During the first half of 1868 James and Ellen White resided at their Greenville home, going out almost every weekend to the churches within a day's drive. Through the week Ellen's time was occupied in writing, and James's in both writing and working the farm. J. N. Andrews, General Conference president, who had been with them during November and December on the eastern tour, continued his ministry with them in northern Michigan until early March.
Then Dr. M. G. Kellogg, who had resided in California for eight years, made a visit. Just before coming to Greenville, he had received his diploma as a physician and surgeon from Dr. Trall's Medical School, at Florence Heights, New Jersey (Ibid., April 28, 1868). The roomy White home in Greenville was becoming a sort of mecca in northern Michigan. The visit was "most agreeable," wrote James White. "The harmony between what the Lord has revealed relative to this subject, and science, has been a theme of most interesting conversation, and mutual profit."--Ibid.
Having been reared in Maine, James and Ellen were not deterred by the cold of winter in their day-to-day activities, or in their travels by sleigh or carriage. To plow through heavy snowdrifts was considered routine. Of one such experience, more severe than most, Ellen wrote from Greenville to Edson, who was studying in Battle Creek, on March 9:
We are at home again. We are thankful for this. Thursday we rode sixty miles. The snow was very deep, in many places nearly as high as the houses.
While trying to get the sleigh over a fallen tree the reach [coupling pole] broke and we were down. We had to get out in the deep snow, unload the sleigh, and lift the box off the runners. A man came along in the woods just then and helped us toggle up the sleigh. We lashed it together with straps and went on. We stood in the snow more than half an hour.
Previous to this, about ten o'clock, it commenced snowing, and snow continued to fall until twelve. Large flakes coming very fast! We never saw it on this wise before. Inches of snow were piled upon us and around us in the sleigh. To make it still more uncomfortable the rain began to come. But we rode on, every hour bringing us nearer home, and we were glad to lessen the distance.
When within four miles of home we were so unfortunate as to enter upon a road open for several miles but entirely blocked up and impassable at the other end. The horses went up to their backs in drifts. We feared their getting down. After passing through fields, we were told there was no possibility of getting through, and had to go back. As we passed over drifts we got out, lightened the sleigh, and again plowed through the snow, while it was steadily raining. After this we had no very special difficulties. We arrived home about dark.--Letter 8, 1868.
Not all trips in February and March were so unpleasant and hazardous, but neither were all the discomforts in travel. In those pioneering days, as the Whites were entertained in the homes of the believers they found straw mattresses on the beds--large cloth bags called "ticks" filled with straw of varying quality and quantity. The back page of the Review in early March carried a curious note titled "Straw Is Cheap," signed by James White. It read, in part:
In farming communities straw is cheap, and all those who lodge the weary and worn laborers in the Lord's vineyard can afford to furnish a suitable amount of the very best of straw to make their beds as comfortable as straw can make it.
But it is too often the case that the preacher is deprived of a full amount of good straw on which to rest his weary limbs. The bedstead is frequently of the sort with strips of boards across it, nearly one foot apart, upon which is placed a scanty straw tick, both in length and breadth, partly filled with straw that has been worn more or less for a year, until it is broken to chowder, and sinks down between the slats, so that the restless occupant can count the slats by the distinct pains he feels in his weary body.--The Review and Herald, March 10, 1868.
He called for bed ticks liberal in dimensions, filled with the proper amount of good, clean, sweet straw. He noted that "oat straw is better than wheat or rye." After describing uncomfortable beds he had encountered, he appealed:
Brethren, straw is cheap. Let not the worn and weary pilgrims who visit you to labor for your good lack good rest for the want of a suitable amount of good clean straw.--Ibid.
When asked why they worked so diligently, often suffering hardship, they answered, "The love of Christ constraineth us.... Souls for whom Christ died seemed of such inexpressible worth that self was forgotten. Ease, pleasure, and health even, were made secondary."--Letter 3, 1869.
The Almost Fatal Accident of Seneca King
The highly respected Adventist farmer Seneca King lived not far from the little White farm in Greenville. James White, through a note on the back page of the March 17 Review, informed the Battle Creek church of a tragic accident that almost cost King his life. The note opened:
Our dear Brother Seneca King, as I write, lies upon my lounge with a badly fractured skull and cut face. His horses ran away with him.--The Review and Herald, March 17, 1868.
