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W. C. White Statements Regarding Mrs. White and Her
Work
(Remarks of W. C. White in Takoma Hall, December 17, 1905)
As I meet our people in different places, the question is
often asked me, "Does Sister White have visions just as she used to years ago?
Are the matters she presents to the church now brought to her mind just as they
were in the early days?"
In answer to this question, I explain that all the way
through her experience, since she was called to public work and began to speak
and write at sixteen years of age, matters have been presented to her just as
they are today. In the night season the angel of the Lord would appear to her,
and lead her to assemblies where she would hear the councils of the church,
where she would see what was going on in the world. And then He would instruct
her with reference to what she had seen. That method of instruction has
continued all through the years.
Soon after she began this work, there was great confusion
among Adventist believers, and there was great fanaticism and much unbelief. In
order that man might know by physical sense that the visions given to her were
from God, she was given many visions in which she would fall helpless to the
floor, stop breathing, and yet her heart beat, and she would speak. Many times
I have been present when she was thus in vision. I will mention only the first
and the last that I remember.
The first one I witnessed as a little boy in the
meetinghouse at Roosevelt, New York. Father had given a short talk. Mother had
given a short talk. Father prayed; Mother prayed; and as she was praying, I
heard that shout, Glory. There is nothing like it--that musical, deep
shout of Glory. She fell backward. My father put his arm under her. In a
little while her strength came to her. She stood up in an attitude of one
seeing wonderful things in the distance, her face illuminated, sometimes bright
and joyous. She would speak with that musical voice, making short comments upon
what she was seeing. Then as she saw the darkness in the world, there were sad
expressions as she spoke of what she saw. This continued ten or fifteen
minutes. Then she caught her breath, breathed deeply several times, and then,
after a little season of rest, probably five or ten minutes, during which time
Father spoke to the people, she arose and related to the congregation some of
the things that had been presented to her.
The last vision to which I was a witness where these
peculiarities were manifested was at Battle Creek, in the house where we lived
for many years, on the corner of Washington and Champion Streets. It was during
a Biblical Institute, which began December 15, 1874, and continued for several
weeks. The Review of December 22, 1874, says that there were about 150
in attendance at the Institute. During December a very severe form of influenza
had been passing around. Several in the family had it, and it fastened itself
upon Mother. She was prostrated and very sick. Father began to fear it was
taking hold of her so that she would not have strength to recover. Therefore,
as was his custom in such times of peril, he decided to call the elders of the
church to pray for her. In response to his call, on the afternoon of January 3,
1875, Elders J.
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H. Waggoner and Uriah Smith came to the house with Father.
Mother was brought down to the parlor and sat well-wrapped-up in a rocking
chair. Members of the family, including Mrs. Lucinda Hall, Elder J. O. Corliss,
and myself were present.
After a few remarks by my father, very earnest prayers were
offered by each of the visiting ministers. Then Father prayed. After Father's
prayer, Mother began to pray. She spoke with great effort in a very hoarse,
labored voice. After a few sentences her voice broke clear and musical, and we,
looking up, saw that a great change had come over her. Her hands were clasped,
her eyes uplifted, as she clearly said, "Glory to God."
Then with a quick movement she threw aside the blankets
with which she was wrapped and stepped forward, her eyes looking upward as if
viewing something of greatest interest. Wringing her hands, and with a look of
intense sorrow, she exclaimed, "Dark, dark, so dark!" Later, her face
brightened and she exclaimed, "Light! A little light! More light! Much light!"
The scene presented to her at this time, as explained to us
afterward, was first the darkness with which the world is enshrouded. A similar
view led Isaiah to exclaim, "Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the
people." As she viewed this darkness, lights appeared. At first she saw little
glimmering lights, which grew brighter and clearer and stronger, until the
whole world was full of light.
The disciples of Christ are to hold up their light,
wherever they are. By them other torches will be lighted. Each is to burn
brighter, and light other lights until the whole earth is illuminated with the
love and knowledge of God.
