Ms 4, 1852

September 1852,¹

The earliest copy of this manuscript is headed “Washington, N.H., Sept., 1852.” The vision itself can with fair certainty be dated September 10, 1852 (see note 2 below).

Extract Regarding the Latter Rain.1EGWLM 332.8

This manuscript is published in entirety in Ellen G. White, Spalding and Magan's Unpublished Manuscript Testimonies of Ellen G. White, p. 4.1EGWLM 332.9

Vision concerning some believers in Washington, New Hampshire, who were putting the coming of the Lord “too far off” and becoming worldly.1EGWLM 332.10

You are getting the coming of the Lord too far off.²

It would appear that only a short fragment of Ellen White's vision is given here and that James White provides a fuller report of the vision a few weeks later in the Review. In the October 14 issue James tells of his and Ellen's visit to Washington, New Hampshire, during the weekend of September 10-12, 1852. Ellen, he reports, received a vision the first evening. (James, as was sometimes his custom, used a more circuitous expression: “The Lord showed His willingness to bless His people assembled, by graciously pouring out His Spirit the first evening.”) He then gave what appears to be a summary of some of the highlights of the vision. Significantly, he began with the words “there was evidently a lack of active faith on the part of some of the brethren. Some had put the coming of the Lord too far off, and were getting worldly” (italics supplied). The similarity here with the opening sentence of Ms 4—“you are getting the coming of the Lord too far off”—seems too striking to be a coincidence. Added to the fact that the date and place of the manuscript (September 1852, Washington, New Hampshire) correspond with James White's report, it seems clear that Ms 4 and James White are speaking of the same vision. James's summary runs into five paragraphs centering on the self-deception of many who “think that a theory of the truth will save them, while they lack many things that constitute a Christian.”