With faithful Charlie pulling their carriage, James and Ellen White drove into their yard in Rochester on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 6, returning from their 1852 trip east.
The Review office staff had not missed an issue in the eleven weeks the editor was absent. This proved to James White that others could carry many of the routine tasks to which he had given attention in the past three years. Every other Thursday, two thousand copies were "struck off" on the hand press and mailed to 1,600 homes (The Review and Herald, June 27, 1935). The Youth's Instructor, started in August, was mailed to nearly one thousand homes. Now there was need for more space in which to work. The first important action after getting back was to rent office space in downtown Rochester on South St. Paul Street, on the third floor of an office building, and move the printing work to this new location.
Strict Economy Maintained
It took the strictest of economy to keep things going at the home and the office, but James and Ellen White knew something of poverty and economy. Soon after getting settled in the home on Mount Hope Avenue, arrangements were made to have the open land near the house prepared for a spring garden. As the plow started to turn the soil Ellen noticed many small potatoes that had not frozen during the mild winter. The drought the preceding year had resulted in a crop thought not worth harvesting. What a find! Soon Ellen, with pail in hand, was following the plowman, gathering in what she saw to be a precious harvest. In the White household, economy was considered not only a necessity but a religious duty.
It was Ellen White's philosophy that neither a family nor an individual should spend an entire income. A reserve, no matter how small, must always be kept for a "rainy day." In the Rochester home, with its large family to feed, she knew such a day would come. From her allowance for maintaining the home, she astutely took out a few coins each week and slipped them into a stocking hidden behind a cupboard door in the kitchen. It was her secret, one she did not share even with James. There did come a day when an express shipment of paper arrived, "collect." There was no money to pay for the paper, which was needed for the next issue of the Review. In distress James told Ellen he did not know what to do. He watched her closely as she went quietly to the cupboard, opened the door, and took down the stocking from the nail that held it. As James looked on with wide-open eyes, she emptied its contents on the kitchen table. There was sufficient in that stocking to meet the bill, and the next issue of the Review came off the press on time.
But these were indeed days of sacrifice, on the part of everyone connected with the enterprise. White noted this as he told of moving the printing office to its downtown location. Joyfully he reported that October day, "The office is not in debt." He explained how this could be. The employees were willing to sacrifice as he, the editor and proprietor, had done:
Brethren Belden and Stowell, who have worked in the office the past six months, have received but a trifle more than their board. Others engaged in the same work have received but a trifle more than their board.--Ibid., October 14, 1852
White was happy to write:
It is now evident that God had been well pleased with the effort of His children to obtain an office to be conducted in strict obedience to the fourth commandment. We are incapable of expressing our feelings of gratitude to God, whose wise providence has ordered this thing, and to the dear brethren who have so promptly acted their part.--Ibid.
Working in the Opening West
Now James and Ellen White were able to get away from Rochester to attend meetings in western New York State. Through editorials and back page notes in the Review he kept the field informed. Letters addressed to the editor kept the progress of the cause and the challenging new openings before the rapidly growing church. During the three months they were in the East, there were an accelerating number of reports coming from Michigan disclosing the almost explosive way in which the Sabbath truth was being proclaimed and accepted in that new "western" State.
At about the time White started the publication of the Present Truth in the summer of 1849, Joseph Bates had gone to Jackson, Michigan. From among the Adventists there he raised up a little company of Sabbathkeepers, with Dan Palmer, a blacksmith, and his wife among the first to take their stand. Others in the group were H. S. Case, J. C. Bowles, and C. P. Russell. The leaven was at work, and by early 1852 other companies of believers were springing up. Such names as M. E. and Angeline Cornell of Tyrone and the Kellogg family of Lapeer appeared in reports--new believers bubbling over in their enthusiasm for "the truth."
Joseph Bates reported trips to Jackson in April and again in June in 1852, each attended with success. James and Ellen White could not escape observing what was taking place, and soon after their return to Rochester from the East in October, 1852, they determined to visit Michigan as soon as the work in Rochester would allow.
A letter from youthful Merritt Kellogg, an older son of J. P. Kellogg, reported on meetings and baptisms. Interest was increasing and little bands were springing up here and there (Ibid., March 3, 1853).
