The Great Visions of Ellen G. White

Return to Michigan

On Tuesday, March 16, the Tillotsons said their final goodbyes to the Whites at the Fremont railroad depot, where the latter boarded the train for a 170-mile trip to Jackson, Michigan. GVEGW 69.7

Just how much had been said between the Tillotsons and the Whites in the carriage during their daylong journey on Monday, with reference to the content of Ellen’s vision the previous afternoon, is not known. GVEGW 70.1

But now alone for the first time since the magnificent Sunday afternoon revelation, James and Ellen spent the whole day in talking about, and laying careful plans for, the writing and publishing of the book that the angel had commissioned. Work began immediately upon their return home. GVEGW 70.2

Satan and his angels are as dependent as you and I when it comes to discerning the future, for they do not themselves possess the gift of prophetic inspiration. They must depend solely upon the utterances of the prophets, as do we. Therefore, Satan takes great pains to determine the identity of God’s true prophets. Then he hounds their footsteps to become the first to learn the specifics of the content of their visions and revelations. GVEGW 70.3

It is not at all unlikely that Satan and his evil angels—along with God’s holy guardian angels, of course—were the first to read the words of the book of Daniel as the aged prophet wrote his scroll “by the waters of Babylon.” And the forces of evil doubtless kibitzed over the shoulder of the apostle John as he penned the Revelation on the lonely slopes of the Isle of Patmos. For they have a vested interest in learning what the future holds—the better to plan their strategy of counterattack. GVEGW 70.4

Thus it is not at all improbable that Satan was a nonpaying “passenger” in that railroad coach March 16, 1858, hovering above the Whites as the train made its way westward to Jackson. It is equally likely that when he learned the devastating extent to which God had revealed the future and exposed the devil’s modus operandi, that he urgently realized the need to act—quickly—to keep that book from ever being written, if possible. GVEGW 70.5

Because of train schedules it was likely necessary for the Whites to spend Tuesday night in Jackson, and then to board another train Wednesday morning for the remaining 40 miles to their final destination, Battle Creek. Meeting them at the Jackson railway station to provide overnight hospitality were old friends Daniel and Abigail Palmer, with their carriage. GVEGW 70.6

Palmer was a blacksmith, the first Seventh-day Adventist convert (with David Hewitt) of Joseph Bates in the state of Michigan. ³⁹ He was also a longtime friend of the Whites. As he took them to his residence at 1705 East Main Street (now East Michigan Avenue), a mile or two from the depot, they doubtless passed his blacksmith forge on the north side of Main, near Van Dorn. GVEGW 70.7

James and Ellen had been in the Palmer house four years earlier. The house looms large in significance in the history of Adventism in Michigan. Four important events had transpired within its walls before this fateful night of March 16, 1858: GVEGW 71.1

1852: Joseph Bates had here converted a first-day Adventist pastor, M. E. Cornell, when the latter dropped in for a visit en route to a new parish elsewhere. (Cornell, in turn, converted John P. Kellogg, father of Dr. John Harvey, and Cornell’s in-laws, parents of his wife, Angeline Lyon Cornell!) ⁴⁰ GVEGW 71.2

1853: Hiram S. Case and C. P. Russell were here rebuked for unchristian behavior toward certain laymen, whereupon they promptly defected to start the Messenger party, the first Seventh-day Adventist offshoot movement. ⁴¹ GVEGW 71.3

1854: A council meeting was held here in which the decision was taken to purchase an evangelistic tent for use in Battle Creek—Adventism’s first in Michigan. M. E. Cornell left the meeting abruptly to catch a train to New York to make the purchase. ⁴² GVEGW 71.4

1854: A solemn prayer meeting was held here just prior to the departure of James and Ellen White for a rail trip to Wisconsin. Shortly after the train left the station it derailed, injuring many; the Whites, however, miraculously escaped unscathed! ⁴³ GVEGW 71.5

Now, as they gathered again in these familiar surroundings, perhaps old memories revived. But they could not know that what was about to happen this very night would effectively put all that went before into the shade! GVEGW 71.6