Clearly a new day was dawning for the remnant church. But as it took on life it was threatened by certain perils. One of these was in the form of ecstatic experiences in connection with the conferences in Topsham and Paris, Maine, held in the autumn of 1850. James and Ellen White were present at both, and they partook of the experiences. Earlier ecstatic experiences, in the form of speaking in unknown tongues came to mind. There had been four such times in the previous thirty months. Two were of major importance, two less significant. Before presenting the restraining cautions of the vision of December 24, 1850, we should review these experiences. One led to encouragement and gave impetus to the work of God; the other misled in a doctrinal line. We present the affirmative first; the data for this comes largely from a Hiram Edson account, dated November 26, 1849, published in Present Truth.
The Rescue of S. W. Rhodes
S. W. Rhodes had labored diligently and effectively in the Advent Awakening in 1843 and 1844. He was a man of means, which he dedicated to spreading the message. When the time of the expected advent of Christ passed in 1844, Rhodes was humiliated. He withdrew from public contact and secluded himself in a forest in the heart of New York State, sustaining himself by hunting and fishing and raising a small garden. Hiram Edson knew where Rhodes was and twice journeyed by foot to the hideout and tried to persuade him to rejoin his brethren. Both attempts failed.
On November 7, 1849, Edson started a third time in an attempt to rescue Rhodes. After walking fourteen miles, he felt impressed to turn back. With Rhodes uppermost in Edson's mind, he attended the conference at Centerport, New York, on Sabbath and Sunday, November 17 and 18. There he met Brethren Ralph and Belden, who had come from Connecticut, and James and Ellen White, who had come from nearby Oswego. The meeting was a "refreshing season."
At the close of the conference, Edson told Ralph about Rhodes. He discovered that both he and Ralph were impressed that they should visit Rhodes together. That evening a half dozen joined in a season of prayer over the Rhodes case. Hiram Edson reported:
Brother Ralph asked the Lord, in secret, to pour out his Spirit upon us if it was His will that we should go after Brother Rhodes.
The Spirit was poured out, and it settled upon us, so that the place was awful, and glorious. While I was inquiring of the Lord if He had sent His servant so far to go with me to hunt up Brother Rhodes, at that moment Brother Ralph broke out in a new tongue, unknown to us all. Then came the interpretation--"Yes, to go with thee."--The Present Truth, December, 1849.
The group knew that neither James nor Ellen White had much faith in the interest that was felt for Rhodes, and she cautioned Ralph "to be sure to get a clear duty from the Lord." She told him that she thought Edson's feelings for Rhodes were mere sympathy. Edson continues the story:
The next morning we had a season of prayer, and the Spirit was richly poured out, and the Lord gave Sister White the following vision, which was contrary to her former opinion and feeling relating to our going after Brother Rhodes, up to the time that the Spirit took her off in vision.-- Ibid.
From the account of the vision as recorded in Present Truth we quote the heart of the message:
While in vision the angel pointed to the earth, where I saw Brother Rhodes in thick darkness; but he still bore the image of Jesus. I saw it was the will of God that Brethren Edson and Ralph should go.
Then I was shown Brother Rhodes's past labors in the Advent cause; that he had been mighty in word and in deed. I saw him standing before the people, with the Bible in his hand, and a stream of light coming from his mouth, which found its way to the hearts of the people.... I saw that he had proclaimed the Advent with great confidence, and had shown his faith by his works, and when the time passed, the disappointment was very great....
I saw that Jesus was pleading His blood for Brother Rhodes, and that the angel was ready to enroll his name, as soon as he would come out of that dark place, and stand on all the present truth.... I saw that Brethren Edson and Ralph should make him believe there was hope and mercy for him, and tear him away, then he would come among the flock; and that angels would attend them on their journey.--Ibid., 35.
Shortly after the vision, the two men started on their way to rescue Rhodes. They found him at work in a field by the Black River. They told him that they had come in the name of the Lord to get him to go with them to see the brethren and go with them into the kingdom. Again there was a speaking in an unknown tongue. Hiram Edson as eyewitness reported:
God displayed His convincing power, and Brother Ralph spoke in a new tongue, and gave the interpretation in power, and in the demonstration of the Holy Ghost.--Ibid.
