While many events of the past were shown to her, neither Ellen White nor
her son ever claimed that every historical detail mentioned in her works was
provided by the Lord in vision. Ellen White says that she used "facts" which
were "well known and universally acknowledged." (See The Great
Controversy, pp. xiii, xiv.) She wrote, for example, "In 1816 the American
Bible Society was founded" (The Great Controversy, p. 287). There is no
reason to believe that this type of information was supplied in vision.
W. C. White [Ellen White's son] states:
"The framework of the great temple of truth sustained by her writings
was presented to her clearly in vision. In some features of this work,
information was given in detail. Regarding some features of the revelation,
such as the features of prophetic chronology, as regards the ministration in
the sanctuary and the changes that took place in 1844, the matter was presented
to her many times and in detail many times, and this enabled her to speak very
clearly and very positively regarding the foundation pillars of our faith.
"In some of the historical matters such as are brought out in
Patriarchs and Prophets and in Acts of the Apostles, and in
Great Controversy, the main outlines were made very clear and plain to
her, and when she came to write up these topics, she was left to study the
Bible and history to get dates and geographical relations and to perfect her
description of details" (Selected Messages, book 3, p. 462).
In a letter to W. W. Eastman, W. C. White declared:
"When Controversy was written, Mother never thought that the
readers would take it as authority on historical dates or use it to settle
controversy regarding details of history, and she does not now feel that it
should be used in that way" (Selected Messages, book 3, p. 447).
W. C. White also wrote S. N. Haskell on the same subject, stating
that:
"We will make a great mistake if we lay aside historical research and
endeavor to settle historical questions by the use of Mother's books as an
authority when she herself does not wish them to be used in any such way" (W.
C. White to S. N. Haskell, October 31, 1912).
In making her case for the future, Ellen White built not only on the
revelations God gave her, but also on the records of the past. She made no
attempt to write an authoritative history textbook. Rather, in the words of W.
C. White, "The principal use of the passages quoted from historians was not to
make a new history, not to correct errors in history, but to use valuable
illustrations to make plain important spiritual truths" (W. C. White to L. E.
Froom, February 18, 1932).
[Excerpt from R. W. Olson, 101 Questions on the Sanctuary and on
Ellen White, pp. 48, 49. Available from the
Ellen G. White
Estate.]