As Ellen White closed up her work in Norway in November, 1885, she had the feeling that before returning to America she should go on another tour of the Scandinavian countries. In conversation with Brother Hansen, the building contractor, she almost promised to be back in the spring. On her return from Italy she wrote to William and Jenny Ings in California, whom she was endeavoring to persuade to come to Europe and join her in the work, stating that "we design to start in two weeks for Sweden and Norway." She thought she might end up in England, for she felt she had work to do there. She hoped the Ingses could join her in England and that they might unite their interests, "have a comfortable home, convenient food, and try to help one another" (Letter 78, 1886). In response to her invitation and urging, they closed up their work in California and started for Great Britain.
At Basel, Ellen White was scheduled to leave for Sweden on Tuesday, June 15, but Monday found her battling with an attack of pleurisy. She improved somewhat with treatment, but on Tuesday the pain returned. She wrote of the situation:
Every breath was painful. It seemed impossible for me to travel, especially at night. To take a sleeping car, for one night only, would involve an extra expense of ten or twelve dollars, and this was out of the question. Yet it was necessary for us to leave Basel that night in order to reach Orebro [Sweden] before the Sabbath."--The Review and Herald, October 5, 1886.
In spite of forbidding circumstances, she determined to go. A few months before this she had stated, "I can, when I have to, do most anything."--Letter 95, 1886. She looked to the Lord, and He gave her help.
Relieved of the intense suffering, she, with Sara McEnterfer and Christine Dahl, took the train at 10:00 P.M. bound for Hamburg, Germany. There she was to meet W. C. White, who had gone on the day before in the interests of the publishing house. They met as planned; Christine, who had served as a translator, left them to return to her home in Norway, and Ellen White, with her son and Sara, proceeded to Sweden, arriving at Orebro on Friday morning at seven.
The Meetings in Sweden
Here the Swedish conference was to hold its annual session from Wednesday, June 23, to Monday, June 28, preceded by a week-long meeting for colporteurs and ministers. It was in the midst of this workers' meeting that Ellen White began her ministry on Sabbath, June 19, with an afternoon service in the commodious rented hall. Her address was followed by a social meeting, and the testimonies borne led her at the conference, and later in her diary, to declare:
We could but say, One Lord, one faith, one baptism. The brethren in Sweden have the very same experience as our brethren in America. This was a good meeting.--Manuscript 65, 1886.
Following the rather dismal achievements of the literature ministry up to the time of the European Missionary Council in September, 1885, and encouraged at that meeting by Ellen White's message that colporteur work could succeed, J. G. Matteson had called a three-month colporteur institute in Stockholm, where thorough training was given. This had resulted in gratifying success for the colporteurs. The 1886 workers' institute at Orebro was a refresher course.
On the occasion of this visit a good hall that could seat three hundred was secured. Ellen White's meeting on Sunday afternoon was well advertised. When she came to the hall, she found it crowded, with many standing; she had to press her way through to the speaker's stand. A hundred were turned away for lack of room. She enjoyed freedom in speaking, and the crowd listened with excellent attention.
The workers' meeting would close on Wednesday. As she spoke at the morning devotional her topic was "Go Forward," and she stressed the need of broader plans:
What a work is before us! Forward, brethren, forward, and not one step backward! Bear in mind that you are being led by the Lord Jesus. There is a large amount of latent energy lying dormant. If you purify your souls by obeying the truth, you will be directed and led by the Lord Jesus. You will be properly directed, and you can be laborers together with God.... As you train your capabilities in faith your mind will unfold under the influence of the Holy Spirit's guidance.--Ibid.
The Conference Session
At the session of the Swedish Conference, which opened on Wednesday, about sixty-five church members were present from the ten churches. Twenty-three were delegates sent from nine of the churches, representing a combined membership of 250. Leading ministers present were J. G. Matteson, O. A. Olsen, and W. C. White.
Ellen White's meetings Sabbath and Sunday were well attended. She brought to the people practical instruction on true sanctification as contrasted to a spurious, no-cross experience in which perfection is claimed but is far from being attained. By the close of the general meeting she had spoken eleven times in ten days.
