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Selected Messages Book 1
have felt it my duty to bring before our people that work for which
those in every church should feel a responsibility.
While in Australia I carried on this same line of work, taking into
my home orphan children, who were in danger of being exposed to
temptations that might cause the loss of their souls.
In Australia we [
Reference here is to her associate workers. James
White died in 1881.
] also worked as Christian medical missionaries.
At times I made my home in Cooranbong an asylum for the sick and
afflicted. My secretary, who had received a training in the Battle Creek
Sanitarium, stood by my side, and did the work of a missionary nurse.
No charge was made for her services, and we won the confidence of
the people by the interest that we manifested in the sick and suffering.
After a time the Health Retreat at Cooranbong was built, and then we
were relieved of this burden.
No Boastful Claims
To claim to be a prophetess is something that I have never done. If
others call me by that name, I have no controversy with them. But my
work has covered so many lines that I cannot call myself other than a
messenger, sent to bear a message from the Lord to His people, and to
take up work in any line that He points out.
[35]
When I was last in Battle Creek, I said before a large congregation
that I did not claim to be a prophetess. Twice I referred to this matter,
intending each time to make the statement, “I do not claim to be a
prophetess.” If I spoke otherwise than this, let all now understand that
what I had in mind to say was that I do not claim the title of prophet
or prophetess.
I understood that some were anxious to know if Mrs. White still
held the same views that she did years ago when they had heard her
speak in the sanitarium grove, in the Tabernacle, and at the camp
meetings held in the suburbs of Battle Creek. I assured them that the
message she bears today is the same that she has borne during the
sixty years of her public ministry. She has the same service to do
for the Master that was laid upon her in her girlhood. She receives
lessons from the same Instructor. The directions given her are, “Make
known to others what I have revealed to you. Write out the messages