This vision lasted abut ten minutes. During the last half
of the time Mother had resumed her seat in the rocking chair. At the close she
took three deep breaths and then resumed her natural breathing. She sat silent
and appeared to be absorbed in contemplation of the vision. Father then kneeled
by her chair and said, "Ellen, you have been in vision."
"Yes," she replied.
He then asked if she wished to tell us what had been
presented to her. She said, "Not now." Then Sister Hall led her to her room. We
all saw that she had been healed. But she seemed overwhelmed with the thoughts
of what had been presented to her.
Father and Brethren Smith and Waggoner returned to their
work at the Review and Herald office, in preparation for the general meeting.
But a few hours later Father returned, and said to Mother, "Ellen, there is a
meeting at the church tonight. Will you attend?"
"Yes," she said, "I will go." Soon she walked with Father
to the meeting through the snow. The sickness, the weakness, and the hoarseness
were gone. She was well again.
At the meeting Father gave a very short address, and then
Mother spoke with ease and freedom about twenty minutes. On the following day
she spoke again and at greater length about the broadening of our work. She
said that the message must be carried to many lands, and that she had seen
printing presses running in many foreign countries, printing papers and books
containing the third angel's message.
At this point Father interrupted her, saying, "Ellen, can
you name some of those countries?"
She hesitated a moment, and then said, "No, I do not recall
the names, but I should recognize the places if I saw them. Only one name I
remember the angel said, 'Australia.'"
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Elders Haskell and Corliss heard this and always kept
Australia in mind, until in May, 1885, with several others they sailed from San
Francisco and opened up the work in Australia and New Zealand.
Regarding the continuance of the visions. The remarkable
physical manifestations which accompanied the day visions have not been seen in
recent years. But the night visions have continued from 1844 until the present
time. Frequently the angel of the Lord appears to her in connection with
revelations of varied character.
Besides the night visions there are many ways in which
instruction is given to her. Here is an illustration:
At one time there was a group of young people boarding with
Mother in her Healdsburg home, some helping her in her work, and some were
students and teachers in the school. A peculiar temptation came to one of the
teachers. She had taken a nicely woven hair net of Mother's and put it in her
trunk. Mother made diligent inquiry about this net. She searched the house for
it, and said, "It must be found. It could not go away by itself." One day she
was passing through a room to reach another and a voice said to her, "Lift the
lid of that trunk." It was a thing so different from her ordinary life, to look
into another person's trunk. But the voice said to her again, "Lift the lid of
that trunk." She did so and there saw the missing net. Instead of telling what
she had seen, she made inquiry again about the net, and said, "I am sure you
will find it." She pressed the matter so hard that the one who had taken the
net felt that she must get rid of, and so she destroyed it. She felt that she
could not return it after what had been said about it.
One day as Mother was sitting at the fireplace, a picture
appeared before her eyes of that young lady holding the net over a lamp and
burning it. When Mother saw that there was a determined purpose not to confess
the transgression, she told the young lady what she had seen, and she confessed
it all. She said, "I do not know why I took it. I do not know why I did not
bring it back when you first spoke of it." She was a young woman of beautiful
character except one thing. All her life long she had been indulged and trained
to selfishness. Evidently the Lord gave her that experience to reveal that
trait. After this she made a decided reformation, lived a new life. The Lord
meant that to save her from more serious things.
Many a time when Mother is writing, she stops, and as she
waits and prays a thought is flashed into her mind, full of additional
instruction as to what to write. As I speak of these things, you will recognize
in each one of these forms of presentation parallels of the experiences of the
prophets as recorded in the Bible. Many times when some matter of special
importance requiring wisdom and judgment is about to present itself, sometimes
when mighty decisions are soon to be made in a meeting, or important policies
to be adopted in institutional work, she will live over the whole experience in
advance. In a night vision, perhaps months before, the angel of the Lord is
there to tell her what is coming and what to adopt. (The angel is the same one
that she speaks of in her first writings as the "young man." She speaks of him
now as "our instructor," or "our counsellor." Having passed through these
experiences and heard instruction as to what course should be taken when the
issue comes, and matters develop just as they were presented to her in the
vision, she knows what counsel to give and what course to pursue.
