- About the Author
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- Abbreviations
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- Here the Story Begins
- Harbingers of the Advent Awakening
- Carefree Childhood Days
- Early Experiences Recounted
- A “School Days” Experience
- The Family Moves to the City of Portland
- The Portland the Youthful Ellen Harmon Knew
- Hatmaking in the Harmon House
- Attending Brackett Street School
- The Textbooks She Read
- Robert Harmon's Trip to Georgia
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- The Question of the Immortality of the Soul
- The Time of Expectation Passes
- A Test of True Character
- The Second Angel's Message
- October 22, 1844, The Day of Expectation
- The Great Disappointment of October 22, 1844
- The Failing Health of Ellen Harmon
- Ellen Harmon Given a Vision—Her First
- The First Vision as Published in the Day-Star
- The Vision Answered Many Pressing Questions
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- The Otis Nichols Letter of April 20, 1846
- Ellen's Experience in Delivering the Message
- Early Arguments for the Spirit of Prophecy
- Some High Points of her Work in Eastern Maine
- Vision of Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary
- Some Fanatical Positions She Met
- Wrestling With the Views of the Spiritualizers
- Ellen Leaves Suddenly for Home
- The Healing of Frances Howland and William Hyde
- Preserved from Fanaticism
- Visit to New Hampshire
- Contending with Spiritual Magnetism
- Called Back to Portland
- Vision of the New Earth
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- Enabled to Write
- The Large Family Bible
- The Bible Held in Vision
- The Unenviable Position of the Prophet
- A Symbolic Warning
- “Another Angel, Father!”
- Who Could be Saved?
- The First Visit to Massachusetts
- The 1845 Expectancy of the Second Advent
- The Second Visit to Massachusetts
- Otis Nichols’ Eyewitness Account
- Meeting Joseph Bates at New Bedford
- The Publication of Her First Vision—January, 1846
- Publication of the Vision of the Heavenly Sanctuary
- The Place of the Vision in Confirming the Sanctuary Truth
- God's Leadings Clearly Manifest
- The Vision in a Sailboat
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- Writing for the Press
- Ellen White described its reception:
- The Proclamation of the Third Angel's Message
- The Content of the Paper
- Birth of a Second Son, James Edson White
- The Paris, Maine, Conference
- Among the Believers in Maine and New York State
- A Hymnbook for the Sabbathkeeping Adventists
- The Little Paper Almost Died
- Death Invades the Camp
- Fruitage of Public Ministry in Oswego
- Vision of Future Events
- The Visit to Vermont and Maine
- The Gift of a Horse and Carriage
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- Satan's Vicious Attacks
- Special Significance Disclosed by Vision
- The Third Angel's Message to be Made Plain by a Chart
- A Marked and Significant Change in the Tide
- Many Visions Giving Insights and Guidance
- A Summary of Other Important Visions
- A Time for Development of the Doctrinal Structure
- The Crucial Yet Productive Years of the “Scattering Time”
- Taking Up Residence in Maine
- Significant Conferences at Paris and Topsham
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- Concerted Plan to Publish the Visions
- Ellen White's First Book
- Settling in Saratoga Springs, New York
- Moves Toward Order and Organization
- The Conference at Washington, New Hampshire
- The Bethel, Vermont, Conference
- The Conference at Johnson, Vermont
- The Conference at Vergennes, Vermont
- Testimony Concerning Using Tobacco
- The Midwinter Tour in Western New York
- Back Home in Saratoga Springs
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- Ellen G. White Looks Back
- Positive Denial of the False Charge
- Explained Further as a Charge is Answered in 1883
- Developing Perception on Ellen White's Part
- A Term with a Changing Meaning
- Vision of the Open and Shut Door
- Labor for Sinners During the Shut-Door Period of 1845 to 1851
- Experience of Heman Churchill (July, 1850)
- J. H. Waggoner Recalls His Experience
- A Review of 1851 Developments
- Criticism of Deletions from the First Vision
- Why Were the Lines Omitted in 1851?
