244
Welfare Ministry
Providing Work, Books, and Clothes—Those in this country
who receive the truth are mostly poor, and in the winter time it is
a hard matter for them to sustain their families. Since I wrote the
foregoing, a letter was brought to me from ... a man who was a
coachbuilder. He was in great poverty two years ago, and we gave him
work. He was obliged to leave his family, a wife and five children, in
the suburbs of Sydney, and come to Cooranbong, about ninety miles
off, to obtain work. Before this he was in partnership with his brother,
who also is a coachbuilder.
But when he embraced the Sabbath he lost his situation, and he
worked for small wages, and finally he could get no work. He is an
intelligent, refined man, an able teacher in the Sabbath school, and
a sincere Christian. We kept him as long as we had work that he
could do, and when he left he modestly asked if we could let him
have a few books on present truth, for he had none. I gave him about
six dollars’ worth of books. He also asked if we had any cast-off
clothing that we could give him, that his wife might make over for
the children. I provided him a box of clothing, for which he was very
grateful.—
Letter 113, 1897
.
As Set Before Her by the Lord—Why do you not search out the
cases of such men as Brother_____? He is a Christian gentleman in
every sense of the word. He is a man that God loves. Such men as he
are precious in the Lord’s sight. I know him well.
I interested myself in his case.... I endeavored to anticipate his
needs and never to place him where he would have to beg for work.
While in Cooranbong I tried to set an example of how the needy should
be helped. I tried to work in the way set before me by the Lord.—
Letter
105, 1902
.
[334]
A Dorcas Society in the E. G. White Home—Last evening we
had a Dorcas Society in our home, and my workers who help in the
preparation of my articles for the papers and do the cooking and
sewing, five of them, sat up until midnight, cutting out clothing. They
made three pairs of pants for the children of one family. Two sewing
machines were running until midnight. I think there was never a
happier set of workers than were these girls last evening.
We made up a bundle of clothing for this family, and thought it
was about all we could do. Sister C. is now on this errand of mercy
to this poor family, cutting out garments from the material provided.