From that time the third angel’s message, as connected with the other two, began to be proclaimed. The Sabbath truth, as connected with the ark of God and the light developing with reference to the sanctuary, confirmed what had been previously shown,—that the past advent movement was right, and in the order of the Lord. They could now understand more fully than ever before the meaning of the “three steps up on to the pathway to the city of God.”
Elder Bates Accepts the Visions as from God
In the month of November, 1846, a conference was held in Topsham, Maine, at which Elder Bates was present. At that meeting Mrs. White (Miss Harmon’s marriage to Elder James White has been previously noticed) had a vision which was the cause of Elder Bates’s becoming fully satisfied as to their divine origin. He was a man who had followed the sea for fifty years, filling all positions from cabin-boy up to master and owner of vessels. His understanding of astronomy was such that, as he told me, he could tell very nearly where he was upon the sea, as to latitude and longitude, by his observation of the celestial bodies. Such a one would naturally be interested in talking about astronomy.
In conversation with him, he told me how he became convinced of the divine origin of the visions. He said he tried to talk with Mrs. White one day about the stars, but he soon found she knew nothing about astronomy; in fact, as she told him, she did not know as she had ever looked into a258book treating on that subject. She had no inclination to converse upon that topic, and turned the conversation by talking about the new earth, and what had been shown her in vision respecting it.
The “Opening Heavens”
In the previous year, April 19, 1845, the Illustrated London News had published something of great interest to astronomers from Lord Rosse, respecting the wonderful discoveries he had made through his monster telescope, especially a view of what astronomers call “the gap in the sky.” One evening, at the conference above mentioned, at the house of Mr. Curtiss and in the presence of Elder Bates, who was yet undecided in regard to these manifestations, Mrs. White, while in vision, began to talk about the stars, giving a glowing description of rosy-tinted belts which she saw across the surface of some planet, and added, “I see four moons.” “Oh,” said Elder Bates, “she is viewing Jupiter!” Then having made motions as though traveling through space, she began giving a description of belts and rings in their ever-varying beauty, and said, “I see seven moons.” Elder Bates exclaimed, “She is describing Saturn.” Next came the description of Uranus, with its six moons; then a wonderful description of the “opening heavens,” with its glory, calling it an opening into a region more enlightened. Elder Bates said that her description far surpassed any account of the opening heavens he had ever read from any author.
While she was talking and still in vision, he arose to his feet, and exclaimed, “O how I wish Lord John Rosse was here to-night!” Elder White inquired, “Who is Lord John Rosse?” “Oh,” said Elder Bates, “he is the great English astronomer. I wish he was here to hear that woman talk astronomy, and to hear that description of the ‘opening heavens.’ It is ahead of anything I ever read on the subject.” From that259evening Elder Bates became fully satisfied that the visions of Mrs. White were outside of her knowledge and control. This and the character of the reproof and instruction given, satisfied him that they were from God.
This phenomenon in the heavens thus described by Mrs. White in that vision, is a matter rarely mentioned by astronomical writers. Huggins, the first discoverer of it, gives the following description:—
A Glorious Light in the Sword of Orion
“Astronomers place three stars close together in the sword of Orion; when I viewed the middlemost with a telescope, in the year 1656, there appeared in the place of that one twelve other stars; among these, three that almost touch each other, and four more besides appeared, twinkling as through a cloud, so that the space about them seemed much brighter than the rest of the heaven, which, appearing wholly blackish, by reason of the fair weather, was seen as through a curtain opening, through which one had a free view into another region which was more enlightened.”
William Herschel says of this opening in the sky:—
“If its diameter at this distance subtend an angle of 10°, which it nearly does, its magnitude must be utterly inconceivable. It has been calculated that it must be two trillions of times the dimensions of the sun.”
