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Passion, Purpose & Power - Contents
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    48. James White

    Elder White has been overshadowed in our memories because his wife, Ellen, outlived him by nearly 34 years. But he also was a mighty man of prayer.PPP 237.1

    Recollection of his niecePPP 237.2

    “I do not think one hardly hears such prayers as my Uncle James White used to pray, up in those old lonely attic rooms or haylofts. . . . I often remember him when [the] sun was dropping down to go away off by himself and pray until darkness fell—he would forget to come down-but wringing his hands plead with God until [he had] obtained the blessing.”PPP 237.3

    W. C. White’s recollection of his father, James WhitePPP 237.4

    The following was said describing morning worships in the Wood Street home in Battle Creek:PPP 237.5

    “He did not ‘offer a prayer’; he prayed with earnestness and with solemn reverence. He pleaded for those blessings most needed by himself and his family, and for the prosperity of the cause of God.”- Review and Herald, Feb. 13, 1936.PPP 238.1

    Grace Amadon’s recollections of James White’s prayersPPP 238.2

    Grace Amadon, reputed to be our first church school teacher in Buck’s Bridge, New York, [and] was also the daughter of our first General Conference president, John Byington, recalled the following about James White’s prayers:PPP 238.3

    “It was near the close of the great American Rebellion, at a time when things were so dark and forbidding that the progress of this cause came almost to a standstill. Our ministers were not welcomed in many places. People would say, ‘We want this rebellion put down; we don’t care for meetings; we want this war stopped.’ The Government wanted men, and non-combatants were not popular, hence the position of Seventh-day Adventists was very far from being a desirable one. At this time a tremendous burden was rolled on Elder James White and Sister White. It was only too evident that some change for the better must come, or the work of the Third Angel’s Message would come to a halt.PPP 238.4

    “At this juncture, after much prayer and counsel, a period of four days fasting and prayer was called for this cause generally. [ Wednesday - Sabbath, March 1-4, 1865] Our place of meeting then was in a wooden building on Van Buren Street, on the same spot where the brick church for the colored people now stands. This was an anxious time for the believers in Battle Creek. With deep solemnity the church came together, young and old, and most earnest were the petitions and cries sent up to heaven.PPP 238.5

    “I think it was on the second day [March 2, 1865] of that important and solemn occasion, that Elder James White led out in such prayer and supplication to Heaven as I never saw [a] mortal exercise. His faith seemed to reach right up to the secret place of the Most High. And it was very apparent that the angels who were commissioned to stay the winds of strife and carnage were in that assembly. At the close of that remarkable service that day as earnest brethren slowly walked from the house of God, they said, ‘We shall now soon see the end of this war. That prayer of Brother White’s went into the most holy place of the temple above.’ And so it was. In a short time General Lee surrendered to General Grant [April 9, 1865], and the rebellion collapsed and peace came. And so remarkable was this, that in Washington, in front of the Capitol building, was a long placard reading: ‘This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ This incident is given to show what a mighty man in prayer was our late beloved Elder James White.”PPP 238.6

    Another recollection of James White’s prayers by Grace AmadonPPP 239.1

    Grace Amadon concluded another story about a prayer Elder White offered on behalf of a young minister by saying,PPP 239.2

    “Elder White was a man wonderfully gifted in prayer, and on some occasions he seemed to enter the very vestibule of heaven, while pouring out his soul in supplication to God.” —See Grace Amadon’s story entiteld, “Horton.”PPP 239.3

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