Many things are presented to her in picture and in figure.
Some of you will remember that beautiful chapter in the last of The Great Controversy
in which is described the experience of God's people who have been in dungeons
and hiding places, and as they come, a voice sounds forth, "They come! they
come! holy,
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harmless, and undefiled." When Mother was writing the last
chapters of The Great
Controversy she was heard three times in the night uttering these words
as the scene was presented to her over and over. One morning she said, "Now I
have got it. I know where to place it. I have found its relation."
Sometimes important warnings are presented to her in
figure, and it is not told her whether the act represented in the figure has
occurred, or is to occur in the future, or whether it is a representation of
that of which there is danger and which should be carefully avoided.
One time when we were far away from Battle Creek, which had
been our home, we received a message that a brother had been disfellowshiped
from the church. As I read the letter, I said, "Oh, Mother, Brother A has been
disfellowshiped from the church." She said, "Yes." She did not seem to be
surprised. I said, "Will you tell me what it was for?" "Yes," she said, "too
much affection for a young lady." "Will you tell me who?" She named the person.
I asked, "How did you know all this?" She said, "Some months ago they were
represented to me as standing in a public place, he with his arm around her,
and she looking lovingly into his face. I did not know at the time whether it
was a picture of an actual occurrence or a warning as to something that they
should avoid."
Sometimes the question comes to me, What would you say if
you read a testimony of reproof for something that has never been done? I would
say, Accept that as a caution and keep so far away from it that it might never
occur. Let me tell you an incident along this line:
There was a brother with whom I was associated in
Australia, who said to me, "Brother White, I am in trouble. I am in serious
trouble, because your mother has written me a letter reproving me for something
that I never did. I am in deep distress. I do not know what to do about it."
Then he told me about the reproof.
"My brother," I said, "I am very glad that you have come to
me for counsel, because I believe I can help you." Then I told him what I have
just related, and many other things in which sometimes the chronology or the
geography was not clearly presented.
I also told him how one Sabbath, at Basle, as I was reading
Wylie's History of Protestantism, telling about the experience of the
Roman armies coming against the Hungarians, and how a large body of persecutors
would see a little body of Protestants and become frightened and beat a hasty
retreat. As I read it to Mother she interrupted me and told a lot of things in
the pages ahead, and told me many things not in the book at all. She said, "I
never read about it, but that scene has been presented to me over and over
again. I have seen the papal armies, and sometimes before they had come in
sight of the Protestants, the angels of God would give them a representation of
large armies that would make them flee." I said, "Why did you not put it into
your book?" She said, "I did not know where to put it."
I said to this brother, "You and I draw very fine
distinctions between the past, the present, and the future. We make a great
difference between them. With God, all is present. You and I draw a very fine
distinction between an act contemplated, thought of, dwelt upon in the mind,
and an act performed. The Lord does not make so much difference as we do. He
looks at the thought of the heart, and when He sees in your mind and mine a
plan, a desire, to Him it is like the seed of a tree. In it He sees the tree
bearing fruit.
"My brother, if you have received a reproof for what you
have never done, I advise you to take it as a warning, and shape your course of
action so far away from it that it will never occur. Do not flatter yourself
that the temptation will pass with a few days or a few weeks. Remember the
conquest of self is a life-long work."
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He grasped the thought and said, "I see the point. I thank
you for your counsel. I have seen enough of your mother's work to know the
power there is in it, the truth there is in it. I accept that as a warning, and
I will keep so far away from the evil course referred to that men need never
know that I was in need of this caution."
