. Daniells in his report, published in the October 15 Union Conference Record, spoke of some of the problems they faced:
In the first place, the difficulty the camp meeting committee experienced in securing a campground made it seem for a time that there was no place in Brisbane for such a meeting....Then came the difficulty of securing an attendance of our people large enough to make the meeting appear like a camp meeting. We have had the impression that in order to have our camp meetings draw the public we must have a large showing on the ground....
Another difficulty was a lack of funds. The treasurer was not able to send those managing the meeting a single pound before the meeting began. They put their own personal money in where it was needed, and borrowed from their friends.
At first we were perplexed to know how we would be able to get all the preliminary work done. There were but few men, and they were scattered over a vast area of country. Altogether there were as many difficulties connected with the holding of this meeting as any we have held in this country.
But the Lord wrought for them marvelously. A good lot was found three miles from the Brisbane city post office. It was set back from the street far enough to escape the noise of passing vehicles. Men from all parts of the colony came in early to help pitch the camp. Including the children, 118 Seventh-day Adventists came to the camp meeting, some traveling nearly a thousand miles. Thirty-one family tents were pitched, and there were two large meeting tents. The counsel given the year before, to take the people of the city by surprise, was followed here. The camp was quickly pitched; then two or three days before the meeting was to open, short articles appeared in the daily papers, a few large cards were placed in shop windows, and five thousand copies of a four-page camp meeting paper were distributed from house to house. Added to this, "the tramway company placed, on all the trams passing the campground, calico signs, five feet by two feet six inches, on which were neatly painted the words 'Camp Meeting, Logan Road.'"--Ibid. These trams ran the full length of the main street of Brisbane every seven minutes. This advertising was provided without charge.
The Brisbane Camp Meeting Opens
By Friday night and the opening meeting, all anxiety regarding attendance quickly melted. Hundreds of men, women, and children poured onto the grounds. The tent was well filled, with an estimated eight or nine hundred present.
Sabbath morning, the Sabbath school was well attended. Stephen Haskell spoke at the worship hour, taking as his text, "We would see Jesus." Ellen White spoke in the afternoon on the call to the wedding supper and the guest who came without the wedding garment. Attendance and interest were excellent. In the evening Haskell spoke again to a large congregation.
Three of the six workers who were on the grounds and had been counted on to speak fell ill. This left Elders Daniells and Haskell and Ellen White to carry forward the work (Letter 86, 1898). She reported that the singing talent was not the best.
Saturday night, Ellen White was given a vision concerning worker relationships:
In the night I was instructed that in this meeting we must each one look to the Lord, and not to one another, saying, "What shall this man do?" Each one must seek the Lord earnestly to know for himself what he is to do in the service of the Lord....It takes all kinds of timber fitly to frame this building, and Jesus Christ Himself is to be the Chief Cornerstone, "in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
This is the work to be done in our camp meetings. We are to build together, not separately. We are to work unitedly. Every stick of timber is to find it's place, that a united framework may be made--a habitation of God through the Spirit.--The Review and Herald, March 28, 1899.
Sunday Daniells spoke in the morning and Ellen White in the afternoon. She reported of this meeting:
The tent was full, and many who could not enter stood outside while I spoke ... on the subject of Christian temperance.--Ibid.
I felt that an angel of God was by my side. In my weakness I was made strong. I spoke one hour and a half, and after the meeting closed the people told those who came on the ground later that they never heard anything like the talk Mrs. White had given them. One man, who wore the blue ribbon [of the temperance forces], said he never saw the temperance question more clearly presented than by a woman of 70. "What a voice she has," he said, "and she is 70 years old and uses neither tea nor coffee nor meat."--Manuscript 187, 1898.
Those in her audience observed somewhat with astonishment that she spoke without notes (Letter 86, 1898). Ellen White was pleased to learn that in her audience were members of the legislative assembly. Every chair and seat on the campground was brought to accommodate the large crowd. Most of the church members left their seats to give room to the strangers, and still hundreds had to stand (UCR, October 15, 1898; Manuscript 187, 1898). Noted Ellen White, "The people seem more interested than even those of Stanmore, and the congregation was fully as large, both on Sabbath and Sunday."--Manuscript 187, 1898. The notices in the Brisbane newspapers that Mrs. White, a woman of 70, would speak Saturday and Sunday afternoons, undoubtedly enhanced the interest of the general public (Manuscript 153, 1898).
