I want to talk to you about a prophetic dream, a prayer, and a big cash gift that helped to launch a Seventh-day Adventist college in Australia. At the heart of my story is the miracle working power of God revealed through His messenger, Ellen G. White.CFJS 30.1

Go back with me long before any one of us was born, and let us imagine that we are in Australia, down at the great southern city of Melbourne. And now we are invisible visitors at a committee meeting. Sister White, who has just recently come from America to help get the work established, is talking to the ministers who are in attendance at the annual session of the Australian Conference.CFJS 30.2

“We must have a college here,” said Sister White, “a college with industries and agriculture and a broad educational program.” The school, she said, should be located in the country, and Bible truth and principles should be basic to all instruction. Nature must unite its voice with that of the Scriptures to give the students a spiritual as well as a practical training.CFJS 30.3

The brethren did not think that they could launch a college because, as they said, “We have only about five hundred believers here, and how can we support a college with five hundred believers?” But Sister White encouraged them, so they appointed a searching party to hunt out a site for a school.CFJS 30.4

After some months the locating committee informed Mrs. White that they had found a tract of land at Cooranbong, seventy-six miles north of Sydney, in New South Wales. Its cost: approximately five thousand dollars. Size: nearly fifteen hundred acres. The men thought it had possibilities. Would Sister White come and take a look?CFJS 30.5

Of course she would go. And with several of our workers she boarded the train to travel seventy-nine miles to the little station at Dora Creek. As she traveled along, she told about a dream that she had had several nights before. In this vision of the night she was taken to a piece of land that was being considered for a college. The land was covered with heavy woods. She saw herself and her party walking through the woods. As they did so they came to a little clearing, and there in the clearing they came upon a neatly cut furrow that had been plowed one quarter of a yard deep and two yards in length. As they seemed to be looking at the furrow, two of the brethren came upon the scene and said, “This is not good land. The soil is not favorable.” But Sister White saw in her dream an angel who stood near the furrow and said, “False witness has been borne of this land.” The angel then described the properties of the different layers of the earth and explained the science of the soil. He said that the land was beautifully adapted to the growth of fruits and vegetables, and that God would spread a table in the wilderness and that, properly cultivated, the earth would yield its produce for the benefit of man. When they arrived at the property, Sister White rested for a time near a little fire while the workers scattered out to look at the land. A little later in the afternoon she began to inspect the property. With Elder and Mrs. Starr she walked through the forest of large eucalyptus trees. Soon they came to a little clearing, and near the center, lo, miracle of miracles, they saw the neatly-cut furrow that had been plowed about six feet long and nine inches deep. There were no wagon tracks, no marks of horses’ hoofs, just the short, freshly plowed furrow. As they were inspecting the scene, the two men of Sister White’s dream appeared. They were acquainted with the rich black soil of Iowa. One stood at each end of the furrow, examined the soil, and said, “This is not good land. The soil is not favorable.” They said that it was sandy and sour, and amounted to practically nothing.CFJS 30.6

Those who had heard Sister White relate her dream must have looked at her questioningly, as if to say, “Well, Sister White, aren’t you going to tell them what the angel said?”CFJS 31.1

And Sister White did. She repeated the words of God’s messenger. “False testimony has been borne concerning this soil. God can furnish a table in the wilderness.”—Letter 350, 1907.CFJS 31.2

Well, the brethren were deeply impressed and they said, “Certainly the Lord has led us to this place. This is a miracle of God.” And that night the brethren voted that they would purchase the 1,500-acre estate as the location for our new college in Australia.CFJS 31.3

The next morning as the workers gathered for prayer, some became faint-hearted. They were not sure that the right decision had been made. Sister White felt impressed to plead with God for a token of His favor, some special evidence that He was leading. She was impressed to pray for the healing of Brother McCullough, an active member of the locating committee who was afflicted with tuberculosis and facing death. Immediately Elder McCullough was healed. When he spoke about it later he said that it seemed that a shock of electricity went through his body. He ceased coughing, regained his normal weight and strength, and believe it or not, juniors, he lived for more than fifty years thereafter. As the workers witnessed this miracle they felt sure that God had led them in their decision to buy the land for our college.CFJS 31.4

Now we have told you about two miracles. What about the third? Well, the decision to buy the property was confirmed at the next session of the Australian Union Conference, November 20, 1894. At about that time Mrs. A. E. Wessels of South Africa, with her daughter Anna and her husband Harmon Lindsay, visited the new school at Cooranbong. They were all impressed by what they saw, and naturally when they heard about the miracles that had taken place, they felt that God’s hand was leading. So guess what happened next? Anna Lindsay moved by the Spirit of God said, “I will make a gift of five thousand dollars to the enterprise.” And she did. This paid for the land, and this was the third miracle.CFJS 31.5

And so a college was launched in Australia. How? By a vision of the night, by prayer, by a gift of love, and by a lot of hard work on the part of those who believed God was leading them. It was a great triumph of faith and providence. Two years later, after much anxiety and days of earnest sweat and toil and faith, this school was formally opened. In this story, boys and girls, we see another strong evidence of how Jesus used Sister White and her gift of prophecy to guide the Seventh-day Adventist Church in its important work, not only in this country but overseas as well.CFJS 31.6

Adapted from articles by Arthur L. White in The Review and Herald, April 3, 1958.

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