“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.”1
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 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 once
1 Eze.
34:12.
266
$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 of 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 to
267
Dorchester, 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.”2
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.,
2
Life
Sketches, page 108.
268
wrote 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 in
269
this 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 the 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 from
270
that 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.”3
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.4 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 the
3 1 Cor.
14:32.
4 Jer.
5:14, 15.
271
students 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 Phillippe, 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 tricolored
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 mob
272
spirit. 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.”5
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 the
5 Rev.
16:13-15.
273
state 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 unsheathe 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:-
274
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.”6
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.
6
A
Seal of the Living God, pages 24-26.
275 From 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
preacher-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 you
276
can 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.”7
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 for the 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.
7 Life Sketches, pages 125-127.
PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY-BY
JAMES WHITE.
Vol. 1.
MIDDLETOWN, CONN JULY, 1849
No. 1.
“The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his
covenant”-Ps. xxv.14.
“WHEREFORE, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of
these things, though ye know them, and be established in the PRESENT
TRUTH.” 2 Pet. i:12.
It is
through the truth that souls are sanctified, and made ready to enter the
everlasting kingdom. Obedience to the truth will kill us to this world,
that we may be made alive, by faith in Jesus. “Sanctify them through thy
truth; thy word is truth.” John xvii:17. This was the prayer of Jesus.
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3
John iv.
Error,
darkens and fetters the mind, but the truth brings with it freedom, and
gives light and life. True charity, or LOVE, “rejoiceth in the truth.”
Cor. xiii:6. “Thy law is the truth.” Ps. cxix:142.
David
describing the day of slaughter, when the pestilence shall walk in
darkness, and destruction waste at noon-day, so that, “a thousand shall
fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand,” says-
“He
shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shall thou trust;
his TRUTH shall be thy SHIELD and BUCKLER.” Ps. xci:4.
The
storm is coming. War, famine and pestilence are already in the field of
slaughter. Now is the time, the only time to seek a shelter in the truth
of the living God.
of this
time. What is done to spread the truth must be done quickly. The four
Angels are holding the angry nations in check but a few days, until the
saints are sealed, then the nations will rush, like the rushing of many
waters. Then it will be too late to spread before precious souls, the
present saving, living truths of the Holy Bible. My spirit is drawn out
after the scattered remnant. May God help them to receive the truth, and
be established in it. May they haste to take shelter beneath the
“covering of Almighty God,” is my prayer.
The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and not at Sinai.
“And on
the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; and he rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all
his work which God created and made.” Gen. ii:2, 3.
Here God
instituted the weekly rest or Sabbath. It was the seventh day. He BLESSED
and SANCTIFIED that day of the week, and no other; therefore the seventh
day, and no other day of the week is holy, sanctified time.
God has
given the reason why he blessed and
In
Peter’s time there was present truth, or truth sanctified the seventh day.
“Because that in it he had applicable to that present time. The Church
have ever had rested from all his work which God had created and a present
truth. The present truth now, is that which made.” He rested, and set the
example for man. He shows present duty, and the right position for us who
are blessed and set apart the seventh day for man to rest from about to
witness the time of trouble, such as never was. his labor, and follow the
example of his Creator. The Present truth must be oft repeated, even to
those who are Lord of the Sabbath said, Mark ii:27 “The Sabbath was
established in it. This was needful in the Apostles day, made for man.”
Not for the Jew only, but for MAN, in its and it certainly is no less
important for us, who are living broadest sense; meaning all mankind. The
word man in just before the close of time. this text, means the same as it
does in the following texts.
For
months I have felt burdened with the duty “Man that is born of a woman is
of few days and full of of writing, and publishing the present truth for
the trouble.” Job xiv:1. “Man lieth down and riseth not, till scattered
flock, but the way has not been opened for me to the heavens be no more.”
Job xiv:12. commence the work until now. I tremble at the word of No one
will say that man here means the Lord, and the importance
278
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, in
279 the 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 melee 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.”