Triumphantly, Hiram Edson reported:
Brother Rhodes finally consented to come with us, and went about arranging his business in order to leave.... Friday, November 23, we returned as far as Brother Arnold's of Volney.... They were all rejoiced to see Brother Rhodes.--Ibid.
The account closes with these words:
He stands firm in all the present truth; and we heartily bid him Godspeed as he goes to search out and feed the precious, scattered flock of Jesus.--Ibid.
Records of the influence and work of Elder Rhodes following this experience attest to his effective ministry.
One point in connection with this experience is of particular interest, namely, the coolness of Ellen White toward the demonstration of speaking in an unknown tongue. She was unconvinced until a vision was given to her directly by God that the rescue of Elder Rhodes was in harmony with God's will.
A Demonstration of Tongues that Misled
A little more than a year before this there was a demonstration of tongues that placed endorsement on an erroneous interpretation of Scripture in connection with Sabbathkeeping. Joseph Bates, the apostle of the Sabbath truth, at the outset took the position that the Sabbath began at evening. Taking into account time problems in different parts of the world, Bates believed that the proper time to commence the Sabbath was equatorial time, or 6:00 P.M., the year around. This concept was generally accepted as men and women from the Adventist ranks began to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Writing from Berlin, Connecticut, on July 2, 1848, James White reported:
There has been some division [in Connecticut] as to the time of beginning the Sabbath. Some commenced at sundown. Most, however, at 6:00 P.M. A week ago Sabbath we made this a subject of prayer. The Holy Ghost came down; Brother Chamberlain was filled with the power. In this state he cried out in an unknown tongue. The interpretation followed, which was this: "Give me the chalk. Give me the chalk."
Well, thought I, if there is none in the house, then I shall doubt this, but in a moment a brother took down a good piece of chalk. Brother Chamberlain took it and in the power he drew this figure on the floor [a circle divided by crossing horizontal and vertical lines and the figures, 12, 3, 6, and 9 written in, as on the face of a clock].
This represents Jesus' words. Are there not twelve hours in the day? This figure represents the day or the last half of the day. Daylight is half gone when the sun is south or halfway from each horizon, at twelve o'clock. Now go each way six hours, and you will get the twelve-hour day. At any time a year, the day ends at 6:00 P.M. Here is where the Sabbath begins at 6:00 P.M.--JW to "My Dear Brother," July 2, 1848.
James White added, "Satan would get us from this time. But let us stand fast in the Sabbath as God has given it to us and Brother Bates. God has raised up Brother Bates to give this truth. I should have more faith in his opinion than any other man's."-- Ibid.
With the seeming strong evidence that accompanied the confirmation of the six o'clock time, Sabbathkeeping Adventists continued to observe it until Bible study and a confirming vision in 1855 led them, assembled in the conference in Battle Creek, to observe the Sabbath from sundown to sundown.
There were two other experiences, both of minor significance, one calling for John Andrews to enter the ministry and the other in connection with the ordination of Washington Morse to the gospel ministry. [See the series sdas and ecstatic experiences, The Review and Herald, March 15, 22, and 29, 1973.] In all the cases mentioned, those involved were of unquestioned integrity.
Stabilizing Counsels Given by Vision
It was at this time and under these circumstances that God stepped in at Paris, Maine, in December, 1850, with His stabilizing counsels. Ellen White wrote of it:
We were united in praying last evening [December 24] for the Spirit of the Lord to fall upon us. God heard our earnest cries. I was taken off in vision. I saw how great and holy God was. Said the angel, "Walk carefully before Him, for He is high and lifted up and the train of His glory fills the temple."--Manuscript 11, 1850.
Had they assembled on this Christmas Eve in expectancy of circumstances that would lead to shouting, and possibly being "slain by the Lord"? Were they looking for a repetition of what took place on the day of Pentecost? The circumstances, the timing, and the nature of the message given in the vision would strongly indicate that this might well have been so.