First Visit of James and Ellen White to Michigan
The May 12 Review carried a note from James White:
Providence permitting, we will hold conferences as follows: Mill Grove, New York, May 21 and 22. Tyrone, Michigan, May 27, 28, and 29. Jackson, Michigan, June 3, 4, and 5.
They would travel by train to Buffalo, New York, and take a boat for Detroit, Michigan. Mill Grove was en route, and there the Roswell Cottrell family, Seventh Day Baptists, were taking their stand for the full third angel's message.
As the day approached when he and his wife were to leave Rochester, James White was in bed with a high fever. His associates gathered about his bed and earnestly prayed for his recovery. He was relieved but left very weak. He and Ellen decided to start out, traveling the fifty miles to Mill Grove. If he did not continue to recover they would return to Rochester. At the Cottrell home he was extremely weak and feared he would have to turn back. "We were in great perplexity," wrote Ellen White.
Must we be driven from the work by bodily infirmities? Would Satan be permitted to exercise his power upon us, and contend for our usefulness and lives as long as we remain in the world? We knew that God could limit the power of Satan. He may suffer us to be tried in the furnace, but will bring us forth purified and better fitted for His work.--Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 301.
Ellen found her way to a log house nearby, and there she poured out her soul to God that He would rebuke the fever and give her husband strength to pursue their journey west. She reported:
My faith firmly grasped the promises of God. I there obtained the evidence that if we should proceed on our journey to Michigan the angel of God would go with us.
When I related to my husband the exercise of my mind, he said that his mind had been exercised in a similar manner, and we decided to go trusting in the Lord.--Ibid.
Every mile they traveled James felt stronger, the Lord sustaining him. The night trip across Lake Erie to Detroit on a ferry carrying six hundred or more passengers was enjoyable. Theirs was a pleasant stateroom with every convenience. Of the overnight trip Ellen wrote:
We slept sweetly through the night. James felt much better than he expected to. He began to feel better directly after leaving Mill Grove, and he has been growing better ever since.--Letter 2, 1853.
In Michigan they found themselves among friends--new believers. They were entertained first in the Henry Lyon home near Plymouth where they met M. E. Cornell and his wife. Then they were taken to Tyrone for three days of meetings. There they met the Kellogg family, J. P. and his wife and the children, including 21-year-old Merritt. Meetings were held in a barn (The Review and Herald, June 27, 1935). Sabbath morning Ellen White was given a vision, and what took place was observed very carefully by those present. Merritt Kellogg later wrote of this:
We were engaged in a prayer and social meeting Sabbath morning at about nine o'clock. Brother White, my father, and Sister White had prayed, and I was praying at the time. There had been no excitement, no demonstrations. We did plead earnestly with God, however, that He would bless the work in Michigan.
As Sister White gave that triumphant shout of "Glory! glory! glory!" which you have heard her give so often as she goes into vision, Brother White arose and informed the audience that his wife was in vision. After stating the manner of her visions, and that she did not breathe while in vision, he invited anyone who wished to do so to come forward and examine her. Dr. Drummond, a physician, who was also a first-day Adventist preacher, who (before he saw her in vision) had declared her visions to be of mesmeric origin, and that he could give her a vision, stepped forward, and after a thorough examination, turned very pale, and remarked, "She doesn't breathe!"
I am quite certain that she did not breathe at that time while in vision, nor in any of several others which she had when I was present. The coming out of vision was as marked as her going into it. The first indication we had that the vision was ended was in her again beginning to breathe. She drew her first breath deep, long, and full, in a manner showing that her lungs had been entirely empty of air. After drawing the first breath, several minutes passed before she drew a second, which filled the lungs precisely as did the first, then a pause of two minutes, and a third inhalation, after which the breathing became natural.--M. G. Kellogg, M.D., Battle Creek, Michigan, December 28, 1890, in The General Conference Bulletin, 1893, 59, 60.