General Miles on War Preparations
General Nelson A. Miles,
in a speech at a mass-meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 1904, said:-
“In this enlightened age
of progress and intelligent, refined civilization we would be glad to
believe that the burdens and dangers of war have been lessened; yet
strange as it may seem, there never has been a time in the world’s
280
history when so much
wealth was squandered in preparation for war, nor when so many millions of
trained, skilled, and disciplined men, armed with the most destructive
weapons, were taken from the avenues of peaceful industry, as at the
present time.”
But the whirlwind of war
still delays, while the sealing work goes on.
281
“THEN shall we know, if we
follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning.”1
Up to the month of June,
1849, the labors of Elder White and his wife and Elder Bates were confined
to the New England States. At this time Miss Clarissa Bonfoey, of
Middletown, Conn., joined Elder White’s family. A short time previous to
this, her mother died, leaving her everything necessary for housekeeping
on a small scale. By this means Elder White was enabled again to set up
housekeeping; and this he did in a part of Mr. Belden’s house at Rocky
Hill, Conn.
Beginning of Modern Spiritualism
On March 24, 1849, a
general meeting was held at Topsham, Maine. On that Sabbath a vision was
given to Mrs. White, the subject of which was of the greatest importance.
Perhaps a better understanding of the view will be obtained by getting
before the mind a general idea of the situation at that time.
In the latter part of
March, 1848, in Hydesville, Wayne Co., N.Y., began the “mysterious
noises,” or what afterward developed into the “spirit rappings.” This
first occurred in the house of the Fox family. In the latter part of the
summer, the family moved to Rochester, N.Y., where, in Corinthian Hall,
public demonstrations were made, and the girls were subjected to the
closest examination by committees composed
1 Hosea 6:3.
282
of ladies and gentlemen
selected from the best citizens for that purpose. While the great
majority of the people looked upon the rappings as a humbug, or some
sleight-of-hand trickery, the most credulous had but little idea that it
would grow to any great proportions.
Predictions Concerning Spiritualism
In the vision above
mentioned, Mrs. White saw that the mysterious knocking in Rochester and
other places, was the power of Satan, and that such things would be more
and more common; and that they would be clothed in a religious garb, to
lull the deceived to greater security, and to draw the minds of God’s
people, if possible, to those things, and cause them to doubt the
teachings of the Holy Spirit.
But few, if any, at that
time had the faintest idea that Spiritualism would spread over the earth
as then predicted, or that it would ever assume to be a religion, with its
regularly organized churches and pastors.
Prediction Fulfilled
The fulfillment of the
prophecy, however, is apparent when we consider their membership, which is
reported to be 10,000,000 in the United States alone. As to their present
religious garb, we give the following from the Review and Herald,
Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 1903:-
“At the recent convention
of the National Association of Spiritualists, held in this city, a new
ritual was adopted. Provision was made for the ‘ordination’ of pastors or
ministers, and a company of believers in Spiritualism was recognized as a
‘church.’ This will be seen by reading the following section from the new
ritual:-
“ ‘No pastor or minister
shall be settled over a church or society without first having been
formally inducted into office by what has been known from the earliest
ages of religious history as the service of ordination. No person can
become
283
a candidate for ordination
until he has received a call to the pastorate of some church or society,
or been appointed missionary by some State Spiritualist Association,
incorporated as a religious body in the State in which it is located, or
by the National Spiritualist Association of the United States of America.
All persons who are candidates for pastorates or for missionary work must
have been for at least three years in full fellowship with some
Spiritualist church or society, and for at least two years a licentiate,
commissioned by a State or the National Association as a trial speaker.
Pastors settled for less than one full calendar year shall be ineligible
for ordination.’ “
Elder White in Oswego, N.Y.