Had we been in the group that evening, how carefully we would have watched all that took place and with what attention we would have listened as Ellen spoke while in vision. The sentences were short and disconnected--just expressions dropped as she watched a portrayal in vision. In this case, these utterances were very enlightening. We quote relevant portions as written down by someone present:
Great and holy. Walk carefully before Him. High and lifted up. Everything in perfect order. Know what thou doest. Must be so. Move in order, move in order. A meaning to everything. Yea, how perfect, how beautiful, how lovely, is this order.--Manuscript 10, 1850.
Souls are coming to the knowledge of the truth. The burden not on him [James White] alone.--Ibid. Look ye, let them go. They have not moved in God at all times. Encourage it not, for it will tend to destruction. There has been a stretching beyond. Look beyond the mortal.--Ibid. O how mighty, how glorious would Israel be if they would go according to the Word of God. Hast thou thought all was unadulterated? How liable is the enemy to work there.
Does He frown upon His people, because they are jealous with a godly jealousy. What then? Truth, truth, present truth, the Word of God. Hold it before them. How beautiful to hold the Word of God. Thy ways are past finding out. He never erred in wisdom. Strive to lift the mind from self. Strive to let it dwell on high and lofty things.--Ibid.
Have that the whole burden of the message. First, second, and third angels' messages. The force of it--how mighty it is, the mighty truth.
O we thank Thee that we have received the truth. A poor, despised company, but how honored of God. Should one tarry that has the message? Fly, fly. Buckle the armor on. Do we expect to be free? Fight the good fight of faith.--Ibid.
Look ye at the pattern. Follow Him, meek and lowly. Shut your eyes to everything but the truth.--Ibid.
The next day, under the heading of "Vision at Paris, Maine," she wrote of what was revealed to her. Because of the importance of the matter, for it focused on erratic exercises, we quote at length, although in doing so there is some repetition of her exclamations while in the vision:
We were united in praying last evening for the Spirit of the Lord to fall upon us. God heard our earnest cries. I was taken off in vision.
I saw how great and holy God was. Said the angel, "Walk carefully before Him, for He is high and lifted up and the train of His glory fills the temple."
I saw that everything in heaven was in perfect order. Said the angel,
"Look ye; Christ is the head; move in order, move in order. Have a meaning to everything." Said the angel, "Behold ye, and know how perfect, how beautiful the order in heaven; follow it." ...
Then the angel pointed to Fairhaven, and said, "Ye have not moved in God at all times. There has been a stretching beyond the movings of God, and have moved in self."
I saw that the mind should be taken from the mortal and be raised to God. I saw that the exercises were in great danger of being adulterated, and their former opinion and knowledge in governing in a measure their exercises, therefore implicit confidence could not be placed in these exercises.
But if anyone was lost to everything around him, and he should be in the state that Paul was in, whether in the body or out of the body, he could not tell, and God communicate to him through His angels, there would then be no danger of a mistake.
I saw that we should strive at all times to be free from unhealthy and unnecessary excitement. I saw that there was great danger of leaving the Word of God and resting down and trusting in exercises.
I saw that God had moved by His Spirit upon your company [at Fairhaven] in some of their exercises and their prompting; but I saw danger ahead.--Manuscript 11, 1850. (Italics supplied.)
Note the cautious way in which Ellen White referred to the experience of one being led unmistakably by the Spirit of God, citing Paul's experience and words. The visions stood out in bold contrast from exercises that might be influenced by the preconceptions of the individual, motivated by emotions leading to the ecstatic.
After making reference to some involvements in Massachusetts, she declared:
I saw that the burden of the message now was the truth. The Word of God should be strictly followed and held up to the people of God. And it would be beautiful and lovely if God's people should be brought into a straight [place] to see the workings of God through exercises and visions.
