Portions of this manuscript are published in Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Years, pp. 157, 158, and compare to the broadside “To Those Who Are Receiving the Seal of the Living God” (Ms 4, 1849 [Jan. 31]). See also Ellen G. White, Early Writings, pp. 36-39.

Concerning the sequence of final events.1EGWLM 140.3

At the commencement of the holy Sabbath (Jan. 5) I was taken off in vision to the most holy place, where I saw Jesus still interceding for Israel.¹

It should not be assumed that “Israel” is used here in the restricted sense of only Sabbatarian Adventists who had accepted the three angels’ messages. Almost two years earlier Ellen White had indicated that God's “chosen” included those “who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They had not rejected the light on it,” and in the future “they came out and endured the persecution with us.”

See: Ellen G. White, Lt 1, 1847 (Apr. 7); introductory article “The ‘Shut Door’ and Ellen White's Visions”; EGWEnc, s.v. “Shut Door.”

On the bottom of His garment was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate.^{2
Ex. 28:34.} Then I saw that Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every case was decided, either for salvation or destruction. I saw that the wrath of God^{3
See: EGWEnc, s.v. “Wrath of God.”} could not come until Jesus had finished His work in the most holy place, laid off His priestly attire, and clothed Himself with the garments of vengeance. Then Jesus will step out from between the Father and man, and God will keep silent no longer, but pour out His wrath on those who have rejected His truth. I saw that the anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead, were separate events, one following the other. I saw that Michael^{4
See: SDAE, s.v. “Michael, the Archangel”; Questions on Doctrine, pp. 65-76.} had not stood up, and that the time of trouble,^{5
See: EGWEnc, s.v. “Time of Trouble.”} such as never was, had not yet commenced. I saw that the nations are now getting angry, but when our High Priest has finished His work in the sanctuary, then He will stand up, put on the garments of vengeance, and then will the seven last plagues^{6
See: EGWEnc, s.v. “Plagues, Seven Last.”} be poured out.^{7
This vision focuses on the interpretation and fulfillment of certain biblical passages dealing with end-time events. The first paragraph centers on Revelation 11:18, Revelation 15:1, and Daniel 12:1:
• Rev. 11:18—“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged.”
• Rev. 15:1—“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
Some 18 months earlier James White, referring to Revelation 15:1, had argued that the “wrath of God … is contained in the plagues” and would be poured out “in the future” (A Word to the “Little Flock,” p. 1). (He had also placed the “time of trouble” of Daniel 12:1 and the releasing of the “four winds” in the future.) By January 1849, however, Joseph Bates had published his conviction that the wrath of God was already beginning to be manifest in the events of Europe in 1848:
• “See the account from the Boston Times of Oct. 26, 1848, of the flight of the Emperor of Austria from VIENNA. … See also a similar state of things in Berlin. … Almost every arrival from Europe shows that these difficulties instead of being settled are breaking out like volcanic eruptions. … Well, say the thoughtless ones, these things are nothing more than what has been before. I reply … isolated revolutions are trivial, when compared as it were with continental Europe. There things without any doubt are in their progress and order the fulfillment of prophecy, viz: ‘The nations are angry, thy wrath has come.’ Rev. xi:18” (A Seal of the Living God, p. 48).
Joseph Bates was not the only one who was stirred by the revolutionary events of 1848 into thinking that the “wrath of God” and the final events had begun, but his voice was especially significant. Bates's biographer George Knight calls him the “acknowledged leader” of the Sabbatarian Adventists until 1849.
Clearly, this vision of January 5, 1849, placed the “wrath of God” as still future, challenging the position taken by Bates in his tract A Seal of the Living God, published the same month. It also challenged Bates on his interpretation of Daniel 12:1:
• “And at that time shall Michael stand up … : and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was … : and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
Again Bates was convinced by the events of 1848 that the “time of trouble, such as never was” had begun: “The time of trouble such as never was,” Dan. xii:1, has began [sic]” whereas according to the vision “the time of trouble, such as never was, had not commenced.”
See: James White, ed., A Word to the “Little Flock,” pp. 1, 8, 3; Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God, pp. 48, 46; George R. Knight, Joseph Bates, p. 167.}1EGWLM 140.4

I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’ work was done in the sanctuary, then the seven last plagues will be poured out.⁸

The position taken here that the releasing of the four winds was still a future event can also be contrasted with Bates's convictions that the 1848 chaos in France (one of the four angels holding the four winds, according to him) meant that “A WIND [begins] to blow.”

See: Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God, p. 46.

These plagues enraged the wicked against the righteous, and they thought that we had brought the plagues down upon them, and if they could rid the earth of us, then the plagues would be stayed.1EGWLM 141.1

A decree went forth to slay the saints, which caused them to cry day and night for deliverance. This was the time of Jacob's trouble.⁹

See: SDAE, s.v. “Jacob's Trouble, Time of.”