A Wesleyan minister in the city, observing the large attendance and the deep interest in the meetings at the camp, proposed to some of his members that he would pitch a tent in the yard of their church and hold meetings every day through the week. "But this," Ellen White observed, "did not seem to satisfy them entirely. We can understand this. The minister wished to hold them, that they might not stray away to hear that which was preached at the tent."--Manuscript 187, 1898.
The Meetings Extended Another Week
The camp meeting was scheduled to close on Monday, October 24. Ellen White was the speaker again on Sunday afternoon. She was weary and somewhat distracted, but she met her appointment, speaking to an audience of one thousand. She relates her unique experience:
On the last Sunday of the meetings the Lord gave me a great victory. I was much exhausted.... I seemed to have no strength at all, but at 3:00 P.M. I went on the platform. I had a portion of Scripture to speak upon, but I could not remember what I meant to bring before the people. I stood up, and another portion of Scripture came into my mind. I had been a little hoarse, but I felt that the angel of the Lord was by my side, for my voice was clear and full and distinct.
Some who had given up their seats to strangers, and had gone into their tents, said that they heard every word from the beginning to the close. I spoke for one hour and a half upon the subject of temperance. After I returned to my home [room], I had no fears that I had not done as well as I ought. I felt that it was not Ellen G. White who had spoken, but that the Lord had spoken through the frail instrument. I felt my soul softened and subdued by the power of God. My heart was full of peace and joy in the Lord.--Manuscript 153, 1898.
Some of the crowd had attended meetings on the previous Sunday and had come again bringing friends. She gave an interesting word picture:
Many we recognized as those who had attended the evening meetings; but there were hundreds who had come to the meeting for the first time. According to appointment, our meeting was to close the following day, but it was evident that the work of the meeting was not finished. It was too busy a time for consultation, for every worker on the grounds was busy visiting, entertaining the interested and the curious, distributing reading matter, and holding short Bible readings with those who questioned about the doctrines taught at the meeting.--The Review and Herald, April 4, 1899.
As had been the case several times in connection with this camp meeting, the Lord on Sunday night gave Ellen White special light. She wrote of it in her report in the April 4, 1899, Review.
It was represented to me that the cloud still rested over the tabernacle. The cloud had not yet lifted, and the tents must not be taken down. This was our time to seek the Lord earnestly for wisdom and strength, and to labor with all our powers to give the warning message to the people. The people were under conviction, and this camp meeting remained a necessity.
I was not able to speak at the early meeting, but sent word that according to light given to me, there ought to be nothing done unnecessarily to give the impression to the people that the meeting had closed.
Earlier in the week as the interest was observed, the decision had been reached to leave the large tent standing for a week or two for continued meetings, but plans to take down the family tents were now dropped. Meetings were appointed for the evening and each morning, and the campers invited to stay on. Many could not, but some did. Monday night, the public congregation took a strong vote to have the meetings continued. About a dozen workers of varied experience and gifts remained to follow up the interest. Concluding her report of the Brisbane camp meeting, Ellen White could say:
This, which we had looked forward to as a very small meeting, has proved to be one of the most interesting and profitable camp meetings held in Australia.--Ibid., March 28, 1899.
After the Brisbane meeting, Ellen White accompanied by Sara McEnterfer and W. C. White went on north another four hundred miles to Rockhampton, where she spoke four times.
Back Home at Sunnyside
Back at her Sunnyside home, quite worn from the journey to Queensland and the intensive labor there, Ellen White rested a few days and then turned to her literary work. Arrangements had been made for W. A. Colcord, who had been editing the Bible Echo and other journals published in Melbourne, to join her literary staff. He arrived at Cooranbong on Friday, November 25. She spoke that morning to the students in the summer school program. Sabbath, her seventy-first birthday, she spoke at the church and then early in the new week applied herself to the writing of letters.
