Joseph Bates had come up for a conference at Topsham, Maine. It was in November, 1846, over two years after the disappointment. Some of the others present were James White, J. N. Andrews, H. S. Gurney (with whom Bates had worked in the South), and Ellen Harmon. Three months before, she and James White had been married. Thus she was given by the Lord a strong protector, on whom in her weakness she might lean, but to whom also she was to be the greatest strength. You know from what I have told you how strong and fearless and devoted James White had been, and you know how faithful Miss Harmon had been in the work God had given her to do. But perhaps you do not know, as they could not know then, how great and mighty was to be the work they should accomplish in the years to come. From this time on we know Ellen Harmon as Mrs. Ellen G. White.

At this time Mrs. White did not see the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, which Joseph Bates urged, and Joseph Bates was not sure that the visions of Mrs. White were from the Lord, though he was sure she was a good and faithful Christian who believed what she told. And here the Lord brought them both, and all the brethren with them, to believe the truth each had.

Bates had been, as you remember, a captain of ships on the sea. All seamen study the stars, for these are often about all they have to see, and the captains have to sail their vessels, often-times, by the positions of the stars. So Captain Bates was a great lover of astronomy, which means the study of the stars and other bodies in the sky. Mrs. White, on the other hand, knew nothing about it, for you remember how she was kept from school. And when Joseph Bates tried to talk with her about the heavenly bodies, she could not understand very much, and told him she had never looked into a book on astronomy.

But one day, here in the conference, she was taken off in vision when he was present, and for the first time the Lord showed her some of the planets, which are worlds much like our own. Through telescopes men have discovered many things about them which we cannot see with our naked eyes. For instance, Jupiter, the largest of the planets near us, has not one moon, as we have, but four; while Saturn, another planet, has at least eight, though only seven had been discovered then. And up in its sky it has great beautiful bands of different colors which extend all the way around it.

In vision, then, Mrs. White was taken to see these planets, and as she talked about them, describing them, Captain Bates, his face wreathed in smiles, would say, "Now she is viewing Jupiter," and, "She is describing Saturn," and so on. She told much more than astronomers knew about these, for they are not sure the planets are inhabited, but she saw that they are. On Saturn she saw good old Enoch, who was translated five thousand years ago, without dying. He said that was not his home, that he was only visiting there, that he lived in heaven, where God dwells, and there he was waiting until the earth should be restored as it had been in Eden. The people of these worlds were all very much more beautiful and strong than the people of earth, for sin has never entered there.

But after seeing the planets, she seemed to pass over a great distance in the heavens, until she came to the place that is called "the gap in the sky." When she began to describe this, Elder Bates rose to his feet in great excitement. "She is giving a more wonderful description," he said, " than any astronomer ever dreamed of." And still she spoke of its great beauty, with the four great stars far apart as its gates, and the glory, the wonderful glory, shining through. The heavens beyond, she said, made a region more enlightened. This indeed is the gateway from our part of the universe into the central heaven where God dwells.

I am sure you want to know where this wonderful gap in the sky is. It will not look to you at all like a gap when you see it. You would have to look through the most powerful telescope in all the world to see much, and then you could not see as much as she saw in vision. To us it looks just like a faint star, but through the telescope it is shown to be a very glorious place, with many great stars in it, and a place of wonderful light in the center. Now let me tell you how to find it in the sky, though you can probably never see anything of its glory until in the company of Jesus you pass through it on the way to heaven.

In the wintertime,—for in midsummer you cannot see it at all, in the wintertime, if you look up into the sky toward the south, about half way up to the zenith (the top of the sky) you will find a group of six stars, shaped somewhat like a kite with a tail. At least that is what I thought of when I was a boy. On page 194 you will find a picture of the group, and another of the gap in the sky as it looks through a telescope. Astronomers call the four stars that make the square, "the belt of Orion," and the lowest of the four, with the two below it, they call "the sword of Orion." The middle one of these three stars is fainter than the other two, as you will see. It looks rather hazy. It is not really one star, but a great many, millions upon millions of miles apart, only they are so far away from us that they look like one star. And in the middle of them all there are four stars, which are still millions upon millions of miles apart. And all in between these four there is a glorious light, the light of the great heaven beyond. This is "the gap in the sky."

So always in the winter evenings, more than all the stars I watch this star in the sword of Orion, remembering that through this "gap in the sky" Jesus will come. That makes it seem nearer, just as if the way home were being pointed out to me. In November you will see this group of stars rising in the southeast about nine o'clock. It rises earlier and earlier as the days go on, until in May you will probably lose sight of it altogether, it sets so soon after the sun has set.

Well, when Joseph Bates heard this vision, he was very happy. He was sure now that the Lord must be giving the visions, for he had been made sure before that Mrs. White knew nothing of astronomy, and here she was telling more than he knew. And he said he was the happiest man alive.

A few weeks after this, while still at Top-sham, Mrs. White was given another vision, in which she saw the sanctuary in heaven in the same form as it had been on earth. In the first room of the sanctuary she saw the altar of incense, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the table of showbread. Then Jesus raised the veil that separated it from the Most Holy Place, and she entered. There she saw an ark of purest gold, over which stood two shining cherubs or angels, their faces turned toward each other, and looking down in reverence upon the ark. Over the ark was a brightness that appeared like the throne of God. Jesus stood there, and as the prayers of His people on earth came up to Him, He offered them up before God, with the incense from His censer.

Then she saw the ark opened, and within it was the law of God, the Ten Commandments written on tables of stone. To her astonishment, as she looked upon these ten great words, she saw the fourth commandment encircled with a greater, more brilliant, light than the others, for it is the great commandment which holds men to God. If everybody had always truly kept the Sabbath, there would never have been a heathen in the world, nor an infidel; for the Sabbath reminds us of the God who is the Creator and Redeemer. God has never changed His command which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." But Satan has brought men to leave the Sabbath and to take a heathen holiday in its place. Thus, without knowing it, many dishonor God.

After she had had this vision, the matter seemed very different to Mrs. White. She had been keeping Sunday, and thought it didn't matter much which day was kept. But now she and James White, her husband, began at once to keep the Sabbath and to study this truth in the Bible. And so they were united with Joseph Bates, and he with them. Thus at last these three servants of God were brought fully together for their great work.

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