Ellen G. White: The Progressive Years: 1862-1876 (vol. 2)

On to Vermont and West

Thursday morning, December 26, James and Ellen White and John Andrews hastened on to northern Vermont, where a conference was to begin in West Enosburg Friday evening, in the church close to the A. C. and D. T. Bourdeau homes. Meetings continued through Monday, December 30. A. C. Bourdeau reported in the Review that in the evening after the Sabbath 150 participated in the “ordinances of the Lord's house.” His report of the last meeting, held Monday afternoon, offers a vivid picture of evangelism in New England in midwinter. Wrote Bourdeau: 2BIO 219.1

Monday morning the meeting commenced with a good interest. The good work progressed till two o'clock P.M., when by request of Brother White, six long seats near the pulpit were vacated, and then filled with those who during these meetings had decided to make a new start for the kingdom. Then those who felt it their duty to be baptized were requested to arise upon their feet, and forty-two arose, twenty-seven of whom were not church members, but mostly individuals who at these meetings had become deeply convicted that they should make a full surrender of themselves to the Lord. 2BIO 219.2

These were examined one by one, and received into the church by vote as candidates for baptism; and just before the setting of the sun, when the thermometer stood at 20 degrees below zero, we went down to the branch nearly one mile from the meetinghouse, where I stepped down from the ice into a clear stream of water, and baptized eleven, among whom were my aged and respected father and mother. This was a solemn yet a blessed scene to nearly all the beholders. It is expected that quite a number of the candidates will be baptized in this place next Sabbath.—The Review and Herald, January 21, 1868. 2BIO 219.3