Word of the accident had reached the White home a few hours before, as a neighbor hurried to call a physician to attend to the unconscious man, found lying by the roadside. Taking Brother and Sister Strong with him, White drove the team to the place where King lay. He describes the accident:
He had just become conscious where he was, and what the matter was. We wrapped his head in cloths, and his body in blankets, and brought him here.... To see the hole in his head, and know that the skull is pressed upon the brain, gives one the idea that he is fatally injured. But he is sensible, and quite comfortable. I will write tomorrow. Will you, as a church, remember him before the Lord?--Ibid.
In her diary that day Ellen White went more into detail:
Wednesday, March 11, 1868.
Arose at half past four. Wrote eight pages, but have severe headache. Lay down to rest about eleven o'clock. Something woke me. My husband said, "I have bad news. Brother King has been thrown from his carriage and hurt badly." Dinner was ready. Brother Strong ran to the woods for our horses. A man brought us the news on his way for the doctor. We had no appetite to eat.
Took comfortables and blankets and rode as fast as we could to the place of the accident. We found Brother King in a terrible condition, covered with blood, his head terribly mangled. Could not determine the extent of the injuries until he was more thoroughly examined. He had just become conscious.
We proposed taking him to our house. We wished to move him before reaction took place. We bundled him up, put him in the sleigh, and Brother Strong supported him. We came as fast as we could. The physician had not yet arrived. Brother Strong started carefully washing his wounds and cutting away the hair. There was a bad gash over the eye, but the most terrible wound was on the forepart of his head above the left eye. There the first skull was broken through. The wound was four inches long.
Physician Martin worked over him some time. Feared to touch the worst wound. Sent for an older doctor. His partner did not come till dark. Then a severe process of probing and picking out small pieces of broken bone commenced. Brother King frequently exclaimed, "It seems as though you would take my life."
This over, he was put to bed and seemed more comfortable. The doctor charged us to give him entire rest, to avoid all excitement. He is far from being out of danger. With care, he may recover from all this. His system is in a good condition to rally if the skull is not in a condition to depress the brain.--Manuscript 14, 1868.
The next morning she recorded in her diary that King rested well through the night, and James White added to his note to the Review:
Brother King seems to be doing well. Rested well last night. Surgeon thinks the inner layer of his skull not broken.--Ibid., March 17, 1868
During King's recovery, Thomas Wilson, living nearby, became dangerously ill with erysipelas. A telegraphic message sent to Battle Creek brought Dr. Lay to Greenville for the weekend. The time he was at the White home afforded an opportunity for a profitable and pleasant visit in which the interests of the Health Institute were discussed.
Mr. and Mrs. Strong were staying in the White home at this time, and Strong became King's nurse. Also in the home was the youthful John Corliss, whose help was highly esteemed. He was to become a strong worker in the cause of God. For nearly three weeks King was tenderly cared for, and then on March 29 he was able to return to his home, family, and farm. Within a very few years he was an influential man in the cause, his counsel being much appreciated, especially by James White.
Ellen White's Continued Ministry as God's Messenger
Through all of this Ellen White continued her ministry, writing incessantly, and preaching on weekends. She could not allow the many interruptions to deter her in her writing. Insofar as they could arrange it, others assisted in caring for the home and cooking the meals, but many times this burden fell on her, in addition to writing. The story of one such day is told in her diary for Tuesday, January 28:
Brother Corliss helped me prepare breakfast. Everything we touched was frozen. All things in our cellar were frozen. We prepared frozen turnips and potatoes. After prayer, Brother Corliss went into the woods near Thomas Wilson's to get wood. James, accompanied by Brother Andrews, went to Orleans, expecting to return to dinner.
I baked eight pans of gems, swept rooms, washed dishes, helped Willie put snow in boiler, which requires many tubsful. We have no well water or cistern. Arranged my clothes press [closet]. Felt weary; rested a few minutes. Got dinner for Willie and me. Just as we got through, my husband and Brother Andrews drove up. Had had no dinner. I started cooking again. Soon got them something to eat. Nearly all day has thus been spent--not a line written. I feel sad about this. Am exceedingly weary. My head is tired.--Manuscript 12, 1868.