As the publishing work was
located in Oswego, N.Y., Elder White changed his residence from
Connecticut to this place in the fall of 1849, and here was held, the same
year, on November 3, a conference of believers. Of their labors
following, Mrs. White says:-
“We then decided that it
was our duty to labor in the State of New York. My husband felt a burden
upon him to write and publish. We rented a house in Oswego, borrowed
furniture from our brethren, and began housekeeping. There my husband
wrote, published, and preached. It was necessary for him to keep the armor
on at every moment, for he often had to contend with professed Adventists
who were advocating error, preaching definite time, and were seeking to
prejudice all they could against our faith.”2
Second Advent Review Published
In the autumn of 1850 it
was deemed advisable to make another change; accordingly Elder White moved
to Paris, Maine, where the first volume of the Second Advent Review and
Sabbath Herald was published as a semi-monthly, consisting of thirteen
numbers, each containing eight two-column
2
Life
Sketches, page 128.
284
pages, the size of the
printed page being seven and one-eighth by ten and one-fourth inches. The
first number was dated the following November, and the last number, June
9, 1851.
The enlarged size of the
paper over Present Truth was a very good index to the proportionate spread
of the truth, the increase of laborers in the cause, and of supporters of
the work. As the terms of the paper were gratis, it was expected that the
friends of the cause would aid in its publication, and this they did.
Although the believers were composed mostly of people in moderate
circumstances, they aided as the Lord had prospered them, and did
according to their ability to push on the car of truth.
J.
N. Andrews Begins Preaching
About this time J. N.
Andrews, who resided in Paris, Maine, began his public labors as a
minister of the gospel and a writer on religious topics. In the Review
for May, 1851, he had an article occupying over five pages on the subject
of the three messages. In this he applied the prophecy of the two-horned
beast of Revelation 13 to the United States, taking the position, on the
strength of the prophecy alone, that the enforcement of Sunday as the
Sabbath would be the point on which a union of church and state would
finally be founded in this nation. His argument rested wholly upon the
prophecy, as no movement at that time pointed very strongly in that
direction, the strongest expression that could be found favoring it being
a statement from Dr. Durbin, taken from the Christian Advocate and
Journal, which said:-
“When Christianity becomes
the moral and spiritual life of the state, the state is bound, through her
magistrates, to prevent the open violation of the holy Sabbath, as a
measure of self-preservation.”
285
Selling Farms to Aid the Work
It was about this time
that such men as Hiram Edson, of New York, and Cyrenius Smith, of Jackson,
Mich., were led to sell their farms, each worth $3,500, and rent farms for
their own use, that they might have means to help in different enterprises
that should arise in the prosecution of the work of the message.
Removal of the Publishing Work to Saratoga
In 1851, Elder White moved
from Paris, Maine, to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and here again, with
borrowed furniture, he set up housekeeping, and published the second
volume of the Advent Review, the first number bearing date of August 5 of
the same year. This volume consisted of fourteen numbers, and was issued
semi-monthly. The last number was published March 23, 1852. The name of
the paper was slightly changed from that of the Second Advent Review, as
in Vol. I, to the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, the name which in its
eighty-second volume it still retains. The size of the journal was
increased to three columns, eight pages, the printed page measuring eight
and one-fourth by eleven and three-fourths inches.
It will be seen from the
increased size of what was and is still the denominational journal, that
every change was for the better, showing a reasonable degree of
prosperity, and giving marked evidence that the work of the third angel
“had come to stay.”
Publishing in Rochester-Owning a Hand-Press
On May 6, 1852, the first
number of Volume III of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald was published
in Rochester, N.Y., and was printed on a press and with type owned by
Seventh-day Adventists. Hiram Edson had advanced means to purchase a
Washington hand-press, with type and material for fitting up the office.
He was to receive his pay as
286
donations should come in
from the friends of the truth. That hand-press stood in the office of the
Review and Herald at Battle Creek, Mich., until consumed in the fire, Dec.
