During James White's illness the responsibilities of the SDA Publishing Association and the Health Institute passed to the hands of men lacking in proper business experience. The result was mismanagement and heavy losses. As James made his way back to health he again took hold of these and other responsibilities in a firm, dedicated manner, and in time these institutions prospered. Everyone rejoiced. But he soon discovered that he did not have the physical resources to maintain the pace of the rapidly growing interests of the cause as a whole, and these institutions in particular. As he labored during the year 1871 some moves seem to be erratic, but in them all we see James trying desperately to find his way in building a structure that would carry on successfully without his immediate leadership.
Status and Working Force of the Cause
To gain a proper perspective of this crucial transition period, one that was to extend over several years, it may be well to step back a bit and view the resources and involvements of a growing denomination.
Doctrine. Soundly founded on the Word of God; major positions confirmed by messages from heaven through the Spirit of Prophecy in their midst.
Organization. A well-developed structure built on the principles of representative government.
Working Forces. Made up of dedicated but largely self-made men, some with greater abilities and more education than others, but with James White definitely in the lead by the choice of fellow workers and the ranks.
Finances. Without endowments and with few men of wealth, the work sustained by a plan of Systematic Benevolence, spreading the burden over the total membership.
Institutions. Operating two major institutions--the well-established SDA Publishing Association, and the newer Health Reform Institute, still struggling but making progress.
Growth. Membership steadily climbing, at this point about five thousand. A ministerial staff of thirty-five ordained men and forty-eight with licenses, in the main devoting their energies to evangelism, leaving the oversight of 185 churches to local elders and deacons.
Stability of the Cause. "Encouraging," James White wrote in late 1871:
There is nothing so encouraging to those who have given their lives for the advancement of the cause as the stability of our people.--The Review and Herald, October 24, 1871.
The members assembled at the annual Michigan camp meeting represented the largest State conference. That field had shared its ministerial forces to the point that there had not been "left in the State sufficient strength to man one [evangelistic] tent half of the time" (Ibid.). Many churches could be visited by a minister only about once in six months, yet James White could report:
There they were on the Charlotte campground with ears and hearts open to the work of God, and ready with their means to advance the general interests of the cause.--Ibid.
The One Disturbing Weakness
Perhaps James saw more clearly than did others the one disturbing weakness, one that kept him awake at nights. By way of management, what did the future hold? He had come in at the outset, a young man with less than two years of formal schooling and limited ministerial experience, poverty stricken but dedicated to advance the three angels' messages and all that they embodied. With one overruling purpose, to serve the cause of God, he grew and developed in writing, editorial skills, and publishing experience. He led in the development of a publishing house, and built on the strictest financial policies. All of this led him and his wife, Ellen, to avoid debt. They operated on a pay-as-you-go basis, and from this base encouraged fellow believers to share liberally of their resources and their earnings to advance the work. This brought prosperity to the publishing interests, which in time were properly organized into a church-owned publishing association, with gradually mounting resources. In these experiences James White developed into a respected and astute businessman.
The Health Reform Institute, launched during White's severe illness, was not so fortunate. When he recovered sufficiently to carry responsibilities, he became involved in its resuscitation, for it was floundering badly.
Greatly to his distress, he discovered on his recovery that the Publishing Association, which had been managed by men with limited business experience, was in a serious decline. He described the situation when in 1869 he again took hold of it:
The stock of publications was very low. There was not $500 worth of stock on hand, we had no deposits at the bank, and we were paying 10 percent interest on $6,000.--Ibid., October 17, 1871
But in October, 1871, two years later, he could report:
By the blessing of God we have paid all interest-bearing notes, we have $6,000 worth of stock, we have added to our publications not less than $9,000 worth, have cash on hand to pay all bills, and have the new office building nearly ready for use, which, with the usual liberality of our people will be paid for by New Year's. In short, the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association has fully recovered the results of bad management during our absence from it on account of sickness, and never was as prosperous as at the present time.--Ibid.
