Several Visions Relating to the Publishing Work

It seems that in several visions of the night at this time she was taken over the ground traversed in the vision at Salamanca earlier in the month, and much additional instruction was given to her. She referred to this here and there in her diary-journal through November and December. She filled in blank pages and half pages with her writing on what had been opened up to her concerning the publishing work and the attitudes of unconsecrated men who were carrying responsibilities in that work. Clearly the vision given at Salamanca and these subsequent visions presented a very broad spectrum of warnings and important counsels. One dramatic scene she viewed in the vision at Salamanca—the one she attempted to tell to W. C. White and A. T. Robinson right after the vision—made an indelible impression on her mind, and it was one to which she made allusions several times. She wrote of this somewhat in detail in her journal, most likely while at Brooklyn, New York:3BIO 468.6

In the night season I was present in several councils, and there I heard words repeated by influential men to the effect that if The American Sentinel would drop the words “Seventh-day Adventist” from its columns, and would say nothing about the Sabbath, the great men of the world would patronize it; it would become popular, and do a larger work. This looked very pleasing....3BIO 469.1

I saw their countenances brighten, and they began to work on a policy plan to make the Sentinel a popular success. The whole matter was introduced by men who needed the truth in the chambers of the mind and the soul.3BIO 469.2

This policy is the first step in a succession of wrong steps. The principles which have been advocated in The American Sentinel are the very sum and substance of the advocacy of the Sabbath, and when men begin to talk of changing these principles, they are doing a work that it does not belong to them to do. Like Uzzah, they are attempting to steady the ark which belongs to God, and is under His special supervision.—Manuscript 29a, 1890.3BIO 469.3

In January, 1891, after returning home, she spoke more fully on the overall warnings regarding the perils that threatened the publishing work. She did this in two extended statements, each carrying the key dateline, tying them in with the vision of November 3.3BIO 469.4

Following the work in Brooklyn, Ellen White filled appointments in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. There she participated in the meetings through the Week of Prayer.3BIO 469.5

In Washington she was entertained in the home of J. S. Washburn, pastor of the Washington church. One day in conversation, thinking of the Minneapolis session and the discussions on righteousness by faith, Washburn asked Ellen White,“What is faith?” Her reply was prompt and simple: “You believe what your father tells you, do you not? That is faith.”—As related by J. S. Washburn to the author. To Ellen White, faith was a simple, uncomplicated experience—just trusting belief as a child would trust a father.3BIO 469.6