30, 1902. It was at that time regarded as the best proof-press in the
office. In Number 12, Vol. III, Oct. 14, 1852, an announcement was made
that the cost of fitting up the office with this press and material was
$652.93, and the receipts for that purpose up to that date were $655.84.
Of these twelve numbers of the paper, 2,000 copies of each number had been
issued and circulated gratuitously.
The
Youth’s Instructor Started
In August there was begun
in the Review office the publication of the Youth’s Instructor, a
monthly. Now it is a weekly, with four times the reading matter in each
number that it contained at that time.
Uriah Smith Connects with the Office
In 1853 Elder Uriah Smith
began his labors in the office of the Review and Herald, where he held a
responsible position for half a century. That year (1853) it was for the
first time stated in the Review and Herald that those who desired to do so
could buy our publications by paying the cost price. To all others the
printed matter was free, as the deficit was met by the donations of the
liberal and willing hearted. In 1854 it was announced that the price of
the Review semi-monthly was $1.00 a year. In that same year, at a
tent-meeting held in McComb County, Michigan, in the month of July, an
effort was made to sell our publications. During this meeting $50 worth
of books were sold. Elder White, in speaking of this effort, said, through
the Review, “This shows that our books can be sold.”
Call for $500 Tract Fund
In the Review of Oct. 12
and Dec. 24, 1854, calls were made for a $500 tract fund to enable the
office to furnish ministers
287
with tracts for free
distribution in connection with their labors, and also for a “relief fund
of $500 for the office, that the Review might be published regularly each
week, instead of missing, occasionally, a week for lack of funds.”
J.
P. Kellogg and Henry Lyon Sell Their Farms
It was during this period
that J. P. Kellogg, of Tyrone, and Henry Lyon, who lived near Plymouth,
Mich., sold their farms, each worth about $3,500, for the sole purpose of
having means to use in advancing the work; and thus did two more Michigan
brethren step forward at an opportune time, with ready means and willing
hearts to lift where help was most needed. The former engaged in the
manufacture of brooms in Jackson, Mich., while the latter moved to Battle
Creek, and labored at the carpenter’s trade to sustain his family.
All
Our Papers and Books for $3.00
At the end of Volume VI,
June, 1855, one could get the Review and the Instructor for one year,
besides a complete set of all the pamphlets, tracts, and a hymn book, such
as was then used,-twenty-six pamphlets and tracts, all told,-for the sum
of $3.00. The established price of the Instructor was twenty-five cents
for twelve numbers.
Review Office Invited to Michigan
In the month of April,
1855, Elder White and his wife again visited Michigan, and held meetings
at several places. On the 28th and 29th of the same month a conference
convened at Battle Creek, during which it was voted by the brethren in
Battle Creek to invite Elder White to move the Review office from
Rochester to Battle Creek. Dan Palmer, Cyrenius Smith, J. P. Kellogg, and
Henry Lyon agreed to furnish $300 each, without interest, making a sum of
$1200, to purchase a lot and erect a publishing office. Accordingly they
secured a lot on the southeast corner of West Main
288
and Washington Streets,
and erected thereon a two-story wooden building 20 x 30 feet in size, with
twenty-foot posts.
First Meeting-House in Battle Creek
During the same season the
first Seventh-day Adventist meeting-house in Battle Creek was erected, 18
x 24 feet in size. This plain building, boarded up and down, and
battened, stood near the northwest corner of Van Buren and Cass Streets.
In
Our First Printing Office
The first number of the
Review published in Battle Creek in an office owned by Seventh-day
Adventists was dated Dec. 4, 1855. The price of the paper was then
established at $1.00 per volume of twenty-six numbers; but donations were
solicited to send the paper free to the worthy poor. From this time
forward Elders Waggoner and Cottrell were almost constant contributors to
the columns of the Advent Review.