But I saw in our conference meeting some laid out the work that God was to give exercises, and rebels were to be purged out in the meeting; then the honest, conscientious ones began to tremble. [They think,] I am afraid I shall be purged out, and they take their minds from Jesus, and fix them upon themselves and others, and the meeting leaves them lower than it found them. I saw that we must try to lift our minds above self and have it dwell upon God, the high and lofty one....
I saw the burden of the message should be the first, second, and third angels' messages, and those who had any hope in God would yield to the force of that truth. How mighty and glorious it looked to me. O what privilege is ours, that of being among the children of God and believing the mighty truth, a poor, despised company, but how honored of God.
I saw if Israel moved steadily along, going according to Bible order, they would be as terrible as an army with banners. Said the angel, Should any tarry that have the truth and can give an explanation of it from the Word of God? No, no! They must go quickly.--Ibid.
This vision, given under the circumstances described above, had a far-reaching influence and served to guard the church at a critical point in its history. The Word of God was elevated, and visions were pointed out as safe guidance, but ecstatic experiences could have questionable backgrounds and be misleading.
The "Review and Herald" Is Born
When James and Ellen White took up residence in Paris, Maine, in late October, 1850, it was for the purpose of publishing the three angels' messages. James had suspended the publication of the Present Truth while they made the itinerary to Vermont, Canada, and Maine, from mid-May to mid-July, and while he was publishing the first four numbers of the Advent Review at Auburn, New York. In early November at Paris, Maine, he picked up the Present Truth again and put out number 11. In this he stated, "The brethren may now expect to receive a few numbers," and he called for those who could so do to write for the paper. He also brought out number 5 of the Advent Review, the final issue. It was devoted entirely to a reprint of portions of Joseph Bates's Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps, a significant pamphlet reviewing the 1844 experience. Within a few days publishing plans changed. At the conference in Paris on Sabbath and Sunday, November 16 and 17, it was decided to combine the Present Truth and Advent Review into one journal. The new journal would be called The Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.
The page size was 9 1/2 by 13 inches, as compared to the 7 3/4 by 10 inches for the Present Truth and the Advent Review. The masthead carried four names as the Publishing Committee: Joseph Bates, S. W. Rhodes, J. N. Andrews, and James White, and the subscription terms were "gratis, except the reader desires to aid in its publication."
In his initial editorial statement addressed "To Our Readers," White declared:
The Review and Herald is designed to be strictly confined to those important truths that belong to the present time. We hope to be able to send you this enlarged size of the paper quite often, containing a simple and clear exposition of those great and sanctifying truths embraced in the message of the third angel, viz.: the "commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."--Ibid., November, 1850.
Then the editor called for the names of those who will "candidly read." He urged the distribution of publications available and notified all readers that the mailing lists of the Present Truth and the Advent Review were being used for this first number, but only those who responded as wishing the Review and Herald would be retained in making up the new list. Typically, he added:
If any are not able to send means, we beseech them not to let this stop them from writing. We greatly desire to hear from such; and will cheerfully pay the postage on their letters.--Ibid.
At that time, letter postage could be either prepaid or collected from the addressee.
Difficult Days in Paris
James and Ellen White faced difficult times in Paris. She wrote of it: We suffered many privations.... We were willing to live cheaply that the paper might be sustained. My husband was a dyspeptic. We could not eat meat or butter, and were obliged to abstain from all greasy food. Take these from a poor farmer's table and it leaves a very spare diet. Our labors were so great that we needed nourishing food.
We had much care, and often sat up as late as midnight, and sometimes until two or three in the morning, to read proof-sheets. We could have better borne these extra exertions could we have had the sympathy of our brethren in Paris, and had they appreciated our labors and the efforts we were making to advance the cause of truth. Mental labor and privation reduced the strength of my husband very fast.--Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 278.
They did have with them in Paris their horse, Charlie, and the carriage. In early January, 1851, they lent these to Rhodes and Andrews to visit brethren in Canada and northern Vermont. James and Ellen had received a special invitation to attend a conference at Waterbury, Vermont. In spite of the fact that it was midwinter, they started out traveling by train and private conveyance. Finding one poor brother whom they felt should attend the conference to which they were traveling, they promised him if he would go they would give him their fare to aid in buying a horse, and ride with him. En route they called on Joseph Baker. Eager to see him attend the conference, they gave him $5 to pay his fare on the railroad, then they spent most of three days traveling in an open sleigh without blanket or buffalo robe to protect them from the January cold. Commented Ellen White, "We suffered much."--Ibid., 279.
