Printed in the Review and Herald, March 14, 1935
In the call of Ellen Harmon as a chosen messenger and as a leader in the remnant church, there is seen a striking exemplification of the principles whereby God so reveals His power and purpose that there is no occasion for human glory. As stated by the great apostle:
"God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. 1:27-29.
At the time of her first vision, in December, 1844, Miss Harmon was but seventeen years of age. She had, as we have seen, almost no education. Her health was impaired. She was frail, weighing only eighty pounds, and had a weak heart and diseased lungs. She was extremely timid, and sensitive to blame or censure. Her family, though respected for their Christian integrity, were poor and had no claim to distinction.
Who could have foreseen that she would be strengthened physically for a long life of arduous labor; that she would acquire intellectual power to qualify as a world-renowned author and lecturer; that she would be fortified to stand courageously for her conceptions of right against prolonged and acute opposition; or that in the years to come she would, as a steward of means, though laying up nothing for her own enrichment, dispense many thousands of dollars in various benevolences?
It was only after a severe soul-conflict that Ellen Harmon gained the consent of her mind to relate her first vision to the company of Adventists in Portland who were still united. In the earliest preserved letter from her pen, one written only about two years after this experience, we read:
"After I had the vision, and God gave me light, He bade me deliver it to the band, but I shrank from it. I was young, and I thought they would not receive it from me. I disobeyed the Lord, and instead of remaining at home, where the meeting was to be that night, I got in a sleigh in the morning and rode three or four miles."--Letter 3, 1847.
In the home of a friend she went to an upstairs room, and spent the entire day wrestling with God in an agony of soul. It seemed to her that she was forsaken of God. At length she surrendered, and promised the Lord that if He would give her strength to ride home that night, she would deliver the message. She was strengthened, and returned home, arriving there after the meeting had closed. But, as she continues.
"The next meeting I told my vision, and the band, believing my visions from God, received what God bade me to deliver to them."--Ibid.
The Way Prepared
From this same letter we learn that although Ellen Harmon had absented herself from this evening meeting, yet at that very meeting the leader of the band in Portland had presented from the Scriptures evidence that forced him to the conclusion that God had led in their past experience, and he had exhorted his hearers not to cast away their confidence.
Not only was Ellen Harmon unaware that he had reached this conclusion,--which was in harmony with the light that had been given to her,--but it was the thought that she would be compelled to stand in opposition to him and the Portland company that to a large degree caused her such distress of mind. Furthermore, the leader of the advent band, knowing that she had received a vision, greatly desired to know the nature of the revelation before presenting his newly received convictions to the brethren.
These two met at the home where she spent the day of mental conflict. He inquired whether she was in the way of duty. To this she made no reply. Regarding this she has written:
"I said nothing, for I knew I was not. I passed up chamber, and did not see him again for two hours, when he came up [and] asked if I was to be at the meeting that night. I told him, No. He said he wanted to hear my vision, and thought it duty for me to go home. I told him I should not. He said no more, but went away.
"I thought, and told those around me, if I went, I should have to come out against his views, thinking he believed with the rest. I had not told any of them what God had shown me, and I did not tell them in what way I should cut across his truth. All that day I suffered much in body and mind. It seemed that God had forsaken me entirely."
The following morning this leader met Miss Harmon at her father's home, and insisted that she should tell him all that she had seen in vision. It was "with fear and trembling" that she did this. And she was amazed when, after hearing her, he declared that he had expressed views in harmony with this vision the night before in the meeting.
Thus providentially had the Lord prepared the way before this timid, frail girl who had been chosen as God's messenger. It was through the study of the word of God that faith was first restored in the advent movement. And as we continue with the narrative of these early experiences, it will become evident that this was the general order,--first light from the Scriptures, then confirmation by the gift of prophecy.
The Call to Travel
Having committed herself to the leading of God, Miss Harmon soon found opportunities to deliver her messages in other places. The first call came indirectly through an invitation from her sister, Mrs. Mary Foss, who lived in Poland, Maine. Writing of this experience to this sister a number of years later, Mrs. White said:
"I thought that this was an opening from the Lord. I was in fee- ble health, my lungs were diseased. I was spitting blood, but I decided to go with your husband. As I could not bear the cold air, I sat in the bottom of the sleigh with the buffalo robe over my head.
"I had not spoken in a loud voice for some time. After I arrived at Poland, you said that there was to be a meeting at Macquire's Hall, and asked me to go. I went with you and your husband. There, that night, I stood upon my feet to relate the testimony given me of God. For about five minutes I labored to speak, and then everything broke away, and my voice was as clear as a bell. I talked for about two hours."--Letter 37, 1890.