In the Review of Dec. 18,
1855, the publishing committee made a statement which to the present
workers in the office may sound strange. It read thus: “We do not see why
those who labor in the office should not receive a reasonable compensation
for their services. The editor only receives one half what he could get
elsewhere.” It may be well to mention that common wages then were not one
half what they are at the present time, and that half pay then was not
more than one third or one fourth what the office pays for similar labor
now. The workers in the office at that time made the gift of half the
worth of their services that the gospel of present truth might be
published.
Call for Power-Press and Engine
In the Review of March 19,
1857, the suggestion was first made that a power-press and engine was
needed and should be obtained for the printing of the papers, tracts, and
289
books. As reported April
2, the decision was made to buy an Adams power-press, and seven men
pledged $100 each toward its purchase. In the following issue a statement
was made that the press and engine would cost some $2,500, and pledges had
already been raised to $1,700.
In an editorial from Elder
White in the Review of Aug. 13, 1857, is this encouraging statement: “Our
office is free. There is a general book fund of $1,426, now invested in
books. The new power-press is in operation and works beautifully, and the
prospect is fair that it will soon be running by steam power, and all paid
for. Our tent operations are far better sustained than formerly.”
First Report of Book Sales
Oct. 29, 1857, it was
reported in the Review that the book sales for the two previous years was
$1,287.91, which was the first report of the kind made up to this date. It
was a token of advancement in the cause, hence a source of encouragement,
as it showed that the truth was gaining in strength, and “like streams of
light making its way around the world.”
Review Office a Safe Deposit
In the Review of Aug. 13,
1858, the idea was first advanced to our people of making the office a
place of deposit for surplus means. Persons who had money for which they
had no immediate use could make the office a depository, drawing it at any
time upon order as they might need it, and thus give the office the
benefit of its use. This suggestion being acted upon, it afforded still
greater financial strength to the work.
From that time to this
(1905), no person has ever yet lost a dollar thus loaned to our publishing
houses, or failed to get his money when called for. The candid, thoughtful
ones have come to regard our offices of publication a safer place even to
deposit their surplus means than banks, which so often fail. Banks have
worldly credit, while our publishing houses
290
have the strength of the
whole denomination for their “backing.”
Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association Organized
The Seventh-day Adventist
Publishing Association was organized May 3, 1861, and circulars were sent
out soliciting subscriptions to the capital stock at $10 per share. In two
weeks it was announced that $4,080 in stock had already been subscribed.
Beginning with June 11 of
that year, the Review was published by the Seventh-day Adventist
Publishing Association. The first office building erected by the
association was located on the southeast corner of Main and Washington
Streets, on the site from which the old frame building was removed to
Kalamazoo Street. This structure was two stories high, of solid brick
walls. It was in the form of a Greek cross, and fronted north on Main
Street. The extreme measure east and west was 44 feet, by north and south,
72 feet.
First Publications in Other Tongues
Step by step the message
advanced, and each aggressive movement tended to strengthen and
consolidate the work. At this time our publishing house issued five
pamphlets in foreign languages, three in the Danish-Norwegian and two in
French; thus a beginning was made in printing for foreign countries.
With the continual
increase of membership there was a steady and continued growth in
finances. This is indicated by the report in the Review of May 16, 1863,
where the secretary of the association gave a statement of the total
receipts as follows:-
Received in shares and
donations to the
Association to date - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -$10,374.13
Received from Rochester office - - - - - - - - - - 700.00
Received for
additional material - - - - - - - - - - - - - -300.00
Received on book fund - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1,355.00
Received for power-press
and engine - - - - - - - - - - 2,500.00
Total - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - $15,229.13
291
The secretary further
states: “By a safe estimate of the property of the association, its value
is decided to be not less than $20,000 which is nearly $5,000 more than it
has cost the friends of the cause. This speaks well for the integrity and
faithfulness of Brother White and those who have been associated with him
in the Review office. “E. S. Walker, Secretary.”