Lighter than the Sun
Thomas Dick, the philosopher, thus speaks of this luminous nebulæ:—
“Were we placed as near it as one half the distance of the nearest star, great as that distance is, from such a point it would exhibit an effulgence approximating to that of the sun; and to beings at much nearer distance it would fill a large portion of the sky, and appear with a splendor inexpressible. But the ultimate design of such an object, in all its bearings and relations, may perhaps remain to be evolved260during the future ages of an interminable existence; and, like many other objects in the distant spaces of creation, it excites in the mind a longing desire to behold the splendid and mysterious scenes of the universe a little more unfolded.”
Elder Bates, in concluding an article upon the subject, said:—
“Thus we see from all the testimony adduced (and we could give much more, were it necessary), that here is a most wonderful and inexplainable phenomenon in the heavens; a gap in the sky more than eleven billion and three hundred and fourteen [11,000,000,314] miles in circumference. Says the celebrated Hugins, ‘I never saw anything like it among the rest of the fixed stars—a free view into another region more enlightened.’”
Another Testimony on the Planet Vision
Again we quote from Mrs. Truesdail, who was present on the occasion of the giving of the vision referred to. She says:—
“Sister White was in very feeble health, and while prayers were offered in her behalf, the Spirit of God rested upon us. We soon noticed that she was insensible to earthly things. This was her first view of the planetary world. After counting aloud the moons of Jupiter, and soon after those of Saturn, she gave a beautiful description of the rings of the latter. She then said, ‘The inhabitants are a tall, majestic people, so unlike the inhabitants of earth. Sin has never entered here.’ It was evident from Brother Bates’s smiling face that his past doubts in regard to the source of her visions were fast leaving him. We all knew that Captain Bates was a great lover of astronomy, as he would often locate many of the heavenly bodies for our instruction. When Sister White replied to his questions, after the vision, saying that she had never studied or otherwise received knowledge in this direction, he was filled with joy and happiness. He praised God,261and expressed his belief that this vision concerning the planets was given that he might never again doubt.”
A Vicious Horse Suddenly Tamed
Shortly after this meeting in Topsham, another striking incident occurred in connection with the visions, which I will relate as told me by Elder Bates:—
Elder White had the use of a partly broken colt and a two-seated market wagon, which was constructed without a dash-board, but had a step across the front of the wagon, and an iron step from the shafts. It was necessary that extreme care be taken in driving the colt, as in case the lines or anything touched his flanks he would instantly kick furiously, and he had to be held in continually with a taut rein to keep him from running. This colt belonged to a party to whose place they wished to go, and as Elder White had been used to managing unbroken colts, he thought he would have no serious trouble with this one. Had they known, however, that during its frantic demonstrations it had previously killed two men, one by crushing him against the rocks by the roadside, he might have been less confident.
On this occasion there were four persons in the wagon, Elder White and his wife upon the front seat, and Elder Bates and Israel Damon on the back seat. While Elder White was giving his utmost care to keep the horse under control, Mrs. White was conversing about the truth, when the power of God came down upon the company, and she was taken off in vision, seated in the wagon. The moment she shouted “Glory!” as she went into vision, the colt suddenly stopped perfectly still, and dropped his head. At the same time Mrs. White arose, while in this state, and with her eyes looking upward, stepped over the front of the wagon, down on to the shafts, with her hands on the colt’s haunches. Elder Bates called out to Elder White, “The colt will kick that woman to death.” Elder White replied, “The Lord has the colt in charge now; I do not wish to interfere.” The colt stood as262gentle as an old horse. By the roadside the bank rose up some six feet, and next to the fence was a grassy place. Mrs. White, with her eyes still upward, not once looking down, went up the bank on to the grassy plot, then walked back and forth for a few minutes, talking and describing the beauties of the new earth. Then, with her head in the same posture, she came down the bank, walked up to the wagon, stepped up on to the steps, with her hand on the rump of the colt, and so up on to the shafts, and into the wagon again. The moment she sat down upon the seat she came out of vision, and that instant the horse, without any indication from the driver, started up, and went on his way.
