The visit to Paris, Nimes, and Valence
As one of the dominant powers of Europe, France had known periods of greatness and glory. The centuries following the Reformation were marked by civil war, the tyranny of absolutism and revolutions, the Napoleonic wars of expansion, and the vicissitudes of several forms of government.
During the time of Mrs. White's visit the country was under a political system known as the Third Republic. According to the light Ellen White received from God the history of France might have been more salutary if the nation had received fully the teachings of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. (See The Great Controversy, 211-236; 265-288.)
Even so, the light of the gospel shone brightly in France for years under the teaching of LeFevre and Farel and Berquin, and the valiant Huguenots--until persecution nearly silenced the voices of God's messengers.
In vision the cause-and-effect relationship in these historic developments in church and state were opened up to the mind of the Lord's servant. She saw the French Revolution as a harvest reaped more than two centuries after the fateful seed sowing in the time of the Catholic King Francis I and Charles IX and the St. Bartholomew's massacre.
The Light of the Advent Message
As the light of the Reformation appeared in France, centuries later the light of the Advent proclamation touched that historic land and French-speaking Switzerland.
"The light shone also in France and Switzerland. At Geneva, where Farel and Calvin had spread the truths of the Reformation, Gaussen preached the message of the second advent. While a student at school, Gaussen had encountered that spirit of rationalism which pervaded all Europe during the latter part of the eighteenth and the opening of the nineteenth century; and when he entered the ministry he was not only ignorant of true faith, but inclined to skepticism. In his youth he had become interested in the study of prophecy. After reading Rollins' Ancient History, his attention was called to the second chapter of Daniel, and he was struck with the wonderful exactness with which the prophecy had been fulfilled, as seen in the historian's record....
"As he pursued his investigation of the prophecies, he arrived at the belief that the coming of the Lord was at hand. Impressed with the solemnity and importance of this great truth, he desired to bring it before the people."--The Great Controversy, 364, 365.
Gaussen printed his prophetic lessons and circulated them faithfully among young and old. He became one of the "most distinguished and beloved of preachers in the French language" (Ibid., 366). But he was "suspended from the ministry" because of his views on Bible prophecy and the coming of the Lord.
Brief Stay in Paris
When Ellen White arrived in Paris on Wednesday evening, October 13, she doubtless wondered what would be the attitude of the French who listened to the Adventist evangelists proclaiming the message now in that country. During the next two weeks she found the answer.
The White party was met by a young man named Garside, whom D. T. Bourdeau had led to Christ just a few months earlier in Geneva. Garside had worked briefly with Bourdeau as a colporteur in Nimes, and then moved on to Paris with his trunk of books and papers. He took the travelers to a nearby hotel where, six stories up, they found comfortable lodgings.
Ellen White was fascinated by the flashing lights of the carriages as they passed to and fro on the street far below her window. The next day she would see the great city from a better perspective. Upon returning to America she would describe in her book The Great Controversy certain events of the Reformation that took place there.
At five the following morning, she was up writing by candlelight. "I seemed to be transferred back to old times when candles were the only lights used except whale oil in our lamps," she wrote.
As we reflect upon her messages we see that there was nothing narrow or provincial in her teaching. Before the "one world" idea became so widely discussed in our time, this clear-thinking spokeswoman for God was describing how this one message of truth was to develop one church unified throughout one world. She and the church leaders were agreed on that goal! That same year, 1886, while at Basel she wrote:
"Our prayer should ascend to the throne of grace with fervor for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His vineyard. My heart aches as I look around upon the mission fields and see so feeble efforts to get the truth before the people. No censure can be attached to our leading men. I believe, brethren, you are one with me in heart, in sentiment, in regard to our great need, and in the earnest desire and earnest efforts to meet the mind of the Spirit of God in these things."--Letter 55, 1886.
Whether in Europe or Australia, she poured forth a stream of letters and manuscripts addressed to many parts of the world, a total of nearly 2,500 during her eleven overseas years. And now she was in France. What fruitage would develop from her labors there?
A Walk Through the Streets of Paris
Later that morning Brother Garside came and escorted her and her company on a short walking tour of Paris. Apparently they were near the Stock Exchange and climbed into a second-floor gallery where they could look down into the room where the stock-exchange business was exploding before them.
Mrs. White wrote about the grand melee:
"Men were pushing and crowding one another, screeching at the top of their voices. Many were hoarse, and yet they shrieked on louder than ever. Hundreds were there and men were coming and going, wrestling and crowding one another like mad men. And what was all this for? Trading in stocks. Some would gain, others lose. And it was all for a little of the inheritance in this life.... I thought of the scene when the day of judgment should take place. What confusion would come to all who have not made God their dependence and were not prepared for the great day of final decision. Let us make our calling and election sure."--Manuscript 70, 1886.
