At the close of my long journey east," wrote Ellen White in early January, 1884, "I reached my home in time to spend New Year's Eve in Healdsburg."--The Review and Herald, January 29, 1884. The College Hall had been fitted up for a Sabbath school reunion. She described the scene:
Cypress wreaths, autumn leaves, evergreens, and flowers were tastefully arranged; and a large bell of evergreens hung from the arched doorway at the entrance to the room. The tree was well loaded with donations, which were to be used for the benefit of the poor, and to help purchase a bell. Except in a few instances, the names of the donors were not given; but appropriate Bible texts and mottoes were read as the gifts were taken down from the tree. On this occasion nothing was said or done that need burden the conscience of anyone.--Ibid.
She commented further:
Some have said to me, "Sister White, what do you think of this? Is it in accordance with our faith?" I answer them, "It is with my faith."
In Healdsburg, San Francisco, and Oakland, there are many things to attract our children; large sums are expended every year on Christmas and New Year's in purchasing gifts for friends. These gifts are not generally satisfactory, for many receive presents that they do not need, when they would be glad to have some other article; some receive the same article from several different persons; and others receive nothing at all.
We have tried earnestly to make the holidays as interesting as possible to the youth and children, while changing this order of things. Our object has been to keep them away from scenes of amusement among unbelievers. Instead of following a selfish custom, and giving to those from whom presents will be expected in return, let us make our offerings to the Lord. This plan has proved successful in many of our churches, and it was a success on this occasion.--Ibid.
Driving the lesson home, she admonished: "While we restrain our children from worldly pleasures, that have a tendency to corrupt and mislead, we ought to provide them innocent recreation, to lead them in pleasant paths where there is no danger."--Ibid.
In the Signs report it is stated: "A tree was standing on the rostrum, from which were taken parcels containing the sum of $200. This was afterward increased to $350."--January 24, 1884.
Work Pursued on the Great Controversy
For five months work on the manuscript for Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4, The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, had been laid aside. Now back at home one determination motivated her--the completion of the manuscript and the publication of the book. She had made a small beginning five years before, while with her husband in northern Texas. Again and again, as she was able, she picked up the task, only to have to leave it for something that at the moment was more pressing. In mid-March, 1883, she expressed the hope to have the completed manuscript ready in "four weeks" (Letter 9, 1883). It was still unready when she left for the East in August. Now the new year had come, and she had every expectation of completing the work before she had another serious break in her program. She wrote to Sara McEnterfer on February 14:
I am writing every day. Mean to get my book finished next month, and can scarcely write a letter, I am so intent on this matter.--Letter 37, 1884.
And intent she was. Five days later, in a letter to Uriah Smith and his wife, Harriet, she disclosed her feelings as she wrote the closing chapters:
We have, Sister Harriet, everything to be thankful for, that Jesus is our advocate and that He pleads in our behalf. As I write upon my book I feel intensely moved. I want to get it out as soon as possible, for our people need it so much. I shall complete it next month if the Lord gives me health as He has done. I have been unable to sleep nights, thinking of the important things to take place. Three hours' sleep, and sometimes five, is the most I get. My mind is stirred so deeply I cannot rest. Write, write, write, I feel that I must, and not delay.
Great things are before us, and we want to call the people from their indifference, to get ready for that day. Things that are eternal crowd upon my vision day and night. The things that are temporal fade from my sight.--Letter 11a, 1884.
Five weeks later, although most of the manuscript was in the hands of the Pacific Press, she was still hard at work on the finishing touches (The Signs of the Times, March 27, 1884).
She wrote to Willie in Oakland:
I see by appointments that there are only three weeks left for me to close up my book. Dr. [E. J.] Waggoner [assistant editor of the Signs] is fearful I will not get through, but I mean to by that time, if possible....
P.S. Bring me another good fountain pen.--Letter 44, 1884.
Waggoner was more right than she. She had to lay aside her pen and meet three camp meeting appointments in the West, to which she was committed. Then she was back writing again.
