Writing For The Press

In harmony with the vision, James White took up his pen. It required faith, as he later recalled:WV 50.1

We sat down to prepare the matter for that little sheet, and wrote every word of it, our entire library comprising a three-shilling pocket Bible, Cruden's Condensed Concordance, and Walker's old dictionary, minus one of its covers. [We were] destitute of means; our hope of success was in God (The Review and Herald, June 17, 1880).WV 50.2

Ellen was close by his side. She recalled: “When he came to some difficult passage we would call upon the Lord to give us the true meaning of His word” (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 260). While preparing copy for the new publication, James White sought out a printer in Middletown, one who would print an eight-page paper for a total stranger and wait for his pay until the prospective readers would send the editor donations to cover printing costs. On the third floor of a brick building in the heart of Middletown, James found the man—Charles Pelton—and walked back to Rocky Hill to finish preparing copy. Its subject matter would be the Sabbath truth. He decided to name the paper The Present Truth, and introduced his first-page editorial with words quoted from 2 Peter 1:12: “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the Present Truth.”WV 50.3

It was the Sabbath truth that burned in James White's heart, and his writing related to various aspects of the integrity and importance of the seventh-day Sabbath. He had in mind quite a wide spectrum of articles that would be printed at first in eight-page sheets sent out semimonthly. Then he would bind them in pamphlets (The Present Truth, July 1849). The readers would be Adventists—those who had been through the first and second angels’ messages—and it would carry to them the Sabbath truth of the third angel's message.WV 50.4

Back and forth between Rocky Hill and Middletown, James White trudged the eight miles (13 kilometers), limping at each step (from an earlier foot injury), first with copy and then with proofs. When the sheets were finally printed, he borrowed Albert Belden's buggy to transport the 1,000 copies of the precious document to the Belden home.WV 50.5

Ellen White described the scene:WV 51.1

When he brought the first number from the printing office, we all bowed around it, asking the Lord, with humble hearts and many tears, to let His blessing rest upon the feeble effort of His servant (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 260).WV 51.2

Together they folded the papers and prepared them for mailing. James “directed the paper to all he thought would read it,” then carried the copies in a carpetbag to the post office.WV 51.3

The visions had given assurance that God's blessing would attend James White as he wrote; that money would come in as the papers were sent out and read. It would be a success from the first; but the most staggering prediction was that from this small beginning, it would be like “streams of light that went clear round the world.”WV 51.4

The articles that followed James White's opening editorial explanation carried such titles as “The Weekly Sabbath Instituted at Creation, and Not at Sinai”; “The Sabbath a Perpetual Weekly Memorial”; “The Law of God, or the Ten Commandments”; “Scriptures Usually Quoted to Prove the Abolition of the Sabbath Examined.” He declared that the little sheet was free to all, then added, “Those who are interested in Present Truth, and esteem it a privilege, are invited to help pay the expense.” To swell the mailing list, he asked:WV 51.5

Will some brother or sister in each place where this sheet is received send me in plain writing the names and post office address of all who are seeking present truth. Write soon. My post office address is Middletown, Connecticut (The Present Truth, July 1849).WV 51.6

The precise date when the Present Truth was brought home, prayed over, folded, addressed, and mailed is not recorded, but it was late July 1849. Almost simultaneously there was an important event in the White family, and that does carry a date. Ellen White wrote: “July 28, 1849, my second child, James Edson White, was born” (Ibid., 260).WV 51.7