The visit to the Exchange was followed by a carriage trip to Versailles and a tour of the exquisite home of French monarchs. Ellen White called it "the palaces of the kings." She was impressed by the grandeur and elegance of the expensive and richly adorned halls, bedrooms, and chambers. She was unhappy with certain paintings, however, which according to her understanding of Bible history depicted Biblical scenes inaccurately. She wrote:
"Earthly-minded men may be skilled in their science of art, but how utterly unable they are to approach the Divine model."--Manuscript 75, 1886.
Invalides and the Tomb of Napoleon
Sister White visited the Invalides and saw the tomb of Napoleon and some of his generals who shared his triumphs, his glory, and his defeats. The guide who directed her party repeated the thrilling events that marked the life of the brilliant military genius and his subordinates. She was duly impressed and not unappreciative, but she hated war and bloodshed. Mrs. White was told that:
"this grand building* was presented to the government for a hospital or asylum for old soldiers who served in Napoleon's armies. Their families and their children and grandchildren were to be taken care of. There have been as many as five hundred sick and disabled soldiers in this building at one time. Their preparation for cooking is very extensive. These soldiers are supported by the government."--Manuscript 70, 1886.
After a busy day's tour she and her friends assembled at the hotel, climbed the six flights of stairs, and ate a simple supper. Then after a solemn season of prayer the group divided. Brother Garside remained in Paris, Willie White and Sara McEnterfer headed for Basel, and Ellen White, accompanied by Elder and Mrs. Ings, boarded a carriage for the four-mile trip to the train that would take them to Nimes, where she was to conduct a series of meetings. Mrs. Ings had plenty of experience as Mrs. White's nurse, so she stayed with her. Besides, Sara was needed in Basel, where Mary K. White was due to have a baby very soon.
Arrival at Nimes
The next morning when they arrived in Nimes, D. T. Bourdeau and his two assistants, J. D. Comte and J. P. Badaut, were on hand to meet them. A tram took them to Bourdeau's comfortable second-floor flat at Rue Freres Mineurs 5.
Bourdeau had started the work in southern France ten years earlier, but political turmoil and legal restrictions on evangelistic activities had hampered his efforts. He had returned to the area, this time to Nimes, in June of 1886, accompanied by James Erzberger and Albert Vuilleumier, who stayed until just before Ellen White's arrival. Comte, a former Baptist evangelist whom Bourdeau had converted in Bastia, Corsica, two years earlier, and Badaut, from the church in Granges, France, were working with Bourdeau as colporteurs.
The early meetings in the 40-foot round tent that Bourdeau pitched had been disrupted by rowdy students. Finally admission cards were issued to the serious listeners in the congregation, and the nine-foot wall surrounding the tent was patrolled inside and out, local police assisting.
By the time Ellen White arrived on October 15, some fifteen people had decided to keep the Sabbath, and a lively interest was aroused through the tent meetings and the Bible readings conducted in the homes.
The next day, Sabbath, she spoke twice, once in the forenoon and again in the evening. The French were delighted to hear the message from the American visitor.
William Ings spoke in the afternoon on the subject of the restoration of the Sabbath. When he made his appeal there was a good response. Sixteen people bore their testimony in the social meeting that followed. These converts had just embraced the Sabbath and begun to keep it. They were "witnesses for God to reflect the light in that ... city" said the servant of the Lord. And Nimes was no small city! Here centuries earlier the merchant Peter Waldo had preached the truths of the Bible, and gathered about him a company of "soldiers"--" The Poor Men of Nimes"--to witness for Christ. They were forced by persecution to flee to northern Italy to seek shelter in the mountains. There the Waldensian movement grew and became strong.
Roman Ruins in Nimes
On Sunday, Mrs. White and her friends took a walk into the heart of Nimes. The market activities were as busy as on any other day of the week. She was especially impressed by the Roman antiquities for which the city is famous. She visited the Maison Carree or "Square House," a perfect little pillared stone temple dating from the days of Augustus Caesar.
At Nimes Sister White met Mr. Guilly, an evangelical preacher and preceptor of a school for orphans and fallen women. She took a large interest in the charitable work he was doing for Christ.
For two weeks she remained in the city and the kindly Mr. Guilly did all he could to make her stay as pleasant as possible. One day he took her to the Tour Magne, the Great Tower, another impressive Roman ruin on a hill north of the city. After a long climb up the hillside they reached the tower of the old castle and gradually ascended its narrow stone steps.