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- Strict Economy Maintained
- Working in the Opening West
- First Visit of James and Ellen White to Michigan
- With the Believers in Jackson, Michigan
- The Strange Case of a Self-Appointed Woman Evangelist
- Lost on the Way to Vergennes
- The Vergennes Meeting and Mrs. Alcott
- Back Home in Rochester
- The Review and Herald to be Published Weekly
- The 1853 Eastern Tour
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- The Vital Need for Church Organization
- James White Joins in Calling for Gospel Order
- The Tour of Northeastern New York State
- Sins Tolerated in the Camp
- Early Light on Basic Health Principles
- Ellen White's Battle With Disease
- Continuing the Evangelistic Thrust
- The Trip to Wisconsin
- Establishing the First “Adventist Book Center”
- Eyes on the Evangelistic Tent
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- The Vision at Hillsdale, Michigan
- Visiting the Churches in Eastern Michigan
- The Concept of the Investigative Judgment Dawns
- A Power Press for the Review Office
- Plans for a Trip East
- Vision at Buck's Bridge, New York
- The August Vision at Monterey, Michigan
- The October Visit to Monterey and Another Important Vision
- The Battle Creek Conference
- The Vision of the Shaking
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- Meetings in Ohio
- The Great Controversy Vision
- Counsels for New Believers
- A View of the Agelong Controversy in its Broad Sweep
- Ellen White Tells the Story at the General Conference in May
- The Choice of Title for the Forthcoming Book
- A Startling and Thought-Provoking Object Lesson
- M. B. Czechowski, the Converted Catholic Priest
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- The Conference Address on Organizing Churches
- The Eight-Week Eastern Tour
- Vision at Roosevelt, New York
- The Battle Creek Church Sets the Pace in Organizing
- A Creed and the Spirit of Prophecy
- The Formation of the Michigan Conference
- Other States Organize
- Cautions Sounded
- M. E. Cornell to Go to Ohio
- Confessions of Negative Attitudes
- James White Surveys the Battle and Victory
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- Vision at Parkville, Michigan
- Ellen White Examined While in Vision
- At Home and Writing Personal Testimonies
- The Inroads of Prevailing Fashion
- Letters to the Wife of a Minister
- Another Intimate Glimpse of the White Home Life
- A Second Vision of Civil War Involvement
- The New Publishing House
- The Five-Week Western Tour
- The War and the Threatening Draft of Recruits
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- First Annual Session of the Michigan State Conference
- The Business Sessions of the Conference
- Matters for Conference Consideration
- Organization of the General Conference
- The Last Few Weeks of 1862
- A Burden for the Youth of the Church
- Victories at Wright and Orleans
- Triumphant Year-End Meetings at Battle Creek
- The Church Prepared for Development and Expansion
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The Conference at Johnson, Vermont
As the conference opened at Johnson, Vermont, some present pressed hard on the matter of the 1851 time. One brother declared that “he was not sure but something did take place, that Jesus did leave the Most Holy the time they said He would. He was happy; these were the happiest days of his life.”—Ibid. Ellen White continued the story:1BIO 220.3
He went on in this strain with such a wild spirit that all were disgusted with him. The Spirit of God came upon James. He arose and rebuked him in the name of the Lord. His mouth was closed in a moment. He could not say ... anything through the meeting. He was rebuked by God. This was a great help to the meeting and a great help to Brother Baker.1BIO 220.4
I got up and told them what God had shown me about some trying to get a substitute after the time passed. Some would get Jesus upon the great white cloud, others would be looking to old Jerusalem or, as they called it, the “age to come.” ...1BIO 220.5
I talked plainly. The Lord helped me. I showed them how the messengers that had been toiling in the scattering time had labored to get the truth before them, how much they had suffered, and now when God's cause was prospering they embrace the third angel's message and enter into the labors of the chosen messengers of God and lift up their heel against them.—Ibid.1BIO 220.6
On Sabbath there were one hundred present; G. W. Holt and James White preached. Sunday morning, before the preaching, Mrs. Butler confessed that she had been wrong. Butler himself “talked very well,” wrote Ellen White, and “there was a confession made all around with weeping.” It was a dramatic meeting described by Ellen White:1BIO 221.1
I got up and told my vision about Brother Baker and Hart and others. I never had it in a more clear manner. I told Brother Baker his going to the churches to proclaim the third angel's message was all wrong, that he had to tame down that message or he could not have got into the churches and that he had been taking the children's bread and giving it to dogs. I told him just how his case was shown to me.1BIO 221.2
I also told them all that the messengers of God should be perfectly united in their views of Bible truth and should consult with each other and should not advance any new view until they first went to the messengers and examined those views with the Bible, and if they were correct let all the messengers spread them and if they were error lay them to one side. Then the gospel seed would be sown in union and raised in strength; all the messengers east and west, north and south, would be telling the same story....1BIO 221.3
In the afternoon after James talked, Brother Baker arose. None knew what he was about to say. He told them that every word of the vision related in the forenoon concerning him was every word of it truth, just exactly as it was. (I saw in vision that Brother Baker had not had any bitter feelings towards us like some others.) He referred to this in particular. He knew it to be just so.1BIO 221.4
“Well, now,” says he, “you will say, ‘What is Brother Baker going to do with the visions?’ I will tell you. It is high time for me to decide there is no halfway work about this business. The visions are all of God, or there is none of them of God. ‘Well,’ say you, ‘what is Brother Baker going to do?’ Believe the visions.1BIO 221.5
“I see that they are inseparably connected with the third angel's message, and if I give up the visions, I must give up the third angel's message, and if I give up the third angel's message, I give up that we have had the first and second, and if I give up that we have had the first, second, and third angels’ messages, I give up the Word of God, my Christian experience, and am an infidel at once.”—Ibid.1BIO 221.6
It was a traumatic experience, and not only was Baker involved. Ellen White continued the account:1BIO 222.1
I never witnessed such a melting, weeping time before. (Brother Butler had taken his stand the day before and told the brethren and sisters in public where to find him, on the side of the visions. “I believe them to be of God, I am a full believer in the visions, so you know where to find me.”)—Ibid.1BIO 222.2
Relief came to all present, but this was not all. At a meeting held Monday morning, the power of God rested on the company of believers, and Ellen White was given a vision that, when she related it, comforted Brother Baker and made him strong. He was not to sink down but was admonished by the angel, “Feed the sheep, feed the sheep.” She wrote regarding the feeling that existed when the conference closed:1BIO 222.3
We parted with the brethren and sisters while sweet love and union prevailed among all.—Ibid.1BIO 222.4
In his report of the Johnson experience in the Review James White pointed out that “the meeting was most manifestly led by the Holy Spirit.... It seemed wonderful that a meeting of such intense interest, where the brethren had such deep feeling, should be so free from unpleasant excitement.” Finding it difficult to reach for words that expressed his feeling, he declared:1BIO 222.5
Though every heart felt deeply, yet the sweet, gentle spirit of Jesus reigned, and the God of peace and order was glorified.—The Review and Herald, November 25, 1851.1BIO 222.6