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

Evangelistic Labor in Nimes, France

In London for a day or two en route to France, and with improving health, Ellen White wrote several letters for Whitney to carry with him as he traveled to the General Conference session to be held in Battle Creek commencing November 18. Then she and Sara, her son, and the Ingses were off for Nimes, France, where tent meetings were being held. Their journey took them through Paris, and they paused a day or two for sightseeing. Her diary entry for October 14, reads: 3BIO 355.2

Paris, France. I arise at 5:00 A.M. and write several pages by the light of a candle before others are up. I seem to be transferred back to old times when candles were the only lights used except whale oil in lamps. We took breakfast at the restaurant. Then we walked out with Brother Garside to accompany us.—Manuscript 70, 1886. 3BIO 355.3

He guided them to the brokers’ exchange and then to the Louvre, now a museum but formerly the palace of the kings. Next, Napoleon's tomb. “The marble tomb,” she noted, “contained all that there is of this once-great man, before whom kingdoms trembled.”—Ibid. After a simple lunch, Sara and Willie left by train for Basel. Ellen White, with William and Jennie Ings, took the train late in the evening for the all-night trip to Nimes. Their work there would open Sabbath morning. 3BIO 355.4

D. T. Bourdeau had rented a home in Nimes. He pitched an evangelistic tent there and for a few weeks had worked with a reasonable degree of success. He encountered some opposition, and some rowdies had attempted to break up the meetings, but by the time Ellen White joined in the work, matters were quite stable. On Sabbath, October 16, Ings spoke at the early-morning meeting; his message on the restoration of the Sabbath was well received. Ellen White spoke in the worship service Sabbath morning and again in the evening. Sixteen people there were keeping the Sabbath (Ibid.). The meetings held through the two weeks Ellen White and the Ingses were there were evangelistic—for the church and the general public—with Ellen White taking the evening meetings in the tent. She did some sightseeing in this large city, which had a history that predated the life and ministry of Christ on earth. 3BIO 355.5

As this was an evangelistic series, Ellen White preached Christ-centered, soul-winning sermons. And from day to day she was able to do some more sightseeing, some shopping, and as ever, write, write, write—a hundred pages while in Nimes. 3BIO 356.1