As time permitted, in mid-1907 Ellen White continued writing, particularly on Old Testament history (Prophets and Kings) (33WCW, p. 482). She was eager to push that work forward. Before March was over, one of her highly valued secretaries, Maggie Hare, left her seven-year employment at Elmshaven to go back to her home in New Zealand. (As W. C. and Ellen White hoped, she returned four years later with a husband and both served on the staff.) Negotiations were culminated for Paul Mason, working at Mountain View with E. R. Palmer of the General Conference Publishing Department, to join the staff as accountant. He took the place of Sarah Peck, who wanted to devote full time to educational work.
March also included a visit from Edson, who was working in the South. Another visitor was Edward Forga, of Arequipa, Peru, who had recently married Marguerite Lacey, May White's youngest sister. Forga would soon be pioneering the translating of some of the E. G. White books into Spanish (Ibid.).
A Quick Trip to Southern California
Ever since the vision of New Year's Day, Ellen White felt impelled to spend a little time in southern California, where her counsel was needed in the new medical institutions, but the trip, for various reasons, had been repeatedly postponed. By mid-April the time seemed propitious, so on Thursday, April 18, she was off with W. C.; Dr. and Mrs. D. H. Kress, en route from Australia to the new sanitarium in Washington, D.C.; Dr. H. F. Rand, medical superintendent of the St. Helena Sanitarium; Dores Robinson; and Sara McEnterfer.
She visited the school at San Fernando, and then Loma Linda. At the newly developing College of Evangelists, forty students were enrolled; some were completing the first year of medical studies (The Review and Herald, August 1, 1907; Pacific Union Recorder, May 23, 1907). She went on south to the Paradise Valley Sanitarium for a week, where she addressed the board of directors and the patients. She counseled the matron, her longtime friend and fellow investor in the institution, regarding more liberal policies in dealing with the patients and a less dictatorial attitude toward other members of the Sanitarium staff. On Thursday, May 9, she and Dores Robinson were driven forty-five miles north to San Pasqual, where on Friday she spoke to the church school children and on Sabbath took the morning worship service in the church.
On Sunday she returned ten miles to Escondido, where she spoke Sunday afternoon in the attractive brick church. The meeting had been announced in the local paper, and on Sunday morning it was also announced in the pulpits of several Protestant churches. Half of her Sunday-afternoon audience were non-Adventists. Present also were three clergymen, one each from the Baptist, Christian, and Congregational churches. Of this meeting she reported:
I felt richly blessed of God as I stood before this congregation and presented the Christian duties as set forth in the first chapter of Second Peter. The working of God on our behalf according to the plan of multiplication, and our duty to work on the plan of addition, are here set forth....
We are to add the grace of temperance. There needs to be a great reformation on the subject of temperance.... The Christian will be temperate in all things--in eating, in drinking, in dress, and in every phase of life.--The Review and Herald, August 29, 1907.
Her trip north called for a few more days at Loma Linda. She spoke twice to the students and on Sabbath morning spoke under the shady pepper trees to a large audience made up of Sanitarium workers and guests, and members of the neighboring churches. She was pleased that the Sanitarium entertained the visitors with a Sabbath lunch served on the lawn. That afternoon she went in to Los Angeles, where she spoke in the centrally located Carr Street church to a packed house.
She had promised to spend a few days at the Merced camp meeting, which would open on Thursday night, May 23, so she rested the few intervening days at Glendale Sanitarium before continuing her homeward journey.
On Sabbath and Sunday she spoke in the big tent at Merced, and once especially to the young people. An interesting feature of their camp meeting was that some of the Protestant ministers canceled their midweek meetings to give their members the opportunity to attend camp meeting. The ministers attended too.
Monday, May 27, Ellen White was on her way north again to Elmshaven. It had been a busy six weeks, and she was glad to be home.
The St. Helena Camp Meeting
Now her mind was on the camp meeting to be held at St. Helena, June 20-30. A good site was chosen, the large tent was pitched, and about it a hundred family tents, accommodating 500 campers.
Although her Elmshaven home was but three miles away, Ellen White wanted to camp on the grounds for the full meeting. She was nearing her eightieth birthday and had been attending camp meetings for forty years. She reported that the campground was "excellent, and the presentation of tents good" (Manuscript 155, 1907).