Transfer of the Review to the Association
The publishing work having
been brought to these results by the trying labors and sacrifices of Elder
White, the profits arising therefrom virtually belonged to him; for the
gain was really his self-denial, his business tact, and careful
management. But instead of claiming it, or any part of it, he cheerfully
passed it all over to the church; and more than this, when the
association, after its organization, voted that he should have $6 per week
for his services rendered, he only accepted $4 per week.
A
Paper on the Pacific Coast
In the Review of April 21,
1874, was an article from Elder White, in which, speaking of the work on
the Pacific Coast, he stated that there would soon be demanded the
establishment of a weekly paper devoted to the interests of the cause upon
that coast. A short time after this the way opened for purchasing a small
quantity of type and material in Oakland, with which, in the month of
June, a semi-monthly publication was begun, called the Signs of the Times.
Raising Means
After printing six numbers
of the Signs, Elder White returned East, requesting the California
Conference to make provision for the publication of the paper. At the
General Conference, Aug. 15, 1874, a proposition was made to the Eastern
brethren to raise $6,000 with which to purchase press,
292
engine, and type for the
Signs office, if the brethren on the Pacific Coast would raise $4,000 to
secure a site and erect a suitable building for an office.
Elder Geo. I. Butler, at
that time a member of the General Conference Committee, attended the
camp-meeting at Yountville, Cal., and presented the proposition to the
brethren. On Oct. 11, 1874, they responded to the call by pledging the sum
of $19,414 in coin.
The
Pacific Press Established
On Feb. 2, 1875, Elder
James White and his wife, accompanied by Elder J. H. Waggoner and other
efficient workers, arrived in Oakland. On the 12th of the same month a
special session of the California Conference was called, to take into
consideration a location upon which to erect buildings for the office of
the Signs of the Times. After due deliberation, the decision was made to
secure lots on the west side of Castro St., between 11th and 12th Sts. The
same day Elder White and John Morrison purchased these lots, taking deeds
in their own names, with the understanding that when the Association
should be formed, they would deed over to it as much of the land as should
be deemed necessary for the use of the corporation.
April 1, 1875, the Pacific
Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association was formed in Oakland, its
capital stock being fixed at $28,000. The central portion of the lots on
Castro St. was, according to agreement, deeded over to the association,
and a building was at once constructed by O. B. Jones, of Battle Creek,
Mich., the form and size of which was the same as that of the office
erected in Battle Creek, except that the one in Oakland was constructed of
wood instead of brick. This building being ready for occupancy, the Signs
of the Times was moved into its new quarters on Friday, Aug. 27, 1875.
293
Removal to Mountain View
In this building the
publication of periodicals and books was successfully carried forward
until 1904, when arrangements were made to move the printing plant into
the country. The reason for making this change is given by the manager of
the Pacific Press in these words: “For years the management of the
Pacific Press Publishing Company have felt that the land now occupied by
their publishing house is too valuable, and the land surface too cramped,
in the heart of a large city in a residence district, for factory
purposes, and that it is wisdom in many ways to seek some rural place
where land is less valuable, where homes in healthy surroundings could be
secured by employees, with space sufficient for gardens, fruit trees, and
breathing room; and where shipping advantages would be good. Such a place
has been found and secured in the village of Mountain View, Santa Clara
County, thirty-nine miles south of San Francisco, a place which combines
many of the advantages of the city with the benefits of a healthy country
life.”
Printing Begun in Foreign Lands
Indicating the spread of
the truth, we note that from 1875 to 1878 the printing work was begun in
Basel, Switzerland, and in Christiana, Norway.
In the autumn of 1875 a
report was given in the Review of book sales at the Review and Herald
office alone, for seven years, from 1868 to 1875, amounting to $85,644.54,
nearly six-fold increase over the seven preceding years, and the sales for
all four of the offices (Michigan, California, Switzerland, and Norway),
for three years, from 1875 to 1878, was $98,163.73.
A statement was made in
the Review of October 17, 1878, that all the books, pamphlets, and tracts
printed by the Review office previous to 1864 amounted to 50,058,000
pages. From
294
1864 to 1878 the number of
pages was 158,130,951, or a total of 208,188,951 pages.
