Messenger of the Lord

Ellen White’s Fiftieth Birthday

James could still write, even though he spoke little in public. To honor Ellen’s fiftieth birthday, he wrote these words in the Signs of the Times: MOL 55.3

“Today, November 26, Mrs. White is 50 years old. She became a devoted Christian at the tender age of 12 years, and immediately became a laborer for other youth, and was very successful in winning them to Christ. MOL 55.4

“At the early age of 17 years she became a powerful public speaker, and was able to hold large audiences an hour or more. She has traveled and spoken to large audiences, some of them reaching as far as twenty thousands [sic], from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in eighteen States, besides the Canadas. She has now labored publicly thirty-three years. MOL 55.5

“Besides this great labor she has written an immense amount. Her books now in print amount to not less than five thousand pages, besides thousands of pages of epistolary matter addressed to churches and individuals. MOL 55.6

“And notwithstanding this great work, Mrs. White is, at the age of 50 years, as active as at any former time in her life, and more efficient in her labors. Her health is excellent, and during the last season’s camp meetings she was able to perform as much labor in speaking, exhorting, and praying as two of our ablest ministers.... MOL 55.7

“Mrs. White enters upon the second half-century of her life, with the confident expectation of spending most of it over on the evergreen shore.” ¹⁹ MOL 55.8

These are words of a loving, grateful husband. MOL 55.9

Ellen’s caring, dedicated service as James’s helpmeet, especially in times of sickness and discouragement, is legendary. But, on one occasion in 1878, James, now 58 years old, though attempting to maintain a rigorous writing program, made little physical improvement. Ellen wrote to Mary, William’s wife: “I am his constant companion in riding and by the fireside. Should I go, shut myself in a room, and leave him sitting alone, he would become nervous and restless.... He depends on me and I shall not leave him in his feebleness.” ²⁰ MOL 55.10

On the night of April 4, Ellen was given a vision of her husband’s true condition, the details of which she wrote out the next day: MOL 55.11

“Dear Husband: I dreamed last night that a celebrated physician came into the room while we were engaged in prayer for you. Said he, ‘Prayer is well, but living out your prayers is still more essential. Your faith must be sustained by your works, else it is dead faith.... MOL 55.12

“You are not brave in God. If there is any inconvenience, instead of accommodating yourself to circumstances, you will keep the matter, be it ever so small, in your mind until it suits you; therefore, you do not work out your faith. You have no real faith yet. You yearn but for victory. When your faith is made perfect by works, you will cease studying yourself and rest your case in the hands of God, bearing something, enduring something, not exactly in accordance with your feelings. MOL 55.13

“All the powers on earth could not help you unless you work in harmony, exercising your reason and your judgment and setting aside your feelings and your inclination. You are in a critical condition.’” MOL 56.1

Then the “celebrated physician” became specific: “Your own depraved habits are keeping not only you but your wife from the work to which God has called you.... MOL 56.2

“You have felt so fearful you would be reduced in strength that you have eaten more than was necessary, placed in your stomach a greater amount of food than the system could take care of well.... Your food should be taken dry and [you should] take a longer time to masticate it. Eat slowly and much less in quantity. Two or three articles at one meal is all that should be placed in the stomach.... You are dying of notions and yet you do not make sufficient efforts to produce a radical change.... Your life would be more secure in self-forgetfulness. God has a work for you and your wife to do. Satan says, “you shall not accomplish the work if I have power to control the mind. I can control everything and bind both as with fetters of iron.” ... You can arise. You can throw off this invalidism.’” ²¹ MOL 56.3

The counsel worked. He felt cheered by the promise that “You can arise. You can throw off this invalidism.” The stressed-out General Conference president agreed to go to Battle Creek and place himself under the care of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. On June 24, James wrote to Ellen, “I report myself very much improved.” Part of his cheer was the result of finding a man who could take shorthand, thus enabling him to do in “two days ... what would take a whole week alone.” ²² MOL 56.4

In early July, James left for their Colorado cabin with Dudley Canright and Mary White (William went later). When Ellen met them in August, she wrote: “I find Father every way improved. It is cool here all the time.... Father is himself again in almost all things. He is always cheerful.” ²³ MOL 56.5

Because of appointments in the east, Ellen White did not stay long in Colorado. Reporting back to James and her children regarding happenings in Battle Creek, she wrote with wifely and motherly zest and wisdom: “Do not regard this time of recreation as a drudgery or a task. Lay aside your work; let the writings go. Go over into the park and see all that you can.... Throw off every burden, and be a carefree boy again.... Father needs to be a boy again. Roam all around. Climb the mountain steeps. Ride horseback. Find something new each day to see and enjoy. This will be for Father’s health. Do not spend any anxious thought on me. You will see how well I will appear after the camp meetings are over.... Strive to make each other happy.” ²⁴ MOL 56.6

By 1880 James’s tired body pleaded for rest even though his head kept planning new campaigns. Others were now to take over his chief responsibilities—but retreat for the general was not easy. In a letter to Ellen on April 18, he wrote: “I am considering these things with great care. Whatever the Lord has shown you respecting my duty, take time to write it out carefully and give me the complete idea.... We both see a great deal to do in the line of writing, and our brethren are constantly urging us into the field to speak. In the fear of God, we must take this matter in our own hands, and be our own judges of what we should do and how much.” ²⁵ MOL 56.7

On August 6, 1881, “the tired warrior” died. The news stunned Adventists from the Atlantic to the Pacific. No one could review the development of the Adventist Church without thinking of James White. The eulogies, even from those with whom he differed, put the valiant church leader in proper perspective. ²⁶ MOL 56.8

Though extremely ill herself, Ellen White rose from her sickbed to laud her “strong, brave, noble-hearted husband.” The messenger wife summed up their life journey together: “And now he upon whose large affections I have leaned, with whom I have labored—and we have been united in labor for thirty-six years—is taken away; but I can lay my hands upon his eyes and say, I commit my treasure to Thee until the morning of the resurrection.” ²⁷ MOL 56.9

A few days after the funeral, Ellen White wrote to close friends: “The light of my home had gone and henceforth I should love it [their home] for his [James’s] sake who thought so much of it. It just met his taste.... But how can I ever regard it as I could if he had lived?” ²⁸ MOL 57.1

Anyone reviewing the record of their marriage must conclude that this was an extraordinary relationship of two exceptional people. Each had a public life, yet their affection flowed through their messages and actions one toward the other. Though living through the “Victorian Period,” Ellen’s warm and persevering devotion to James was far more than platonic. His appreciation for her was well-known, the depth of which any wife would be glad to experience. MOL 57.2

After being released from wifely responsibilities, she traveled even more extensively. Her literary output became even more productive, not only in quantity but also in the depth of her larger books. James had been her helpful editor; he never was the source of her messages. MOL 57.3