See: James White, “General Conference in Battle Creek,” Oct. 22, 1857, p. 200; Joseph Bates, Uriah Smith, “Business Proceedings of the General Conference, of Nov. 6th, 1857,” Review, Nov. 12, 1857, p. 4.

my mind was very much depressed. Discouragement pressed heavily upon me. Last Friday night John [John Norton Loughborough] and Mary [Mary J. Loughborough]^{3
Identities: There are strong indications in the letter identifying “John” and “Mary” as John N. and Mary J. Loughborough. For one thing they are said to have visited Ellen White in Battle Creek, Michigan, “last Friday night,” i.e., November 20. Such a visit by the Loughboroughs would be entirely plausible given the fact that they had moved from Iowa some weeks earlier, reaching Battle Creek “the first of November” 1857. More significant, the appeal to Mary for full consecration to God and the warning against her going “East” closely match the content of Ellen White's letter to Mary Loughborough written three months later (see note 4).
See: J. N. Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past—No. 106,” Pacific Union Recorder, Oct. 6, 1910, p. 1; Ellen G. White, Lt 1, 1858 (Mar. 3).} came here. At our prayer season my discouragement was so great it seemed to me I could not pray. But at last, in the agony of my soul, I cried unto God, and the light of heaven shone upon me. I was made free and to rejoice in God.1EGWLM 545.7

I was soon taken off in vision and was shown some things concerning Mary and John; that it was not Mary's duty to go East; that God would not prosper her if she went.⁴

What Ellen White means by her warning to Mary Loughborough about going “East” is clarified in a letter to Mary three months later: “It was God's will that you should not go to Rochester last fall.” The heart of the matter was Mary's longing to live near her friends and relatives in the Rochester, New York, area. Having just spent a year in Waukon, Iowa, with her husband gone most of the time, Mary had seemed determined to move back to Rochester, even though John's ministerial talents were needed primarily in the Midwest.

See: Ellen G. White, Lt 1, 1858 (Mar. 3).

That God was willing to receive her and bless her again, but her will must die; she must yield to the will of God. Mary was affected.^{5
Records indicate that Mary Loughborough struggled with herself over these issues, with varying degrees of success, especially in the early years of her marriage. In 1854 Ellen White appealed to Mary to “cut loose from relatives and acquaintances and … have your eye single to the glory of God.” In December 1856 Mary “confessed her past lack of consecration, and gave herself anew to the Lord, and could say to her husband, Go forth in the name of the Lord to do his work.” Yet this letter, November 22, 1857, and that of March 1858 indicate that Mary at times still struggled to reconcile herself with John's itinerant work and with a desire to return to Rochester.
See: Ellen G. White, Lt 6, 1854 (winter); Lt 1, 1858 (Mar. 3); J. W. [James White], “Western Tour,” Review, Jan 15, 1857, p. 84.} We are willing to do anything for these poor children.1EGWLM 546.1

I saw that there was too much worldly-mindedness among the brethren in Round Grove [Illinois]. They get involved purchasing lands, and any effort made to raise means, to use it as it is needed in the cause of God, they eagerly seize it, so that there is no means left to sustain the servants of God, and the laborer for God is not considered worthy of his hire.⁶

John Loughborough recalled that for his evangelistic work in Round Grove and vicinity during the period January-April 1857 the members awarded him his “board and lodging, a buffalo robe overcoat, and ten dollars in money.” He added, laconically, “ministerial work was not a source of great financial gain.”

See: J. N. Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past—No. 104,” Pacific Union Recorder, Sept. 1, 1910, p. 1.