Hazen Foss
The next morning, Ellen Harmon met a young man named Hazen Foss--probably a relative of her brother-in-law. He said to her, as related in this letter written many years later:
"Ellen, I want to speak with you. The Lord gave me a message to bear to His people, and I refused after being told the consequences. I was proud; I was unreconciled to the disappointment. I murmured against God, and wished myself dead. Then I felt a strange feeling come over me. I shall be henceforth as one dead to spiritual things. I heard you talk last night. I believe the visions are taken from me, and given to you. Do not refuse to obey God, for it will be at the peril of your soul. I am a lost man. You are chosen of God; be faithful in doing your work, and the crown I might have had, you will receive."--Ibid.
Previous to this, Ellen Harmon had not known of Hazen Foss's experience; now she learned that he had been given views similar to hers, and had refused to obey the charge to relate them to others. She states that "the first vision was given" to her "right after this decision."
Regarding Mr. Foss's experience, Uriah Smith wrote:
"He refused to heed the instruction given him by the Spirit of the Lord, to go forth and make known what had been shown to him--refused to such a degree as to set his will in the most positive manner that he would not do it. His feelings thereupon sinking to the very verge of despair, he concluded he would do anything rather than continue in that state of mind. But it was then too late. For when he attempted to relate what had been shown him, at a meeting appointed by himself for the purpose, he was unable, even with the most violent effort, to articulate a word?"--Review and Herald, June 12, 1866.
Tokens of Divine Guidance
About the first of February, 1845, Ellen Harmon was invited by William Jordan to accompany him and his sister to Orrington, Maine, where he was going to deliver a horse and sleigh belonging to James White.
It was reported that some of the leaders in the company of Adventists at Orrington were in fanaticism. By their shouting and noisy demonstrations, they had aroused the indignation of the people of the town, and were threatened with violence or arrest for disturbing the peace. When Mr. Jordan urged Miss Harmon to go and relate her experience to this company, she shrank from the ordeal. She wrote:
"I was young and timid, and felt great sadness in regard to visiting the field where fanaticism had reigned. I pleaded with God to spare me from this--to send by some other one. The Spirit of the Lord again came upon me, and I was shown my faith would be tested, my courage and obedience tried. I must go. God would give me words to speak at the right time. And if I should wait upon Him, and have faith in His promises, I should escape both imprisonment and abuse; for He would restrain those who would do me harm. If I would look to God with humble confidence and faith, no man's hand should be laid upon me to do me harm. An angel of heaven would be by my side and direct me when and where to go."--Letter 2, 1874.
So, trusting in God, Miss Harmon consented to go.
Today, a motorist, leaving Portland after breakfast, would be at Orrington in time for lunch. But it must have taken the greater part of two days for our travelers in the sleigh to cover the distance of 135 miles.
At Orrington, meetings were held at private homes, and sometimes without appointment. On three occasions, as related by Mrs. White, brethren were gathered in a remarkable manner.
"Many who had no knowledge of the meeting, but were moved by an earnest desire to go to a certain brother's house, came, and the rooms were well filled."
"I saw most of the brethren and sisters. Hs I warned them of their dangers, some were rejoiced that God had sent me; others refused to listen to my testimony as soon as they learned that I was not in union with their spirit. They said I was going back to the world; that we must be so straight and so plain and so full of glory, as they called their shouting and hallooing, that the world would hate and persecute us."--Ibid.
Three Forks, Mont.
At one place where a meeting was in progress, Miss Harmon was seen coming, and the door was locked against her; but, to quote her own words, "in the name of the Lord I opened it." Here she saw a woman, supposed to be in vision, "crying out in a most pitiful manner, warning against" her. She says:
"I knelt by her side and asked my heavenly Father to rebuke the spirit which was upon her. She immediately arose, her agony and burden ended. I then addressed those who were present, in the name of the Lord. I reasoned with them and rebuked their fanatical spirit, and showed them the inconsistency of their course."--Ibid.
To the fanatical ones she said:
"God has sent me to tell you that you are doing great injury to His cause. You take a blind, unreasonable position, and create hatred and prejudice by your fanaticism and inconsistencies. You call forth persecution and create prejudice unnecessarily, and then feel that you are suffering with Christ.
"Before I left, the delusive spirit of Satan was checked; they seemed softened, and said God loved me and that I was right."--Ibid.
First View of the Sanctuary
Before returning to Portland, Ellen Harmon visited companies of believers at Garland, Exeter, and Atkinson. In some of these places, as at Orrington, she bore her testimony against fanatical errors. While attending a meeting at Exeter, she was taken off in vision, of which she says:
"It was then I had a view of Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne, and going to the holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom. ... Previous to this I had no light on the coming of the Bridegroom, but had expected Him to this earth to deliver His people on the tenth day of the seventh month. I did not hear a lecture or a word in any way relating to the Bridegroom's going to the holiest."--Letter 3, 1847.
In view of the importance of the light on the sanctuary, which was to be the key to unlock the mystery of the disappointment of 1844, it is interesting to note that thus early, Ellen Harmon was given a view of the transfer of Christ from His ministry in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary into the second apartment. The significance of this move was not then revealed, and was not understood by either her or those to whom it was related. But it was in harmony with the light that afterward shone clearer.
