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- Foreword
- About The Author
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- The Place Of The Vision In Confirming The Sanctuary Truth
- The Seventh-day Sabbath
- New Responsibilities
- Careers Changed
- Establishing The Pillars Of Faith
- The Volney Conference
- Bible Study Aided By Special Revelation
- Streams of Light (Story of the Publishing Work: Present Truth and the Review and Herald)
- The Eight-Page Present Truth
- Writing For The Press
- Beginning The Review and Herald
- Difficult Days in Paris
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- Establishing a Publishing Office in Rochester, New York
- The Publishing House Family
- The Tour East
- Publishing The Visions
- Ellen White's First Book
- Expanding By Tent Evangelism
- The Move To Battle Creek
- A Transition Evidencing The Maturity Of The Church
- The Review Office To Go To Battle Creek, Michigan
- A Power Press For The Review Office
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- The Battle Creek Conference
- The Autumn Trip East
- Guiding Toward Organization the Vital Need for Church Organization
- Initial Steps Toward Church Organization
- James White Joins In Calling For Gospel Order
- Need For Organization For Publishing Interests
- Adopting A Denominational Name
- Seventh-Day Adventists The Name Chosen
- Winning The Struggle For Church Organization
- Meeting Opposition
- Vision At Roosevelt, New York
- The Battle Creek Church Sets The Pace In Organizing
- The Formation Of The Michigan Conference
- Other States Organize
- Confessions Of Negative Attitudes
- The Call For A General Conference
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- The Battle Of Manassas
- Eyewitness Account
- The War And The Work Of The Church
- The Tide Begins To Turn
- Governor Blair's Reply
- A Call To Importune God To Stop The War
- The Devastating War Suddenly Ends
- The Clouds Of War And The White Family
- The Extended Eastern Tour In The Summer And Autumn Of 1863
- Diversified Activities In New England
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- The Otsego Vision
- General Counsels On Health
- First Visit To Dansville
- Active Teachers of Health Reform
- The Health Reformer
- Extremes Taught In The Health Reformer Bring Crisis
- Ellen White's Moderate Positions
- Lifesaving Therapy For The Health Reformer
- Practicing New Light
- Two of The Three White Children Stricken
- Henry: Death From Pneumonia
- Funeral Services In Topsham And Battle Creek
- Willie's Bout With Pneumonia
- Ellen White Tries The Meatless Diet
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- A Surprise Vacation In The Rocky Mountains
- Caravan to Hot Sulphur Springs
- Crossing The Continental Divide
- A Week at Hot Sulphur Springs
- Calls From California Cut Short The Vacation
- The Whites Discover California
- In San Francisco
- Tent Effort In San Francisco
- Organization Of The California Conference
- Interlude
- Back To Colorado
- At Home In Santa Rosa
- The First Issue Of The Signs Of The Times
- The Separation Ended
- James White Again In The Saddle
- Back In The East For Camp Meetings
- The Fourteenth Session Of The General Conference
- Looking Ahead
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- Ministry In The Bay Area
- Camp Meeting Versus Writing And Publishing
- Camp Meetings Again
- The Groveland Camp Meeting
- Pioneering In Texas
- At The McDearmon Home
- The Plano Camp Meeting
- Marian Davis Joins The White Forces
- The Home Situation
- Outreach In Missionary Endeavor
- Texas, A Needy Field Of Labor
- Trip By Caravan
- The Caravan Divides
- Still On The Caravan Trail
- On To Emporia
- The Kansas Camp Meeting
- The Health And Temperance Society
- Home Again In Battle Creek
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- Oh, To Know What To Do!