But this and the problems of the Health Institute took something out of James White--he discovered that he had but half the strength he had enjoyed in earlier years. With the burgeoning work outstripping his strength, what did the future hold? The distressing years of his illness had made it plain that the ministers were not in a position to manage the business affairs of the church. He had persuaded the General Conference Committee to call the 1871 session some two months early to try to discover a remedy for the situation. The session opened on Tuesday, February 7, with meetings of the SDA Publishing Association, Health Institute, and the Michigan Conference also coming in day by day.
To Bring in "Picked" Businessmen
The conference promptly addressed itself to choosing qualified men to give the help needed. In the second business meeting, after passing resolutions of appreciation for the faithful and abundant labors of James White and reaffirming abiding confidence in the testimonies of Ellen White, Resolution No. 8 was presented and adopted. It read:
Whereas, God has shown that there should be picked men at the heart of the work, and,
Whereas, Heretofore the cause has suffered for the lack of such men who would help to bear burdens, and,
Whereas, We think there are those among us who would please God and relieve His overtasked servants by coming and helping in such things as they could do, therefore,
Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to select such men to remove to Battle Creek, as they shall think duty calls to this place.--Ibid., February 14, 1871
In a later meeting of the session, this resolution was implemented as follows:
Brethren E. H. Root, S. H. King, and J. F. Carman were authorized to act with the General Conference Committee to induce such persons to remove to Battle Creek as can be a help in the work, and effect the removal from the place of such persons as can be of no help here.--Ibid.
James White came to this session hoping to be relieved of some of the load he was carrying, but instead it was increased. The nominating committee called for him to continue as president of the General Conference, with Uriah Smith as secretary and Mrs. Adelia P. Van Horn as treasurer. J. N. Andrews and W. H. Littlejohn would join White as a General Conference Committee. Then he was reelected president of the Publishing Association and editor of the Review and Herald. To this was added the responsibility of editor of the Health Reformer. The chief benefit of calling the General Conference session early was in the long-range planning it provided. The actions taken promised a remedy.
Ira Abbey, of Brookfield, New York, was the first to respond, and soon came to Battle Creek to manage the Health Institute. In the meantime some families not needed in Battle Creek were encouraged by the General Conference Committee to move to other locations. But it took time to change residences and, in some instances, occupations. The time involved was frustrating to James White. Through much of the year 1871 he studied ways to relate to the changes that must take place. He and Ellen sensed that plans must be devised that would result in a strong, continuing business administrative force heading the growing work of the church. And there was the question of how he should relate to these changes. Various plans were considered; some of them quickly changed, but all focused on providing a situation in which both could do the writing they felt they must do.
One step was seen in the announcement that they would attend the four camp meetings in the West:
We shall have nothing to do with the sale of books, or in taking subscriptions for our periodicals. We shall furnish to each camp meeting a complete list of subscribers for Review, Reformer, and Instructor, and shall invite each camp meeting to appoint proper persons to attend to this kind of work.--Ibid., May 23, 1871
Another carefully considered question was whether they should continue to reside in Battle Creek, or move, say, to their home in Washington, Iowa. At first they opted for selling their Battle Creek home and moving away. Then, seeing that for the sake of the cause they must not be too far away from Battle Creek, they thought of securing a home close to the railroad, where they could easily slip into town when needed (Ibid., November 14, 1871).
Eventually they decided to keep their home in Battle Creek but separate their interests as far as possible from the day-to-day operations, with James still at the head of the publishing interests but not managing the routine operations.
An Impressive Dream
Through it all, Ellen White worked as she was able, writing The Spirit of Prophecy, volume 2, dealing with the life and ministry of Christ. Much of the time through February, March, and April she was not at all well, having not yet passed that critical period in her life of which she had written to Edson some weeks before. She related her experience:
On the night of April 30, 1871, I retired to rest much depressed in spirits. For three months I had been in a state of great discouragement. I had frequently prayed in anguish of spirit for relief. I had implored help and strength from God, that I might rise above the heavy discouragements that were paralyzing my faith and hope, and unfitting me for usefulness. That night I had a dream which made a very happy impression upon my mind.
