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Messenger of Truth

Refer to text below explaining the background and history to the periodical.

NB: only 3 copies are known to have survived (11"x17" size). Refer to the explanation below

Historic background to The Messenger of Truth as recorded by Richard C Nickels in his History of the Seventh Day Church of God: 

“By early 1855 James White and the Review and Herald were in serious financial trouble, possibly due to the influence of the Messenger Party.

White was ill and sought to free himself from the editorship of the paper but there was nobody to take his place. He jumped at the opportunity to move the paper to Battle Creek, Michigan where Adventist brethren agreed to finance the paper.  Headquarters of the White Party became established at Battle Creek,  and the Whites sought to gain control of the entire Sabbath Adventist movement,  and quell all opposition to the "Spiritual Gifts" of Mrs. White.

On June 20, 1855 the Whites, Loughborough, and Elder Cottrell held a meeting in Oswego, New York.  During the meeting they were harassed by a man named by Lillis who circulated some copies of the Messenger of Truth — termed "slanderous documents" — among the people.  If this was more than an isolated incident it appears that the White Party was facing considerable opposition.” (p. 11) 

“Messenger of Truth the Predecessor of the Hope of Israel 

Since almost the entirety of the available information on the Messenger Party comes from the White Party, it is difficult to arrive at a true picture of their beliefs and actions. The Messenger Party is important in that it was a direct, if not organic, precursor of the Church of God (Seventh Day). The press used to print the Messenger of Truth was the very same one which began the printing of the Hope of Israel, the first paper of the Church of God.

And the Messenger Party was further important in that it brought to the fore the two key issues which created the division of Sabbath Adventists into the Seventh Day Adventist church and the Church of God: (1) the church name — Church of God versus Seventh Day Adventist, and (2) the question of the visions of Ellen G. White.” (pp. 13-14) 

 
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A note on the discovery of the Messenger of Truth:

These 3 issues of the periodical were discovered by SDA academic, Theodore Levterov around 2013. You can read about this in his article "The First Anti-Sabbatarian Periodical and Its Aftermath," Adventist World, July 2013, pages 22-23. NB: by "Anti-Sabbatarian" he should really have written "anti-Ellen G White" as the Messenger of Truth was a seventh day Sabbatarian publication. Though I had one or two editions many years earlier, but unsure of the source.