Ellen White wrote to her sister, Mary Foss:
"We ... were richly rewarded for our toil in the magnificent view.... We could overlook Nimes and the olive groves abounding in and about Nimes, presenting a very beautiful picture. I thought while so high up of the temptation of Christ when He was beset by Satan. He was placed on the pinnacle of the temple and then invited ... and taunted to evidence that He was the Son of God by casting Himself down from the dizzy height....
"From this eminence we had a broad extended view. But nothing that was in comparison to the view of the kingdoms of the world spread out before the Son of God in most bewitching loveliness and richness."--Letter 108, 1886.
Near the end of her stay she took dinner with Mr. Guilly at Bourdeau's house. The next day she toured his school and orphanage.
On Sabbath, October 30, she spoke twice in the afternoon and in the evening. Mr. Guilly, his wife, the directors of the asylum that he managed, and fifty of his students attended the services. Sister White said, "We hope this acquaintance may be in the providence of God a blessing to them and to us" (Ibid.).
The Young Watchmaker
She was a soul winner. She was constantly laboring to help others. Not only did she preach almost every day in Nimes but she was alert to every opportunity to share her Christian witness.
There was a young watchmaker there named Abel Bieder who especially attracted her interest, for she had seen him in vision and knew of his problem. Abel was once a member of one of the Swiss Adventist churches. Wrote Ellen White:
"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 watch-making. 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 attended the meeting when he thought I would speak, and would sit with his eyes riveted on me through the entire discourse, which was translated into French by Brother Bourdeau. I felt a duty to labor for this young man. I talked two hours with him and urged upon him the peril of his situation. I told him because his brethren had made a mistake that was no reason that he should grieve the heart of Christ who had loved him so much that He had died to redeem him....
"I told him that 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 of 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 good business learning his trade. If he kept the Sabbath he would lose his position.... 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 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. The next day he notified his employer that he could work for him no longer. He slept but little for three nights. He was happy, so thankful that the Lord had evidenced to him His pardon and His love."--Letter 59, 1886 (Evangelism, 449-451.)
On Sunday, October 31, Sister White spoke again. The hall was packed with eager listeners. Her constant effort in France was to preach evangelistic sermons, to make prominent the gospel of Jesus Christ and the special truths God has given to Seventh-day Adventists for the world. The prophetic gift she had from God enabled her to present the doctrines clearly.
Meetings in Historic Valence
Early Monday morning Ellen White and her party boarded the train for Valence. It was here that Bourdeau had worked ten years earlier. Here in 1798 history was made as Pope Pius VI was kept as a prisoner of Napoleon. The pontiff died there the next year. Thus prophecy was fulfilled. (See The Great Controversy, 579.)
She spoke for three quarters of an hour in an evening meeting attended by a small company of believers and their friends. There was a keen interest in her message, and at the request of the people she decided to stay over an extra day. A man was present in the meeting who had begun to keep the Sabbath, but who had given it up. In her diary she tells of how she prayed earnestly that the sermon would have an influence in planting his feet once again upon the pathway to heaven. That same day, back in Basel, her second grand-daughter was born, but she did not receive word till several days later.
Early on the morning of Tuesday, November 2, Mrs. White arose early and engaged in writing. Meanwhile the brethren in Valence were out inviting their friends and stirring up an interest in the evening service. Brother Bourdeau drove many miles out into the country to pick up a brother and bring him to the meeting, but his mission was fruitless. The man was away from home, and the rain fell so heavily that he could not have attended anyway. But they had an excellent meeting in spite of the inclement weather.
The Cathedral of Saint Apollinaire
While in Valence, Ellen White was intensely interested in visiting the Cathedral of Saint Apollinaire where she observed the officiating priests with their white robes and over these a surplice of black velvet trimmed with gold braid, with the form of the cross marked in the back. She heard their words of prayer and their chanted hymns. This exposure while in Europe to the grandeur and impressiveness of the Catholic worship services proved helpful to her as she described Catholic worship in the book The Great Controversy. (See pp. 566, 567.)
She wrote:
"We looked upon the bust of Pius VI. The marble statue beneath the bust contained the heart of the Pope. This is the Pope specified in prophecy, who received the deadly wound.* He was carried captive to Valence and we looked upon the tower where he was confined and where he died. From this tower he could look upon the beautiful waters of the Rhone and this gave him much delight.
"It was a gratification to look upon this representation of the Pope which prophecy has so faithfully described. We looked upon a black cloth stretched across the walls of the portion of the building where the people were worshiping the second day of November. This black cloth was adorned with ghastly death-heads and bones in white, which looked frightful. But they were observing the feast for the dead [All Soul's Day].