I dreamed that I was attending an important meeting, at which a large company were assembled. Many were bowed before God in earnest prayer, and they seemed to be burdened. They were importuning the Lord for special light.... Our most prominent brethren were engaged in this most impressive scene....
I dreamed that the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and I arose amid cries and prayers, and said: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. I feel urged to say to you that you must commence to work individually for yourselves. You are looking to God and desiring Him to do the work for you which He has left for you to do. If you will do the work for yourselves which you know that you ought to do, then God will help you when you need help. You have left undone the very things which God has left for you to do. You have been calling upon God to do your work. Had you followed the light which He had given you, then He would cause more light to shine upon you; but while you neglect the counsels, warnings, and reproofs that have been given, how can you expect God to give you more light and blessings to neglect and despise? God is not as man; He will not be trifled with."--Testimonies for the Church, 2:604, 605.
It was a dramatic presentation, in which she seemingly participated. She continued the account:
I took the precious Bible and surrounded it with the several Testimonies for the Church, given for the people of God. Here, said I, the cases of nearly all are met. The sins they are to shun are pointed out. The counsel that they desire can be found here, given for other cases situated similarly to themselves.
God has been pleased to give you line upon line and precept upon precept. But there are not many of you that really know what is contained in the Testimonies. You are not familiar with the Scriptures. If you had made God's Word your study, with a desire to reach the Bible standard and attain to Christian perfection, you would not have needed the Testimonies.
It is because you have neglected to acquaint yourselves with God's inspired Book that He has sought to reach you by simple, direct testimonies, calling your attention to the words of inspiration which you had neglected to obey, and urging you to fashion your lives in accordance with its pure and elevated teachings.--Ibid., 2:605.
As she, in her dream, continued to address the crowd, she spoke more of the purpose of the Testimonies and their relation to God's Word. As she held her Bible, with Testimony pamphlets, it seemed to her that she declared:
As the Word of God is walled in with these books and pamphlets, so has God walled you in with reproofs, counsel, warnings, and encouragements.... The Lord has walled you about with light; but you have not appreciated the light; you have trampled upon it. While some have despised the light, others have neglected it, or followed it but indifferently. A few have set their hearts to obey the light which God has been pleased to give them."--Ibid., 2:606.
Perhaps this dream led her to draw together a number of important messages she had recently given, orally or in writing, and publish them in Testimony No. 20, which came from the press in late May. It was a paperbound volume of some two hundred pages, selling for 25 cents. James White noted concerning it: "No preceding number of the series of pamphlets, bearing the above title, has been of greater importance to the church."--The Review and Herald, May 23, 1871. (See Testimonies for the Church, 2:577-712.)
The Testimonies in Bound Sets
In August, two black cloth-bound volumes, a reprinting of the early Testimony pamphlets came from the press. Beginning with 1855, when the first Testimony pamphlet was published, they had been issued in rather small printings, for the church was small. By 1864 ten such pamphlets had been published, but not all were still available at the Review office. Then these counsels were made available again by being reprinted and included as the last section of Volume IV of Spiritual Gifts,. But not in their entirety. Ellen White explained in her introductory remarks:
During the last nine years, from 1855 to 1864, I have written ten small pamphlets, entitled Testimony for the Church, which have been published and circulated among Seventh-day Adventists. The first edition of most of these pamphlets being exhausted, and there being an increasing demand for them, it has been thought best to reprint them, as given in the following pages, omitting local and personal matters, and giving those portions only which are of practical and general interest and importance. Most of Testimony No. 4 may be found in the second volume of Spiritual Gifts,; hence, it is omitted in this volume.
