Ellen G. White: The Early Years: 1827-1862 (vol. 1)

Led by God in the Switch of Travel Plans

Ellen White's physical recovery after the birth of the fourth son on September 20, 1860, just before the conference, was slow. But it seemed she was well enough three weeks later to allow James to leave for Iowa and Wisconsin for a trip that had been planned and that would take him from home for nearly seven weeks. 1BIO 424.6

It was at the conference in late September that plans were laid that eventually took James White on this trip. J. N. Loughborough was to make the trip west, visiting the churches, while James White was to travel to the east. But three days before the two ministers were to leave Battle Creek, James was greatly distressed in mind concerning the plans. Taking Cornell with him, he went to Loughborough's home to try to settle the matter. Unitedly they sought counsel of the Lord, and their minds were impressed with the need of switching the plans: Loughborough would go east and White west. Loughborough wrote of the experience: 1BIO 424.7

On the evening of October 6, Brother White in company with Elder Cornell, came to my house, and said, “I feel strangely in regard to our proposed trips. I do not feel free about going east. I do not know what it means.” We all engaged in a season of prayer over the matter. As stated in Testimonies for the Church, 1:244, “Then the clouds parted, and the clear light shone. My husband [Elder White] felt that the Spirit of the Lord was directing him west and Brother Loughborough east. After this they felt clear as to their duty, and moved accordingly.” 1BIO 425.1

We knew nothing as yet of the fanaticism that was developing in Wisconsin. How the Lord directed to check this fanaticism is thus expressed in Ibid., 1:228, 229: “In Wisconsin there was a wrong to be corrected. The work of Satan was taking effect, and would destroy souls if not rebuked. The Lord saw fit to choose one who had had experience with fanaticism in the past, and had witnessed the working of Satan's power.”—Pacific Union Recorder, January 25, 1912. 1BIO 425.2

Loughborough later confessed that he did not know how he could have met the situation in Wisconsin, for he had had no experience in dealing with fanaticism. He commented, “We could now clearly see the providence of the Lord in leading to the change of the previous arrangements.”—Ibid., February 8, 1912 1BIO 425.3