Temperance Work
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welfare. Thus a union and sympathy will be created where in the past
there has sometimes existed prejudice and misunderstanding.—
The
Review and Herald, October 15, 1914
.
Mrs. S.M.I. Henry, Leader of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union
Mrs. S.M.I. Henry, leader of the Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union, was converted to Adventism while she was a patient at the
Battle Creek Sanitarium and while Mrs. White was living in Australia.
The two became fast friends through correspondence, although they
never had the privilege of meeting in person. The following extracts
from letters to Mrs. Henry show the relation that may be sustained with
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union by Seventh-day Adventist
women of ability
.
I would be very much pleased could I be seated by your side and
converse with you in regard to the incidents of your experience. I have
an earnest desire to meet you. It is not impossible that, even in this
life, we shall see each other face to face. When I learn of the gracious
dealings of God with you, I feel very grateful to my heavenly Father
that the light of the truth for this time is shining into the chambers of
your mind and into the soul temple. Across the broad waters of the
Pacific, we can clasp hands in faith and sweet fellowship. I rejoice
with you in every opportunity you have of reaching the people. I praise
the Lord that He has wrought for you, that the Great Physician who has
never lost a case, has healed you, and given you access to the people,
that you may set before many your experience of the loving-kindness
of a gracious Redeemer.—
Manuscript Releases 7:155 (1898)
.
I thank the Lord with heart, and soul, and voice that you have
[127]
been a prominent and influential member of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union. In the providence of God you have been led to the
light, to obtain a knowledge of the truth.... This light and knowledge
you need to bring into your work, as you associate with women whose
hearts are softened by the Spirit of God, and who are searching for
the truth as for hidden treasure. For twenty years I have seen that the
light would come to the women workers in temperance lines. But with
sadness I have discerned that many of them are becoming politicians,
and that against God. They enter into questions and debates and