The large pavilion was well filled each afternoon and evening (Pacific Union Recorder, June 27, 1907). Evening meetings centered upon the second coming of Jesus; daytime meetings were "practical and heart searching" (Ibid., June 27, 1907). Ellen White spoke nearly every day, and on the first Sabbath morning closed her address on the Sabbath truth with an appeal to backsliders. Fifty responded. Thursday afternoon she spoke especially to the youth. The weather was good, and the camp meeting closed Sunday, June 30, with a baptism of twenty-four in the nearby Napa River.
The Summer Work
She was invited to attend the Los Angeles camp meeting in mid-August. Writing to the president of the Pacific Union Conference she explained: "I would say that unless the Lord gives me clear evidence that it is my duty to attend the Los Angeles camp meeting, I shall not venture to leave my home."
And then with a veiled reference as to one reason she felt this way--situations that would intensify during the next few months and reach their climax at the turn of the year--she wrote:
In the meetings I would be called upon to meet that which is not in harmony with the work of the Lord in these last days, and which is contrary to the light God has given me. These experiences always cause me great suffering of mind. Yet if the Lord reveals to me that it is my duty to attend this meeting, I am willing to go.--Letter 224, 1907.
What she referred to here was what she at times denominated as "kingly power" exercised by some called to executive positions in the work of God. Contending with both the stress of this growing peril and the many burdens as the Lord's messenger, together with her physical infirmities, Ellen White remained close to her comfortable Elmshaven home through the rest of the summer months.
Concern for Her Home and Office Family
But during this time there was a matter that cast a heavy burden on her. She noted in her diary on August 1 that she was "full of sorrow for the people of God," for they were having "a trifling experience in true righteousness and true service to God" (Manuscript 156, 1907). With a sorrowful and concerned pen she wrote, without pinpointing her message but setting down words that might well be pondered in many an office and worker family:
Not all connected with me are an honor spiritually. They are not in a position to do honor to my family. They are cheating themselves out of a true religious experience, trifling with eternal interests. They are not obtaining an experience that is of value to them in fitting their souls for the trials soon to come, and I am helpless to change the order of things.
It does not seem to be in some of them to closely examine their own hearts, whether they are obtaining a fitness for the trials that are coming upon every soul, whatever his position or profession. The true religious experience they have not.
I am distressed, for it is supposed that those of my household will feel an individual responsibility to keep their own souls in the love of God and be in their position a blessing to others.-- Ibid.
Occasionally she spoke of the personal blessing that the messages imparted through her for others brought to her own heart. Could it be that those who helped to get God's messages before the people considered this just an ordinary task and were not themselves blessed? She feared so.
But the time for the camp meeting in Los Angeles was pressing in, and Ellen White felt she must apply herself to that, writing what she could to meet situations there. The Colorado camp meeting would follow in Denver a week or two later--a meeting that was faced with trepidation, for detrimental influences were at work again in that conference. She must write to warn and nurture the church there. Then in mid-August she was shown that Satan would make every effort to get control of Melrose Sanitarium in New England. Medical personnel there were somewhat under Dr. Kellogg's influence. She must sound a warning.
Some phases of correspondence must wait. "I have been so fully occupied with urgent writing," she told old friends, Elder and Mrs. Haskell, "that I have not found time to answer letters. We are looking over my writings, and preparing matter to be read at our camp meetings at Los Angeles and Denver."--Letter 250, 1907. And a day or two later she wrote to Edson:
I have written a great deal in the past two weeks; my pen has been in my hand nearly all the hours of daylight. Two nights I was not able to sleep past twelve o'clock, for my mind was burdened with several matters.--Letter 258, 1907.
She was pleased when materials written earlier could serve. On Wednesday, August 21, she wrote:
I have a large amount of precious matter, written at Cooranbong and dated December 20, 1896, which is just what is needed at this time. I will have it copied today, and if it is possible, get it off [to Los Angeles] in the evening mail.
I had lost all trace of these manuscripts, but this morning a pile of copies attracted my attention, which, on looking over, I found to my surprise to be just what I wanted.--Letter 262, 1907.
The Sacred and the Common
Writing in these lines of instruction and warning, she was firm and unmistakably clear. Her message was a decided one. In contrast, when her advice was sought by various individuals on all types of often mundane matters, she exercised great caution. To an old friend seeking advice on whether she should secure a home of her own, she wrote on October 17:
I would be very glad to advise you, but as I am not on the ground, I would not draw a bow at a venture. One thing I would advise: if you purchase, get a home built if you can, for the time of building and the money invested makes quite an outgo of means.--Letter 336, 1907.
Earlier in the year she pointed out the care she must make in answering questions.
I find myself frequently placed where I dare give neither assent nor dissent to propositions that are submitted to me, for there is danger that any words I may speak shall be reported as something that the Lord has given me.
