Messenger of the Lord

Chapter 31—Publishing, Temperance, and Social Principles

“Let none who profess godliness regard with indifference the health of the body, and flatter themselves that intemperance is no sin, and will not affect their spirituality. A close sympathy exists between the physical and the moral nature.” ¹ MOL 362.1

Publishing pamphlets, tracts, and periodicals was the open secret of the success of the Millerite Second Advent movement. After the Disappointment (see pp. 39, 50), one of the Millerite papers, The Hope of Israel, published the first printed endorsement of the seventh-day Sabbath among Adventists. ² After reading this article by T. M. Preble, Captain Joseph Bates became convinced that Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath. One year later, in August 1846, he published his own 48-page pamphlet entitled, The Seventh Day Sabbath a Perpetual Sign From the Beginning to the Entering Into the Gates of the Holy City According to the Commandment. ³ MOL 362.2

James and Ellen White read a copy of Bates’s pamphlet, became convinced that the seventh-day Sabbath is the day to keep holy, and began to teach it to the “scattered flock.” Soon, about fifty Sabbath keepers could be counted in New England and New York State. ⁴ MOL 362.3

Also in another Millerite paper, the Day-Star issue of January 24, 1846, Ellen Harmon’s first vision, recounted in a personal letter to the editor, Enoch Jacobs, was printed. If she had known that Jacobs would publish her letter, no doubt she would have written out the vision in more detail. A description of her February 1845 vision was printed on March 14, 1846, one month after the Day-Star printed that momentous Bible study of Hiram Edson, F. B. Hahn, and O. R. L. Crosier setting forth the evidence for the two phases of ministry in both the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries. Later in 1846, James White and H. S. Gurney printed 250 copies of Ellen White’s first vision, which they entitled, “To the Remnant Scattered Abroad.” ⁵ MOL 362.4