- Two Weeks In England
- On To Basel, Switzerland
- Organization Of The Work In Europe
- A Mini-General Conference
- A Profitable Council
- A Visit To Scandinavia
- Visit To Denmark
- A Visit To Sweden
- Christiania, Norway
- Return Trip To Switzerland
- The Visit To Italy
- Marian Davis Joins the Force
- Ellen White's Second Missionary Journey
- Sweden
- Norway—Christiania
- Denmark
- England
- France
- At Valence, France
- Third Visit To Italy
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- Haskell Pioneers Work In Australia
- The General Conference Takes Action
- To Go Or Not To Go
- Arrival At Sydney
- Recognized The Printing Presses
- Fourth Annual Session Of The Australian Seventh-Day Adventist Conference
- The Business Session Of The Conference
- A. G. Daniells Elected President
- Ellen White Begins Work In Melbourne
- Ellen White Anointed
- The Bible School Established
- The Bible School Opens
- Growing Stronger
- The Secret Signs
- N. D. Faulkhead And The Convincing Testimony
- Ellen White Gives The Secret Signs
- Faulkhead Resigns From The Lodges
- Another Interview With Ellen White
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- Voyage To New Zealand
- Ellen White Meets The Hare Family
- First SDA Camp Meeting In The Southern Hemisphere
- The Winter In New Zealand
- A Mother's Anxiety
- Dental Problems
- Determined To Win New Zealand
- A New Approach In Gisborne
- The Wellington Camp Meeting
- Evangelistic Thrust In Australia
- A Union Conference Is Born
- Far-Reaching Influence Of The Brighton Camp Meeting
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- The Brettville Estate
- Ellen White Explores The School Site
- Report To The Foreign Mission Board
- Making A Beginning
- Work At Cooranbong Brought To A Standstill
- Avondale College: On Hold
- Norfolk Villa In Granville
- Running A Free Hotel
- The Ashfield Camp Meeting
- A Wedding In The Family
- Tasmania
- Starting A College From Scratch
- The Manual Training Department Succeeds
- A Start With Buildings For Avondale College
- The Sawmill Loft Put To Use
- Setting A Target Date For Avondale College To Open
- Ellen White Calls A Work Bee
- The Avondale School Opens
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- The Health Home
- The Successful Treatment Of A Very Critical Case
- A School For Nurses
- Firm Plans For Erecting A Sanitarium
- A Surprise Move
- Medical Missionary Work At Cooranbong
- The Health Food Work
- The Medical And Surgical Sanitarium, And The Use Of Meat
- Long-Distance Counselor
- Meeting Offshoot Teachings
- Good News From America
- The Anna Phillips Experience
- J. H. Kellogg And The Medical Missionary Work
- Meeting The Inroads Of Pantheism
- Correspondence With G. I. Butler
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- The Paradise Valley Property
- The New Well
- The Glendale Sanitarium
- Loma Linda, The Hill Beautiful
- “I'll Consult No One,” Said Ellen White
- The Search For Money
- Ellen White Inspects Loma Linda
- The First $5,000 Payment
- Faith Rewarded: Meeting The Payments
- Two More Payments
- Dedication Of Loma Linda Sanitarium
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- More Than A Prophet
- The Seeds Of Unbelief
- Questions Calling For Careful Answers
- Who Manipulated Her Writings?
