When James White began to publish the Present Truth in 1849 the reading audience he addressed was limited to those who had been in the first and second angels' messages. It was this same group he addressed in 1850 in the five numbers of the Advent Review. To a large degree it was this same group that he hoped to reach through the Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. The title indicates this.
In the earlier two journals he did not hesitate to publish Ellen White's communications and references to the "visions." Volume 1 of the Review and Herald, however, coming out in early 1851, was being issued at the opening of "the gathering time"--a time that James White recognized as offering a door "open almost everywhere to present the truth," a time when, as he said. "many are prepared to read the publications who have formerly had no interest to investigate."--The Review and Herald, August 19, 1851.
The marked change now appearing in the attitudes of the general public presented a challenge in setting forth truths that would win, and not be cut off through prejudice. James White cautiously refrained from publishing the visions in the thirteen issues of volume 1 of the combined journal issued at Paris, Maine. Nor did he make direct reference to the special experience of Ellen White. In the issue of April 21, 1851, he did introduce an article he titled "The Gifts of the Gospel Church." He opened his remarks by quoting Ephesians 4:11-14, in which the apostle Paul names the gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. In a comprehensive presentation that filled nearly two pages, James defended the proposition of the gift of prophecy in the church, but he did not mention Ellen White. By mid-June, 1851, the growing number of church members were calling for the visions in published form. This led him to plan for the issuance of Extras of the Review just for the believers. He explained this in the first, and only, issue of an Extra. It carried the date of July 21, 1851, and was published between volume 1 of the Review, which closed with the June 9 issue, and volume 2, which opened August 5. The Whites were residing temporarily at the Jesse Thompson home near Ballston Spa, New York, only a few miles from Saratoga Springs.
Concerted Plan to Publish the Visions
Here is what he wrote of the plan in the Extra:
This sheet is the form of the paper that we hope to publish once in two weeks.... We do not design this Extra for so general circulation as the regular paper, for the reason that strong prejudice exists in many minds against a portion of its contents. Those who judge of a matter before they hear are unwise. Says Paul, "Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
We believe that God is unchangeable, that He is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever," and that it is His will and purpose to teach His tried people, at this the most important period in the history of God's people, in the same manner as in past time. But as many are prejudiced against visions, we think best at present not to insert anything of the kind in the regular paper. We will therefore publish the visions by themselves for the benefit of those who believe that God can fulfill His word and give visions "in the last days."--The Review and Herald, Extra, July 21, 1851.
White made a start by reprinting the visions as they first appeared in broadside form: (1) "To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad," published in Portland, Maine, April 6, 1846, containing her first vision; (2) the vision concerning the Sabbath, published by Joseph Bates, at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, as "A Vision," vol. 1, No. 1, April 7, 1847.
For this Extra, Ellen White, at "the request of dear friends," wrote a brief sketch of her experience (see Early Writings, 11-13) which filled the first page and ran over to the second. Her first vision, combined with the vision of the new earth, came next, following a significant four-line explanation:
Here I will give the view that was first published in 1846. In this view I saw only a very few of the events of the future. More recent views have been more full. I shall therefore leave out a portion and prevent repetition. [Note: her first vision as published in 1847 by James White in a word to the "little flock" was the source, from which she left out "a portion."]--The Review and Herald, Extra, July 21, 1851.
It took longer to get out the Extra than was at first anticipated. The printing was done in Saratoga Springs. On July 21, the date carried by the yet-unprinted Extra, Ellen White wrote to friends residing in Michigan whom she had met at a recent conference. She mentioned plans for the publication of a pamphlet carrying the visions:
Dear Brother and Sister Dodge,
I now sit down to address you a few lines. The reason I have not written before is my time has been improved. I have been writing out the visions for publication and expected them to be out sooner and then you could have them in print; but the first paper is delayed and you will be anxious to learn something of our calculations [which were to appear in the paper], I will wait no longer....
There is a stir all around here since the conference [in West Milton, June 27 to 29] reports are being carried. (Evil, of course.) Some are anxious to hear for themselves and will come to the meetings [at Ballston Spa].