But most days she was able to do some writing, and some days, a great deal. The comprehensive vision given to her in Rochester in 1865 had set before her the lives and experience of scores of individuals and families. She did not remember at any one time all that, or who, had been shown her. But as she visited churches on the eastern tour in late 1867, and then in northern Michigan in the early months of 1868, and looked into the faces of those she met, their cases flashed clearly on her mind and were the basis for the messages she bore orally or in writing. Thus it was when she was at Bushnell in July, 1867, mentioned in chapter 13. She had written of this phenomenon earlier in her statement published in 1860:
After I come out of vision I do not at once remember all that I have seen, and the matter is not so clear before me until I write, then the scene rises before me as was presented in vision, and I can write with freedom.
Sometimes the things which I have seen are hid from me after I come out of vision, and I cannot call them to mind until I am brought before a company where the vision applies, then the things which I have seen come to my mind with force. I am just as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in relating or writing a vision, as in having the vision. It is impossible for me to call up things which have been shown me unless the Lord brings them before me at the time that He is pleased to have me relate or write them.--Spiritual Gifts, 2:292, 293.
Frequently, after Ellen had presented orally to individuals what had been shown to her, the ones addressed would request her to write out for them what she had been shown. They wished to be able to refer to it as they attempted to bring their lives into line with God's will. James White wrote of this a few weeks after their return to Greenville from the eastern tour.
We wished to say to those friends who have requested Mrs. White to write out personal testimonies, that in this branch of her labor she has about two months' work on hand.--The Review and Herald, March 3, 1868.
He added:
On our eastern tour she improved all her spare time in writing such testimonies. She even wrote many of them in meeting while others were preaching and speaking.--Ibid.
Now that they were back at their Greenville home, she kept very close to this writing. Her husband gave some interesting insights:
Since her return she has injured her health and strength in confining herself too closely to this work. She usually writes from twenty to forty pages each day. And yet she has two months' work of this kind before her. Our postage bill is about $2.00 per week. Postage stamps are current [can be used] in Greenville, and we never feel hard when those who receive testimonies send a quantity.
As Mrs. White wishes to retain a copy of these testimonies, she has in many cases had the double task of making two copies. But for the future this double labor must be avoided, by the return of her first copy after those who receive it have taken one, or by employing some one or ones to make a second copy before the first one is sent off.--Ibid.
Mrs. Strong gave her some help in copying testimonies in Greenville, and J. N. Andrews and employees at the Review office also assisted. Concerning the Christmas Day vision in 1865, at Rochester, James White declared that she had written "several thousands of pages" based upon it (Ibid., June 16, 1868). As she and her husband were able to get into the field in 1867 and in early 1868, she met many for whom light had been given her in that vision. This was so in connection with the three-week-long trip they made in February, 1868, with Andrews, visiting communities as far east of Greenville as Tuscola (Ibid., March 10, 1868) and Tittabawassee (Ibid., February 18, 1868).
This was largely new territory for the proclamation of the third angel's message. Our people are all "young in the truth," wrote Ellen White of them, "but wholehearted, noble, enterprising, interested to hear" (Letter 4, 1868). They had much to gain in experience and much to learn. Her diary written on this trip contains numerous references to writing personal testimonies and to delivering such orally in personal contacts and in some of the meetings held. The entry reporting Sabbath, February 29, activities yields a typical picture.
Attended meeting at Tuscola. My husband spoke in the morning. Only in the Lord should believers marry. In the afternoon, I spoke upon the tongue being an unruly member. I spoke two hours, then stepped into Brother Palmer's. Ate a graham biscuit and a couple of apples and hastened back to the meeting. [Knowing she was to speak in the afternoon, she had skipped dinner, choosing not to eat before an important speaking engagement.] A conference meeting was in session.
I arose and spoke one hour to individuals. I had testimony for reproving individual wrongs. We had an interesting, exciting time. Brother Fisher was encouraged and comforted. He had been passing through a terrible struggle, giving up tobacco, intoxicating drinks, and hurtful indulgences. He was very poor and high, proud spirited. He had made a great effort to overcome.... Some felt exceedingly bad because I brought out these cases before others. I was sorry to see this spirit.--Manuscript 13, 1868.