While Mrs. White was out of the wagon, Elder White thought he would test the horse, and see if he was really tame or not. At first he just touched him with the whip; at other times the horse would have responded with a kick, but now there was no motion. He then struck him quite a blow, then harder, and still harder. The colt paid no attention to the blows whatever, but seemed as harmless as the lions whose mouths the angels shut the night Daniel spent in their den. “It was a solemn place,” said Elder Bates, “and it was evident that the same Power that produced the visions, for the time being subdued the wild nature of the colt.”
If this vision was simply the result of some of her bodily infirmities, the query naturally arises, Was the horse afflicted in like manner?
Israel Damon’s Testimony
I will give here, as corroborating the account given me by Elder Bates, the following statement:—
“About twenty years ago, just after I had commenced the observance of the Sabbath, Israel Damon related to me the circumstances of Sister White’s having the vision while he, Elder Bates, and Elder White and his wife were riding in the light wagon behind the refractory colt. I have to-day read the above description of the occurrence, as written out263by Elder Loughborough, and it agrees precisely with what Elder Damon told me.” Signed, “R. S. Webber, Battle Creek, Mich., Feb. 9, 1891.”
Elder Bates’s Testimony on the Visions
Elder Bates states his own experience thus:—
“Although I could see nothing in them that militated against the word, yet I felt alarmed and tried exceedingly, and for a long time unwilling to believe that it was anything more than what was produced by a protracted debilitated state of her body.
“I therefore sought opportunities in presence of others, when her mind seemed free from excitement (out of meeting), to question and cross-question her, and her friends who accompanied her, especially her elder sister, to get, if possible, at the truth. During the number of visits she has made to New Bedford and Fairhaven since, while at our meetings, I have seen her in vision a number of times, and also in Topsham, Maine; and those who were present during some of those exciting scenes know well with what interest and intensity I listened to every word, and watched every move, to detect deception or mesmeric influence. And I thank God for the opportunity I have had with others to witness these things. I can now confidently speak for myself. I believe the work is of God, and is given to comfort and strengthen his ‘scattered,’ ‘torn,’ and ‘peeled people,’ since the closing up of our work . . . in October, 1844. The distracted state of ‘Lo, here’s!’ and ‘Lo, there’s!’ since that time has exceedingly perplexed God’s honest, willing people, and made it exceedingly difficult for such as were not able to expound the many conflicting texts that have been presented to their view. I confess that I have received light and instruction on many passages that I could not before clearly understand. I believe her to be a self-sacrificing, honest, willing child of God.”
“The author does not ‘obtain the sentiments’ of her visions ‘from previous teachings or study.’ When she received264her first vision, December, 1844, she and all the band in Portland, Maine (where her parents then resided), had given up the ‘midnight cry’ as being in the past. It was then that the Lord showed her in vision the error into which she and the band in Portland had fallen. She then related her vision to the band, and they acknowledged their seventh-month experience to be the work of God.”
How the Three Messages Were Regarded in 1847
The following from Elder James White, written in April, 1847, will show how the three messages were then regarded:—
“All classes of second advent believers agree that the angel brought to view in the sixth and seventh verses of this chapter (Revelation 14), represents the advent message to the church and world. . . . The work of the second angel was to show to the advent host that Babylon had fallen. And as a large portion of them did not learn this fact until the power of the ‘midnight cry’ waked them up just in time for them to make their escape from the churches before the tenth day came, it follows that since the seventh month, 1844, the third angel’s message was, and still is, a warning to the saints to ‘hold fast,’ and not go back, and ‘receive’ the marks which the virgin band got rid of during the second angel’s cry.
“And has not the true message for God’s people, since the seventh month, 1844, been just such a warning?—It certainly has. . . . The twelfth verse reads, ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ Where did you see them, John?—Why, ‘here,’ during the third angel’s message. As the patient, waiting time has been since the seventh month, 1844, and as the class that keep the Sabbath, etc., have appeared since that time, it is plain that we live in the time of the third angel’s message.”