Then all the saints cried out with anguish of spirit, and were delivered by the voice of God. Then the 144,000^{10
See: EGWEnc, s.v. “144,000.”} triumphed. Their faces were lighted up with the glory of God. Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their garments was written in large characters—thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. I asked who this company were, and the angel said, these are they who have once kept the Sabbath, and have given it up. I heard them cry with a loud voice—we have believed in Thy coming and taught it with energy. And then while they were speaking, their eyes would fall upon their garments, and see the writing—thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. Then they would wail aloud. I saw they had drunk of the deep waters, and fouled the residue with their feet—trodden the Sabbath underfoot, and that is why they were weighed in the balance and found wanting.1EGWLM 141.2

Then my attending angel¹¹

As with the interpreting angels who appeared in the visions of Ezekiel (Eze. 40-48), Daniel (Dan. 8-10), Zechariah (Zech. 1; 2; 4), and John (Rev. 17; 21; 22), an angel sometimes explained various features of a scene shown Ellen White while in vision. Mention of an interpreting angel is found already in the account of her first vision. Various designations are employed in her writings, such as “attending angel” (first found in this document), “accompanying angel,” and “guide.” In an article from 1875 Ellen White related that the “same person has appeared before me in important dreams to instruct me from time to time during the past twenty-six years.”

See: Ellen G. Harmon, Lt 1, 1845 (Dec. 20); Ellen G. White, “A Remarkable Dream,” Review, Nov. 4, 1875, p. 139. For further examples of angelic guidance while in vision, see Ellen G. White, The Truth About Angels, pp. 252-257.

directed me to the City again where I saw four angels winging their way to the gate of the City, and were just presenting the golden card^{12
One other mention is made in Ellen White's writings of these “golden cards”: “All the angels that are commissioned to visit the earth hold a golden card, which they present to the angels at the gates of the city as they pass in and out” (Ms 4, 1849 [Jan. 31]). The question arises, Why would such a system be necessary for heavenly angels? The passage must be read in the context of its previous sentence: “I will here state, that there is perfect order and harmony in the holy city.” Thus, the “golden cards” apparently relate to the “perfect order” of heaven rather than to some sort of security procedure.
A related question is whether the presentation of cards by the angels should be understood literally. Not enough information is given for a definitive answer, but in this same vision an angel is seen “waving something up and down in his hand,” which is identified in a different vision on the same Sabbath as the “seal of God” (cf. Rev. 7:2). As a literal seal is not to be impressed upon the foreheads of the redeemed, it suggests the possibility that Ellen White's view of angels presenting “golden cards” may also be a visual way of communicating that the city is administered with “perfect order and harmony.”
See: Ellen G. White, Ms 4, 1849, “To Those Who Are Receiving the Seal of the Living God,” broadside, Jan. 31, 1849.} to the angel at the gate. Then I saw another angel swiftly flying from the direction of the most excellent glory; and crying with a loud voice to the other four angels and waving something up and down in his hand. I asked my attending angel for an explanation of what I saw. He told me that I could see no more then, but he would shortly show me what those things that I then saw meant.1EGWLM 142.1

Sabbath afternoon one of our number was sick and requested prayers that he might be healed. We all united in applying to the Physician who never lost a case and while healing power came down, and the sick was healed, the power fell upon me and I was taken off in vision.1EGWLM 142.2

I saw the state of some who professed to stand on present truth, but disregarded the visions—the way God had chosen to teach, in some cases, those who erred from Bible truth. I saw that in striking against the visions, they did not strike against the worm,—the feeble instrument that God spoke through, but against the Holy Ghost. I saw it was a small thing to speak against the instrument, but it was dangerous to slight the words of God. I saw if they were in error and God chose to show them their errors through visions, and they disregarded the teachings of God through visions, they would be left to take their own way, and run in the way of error, and think they were right until they would find it out too late. Then in the time of trouble I heard them cry to God in agony—why did'st Thou not show us our wrong, that we might have gotten right, and ready for this time? Then an angel pointed to them, and said—my Father taught but you would not be instructed. He spoke through visions but you disregarded His voice, and He gave you up to your own ways to be filled with your own doings.1EGWLM 143.1

Then I saw four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and were on their way to accomplish it. I saw Jesus clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant then raised His hands upward, and with a voice of deep pity cried—“My blood, Father, My blood, My blood, My blood.”1EGWLM 143.2

Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from God who sat on the great white throne, and was shed all about Jesus. I saw an angel with a commission from Jesus swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice, “Hold, Hold, Hold, Hold until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.”¹³

See: EGWEnc, s.v. “Seal of God.”

1EGWLM 143.3

I asked my attending angel the meaning of what I heard, and what the four angels were about to do. He said to me that it was God that restrained the powers,¹⁴

The last two paragraphs seem to undercut the view of Bates and others that “the four angels” holding the four winds symbolized four major nations. For Bates these were Britain, Russia, France, and the United States. Taken together, an important element of this vision is its challenge to the views of Bates (without mentioning him by name) on the prophetic significance of the 1848 events in Europe. No doubt these questions had been discussed at the “Sabbatarian Bible Conferences” during the autumn of 1848.

See: Joseph Bates, A Seal of the Living God, p. 4.

and that He gave His angels charge over things on the earth, and that the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and that they were about to let them go, and while they had started to let the four winds go the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant who were not all sealed, then He raised His hands to the Father, and pleaded with Him that He had spilled His blood for them. Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels, and bid them hold until the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads.1EGWLM 143.4

I saw that the nations had not power to hold themselves. I also saw that we were not to cry to God to hold the four winds, nor to the nations, but one angel was to cry to other angels equal in power, to hold until the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads.1EGWLM 144.1

In hope of being one of the 144,000.1EGWLM 144.2

Lt 2, 1848

Ms 3, 1849