The visions trouble many. [One was given in connection with the conference held at Milton.] They [know] not what to make of them. We shall have the visions published in pamphlet form, and if all the particulars are not published in the pamphlet, that I saw at Brother Cushman's, and if you desire it, I can write it off for you. As it was coming out so soon in the pamphlet, I thought that you would not wish me to write them all off for you. We now think that you can have the book in about four weeks. You must write us upon the reception of this.--Letter 4, 1851.
This communication is quite informative. As they were publishing the Extra they decided to turn to a pamphlet or book as a means of making the visions available in permanent form. To begin with, they could use the same type already set for the Extra, and a little book would be more serviceable than the paper.
James White was less optimistic about its early issuance. In a postscript he noted:
I think Ellen has set the time too soon for the vision pamphlet to come out. I will get it out as soon as possible. Perhaps it will be completed in eight weeks.-- Ibid.
White promised that it would contain sixty-four pages (four printing forms), and two thousand copies would be printed, at a cost of $5 per hundred.
Ellen White's First Book
Even though the pamphlet contained only sixty-four pages, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, with more than twenty chapters, is considered the first Ellen G. White book. Most of the chapters were a reprinting of her messages to the church, first published in broadsides or articles. As the entire work was republished in 1882 and is the first section of Early Writings, the reader is referred to these early materials as may be found in his own library.
Settling in Saratoga Springs, New York
As James White closed up volume 1 of the Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, in Paris, Maine, he suggested that it would be well to find a more central place from which to send out the paper and other printed documents. He was looking for just such a place while at the conference at the Jesse Thompson home, just a few miles from Saratoga Springs. In her July 21 letter to Brother and Sister Dodge, Ellen White gave the up-to-date news:
After you left us we began to inquire of the Lord what He would have us to do, or where we should publish, and it was shown me in vision that James must lay his hand to the work and strive to open the way, and if the way should bend before him, he must remain; but if it was shut up and did not open, we must go elsewhere.
James has been doing as God showed me he must do, and the way has opened before him so that the first paper [the Extra] will be off today, and will be folded and in the [post] office tomorrow morning. He does his publishing at Saratoga [Springs], nine miles from here.
We have not yet got a house. We shall get one as soon as possible near the Springs where it will be only a few miles from the printing office. We expect our friends this week from Maine, and in about three weeks shall be entirely settled, if not before.--Ibid.
The friends from Maine referred to were her sister Sarah and Sarah's husband, Stephen Belden, who would help with publishing, and Clarissa Bonfoey. The latter would bring with her the Whites' 2-year-old Edson who had been in her care. Within days the Whites found a house, borrowed furniture from fellow believers, and set up housekeeping. The first number of volume 2 of the Review and Herald came from the press on August 5, 1851, some two weeks after the Extra. With the little vision pamphlet soon to go to press, no further issues of the Extra were published. Ellen was now 23 and James had, just the day before, turned 31. Soon 23-year-old Annie Smith, a very talented young woman, joined the publishing family. She was a new believer from New Hampshire, and very competent. She gave much-needed help in issuing the Review and Herald. Writing to the Howlands on November 12, Ellen White stated:
Annie Smith is with us. She is just the help we need; she takes right hold with James and helps him much. We can leave her now to get off the papers and can go out more among the flock.--Letter 8, 1851.
So through the fall and winter of 1851-1852 the Whites divided their time between publishing and field work. One tour was particularly fruitful, although strenuous. In The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851, is an editorial report that White titled "Our Tour East." The itinerary began October 23 with conferences at Medford, Massachusetts, in the Boston area; there was a conference at Washington, New Hampshire, and three in Vermont: Bethel, Johnson, and Vergennes. They were back home on November 18.
Moves Toward Order and Organization
In recent visions Ellen White's attention was called to the order in heaven, and she was shown that the believers must imitate this. At these conferences two points stood out: (1) church organization, and (2) the importance of the visions and their place in the emerging church. In the published report given by James White, and in James's and Ellen's correspondence, another feature stands out, namely, the number of believers who came together for these conferences. The meetings usually opened on Friday evening at six o'clock--the time they then commenced the observance of the Sabbath--and ran through Sabbath and Sunday. James White exuberantly reported from Waterbury, Vermont, in a general letter:
Our conferences at Medford, Washington, Bethel, and Johnson have been wonderful. We are astonished at the marvelous work of God. My words but faintly express my ideas--the facts in the case.--JW to "Dear Brethren in Christ," November 11, 1851.