Some months after this complaints were brought to me that
this brother was taking the very course regarding which he had protested
innocence. For some time he argued that the charges were false, but finally
confessed that he had for a long time been following the very course for which
he had been reproved.
Technically, as men see and judge, he may have been
innocent at the time when he first received the reproof; yet in spirit and
motive he may have been guilty all the time.
Sometimes the question is asked, Was Dr. Kellogg reproved
for erecting a building in Chicago that never was built? Was there a
representation made of buildings there that never were constructed? Yes. Was
there a representation made to Ezekiel of a city and a temple that never were
built? Why was that representation made to him? Because it was possible that
there should be such a city. If the people had walked in the light it would
have been built. But they did not walk in the light and the city and temple
shown to the prophet never were built. Ezekiel recorded what was shown to him.
While we were in Australia there was presented to Mother in
visions of the night large buildings in Chicago, occupied by many enterprises,
absorbing the time and energies of our people. It was shown her what it meant
to the conferences and the missions in other lands to permit the gathering of
means for these buildings. No one had ever written to Mother or told her that
there were any such buildings. But she wrote what was presented to her. She saw
the buildings, the many enterprises, and the result, and wrote the protest
given here against it. I read that before it went, and thought the one to whom
it was addressed understood her work well enough to understand its meaning and
receive it as a caution. But instead of that, great indignation was stirred up
over it. It has been often discussed and the letter quoted as showing the
unreliability of the Testimonies.
For some years this was a burden to Mother, but in the
summer of 1902, after the organization of the Pacific Medical Missionary and
Benevolent Association, the perplexity was cleared away. One day Judge Jesse
Arthur and Mrs. Arthur took dinner at Mother's house, and after dinner the
matter of the Chicago building was discussed. Judge Arthur told us that he knew
something about the plans that were prepared and discussed for a large building
in Chicago, and that he had seen the plan that was drawn for such a building by
Brother W. K. Loughborough. He told us that Dr. Holmes, who had done much to
help in the Chicago work of the Medical Missionary College, and who was an
active member of the American Medical Association, was deeply interested that
we should have large and acceptable buildings in Chicago, because unless we had
a suitable place for our work, it would be impossible to secure favorable
recognition from the American Medical Association and the Association of
Medical Colleges.
Therefore, Dr. Holmes voluntarily looked up a place and
made suggestions regarding plans. Various places were examined; various plans
were discussed, great and small. Dr. Holmes was continually leading on to plan
for a very large building, and it was thought that the Medical College could
occupy a part, part could be given to the dispensary, and several other kindred
enterprises could be grouped in this large building. As Judge Arthur described
in a general way the
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plans that were being considered for a building, Mother
said, "That is what was presented to me," and then she took up the description
of the building and went on with it for a while. "Yes," Judge Arthur said, and
then proceeded with the description. The conversation was like that of two
persons who had been seeing the same things, and in which one would tell a
part, and the other would tell a part, and all in perfect harmony. It was
considered important that the large building under consideration be erected as
soon as possible, because the time was drawing near for the graduation of a
class of students from the Medical Missionary College, and the friendly
influence of the supervising medical associations was desired. Dr. J. H.
Kellogg was in Europe, but his most hearty approval was expected. But on his
return he at once raised the question, "Where is the money?" The testimony
regarding the large buildings in Chicago had caused him to lose hope that he
could raise the necessary funds for their construction.
The message had gone to Dr. Kellogg while he was in Europe.
He was not only the leader but also the head and front of that work. It was his
plans that gave shape to all that was done. When he saw the Testimony was
against what he and his associates desired to do, he called a halt.
The question of personal influence is one that has
perplexed many. Some have gotten the idea that personal influence can be
brought to bear in such a way as to sway the tenor of the Testimonies this way
or that way or the other way, according to the feelings and wishes and desires
of those close to Mother.