It is not always safe for me to express my own judgment, for sometimes when someone wishes to carry out his own purpose, he will regard any favorable word I may speak as special light from the Lord. I shall be cautious in all my movements.--Letter 162, 1907.
Two years later she was to speak of the "sacred and the common" in her work (see Selected Messages 1:38, 39).
The Farm and the Home
While working at Elmshaven through the summer, she tried to rest her mind for an hour or two each day by riding out in the fresh air in her comfortable carriage. Under Iram James's management the farm was prospering, and of his family she wrote to Edson in September:
Brother and Sister James have an excellent family. The children are eleven in number, and as soon as they can walk, they are taught to be helpful about the home.--Letter 284, 1907.
She was pleased that in this family religious interests were always placed first. She felt she could not have a better helper than Iram James, adding, "I would not be willing to exchange my farmer for any other person that I know of."
Ever in earnest about Adventists actively participating in missionary work in their communities, she was pleased to observe concerning James: "When he first came here, he devoted his Sabbaths to holding meetings with unbelievers; he was always welcomed, for he explains the Scriptures in a clear and acceptable way."-- Ibid.
When he came from Australia in 1901, the orchard was run-down, but he had built it up, pruning and grafting. Ellen White was particularly pleased with the new varieties of apples thus introduced. He excelled in animal husbandry, too. The two gray mares he bought in 1906 were now mothers of "two beautiful colts" (Ibid.).
With the Paul Mason family now at Elmshaven, Mrs. Mason was pressed into service as matron. "She is not robust," Ellen White wrote, "but her husband helps her in the house in many ways." And she noted, "No unpleasant word is spoken, and this is as it should be among those who are preparing to unite with the heavenly family in the City of God."-- Ibid.
As she thought of Mrs. Mason's work in providing meals for the family, she felt their close proximity to the Sanitarium Health Food Factory would be helpful, for they could easily provide themselves "with all our health foods," and she felt that "this makes the work in the cooking line light" (Letter 308, 1906).
The Misguided Would-Be Prophet
One particular matter was brought to her attention in October. A nurse at Boulder Sanitarium, a faithful and devoted young woman, felt impressed that the Lord had bestowed on her the gift of prophecy. It all began with a dream she had, followed by other "dreams" and "visions."
She declared that the Lord had given her positive evidence that she was called to take Sister White's place; that she would receive a telegram stating that Sister White was dead and that before her death, Sister White would write her that she was to be laid away and that the Lord had revealed to Sister White that she was to assume the mantel of the Lord's messenger (F. M. Wilcox to WCW, October 14, 1907).
There was some excitement among the Sanitarium personnel, and there was some speculation as to whether or not her claims were really true.
Among other points, she affirmed that "the Lord ... instructed her as to how she should comb her hair," and "put her to the test as to whether she would give up different things for His sake, et cetera" (Ibid.).
Not knowing to what proportions this might grow, Elder Wilcox, the business manager, felt Ellen White should know of what they were meeting.
On October 23, she wrote:
Dear Brother Wilcox,
I received and read your recent letter. Regarding the sister who thinks that she has been chosen to fill the position that Sister White has occupied, I have this to say: She may be honest, but she is certainly deceived.--Letter 371, 1907.
"My Writings Will Continue To Speak"
In the next six pages, she discussed her mission and work and the work of those associated with her. She introduced a line of thought mentioned a number of times of late, that is, if she should fall at her post, her writings would speak (Letter 268, 1907; Manuscript 156, 1907).
Abundant light has been given to our people in these last days. Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak, and their work will go forward as long as time shall last. My writings are on file in the office, and even though I should not live, these words that have been given to me by the Lord will still have life and will speak to the people.
But my strength is yet spared, and I hope to continue to do much useful work. I may live until the coming of the Lord; but if I should not, I trust it may be said of me, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."--Letter 371, 1907 (Selected Messages 1:55, 56).
She wrote of the work of W. C. White and mentioned that he had been "chosen by the Lord to take charge of the publication" of her writings, "if I should lay off the armor" (Ibid.).
The Birth of a Grandson and a Great-Grandson
Ellen White rejoiced when word came to her that there was a new member in the W. C. White household. May White, on Sabbath, October 5, gave birth to a son whom they chose to name Arthur. He would be the third grandchild who would carry the name White. Three months later Ella White-Robinson also gave birth to a son, who was given the name Virgil. Ellen White loved children, and took a certain amount of pride in these additions to the family.