viii
Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
amplification of lines of instruction presented in earlier years and a
re-emphasis of counsel. Consequently it was not difficult, when the
articles for volume 6 were gathered for publication, to arrange them in
topical order
.
That Mrs. White might assist in the starting of a training school
in Australia, she was asked to go to that field in 1891. She led out in
the appeals for the school and assisted in laying plans for the work.
Being in a new field, there was little by way of past experience or
precedent to influence the plans. Under these favorable circumstances,
and with the spirit of prophecy counsels to guide and guard, the Aus-
tralasian Missionary College was established in a backward country
region. From this training center, Australian youth, with the practical
education gained at Avondale, were to serve in the home fields and to
penetrate the far-flung islands of the South Pacific. In its rural environ-
ment, in its broad industrial program, and in some other features the
Avondale school was to become a pattern school. As the instruction
concerning the conduct of our educational work was presented anew
to guide and mold this institution, entering into the many details of
location, finance, curriculum, discipline, and administration, it was
included in this volume for the benefit of the church around the world
.
When Mrs. White reached Australian Shores, she found a work
well begun, but still in its infancy. In the aggressive evangelistic pro-
gram which was developed and fostered, not only the evangelists them-
selves were engaged in service, but in not a few cases they were joined
by their wives in giving Bible studies and sometimes in preaching.
Several well-planned evangelistic camp meetings were held, which
were carefully followed up so as to conserve the harvest. There were
many conversions, followed by baptisms and the organizing of new
churches and the building of meetinghouses
.
[5]
Not only in the planning for the work was the influence of the
spirit of prophecy felt, but Mrs. White herself took an active part in
preaching, in personal work, and in assisting in the raising of money
for the new church buildings. Counsel regarding these phases of our
work is found in this volume.
It was in the times of volume 6 that Seventh-day Adventists became
more fully mission conscious and accepted the whole world as a field
of labor. The building and launching of the mission boat, “Pitcairn,”
in California in 1890 fired the imagination of young and old alike