What was selected for republication filled 160 pages, or about one third of the content of the ten pamphlets. But this did not satisfy the desires of the believers, who declared they wanted all of the testimonies, regardless of the relevancy of some of them. In the summer of 1871 the demands for all of the Testimonies were met, as Numbers 1 to 19 were reprinted in their entirety. The volume was prefaced by James White:
During the period of sixteen years Mrs. White has published her Testimonies for the Church in a series of pamphlets, which at this date number twenty. But as the editions of the first Numbers were small, and have long since been exhausted, we are not able to furnish the series complete to the numerous friends who subsequently embraced the views of Seventh-day Adventists. The call for these Testimonies being large, we republish and offer them in this form.
And we are happy to do this, inasmuch as the testimonies, given under the trying and ever-changing circumstances of the past sixteen years, ever breathing the same high-toned spirit of scriptural piety, contain in themselves the best evidences of their being what they profess to be.
There are in them matters of a local and personal character, which do not have a direct bearing upon our time. But as many have desired it, we give them complete.
The 1871 Western Camp Meetings
Camp meetings in the Western States were to be held in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, beginning in late May and running to early July. James White announced that he and Ellen planned to attend some of them (The Review and Herald, May 23, 1871). They began their work with the Iowa meeting at Knoxville. Attendance was good, but they there learned from Canright and Littlejohn of the divisive attitudes of a number who attended the Missouri meeting. As the result of the deceptive work of Mr. Goodenough and Mr. Carver, quite a group opposed Ellen White and the visions. James White, as he wrote of the situation, pointed out that Seventh-day Adventists "believe that the Spirit of Prophecy has rested on Mrs. White, and that she is called to do a special work at this time among this people." He pointed out:
They do not, however, make a belief in this work a test of Christian fellowship. But after men and women have had evidence that the work is of God, and then join hands with those who fight against it, our people claim the right to separate from such, that they may enjoy their sentiments in peace and quiet.--Ibid., June 13, 1871
After a week's rest at their Washington, Iowa, home, James and Ellen attended the camp meetings in Wisconsin and Minnesota. On receiving word that James's father was nearing death, they hurried home to Battle Creek. On their arrival Thursday evening, July 6, they learned that Deacon John White had died just the day before. In Battle Creek for the funeral was John W. White, an older brother and presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal church in Columbus, Ohio, and his son, Prof. John White, of Willoughby College. The funeral of the 86-year-old patriarch was held on Sabbath, July 8. James's mother, Betsey White, had died on January 9, so now both of his parents were resting in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Midsummer in Battle Creek
Efforts to bring in "picked" men to Battle Creek to add strength to the business interests of the cause were just beginning to bear fruit. On June 20 White reported to the readers of the Review:
Already the fort at Battle Creek is being reinforced by veteran soldiers. And the scheme which constitutes a firm basis of hope for the future success of the Publishing Association and our Health Institute is the removal of a liberal selection of best families from several States to headquarters. Their moral and religious influence is needed at this fort.--Ibid., June 20, 1871
On July 18 there was a buoyancy in James White's report of the camp meetings in the West that he had attended. And he noted:
We are happy to find on our return that prosperity attends the work at the publishing house, and at the Health Institute. And by the grace of God, we can report improvement in health and spirits. Mrs. White is in excellent spirits, and designs to complete her second volume of The Spirit of Prophecy before the eastern camp meetings. This she will do in Battle Creek, if friends will not interrupt her with their personal matters. If they do, she will go to Greenville where she can be retired.--Ibid., July 18, 1871
He rejoiced particularly over the achievements of the Health Institute. It was finally on a sound financial basis, under good management, and with four physicians on the staff. Enlargement of the main building was about finished, and the cottages had been refurbished; it seemed that there should be a rededication of the facilities. This would offer an opportunity to acquaint the city and
surrounding community with the institution. A committee was formed to foster such a program, and the back page of the Review carried an announcement of a health convention to be held Thursday, July 27, with plans for a banquet. James White, as chairman of the committee on arrangements, signed the notice (Ibid.). It was a grand success, as we will report in the next chapter.
