Lt 4, 1847

August 25, 1847,¹

James White's letter has the place heading “Gorham.” For date, see note 3.

Gorham, Maine1EGWLM 133.1

Letter to
Elvira Hastings.²

Identity: The address on the letter reads “Elvira Hastings, New Ipswich, N.H.”

1EGWLM 133.2

Copied from a letter of James White to Elvira Hastings, begun August 22, 1847.³

The section of James White's letter appearing below is dated “Aug. 25.”

Previously unpublished.

Clarification of the prediction that prior to the Second Advent the voice of God will announce the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming.1EGWLM 133.3

P.S. In your letter⁴

It appears that James White's first contact with Elvira Hastings was in a letter written on May 21, 1847, in which he enclosed “two visions.” One of these “visions” was the broadsheet containing Ellen White's first recorded vision on the Sabbath, published by Joseph Bates a few weeks earlier, in April, at a cost of $7.50 for 1,000 copies. White indirectly solicited a contribution to help cover the printing costs. The other “vision” sent by White was probably the broadside “To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad,” which had been published in April the previous year, 1846. Elvira Hastings replied to White a few days later, on May 28, enclosing a $1.00 contribution and also raising the theological question on the “voice of God.”

See: James White to Elvira Hastings, May 21, 1847; James White to Elvira Hastings, Aug. 22, 1847; Ellen G. Harmon, “To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad,” Ms 1, 1846 (Apr. 6).

you say “Sister White mentions God spoke the day and hour of Jesus’ coming,” and you inquired “I should like to know if it is to be spoken before we all hear it.”5

Two of the three visions given in the broadside “To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad” contained the prediction that prior to the Second Advent the voice of God would announce the day and hour of Jesus’ coming to the 144,000. For further comments on this prediction, see Lt 1, 1845 (Dec. 20), note 8.

To this question I answer by writing Ellen's words that she has just spoken while lying on the bed beside my writing stand.6

If this part of James White's letter is correctly dated (Aug. 25, 1847), it was the day before Ellen gave birth to their first child, Henry Nichols White. This may explain why Ellen was “lying on the bed.” Three days earlier James reported that Ellen “has been out of health for years, and suffers much at this time.”

See: James White to Elvira Hastings, Aug. 22-Sept. 1, 1847.

“Tell her that none hear the voice until all hear it. Then every living child of God will hear and know the voice of God as He gives us the day and hour. Then joy and glory will fill every heart.” J. W. [James White]1EGWLM 133.4