CHAPTER XVII
THE TRUTH ADVANCED UNDER DIFFICULTIES
“As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.”
Those who up to this time (1847) had accepted the third angel’s message, were poor in this world’s goods, and consequently could do but little financially for the spread of the message. Elder White and his wife and Elder Bates saw the importance of personal labor among the scattered brethren, and also the necessity of preparing reading matter to place in the hands of the people, as an aid in leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Elder Bates was aided much in presenting the Sabbath question by his tract on that subject, as he went to different localities, and by the circulation of the same through the mail. He labored with the utmost perseverance.
A Young Sister’s Sacrifice for the Truth
At one time, having no money to pay his fare, he was about to start on foot to go from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Just then he received a letter from a young sister who had engaged to do house-work at $1 per week that she might have something with which to help the cause. After working one week, she was so impressed with the thought that Elder Bates needed money that she went to her employer and obtained advanced pay so as to enable her to send him at once266$5. With this he paid his fare to New Hampshire, by public conveyance. At every place he had good meetings, and many souls accepted the truth.
Housekeeping with Borrowed Furniture
In order to show the spirit of sacrifice which actuated the early pioneers in this message, we note the following from Mrs. White’s statement of their situation in the winter of 1857-’58, when they occupied rooms in the spacious home of S. Howland, Topsham, Maine, where with borrowed furniture they set up housekeeping:—
“We were poor, and saw close times. My husband worked at hauling stone on the railroad, which wore the skin on his fingers through, and the blood started in many places. We had resolved not to be dependent, but to support ourselves, and have wherewith to help others. But we were not prospered. My husband worked very hard, but could not get what was due him for his labor.
Elder White Cutting Cord-Wood
“My husband left the railroad, and with his ax went into the woods to chop cord-wood. With a continual pain in his side he worked from early morning till dark to earn about fifty cents a day. He was prevented from sleeping nights by severe pain. We soon received letters from brethren in different States inviting us to come and visit them; but as we had no means to take us out of the State, our reply was that the way was not open before us.
“We received a letter from Brother Chamberlain, of Connecticut, urging us to attend a conference in that State. We decided to go if we could obtain the means. Husband settled with his employer, and found that there was ten dollars due him. With half of this I purchased articles of clothing which were much needed, and then patched my husband’s overcoat, even piecing the patches, making it difficult to tell the original cloth in the sleeves. We had five dollars left to take us to267Dorchester, Mass. Our trunk contained nearly everything we possessed on earth. But we enjoyed peace of mind and a clear conscience, and this we prized above earthly comforts.
“We called at the house of Brother Nichols, and before we left, Sister Nichols handed my husband five dollars, which paid our fare to Middletown, Conn. We were strangers in that city, and had never seen one of the brethren in the State. We had but fifty cents left. My husband did not dare to use that to hire a carriage, so he threw the trunk upon a pile of boards, and we walked on in search of some one of like faith. We soon found Brother Chamberlain, who took us to his house.”
Conference at Rocky Hill, Conn.
This conference was held at Rocky Hill, the meeting room being a large, unfinished chamber in Brother Belden’s house. The following extract from a letter written by Elder White to S. Howland, gives some interesting particulars respecting the meeting:—
“April 20 [1848], Brother Belden sent his wagon to Middletown for us and the scattered brethren in that city. We arrived at his place [Rocky Hill] about four in the afternoon, and in a few minutes in came Brethren Bates and Gurney. We had a meeting that evening of about fifteen. Friday morning the brethren came in until we numbered about fifty. These were not all fully in the truth. Our meeting that day was very interesting. Brother Bates presented the commandments in a clear light, and their importance was urged home by powerful testimonies. The word had effect to establish those already in the truth, and to awaken those not fully decided.”
