Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

Two Weeks in England

At Liverpool they were met by George Drew, who accompanied them to Grimsby, the city in which the mission headquarters was located. Thursday they went to the beach, but finding it cold and windy, Ellen White was glad to get back to their living quarters. Friday was a workday; recounting its activities, she recorded: 3BIO 291.2

I have written ten pages of history of our journey, three pages to California, two to Marian Davis, and one to Brother E. P. Daniels. In the evening spoke in Temperance Hall upon the subject of temperance. The people gave the best of attention. It was raining and yet there were about 170 out to hear. May the word spoken drop like precious seed into the good soil.—Ibid. 3BIO 291.3

She spent two weeks in England. The first Sabbath was at Grimsby. Of this day's activities she reported: 3BIO 291.4

Sabbath afternoon, when the little company of Sabbath-keepers assembled for worship, the room was full, and some were seated in the hall. I have ever felt great solemnity in addressing large audiences, and have tried to place myself wholly under the guidance of the Saviour. But I felt even more solemn, if possible, in standing before this small company, who, in the face of obstacles, of reproach and losses, had stepped aside from the multitude who were making void the law of God, and had turned their feet into the way of His commandments. 3BIO 291.5

In the afternoon a Sabbath school and social meeting were held. I spoke about thirty minutes in the meeting, and others followed. As I listened to the testimonies borne, I could not but think how similar is the experience of all true followers of Christ. There is but “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”—Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 162. 3BIO 291.6

Sunday morning, August 23, she met with the believers again in the mission room, crowded full of interested listeners. In the evening she spoke in the town hall to an audience of about 1,200. Every seat was taken, and some people stood. The American lecturer was honored by the Union Temperance Prize Choir, of some fifty voices. They sang seven numbers, three at the opening, two at the close, and two after the benediction. The topic of Ellen White's address was “The Love of God.” 3BIO 292.1

I tried to present the precious things of God in such a way as to draw their minds from earth to heaven. But I could only warn and entreat, and hold up Jesus as the center of attraction, and a heaven of bliss as the eternal reward of the overcomer.—The Review and Herald, 162, 163. 3BIO 292.2

Monday she was at Ulceby and spoke to a congregation of about a hundred; Tuesday she was at Riseley, some forty miles from London, where S. H. Lane and J. H. Durland were holding evangelistic meetings in a newly secured linen tent. Although the tent would seat three hundred, when Ellen White spoke in the evening many had to stand outside. The evangelistic meetings had been fruitful, and a goodly company were convicted as the truths were presented. Thursday was a drizzly day; she spent it in London, taking the noonday meal with Henry Kellogg and W. C. White, who were there on publishing house business (Manuscript 16a, 1885). Kellogg, a former manager of the Review and Herald plant, was in Europe assisting in getting the new publishing house in Switzerland off to a good start. 3BIO 292.3

At the mission in London on Friday, August 28, Ellen White met W. M. Jones, a Seventh Day Baptist minister laboring in the city. He took her and some who were traveling with her to the British Museum to view “ancient relics and curiosities.” She noted in her diary, “It would take more than one week to see the different interesting objects that have been collected together” (Ibid.), but she appreciated the two hours she had there. 3BIO 292.4

Then she took the train for Southampton and Durland's home. That night she spoke to a small company of believers, and on Sabbath had two meetings. While visiting Southamptom, she had an opportunity to see the Roman walls, some nine hundred years old. That Sunday night she spoke to a thousand people in a rented hall. The public press asked her to write up the address for publication, and she spent the next two days in London preparing the copy. On Wednesday they took the cars to the channel boat and were on their way to Basel, Switzerland. 3BIO 292.5