Chapter 24—April 20, 1846

Ellen Harmon, for at Least Eight Months, Had Been Preaching That “Our Work Was Done for the Nominal Church and the World, and What Remained to be Done Was for the Household of Faith.”

On April 20, 1846, Otis Nichols wrote William Miller and tried to persuade him that Ellen Harmon was a prophet. He briefly summarized Ellen’s activities, including her message as she visited the advent bands. He insisted that he knew what he was talking about, because Ellen had made his home her headquarters for the previous eight months.SDD 15.5

The key portions of Nichols’s unedited letter are as follows:SDD 15.6

Within is a part of the vision of E.G.H. of Portland. I fully believe them to be from heaven. The manner and circumstances attending is unlike anything I have seen or read of since the days of the Apostles. I would ask you to lay aside prejudice and suspend judgment until you have read and compared them with the scripture and present truth....

Her calling was most remarkable only 17 years of age sick with a dropsical consumption and confined to the house for most of the time for 5 years and been given over by physicians to die. In this state God called her and told her to go out and tell the flock what he had revealed to her—that she should have grace and strength of God as she needed—that an angel should accompany her all the time and sometimes two in time of need—that no wicked power on earth should have dominion over her if she would obey the Lord.

At the time she first went out to deliver her message (January, 1845) she was scarcely able to walk across the room and could not speak with an audible voice, but she had perfect faith in God and was carried in this state a few miles to deliver her message and when she came to speak her voice was nearly gone but God fulfilled his word: gave her strength of body and a clear loud audible voice to talk nearly two hours with tremendous power and effect on the people and without fatigue of body, and from that time for many weeks she continued to travel day and night talking almost every day until she had visited most of the advent bands in Maine and the easterly parts of New Hampshire.

Her message was always attended with the Holy Ghost, and wherever it was received as from the Lord it broke down and melted their hearts like little children, fed, comforted, strengthened the weak, and encouraged them to hold on to the faith, and the 7th month movement; and that our work was done for the nominal church and the world, and what remained to be done was for the household of faith. Those that rejected her message very soon fell into the world and a nominal faith, and those that did receive her testimony as from the Lord and afterward denied it, calling it mesmerism or an unholy thing, are many of them like those that are given over to strong delusion and working of Satan—a ship without a helm or anchor and driven by every wind, thus causing the way of truth to be evil spoken of....

What I have here written I have a knowledge of and think I can judge correctly. Sister E has been a resident in my family much of the time for about 8 months. I have never seen the least impropriety of conduct in her since our first acquaintance. God has blessed our family abundantly with spiritual things as well as temporal since we received her into our family. The spirit of God is with her and has been in a remarkable manner in healing the sick through the answer of her prayers; some cases are as remarkable as any that are recorded in the New Testament. But prejudiced and unbelieving persons find it just as convenient to call it mesmerism and ascribe the power to the devil, as the unbelieving Pharisees did Mat 10:25 12:24. Is not this a sin against the Holy Ghost? See Mark 3:22, 29, 30. That power which is manifested in her, as far exceeds the power of mesmerism as Moses did the magicians of Egypt.—White Estate Document File 439b; Ministry, October, 1981, pp. 9-11.