The Case of the German Tutor

The night before she left Denmark she visited with a woman who acted as a German tutor for a Danish nobleman. The lady had accepted the Sabbath truth only recently, but when Elder Matteson and the other workers had gone to Basel, her friends and the priests confused her with their specious arguments, and she was ready to give it up.EGWE 100.1

Now this sister had come to see Ellen White and have a good talk. She told her how unworthy she felt even to sit and talk with her. Her life, she said, had been one round of “drinking, frolicking, and amusement” (Manuscript 26, 1885). Ellen White asked her whether she was satisfied with her past experience. “No,” she replied honestly. “And are you really happy?” “No,” she said again firmly.EGWE 100.2

The servant of God talked to her earnestly, telling her that Jesus expected her to use her talents to His glory in building up God's kingdom.EGWE 100.3

“But I have so little talent,” she remarked.EGWE 100.4

“And that little talent,” Ellen White questioned, “you will wrap in a napkin [serviette] and hide it in the world?” If she could use her education and influence to serve the titled people of the earth like the Danish nobleman, she could use it just as well for the Saviour, Jesus Christ.EGWE 100.5

“I was thankful for the privilege of this interview,” she wrote in her diary, “and I have great desire that special labor shall be given to this unsatisfied, perplexed soul.”—Ibid.EGWE 100.6

Here, then, is a fleeting glance of Ellen White, the soul winner who sensed her own inadequacies, but who had submitted her life and her humble talents to Christ as a youth to be used in any way his providence should indicate.EGWE 100.7

Late the next morning, Thursday, October 15, Ellen White and her traveling companions boarded a little steamer bound across the narrow strait for Malmo, Sweden. It was a beautiful day. As was her custom, she eagerly sought for historical information about the charming new town. She noted that it was a part of Denmark during Reformation times, and was one of the first of Denmark's cities to declare for the Protestant Reformation.EGWE 101.1