On March 23, Joseph Waggoner, editor of Signs of the Times, got an advance look at one of the chapters, "Origin of Evil." In a note to the readers of the Signs he commented:
We have no fear but that deep interest will be taken in this book, judging from what we have read. We long for its appearing; and so would thousands of our readers if they knew its value. We do not wish to institute comparisons, but we can assure our friends that this volume will not fall below the very best of the writings of Sister White that are already published.--March 27, 1884.
In reporting to readers of the Review and Herald, W. C. White explained in a statement published in April:
Most of the chapters are now written, but a few subjects are not yet completed. The work of writing the latter part of this volume has been accomplished slowly and with great difficulty. The scenes and events to be described were of such solemn importance, and the subjects pressed so constantly on the mind of the author, that she has frequently worked beyond her strength.... The manuscript is now so nearly completed that we can speak confidently of the contents of this volume.
He described its leading features:
It begins with the destruction of Jerusalem, and gives brief sketches of the experience of the Christian church to the close of the great controversy between righteousness and sin. Several chapters are especially devoted to an exposure of the great deceptions by which the archrebel has led the world captive, and to a vivid portrayal of his subtlety in introducing these heresies one by one into the church....
For a wide range of subjects and the presentation of facts of general interest, this work surpasses all her former volumes.--The Review and Herald, April 8, 1884.
White explained that this volume was to be sold by subscription, that is, some appointed person with a prospectus would call on each church member to solicit his order. The plan was to reach all Adventists in six months. The book would be available in two bindings, one, olive in color, carrying the title The Great Controversy, the other in black cloth titled Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4. The price--$1 each.
A Visit to the Health Retreat at St. Helena
In January and February, the climate near the northern California coast is often unpleasantly characterized by rain and fog. Ellen White, finding her lungs and throat affected by the damp and cold, decided to spend a few weeks at the Health Retreat a little farther inland on the side of Howell Mountain, near St. Helena, just below the bountiful Crystal Spring. Picking up her writing materials, she drove from Healdsburg with a woman physician, Dr. Chamberlain, the thirty-five miles to the Retreat (Letter 36, 1884). She found the weather sunny and warm. She would write until she was weary and then she and Dr. Chamberlain would take their canes and climb the mountains.
In writing to Uriah Smith and his wife, Harriet, she described the scenery as "most lovely, exceeding any pictures of loveliness I have ever seen. Brother Smith's artist eye would take in the scenery and enjoy its beauty, if possible, more than myself."--Letter 11a, 1884.
Every time she visited the Retreat she became more enamored with the favorable qualities of the location. She found that William Pratt, who had donated the land for the institution and had aided and fostered its development, now was opening the way for Adventist families to come in and settle close to the institution, hoping to develop a small supporting community.
Pratt had given building sites to two families. Now he offered a plot to Ellen White if she would build a home on it. Suitable land close to the institution was in short supply; when he offered her a lot she countered with the proposition that she wished to purchase the available land southeast of the institution. Pratt protested that this would spoil his plan, and she told him that that was precisely what she wanted to do. She stated that she had been shown that the time would come when that land would be needed by the institution and she wished to secure it and hold it for such use.
Reluctantly he sold her eight and a half acres, which she held for a number of years till it was needed for the normal expansion of the plant. With this land, so beautifully located, in her possession, she dreamed of building a modest cottage near the institution. She would make it available to the Retreat when needed. She spent three weeks at the Retreat, during which time she made the initial arrangements for the erection of a home. She was back again in late February. She described the new home in a letter to Mrs. Ings as a "little gem of a house" (Letter 22a, 1884); she named it "Iliel." She arranged for planting and fencing a family orchard on that portion of the land that could be cultivated. "Iliel" still serves the institution, overlooking the valley, although in a slightly different location.