She wrote more in detail in a letter to Edson, noting that she spoke to several, relating testimony I had for them. Spoke one hour, comforting some, reproving others, but the testimony was more especially to impress upon those particularly in fault through the sin of hasty speaking, jesting, joking, and laughing. All this was wrong and detrimental to their growth in grace.
Some felt exceedingly tried, especially Sister Doude. She came to see me in the morning, accompanied by her husband. She was crying and said to me, "You have killed me, you have killed me clean off. You have killed me." Said I, "That is just what I hoped the message I bore would do."
I found their greatest difficulty was that the testimony was given before others and that if I had sent it to them alone, it would have been received all right. Pride was hurt, pride was wounded terribly. We talked a while, and they both cooled down wonderfully and said they felt differently.
Brother Doude accused me of violating Scripture by not telling the fault between them and me alone. We told him this scripture did not touch the case. There was no trespass here against me. That the case before us was one of them that had been mentioned by the apostles, those who sin, reprove before all that others may fear.--Letter 6, 1868.
"We did not lighten the burden," she noted in her diary, "for all this development only showed how much she needed the reproof."--Manuscript 13, 1868.
The Testimony pamphlets that every few months came from the press put into permanent form the counsel and instruction of a practical nature that would benefit the church. Such was the case with Number 14, advertised in the Review and Herald of April 7 (Testimonies for the Church, 1:630-712). Number 15 followed in less than two months. In the meantime the General Conference session was held in Battle Creek, beginning May 12.
The 1868 General Conference Session
James and Ellen White left Greenville for Battle Creek on Friday, April 24, traveling by way of Wright and Monterey. Both of them preached, and James baptized along the way. The conference session opened May 12. "The business sessions throughout," reported J. H. Waggoner, "were largely attended, and characterized by a spirit of union and an earnest desire to advance the cause." He added, "Perhaps we have never held a conference where more perfect harmony prevailed. In this we have a complete vindication of our organization" (The Review and Herald, May 26, 1868).
The ever-broadening business of the conference was attended to. Provision was authorized for some person to assist the Whites as an amanuensis. On Sabbath morning, when the Adventist community and the delegates were present, a resolution was passed expressing the feelings of the congregation:
Resolved, That we consider it a duty, as it is truly a pleasure, to express our heartfelt gratitude to our kind heavenly Father for restoring to us our beloved Brother and Sister White so good a degree of health and strength. We recognize their calling of God, to an important sphere of labor in the great work of the third angel's message, to instruct, to warn, and to reprove; and we hereby unitedly pledge to them our sympathies and our prayers in the discharge of their arduous duties.--Ibid.
Andrews was continued as General Conference president, and James White was put on the General Conference Committee of three.
In meetings held in Battle Creek immediately after the General Conference session, Dr. R. T. Trall, of Florence Heights, New Jersey, gave a series of lectures on health. In the main these were well received (Pacific Union Recorder, June 19, 1913).
The Decision to Publish Personal Testimonies
James and Ellen White stayed on in Battle Creek for several days following the session, during which time Testimony No. 15 was published. In his notice of the ninety-six-page booklet, James stated that "it contains matter of the deepest interest to the people of God everywhere."--Ibid., June 2, 1868. It represented a shift in the policies that up to this time had been followed in publishing the testimonies. Ellen White had explained this in her introduction to Testimony No. 14, published just two months earlier. She announced her decision to publish some testimonies addressed to individuals or families, and referred to her experience during the preceding five months, November, 1867, to March, 1868:
During this time I have written many personal testimonies, and for many persons whom I have met in our field of labor during the past five months I have testimonies still to write as I find time and have strength, but just what my duty is in relation to these personal testimonies has long been a matter of no small anxiety to me. With a few exceptions I have sent them to the ones to whom they related and have left these persons to dispose of them as they chose. The results have been various:
Some have thankfully received the testimonies and have responded to them in a good spirit and have profited by them. These have been willing that their brethren should see the testimonies and have freely and fully confessed their faults.--Testimonies for the Church, 1:630.
Others, she declared, had acknowledged the testimonies to them to be true, but then had laid them aside, making little change in the life. Of these messages she stated:
These testimonies related more or less to the churches to which these persons belonged, who could also have been benefited by them. But all this was lost in consequence of these testimonies' being held private.--Ibid., 1:630, 631.