At the Waterbury conference they ran into distressing criticism. A whispering campaign had been started against James White in which many joined, even the venerable Joseph Bates. It was based on the opinion that the Whites had too good a horse, and as James had been very liberal in contributing to the conference, he must be making money. Wrote Ellen White:
This was the reward he received. We were forced to wade through a tide of oppression. It seemed that the deep waters would overflow us, and that we should sink.--Ibid., 280.
One discouraging episode followed another. Severe colds that took hold of him on the journey to and from Waterbury settled in James's lungs. Of the result wrote Ellen White:
He sank beneath his trials. He was so weak he could not get to the printing office without staggering. Our faith was tried to the uttermost. We had willingly endured privation, toil, and suffering, yet but few seemed to appreciate our efforts, when it was even for their good we had suffered. We were too much troubled to sleep or rest.--Ibid., 280, 281.
The situation finally came to the point where James declared, "Wife, it is no use to try to struggle on any longer. These things are crushing me, and will soon carry me to the grave. I cannot go any farther. I have written a note for the paper stating that I shall publish no more."--Ibid. As he stepped out of the door to take the note to the printing office, Ellen fainted. He returned, and she rallied in response to earnest prayer. The next morning at family worship she was taken off in vision. She wrote of what she was shown:
I saw that my husband must not give up the paper, for such a step was just what Satan was trying to drive him to take, and he was working through agents to do this. I was shown that he must continue to publish, and that the Lord would sustain him.--Ibid., 281.
So the Review and Herald continued to come from the press one or two issues a month until Number 13 was put out on June 9, 1851. With this White closed the first volume and they terminated their stay in Paris. The back page of the next-to-last issue carried an announcement disclosing their plans:
All orders for publications, letters, and remittances should be sent in season to be received by the ninth of June, as we shall leave Paris for western New York about that time. Our post office address from the eighteenth to the twenty-third of June will be Camden, New York. From the twenty-fifth to the thirtieth of June, West Milton, Saratoga County, New York.--The Review and Herald, June 2, 1851.
The notice included appointments for conferences to be held in New York State, Camden and West Milton.
The next week the Review carried on its back page a message from James White concerning the paper:
It seems duty to suspend the publication of the paper for a few weeks, to attend the conferences at Camden, and Milton, New York, and visit other places as the way may open. But we are satisfied that we must have a paper, and we would now suggest that it may be duty to have it published weekly. Does not the cause of truth require it?
Our brethren are scattered in a wide field, and can be visited by the traveling brethren but seldom, and we think they need the weekly visits of a paper containing not only the evidences of our position, but the experience of those who are receiving the truth, and cheering accounts of the work in different parts of the field. Doubtless the brethren would be free to write, and thus contribute to the interest of the paper.
Perhaps it should be published at a more central place, where the publications could be obtained with less expense, and where we could go out and spend the Sabbath with the brethren in different places. We now ask the brethren to write freely relative to the above suggestions.--Ibid., June 9, 1851
The 1851 Time Setting
In 1850 Joseph Bates, entirely on his own initiative, published a pamphlet on the sanctuary, in which he sparked a time-setting rash. A statement on pages 10 and 11 read:
The seven spots of blood on the golden altar and before the mercy seat I fully believe represent the duration of the judicial proceedings on the living saints in the Most Holy, all of which time they will be in their affliction, even seven years. God by His voice will deliver them, "for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11).
Then the number seven will finish the day of atonement (not redemption). Six last months of this time, I understand, Jesus will be gathering in the harvest with His sickle, on the white cloud.--"An Explanation of the Typical and Antitypical Sanctuary by the Scriptures With a Chart," pp. 10, 11.