Ellen White's Battle with Appetite
The Health Retreat was founded when vegetarianism among Adventists was in its infancy. Often there were compromises in the homes of believers striving to improve their diets, and also in the two medical institutions operated by the church, at Battle Creek and St. Helena. Dr. John Kellogg had not yet begun manufacturing the health foods that in time were to become helpful. At the time of Ellen White's three-week visit at the Retreat in January, neither the physician, the manager, nor the cook favored a nonmeat diet. Ellen White describes her experience:
Meat seldom appears on my table; for weeks at a time I would not taste it, and after my appetite had been trained, I grew stronger, and could do better work.
When I came to the Retreat, I determined not to taste meat, but I could get scarcely anything else to eat, and therefore ate a little meat. It caused unnatural action of the heart. I knew it was not the right kind of food. I wanted to keep house by myself, but this was overruled. If I could have done as I wished, I should have remained at the institution several weeks longer.
The use of meat while at the Retreat awakened the old appetite, and after I returned home, it clamored for indulgence. Then I resolved to change entirely, and not under any circumstances eat meat, and thus encourage this appetite. Not a morsel of meat or butter has been on my table since I returned. We have milk, fruit, grains, and vegetables.
For a time I lost all desire for food. Like the children of Israel, I hankered after flesh meats. But I firmly refused to have meat bought or cooked. I was weak and trembling, as everyone who subsists on meat will be when deprived of the stimulus. But now my appetite has returned, I enjoy bread and fruit, my head is generally clear, and my strength firmer. I have none of the goneness so common with meat eaters. I have had my lesson, and, I hope, learned it well.--Letter 2, 1884.
She told Smith that she was pleased to read in the Review of February 12 an article on diet. "It came in just the right time for me, for I am laboring on this point and needed just what is there published." The article, written by a Dr. T. R. Allison, of England, and originally published in the London Times, recounted the successful experience of a physician who had experimented with a strictly vegetarian diet. It provided documentation Ellen White could use with the manager and the cook at the Retreat. Her messages of counsel to them were firm and kind. The main portions of these testimonies may be found in Counsels on Diet and Foods, 405-410. She called for marked changes in the dietary program at the institution, and a few months later helped to arrange for Mrs. Jenny Ings, who had been assisting her, to serve as matron with the purpose of bringing about changes that would help the institution to operate on "hygienic principles" in properly fulfilling its mission (CDF, p. 406).
The First Camp Meeting in Los Angeles, California
The time had come when through successful evangelistic efforts there were a sufficient number of Seventh-day Adventists south of the Tehachapi Mountains to appoint a truly "southern California" camp meeting. May 8 to 18 was the time selected, and the meeting was to be held in Los Angeles. Most of southern California then was ranch and farming country. To help swell the numbers and bring courage to the new believers in the south, arrangements were made for a specifically engaged "third-class sleeping car" accommodating thirty-six persons to be attached to the express train operated by the Central and Southern Pacific railroads. It would originate at San Francisco, and Adventists could board it at the principal Central Valley points en route.
Ellen White was urged to attend this, the first camp meeting to be held in the Los Angeles area. Although much worn from her incessant writing, she consented to go. In his report in the Review and Herald J. N. Loughborough identified Los Angeles as "near five hundred miles southeast of Oakland, California" (The Review and Herald, May 27, 1884). He reported a rather sparse attendance of Seventh-day Adventists because the late rains had kept the farmers at home getting in their crops, but the community attendance was gratifying. The sixty- by ninety-six-foot preaching tent and twenty-four family tents were pitched on the grounds, with about sixty people camping. In her letter to her son in Oakland, Ellen White described it in these words: "The attendance of brethren is small; outside attendance is the very best."--Letter 47, 1884.
On Sunday evening, not only was every seat filled but a hundred of the townspeople stood outside to listen. Ellen White attended one meeting each day, and on some days, two. She was accompanied to the south by Mrs. McOmber, described by Ellen White as "faithful as the day is long, tender, attentive, and at times, as she sees my feebleness, appears in agony because she cannot do more." She was glad to report:
This meeting is doing the church great good. They are learning more than they ever knew before.--Ibid.