Invited to Oswego County, N. Y.
As the result of the circulation of Elder Bates’s tract among the Adventists, persons in other States began the observance of the Sabbath. Hiram Edson, of Port Gibson, N. Y.,268wrote inviting Elder and Mrs. White and others to attend a conference of Sabbath-keepers in Volney, Oswego County, in August, 1848. He said that the brethren were generally poor, and he could not promise that they would do much toward defraying expenses. Elder White had received $40 as the result of labor performed in the hay field. A part of this was spent in purchasing clothing which was greatly needed, and the remainder paid their way to Volney and return.
This conference in western New York was held in Mr. Arnold’s carriage house. There were about thirty-five persons present, all that could be collected in that part of the State, but hardly two of these were agreed. Each was strenuous for his own views, declaring that they were according to the Bible. All were anxious to advance their sentiments and to preach them. They were told that Elder White and his wife had not come so great a distance to hear them, but had come to teach them the truth. Mr. Arnold held that the one thousand years of Revelation 20 were in the past, and that the one hundred and forty-four thousand mentioned in Revelation were those raised at Christ’s resurrection.
Mr. Arnold Objects to Ordinances
As the emblems of our dying Lord were before this company, and as they were about to commemorate his sufferings, Mr. Arnold arose and said he had no faith in what they were about to do,—that the Lord’s supper was a continuation of the passover, to be observed but once a year.
These strange differences of opinion rolled a heavy weight upon Mrs. White. She well knew that Mr. Arnold was in error, and great grief pressed upon her spirits, for it seemed that God was dishonored. Some feared that she was dying; but Elders Bates, White, Chamberlain, Gurney, and Edson prayed for her, and the Lord mercifully heard the prayers of his servants, and she revived. The light of heaven rested upon her, and she was soon lost to earthly things. While in269this state, she was shown some of the errors of those present, and also truth in contrast with these errors, showing that these discordant views, which they claimed were according to the Bible, were only according to their opinions of the Bible, and that they must yield their errors, and unite upon the third angel’s message. The meeting ended gloriously; truth gained the victory. Those who held these strange diversities of opinion confessed their errors, and united upon the present truth of the third angel’s message, and God greatly blessed them.
A Vision with Wonderful Use of the Bible
The following account of this meeting was given by Mr. Alexander Ross, Jan. 4, 1884, who was one of the thirty-five composing the little gathering. He said:—
“Sister White, while in vision, arose to her feet and took the family Bible upon her left hand; the book was one of ordinary size. While holding it open, high up, without looking toward it, with her right hand she would turn from text to text, and placing her finger on the scripture, would repeat the same. I looked at many of the texts to see if she was repeating the one to which she pointed. Myself or some of the company looked at them all. In every case she not only repeated the text to which she pointed, but she did so while her eyes were looking upward and in an opposite direction from the Bible. It was these scriptures which she repeated that overthrew the false theories of Sabbath-keepers assembled at Volney, in August, 1848, and caused us to unite upon the truth.”
Indeed, one must have been hard to convince who did not renounce error of doctrine corrected under such circumstances, by plain texts quoted from the Bible, and in this remarkable manner. This company of Sabbath-keepers in Oswego County, after their errors had thus been corrected, and they had become united upon the truth, went forth from270that meeting to spread the light to others. The results surely bore the evidence of being the work of God. Satan is ever ready to divide, distract, and scatter, by whatever means he can employ. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
Miraculous Cases of Healing
After the conference before mentioned, meetings were held in Madison County, Port Gibson, Port Byron, and in New York City. Following these was a general meeting in Connecticut. At some of these places the Lord came very near to his servants, and the healing power of the Great Physician came upon the sick in answer to the earnest prayers of his people as they followed the rule laid down in the Epistle of James. Even persons pronounced hopeless by physicians were healed of their diseases. Incidents of such a character have often been experienced at various times since 1845.
