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xxiv
Early Writings
Battle Creek Becomes the Publishing Center
In November, 1855, James and Ellen White and their helpers
moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. The press and other pieces of
printing equipment were placed in a building erected by several of
the Sabbathkeeping Adventists who had furnished the money with
which to establish their own printing office. As their work developed
in that little city, Battle Creek became the natural headquarters of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But it was with difficulty that
James White maintained the publishing work
.
[xxvii]
As we study the background of
Early writings
, it should be
noted that the early Sabbathkeeping Adventists at first had a burden
to reach with the Sabbath truth only their former brethren in the
great Advent Awakening; that is, those who had been with them in
the first and the second angels’ messages. Consequently for about
seven years after 1844, their labors were very largely for Adventists
who had not yet taken their stand on the third angel’s message. To
one familiar with the circumstances, this is understandable
.
The “Shut Door” and the “Open Door”
In the special efforts which were made to proclaim the Advent
message in the summer of 1844, the leaders in the movement had
seen their own experience in the parable of the ten virgins recorded
in
Matthew 25
. There had been a “tarrying time” followed by
the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”
This was commonly referred to as “the midnight cry.” In her first
vision, this was shown to Mrs. White as a bright light set up behind
the Adventists at the beginning of the path. In the parable, they
read that those who were ready went in with the bridegroom to
the marriage, “and the door was shut.” (See
Matthew 25:10
.) They
therefore concluded that on October 22, 1844, the door of mercy was
closed to those who failed to accept the message which had been so
widely proclaimed. Some years later Ellen White wrote of this:
“After the passing of the time when the Saviour was expected,
they [the Advent believers] still believed His coming to be near; they
held that they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of
Christ as man’s intercessor before God, had ceased. It appeared to