"These vestments of the priests, symbolically adorned with large figures of the cross and with a variety of colours, bore no resemblance to the simplicity of worship. But priestly ceremonies, burdened with pompous display, processions, and art to produce effect, are abundant. Lighted tapers and outward display are very poor substitutes for spiritual vitality, which was wanting."--Manuscript 70, 1886.
Reflections on Valence
As Sister White went on her way, she reflected upon the opportunities in Valence to lead others to Christ.
"There was a young man of excellent capabilities--a bookbinder. He had been learning the trade for nearly three years, and for his labor he was paid only three dollars per week and boarded himself. His keeping the Sabbath threw him out of two days. His sister has a good education, but keeping the Sabbath places her where she labors daily for twenty cents per day in doing common serving. She would make a good missionary worker if she only had the chance. Her mother engages in working in the field, receiving twenty cents when she can obtain work. We must seek to connect them with the office in Basel."--Ibid.
Third Visit to the Piedmont Valleys
Leaving Valence on Wednesday, November 3, Ellen White and the Ingses took third-class passage and found themselves in the midst of thirty-three Italians emigrating back to Italy from America.
And why was Mrs. White traveling third class? To save money as other Christian workers have done. Thirty-six francs to be exact! She had found D. T. Bourdeau short of funds and had given him nine dollars. Then too, she had paid the fare of her young watch-maker convert, Abel Bieder, to Basel so he could work with Elders Conradi and Erzberger in evangelistic meetings for the Germans.
At Modane the party was able to transfer to second class, and that evening arrived safely in Turin, where they spent the night. The next morning it was on to Torre Pellice for her third and final visit to the Piedmont valleys.
A. C. Bourdeau had a package of letters for her from Basel, one of which was of special interest to her. She wrote Willie that the last letter she opened "contained the important news of the birth of your second daughter.... I shall be much pleased to welcome the little one" (Letter 110, 1886).
W. C. White was properly proud of the new arrival and wrote to his brother, Edson: "Early Monday morning, November 1st, Mary presented me with a little girl.... They call her Mabel, and she promises to be as good as other Swiss children" (W. C. White letter, November 10, 1886). In another letter he described his new daughter as "fat, pretty (of course) and possessed of a most amiable disposition.... Ella says that I may give away the doll babies now, for this one is better"Mabel, by name, at the age of 88 at the time of this writing, lives at Elmshaven, California. Her married name is Workman. (W. C. White letter to C. H. Jones, November 10, 1886).
The same evening she arrived in Torre Pellice, Ellen White witnessed an unusual occurrence, a spectacular star shower. She had been but a girl of five when the "stars fell" on November 13, 1833, and probably slept through it all.† But she didn't miss this November star shower.
"Here I was looking upon a sight I never expected to see--the starry heavens ablaze with shooting, falling stars, each leaving a tail of light in its passage across the heavens, and then disappearing. They were crisscrossing in every direction, yet we could not miss any of these bright jets of light. With emotions I cannot described, we looked for hours upon these shooting, flashing meteors. I looked upon the snowcapped Alps, and the flashing lights seemed to fall directly upon them.... What did it mean?
"When we returned at midnight the same scenes continued. But for all the hundreds of stars flying across the heavens, we could not miss one--not a single glory in the starry host seemed to be missing. The following nights we had no such scene repeated. God's host still shines in the firmament of the heavens."--Manuscript 73, 1886.
The servant of the Lord did not draw any lessons beyond that of the unchangeable certainty of the fixed stars and constellations behind the hundreds of meteorites that flashed for a moment and were gone. But there was a lesson in the stars that night, one that had at least some relevance to the problems that still plagued the work in northern Italy.
O. Corcorda, the former Adventist who had joined with Miles Grant in his attacks on the church during Ellen White's previous visit, had come again with his "flaming notices" that he would give the history of the Adventists from the beginning and thus discredit them (Letter 110, 1886). The outlook was discouraging, she admitted: "The people cannot tell what is piped or what is harped. They think one talks well and another entirely the opposite in faith talks well."--Manuscript 73, 1886.
Adopting the same course she had taken previously, she made no reply to the attacks, but went quietly about her work. But Corcorda's "flaming notices" were like the meteorites that flashed brilliantly for a moment and soon burned out while the fixed stars of present truth remained to cheer the hearts of the believers with their precious light.
Mrs. White's diaries and letters for this final visit to Italy are uncommonly brief, but we do know she stayed two weeks. November 20 we find her back in Switzerland, visiting the Swiss churches at Lausanne and Bienne, returning home to Basel on Wednesday, November 24. Two days later she passed her fifty-ninth birthday.