With the Believers in Jackson, Michigan
On Wednesday after the weekend meetings at Tyrone, James and Ellen White hastened on to Jackson where meetings were scheduled to be held beginning Friday afternoon, June 3, 1853, through Sunday. Shortly before, trouble had arisen in the church. The wife of Dan Palmer had had a series of irritating experiences with an unconverted neighbor. Off guard, she had spoken harshly to her, calling her a "witch." The daughter of one of the church members had overheard, and charged her with the use of a crude word that sounded much like the one she employed. Though pressed by the officers of the church, Mrs. Palmer denied the charge and refused to disclose the word she did use. Two of the brethren insisted that she was guilty and should confess. When James and Ellen White arrived, they found cross accusations and dissension in the church. The entire Jackson church was present for the June 3 meeting.
As Ellen White was praying at the opening of the meeting, she was taken off in vision and certain features of the situation were revealed to her. Coming out of vision, she had a message for Mrs. Palmer, reproving her for the wrong spirit she had manifested toward her unbelieving neighbor. She stated that more had been shown to her, but it was not clear in her mind.
The two accusing brethren, Case and Russell, were pleased. They arose and expressed unbounded confidence in the visions as a genuine manifestation of the Spirit of God. Turning to Mrs. Palmer, in a harsh and stern manner they urged her to confess. She remained silent.
The next day, Sabbath, Ellen White was given another vision. In this she was shown that Mrs. Palmer did not use the word with which she was charged; she was also shown the unchristian character of Case and Russell and the very wrong course they had pursued. Mrs. Palmer made a full confession, disclosing that she had called the irritating neighbor a "witch" and sought forgiveness for her wrong feelings and attitudes.
Case and Russell bitterly complained of the reproof given them. Demonstrating the just character of the words of reproof, they were ready to give up everything. Friday they had been in full support of the visions, and could not doubt. Now on Sabbath, with their own sins pointed out, they turned against the visions. With a few others they started the first dissident movement among the Sabbathkeeping Adventists, known as the Messenger party. Months later they started a journal called the Messenger of Truth.
The young minister J. N. Loughborough, who had been laboring in Ohio and parts of Michigan, had caught up with the Whites Thursday afternoon, June 2, just before the Jackson meeting. He found that that morning Ellen White had been writing out a part of the vision given to her in Tyrone, which related to several companies of Sabbathkeepers in the State. She asked Loughborough to take her pencil copy and make a careful copy with pen and ink. This he did and was interested and surprised at some of its disclosures.
The Strange Case of a Self-Appointed Woman Evangelist
One portion of the vision Loughborough copied related to a woman professing great holiness who was endeavoring to introduce herself to the new believers in Michigan. Of course, Ellen White, had never met the woman. All she knew about her was revealed in the vision at Tyrone, just after entering the State. M. E. Cornell, who had newly embraced the third angel's message, had met the woman a few days before the Whites reached Michigan but he did not mention her to them. When he learned of what Ellen White had written of the situation, he told Loughborough, "Now we will watch, and see how the case comes out." He would not tell Loughborough where she was. When Ellen White asked him about the matter, he replied, "If there is such a woman you will probably find her, as you have appointments where you will be apt to see most, if not all, of the Sabbathkeepers in the State." Loughborough wrote of the matter:
In Sister White's written description of the woman she not only told her mode of procedure, but that when she should reprove her, she would "put on a sanctimonious look, and say, "God knows my heart."' She said this woman was traveling about the country with a young man, while her own husband, an older man, was at home working to support them in their course. Sister White said the Lord had shown her that "with all this woman's pretensions to holiness, she was guilty of violating the seventh commandment."--The Review and Herald, May 6, 1884.
With this description of the woman in his pocket, Loughborough waited with curiosity to see how the case would turn out.
Lost on the Way to Vergennes
From Jackson, the workers moved on to Battle Creek, nearby Bedford, and Vergennes. The trip to Vergennes was memorable, one that Ellen White later recalled in an article in the Signs of the Times:
I well remember the long journey we took ... in Michigan. We were on our way to hold a meeting in Vergennes. We were fifteen miles from our destination. Our driver had passed over the road repeatedly and was well acquainted with it, but was compelled to acknowledge that he had lost the way. We traveled forty miles that day, through the woods, over logs and fallen trees, where there was scarcely a trace of a road.