"I think that the work here is going well," she wrote to Mary, back in Basel, "and I have felt much better healthwise than for months in the past.... The brethren are much encouraged. It is a good meeting and everything moves harmoniously.... I tell you, things look much different than when we were here last fall. There is a good hall, good seats to accommodate the people, and if Jesus will work with our efforts, we will be encouraged indeed and He will be."--Letter 38b, 1886.
The Two Weeks in Christiania
Christine Dahl and her mother, and N. Clausen, were at the depot to meet Ellen White and Sara when they arrived in Christiania a little after ten on Friday morning, July 2. They were driven to the old publishing house building, where two rooms were comfortably fitted up for them with a kitchen. She was pleased that Brother Hansen, the prominent Adventist building contractor, called on her soon after her arrival. As the Sabbath drew on, she noted in her diary her pleasure that traveling connections worked out comfortably. Then she wrote:
I miss so much the strong arm of my husband to lean upon. He sleeps in Jesus. "Blessed sleep, from which none ever wake to weep."--Manuscript 66, 1886.
She was invited to take the Sabbath morning church service, held in the commodious chapel of the newly constructed publishing house. It was a room forty-one by fifty-five feet, with a twenty-two-foot ceiling. Most of the 175 Seventh-day Adventists in Norway were members of this church, the balance being divided between two much smaller congregations.--SDA Yearbook, 1887, p. 94.
Before leaving America, she had been shown the low standard of piety in the Christiania church, and since she had been there only eight months before, she was constrained to bear a positive testimony:
I spoke with great plainness and did not cut the corners of the truth to please anyone. I have been writing pointed testimonies for this church that is in a demoralized condition through several reasons--a neglect to keep the Sabbath properly, and a tolerating of meddlers.--Manuscript 57, 1886.
She was pleased with the positive response in the testimonies borne by a number of the members.
At ten-thirty that night she and her party took a boat for Larvik, some one hundred miles to the south. Here E. G. Olsen had raised up a church of thirty members in an area troubled by fanaticism. Many living in that region held to a spurious holiness. A hall had been secured, and Ellen White spoke Sunday afternoon at four. Her diary carries a description of the meeting:
At four o'clock we went to a hall and had a good audience. I designed to speak to the hearers words that would not in any way offend them, but the Lord gave me a message to the people in regard to the false theory of sanctification and I brought the law to bear as close upon them as they ever heard it.
I did not know what would be the result, for it was not in the style of Norway, but in true American style. It almost frightened Brother Edwin Olsen, for he said they had never had such talk as that before, but I had to give them the message the Lord gave me for them and I could not get away from the subject to any other. I presented before them the true Bible sanctification in contrast with the false, and the Lord gave me much freedom in doing this.
Brother Edwin Olsen came to the hotel and stated that the believers were very much pleased and benefited and that it was just what they needed.--Ibid.
Such experiences were a heavy drain on Ellen White's physical resources. Along with the weariness was the poisonous effect of the lead in the fresh paint in the rooms they were occupying. She was forced to take to her bed with a high fever.
Tuesday, Matteson and O. A. Olsen, who had been holding meetings in Copenhagen, returned to Christiania to prepare for the session of the Norwegian Conference to be held from Thursday through Tuesday, July 13.
At some point in the several days Ellen White was there she had had an opportunity to look over the publishing house, now comfortably located in the new building. When she was shown through the several departments, she expressed great joy over the thought that with the facilities thus provided, periodicals and books suitable for the field could be quickly printed and sent on their mission. When she reached the pressroom where the equipment was in operation, she took special interest and declared that she had seen that room and the presses years before--yes, it was nearly twelve years before, in the vision of January 3, 1875, in Battle Creek, Michigan (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 299).