There was a third class who rebelled against the testimonies and had shown "bitterness, anger, and wrath." On the other hand, there were those who, having seen some of the personal testimonies published, as was the case with Number 6 and a few elsewhere, felt she should publish all personal testimonies. "But on account of their number," she wrote, "this would be hardly possible, and it would be improper from the fact that some of them relate to sins which need not, and should not, be made public." Then she declared the course she intended to follow:
I have fully decided that many of these personal testimonies should be published, as they all contain more or less reproof and instruction which apply to hundreds or thousands of others in similar condition. These should have the light which God has seen fit to give which meets their cases. It is a wrong to shut it away from them by sending it to one person or to one place, where it is kept as a light under a bushel.--Ibid., 1:631, 632.
Aiding her in making this far-reaching decision was a dream that she described:
A grove of evergreens was presented before me. Several, including myself, were laboring among them. I was bidden to closely inspect the trees and see if they were in a flourishing condition. I observed that some were being bent and deformed by the wind, and needed to be supported by stakes.
I was carefully removing the dirt from the feeble and dying trees to ascertain the cause of their condition. I discovered worms at the roots of some. Others had not been watered properly and were dying from drought. The roots of others had been crowded together to their injury.
My work was to explain to the workmen the different reasons why these trees did not prosper. This was necessary from the fact that trees in other grounds were liable to be affected as these had been, and the cause of their not flourishing and how they should be cultivated and treated must be made known.--Ibid., 1:632.
The Vision of June 12, 1868
Friday evening, June 12, the Whites attended the prayer meeting in Battle Creek. The Adventist community, anticipating that the Whites would speak, filled the meetinghouse. James wrote of it in his report for the Review:
Sabbath evening a large congregation assembled. Mrs. White spoke freely and very solemnly till near ten. She spoke to the young generally, and addressed several personally. And while [she was] speaking from the platform in front of the pulpit, in the most solemn and impressive manner, the power of God came upon her, and in an instant she fell upon the carpet in vision. Many witnessed this manifestation for the first time, with astonishment and perfect satisfaction that it was the work of God. The vision lasted twenty minutes. No one was expecting it.--The Review and Herald, June 16, 1868.
Nellie Sisley Starr recounted [Reported stenographically by Arthur L. White and Frieda B. White, his wife, at the oakland, california, camp meeting, June 30, 1931. DF 496D.] at a camp meeting in California in 1931 what she saw and heard that Friday evening in Battle Creek. About the year 1864, she and her widowed mother and brothers and sisters had come from England and settled in Convis, Michigan, some thirteen miles from Battle Creek. She and her mother were present that Friday evening in 1868. She noted carefully what took place. When James and Ellen White came into the meetinghouse they took their places on the lower platform in front of the pulpit. James White opened the meeting, taking about ten minutes, and then he said, "I know that it is Mrs. White whom you want to hear, so we will turn the meeting over to her."
Then she began to talk to us. We anticipated some reports of the meetings that had been held. Instead she said, "I am so impressed with the thought that we are not making the preparation for translation that we ought to be making." ...She talked to us earnestly for over half an hour right along that line. She felt that we were allowing the world to come in a little. She warned us greatly about that. "Don't let the world come in. We are pilgrims and strangers. We want to live for the future. Let us make the preparation necessary for heaven."
She walked back and forth and talked to us, and as she walked, she fell right down. She fell down gently. She went down as if an angel's hands were under her.... We thought she had fainted, but Brother White said, "Cause yourselves no alarm. Wife has not fainted, but has fallen in vision."
I wish I could describe the feeling that we all had. It was perfect quietness; even the children made no noise.... It seemed as though heaven was settling down upon us and closing us in.... Sister White lay perfectly quiet and unconscious. Oh, the feeling that was sensed in that building. Brother White said, "There may be some in the congregation that may have doubts in regard to my wife's inspiration. If there are any such we would be glad to have them come forward and try the physical tests given in the Bible. It may help some of you."
I knew my mother had some doubts. We had come over from England and she had come from the Church of England, and she could not quite understand it, so I said, "Mother, let us go right up and stand right by her head." In the meantime, Brother White had knelt down, and he raised Sister White's head and shoulders on his knees.