He reported seventy-five present at Medford, eighty at Washington, and at Johnson, ninety to one hundred. One thing that made the moves toward church order seem desirable was the destructive work of Stephen Smith, of Unity, New Hampshire, a few miles from Washington. In 1850 he was entering the field of public ministry but was swept off his feet by the 1851 time setting projected by Bates. He refused to accept the warning counsel that time was no longer a test, picked up other strange ideas, and joined the opposition. At the conference in Medford, Massachusetts, James and Ellen White were met by his work.
James wrote:
When we arrived there, disunion existed among the brethren. They had been visited by Stephen Smith and J. Hart, who had tried to prejudice them against us. It had had a bad effect, but we went on with the meeting. There were eleven from Fairhaven and seven from Maine.... It was a meeting of labor. Not a lecture given.
The burden of the meeting was church order, pointing out the errors of S. Smith, H. W. Allen, and the importance of church action as to the course of some brethren.
Ellen had a vision. Saw that the frown of God was on us as a people, because the accursed thing was in the camp, that is, errors among us, and that the church must act, and the only way to do Brethren Allen and Smith good was to withdraw fellowship from them, in their present position. All acted on the light given, all received the vision, and, even to an individual, all raised the hand to withdraw fellowship from them.-- Ibid.
The Conference at Washington, New Hampshire
The next conference was at Washington, New Hampshire, where the Adventists first began to keep the Sabbath about the time of the disappointment in 1844. In a letter to the Howlands in Topsham, Maine, written from the E. P. Butler home [E. P. Butler was the father of George I. Butler, who served the church in prominent positions for many years.] in Vermont on November 12, near the close of their tour, she described the meeting at Washington in detail. The letter, which in typed form fills seven pages, gives illuminating glimpses of what took place. Butler had gone down from Vermont to attend the conference. At the time he sympathized with Steven Smith and was opposing the visions. The opening lines set the tone of the experiences:
Here we are at Brother Butler's. O how changed everything is here. God has wrought for us mightily, praise His holy name.
At Washington the Lord took the rule of the meeting Himself. Stephen Smith and Brother Butler were present. There were about 75 present, all in the faith. Brother Stephen Smith was filled with the wrong spirit. J. Hart and himself had filled the minds of many of them with prejudice against us; false reports had been circulated. The band had been sinking and had lost the power of the third angel's message. They were sickly, but knew not the cause, but the reason was that there was an accursed thing in the camp and by the assistance of God we were trying to get it out of the camp....
[On Sabbath] I was ... taken off in vision.... The state of things was revealed to me in Washington, which I declared plainly to them. The vision had a powerful effect. All acknowledged their faith in the visions except Brother Butler and S. Smith. We all felt it duty to act, and by a unanimous vote of the brethren, S. Smith was disfellowshipped by the church until he should forever lay down his erroneous views.... [For a fuller report of Stephen Smith's erratic experience and his final turnaround after reading a testimony left for twenty-eight years in an unopened envelope, see appendix C.]
Sunday Eve, after we had disfellowshipped Brother Smith (in the afternoon) we had a glorious season. Many confessed that they had been prejudiced against us by different individuals such as S. Smith and J. Hart, but they praised God that they had seen us and were convinced that the visions were of God....
Monday ... we held another meeting and it was the best meeting of the whole. Sweet union and love prevailed in the meeting. We then sung the farewell hymn and with sad yet joyful hearts parted, sad that we must part with those we love so well and had taken such sweet counsel with; but joyful that our hearts had been strengthened and comforted together, and that the clear light of truth had shone upon us, and that we were soon to meet to part no more, where no discord or disunion reigns.--Letter 8, 1851.
James White reported November 11 in his general letter that "at Washington we met Brother Smith, hard, hard, full of errors." "It was a battle.... Sunday, Brother Smith was present. Hard as ever. We talked plain. Finally the conference voted to withdraw from him." In his published report of this conference he stated that it was one of great profit. He noted:
A committee of seven was chosen (see Acts 6) to attend to the wants of the poor, and we have reason to believe that it will be a great pleasure for them to do so.--The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851.
This is the first record of such steps being taken as the brethren began to move toward organization, that there might be order in the church.