Back Again to the Northwest
Ten days after returning to Healdsburg, Ellen White sailed with the company of workers scheduled to attend the two camp meetings in the Northwest. A back-page note in the Signs of June 5 gives this word:
The editor of the Signs [J. H. Waggoner], in company with Elder W. C. White, Mrs. E. G. White, Elder J. N. Loughborough, Professor Brownsberger, and Elder William Ings and wife, left San Francisco on the steamer Oregon, Friday, May 30, to attend the camp meetings in the Washington Territory and Oregon. They will return about the middle of July.
In conjunction with the Oregon meeting, to be held June 19-30, the "Pacific Coast Council" was to convene. In 1883, S. N. Haskell, president of the California Conference and a member of the General Conference Committee, had advanced the proposition that being so far removed from places where the General Conference sessions were held, many workers and most of the church members were deprived from attending. A council should be held to strengthen the work.
Wrote Haskell:
The importance of taking advance steps [in the cause of God] and wisely laying larger plans for operation is constantly increasing.... There should be frequent consultations in those sections of the country where the work is of a similar character. The wise man says, "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." By bringing together different minds, and laying out different plans, and having free counsel with much prayer, we shall secure more light than by a few pressing toward certain points without conferring with others.--The Review and Herald, March 6, 1884.
Haskell's words were carefully chosen. Situations were developing in the church in the Northwest that indicated the need of study, close fellowship, and counseling together. The workers appointed to this council, including Ellen White, were well chosen for the occasion. As their experience and the accomplishments were of particular significance, the account of the few weeks spent there will be reserved for the next chapter.
The sea trip back to San Francisco in early July was pleasant, giving some time for the workers to counsel together. Ellen White felt that in spite of earnest requests, she could not attend the Eastern camp meetings (Letter 9, 1884). The type was being set for The Great Controversy at the Pacific Press, and there was other writing she felt she must do. She also felt she could not continue to rush from one meeting to the next as fast as the trains could take her. While debating in her own mind what she should do, she wrote to Butler and Haskell on July 10, expressing her mixed feelings and seeking counsel:
I remember I am 56 years old, instead of 25 or 35.... I am not immortal yet, and have cause to remember this every day of my life.... I think my best course is to remain in California.--Letter 21, 1884.
On the other hand, she had a strong desire to attend the Eastern meetings. She wrote of being deeply moved when urgent appeals were made for her to go east, and declared, "I know I have a testimony for God's people. It burns in my soul day and night, seems as if it would consume me."--Ibid. But she reasoned:
I have large work here.... My copyists are here on the ground. It is at great loss to me every day that I leave this coast. Duty does not call in two directions at the same time. Now which is the most urgent?--Ibid.
Although perplexed, she concluded, "Because you are praying for me, I expect to come."--Ibid.
For a few days Ellen White remained at her Healdsburg home, writing for the last chapters of Great Controversy and putting on the finishing touches. In late July she went to Oakland to be near the Pacific Press in the final checking on the printing of the book. Then she was off for the Eastern camp meetings, while the final work was done on the printing plates and the book was run through the press.
Volume 4--The Great Controversy--Finally Ready
A back-page note in The Review and Herald, October 2, 1884, reported that volume 4, "so long looked for, is now out." It was published simultaneously by both the Pacific Press and the Review and Herald in editions of five thousand copies each. Before the end of the year, the first printing on the West Coast was sold out. Another milestone in Ellen White's writing was now passed. The book was sold to both Seventh-day Adventists and the general public, and fifty thousand copies were distributed with in three years' time.
Just as soon as G. I. Butler had found time to read the new book, he wrote for the Review and Herald:
The last volume of this remarkable series is now before the public. We rejoice to welcome its appearance, as we have for years greatly desired to peruse it. We have just had the privilege of reading it through, and take pleasure in giving our impressions of it to the readers of the Review.
It is a high commendation, in view of the excellence of the three preceding volumes of the series, to say that volume 4 equals them. But we can say without hesitation that it far excels them in interest to us. They relate to the past whose history is largely given in the Bible and other books. Much of this relates to the future.--December 2, 1884.