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    Chapter Four—Print a Little Paper

    Down in the southern part of Massachusetts, on the sea, is the big town of New Bedford, and just across the river from it, is the smaller town of Fairhaven. In Fairhaven lived a great and good man named Joseph Bates. He was a lover of the Lord, and he looked with joy for Jesus to come on October 22, 1844. He went about preaching that the Lord would come then. But with all the rest of the Adventists, he was deeply disappointed when Jesus did not come.SWhite 34.1

    However, he went right on believing that Jesus would soon appear. So he became acquainted with James White and his wife. For in 1846, two years after the disappointment, James White married Ellen Harmon, and ever since then she has been known as Mrs. Ellen G. White. They went down on a visit to Massachusetts, and became dear friends of Joseph Bates.SWhite 34.2

    Now, Joseph Bates, a few months after the disappointment, learned a great truth. He learned that the seventh day, Saturday, and not the first day, Sunday, is the Sabbath. He began to teach this, and he wrote a book about it. James and Ellen White studied this book, and they studied the Bible, and so they too became Sabbathkeepers. These three people, Joseph Bates, James White, and Ellen G. White, brought other Adventists to keep the Sabbath; and by-and-by they came to be known as Seventh-day Adventists.SWhite 34.3

    They were all very poor. Joseph Bates had been a rich man, but he had spent all in preaching the message of Jesus’ coming, and now he had no money left. James and Ellen White had nothing to start with, except what James White could earn by the labor of his hands, and that was very little. But the Lord took care of them all, and went before them, opening the way as they took steps forward in preaching the truths of the third angel’s message.SWhite 35.1

    Do you know what the third angel’s message is? Let me tell you. In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation, John tells of seeing a vision of three great angels flying in the midst of heaven, each one with a message to give to the world. These angels lead the great movement of the church in telling the messages of God in these last days. The first angel calls men to worship God, the Creator of all things; for the hour of His judgment is come. The second angel tells that Babylon is fallen, which means that the churches which mingle error with truth have been rejected of God. The third angel warns against worshiping the beast and his image, and against receiving the mark, which means that the powers which Satan controls are the enemies of God, and the false Sabbath, which is their mark, is not to be received by the people of God.SWhite 35.2

    The first angel’s message began to be given when William Miller and his followers started preaching that the judgment was at hand. The second angel’s message began to be given in the summer of 1844. And the third angel’s message began to be preached when the Sabbath truth came, and Joseph Bates and James and Ellen White, with others who joined them, went forth to teach that truth and other truths that went with it.SWhite 36.1

    All three of the angels’ messages are now joined in a great threefold message; but when the keepers of the Sabbath began to teach it, they put in the forefront the Sabbath, which is the seal of God, and the truth that the sanctuary is in heaven. So they spoke mostly of the the third angel’s message, though now we speak of the three angels’ messages joined in one; that is: Worship God, who made heaven and earth; receive the Lord Jesus, and so prepare for the judgment; forsake evil and love good; receive not the mark of the beast, but the seal of God; and be ready for Jesus’ coming. This is the great message of the gospel which is now going to all the world.SWhite 36.2

    Joseph Bates and James and Ellen White went about teaching the Sabbath and the sanctuary and the soon coming of Jesus. Others joined them. There were Hiram Edson, and Heman Gurney, and George Holt, and John N. Andrews; and later there were more.SWhite 37.1

    But they felt that they ought to have a paper which they could send around to tell the truth, and spread it farther and faster than they could in person. About the only printed matter they had was Joseph Bates’s little book on the Sabbath. However, they had no money to start a paper with, for you know it costs a good deal to print a paper and send it out through the mails. They wished they could, but they thought they couldn’t. Why, who had a hundred dollars, or five hundred, which he could use for printing a paper?SWhite 37.2

    Then, while they were praying about it one day, at the home of Otis Nichols, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, which is now a part of Boston, the Lord gave Sister White a vision. In this vision she seemed to be watching a light as of the sun, rising in the east, and she saw it rise higher and higher, and grow brighter and brighter, until it went clear round the earth, and lighted the world with its glory. She was told in her vision that they were to step out in faith, and begin to publish the truth, so the light would grow and grow, and finally lighten all the world. When she came out of the vision she said to her husband, “I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.”SWhite 37.3

    So James White set out to print a little paper. Down in the State of Connecticut lived a good brother named Albert Belden. He had a farm at Rocky Hill, near Middletown, and he had a new house, which was not all finished, but which was large enough for two families. He invited Brother and Sister White to come and live with him and his family.SWhite 38.1

    There was also a sister, a young woman named Clarissa Bonfoey, who had some furniture, enough to set up housekeeping with, and she offered to use this furniture and keep house for them. Brother Belden divided the upstairs of his house into three or four rooms. They went there and lived, and James White started to write the copy for the paper.SWhite 38.2

    He had no money to hire a printer, but he stepped out by faith and wrote. Then he went to a printer in Middletown, who agreed to print the paper and receive payment later. James White believed God, that He would send the money through the readers of the paper, which he named Present Truth.SWhite 38.3

    It was eight miles from Rocky Hill to Middletown. Having no horse then, James White walked those eight miles time and again, to see to the printing of the paper. He was lame too, because several years before, while chopping wood, he had cut his ankle, and when it healed, it left him with a limp. But even though it pained him to walk so far to have the paper printed, he was glad to do this service for his Lord.SWhite 38.4

    The first issue of Present Truth was printed in July, 1849. When the printer had it ready, Albert Belden lent James White a horse and buggy to bring out the flat sheets from Middletown to Rocky Hill. He took the bundle of paper into the house, and laid it on the floor. Then they all gathered around the paper—James White, Ellen White, Clarissa Bonfoey, and Albert Belden and his wife—and kneeling, they prayed the Lord to bless its message and convert people to the truth.SWhite 39.1

    After that, they all took a hand in folding the sheets into page form. Then they wrapped the papers and addressed them to all the likely people they knew. When the papers were ready for the mail James White took them in a carpetbag, and walked to Middletown to put them in the post office.SWhite 40.1

    The papers were gladly received by many people, and they sent in money enough to pay for the printing, so the expense was taken care of, as the Lord had promised. In fact, they sent more than enough money for the first number of the paper, so the next number was published, and the next, and the next. Then there was some money left to help Brother and Sister White to travel around and preach the truth.SWhite 40.2

    The paper, Present Truth, was published for a year. Then, in 1850, its name was changed to Review and Herald, and that is the name it has kept ever since. This was the beginning of the great publishing work of Seventh-day Adventists, which today belts the world, with half a hundred publishing houses, printing the truth in papers, tracts, pamphlets, and books, in more than two hundred languages, worth millions of dollars. So it has come to pass, as Sister White’s vision foretold, that the light which rose from the east a hundred years ago has grown greater and greater, brighter and brighter, until its glory shines over all the earth.SWhite 40.3

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