Significance of the Time of Publication of the Early Visions

While we speak of Ellen Harmon’s first vision being given in 1844 and the response in early 1845, and while we speak of the vision given to her in Exeter, Maine, in mid-February, 1845, and of its fruitage, we must keep clearly in mind that in this perplexing and confusing period, neither of these visions was printed until a full year after they were received by Ellen Harmon and their influence was quite limited through the year 1845.EGWSDQ 27.2

As the first vision was published initially in the Day Star of January 24, 1846, ^{4Note: In actuality what appears in Early Writings under the title of “My First Vision” (pp. 13-20) is her first vision and the account of what was shown to her about a year later regarding the new earth. She placed the two together in her December 20, 1845, letter to Enoch Jacobs, and as this was reprinted by James White no separation was made until the issuance of the more definitive biographical work Spiritual Gifts, volume 2, in 1860. As evidenced in this source and in the biographical sketch in Testimonies for the Church, volume 1, the account of the first vision closes with the words “made heaven’s arches ring.” (Early Writings, 17; Spiritual Gifts 2:35; Testimonies for the Church 1:61). The vision of the New Earth in the two last named sources appears a few pages later. The seeming technicality here described is of insignificant importance, but one which cannot be ignored in a complete statement} and the vision given at Exeter in February, 1845, was published on March 14, 1846—in both cases this was months after the experience at Paris, Maine, reported by Mrs. Truesdail.EGWSDQ 27.3