- The San Francisco Earthquake
- News Of The San Francisco Earthquake
- The Tour Of Ravaged San Francisco
- Consuming Fire That Followed The Earthquake
- Martial Law
- Destruction In The Central City
- Adventists And Adventist Properties
- The Earthquake Special Of The SIGNS
- The Trip Home To Elmshaven
- Finding A Site For Pacific Union College
- The Buena Vista Property
- The Angwin Property A Better Place
- Ellen White Describes The New School Property
- Faculty And Staff
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- Considerations Initiated By Plans For A New Edition
- Finding Sources For The Quotations
- Progress Report To Elder Daniells
- E. G. White Settles The Question Of The D'Aubigné Quotations
- Clarence Crisler's Testimony
- A Review Of What Was Done To The Book
- E. G. White Reads And Approves Changes
- Time Running Out; Important Counsels
- Book Preparation
- Ellen White's Last Trips To Loma Linda
- On Hand for The 1911 Constituency Meeting
- The Visit of Bookmen
- The General Conference Session Of 1913
- “Courage In The Lord”
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- Frequent Visitors
- Review and Signs Articles
- Her Eighty-Seventh Birthday
- The Accident and Its Aftermath
- The Vision of March 3
- Waning Strength And Death
- Ellen White At Rest; Awaiting The Life-Giver
- Funeral Notice
- The Richmond Funeral
- The Battle Creek Funeral
- The Funeral Service
- The Public Press
- “My Writings Will Constantly Speak”
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Chapter 5—Financial Support For The Cause Of God
The movement was growing. As it spread to the West, families of means accepted the message. For some it was difficult to grasp their responsibility to give financial support to the cause they loved. During the years 1857 and 1858 the situation became desperate. There was no church organization; there was no church treasury. Those who felt called to enter the ministry faced great sacrifices, for they were dependent upon gifts placed in their hands as they moved from place to place. Dedication and sacrifice were called for.WV 68.1
John Loughborough reported concerning financial support for four months of service while holding tent meetings in Illinois, that he had received his board, lodging, and traveling expenses and about $15 in money. This did not leave him much to take home to his wife, Mary.WV 68.2
“For the whole winter of 1857-1858,” he said, “I received three ten-pound [4-kilogram] cakes of maple sugar, ten bushels [40 pecks] of wheat, five bushels [20 pecks] of apples, five bushels [20 pecks] of potatoes, one ham, one half of a small hog, one peck [nine liters] of beans, and four dollars in cash. This with the small profit from our boarders brought me through the winter in better condition than other of our ministers” (Pacific Union Recorder, October 6, 1910).WV 68.3
James and Ellen White, too, were struggling. While some of the ministers had to drop out from time to time and work with their hands to support their families, James White found as he traveled among the believers that there were those in need of Bibles and other books. He bought supplies and carried some with him, or sent them from Battle Creek. These he sold at a profit.WV 68.4
Things had reached a state where a permanent plan had to be found to provide financial resources for the growing church. In these circumstances Ellen White said to her husband, “The Lord has shown me that if you will call the ministers together, and have J. N. Andrews come down from Waukon, and hold a Bible class, you will find that in the Scriptures there is a complete plan to sustaining ... the work of the ministry” (Ibid.).WV 68.5
James White did call for Andrews to come to Battle Creek for such a study, which was reported by J. N. Loughborough. Several workers, including J. N. Andrews, met for two days in Battle Creek to study a Bible-based system of finance for the emerging church. The plan that was developed was presented to the Battle Creek church in a business meeting the following Sunday night, January 16, 1859. The aim was to induce all to sustain the cause of present truth and at the same time relieve some who had given beyond their real ability.WV 68.6
“Brethren Andrews, Frisbie, and White were chosen to prepare an address on Systematic Benevolence, founded on the declarations of Scripture (The Review and Herald, February 3, 1859). Two weeks later, January 29, after the hours of the Sabbath were passed, the church came together to hear the reading of the address. The report was adopted by a unanimous vote.WV 69.1
This plan, developed by leading men in the church, became known from the outset as “Systematic Benevolence.” Almost from the first the close relation of Systematic Benevolence to the tithe was observed. In early 1861 James White, in a little-known and short-lived printed sheet, referred to the Systematic Benevolence as the tithe.WV 69.2
We propose that the friends give a tithe, or a tenth of their income, estimating their income at 10 percent of what they possess (The Good Samaritan, January, 1861).WV 69.3
Next come the personal donations. Let the young men who have no taxable property come up nobly here, also the young women (The Review and Herald, April 9, 1861).WV 69.4
Systematic Benevolence was early endorsed by Ellen White, and she linked it with the tithe. At the outset there was no separation of tithes and offerings. The demand for funds was mainly for the support of the ministers and the evangelistic outreach.WV 69.5
As the work of the church broadened, developments called for a separation of funds into two groups, “tithes” and “offerings.” Also, the precise use of the tithe, sacred to the support of the ministry of the church, was repeatedly brought to the attention of the leaders and members.WV 69.6