New Beginnings in Battle Creek

The Whites would call Rochester their home until “the brethren in Michigan opened the way for the [Review] Office to come to Battle Creek,” 1EGWLM 18.5

Picture: Earliest known photograph of James and Ellen White, circa 1857 (ambrotype)1EGWLM 19

Picture: James and Ellen White with son Willie, circa 1857 (ambrotype)1EGWLM 19

Picture: James and Ellen White, circa 18591EGWLM 20

Picture: The original James and Ellen White family home (1856-1863) on Wood Street in Battle Creek, Michigan, as restored and open for visitors to Historic Adventist Village1EGWLM 20

Picture: Left to right: sons Henry Nichols, J. Edson, and William C. White, circa 18621EGWLM 20

Michigan.^{27Idem, Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], p. 197.} Coinciding with the move, a “General Conference” was called in Battle Creek beginning November 16, 1855, “to make choice of those Brethren who shall conduct the Review, and to consider other matters of vital interest to the prosperity of the cause.”^{28“General Conference,” Review, Oct. 16, 1855, p. 64.} As a result of the conference, the publishing effort was put on solid ground, and the believers reached agreement on a disputed matter of no little significance—the proper hours for Sabbath observance. But it was another topic of “vital interest” that weighed heavily on the minds of the delegates—the “decline of faith and [spirituality] amongst the scattered flock.”^{29Joseph Bates, J. H. Waggoner, M. E. Cornell, “Address of the Conference Assembled at Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 16th, 1855,” Review, Dec. 4, 1855, p. 78.}1EGWLM 21.5

In reviewing their “present low state,” the delegates found direction in the New Testament's emphasis on the church's appreciation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, they acknowledged their negligence in giving proper regard to Ellen White's visions, in part a result of their “desire to conciliate the feelings of our opponents.”^{30Ibid., pp. 78, 79.} The published address set forth the primacy of the Word of God in connection with the prophetic gift and marked a decisive turning point in the movement's affirmation of Ellen White's ministry.1EGWLM 21.1

Nevertheless, freedom from criticism was not a common state of affairs for the Whites. The “testimonies” and letters included in this volume reveal the opposition that both James and Ellen encountered, including resistance at times from such prominent Sabbathkeeping leaders as J. H. Waggoner, Uriah Smith, Cyrenius Smith, and J. N. Andrews. These tensions would find resolution, and confidence in Ellen White's visions would be upheld, but not without adding to the tumult of the period.1EGWLM 21.2

Soon after the November 1855 conference, perhaps as a visible token of support, church members assisted the Whites in acquiring a 1.5-acre [.6-hectare] lot, and in 1856 they set up house in the first home they could call their own. The financial privations of the past decade were beginning to turn. Today their house stands as the oldest Seventh-day Adventist landmark in Battle Creek.1EGWLM 21.3

While living in that home in 1858, Ellen White wrote the account of her March 14 “great controversy” vision, initially published as Spiritual Gifts, volume 1, and continued in volumes 3 and 4. As expanded in her later publications, the “great controversy” between Christ and Satan became the central unifying theme of Ellen White's writings.1EGWLM 21.4

It was also in that home that 31-year-old Ellen White began in 1859 to keep a day-by-day diary (her earliest known), which is published in full for the first time in this volume. Entries reveal an individual and a home in constant motion—especially at times of general conferences. The day after one such event, which concluded with 35 persons for dinner, Ellen penned only a single entry: “We were all much worn out.”^{31Ellen G. White, Ms 6, 1859 (June 7 entry).}1EGWLM 21.5

The Whites would remain in Battle Creek for 17 years, little knowing that in the decade ahead they would lose two sons to disease, the nation would be torn asunder by civil war, and the “little flock” that arose from the Millerite disappointment would officially make Battle Creek its headquarters, taking the name “Seventh-day Adventist” (1860).1EGWLM 21.6