Planning for the Eastern Camp Meetings
The eastern camp meetings were scheduled to open in New York State on Thursday, August 10, and run from week to week through Vermont, New England, and Maine, closing on September 4. James White announced:
We design to attend the eastern camp meetings, if the way is opened for us.... It is in our hearts to accept the kind invitation of brethren in California to visit them this autumn, and spend the winter with them. This we can do, after attending camp meetings in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, if the brethren will not load us down with cares and labors which do not belong to us.
But if fellow laborers dodge responsibilities, neglect our periodicals, and leave work for us to do which they should do themselves, we shall submit to remain in Battle Creek, and do the best we can. Brethren, we are at your service.--Ibid.
Two weeks later it was announced that W. H. Littlejohn would travel with the Whites to the eastern meetings, and J. H. Waggoner would remain in Battle Creek in charge of publishing operations (Ibid., August 1, 1871). While James had every intention of attending the eastern meetings, he was still much troubled about the future. He confided to readers of the Review:
We have appealed for help, and have spoken pointedly in reference to the necessity of reliable working men moving to Battle Creek. The case has been clearly stated. We are still struggling on with two or three men's work, and hope not to fail before help comes. But we are grieved with the knowledge of the fact that we cannot endure one half the work we could one year since.-- Ibid.
Omens that Did not Augur Well
James White was experiencing symptoms that warned of the approach of another stroke, and he was terrified. He wrote of what he had experienced early in the year when he hoped to divest himself of some of the responsibilities he was carrying:
In January last we appealed to our people for six months' rest from perpetual labors and cares. General Conference was called a month in advance, that the necessary arrangements might be made for our much-needed rest. And in the face of our appeals for entire rest for a season, fourfold burdens were coolly put upon us, then a resolution was passed voting us rest! We have not, however, found an hour's rest.-- Ibid.
He referred then to the kind of help he hoped to see come to Battle Creek. Not ministers, who were few in number--he did not want to see them burdened with matters of finance as he had been so long, but businessmen. He named some he would like to see there: H. W. Kellogg, of Vermont; H. B. Stratton, of Boston; Ira Abbey, of New York; King, Fargo, Root, McPherson, and Palmer, of Michigan (Ibid.).
He clarified his concept of the relation they might take to the work, making Battle Creek or its vicinity their place of residence. He saw such men who had made a success of life, who would settle nearby, acting as "counselors and helpers in all matters pertaining to the advancement of the cause." If this could be, and if twenty or twenty-five of the very best families could come and do the work that the ministers should not be asked to do, he would be willing to remain in Battle Creek.
But the kind of sweeping changes he was calling for could not come about overnight. In his editorial in the next issue of the Review he continued his pleas. He closed his editorial thus:
In view of these facts, sensible Christians will justify our efforts, in our worn condition, at the age of 50, to either call around us suitable help, and those who will have a good influence, or to leave the work at Battle Creek to fresher and more able hands.--Ibid., August 8, 1871
On August 22, almost in desperation he inserted a back page Review note, filling half a column and titled "Men Wanted." He explained that the men who should come need not at the outset feel that they were prepared to fill positions they were not qualified for. But he explained:
We want our most reliable men and their families at headquarters--
1. To add to the spiritual interests of our religious meetings, and to give a better tone of spirituality at the office of publication and the institute.
2. To serve as counselors, trustees, and directors, and hold up the hands of those who have long borne double burdens and responsibilities in the cause.
3. As fast and as far as possible, those who are competent to do it, to work their way into the business and mechanical branches of the work, so as to release as soon as possible from "serving tables" some who should be giving themselves wholly to the Word of God, and to prayer....
Men are wanted at headquarters to give character to the work, that our people everywhere may have undoubted confidence in the management of our institutions. Then they will open the hand wide in charitable donations to sustain the work of God.--Ibid., August 22, 1871