The
Youth’s Instructor Made a Weekly
Up to Jan. 1, 1879, the
Youth’s Instructor had been published monthly, but at this date, as it
entered upon its thirty-first year, it was issued weekly; and thus its
usefulness was increased fourfold.
What Elder White Turned over to the Association
In the Review of Jan. 23,
1879, are some statements made by Elder White respecting his connection
with the cause, which it is proper to introduce here, as they shed more
light on the sacrifices made in the publishing work. The quotation
reads:-
“When, in 1861, the
Publishing Association was instituted at Battle Creek, Mich., we gave our
list of subscribers and the right to republish all our works (since
decided to have been worth $10,000) to the association, leaving us worth
only $1,000; and we continued our labor as editor, manager, and preacher
at $6 per week.
“In 1866, when we returned
to the Review office, after severe sickness, we found the managers paying
ten per cent. on thousands, and the capital stock reduced to $32,000;3 but
in four years, with the blessing of God, the debts were paid, the stock
raised to $75,000, and we [the association] had $5,000 in the banks.”
Standing of the Publishing House in 1880
In the
Review of Jan. 15, 1880, Elder Butler says:-
“Our publishing house
(Battle Creek) has recently been enlarged by the erection of a central
portion between the two eastern buildings, thus materially increasing the
capacity and convenience of the whole. Facilities exist for electrotyping
and stereotyping, and doing the best binding. In fact,
3 $3,000
below stock paid in, and donations.
295 it is stated by those
who ought to know, that it is the most perfect and complete publishing
house in the State of Michigan.”
Notwithstanding this
enlargement, it became necessary, before the close of the summer, to
construct a new building south of the main building, for a press-room. To
this room the five power-presses of the association were removed. One of
these presses was of larger size than any heretofore used in the office.
One of the same size and style had also just been placed in the office of
the Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal.
In the Review of May 17,
1881, referring to the success of the publishing work at the central
publishing house in Battle Creek, Elder White said:-
“Take the amount of debts
of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association from a careful invoice
of the property, and there is left in real and personal property not less
than $105,000. Of this, all our people have given in shares, donations,
and legacies, the sum of $34,432.17, and a few faithful men and women who
have devoted their lives to the work, have added [not in donations, but by
sacrifice and careful management] $70,567.83.”
The
Canvassing Work Inaugurated
Beginning with the year
1881 our people made a new venture, and entered into the canvassing work
for the sale of our publications. As no accurate reports were made by the
canvassers, of their sales, until the year 1884, our report for that
period is made up from the reported sales of the four publishing houses.
According to their figures the sales for five years were $221,248.69. As
the influence of the work extended from our missions in Central Europe and
the Scandinavian countries, the demand for publications in foreign
languages increased.
296
Book Sales for Ten Years
From 1884 to 1894, a
period of ten years, the sale of our large bound books was quite largely
accomplished by the canvassers. Their sales for this period were
$4,031,391.26. During this time our work was further extended by the
establishing of publishing houses in Australia; Tahiti, Pacific Islands;
Helsingfors, Finland; Hamburg, Germany; and at other places. The
canvassers’ sales for the year 1895, hard as the times were that year,
were, as reported, a total of $357,467.23, making a grand total, including
the sales we have already mentioned, of $4,816,773.73.
Sales for Fifty Years $11,000,000
To ascertain the whole
amount of sales from 1854 to Jan. 1, 1896, we must still add the figures
of the sale of trade books, pamphlets, tracts, and charts, as reported by
all the publishing houses for the above ten years, which amount is
$3,458,278.23; giving a grand total for the book sales of the denomination
for twenty-two years of $8,275,051.96. To state it in another form: The
sales for thirty years (1854 to 1884) were $424,915.24, and for the next
twelve years following, to Jan. 1, 1896, $7,850,136.72. Notwithstanding
the force in the canvassing field has for the last eight years decreased,
it is a safe estimate to say that from 1854 to the present time (1905)
more than $11,000,000 worth of Seventh-day Adventist publications have
been sold.