Those who are best acquainted with Mother's work know that
there is a solidity to it that cannot be shaken. There is a part which men have
to act in connection with this as well as with every other part of the work of
God. Ofttimes there is presented to Mother a view of the field and the work
that lies before us. She is shown that if a conference, a church, or a group of
men take such and such a course, the result will surely be of such and such a
nature, and therefore she must give warning. Ofttimes she must ask our brethren
with reference to the progress of the work, that she may know whether the time
has come to give her testimony.
While we were in Avondale, struggling to build up the
college there, there were great differences of opinion among the members of the
board. We had a group of men trained in different schools of experience. They
were strong men, and they had many differences of opinion. Some wanted to see
rapid progress; others wanted to see great economy and caution exercised; and
there were all shades of doctrine regarding finances and school management. I
felt that I was well acquainted with Mother's views regarding school work. I
had heard her counsels to the Union Conference Committee during the years we
were searching for a place and locating the school. I had heard her statements
regarding what the school might be. I felt a burden to hasten the work forward
along broad lines. Some of the brethren felt that I was anxious to move too
fast, willing to run too great risk, and that I was taking unfair advantage of
my close connection with Mother to bring her influence into that work to carry
out my wishes.
For the sake of those who were thinking along that line, as
well as for my own peace of mind and assurance, I decided to keep far away from
anything that could be a cause of perplexity to them or to me, and although I
wanted counsel very much, I decided to adopt a perfectly safe plan.
In those days we did our school board work deliberately and
thoroughly. Sometimes we would counsel for a week. Usually I went home from the
board meeting late at night, and then I would tell the Lord before I slept my
greatest perplexities and difficulties. Often I prayed, "Lord, guide by whom
Thou wilt. If it is by giving special light to Brother Haskell, Brother Hughes,
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Brother Daniells, Brother Palmer, or any other member of the
board, help us to accept it; or if Thou wilt give us help by sending counsel
through Mother, as in the past, Lord give us help." Then each morning I would
see Mother and say, "Have you any word for us?"
Sometimes she would say, "In the night I was in a council,
where we were talking over such and such matters, and I was told to say so and
so." Then as she related the experience, I several times received the exact
answer to the questions I had laid before the Lord the night before. Sometimes
what Mother said was not a direct answer, but it taught me the position I ought
to take with reference to important problems that were before us. Not all of
the things she gave me those mornings found an application during the work then
in hand. But I assure you I was very thankful for the help then received.
One morning I had asked that question as usual. I was a
little late, and said, "I must hurry away now, for it is meeting time." Mother
said, "I want you to tell me what you are doing." I said, "Why should I tell
you? Will not the Lord tell you whatever it is necessary for you to know?"
"Well," she said, "I want you to tell me what you are doing." I said, "I do not
want to say much about what we are doing just now." Then Mother seized hold of
my coat, just as she used to do when I was a little boy, and swinging me around
in front of her, she said, "Willie White, it is presented to me that you are
having a hard time, and when you have reached a certain point I have something
say, and I want to know whether you have reached that time or not." I told her
what we were doing, and she said, "Go on, I will not go over today."
Then a day or two later she came and gave us some counsel.
The counsel she gave did not especially uphold me in my plans. I do not know of
anyone whose plans are more often crossed and corrected than are mine.
One time I was in Melbourne camp meeting, working early and
late to the full extent of my strength, and I received a most sad, reproving
letter about my neglecting Mother's work and about the necessity of giving more
attention to it. She had consented to my going to the meeting, and I could not
see why it should come to me then. I said, There is no use thinking about it;
the business of the meeting needs all my energies, and I put it away. But was
that the best way? I found out afterward that there was a man right there that
I could have secured for help in the work that needed attention. But the
message hurt me. I thought I was doing all I could. I was not reconciled to it,
and I put it out of my mind, and there was the very help within my reach that
would have helped me to do what I ought to do.