At the close of the conference that Monday, a request was received from Sister Mead, who was afflicted with a "slow fever," for anointing and prayer for her healing. Of this Ellen White reported:
We went into a room by ourselves, Brethren Holt, Wheeler, Stowell, James and self. After I had anointed her with oil we prayed over her and she was healed every whit.--Letter 8, 1851.
The immediate healing of Sister Mead was so marked that those acquainted with the circumstances thought of another serious case, of which Ellen White wrote:
That night we got into a rowboat and went on to the pond about one mile to Brother Mead's. His sister was there with a very sick child. We anointed it with oil and prayed over it, and God heard our prayers. Then the two Brothers Mead rowed us back again in the night.--Ibid.
The Bethel, Vermont, Conference
The next conference was held at the home of Washington Morse, at Bethel, Vermont. "We anticipated many trials at this meeting," wrote James White, "but were happily disappointed." He explained:
The Lord worked gloriously for His people. Brethren Holt and Wheeler were present. Here also the importance of union was dwelt upon, and the Holy Spirit seemed to break down all opposing influences, and the honest children of God were made one.--The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851.
In her report to the Hastings, Ellen White went into more detail, painting a vivid picture of what took place at these meetings with the companies of believers. Of the Bethel meeting she noted:
Brother Butler was at that meeting; also Brother Josiah Hart, who was so strong on the time, and after it passed by, got a substitute, the "age to come," and was carrying that about, and 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. Brother Hart was stiff and unyielding enough.
I got up and told him what God has shown me concerning him. Brother Butler began to break away and come into the clear light. In the morn [Thursday] we all seemed to have an agonizing cry for God to work like Himself, a wonder-working God. Our prayers were answered, the power of God came down; it was a good season; angels were hovering over us.
I was taken off in vision and saw just the state of things there, and just the state that Brother Baker was in, and Brother Hart and Butler. I got up and told the vision. It had quite a powerful effect. Brother Hart began to give way a little and break down, but still he did not confess much. Brother Butler came almost out there at Bethel. I had some straight messages to bear to different individuals which had their effect. When we parted, we parted in love, and union prevailed among nearly all.--Letter 8, 1851.
The Conference at Johnson, Vermont
As the conference opened at Johnson, Vermont, some present pressed hard on the matter of the 1851 time. One brother declared that "he was not sure but something did take place, that Jesus did leave the Most Holy the time they said He would. He was happy; these were the happiest days of his life."--Ibid. Ellen White continued the story:
He went on in this strain with such a wild spirit that all were disgusted with him. The Spirit of God came upon James. He arose and rebuked him in the name of the Lord. His mouth was closed in a moment. He could not say ... anything through the meeting. He was rebuked by God. This was a great help to the meeting and a great help to Brother Baker.
I got up and told them what God had shown me about some trying to get a substitute after the time passed. Some would get Jesus upon the great white cloud, others would be looking to old Jerusalem or, as they called it, the "age to come." ...
I talked plainly. The Lord helped me. I showed them how the messengers that had been toiling in the scattering time had labored to get the truth before them, how much they had suffered, and now when God's cause was prospering they embrace the third angel's message and enter into the labors of the chosen messengers of God and lift up their heel against them.--Ibid.
On Sabbath there were one hundred present; G. W. Holt and James White preached. Sunday morning, before the preaching, Mrs. Butler confessed that she had been wrong. Butler himself "talked very well," wrote Ellen White, and "there was a confession made all around with weeping." It was a dramatic meeting described by Ellen White:
I got up and told my vision about Brother Baker and Hart and others. I never had it in a more clear manner. I told Brother Baker his going to the churches to proclaim the third angel's message was all wrong, that he had to tame down that message or he could not have got into the churches and that he had been taking the children's bread and giving it to dogs. I told him just how his case was shown to me.
I also told them all that the messengers of God should be perfectly united in their views of Bible truth and should consult with each other and should not advance any new view until they first went to the messengers and examined those views with the Bible, and if they were correct let all the messengers spread them and if they were error lay them to one side. Then the gospel seed would be sown in union and raised in strength; all the messengers east and west, north and south, would be telling the same story....
In the afternoon after James talked, Brother Baker arose. None knew what he was about to say. He told them that every word of the vision related in the forenoon concerning him was every word of it truth, just exactly as it was. (I saw in vision that Brother Baker had not had any bitter feelings towards us like some others.) He referred to this in particular. He knew it to be just so.