This view was accepted by a few, mostly in New Hampshire and Vermont, but it was not taken up or advocated by the workers generally. Nevertheless, such teaching was a threat that could lead to confusion and disappointment. But at the conference at Camden, on Sabbath, June 21, Ellen White was given a vision on the point. The message of the vision was sent out in letters and then published a month later on the last page of a special number of the Review dated July 21 and hurried into the field:
Dear Brethren,
The Lord has shown me that the message of the third angel must go, and be proclaimed to the scattered children of the Lord, and that it should not be hung on time; for time never will be a test again. I saw that some were getting a false excitement arising from preaching time; that the third angel's message was stronger than time can be. I saw that this message can stand on its own foundation, and that it needs not time to strengthen it, and that it will go in mighty power, and do its work, and will be cut short in righteousness.
I saw that some were making everything bend to the time of this next fall--that is, making their calculations in reference to that time. I saw that this was wrong, for this reason: Instead of going to God daily to know their Present duty, they look ahead, and make their calculations as though they knew the work would end this fall, without inquiring their duty of God daily.
In hope,
E. G. White.
In The Review and Herald, August 19, 1851, James White, with the message of the vision of June 21 ringing in his ears, published a well-reasoned article entitled "Our Present Work," in which he dealt firmly with the time-setting issue:
It is well known that some of the brethren have been teaching that the great work of salvation for the remnant, through the intercession of our great High Priest, would close in seven years from the termination of the 2300 days, in the autumn of 1844. Some who have thus taught we esteem very highly, and love "fervently" as brethren, and we feel that it becomes us to be slow to say anything to hurt their feelings; yet we cannot refrain from giving some reasons why we do not receive the time.--Ibid., August 19, 1851
Six numbered reasons were given in detail. We present excerpts:
1. The proof presented has not been sufficient.... The whole matter seems to us to rest on inference.... We confess that we have not been able to see it....
2. The message of the third angel does not hang on time. Time is not in the least connected with it....
3. We are now emphatically in the waiting time.... Give us time again, and we cease to be in a waiting position....
4. Our present position relative to the truths connected with the third message is based on positive testimony, and is stronger than time can be, or ever has been.... Connect time based on inference with the message, and our position is weakened.
5. If it is the purpose of God that time should be embraced, we think the brethren generally would be called up to it.... It has not been received only where those who teach it have traveled, and presented it as a subject of importance....
6. To embrace and proclaim a time that will pass by would have a withering influence upon the faith of those who would embrace and teach it.--Ibid.
Then White wrote in general terms:
It has been our humble view for the past year that the proclamation of the time was no part of our present work. We do not see time in the present message; we see no necessity for it, and we do not see the hand of the Lord in it. And we have felt it to be our duty to let the brethren know that we have no part in the present movement on time, and that we believe that our present work and present duty is to strive to be united in presenting those important truths embraced in the third angel's cry.--Ibid.
The Time Dropped Before the Expiration
With the publication of the view given to Ellen White, and James White's clear-cut statement, Joseph Bates and others who had taken up the time message dropped it in the summer of 1851. It was considered of such minor importance that it was ignored in conferences held in the late summer, as noted by James White's second and last reference to "the time" in his report on the Oswego, New York, conference. He stated:
The subject of the seven years' time was not mentioned. In fact, we know of no one in this State or in the West who teaches it. Some may suppose from our remarks in No. 2 [August 19, 1851] that the seven years' time is held by quite a large portion of the brethren; but it is not so. The view has been mostly confined to the State of Vermont, and we learn by Brother Holt that most of the brethren there have given it up.--Ibid., September 16, 1851
Some, however, who did not have confidence in the visions, persisted in holding the view of the 1851 time. After it passed they found themselves in confusion. Reporting a conference held in Washington, New Hampshire, October 31 to November 2, Ellen White stated:
The time has passed and left those who believed in it very low and dark, and the influence of those who believed the time has been very distracting....
Such confusion and distraction has followed the time and fighting against the visions! They had also lost the power of the third angel's message, and some of them were in complete darkness.--Letter 8, 1851.