Dealing Carefully and Firmly with the Church Situation
But there was earnest soul-searching work ahead. On Wednesday she conferred with Olsen and Matteson concerning the condition of the church. It was clear that Matteson, who pastored it, had been somewhat lax in disciplinary lines. Among the members was a woman whom Ellen White described as having a tongue seemingly "set on fire of hell," yet her antics had been tolerated and she was even a member of the church board. Ellen White, in her diary, recounted her conversation with Matteson and Olsen:
They wanted me to bear my testimony. I told them it would do no good. My testimony was not received by those who wanted to do as they pleased, and they must do this work themselves, for God would say to them as to Joshua, "Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you" (Joshua 7:12). This work has been neglected and the reputation of the truth greatly demerited by the very ones who claim to believe it.--Manuscript 57, 1886.
Ellen White again addressed the church on Sabbath, July 10, reading from John 5, a chapter she held as enlightening to those "who need to be reconverted before they can become righteous" (Manuscript 66, 1886). Sunday morning, after taking the six o'clock devotional meeting, she went into a meeting of the committee. She described it in a letter to her son Edson:
At nine o'clock, by appointment, I met with the committee to talk with them in regard to the way of observing the Sabbath, and the elements in the church that had been tolerated and had disfigured the work and brought the truth into disrepute. This influence, unless firmly dealt with, would be the means of turning many souls from the truth. I spoke very decidedly, in the fear of God, and I left no chance for misunderstanding, I assure you.
I pointed to the blacksmith's shop, silent on the first day of the week, and the noise of hammering and of the anvil and clatter of iron on the Sabbath; and then close by was the marble shop, and the sound of the hammer and chisel mingled with the prayers of a people who are professedly honoring God by observing His Sabbath. Entering into the ears of God is all this din and all this confusion, I said, dishonoring God on your very premises, under your control.
The Lord has sent you a message to which you are to take heed. You may regard it as idle tales, but I tell you in the day of God you will know the things which I tell you are verity and truth.
I related to them that when in America I was shown the work in Norway, the church in Christiania in particular, and the slow advancement they were making. The standard of piety and of truth was very low. The truth was made a matter of convenience. Rather than bringing themselves up to the Bible standard, they were making their business and their own selfish interest the standard. God will accept no such service.
An angel of God said, "Look and observe carefully what this people are doing, mingling their own dross with pure truth."--Letter 113, 1886.
Sara was present to take down Ellen White's words, and in her letter to Edson she promised to send a transcription so that he might have more exactly what she said. She continued her account to Edson:
Now, said I, I expect you may, some of you, consider my words as idle tales, but you must meet them in the judgment, and I must meet them. I cannot abate one iota from their severity.
The meeting for preaching was to commence in fifteen minutes, and I told them I wanted another meeting to express more fully upon some points the mind of the Spirit of God concerning them. Next Monday--tomorrow evening--I meet the church and address them all.
As soon as I ceased speaking, Brother Hansen arose and said, "I do not consider these as idle tales. I receive them, and believe the truth has been spoken to us this morning and I thank Sister White for saying them!" Then I think all in the room responded eagerly, heartily: "We receive these words and mean to act upon them."--Ibid.
These were tense moments, but Ellen White could do no other than present the word of the Lord to them. Her account to Edson reveals insights as to what it meant to be the messenger of the Lord:
Now Brother Hansen is the most influential man in the church and the only one who has much of any property. He is a large builder and has had men under him. He is a large contractor and I have talked with him plainly before in regard to his position and example, then I have seen him drawing off and feared he would give up the truth; but I felt so strongly for him I have written to him, close, earnest, and yet in love, pleading in Christ's stead for him to save his soul. He has had to have others read his letters for him, as he could not read English, but he has received these letters gladly and has ever treated me with the greatest respect, and I felt that I could fall down upon my knees and thank God for this token for good.
I had reined myself up; every nerve strained to the utmost, and calmly and in the spirit of Jesus, but firmly and decidedly, as plucking a brand from the burning, I delivered this testimony. I am so thankful the Lord did open hearts to receive the reproof and warning. When I came to my room I was weak as a child. I knew not how they would take my message.--Ibid.