Pioneers Endure Hardness
Elder White, in the Review and Herald of Feb. 5, 1880, when speaking of those pioneer days, said:— “In our early labors we have suffered hunger for want of proper food, and cold for want of proper clothing. We deprived ourselves of even the necessaries of life to save money for the cause of God. While at the same time we were wearing ourselves fearfully in order to accomplish the great amount of work that seemed necessary to be done in writing, editing, traveling, and preaching from State to State.”
The year 1848 was memorable, not only in the advent history, but politically. The truths of the third angel’s message were very well defined, and the way was opening in different directions for the advancement of the work. At this time events in the moral and political world were assuming a shape calculated to arouse anew the attention of the271students of prophecy. Not only was there great confusion among the nations of the Old World, but at Hydesville, Wayne Co., N. Y., began the manifestations of modern Spiritualism, which Bible students said must be the “spirits of devils, which are to gather the nations of the earth to the battle of the day of the Lord.”
Confusion of Nations in 1848
On the 21st day of February, 1848, when the courtiers of Louis Philippe, of France, were gathered around him, he said: “I was never more firmly seated on the throne of empire than I am to-night.” In the twilight of the next evening, wearing a “pea jacket,” disguised as a hackney coachman, he fled outside the walls of the city of Paris seeking a refuge for his personal safety. The cause of this great and sudden change is said to have been the result of some movement on his part favoring the papal usurpation, which offended his subjects and his soldiers. He had on that day completed, in the city of Paris, a grand military review of the French army; and when their arms were stacked, he retired to the palace, when suddenly a small boy jumped upon a cannon, waving a tri-colored flag, crying, “DOWN WITH THE POPE! DOWN WITH THE POPE!!” The soldiers taking up the cry, it passed swiftly up and down the lines, gaining strength as it went, until connected with it was the cry, “AND DOWN WITH THE KING!” In a few hours all Paris was a scene of wild confusion. The soldiers, with guns in hand, accompanied by a mob, were rushing for the king’s palace. He, on being informed of the turmoil, hastened to escape under disguise.
Nations that were Involved in the Struggle
The commotion and unrest of France spread rapidly to other countries. Prussia, Hanover, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Venice, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Rome caught the same mob272spirit. Within three months all Europe was astir, and over thirty empires and kingdoms were in the greatest disorder. Thrones were burned in the streets, kings and emperors were fleeing and hiding for fear of losing their lives. Politicians predicted that there would be a general revolution of the governments of the world.
Many of the Adventist ministers who had not as yet heard of the third angel’s message, saw this confusion, and supposed it must be the rallying of the nations for “the battle of the great day of God Almighty.”
Sealing Message Discovered
Just at this time the Seventh-day Adventists were learning from the Scriptures that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was the sign, or seal, of the living God, and that the time had arrived for the proclamation of the sealing message of Rev. 10:1-4, and they were devising ways and means of getting this message before the people. While the seventh-day people were preparing for this work, the First-day Adventists were saying, “You are too late with your sealing message, for the battle of the great day and the Lord’s actual coming are right upon us.”
Turmoil Suddenly Quieted Down
Some three months later, the outburst among the nations quieted down; not, however, by a settlement of their grievances, but in a manner that journalists themselves could not explain. Of this trouble, Horace Greeley, in the New York Tribune, said: “It was a great wonder to us all what started so suddenly that confusion among the nations; but it is a greater wonder still what stopped it.”
Senator Choate on the Situation in the Old World
We come down to 1851, and find Senator Choate, in a speech before the United States Congress, referring to the273state of affairs in the Old World, and saying: “What that state and aspect exactly is, that shadows, clouds, and darkness appear to rest upon, you entirely appreciate; how wholly unsettled. It has seemed to me as if the prerogatives of crowns, and the rights of men, and the hoarded up resentments of a thousand years were about to unsheath the sword for a conflict in which blood shall flow, as in apocalyptic vision, ‘to the bridles of the horses,’ and in which a whole race of men shall pass away; in which the great bell of time shall sound out another hour; in which society itself will be tried by fire and steel, whether it be of nature and of nature’s God or not.”
