The position occupied by this great continent makes it a field of more than ordinary importance. We have been told, through the spirit of prophecy, that it is to be a center whence the truth is to go not only to the great island continents immediately surrounding it, but also to India, China, and Japan. Its extreme isolation from the warlike nations of the world, and the peaceful character of its inhabitants, warrant the opinion that it will be one of the last of the nations to be drawn into the struggle for national supremacy or existence, which will finally terminate in the last great battle of this world's history.
AVONDALE SCHOOL CHAPEL
In order for this country to be prepared for the important part it is to act in the closing message, it has been necessary to establish facilities for the training of workers and for the production of books, papers, and tracts containing present truth. It has required a large outlay of means, much of which has been secured as loans, to establish these institutions
LADIES’ HOME, AVONDALE SCHOOL
Considerable sums have at various times been appropriated by the General Conference, and donations have been made by private individuals. The brethren in the field have also lifted, and are still lifting to the extent of their ability. Nevertheless there remains a large deficit, as well as a large sum to be raised each year to keep the work going in new fields. We do not ask our brethren in the States to pay all our debts and obligations, but we need, and hope to obtain,
at least $20,000. This amount would relieve us from present embarrassment, and place us where, with God's blessing and prosperous times, we could carry the work forward without further outside assistance.
The drought which has been experienced with greater or less severity throughout Australia for the past few years, and which is still unbroken, has so affected business of all descriptions that it is difficult for our brethren in many instances to make a living for their families; hence, they have little or nothing
to contribute toward the support of the cause. Notwithstanding these conditions, the brethren have had a mind to work, and the Lord has blessed their efforts in the sale of “Christ's Object Lessons,” which has brought great relief to the Avondale school. The Echo Publishing Company, although carrying a heavy debt, has, by God's blessing, been enabled to pay all expenses during the hard times, and leave a small surplus in the treasury.
It is our medical work, and especially the Sydney Sanitarium, that is in the greatest need of help. The institution is located at Wahroonga, a small suburb sixteen miles by rail from the center of the city, and consists of eighty acres of land and buildings of sufficient capacity to accommodate ninety patients and the necessary helpers. Thus far the enterprise has cost about $70,000, $30,000 of which has been raised by donations and applied on the purchase of the land and the construction of the buildings, leaving a debt of $40,000, upon which interest must be paid at an average rate of four and one-half per cent. The closest economy has been practiced, both in the construction of the buildings and in its furnishings, but building material and household furniture costs from one third to one half more in Australia than it does in the United States. It would be perfectly safe to say that what has cost us $70,000 in Australia could have been produced in the United States for $40,000. I am sure that no one would think this an extravagant outlay to represent properly so important a branch of our work in a field of such magnitude.
Judging from the efforts put forth in this direction thus far, it would be perfectly safe to conclude that with help from our brethren and friends in the States at this time to reduce this debt to the minimum, and to supply more much-needed appliances, the institution would be able in the future to meet all obligations, and to aid in the extension of this branch of our work in other portions of17Australia and the islands of the sea. In contributing at this time properly to equip the Sydney Sanitarium, and to relieve it from a large proportion of its debt, you are at the same time in no indirect way aiding the work in the islands of the sea; for all who go there as missionaries should first have some instruction at such an institution, that they may know how to care properly for themselves, and instruct the needy people for whom they will be called upon to labor.
Among the 50,000,000 people connected with the Australasian Union Conference there are many honest souls waiting for the light. The Word of God says, ‘The isles shall wait for his law.’ How much longer they are to wait, and how much longer our Lord's return is to be delayed,—for he can not come until these poor benighted souls have heard the joyful news of his return,—depend upon the activity put forth by God's people, and their generosity in giving of their means to create facilities and support workers in new and needy fields. If we believe the message of Revelation 10, that there shall be delay no longer; if we believe that this generation shall not pass until our Lord is revealed in the clouds of heaven, is it not high time we were settling the question of individual responsibility? Are we faithful stewards of the means God entrusts to us, responding generously to the calls he sends through his appointed channels, or are we passing these calls by with a mere pittance, using the larger share for self-indulgence and self-gratification? It is recorded of Cornelius, ‘Thy prayers and thine alms have come up for a memorial before God.’ Are we erecting monuments in heaven, as did Cornelius, by contributing of our means to advance the cause of God in needy fields, and accompanying our offerings with our prayers that God's blessing may rest upon the work and workers, or are we erecting our monuments upon earth by adding farm to farm and house to house, or piling up money in banks, or placing it where it will add interest to interest—all to be consumed with the world and in the world where we have placed it?
We have been told through the spirit of prophecy that ‘Australia is more like the United States than any other English-speaking country in the world. It is her sister.’ Can we not hope that the eldest sister, whom God has blessed so abundantly of late, will come to the aid of her needy younger sister across the broad Pacific, who is struggling to hold aloft the banner of truth under adverse circumstances? We believe that she will, and we are justified in this belief from a personal acquaintance with thousands of loyal brethren and sisters in all parts of the country, and from the generous response made to the appeal last year in behalf of the work in Christiania.
This Fourth of July Sabbath may be made a day of threefold blessing: first, to ourselves and families in the contemplation of the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and given us the great privilege of being citizens of the heavenly kingdom; second, in the joy that may, and does, come to each one from a sense of a loving duty performed, in a freewill offering to the cause for Christ's sake; and third, by contemplating not only the relief that in this way may come to the Lord's burdened servants in a far-away field, but the probability of meeting souls saved in the kingdom of God as the result of our sacrifice and effort, small though they may seem to us.
We believe that Australia's appeal for help at this time has the approval of the great Head of the church; for he knows all about the self-sacrificing efforts put forth by the brethren to maintain and advance the work under difficult circumstances, and he would have his favored land and people come to their assistance before they become discouraged and faint under the load. ‘For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.’
May the Lord of the harvest bless this day to the good of his people in the homeland, and bless the offering made, and make it the means in his hands of saving many precious souls in his soon-coming kingdom. Geo. A. Irwin.