Others came up, and there were two unusually large men. They stood one on each side of her shoulders. "Now," Brother White said, "we all saw Sister White fall; we know she lost her natural strength. Now we will see if she has supernatural strength." She was lying with her hands gently folded over her chest. She was lying quietly and looking up in the corner of the building. Her eyes were open, with a pleasant expression on her face. Nothing unnatural or unusual.
Brother White said to these large men, "Take her hands apart. You have two hands to her one. Just pull her hands apart." So they tried. They pulled and pulled till some of us got anxious that they would hurt her. Brother White said, "Don't be anxious; she is safe in God's keeping, and you can pull until you are perfectly satisfied." They said, "We are satisfied now. We don't need to pull anymore."
He said, "Take up one finger at a time." That was impossible. They could not do so much as move a finger. It seemed like a block of granite. There was no change in appearance, but it just couldn't be moved. We looked to see if her eyes were closed and see if she was breathing. Then she took her hands apart and waved her hands. We said, "We will see when she comes out of vision that she has been flying."
Brother White said to these men, "Now hold her." I think they thought they could. They grasped her by the wrists, but they could not retard the motion. It looked like any child could hold her, but she went on just the same.
Elder White said, "Now we are satisfied with that. Now we must see if her eyelids will close." There was a large Rochester [kerosene] lamp close by on the stand. He removed the shade and put this light right in front of her eyes. We thought she would move her eyes to protect them. She didn't. She was perfectly unconscious.
The expression of her countenance changed at times. Sometimes she looked pleased. At other times we could see that there was something distressing her, but the eyelids did not close.
"Now," Brother White said, "we must see if there is any breath in her body." There didn't seem to be any. Everything looked all right, only there was no breath. Brother White said, "Now we will send out and get a mirror, and we will test it." So someone went to the next door and got a mirror, and it was held close to her face, but no moisture gathered. So there was no breathing....
She spoke several sentences. I don't remember the words; in fact, I cannot give you the exact words for any part of it. I will express what she saw, but I must express it in my own language. It is all I have. When she came out of vision, Brother White said,
"The congregation have been so interested, I know they will want to know something of what you have seen."
She said, "I will gladly tell them."
Brother White helped her up; then she talked for about half an hour. She answered a few questions, but mostly made her own statements. When she was taken into vision she seemed to be taken down the stream of time. She spoke about the new earth. She saw the people of God saved in their everlasting home.
Then she said, "Oh, I wish I could describe it, tell even a little of it. I have no language to describe it. If you could have been there and have seen what I saw, you would never allow anything on earth to tempt you to live so that there would be danger of losing eternal life."
I suppose she saw the people of God, perhaps in their last struggles, passing through the closing scenes of this world's history and then down out of that into their peaceful home.
She told us when she came out of vision that the scene was so glorious, so bright, that when she came back to earth she could see nothing. I have never forgotten her words in regard to that.
"Now," she said, "you may not understand why I could not see. But," she said, "you turn your face toward the sun for a while and then turn away. Heaven is brighter than the sun." While her eyesight was not impaired permanently, yet for a long time she could not see clearly after coming out of vision. We were pleased to know that.
She tried to describe it.... Oh, to be there, and what counsel she gave us in regard to preparation. "Now," she said, "there is another scene that passed before me that I would rather not tell, only that it may be a warning to you." She said, "I saw the great host of the lost. Oh, what a sight. The terror and agony of soul that was on those people. I looked upon them and I saw here and there all among them some of our own people, some of the Seventh-day Adventists scattered here and there."
I remember this, I remember that their agony was far greater than that of the others. They knew what they had lost and what they might have had had they been faithful. I wish I could tell you what she told us, but I cannot describe it as I would like to because I haven't language to. But it made an impression on my mind that I have never lost.--DF 496d, "Camp Meeting Talks," 1931.
Impressions of Other Eyewitnesses
Uriah Smith was quick to report in the next Tuesday's Review the deep impression that Friday evening meeting made upon others:
The church in Battle Creek have again been graciously favored with the presence of the Lord. Brother and Sister White returned from Monterey, June 10, according to previous arrangement, to spend another Sabbath with this church. At the evening meeting commencing the Sabbath, a large congregation assembled at the house of worship. After some timely and close remarks by Brother White, Sister White arose to free her mind from a great burden resting upon it for this people.