There will have to be a change among the brethren in Round Grove. They are eaten up with the spirit of the world. They must begin to live out their faith, and die to the world. The third angel's message is not lived out; it is talked, but not acted upon.^{7
A vision given one year earlier, in December 1856, had also highlighted the materialism and declining spirituality of some of the Round Grove members. Elon Everts, to whom this letter is addressed, a farmer and traveling minister, had migrated to Round Grove from Vermont in 1855. Some months earlier, in July 1857, Ellen White had admonished Everts, “you must be narrowing down your large farms. … Cut loose, cut loose from your treasures here; lay up a treasure in heaven.” The testimonies to Everts and the Round Grove members were part of a larger appeal to the increasing numbers of Sabbatarian Adventists who were migrating from the Eastern states to the Midwest in the mid-1850s. As early as 1855 Ellen White had appealed to those moving westward not to become engrossed in the material pursuits of buying and developing lands to the neglect of their spiritual mission.
See: Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 118; Ms 1, 1856 (Dec. 9); Lt 14, 1857 (c. 1857).}1EGWLM 546.2

There must be a separation from the world, an acting out of their faith.1EGWLM 547.1

Other things I will write soon to individuals. I was shown the case of George Butler [George Ide Butler]. He has been misjudged and wronged by some in Round Grove. They have limited the Holy One of Israel. It is nothing strange that God should turn the infidel unto Him, and in the future they need not marvel if the conversion of infidels should be multiplied. I saw that the Lord had mercifully extended His mercy to George Butler and opened unto him His Word, that he could see its beauty and harmony, and be led to love and worship its Author.⁸

George Ide Butler, later to become a long-serving General Conference president for the Seventh-day Adventists, was in his youth a skeptic despite being brought up by Millerite parents who later became Sabbathkeepers. Why the group at Round Grove, in particular, had “misjudged and wronged” George Butler is not clear. In 1855, while still an unbeliever, George Butler had visited Round Grove with the apparent intention of courting Lentha Lockwood, one of the band. Whether this circumstance had turned some of the believers in Round Grove against Butler or whether it was just a general skepticism about the genuineness of his conversion the following year is a matter for speculation.

See: Emmett K. Vande Vere, Rugged Heart: The Story of George I. Butler, pp. 15, 16; M. C. Wilcox and W. C. White, “George Ide Butler: A Sketch of His Life,” Review, Aug. 29, 1918, p. 14.

1EGWLM 547.2

E. G. White

Dear Brother Everts: Mary is coming round right. We are going to settle them to housekeeping if it is possible. This church can help some; but there have been so many objects of charity here that I hardly dare mention another case, for most of them are poor, have snug work⁹

“Snug work”—an archaic expression implying just enough to get by.

to get along themselves. Last night I learned one brother, a French brother, was entirely destitute, and his family had lived on potatoes for two weeks. They must be helped. It is our book-binder. I guess you remember him.^{10
Possibly John M. Daigneau, a French Canadian, who with his wife, Vitaline, had recently become Sabbathkeepers. They lived not far from the Whites’ home in Battle Creek.
See: EGWEnc, s.v. “John M. Daigneau.”}1EGWLM 547.3

Brother Everts, if you have some carpeting you can spare, please send it on. They will have to have one, to save work.1EGWLM 548.1

If we can only get them fixed in Battle Creek, an important move is made toward making Brother John free.¹¹

The hopes of the Whites seemed to be that if the Loughboroughs could be helped to establish a home in Battle Creek, Mary would have less reason to pine for Rochester. Not mentioned in these last paragraphs is the fact that about this time James White did some private fund-raising and was able to buy a small house for the Loughboroughs in Battle Creek. John Loughborough explains the details in later reminiscences. “Brother White found opportunity to obtain a lot and cottage for the writer for four hundred dollars. Aside from about one hundred and fifty dollars that I paid, he raised the money from willing brethren who could invest twenty-five dollars each.”

See: J. N. Loughborough, “Sketches of the Past—No. 105,” Pacific Union Recorder, Sept. 8, 1910, p. 2.

1EGWLM 548.2

If Sister Stone,¹²

There is insufficient data available to identify “Sister Stone” or “Brother Holden” with any degree of certainty.

or any of the rest of the sisters, have sheets or pillowcases that they can send on to Mary, it would be a help. Every little will help. Please interest others for them, and send what you can for them by Brother Holden. There will be much we shall have to do that others cannot do.1EGWLM 548.3

In love.1EGWLM 548.4

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