Case of Hannah More
621
that had been done Jesus, in the person of Sister More, and I talked
personally with several about it.
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This thing was not done in a corner. And yet, notwithstanding the
matter was made public, followed by the great and good work in the
church at Battle Creek, no effort was made by that church to redeem
the past by bringing Sister More back. And one, a wife of one of our
ministers, stated afterward: “I do not see the need of Brother and Sister
White’s making such a fuss about Sister More. I think they do not
understand the case.” True, we did not understand the case. It is much
worse than we then supposed. If we had understood it, we would never
have left Battle Creek till we had fully set before that church the sin of
suffering her to leave them as she did, and measures had been taken to
call her back.
A member of that church in conversation about Sister More’s leav-
ing as she did, has since said in substance: “No one feels like taking
the responsibility of such cases now. Brother White always took the
charge of them.” Yes, he did. He would take them to his own house
till every chair and bed was full, then he would go to his brethren and
have them take those whom he could not. If they needed means, he
would give to them and invite others to follow his example. There
must be men in Battle Creek to do as he has done, or the curse of God
will follow that church. Not one man only, there are fifty there who
can do, more or less, as he has done.
We are told that we must come back to Battle Creek. This we
are not ready to do. Probably this will never be our duty. We stood
under heavy burdens there till we could stand no longer. God will have
strong men and women there to divide these burdens among them.
Those who move to Battle Creek, who accept positions there, who are
not ready to put their hands to this kind of work, would a thousand
times better be somewhere else. There are those who can see and feel,
and gladly do good to Jesus in the person of His saints. Let them have
room to work. Let those who cannot do this go where they will not
stand in the way of the work of God.
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Especially is this applicable to those who stand at the head of the
work. If they go wrong, all is wrong. The greater the responsibility,
the greater the ruin in the case of unfaithfulness. If leading brethren do
not faithfully perform their duty, those who are led will not do theirs.
Those at the head of the work at Battle Creek must be ensamples to