Printing in about Forty Languages
The progress of the
message in printed form is apparent when we consider that a beginning has
been made in about forty of the leading languages, as the Arabic,
Armenian, Basuto, Bohemian, Bulgarian, Bengali-India, Chinese, Danish,
English, Esthonian, Finnish, French, Fijian, Greek, German, Dutch,
Hungarian, Hawaiian, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Kaffir, Lettish,
Lavonian, Maori, Polish, Portuguese, Roumanian,
297
Russian,
Servian, Spanish, Swedish, Tahitian, Tongan, Welsh, etc. In these various
countries and nationalities are active workers who are advancing the
truths of the third message.
The number of books,
pamphlets, and tracts printed in the different languages is over eleven
hundred and eighty-seven. To secure a copy of each, and the eighty-seven
periodicals of the denomination4 in
different tongues for one year, would require about $340.
Location of the Twenty Publishing Houses
Twenty publishing houses
of the Seventh-day Adventists are located as follows: Avondale, Australia;
Battle Creek, Mich. (2); Basel, Switzerland; Christiana, Norway;
Copenhagen, Denmark; Cape Town, South Africa; Calcutta, India; College
View, Nebraska; Hamburg, Germany; Helsingfors, Finland; London, England;
Melbourne, Australia; Montreal, Canada; Nashville, Tennessee; Oakland,
California; South Lancaster, Massachusetts; Stockholm, Sweden; Tocubaya,
Mexico; Washington, D.C. Besides these publishing houses, our people are
printing papers and tracts in Hong Kong, China; Tokio, Japan; Cairo,
Egypt; South America; and in the Fiji Islands.
Issuing the First Pamphlets
For a moment we will take
a retrospective glance at the facilities with which the pioneers had to
work. In the fall of 1853, in the making up of the first book printed on
the Washington press-”The Sanctuary,”-after a “bee” of sisters had folded
and gathered the signatures preparatory to stitching them, the writer
stabbed them with a pegging awl; and after the covers had been put on,
Uriah Smith pared them with a straight-edge and a sharp penknife. This was
done because of a lack of proper machinery to do that part of the work.
4
See
list of the 87 in General Conference Year Book of 1904.
298
No further back than 1861
all the literature of the denomination was printed on one Adams
power-press, driven by a two-horsepower engine. Now, in the different
offices of publication, there are more than forty steam-power presses
running constantly, printing present truth. These offices employ a total
of over five hundred persons to carry on the work, while hundreds of
canvassers are in the field selling the books among the people.
In the year 1862 a full
set of all the publications issued by Seventh-day Adventists could be
purchased for the sum of $7.50; in 1904, as has been shown, it would
require $340 to procure a complete set. Surely something more than human
devising has wrought in producing these results.
The rise of the publishing
work among the Seventh-day Adventists, as predicted in 1848, has indeed
been like the progress of the sun, “Grows warmer-sends its rays” "Keeps
on its course like the sun, but it never sets.”
Move by Faith-Elder Stone’s Testimony
The zeal and earnestness
of those who have pressed forward in the work of the third angel’s message
is well expressed in the Review of Feb. 5, 1884, by Elder Albert Stone,
one of the pioneers in the cause, who lived to the ripe age of ninety
years:-
“The early history of the
cause was a day of small things, and the means employed seemed
insufficient for the work. But the men and women of faith have known from
the beginning that the strong arm of the Lord was enlisted in this work.
They have known that the time set to favor Zion had come, and that the
Lord had set his hand to gather his people. They saw that the Lord was at
the helm, and that the Gospel Ship, freighted with the remnant church and
her cargo of restored truth, tried faith, and perfect love, would come
safely into harbor.”
299
