- 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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Vision at Buck's Bridge, New York
One week later they were at Buck's Bridge, New York, for weekend meetings in “the house of prayer.” The little church structure was erected by John Byington and his associates in 1855 at about the time the house of prayer was erected in Battle Creek. White reported:1BIO 357.4
The comfortable place of worship seemed inviting. It is an easy place to speak. It is a very plain but comfortable place to worship. The house was nearly filled with Sabbathkeepers. We spoke to them on the Sabbath.—The Review and Herald, July 16, 1857.1BIO 357.5
Sunday morning James White spoke to a full house, and on that occasion a vision was given to Ellen. James referred to the experience by saying, “The Lord manifested His great goodness and unbounded mercy in our midst.”1BIO 357.6
In the audience that morning was 22-year-old Daniel Bourdeau from Vermont, a new believer, having come from the Baptist Church. He later reported his observations that day as James White offered to anyone present an opportunity to examine his wife while she was in vision:1BIO 357.7
June 28, 1857 [actually June 21], I saw Sister Ellen G. White in vision for the first time. I was an unbeliever in the visions; but one circumstance among others that I might mention convinced me that her visions were of God.1BIO 357.8
To satisfy my mind as to whether she breathed or not, I first put my hand on her chest sufficiently long to know that there was no more heaving of the lungs than there would have been had she been a corpse. I then took my hand and placed it over her mouth, pinching her nostrils between my thumb and forefinger, so that it was impossible for her to exhale or inhale air, even if she had desired to do so. I held her thus with my hand about ten minutes, long enough for her to suffocate under ordinary circumstances. She was not in the least affected by this ordeal.1BIO 358.1
Since witnessing this wonderful phenomenon, I have not once been inclined to doubt the divine origin of her visions.—D. T. Bourdeau, Battle Creek, Michigan, February 4, 1891, in GSAM, p. 210.1BIO 358.2
The last stop on their eastern tour was at Ulysses, Pennsylvania, where they joined William S. Ingraham for a tent meeting held July 4 and 5. Both James and Ellen White were deeply troubled by the lack of financial support for the ministers where they had made recent stops. They were also concerned, as noted by James White, for the low state of the church because of fault finding, which was destroying “the spiritual life of the people of God in central New York,” and for “tedious church trials,” in which brethren had “picked at straws,” which had “driven the spirit of the present truth almost out of the land” (Ibid., July 16, 1857). On Monday, July 6, a vision was given to Ellen White. She wrote concerning it:1BIO 358.3
There have been so many church trials among the brethren in the State of New York that God has not had the least to do with, that the church have lost their strength, and they know not how to regain it. Love for one another has disappeared, and a faultfinding, accusing spirit has prevailed. It has been considered a virtue to hunt up everything about one another that looked wrong, and make it appear fully as bad as it really was.1BIO 358.4
The bowels of compassion that yearn in love and pity toward brethren have not existed. The religion of some has consisted in faultfinding, picking at everything bearing the appearance of wrong, until the noble feelings of the soul are withered. The mind should be elevated to dwell upon eternal scenes, heaven, its treasures, its glories, and should take sweet and holy satisfaction in the truths of the Bible.—Testimonies for the Church, 1:164.1BIO 358.5
In four pages she deplored the situation in New York and northern Pennsylvania and wrote of what could be done to bring about a change. “Look away from the unworthiness of self, and exalt Jesus,” she urged. “Talk of faith, of light, and of heaven, and you will have faith, light, and love, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”—Ibid., 1:168.1BIO 359.1
Thursday, July 9, they were back home from their itinerary of eight weeks. The new press was there in Battle Creek, purchased with funds largely furnished by individual $100 gifts and pledges. In the Review dated July 30, 1857, James White joyously reported:1BIO 359.2
This number of the Review is printed on the power press. Up to this time everything connected with this enterprise has gone off most pleasantly and prosperously. The cost of the press, and getting it in running order by hand power [there was a handle on the flywheel], is $1,950. But we must have an engine immediately, which will swell the entire cost to near $2,300.1BIO 359.3
A three-horsepower steam engine turned the press for the October 8 issue of the Review. Later White wrote with a note of triumph:1BIO 359.4
It works admirably; and our press work, no accident preventing, will henceforth be accomplished by steam which never tires. The Lord's blessing has thus far seemed greatly to attend the enterprise. The brethren are requested still to remember in their prayers the prosperity of the cause both at the office and abroad.... May every stroke of the engine and every revolution of the press be instrumental in sending forth that, and that only, which shall be light and food to benighted and perishing souls.—The Review and Herald, October 15, 1857.1BIO 359.5