An Angel Warning
When she returned to Orrington, other meetings were held in that place. The last meeting, held in the evening, was a very solemn one. To quote from Mrs. White:
"While we were praying and weeping before God that night, I was taken off in vision, and shown that I must return the next morning. I had not refused obedience to the Spirit of God. His hand had been with me, and His angel had accompanied us and hid us from the people so that they did not know we were in the place. But our work was done; we could go. The emissaries of Satan were on our track, and we would fare no better than those who had been fanatical and wrong, and suffered the consequences of their inconsistent, unreasonable course by abuse and imprisonment."--Letter 2, 1874.
Rising very early in the morning, the company left in a small rowboat for Belfast, about twenty miles down the Penobscot River. There the Jordans and Miss Harmon took a steamer for Portland, and the brethren who had rowed the boat returned to Orrington.
While the boat had been rowed down the river, however, a mob of angry men, who had been notified of the meeting held the previous night, had gathered, threatening violence to the visitors from Portland. They searched the house where they had tarried, and were disappointed to find that they had gone. They met the men returning from Belfast, who told them that those whom they sought were far away. They seized these men, and in their anger whipped and abused them.
Was James White one of those beaten at this time? Circumstantial evidence would so indicate. As the owner of the horse and sleigh, which had been returned by Mr. Jordan, he would undoubtedly be among the first to be met by Miss Harmon and the Jordans. He would be deeply interested in the meetings held, and was undoubtedly among those who believed her sent of God, and who received her testimony as light from heaven. A letter from Mrs. White mentions him as being present at the time of the vision at Exeter; therefore he must have gone with her and her friends to that place. Furthermore, in the first of a number of letters sent to the Day-Star, September 6, 1845, James White speaks of the sufferings and persecutions of the "little flock" in Maine, stating that "we" had been whipped and imprisoned.
Acquaintance With James White
In her published report of this visit, Mrs. White briefly states:
"At Orrington I met Elder James White. He was acquainted with my friends, and was himself engaged in work for the salvation of souls."--"Life Sketches," p. 73.
Says James White:
"When we first met," we "had no idea of marriage at any future time. But God had a work for both of us to do, and He saw that we could greatly assist each other in that work. As she should come before the public, she needed a lawful protector; and God having chosen her as a channel of light and truth to the people in a special sense, she could be of great help to me. But it was not until the matter of marriage was taken to the Lord by both, and we obtained an experience that placed the matter beyond the reach of doubt, that we took this important step."--"Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White," p. 126.
It is evident that through the experiences shared in common by James White and Ellen Harmon at Orrington, Exeter, and Garland, there was created a mutual bond of sympathy between them. Among the reasons for their future labors together, there was on the part of James White a conviction that she needed a protector, as she should go from place to place, and might again encounter such opposition and threats of violence as had been manifest at Orrington.
These two young evangelists soon shared another unusual experience, one of several in which they were present when the miracle-working power of God was manifest in the healing of the sick.
Soon after returning to Portland from Orrington, Miss Harmon visited, in Topsham, the Howland family, with whom they were very closely associated in later years, and in whose home they were afterward to begin their married life. There she found Miss Frances Howland very sick with rheumatic fever, with hands so swollen that the joints could not be seen. She had been unable to stand on her feet for two weeks, and was under the care of a physician.
After considering the matter, the company present at the home were impressed that it would be to the glory of God to restore the sick one in answer to the prayer of faith. Earnest prayer was offered, and a Sister Curtis was impressed to go upstairs to the room where Miss Howland was lying. There she took the sufferer by the hand and said, "Sister Frances, in the name of the Lord, arise and be whole."
There was an instantaneous healing. In faith the sick one arose from the bed, and walked the room, praising God for her recovery. Soon she dressed, and came downstairs. The next morning she ate breakfast with the family, and soon afterward joined them for worship.
During the reading for worship the doctor arrived, went upstairs to see his patient. Not finding her there, he hurried downstairs, and with a look of alarm opened the door to the room where they were all sitting. In answer to his expression of surprise at seeing Miss Howland there, her father said, "The Lord has healed her."
James White was reading in the fifth chapter of James, and continued where he had been interrupted, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him." The doctor, with a look of incredulity, nodded and hastily left the room.
The cure was a permanent one. In a few days Miss Howland was baptized, and although the weather and the water were very cold, she received no injury.
From this time James White was a frequent companion of Ellen Harmon, as she was led by God to go from place to place at His direction. On such occasions, they were always accompanied by one of her sisters. In reply to a charge based upon an evil insinuation regarding their association, Mrs. White has written:
"I rejoice in God that not a spot or blemish can be fastened upon my name or character. Those who are vile themselves will be the ones who will try to think evil of me. We have in all our deportment, before and since our marriage, tried to abstain from even the appearance of evil."--Letter 2, 1874.