I was feeble, and fainted twice on the way. We had no food. The brother who drove the team tried to find some water; but there was none fit for use. He made efforts to obtain a little milk from the cows we met on the road; but they were too wild to be approached by a stranger.
As I was fainting with thirst, I thought of travelers perishing in the desert. Cool streams of water seemed to lie directly before me; but as we passed on they proved to be only an illusion. A goblet of water seemed just within my grasp. I eagerly reached out my hand to take it, but it was gone. My husband prayed for me that I might be sustained on that dreary journey. We could not understand why we should be left to this singular wandering in the wilderness.--The Signs of the Times, October 19, 1876.
Finally they broke through into a little clearing and spied a log cabin. To their delight they found the housewife at home. She welcomed the wearied and famished travelers and invited them in and provided them with refreshments. As they rested, Ellen White talked with her of Jesus and heaven and then left with her a copy of her little sixty-four-page book Experience and Views.
At a camp meeting at Lansing, Michigan, in 1876, Ellen found the answer to what had seemed a mystery. After a meeting at which Ellen had spoken she was approached by a woman who grasped her hand and inquired if she remembered calling at a log house in the woods more than twenty years before. The woman had provided the wandering strangers with refreshments, and Ellen White had left with her a copy of her little book Experience and Views. The woman now introduced quite a company to Ellen White, all Seventh-day Adventists, who dated their experience to the influence of that copy of her first book. Commenting further on the experience, Ellen White wrote:
She stated that she had lent that little book to her neighbors, as new families had settled around her, until there was very little left of it and she expressed a great desire to obtain another copy of the work. Her neighbors were deeply interested in it, and were desirous of seeing the writer. She said that when I called upon her I talked to her of Jesus and the beauties of heaven, and that the words were spoken with such fervor that she was charmed, and had never forgotten them. Since that time the Lord had sent ministers to preach the truth to them, and now there was quite a company observing the Sabbath. The influence of that little book, now worn out with perusing, had extended from one to another, performing its silent work, until the soil was ready for the seeds of truth.--Ibid.(see also Evangelism, 448, 449).
The Vergennes Meeting and Mrs. Alcott
On June 11 they reached the home where they were to be entertained. Loughborough recounted what happened:
As we alighted from the carriage, and were standing under a large apple tree in front of the house, Sister White said to her husband, "James, we have got to the church where that woman lives whom I saw in the Tyrone vision." "Why," said Brother White, "this is not the house where she lives, is it?" "No," said Sister White, "but I saw this man and woman in connection with the case. The woman in this house has no confidence in that woman, but the man here thinks she is all right."
Loughborough commented:
I thought that was a plain venture in the matter, as there had been no exchange of words between Sister White and these persons on the subject.
As we still stood under the tree, Elder Cornell spoke and said, "Brother Brigham is coming." Sister White looked up, while they were still some ten rods off, and said, "Oh! I saw them in connection with this case. None of that load have any confidence in that woman's pretensions."
Then another load drove up. As she looked at them, she said, "That load is divided on the case. Those on the front seat have no confidence in the woman; those on the back seat think she is all right." Then a third load came up. She said, "They are all under the woman's influence."
She then said, "This must be the church where that woman lives; for I have seen all these persons in connection with that affair."--The Review and Herald, May 6, 1884.
Sabbath morning the meeting was held in a large barn three miles beyond the home where the visitors were entertained. Loughborough recalled:
While Brother White was preaching, an old man, a young man, and a woman came in. The two former sat down directly in front of Brother White, while the woman took a seat close to the barn door. After a brief discourse from Brother White, Sister White arose to speak. She introduced her remarks by speaking of the care ministers should have that they mar not the work committed to them. She said God could not call a woman to travel about the country with some other man than her husband.
Finally she said, "That woman who just sat down near the door claims that God has called her to preach. She is traveling with this young man who just sat down in front of the desk, while this old man, her husband--God pity him!--is toiling at home to earn means which they are using to carry on their iniquity. She professes to be very holy--to be sanctified. With all her pretensions and talk about holiness, God has showed me that she and this young man have violated the seventh commandment."