“Testimony” of Nov. 18, 1848
While those claiming that this stir among the nations in 1848 was to usher in the coming of the Lord, met with a sad disappointment, how was it with Seventh-day Adventists who claimed that the time had now come for the “seal of the living God” to be presented to the people? In reply we quote from a tract published by Elder Joseph Bates in the month of January, 1849. In speaking of a circumstance that occurred Nov. 18, 1848, he says:—
“A small company of brethren and sisters were assembled in a meeting in Dorchester, near Boston, Mass. Before the meeting commenced, some of us were examining some of the points in the sealing message; some difference of opinion existed about the correctness of the view of the word ‘ascending,’ etc., and whereas we had made the publishing of the message a subject of prayer at the Topsham [Maine] conference a little previous, and the way to publish appeared not sufficiently clear, we therefore resolved unitedly to refer it all to God. After some time spent in earnest prayer for light and instruction, God gave Sister White the following in vision.” We quote the words as they were spoken by her while in vision:—
Words Spoken in the Vision
“Where did the light break out? Let thine angel teach us where the light broke out. It commenced from a little, when thou didst give one light after another. The testimony and commandments are linked together, they cannot be separated; that comes first the ten commandments, by God. He was well pleased when his law began to come up in strength, and the waste places began to be built up. Out of weakness it has become strong from searching his word. The test upon it has been but a short time. It’s the seal! It’s coming up! It arises, commencing from the rising of the sun. Like the sun, first cold, grows warmer and sends its rays. When that truth arose, there was but little light in it, but it has been increasing. O the power of these rays! It grows in strength. The greatest weight and light is on that truth, for it lasts forever, when the Bible is not needed. It arose there in the east; it began with a small light, but its beams are healing. O how mighty is that truth; it’s the highest after they enter the goodly land, but it will increase till they are made immortal. It commenced from the rising of the sun, keeps on its course like the sun, but it never sets.”
“The angels are holding the four winds. It is God that restrains the powers. The angels have not let go, for the saints are not all sealed. When Michael stands up, this trouble will be all over the earth. Why, they are just ready to blow. There’s a check put on because the saints are not sealed. Yea, publish the things thou hast seen and heard, and the blessing of God will attend. Look ye! That rising is in strength, and grows brighter and brighter.”
After coming out of this vision Mrs. White said to her husband, “I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first.275From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.”
Doubtful from a Human Standpoint
These predictions were made in 1848 concerning the rise and spread of the Sabbath truth. To look at the situation from a human standpoint at that time, reason would say, “That prediction can never be fulfilled.” One man remarked to one of our laborers soon after the prediction was made, “It will take you 144,000 years to do what you propose.” “What!” they would say, “three preachers—Elder White and wife, and Elder Bates—all penniless, with less than one hundred adherents, all of whom are destitute of money, going forth with a few hundred copies of an eighty-page tract on the Sabbath question, to give a warning message to all the world! Preposterous assumption!” While those thus reasoning said, “Impossible!” faith in the message and the testimony of assured success said, “In the name of Israel’s God it will be done! and trusting in his strength it must be done!”
How the First Seventh-day Adventist Paper was Printed
From the time the testimony was borne concerning the publishing work, many prayers were offered by those observing the seventh day, that the Lord would open the way for the printing of a “little paper.” The great lack was money with which to secure the publication of the first number. In the month of June, 1849, Elder White had the opportunity of mowing forty acres of timothy grass, with a hand scythe, at seventy-five cents per acre; and thus he was enabled to produce the first number of the little journal. It may not be out of place to insert at this point a facsimile of the first page of the little sheet. The reader will observe in the first column the words of Elder White, where he says, “The way has not been opened to commence the work until now.” And you276can also see that it was his self-sacrificing that “opened the way.”