The evening after the Sabbath, December 10, the first copies of The Desire of Ages reached Cooranbong and Ellen White's home (12 WCW, p. 356). On December 16 W. C. White hastened off a letter to C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, telling of receiving copies of the book and extolling it:
We received copies of The Desire of Ages. I am very much pleased with its general appearance, and I think the Pacific Press has done a noble work in the illustrations, in the typographical work, in the press work, and in the binding, and as we see the book completed we are well pleased with its general plan and form.... I am pleased to be able to tell you that Mother is very well pleased with the book.-- Ibid., 386.
Thursday, December 15, the American mail brought letters from G. A. Irwin, Mrs. Henry, and Dr. Kellogg.
The letter from Elder Irwin, president of the General Conference, was an invitation to attend the session of the General Conference to be held at South Lancaster in February, 1899. She responded:
You ask me to come to your conference in America. I was 71 years old the twenty-sixth of November. But this is not the reason I plead for not attending your conference. We have done what we could here. We have advanced slowly, planting the standard of truth in every place possible. But the dearth of means has been a serious hindrance. We have had to work at a great disadvantage for want of facilities, we have had to meet and breast many discouragements. We dare not show one particle of unbelief. We advance just as far as we can see, and then go far ahead of sight, moving by faith....
We strip ourselves of everything we can possibly spare in the line of money, for the openings are so many and the necessities so great. We have hired money until I have been compelled to say, I cannot donate more. My workers are the best, most faithful and devoted girls I ever expect to find. In order to advance the work I have donated the wages that should have been paid them. When the last call was made, my name was not on the list for the first time. The openings are abundant, but we are obliged to move very slowly. The work that ought to have been done has not been done, and I cannot feel at liberty to leave here now.... I have written these particulars that you may understand why I cannot attend your conference.... There is nothing for me to do but to remain here until the work is placed on a solid foundation.--Letter 125, 1898.
The Newcastle Camp Meeting
While still in Brisbane, near the close of the second week of meetings, a letter was received from A. G. Daniells setting forth the opportunities and needs of such cities as Newcastle and Maitland, cities within twenty or thirty miles from Cooranbong. In eight weeks a thrust begun in Newcastle would be tapered off, and Ellen White saw it as a time to "see who can be brought to stand with us in obedience to the Sabbath" (Manuscript 187, 1898). As she and W. C. White considered the matter, they were impressed that they should fit in a camp meeting in December just before the meeting in Melbourne appointed for January. Others concurred.
Newcastle was a seaport in a coal-mining district about twenty miles from Cooranbong. Ellen White states:
We thought we could plant the banner of truth here, and a church be raised up, as in Stanmore. It would be a special strength to Cooranbong, for Newcastle is our nearest place of trade, and it is a matter of importance to us to see a company raised up here.--Letter 131, 1898.
The large tent used for the meetings in Brisbane was needed in Melbourne, so a new tent was hired for the Newcastle meeting. The rental was £15, with the option to purchase it if money could be raised to meet the price. Ellen White described it as "a very large tent, the largest we have ever had the privilege of speaking under.... It has proved to be the most substantial tent we have ever seen."--Ibid. In his report of the camp meeting, G. B. Starr spoke of it as "the largest pavilion yet used by our people in these colonies," (UCR, January 15, 1899).
For several months Herbert Lacey had been holding evangelistic meetings in the city (Letter 128, 1898). Reading matter had been circulated freely, and the place had been well canvassed with books. The time was ripe for reaping the harvest. The working force in the conference thought of this camp meeting as "the smallest of the season held in the Australian colonies--just a little one, tucked in between the Queensland and Victorian meetings" (UCR, January 15, 1899). W. C. White wrote that "when this meeting was appointed, we thought that we might gather about one hundred of our own people" and a modest attendance from the city (12 WCW, p. 402).
But to the surprise of everyone, when the meeting opened on Thursday night, December 22, there were a thousand people present (Letter 131, 1898). Ellen White drove over from Cooranbong with Sara McEnterfer on Friday, a hot and oppressive day (Letter 130, 1898). From a conference of four hundred members, two hundred were there at the camp meeting.