Now with reference to the matter of personal influence: I
have seen that messages brought to Mother by word of mouth and by letter
prompted her to write, and the question has arisen, Did this message simply
prompt her to write things which had been revealed, or did it also influence
the matter that is written?
The Lord has given me many experiences that answer that
question. I will tell you some of them. One time there was a group of men
associated with the president of the General Conference who were strong
financiers. Their hearts had not been drawn out to foreign missions, but their
hearts did rejoice in large buildings, facilities, and machinery at the center
of the work, Battle Creek, and they kept it continually before the president of
the General Conference that it was those things that gave stability and
strength to the cause, and imperceptibly he was being influenced more and more
by this view of the work. Steps were being taken which businessmen would
consider wise, but in the eyes of the Lord it was robbery. The mission fields
were being robbed.
Letters came to us from America, from the president of the
General Conference, stating that these men were having a good experience, that
they were getting out to camp meetings, and were helping here and there. It was
a most
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encouraging report, and I assure you I was glad to read it.
One of these men I loved; the other I admired for his business ability. For
years I had endeavored to present to Mother all the encouraging things I could
about their work.
It was a noon mail that brought this report, and in the
afternoon Mother and I sat down and rejoiced over the good news. We said how
good it was that Mother now could lay off the burden she had been carrying. I
went to my home full of joy and thanksgiving and praise because of this turn in
affairs, and that Mother could lay off the crushing burden she had been bearing
regarding the work at Battle Creek. But next day I found Mother busily writing,
and on the second day she called me in to read the most severe condemnatory
message she had ever written regarding the work and influence of these leading
men.
Why this change of attitude? It was because the angel of
the Lord had appeared to her, and she had been given another view of their
work. I have seen such experiences not once or twice, but many times.
I have seen people come trying to get some word in favor of
their particular schemes. One of the most marked experiences was in connection
with the Oakland General Conference of 1903. There was a terrible controversy
there. Before that conference, for weeks, yes, months, Mother had been living
over in advance the experiences that were to come. Morning after morning as I
visited her room she would tell me about the serious questions that were to
come up at the meeting. Often she would say, "I do not know whether I have
strength to attend the conference or not, but if I do attend, I shall have to
bear a very plain testimony thus and so. I often pray, 'Lord, help me to
remember, and if the time ever comes when I need to know this, let it be
brought to my mind.'"
Finally we came to the conference and the battle was on.
Those representing one side of the controversies would come to Mother for
counsel. They would say, "We are in perplexity. We do not want to do wrong. It
looks to us as though such and such a danger is coming to the church, and it
must be met, and how shall it be met?" Then Mother would tell them how the
danger was presented to her and the necessity of vigilance. As I heard the
strong presentations by these men, of the difficulties as they saw them, the
question would force itself upon me, "Will this influence Mother's testimony?"
Now, you can imagine the intensity of my interest when she
took her stand before the conference to bear her message. I was watching
closely to see if she gave the message she had said that she would or if she
would bear a testimony somewhat modified. But as you would expect, the
testimony that she bore departed not a hair's breadth to the right or the left
from what she had stated to us at home that it should be.
There was, however, one line of thought on which she
planned to speak plainly that never was presented. She had told me over and
over again before the conference, and during the conference, that she must
present to such and such a group of physicians their danger. And at her request
we called the physicians together. Some ministers said, "Should we not hear
also?" Some of the principal ones she wanted to talk with were absent, and she
saw before her persons who were not prepared to receive and use wisely the
message she had to bear; therefore she never gave it. She turned aside, and
read some-
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thing instructive on another subject. When she sees the
people gathered to listen to her counsel, and it is impressed upon her heart
that they will make wrong use of her words, she sometimes decides not to say
what she had in mind to say.
One more thought about personal influence. Some said, "Did
you see when Sister White was talking there in the conference that she turned
around and said to W. C. White, 'Have I covered all the points, Willie?' Doesn't
that show that he is coaching her and she is trying to satisfy him?" This may
be a natural question to suspicious minds. What are the facts?