Sensing her state of mind and her weakness, W. C. White secured a carriage and took her for a drive into a nearby park. It rested and relaxed her. This was a critical time for the church in Norway. That evening, Sunday, Ellen White addressed the conference. "I had much freedom," she wrote. "The power of the Lord was upon me as I presented to the people the blessed heavenly home that awaits the faithful."--Manuscript 66, 1886. The next evening three backslidden and critical members were dropped from the church rolls. Always an unpleasant experience, it nevertheless had to be done if the church was to prosper. It took diligent labor on the part of both W. C. White and Ellen White to persuade Matteson, who had proposed resigning, to continue to carry the responsibility of leadership.
Ellen White continued her work to the close of the session on Tuesday evening, but spoke again to the church on Thursday evening before leaving the next day for Denmark:
I presented before the church the necessity of a thorough change in their characters before God could acknowledge them as His children. I urged upon them the necessity of order in the church. They must have the mind which dwelt in Jesus in order to conduct themselves aright in the church of God. I urged upon them the importance of a correct observing of the Sabbath.... If it continues to go forward, then there will be a hearty repentance.... With this meeting my labors closed in Christiania.--Ibid.
She commented, "The work was but just begun in the church."
The Week in Denmark
Because of headwinds the ship bearing Ellen White and her party did not reach Copenhagen until too late for a Sabbath meeting. But on Sunday afternoon the hall was well filled, and many stood as they listened with good attention to Ellen White. Her topic was "What Shall I Do to Be Saved?" Of the meeting she wrote:
If I had not felt the power of the Lord sustaining, I should have felt discouraged. But for the thought that this would be the sowing of the seed which would bring forth good fruit, I should not have had any hope that our labors were producing results. But I was sustained in bearing the straight testimony. I had the assurance that Christ was by my side, inspiring my heart to utter the very message He gave me, and I was encouraged by Christ's presence. I felt a signal manifestation of His rich grace, and the interesting coincidences evidenced that the Lord Jesus was in the assembly.--Manuscript 67, 1886.
At the Monday morning meeting twenty-four were present. It was a time of considerable unemployment in the city, and church members with work did not dare risk being away from their places of employment. She divided the week in Denmark between the rather poorly attended meetings, her writing, and some sightseeing. [A report of her visit to copenhagen may be found in The Review and Herald, October 26, 1886.] On Monday, July 26, with Sara McEnterfer and W. C. White, she hastened back to Basel. After spending about a month at home, she was off again to attend the Fourth European Missionary Council, to be held at Great Grimsby in England.
The European Missionary Council
Her traveling companions on the trip to England were Sara McEnterfer and L. Aufranc, from the publishing house at Basel. He was one of the delegates to the council. At Great Grimsby, Ellen White was pleased to meet Jenny Ings who had given up her position as matron of the Health Retreat in California to join and assist Ellen White. Her husband would engage in ministerial work, first in England and then on the continent.
Although the business sessions of the council would not begin until Monday, September 27, tent meetings were being held in Great Grimsby, and Ellen White threw herself into the work, with two meetings on Sabbath, September 18, two meetings on Sunday, and early-morning talks to the workers Sunday and Tuesday.
The Sunday night meeting was well attended, with the tent full and half as many outside. She had an attentive audience and spoke with freedom (Letter 23a, 1886).
Many who came in during the week to attend the council were there for the Sabbath, September 25. Ellen White addressed them in a poorly ventilated, small room at the mission headquarters at 5:30 A.M. The foul air almost paralyzed her. At the worship hour she spoke in the auditorium at the Mechanics' Institute Hall, about half a mile from the mission. This auditorium was located in the center of the building, with not a window to the outside, and near the close of her talk prostration from the impure air again overtook her. Of the experience she wrote:
I thought then I was cut off from doing anything for the people, but our brethren said they had found out a way that the room could be ventilated, so I put on the armor again and did very well until Sunday night. I spoke to a hall filled with outsiders. I knew the moment I attempted to speak that our brethren had forgotten to ventilate the hall, and the outdoor air had not been introduced into the hall after the last meeting had been held. I got through with the discourse wearied out.
I walked home. I could not sleep that night, and the next morning I looked haggard and felt two years older than I did before I made the attempt to speak. I became very sick with nervous prostration.... I was suffering much with inflammation of head, stomach, and lungs.--Letter 114, 1886.
