The Great Visions of Ellen G. White

Adventism in Green Spring

Seventh-day Adventist views were first introduced into Green Spring by Joseph Bates in October 1853. Seeking out ex-Millerites who had lost interest following the Great Disappointment, Bates spoke in a public hall, and the whole town turned out. Two months later J. N. Loughborough followed up with a series of five meetings in a schoolhouse. At the final Sunday night service there was standing room only inside; many listened from outside, with ears pressed against windows. ¹⁵ GVEGW 64.4

Green Spring was nothing if not religious; when the Whites arrived in 1858, Adams Township boasted seven active churches ¹⁶ in addition to the little company of Adventist believers. (They formally organized themselves into a church four years later, in 1862.) ¹⁷ GVEGW 64.5

But the reception accorded James White’s preaching in Green Spring left much to be desired, as he himself indicated with some apparent disappointment in the Review and Herald: GVEGW 64.6

“We preached at this meeting the best we could, but it was a dark hard place to preach. Some who had been in the truth for years came with an exalted spirit, destitute of a sense of the solemnity of this time and the present work. The erring were faithfully reproved. The meeting closed with some degree of freedom, and hope for better times in time to come.” ¹⁸ GVEGW 65.1

Although the meetings closed on Sunday, the Whites remained in Green Spring until at least Wednesday, March 3, staying in the home of a family of new converts named Sharp. GVEGW 65.2

While here, Ellen received two visions and wrote three letters. The first vision concerned the spiritual condition of Mary, wife of leader J. N. Loughborough. In a long letter (seven pages in typewritten form; of course, she wrote by hand) Ellen pleaded with Mary to surrender a stubborn will to Jesus, and not to continue attempting to dominate her husband. Pointedly she wrote: “Mary, your will has often pulled John one way, when God directed him in another.... Do not drive him to regret his choice [in making you his wife].” ¹⁹ GVEGW 65.3

The second vision revealed “the wretched state of things [among Seventh-day Adventists] in New York,” especially in Oswego County, and prompted a letter to a “Brother Woodruff,” suggesting ways of dealing with the “wrangling and strife” in his church there. ²⁰ GVEGW 65.4

The final letter was addressed to her two eldest boys, and told of a mother’s aching heart longing for their childish prattle. It urged faithfulness in study and home duties, special care for little Willie; and thoughtful, helpful kindnesses to “sisters Jennie and Martha,” who cared for them temporarily as surrogate parents. ²¹ GVEGW 65.5