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Daughters of God
expected to speak in the church on Sabbath; but unfortunately I had a
severe cold and was quite hoarse. I felt inclined to excuse myself from
this appointment; but as it was my only opportunity, I said, “I will
place myself before the people, and I believe the Lord will answer my
earnest prayers, and remove the hoarseness so that I can present my
message to the people.” I presented to my heavenly Father the promise,
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he
that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.... If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask him?” Again, Christ says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
The Word of God is sure. I had asked, and I believed that I would
be enabled to speak to the people. I selected a portion of Scripture; but
when I rose to speak, it was taken from my mind, and I felt impressed
to speak from the first chapter of 2 Peter. The Lord gave me special
freedom in presenting the value of the grace of God. How much is
His grace to be appreciated! The apostle says: “Grace and peace be
multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our
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Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.” ..
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A number of women were ordained as deaconesses during Ellen
White’s Australian ministry. On August 10, 1895, the nominating
committee at the Ashfield church in Sydney rendered its report, which
was approved. The clerk’s minutes for that date state: “Immediately
following the election, the officers were called to the front where
pastors Corliss and McCullagh set apart the elder, deacons, [and]
deaconesses by prayer and the laying on of hands.”
I could then see why I was so earnestly moved to make this invita-
tion. At first I had hesitated, wondering if it were best to do so when
my son and I were the only ones whom I could see who would give us
any help on that occasion. But as though someone had spoken to me,