Call and Early Ministry—1844-48
On an unspecified day in December, 1844, Ellen Harmon received what she and others of the advent group recognized as a revelation from God. It showed them that if they continued to walk in the light that had been guiding them into an understanding of the advent message, they would be led ultimately to the City of God. (This vision should be read in Early Writings, 13-20, or Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 64-68.) In her second vision, about a week later, she saw something of the trials that she would experience, and she was instructed to tell others of what had been made known to her. Ellen was young, ill, retiring, and unused to associating with many people. She felt that she could not accept the commission, and she pleaded with God to remove the burden from her. However, the sense of responsibility did not leave, but there sounded in her ears repeatedly the command, “Make known to others what I have revealed to you.” Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 69. Finally the prayers of friends, united with her own, led her to the decision that there was nothing she could do but follow God’s bidding.APAY 205.3
Ellen Harmon’s first testimonies were borne in the State of Maine, at the towns of Portland, Poland, and Orrington, to small groups of believers. Incidentally, it was at Orrington that she first met James White. Soon she visited Exeter, Maine, where she told what had been shown her regarding some fanatical persons present at the meeting. When she returned to her home she sensed God’s approval of the work she had done.APAY 206.1
As the months passed, the circle of Ellen Harmon’s travels widened to include nearby states. Much of her time and many of her testimonies were devoted to helping solve the problems that arose among the scattered groups who were bewildered by the disappointment. The groups had not yet been drawn together in a unit. There was no system of beliefs to serve as a guide to test the doctrines. False teachings, fanaticism, and the misrepresentation of spiritual experience were all too common among the groups. Not many were involved in the errors, but those few were a constant source of danger and irritation to unbelievers and members of other churches. The fact that Ellen Harmon’s revelations were pertinent to the problems at hand, and frequently succeeded in helping find solutions to those problems, impressed the minds of the advent believers. As confidence was established in the fact that God was leading through the revelations, a drawing together of the sincere and faithful believers resulted.APAY 206.2
On August 30, 1846, Ellen Harmon was united in marriage to James White, a young adventist preacher who had been active in the Millerite movement. Many years later, James White made this comment about their marriage: “And from that hour to the present she has been my crown of rejoicing.” James White and Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 126. The newlyweds were poor in this world’s goods, but rich in faith, and they were filled with an impassioned longing to help speed the return of Christ. Ellen White remarked concerning her husband: “Elder White had enjoyed a deep experience in the advent movement, and his labors in proclaiming the truth had been blessed of God. Our hearts were united in the great work, and together we traveled and labored for the salvation of souls.” Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 97. In their usual program James White preached a doctrinal sermon and his wife followed with “an exhortation of considerable length, melting my way into the feelings of the congregation. Thus my husband sowed and I watered the seed of truth, and God did give the increase.” Testimonies for the Church 1:75.APAY 206.3
Not long after their marriage, the Whites began to observe and to teach the seventh-day Sabbath. Early in 1846, Ellen Harmon’s attention had been called to the fourth commandment by Joseph Bates, whom she met while on a visit to New Bedford, Massachusetts. At first she did not sense the importance of the commandment, and felt that Bates was putting too much emphasis on it. A later study of Bates’s tract, “The Seventh-day Sabbath a Perpetual Sign,” led the couple to accept the Sabbath. The position they had taken was confirmed in a vision given Ellen White on Sabbath, April 2, 1847, in which she saw the tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments, with a halo of light surrounding the fourth. In a letter to J. N. Loughborough, in 1874, Ellen White recalled: “I believed the truth upon the Sabbath question before I had seen anything in vision in reference to the Sabbath. It was months after I had commenced keeping the Sabbath before I was shown its importance and its place in the third angel’s message.”—Ellen G. White Letter 2, 1874. (The record of the vision will be found in Early Writings, 32-35.)APAY 207.1
The first of four sons was born to James and Ellen White a year after their marriage, and a little more than a month later they were offered rooms in the Stockbridge Howland home at Topsham, Maine, where they set up housekeeping with borrowed furniture. Times were hard. James White worked at hauling stone on the railroad for fifty cents a day, or chopped cordwood at twenty-five cents a cord. “We were resolved to suffer rather than get in debt. I allowed myself and child one pint of milk each day. One morning before my husband went to his work, he left me nine cents to buy milk for three mornings. It was a study with me whether to buy the milk for myself and babe or get an apron for him. I gave up the milk, and purchased the cloth for an apron to cover the bare arms of my child.” Testimonies for the Church 1:83. On many occasions money was miraculously provided for the barest essentials and to pay expenses of travel to the many places they were urged to visit where they could meet with groups of believers. They were coming to occupy a central place among the various advent groups scattered through New England. APAY 207.2