"Well, now," says he, "you will say, 'What is Brother Baker going to do with the visions?' I will tell you. It is high time for me to decide there is no halfway work about this business. The visions are all of God, or there is none of them of God. 'Well,' say you, 'what is Brother Baker going to do?' Believe the visions.
"I see that they are inseparably connected with the third angel's message, and if I give up the visions, I must give up the third angel's message, and if I give up the third angel's message, I give up that we have had the first and second, and if I give up that we have had the first, second, and third angels' messages, I give up the Word of God, my Christian experience, and am an infidel at once."--Ibid.
It was a traumatic experience, and not only was Baker involved. Ellen White continued the account:
I never witnessed such a melting, weeping time before. (Brother Butler had taken his stand the day before and told the brethren and sisters in public where to find him, on the side of the visions. "I believe them to be of God, I am a full believer in the visions, so you know where to find me.")--Ibid.
Relief came to all present, but this was not all. At a meeting held Monday morning, the power of God rested on the company of believers, and Ellen White was given a vision that, when she related it, comforted Brother Baker and made him strong. He was not to sink down but was admonished by the angel, "Feed the sheep, feed the sheep." She wrote regarding the feeling that existed when the conference closed:
We parted with the brethren and sisters while sweet love and union prevailed among all.--Ibid.
In his report of the Johnson experience in the Review James White pointed out that "the meeting was most manifestly led by the Holy Spirit.... It seemed wonderful that a meeting of such intense interest, where the brethren had such deep feeling, should be so free from unpleasant excitement." Finding it difficult to reach for words that expressed his feeling, he declared:
Though every heart felt deeply, yet the sweet, gentle spirit of Jesus reigned, and the God of peace and order was glorified.--The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851.
The Conference at Vergennes, Vermont
The next meeting, the third in Vermont, was called on short notice and held at the home of Elon Everts. "Brother Everts," wrote Ellen White, "is a blessed brother, but has been in the 'age to come' all over and he said he could not give it up."--Letter 8, 1851. And she added:
He held such a strong mixture of views that if followed out would lead to spiritualism of the worst kind, such as spiritual wifery.
On Sabbath evening she had a vision in which she was shown that "the accursed thing must be put out of the camp" or the church would suffer. She wrote:
After I had the vision and told it, Brother Everts began to confess and break down before God. He gave up his "age to come" and felt the necessity of keeping the minds of all on the third angel's message.
I had as solemn a view at that time as I ever had in my life. The next day we went to Henry Allen's, and God gave me a cutting message for him and I dared not daub with untempered mortar. Never did I have such a cutting message for anyone before. He did not break down. We withdrew all fellowship from him until he should give up his spiritual union views and get right. We left the brethren and sisters there in a much better state than we found them.--Ibid.
Back in Saratoga Springs by mid-November, they found everyone well. The work had gone on in their absence with only one issue of the Review missed. As James picked up his work at the Review "office" he declared:
We never felt so good courage to toil on in this cause as now. God blesses every effort His children make to advance this cause, and certainly we should be encouraged. We witnessed tenfold more good accomplished on this tour than we anticipated. It is God's marvelous work, and He shall have all the praise.--The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851.
Soon the back pages of the Review and Herald were carrying notices of conferences through late December and into January, and James and Ellen White would attend some of those in northern and western New York.
Testimony Concerning Using Tobacco
On December 14 Ellen White wrote a letter as follows:
Dear Brother Barnes,
I received a few lines from Brother Hewett. He wishes me to write whether I have seen in vision [that] it is wrong to use tobacco.
I have seen in vision that tobacco was a filthy weed, and that it must be laid aside or given up. Said my accompanying angel, "If it is an idol, it is high time it was given up, and unless it is given up, the frown of God will be upon the one that uses it, and he cannot be sealed with the seal of the living God. If it is used as a medicine, go to God; He is the Great Physician, and those that use the filthy weed for medicine greatly dishonor God. "There is a balm in Gilead, there is a Physician there. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord."