New South Wales had suffered a long and severe drought, but the first weekend of the camp meeting this was broken by strong winds and heavy rains, beginning Friday night. Ellen White describes the storm:
Working Through the Storm
We have had a terrible tempest of rain and wind. It did bad work for our small tents, but the large tent was new, and staked with poles and cross poles inside, so that it would be difficult to blow it down.... The wind became a howling gale, and continued over the Sabbath. Sabbath the rain just poured down, as if the windows of heaven were opened. Nevertheless our meetings went on, and there was a good attendance from the camp. Men had to leave the meeting and attend to securing the tents in the tempest of wind and rain.--Letter 129, 1898.
Ellen White was the speaker for the Sabbath-afternoon meeting, and the Lord gave her freedom as she addressed the audience that filled the tent. When the storm raged too fiercely, and the speaker could not be heard well, the congregation sang. The meeting lasted from three o'clock till nearly sundown (Letters 128, 129, 1898). Saturday night, in spite of the bad weather, the large tent was again well filled. But Sunday morning, the storm over, there were no early meetings. The whole camp was busy repairing the damage done; by eleven o'clock they were ready for the preaching service in the big tent.
On Friday night Ellen White passed through an impressive experience that molded her Sabbath-afternoon presentation. She reported it in detail in her account of the Newcastle camp meeting sent to the Review and Herald. She wrote:
During the night of the first Sabbath of the Newcastle meeting, I seemed to be in a meeting, presenting the necessity and importance of our receiving the Spirit. This was the burden of my labor--the opening of our hearts to the Holy Spirit....
In my dream a sentinel stood at the door of an important building and asked everyone who came for entrance, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" A measuring line was in his hand, and only very, very few were admitted into the building. "Your size as a human being is nothing," he said. "But if you have reached the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus, according to the knowledge you have had, you will receive an appointment to sit with Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb; and through the eternal ages, you will never cease to learn the blessings granted in the banquet prepared for you."--The Review and Herald, April 11, 1899(see Selected Messages 1:109, 110).
In this vision of the night the angel presented the elements of salvation and the key to a successful Christian life.
Elder Starr reported that the Newcastle camp meeting "grew until it was the largest in outside attendance, and one of the most important in its counsels and results" (UCR, January 15, 1899). Midweek, Ellen White reported:
We have this morning, December 28, decided that the meeting must be continued over the third Sabbath and Sunday. Those who are attentive and interested must have a chance to hear the Word of God.--Letter 129, 1898.
And hear the Word of God they did. As she described the meeting to longtime friends in the United States, she explained:
I think we entered Newcastle at the right time.... The best class of people, it seems to us, attend our meetings, and they are deeply interested. We do not conceal our banner of truth at all. We let them know that we are Seventh-day Adventists because we believe the Bible. The Bible and the Bible only is the foundation of our faith. Before these meetings close, the people will know from the Scriptures why we are a peculiar people. The Word is the foundation of our faith. Our dependence is upon Christ.--Letter 131, 1898.
The speakers at this meeting, in addition to Ellen White, were Elders Tenney, Daniells, Colcord, and Robinson, and Dr. Caro (UCR, January 15, 1899). On weekends the audience numbered up to 2,500. After running for seventeen days over three Sabbaths and Sundays, the camp meeting as such was brought to a close, but not the public meetings. The large new tent that had served so well was exchanged for a smaller one, which was purchased and pitched in a favorable location in nearby Hamilton for the continuation of evangelistic meetings. Elders G. B. Starr, W. A. Colcord, and H. C. Lacey and his wife were left to follow through in binding off the interest (12 WCW, p. 402). During January, Ellen White visited Hamilton each weekend and continued frequent visits while the work was developing. By the end of April, thirty-five were baptized (Letter 83, 1899), and the interest still was running high. Within a few months a house of worship was erected, and on September 2, Ellen White preached the dedicatory address. So the hastily planned Newcastle camp meeting, as "just a little one" to be held at year's end squeezed in between the well-planned meetings in Brisbane and Melbourne, surprised everyone and laid the foundation for another church.
In the Brisbane and Newcastle meetings it would seem that Australian camp meetings reached perhaps the highest point of evangelistic thrust.