Aboard the City of Rome
London! Southampton! Wellingborough! Kettering! Grimsby! Birkenhead! Liverpool!--all of them towns and cities in old England--the last visited by Ellen White before she boarded the City of Rome at Liverpool on August 3. She was bound for home at last! These names would linger in her memory as long as she lived.
At eleven in the morning they arrived at Liverpool. Here she met her daughter-in-law, Mary K. White, and her two children, Ella and tiny Mabel, whom she had not seen for several months. W. C. White was left behind in Basel to complete some last-minute work "that demanded his special attention" (Manuscript 27, 1887).
At the home of Brother Drew in Liverpool, Sister White enjoyed some last pleasant hours. There she met a clerical brother who had recently accepted the Sabbath, a Pastor Smith. "He has been a minister of the State Church and was separated from the church because of his receiving the doctrine of immortality of the soul only through Christ, in accordance with the Word of God."--Ibid. She rejoiced to see this honest Christian advance in the light and she did her best to encourage him.
Her extensive counsel concerning our reaching "ministers of other denominations" is wise and sensible:
"We have a work to do for the ministers of other churches. God wants them to be saved. They, like ourselves, can have immortality only through faith and obedience. We must labor for them earnestly that they may obtain it. God wants them to have a part in His special work for this time. He wants them to be among the number who are giving to His household meat in due season. Why should they not be engaged in this work?"--Testimonies for the Church 6:77, 78.
The Embarkation from Liverpool
The time had come to embark. The City of Rome would carry her and her party * safely homeward. Two years before, with some misgivings, she had looked forward to the European adventure. In vision God had opened to her mind certain situations that existed among the workers and the emerging institutions in Europe prior to her departure for the Old World.
But now all of this was in the past. Her thoughts as she sailed from Liverpool were not so much thoughts of anticipation as of reflection.
The advance moves that had been made in the eight countries that she had visited, the sacrifice and unselfish labors of the European and American laborers, and the willingness of the believers to listen and follow the Spirit of Prophecy counsel, brought joy to her heart and praise to her lips.
Her reflections upon the work in Europe are best expressed in a Review article that appeared four months after her return to America. "After a two years' stay in Europe we see no more reason for discouragement in the state of the cause there than at its rise in the different fields in America."--December 6, 1887.
She could speak from experience now. Two years on the scene in Europe, visiting, preaching, teaching, counseling, observing, had qualified her to bring back to the brethren in America a true and a good report. Having helped to pioneer the message in the United States, she now had participated in the development of the early churches and institutions in Europe.
State of Three European Missions
She wrote in the same article in the Review concerning the three missions in Europe as follows:
"A great work is committed to those who present the truth in Europe.... The population comprised within the limits of this mission alone is four times that of the United States. A good work has already been done in these countries. There are those who have received the truth, scattered as light-bearers in almost every land. We have nearly three hundred Sabbathkeepers in Switzerland. There are little companies in France, Germany, and Italy, and two hundred souls in Russia, who are obeying God's law; and there is a church of forty members away in the far east, almost to the line of Asia. The foundation has been laid for a church in Holland. In Roumania and Corsica there are a few who are seeking to keep God's commandments, and to wait for His Son from heaven.
"But how little has been done in comparison with the great work before us! ... The laborers in this mission are striving to the utmost of their ability, to meet the wants of the cause. But money is needed to sustain and extend the work. The call is coming in from different countries, 'Send us a minister to preach the truth.' How shall we answer this call?
"Our printing house at Basel needs help to carry forward its great and good work of translating and publishing books on the present truth, in the different languages of Europe. Colporteurs are meeting with encouraging success in the sale of our books. The light is thus brought to the people, while the colporteur--who in many cases has been thrown out of employment by accepting the truth--is enabled to support himself, and the sales are a financial help to the office....
"But the work of translating and publishing is necessarily difficult and expensive. The office must be supplied with funds.
"In the Scandinavian Mission, in the face of poverty and great difficulties, many have heard and believed the warning. There are twenty-three churches and nearly 1,000 Sabbath keepers in these countries. Nine ministers and licentiates, and about thirty colporteurs, are now in the field. It is only by self-denial and the closest economy that this has been gained. There is great need of financial help to send out laborers and publications to these Northern peoples.
"The mission in London, that great city of 5,000,000 inhabitants, demands a place in our thoughts, our prayers, and our gifts. A great work must be done there, and as yet it is scarcely begun. Think of the many cities of England, ... all speaking the same language as our own, that have never yet been entered by the truth."--Ibid.