I saw that Christ will have a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing to present to His Father, ... as He leads us through the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem.... After Jesus has done so much for us, will anyone be undecided whether to deny himself of the filthy weed for His sake? We must be perfect Christians, deny ourselves all the way along, tread the narrow, thorny pathway that our Jesus trod, and then if we are final overcomers, heaven, sweet heaven will be cheap enough.--Letter 5, 1851.
She wrote understandingly of the struggle some will have to leave off the use of tobacco, and suggested that they do as S. W. Rhodes did when he was battling to break away from its use. "He called for the brethren to pray for him," she wrote, "and we did. He was cured and has desired none since." She counseled:
Go to God, dear brother; wrestle with Him and you can overcome. Pray in faith, nothing doubting. Jesus will be touched with the brother's infirmities.--Ibid.
The Midwinter Tour in Western New York
Leaving Saratoga Springs on December 22 or 23, James and Ellen White were in Camden for the conference held on December 25 ( The Review and Herald, February 3, 1852), and for the next seven weeks visited scattered groups of believers and churches over a wide area in northern and western New York. They stopped at Oswego going, and also on their return trip six weeks later (Ibid., February 17, 1852). At the David Arnold home in nearby Volney they found Marion Stowell helping in the home, for Mrs. Arnold was quite ill. Marion had been there two and a half years and was much worn. The Whites saw that a change in her surroundings was absolutely essential. They urged her to go with them as they continued their homeward trip by sleigh. First, there was the fifteen miles north to Oswego for the weekend meetings of February 8 and 9, and then to Lorain forty miles beyond as they traveled east. Marion being ill, it was a difficult time for her, especially as the snow was melted in places, leaving bare ground for the runners of the sleigh to traverse. Marion recounted the events after leaving Lorain for the White home in Saratoga Springs in a letter to Ellen White written in 1908:
We left all greatly encouraged, as you started for your home at Saratoga. We had not gone many more miles when you said, "James, everything that was shown me about this trip has transpired but one. We had a little meeting in a private family. You spoke with great freedom on your favorite theme, the near coming of Christ."--DF 439, Marion Stowell Crawford to EGW, October 9, 1908.
To this James White responded:
"It is impossible to transpire on this trip as there is not an Adventist family between here and Saratoga. We will put up at a hotel tonight, and we surely wouldn't have a meeting there, and tomorrow afternoon will reach home. It must occur on our next trip."
[Ellen replied:] "No, James, it was surely on this, as nothing has been shown me of the next one, and it is three months before we take another. It was shown me on this trip, yet I can't see how it can come to pass."--Ibid.
Marion recounts that the subject was dropped at that point. Near sundown, James said, "Ellen, who did Emily Cady marry?" She gave him the name and said, "I do not know where they live." He replied, "I do, and I think this is the place." On inquiry, it was found that they lived a house or two away, and the traveling party was heartily welcomed. Marion Stowell reported:
Supper over, Emily said, "Brother White, would you mind speaking to my neighbors on the near coming of Christ? I can soon fill both rooms. They have heard me tell so much about you both, they will come."-- Ibid.
They did come, and every corner of the two rooms was filled. After the meeting James White exclaimed, "Ellen, I never spoke to a large crowd with greater freedom than this evening." It seems that the connection between the vision and the evening meeting was not thought of till they were driving into Saratoga Springs. Wrote Marion Stowell in her letter to Ellen White. "Not once from that time to this has Satan ever tempted me to doubt your visions."-- Ibid.
Back Home in Saratoga Springs
James White's report at the end of the seven-week tour in midwinter was optimistic:
We reached home the thirteenth, and found our friends in good health and spirits. Sister [Annie] Smith, who has had the care of the paper in our absence, seems happy with her charge. Our health is improved by traveling. We are all very happy to see the cause of truth rapidly advancing.--Ibid., February 17, 1852
On the back page of the same issue he makes an interesting proposition regarding the work of publishing the message:
We think the time has come when a press should be owned by Sabbathkeepers. Now our work is being done on the Sabbath, which is very unpleasant and inconvenient. It also costs much more than it would if we had an office of our own. Will the committee take this matter in hand?--Ibid.
He called a conference to be held in the vicinity of Saratoga Springs, and to commence Friday, March 12, 1852. The next issue pinpointed the matter, calling it to convene at the house of Jesse Thompson, two miles from Ballston Spa, New York, at 10:00 A.M.