Sara gave her most earnest hydrotherapy treatments, and she began to rally. But although she attended some of the meetings of the council, she did not speak again, either through the week of the council or the week following, while she remained at Great Grimsby. The thoughtlessness on the part of the workers had cut off much of her ministry; however, she did labor in personal interviews, writing, and giving counsel.
The Week-Long Council Meeting
The business of the Fourth Missionary Council was quite routine, with reports from the different fields of labor, resolutions aimed at improving the evangelistic thrust, the election of officers, and the choice of the location for the next annual council meeting. Norway was selected. Ellen White's diary reveals a note of disappointment, and she observed revealingly:
How important are these councils where business is being transacted which shall reach into eternity. And earnestly should everyone seek God and make most earnest efforts to rid the soul of everything of a selfish character that love and union and harmony may characterize these meetings. None should watch to see if they cannot find an opportunity to dissent from their brethren's propositions.--Manuscript 59, 1886.
Reporting to George Butler, she declared:
I tell you, these hard spots in my experience make me desire the climate of California, and the refuge of home. Have I any home? Where is it?--Letter 114, 1886.
Not often would she allow herself to pen words of discouragement, but it is not difficult to read between the lines in this letter to one with whom she had worked closely through the years:
I have many things to communicate and would say, dear brother, that my trust is in the Lord. As the parties go to America I am strongly inclined to attend the General Conference, but know that if I get on the other side of the ocean it will be to stay, not to come back here. But there is a work to be done here yet, and there seems to be very much to be done to set the work rolling right, and I do not feel released yet.... When I recover I have some writing to do to different ones, which is not the most pleasant kind of work.--Ibid.
In this letter she told Butler, "Tonight I leave for Nimes to labor again."
Evangelistic Labor in Nimes, France
In London for a day or two en route to France, and with improving health, Ellen White wrote several letters for Whitney to carry with him as he traveled to the General Conference session to be held in Battle Creek commencing November 18. Then she and Sara, her son, and the Ingses were off for Nimes, France, where tent meetings were being held. Their journey took them through Paris, and they paused a day or two for sightseeing. Her diary entry for October 14, reads:
Paris, France. I arise at 5:00 A.M. and write several pages by the light of a candle before others are up. I seem to be transferred back to old times when candles were the only lights used except whale oil in lamps. We took breakfast at the restaurant. Then we walked out with Brother Garside to accompany us.--Manuscript 70, 1886.
He guided them to the brokers' exchange and then to the Louvre, now a museum but formerly the palace of the kings. Next, Napoleon's tomb. "The marble tomb," she noted, "contained all that there is of this once-great man, before whom kingdoms trembled."--Ibid. After a simple lunch, Sara and Willie left by train for Basel. Ellen White, with William and Jenny Ings, took the train late in the evening for the all-night trip to Nimes. Their work there would open Sabbath morning.
D. T. Bourdeau had rented a home in Nimes. He pitched an evangelistic tent there and for a few weeks had worked with a reasonable degree of success. He encountered some opposition, and some rowdies had attempted to break up the meetings, but by the time Ellen White joined in the work, matters were quite stable. On Sabbath, October 16, Ings spoke at the early-morning meeting; his message on the restoration of the Sabbath was well received. Ellen White spoke in the worship service Sabbath morning and again in the evening. Sixteen people there were keeping the Sabbath (Ibid.). The meetings held through the two weeks Ellen White and the Ingses were there were evangelistic--for the church and the general public--with Ellen White taking the evening meetings in the tent. She did some sightseeing in this large city, which had a history that predated the life and ministry of Christ on earth.
As this was an evangelistic series, Ellen White preached Christ-centered, soul-winning sermons. And from day to day she was able to do some more sightseeing, some shopping, and as ever, write, write, write--a hundred pages while in Nimes.
