July 12, 1857, Battle Creek, Michigan 1EGWLM 521.1
Letter to Identity: The “Brother Everts” addressed is, among other things, associated in this letter with the expanding work in the “West,” owning “large farms,” and working “with the tent.” There can be no doubt that Ellen White is writing to Elon Everts, preacher from Vermont, who moved west to Round Grove, Illinois, in late 1855, where he purchased “large attractive lands.” In the summer of 1857 Elon Everts lectured at tent meetings in Wisconsin and Illinois. A further reason for determining that “Brother Everts” is Elon Everts is that the Review mentions no other Evertses during this period. See: “Business,” Review, Dec. 4, 1855, p. 80; J. N. Loughborough, J. Hart, E. Everts, “Tent Meetings,” Review, May 28, 1857, p. 32; Ellen G. White, “A Warning,” Review, Apr. 15, 1858, p. 174; search term “Everts” in Words of the Pioneers.
Elon Everts.1
Portions of this letter are published in Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, p. 130.
Admonition to an Adventist preacher to sell a portion of his large farms and “lay up treasure in heaven.” Instructions regarding tent meetings. 1EGWLM 521.3
Dear Brother Everts:
I was shown while at Lancaster, Mass.,2 Very likely a reference to Ellen and James White's visit to tent meetings in Lancaster, Massachusetts, six weeks earlier, at the end of May 1857. See: J. W. [James White], “Eastern Tour,” Review, May 28, 1857, p. 36; idem, “Eastern Tour,” Review, June 25, 1857, p. 61; E. L. Barr, “From Bro. Barr,” Review, Aug. 13, 1857, p. 118. The radical challenge Ellen White here gives to Elon Everts would not be new to him. Already by the end of 1855, about the same time the Everts family moved out to Illinois from Vermont, she had issued a general warning and an appeal to the growing numbers of Adventists moving westward. There was a real danger of their becoming engrossed in the material pursuits of buying and developing lands to the neglect of their spiritual mission. Articles sounding the same warning in the Review had followed, reinforced by the Laodicean message which was beginning to be preached in 1856 (see “Laodicean Message” in EGWEnc). Although Everts himself felt convicted to give some of his assets for evangelistic work, his wife and daughter apparently were implacably opposed. Of Everts's wife, Maria, Ellen White reveals that “three times she was reproved by vision” on this issue, but without relenting. After Maria died in November 1856, Everts's daughter, Matilda, continued to oppose her father's plans, and when he himself died two years later “nothing was bestowed upon the cause of God,” with the whole estate passing to the daughter. See: Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 118; E. Everts, “Communication From Bro. Everts,” Review, Jan. 1, 1857, p. 72; Ellen G. White, “A Warning,” Review, Apr. 15, 1858, p. 174; idem, Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], p. 215.
I saw that as you go with the tent, be not in haste to take it down after there is an interest awakened; remain until they decide; bring them to the point to decide; press upon them the necessity of decision. I have seen that there is too much haste in moving the tent from place to place, and staying long enough in a place.4 In memoirs written in the 1880s John Loughborough recalls that during the summer of 1855 the New York tent was pitched 14 times in eight towns with meetings mostly held for only two or three days on each occasion. He goes on to add that “before the summer's campaign closed, Sr. White told that us [sic] she had been shown that we would see greater results from our tent-meetings if we visited a less number of places with our tents, and continued our efforts longer in each place.” The earliest published comment by Ellen White on this issue is from 1857. See: J. N. Loughborough, “Recollections of the Past—No. 13,” Review, Mar. 24, 1885, p. 186; Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 148.
I have seen that the work would spread and increase in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The Lord is moving upon the people, and the servants of God should keep pace with the opening providence of God and with the work of the third angel's message. 1EGWLM 522.2
Tell Brother John [John Norton Loughborough],5 Identity: During the summer of 1857, when this letter was written, Elon Everts was engaged in tent meetings with John Loughborough and Josiah Hart in Wisconsin and Illinois. It therefore seems likely that the “Bro. John” he is asked to convey the message to is John Loughborough and that “Mary” is his wife, Mary Loughborough. See: J. N. Loughborough, J. Hart, E. Everts, “Tent Meetings,” Review, May 20, 1857, p. 32.
In love. 1EGWLM 522.4