All in that barn knew that Sister White had never personally seen these individuals until they came into that barn. Her picking out of the persons and her delineation of the case had weight in favor of her vision.--Ibid.
Now all eyes turned toward the woman in question, a Mrs. Alcott. What would be her reaction to this plain delineation of her strange witness and her adultery? "What did she do?" asked Loughborough as he told the story.
After sitting about one minute, she slowly arose to her feet, put on a sanctimonious look, and said, "God--knows--my--heart." That was all she said, and sat down. Here was just what the Lord showed (May 28) that the woman would say. On June 11 she did just as it was said she would do, and said the identical words predicted she would say when reproved, and no more.--Ibid.
During the next few weeks opposition grew that led the young man in the case to return to Canada. Before he left he was asked by one of the Adventists if Ellen White's vision concerning him was true. He replied, "That vision was too true."--Ibid., June 10, 1884. Some weeks later Mrs. Alcott, when questioned by several Adventist women living in Greenville as to the truthfulness of Ellen White's vision concerning her, replied, "I consider Sister White a good, devoted, Christian woman. While I may not regard her visions just as you do, I shall not say one word against her or her work."--Ibid.
She would not deny the truthfulness of the vision.
Back Home in Rochester
It was Tuesday, June 21, when James and Ellen White arrived back in Rochester. Ellen White reported thankfully, "We ... found our family as well as usual and what was best of all, enjoying the sweet presence and blessing of God."--Letter 3, 1853.
They were not home long before a comprehensive vision was given to her. She wrote:
Last Sabbath [July 2] the power of God settled upon me; I was taken off in vision and saw many things of great interest to us. I have scribbled off the vision. It covers twenty-four pages. Many things were explained to us which we did not understand and which were necessary for us to know.
I saw that we must have the truth got out oftener; that the only paper in the land owned and approved of God should come out oftener than once in two weeks, while papers that are full of error come out weekly and some oftener than that. I saw that the way was opening for us to extend our labors.--Letter 5, 1853.
Then she was given detailed light relating to the experience of the church groups in Michigan. This called for the writing of many letters, which took several weeks' time. But they were no sooner back in Rochester than they were planning another trip. They would go east by horse and carriage, like on their trip the year before. James White was not well, and working in this line seemed helpful not only to the companies of believers but also to him. They would leave Rochester on August 31.
The work at the printing office pressed hard. Lumen Masten was ill from overwork. Ellen White reported that often it was ten, twelve, two or three o'clock before Stephen Belden and Fletcher Byington returned home from the downtown office. She commented that "God has strengthened them, or they must have broken down."--Letter 7, 1853.
The Review and Herald to be Published Weekly
Before leaving for the East a change in the publishing schedules was made for the Review. For some time the field had been asking for a weekly paper, and the vision of July 2 called for it. After mentioning the urgency of such a move, James White stated in a back page note:
The Review Weekly: ... We shall probably be able to commence about the first of August, if our readers send the means to commence with. It will be necessary for us to purchase a quantity of paper before going east.--The Review and Herald, July 7, 1853.
The 1853 Eastern Tour
Leaving Rochester with faithful Charlie pulling their carriage, James and Ellen White started on their eastern tour, which would take them as far as eastern Maine. The trip was similar to that of the autumn of 1852, taking about ten weeks, with a return to Rochester in mid-November. One feature was different--when they drove back into their yard at 124 Mount Hope Avenue, they had 6-year-old Henry with them. For the first time the family was now fully united. While at Topsham they had spent several days in the Howland home. For five years the Howlands had had the entire care of Henry, the Whites' first child. Writing of this experience, James White stated:
At first we left him with them for a short time only. Soon attachments between them became very strong; and having perfect confidence in their ability to train the child for heaven, we left him with them. Sister Frances, daughter of Brother Howland, has had the care of the child five years without the least expense to us, and now returns our Henry to us a well-trained, praying boy. We are not able to express the gratitude we owe that dear family, not only for their care and labor for our child, but for their labors of love to us in times past when the friends of the Sabbath were very few and the cause feeble.--Ibid., November 1, 1853
How Ellen White reveled in having both boys with them in the Rochester home! Henry was 6 and Edson was 4 years of age.