The Visit to the Watch Factory
Ellen White was having some trouble with her watch. On inquiry she learned that she probably could get one of the employees known to Patience Bourdeau, daughter of D. T. Bourdeau and wife, to make the needed repairs. This young man, Abel Bieder, had at one time stood with God's people in Switzerland but was now a backslider. Of the rather unique experience Ellen White wrote:
There was a young man who had become discouraged through the temptations of Satan and through some mistakes of our brethren who did not understand how to deal with the minds of the youth. He gave up the Sabbath and engaged to work in a manufacturing establishment to perfect his trade in watchmaking. He is a very promising young man. My watch needed repairing, which brought us together.
I was introduced to him and as soon as I looked upon his countenance, I knew that he was the one whom the Lord had presented before me in vision. The whole circumstance came distinctly before me.
He was connected with a little church in Switzerland, and among the believers had come in a spirit of criticism, or faultfinding, which was displeasing to God. When the youth made mistakes they were not treated with tenderness and love, but a censorious spirit was manifested toward them, and love and sympathy which [should] have been given to the erring was withheld, and the result was [that] three young men wandered away from God and from the truth. This young man of whom I speak is one of them.--Letter 59, 1886.
Arrangements were made for the two to have a little time together. She talked with him for two hours on the peril of his situation. She described the interview:
I told him I knew the history of his life and his errors (which were the simple errors of youthful indiscretion) which were not of a character that should have been treated with so great severity. I then entreated him with tears to turn square about, to leave the service of Satan and sin, for he had become a thorough backslider, and return like the prodigal to his Father's house, his Father's service. He was in a good business learning his trade; if he kept the Sabbath he would lose his position. As yet, while learning his trade, he had received only $2 per week and his board, but in a few months more would finish his apprenticeship and then he would have a good trade. But I urged an immediate decision.
We prayed with him most earnestly, and I told him that I dared not have him cross the threshold of the door until he would, before God and the angels and those present, say, "I will from this day be a Christian." How my heart rejoiced when he said this.
He slept none that night. He said as soon as he made the promise he seemed to be in a new channel. His thoughts seemed purified, his purposes changed; and the responsibility that he had taken seemed so solemn that he could not sleep.--Ibid.
The next day this young man notified his employer that he could work for him no longer. Ellen White wanted him to go to Basel and join Conradi and Ertzenberger, learn more of the message, and prepare for colporteur work. He had no means, so the Ingses and Mrs. White made up a purse of $9 for his ticket. To recoup their limited finances, they traveled third class as they continued their journey to Italy.
The travelers stopped at Valence, France, to meet with the few Sabbathkeepers who came together for two services. While at Valence they visited the cathedral and there saw a bust of Pope Pius VI. "This is the pope," Ellen White wrote, "specified in prophecy, which received the deadly wound."--Manuscript 70, 1886. She was intensely interested in the visit to the nearby tower where he had been confined and where he died.
The Third Visit to Italy
Ellen White expected to spend two weeks in Italy, but when they got to Torre Pellice they soon discovered that a man named Corcorda was there attempting to neutralize the work A. C. Bourdeau had just done with the evangelistic tent; Corcorda got his ammunition from Miles Grant. With opposition coming early in Ellen White's first visit to Italy and repeated now, it seemed impossible to accomplish much. But there was one bright spot during the days in Italy. She received a letter from Willie announcing the birth of his second daughter, Mabel. She was happy to welcome this second grandchild, born November 1.
She spoke in Torre Pellice on Sabbath and in Villar Pellice on Sunday. After remaining a few days, however, she saw that little could be accomplished. She and the Ingses turned their faces toward Basel, spending two weeks on their journey home, visiting churches in Lausanne and Bienne in Switzerland.
She reached Basel Tuesday, November 23. She had been gone for ten weeks. As she gave a report to Butler the next day, she wrote:
I have for weeks been exposed to fogs and rains and bad air in halls. I have talked in halls where it was sometimes very hot and the air was impure and then have gone out into a sharp, cutting air from the lakes, and taken cold again and again.... In two days, the twenty-sixth of this month, I shall be 59 years old. I thank my heavenly Father for the strength that He has given me to do more work than I ever expected to do. I thank the Lord with heart and soul and voice. I am thinking we may not feel obliged to remain here in Europe much longer.--Letter 115, 1886.