Mrs. White’s Account of the First Papers
Mrs. White says of the beginning of the publishing work:—
“My husband began to publish a small sheet at Middletown, eight miles from Rocky Hill, Conn., and often walked this distance and back again, although he was then lame. When he brought the first number from the printing office, we all bowed around it, asking the Lord, with humble hearts and many tears, to let his blessing rest upon the feeble efforts of his servant. He then directed the paper to all those who he thought would read it, and carried it to the post-office in a carpet-bag. Every number was taken from Middletown to Rocky Hill, and always before preparing them for the post-office they were spread before the Lord, and earnest prayers, mingled with tears, were offered to God that his blessing would attend the silent messengers. Very soon letters came bringing means to publish the paper, and the good news of many souls embracing the truth.”
Prediction of Support of Paper Fulfilled
It is with feelings deeper than mere interest that we present this the first page of the first paper published by Seventh-day Adventists. The whole volume of The Present Truth consisted of eleven numbers of eight pages, two columns each. The reading matter on the page measured four and five-eighths by eight inches. Numbers 1 and 4 were printed in July, August, and September, at Middletown, Conn. Numbers 5 to 9 were printed at Oswego, N. Y., and are dated December, 1849, March, April, and May, 1850. Number 11 is dated November, 1850, and was printed at Paris, Maine. In Number 6 Elder White said, “While publishing the first four numbers more than enough money came in to pay for277the papers. It has been used in paying our expenses to the meetings we have attended.” During the year 1849, under the influence of these papers, and the pioneer labors of Elder Bates, many accepted the message in Vermont, Michigan, and other States.
In contrast with the unpromising situation of the work in 1848, we will consider a few facts as they exist in 1905, and thus be enabled better to judge respecting the final outcome of this cause, whether those were right who opposed the humble beginning of the message, or the God of heaven who spake through his handmaid of the “increasing” strength of the “sealing” work.
Progress of the Publishing Work
This truth is now being proclaimed and printed in about forty of the leading languages of the world. Instead of three ministers, there are, counting those that are ordained and the licentiates, over 600, besides hundreds of others working as physicians, Bible workers, teachers, and medical missionaries. The literature of the denomination is represented in over half a hundred different periodicals, which are printed in nearly a score of publishing houses located in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, the islands of the Pacific, and Australia. In these publishing houses there are printed over eleven hundred different books, pamphlets, and tracts. To obtain a copy of each, with the periodicals for one year, would require about $340. Instead of simply one hundred adherents, there are not far from 100,000 who are rejoicing in this truth. Truly this message, like the sun, is “arising,” and we may say, in the language of the testimony of 1848, “O the power of these rays!”
The Condition of the Nations
While the message has been thus advancing, what has been the condition of the nations? From that time down, in279the public journals, we have often been treated to statements concerning the general war that is soon to be in Europe. While there has been strife here, and an outbreak there, the general “whirlwind” is held back,—the “four winds” are not permitted to blow all at once, “until the servants of God are sealed.” That the elements of strife and war are there, but do not break out because they are held in check, is evident to all.
Henry Ward Beecher, not long before his death, called the maintaining of such large armies in Europe, “drawing the life-blood beforehand, for fear it would be spilt.” The situation among the nations, with their grudges and animosities, and their threatening attitude toward one another, he compared to a “dead lock,” caused by a group of men pointing daggers at each other’s breasts, not one of whom dared to strike, for fear of being struck. “But,” said he, “some one of them will soon see the favorable time to strike, and then the general mêlée will come.”
Comparison of War Implements
Since 1848 implements of war have been constructed compared with which the best of that time would now be counted as mere toys. The “Peace Association” of America, in making its call for peace services on Peace Sunday,—Dec. 15, 1895,—said: “Now while there is a decided advancement in civilization, on the other hand there are greater preparations for war among the nations than ever before.”