Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 1 (1844 - 1868)

Lt 13, 1860

White, J. S.

Battle Creek, Michigan

November 7, 1860

Portions of this letter are published in 6MR 189.

Dear Husband,

We are as well as usual this morning. I am gaining every day. Do not go out much for fear of taking cold. The children have no colds yet and are quite well. We try to put our trust in the Lord and we do not believe it is in vain. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 1

I felt sad when I received your last letter that your lungs were affected. I hope you are better. I thought of the place you were going to, the excitement in Mauston that we feared was not genuine, and a sad weight rested upon me for you. But we have prayed earnestly for you and sent in your case to the church for them to pray for you. We believe that God will hear prayer and strengthen you and give you freedom and access to the hearts of His people. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 2

Brother Loughborough returned home last night. Is in good spirits. Mary is going with him next. She is humble and is in a good place. She comes to see me every day. Has dressed my babe. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 3

In the evening I found that this letter could not reach you at Marquette so I shall not send it there but to Monroe. When Brother Loughborough told me the letter would not reach you, I left it. Brother Lyon got Brother Kellogg’s horse and carriage and came for me to [go and] visit them. Have been there all day. The three children went to the Office. Took their dinners and at night came to eat supper at Brother Lyon’s with us. Sister Kellogg and Mother, Jenny and Sister Benedict visited with us also. We had a pleasant visit. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 4

I see by your letter you fear we have moved too fast in sending to Czechowski. We have not sent yet and shall not till you return. We did not think of sending much, only those things sent in for the poor and clothes that George or some others could not wear. But it will take time to get up a box, and I am desirous to have brought in from other places what is on hand. We have had no help in the house for a week and do not desire any unless it is better than that we have had. Miserable help. Jenny and I get along better alone. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 5

I received a letter from Lucinda. She states that Ranselo [Bennett] is dead. We cannot mourn. She says Nathan is sick. They need help and inquire of you if Johnny is to work in the Office. Say their mind has been some on John and inquire your mind about it. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 6

Willie goes to the Office with the boys and helps carry books. He seems very lonesome at home alone. Brother Loughborough has just left here. I have asked him particularly about the state of things in New York. He says after the publication of the matter they had nothing to fight against. They agreed to it all. In Ohio Brother Butler, he thinks, has made all the difficulty and he is to work the other way now. At Lovett's Grove Brother Holt’s case was taken up and the vision given for him read. It had quite an effect. There had been a division in the church but they left altogether a better state of things. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 7

Brother Loughborough said after he had preached strongly upon the gifts, Brother Holt got up and tried to back him up and said “we were to desire earnestly the best gifts.” Brother Waggoner wrote on a slip of paper and slipped it into Brother Holt’s hand. Brother Loughborough saw it. It was this: “Does not your testimony today contradict what you have taught privately?” He hung his head in confusion, and then confessed that he had not been right. Said he “did not know that the vision meant that he must not go in some large places, and thought the vision did not mean that he must not labor with the tent,” etc. Brother Waggoner and Loughborough stood together and labored faithfully, turned out of the church all of them and then took them back one by one, as they confessed humbly to each other. Brother Loughborough says Brother Waggoner is in a good state of mind. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 8

[J.W., in The Review and Herald, November 27, 1860:] At a later date the letter says: While visiting at Bro. Lyon’s, Bro. L. brought me two letters from you, which I read, and all seemed to rejoice, for all the church had made your case a special subject of prayer. Matters at Mauston, Wis., had troubled us all, and I feared you would be discouraged to find things in such a state. But the Lord has been to you a “strong hold in time of trouble.” While searching for a verse for Willie, I opened to these words, which Willie committed to memory to repeat in Sabbath-school: “The Lord is good. A strong hold in the time of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.” [Nahum 1:7.] At these words I wept, they seemed so appropriate. The whole burden on my mind was for you, and the church in Wisconsin. 1LtMs, Lt 13, 1860, par. 9