Lt 2, 1849 1EGWLM 154

[Circa March 6,¹

The arrival of Bates and Gurney on Sunday, February 25 (note 5), is said in the second paragraph to be “last week,” so the date of the letter would not be before Sunday, March 4. Since it appears that that Sunday (March 4) is spoken of in the past tense (paragraph 3), the letter probably was not written before Monday, March 5. Presumably, then, the letter was written on March 5 or 6 or shortly thereafter, since the letter is in part a request for Mr. Hastings to meet the Whites at the train station on Friday, March 9.

Letter to
Elvira Hastings.²

Identity: In the first paragraph Ellen White informs “Sister Hastings” of her intention to visit her, arriving on Friday (March 9, 1849). A few days later, on March 11, Ellen White writes of a vision received “at the house of Brother Leonard Hastings of New Ipswich,” whose wife was Elvira.

Previously unpublished. 1EGWLM 154.3

Letter to a friend, Elvira Hastings, in which Ellen White gives details of her impending visit together with news of progress of the movement in Connecticut and Massachusetts. 1EGWLM 154.4

Dear Sister Hastings:

We feel it to be duty to visit you before we return to Maine.³

At this point the Whites were about four weeks into a six-week itinerary that had taken them from Topsham, Maine, in early February to several places in Massachusetts. Ellen and James White had been corresponding with the Hastingses for about two years but had not yet met them in person. For an account of this journey, see: Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts [vol. 2], pp. 108-113; Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, pp. 158, 159.

Brother Bates [Joseph Bates] and Brother Gurney [Heman S. Gurney] returned from Connecticut last week.⁵

James White wrote on February 25, 1849: “Bros. Bates and Gurney have been some three weeks in Ct. We expect them home today.” “Home” for Bates and Gurney was Fairhaven, Massachusetts, where the Whites had been based for more than two weeks.

We have had some powerful seasons here of late. Sabbath and Sunday God moved in mighty power and there was a breaking down before God. There had been wrongs and hard feelings between some of the little company here.⁶

The context suggests that Ellen White is referring to the “little company” in Fairhaven. A year later the Whites visited Fairhaven again and mentioned continuing problems: “At Fairhaven we found the brethren in a tried state. … Some, who have wounded the precious cause … , have been ‘purged out from among them’ as ‘rebels’; but God has raised up others to glorify his name.”

I must close and get this in the office to go out in today's mail. Keep up good courage. Lean wholly upon God. He will not leave or forsake us. Love to your husband. 1EGWLM 155.2

Your sister in haste. 1EGWLM 155.3