Wrongs were faithfully pointed out and reproved. Two personal testimonies for persons in the congregation were read, followed by most stirring appeals and exhortations. And while Sister White was thus speaking, reaching a point in her remarks of most intense solemnity, instantly, and unexpectedly to all present, she was taken off in vision, and fell to the floor.
Judging from her appearance and occasional expressions, while in vision, scenes of a different character, some terrible to behold, and others of surpassing glory, passed before her. The scene was most impressive. Many were present who had never before had the privilege of witnessing a manifestation of this kind; and to these the privilege was given of coming forward and behold for themselves the various phenomena attending it.
Their testimony is that though they had before no occasion to doubt the visions, now they can look upon them as a reality. They see not how anyone, witnessing the manner in which they are given, can for a moment doubt them to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
People may talk of mesmerism, clairvoyants, and spirit mediums; but this has nothing in common with them. It is something else entirely, as different from anything of that kind, as the heavens are higher than the earth; and those who attribute the visions to any of those sources are only suffering the devil to deceive them.--Ibid., June 16, 1868
Smith wrote of the power of the Holy Spirit in such a manifest way as not to be mistaken. He added, "We doubt if there were many in the house who did not feel that the Lord had drawn near for the especial instruction of His people. It was good to be there."--Ibid.
Ellen White Overwhelmed
The past few chapters have traced somewhat the tremendous load of work the Rochester Christmas Day vision placed on Ellen White. At a time when everything had to be sent out in handwritten communications, and when she hesitated putting personal testimonies into print, the task of conveying the testimony messages to the people seemed overwhelming. Now this new comprehensive vision was given to her. James White wrote of her reaction:
Mrs. White has said more than twenty times since the Rochester vision, December, 1865, upon which she has written several thousands of pages, that in view of the responsibilities of her work, if she could have her choice, to go into the grave or have another vision, she would choose the grave. And since Sabbath evening it has been with difficulty that she has been able to control her feelings of disappointment and sadness in view of her new responsibilities.--Ibid.
Up to the time of the vision of June 12, 1868, Ellen White had been in somewhat of a quandary as to how to handle the many testimonies to individuals and families. Now she was given Heaven's endorsement of easing her task and broadening her influence.
In this last vision I was shown that which fully justifies my course in publishing personal testimonies. When the Lord singles out individual cases and specifies their wrongs, others, who have not been shown in vision, frequently take it for granted that they are right, or nearly so.
If one is reproved for a special wrong, brethren and sisters should carefully examine themselves to see wherein they have failed and wherein they have been guilty of the same sin. They should possess the spirit of humble confession. If others think them right, it does not make them so. God looks at the heart. He is proving and testing souls in this manner.
In rebuking the wrongs of one, He designs to correct many. But if they fail to take the reproof to themselves, and flatter themselves that God passes over their errors because He does not especially single them out, they deceive their own souls and will be shut up in darkness and be left to their own ways to follow the imagination of their own hearts.--Testimonies for the Church, 2:112, 113.
The Broad Field Reached By Personal Testimonies
In this statement of the large field of usefulness of testimonies addressed to individuals presenting the light God had given for them, she sets forth a certain principle:
He makes plain the wrongs of some that others may thus be warned, and fear, and shun those errors.--Ibid., 2:113.
She pointed out that an examination of self may reveal to the readers that they are doing the same things that led God to reprove someone else. She concluded:
If they really desire to serve God, and fear to offend Him, they will not wait for their sins to be specified before they make confession and with humble repentance return unto the Lord. They will forsake the things which have displeased God, according to the light given to others.
If, on the contrary, those who are not right see that they are guilty of the very sins that have been reproved in others, yet continue in the same unconsecrated course because they have not been specially named, they endanger their own souls, and will be led captive by Satan at his will.--Ibid.
With the church rapidly growing, she could not address all personally. Therefore, the published testimonies issued in Numbers 16 to 32, 1868 to 1885--current volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5--contain a great deal of important counsel in the setting of messages addressed first to individuals. These counsels will guard and guide the believer against the wiles of Satan, whoever or wherever the believer may be, and encourage him on his way to the kingdom.