The Sea Like a Placid Lake
Mrs. White's reflections on shipboard, mingled as they were with feelings of rejoicing about the growth of the work, as well as care and concern about the future, were matched by the changeable weather at sea.
On the morning of August 4 she awakened feeling strong and well. "All right this morning," she wrote cheerily. "Had a beautiful night. The water is as smooth as a placid lake. Would not think we were on the boat if we did not hear the machinery and feel a little motion."--Letter 165, 1887. But the calm was followed by a storm. The porthole was latched and made fast. As Ellen White wrote about it later, she said:
"We had a storm at sea--not the most violent. I was upon deck all day, never tiring of watching the rolling waves--awful in their beauty, burnished like the heavens in their varied reflections as they rise as if in terrible wrath. The senses are fascinated with the sight. The waves scatter their spray like an overflowing cataract when lashed into fury by the merciless winds. They caused the strong, massive boat to tremble. They seem to be in a wild passion.... We heard a shriek on deck and saw two dozen passengers fleeing in every direction, for the waves had washed completely over the deck, giving them a thorough drenching."--Manuscript 27, 1887.
This turmoil of wind and water would naturally stimulate Ellen White's mind. Here are her words:
"We had solemn thoughts. The massive boat was but a speck on the broad waters. Men who waste their lives in vain struggles after happiness are represented by the troubled sea when it cannot rest. I looked upon the change and conflict through which the deep waters were passing in all their varied aspects of light and darkness--the placid waters like the crystal sea, the gale and the storm, and this proud boat riding upon the storm-tossed waves.
"Card-playing, dancing, and mad mirth upon the boat in mid-ocean have seemed entirely out of order and inappropriate at any time. The waters, unless kept within their appointed bounds by a perpetual miracle of Divine power, would, in storm and tempest, in their wild, boisterous vehemence, wreck the fairest vessels and hurl the living freight to a watery grave. What a thought--a solitary ship upon the boundless deep! Day after day we may look upon the heavens above us, the waters beneath. No landmark we can see--nothing that our eyes rest upon that stands still. Shall we ever reach our homes or shall we be swallowed up in the waters of the great deep as thousands upon thousands before us have been? God, the infinite God, how great His power! Shall we fear to trust Him?"--Ibid.
Finally, on August 11, the S.S. City of Rome arrived at New York. "Had ... a pleasant voyage," was her laconic comment (Letter 50, 1887). "However," she added soberly, "the very night we landed we took another steamer" for her first speaking appointment in America. Then followed one camp meeting after another.
These intensive meetings occupied her time for two months until finally she arrived at her home in Healdsburg, California, in mid-October.
Her Influence on the European Church
L. H. Christian, in charge of the work in Europe during the years 1922-1928 and president of the Northern European Division 1928-1936, wrote:
"The advent movement in Europe would never have been the same if it had not been for her visit. For many, many years our members and their children in England, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden never tired of telling about Mrs. White. And when now and then in later years a few disloyal ones ridiculed and belittled the gift of prophecy and the servant of God, our people said: 'We know better. We heard her speak. We have seen her humble, godly, inspiring life. We have her books, and they agree with the Bible and deepen our love for Jesus.'
"When I first went to Europe, in 1903, nearly all our people still remembered the visit of Mrs. White, and they loved to tell of her meetings and experiences, as they felt greatly helped by her stay."--The Fruitage of Spiritual Gifts, pp. 161, 162.
In the year 1912 a small group of Norwegian Adventists were informed by a church brother that November 26 was Ellen White's eighty-fifth birthday. They felt a strong attachment to the writings of God's servant and decided in their own unique way to "celebrate." In a letter to Ellen White they wrote:
November 26, 1912
Mrs. E. G. White
St. Helena, California.
Dear Mother in Israel and Servant of the Lord!
Greetings from a few Sabbath-keepers in the western part of Norway, gathered together to celebrate your eighty-fifth anniversary by a thanksgiving meeting.
We thank the Lord for all the light He has given through the Spirit of Prophecy, and pray for help to walk in it, and our earnest prayer is that the Lord may protect and strengthen His aged servant whom He has chosen to bring us all this wonderful light and guidance....
(Signed)
Alma Anderson
Ranghild Johnsen
John Johnsen
Laura Hansen
Augusta Johnsen
Emma Fleischer
Arthur Johnsen
Elverhoi, Voss
Norway
A Prophetic Voice Speaking to the World
Mrs. White helped to pioneer the Seventh-day Adventist Church in America. She helped to build the church in Europe. Later, also, she became a pioneer builder in Australia (1891-1900). And when her busy life ended in 1915 she could testify concerning her witness for Christ and her seventy years of service in the cause she loved, "I have done the best that I could."