Sometimes for weeks before an important meeting Mother has
been telling me morning by morning the statements that she intended to bear.
Then when the meeting came, she would speak to large audiences. Then when
called upon to bear her testimony to our own people she would say to me before
going to the meeting, "I am tired; the people have been talking to me; you must
help me to remember the things I have told you." And when in the pulpit she
would turn to me for a reminder of what she had told me beforehand she wanted
to say. Here is an illustration:
At the close of the General Conference held in Battle Creek
in 1901, the brethren urged that Mother should go to Indianapolis and attend
the general meeting appointed there to consider the fanatical work carried on
by a group of laborers who had been teaching the doctrine of the holy flesh.
Mother was weary and felt that she had not strength for
this additional burden. She repeatedly told me and other members of the family
that she did not feel able to attend that meeting. She did not feel that she
had strength to bear the testimony which she must bear if she attended the
meeting. Then she told us many things she would have to say to the brethren who
had been teaching the strange doctrine in Indiana. She repeated this several
times, so that I remembered very distinctly what it was that she said she must
testify if she went to Indiana. Finally she decided to go. The Lord
strengthened her for the journey, and she bore her testimony to a large
congregation of our people in a clear, decisive way. After this she was
requested to speak to a large audience Sunday afternoon. This was a heavy draft
on her strength, and at the close she was very weary.
Sunday afternoon I had a long talk with one of the
ministers holding the strange doctrine against which Mother had borne her
testimony, and he asked for an interview with Mother. I told him that Mother
was weary. But when I saw that he would feel grieved and injured if the
interview was denied, I told him I would do all I could to arrange for an
interview early Monday morning.
I expected to see Mother Sunday evening and tell her of
this brother's desire to see her in the morning, but committee work prevented
my seeing her that evening.
Monday morning early I went to her room and found her very
busy writing. Then she told me that an important subject had been opened up to
her mind in the night and she greatly desired to write it out before anything
came in to divert her mind from the subject. I then told her that I had
promised one of the ministers that I would do my best to arrange for an
interview with her early Monday morning. Mother said, "But my mind is now on
this other subject. I have borne my testimony to our people, and my discourse
to the large audience exhausted my strength, and now I have this new subject to
write out. Why must I have a private interview with this brother?"
Again I told her of his desire to have an interview with
her, and she said, "But what can I say to him?" Then I saw that the Sunday
afternoon discourse and the new subject opened to her mind had taken her
thought completely
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away from the matter of the holy flesh fanaticism, and so I
repeated to her some of the things which she had told me when in Battle Creek
that she would have to say to these brethren if she came to Indiana. After
calling her attention to a few of the things that she had repeatedly told us
she must say to these brethren if she came to Indiana, her mind took up that
line of thought, and then I went to look for the brother.
During this conversation a good sister in the next room had
heard some of our words. I had spoken quite loudly to Mother, and the sister
had heard my words, without, perhaps, hearing what Mother said, and she was
greatly surprised and shocked to hear W. C. White telling his mother what she
should say to a brother in perplexity. Of course, the matter was told to others
and the report was circulated far and wide before it came to my attention.
This is not the only way that the enemy works to trick us
who are connected with Mother into positions where it looks as though we were
tampering with her work. Those who want to believe that the Testimonies are
not pure and genuine will have plenty of opportunity to hear things that can
be told in such a way as to show that we are not dealing honestly with that
work. But I want to say regarding that which goes out from Mother's office,
signed with her own hand or stamped with her signature, that Mother is intelligently
responsible for it. There is no one connected with her who has the desire to
tamper with her work or to do otherwise than she tells us to do.
Mother writes very rapidly. She does much of her writing
early in the morning. She often writes upon many subjects in one letter or
manuscript, just as subject after subject is flashed upon her mind. These
manuscripts she passes to one who is expert in reading her writing to copy off
on the typewriter, and then it is given back to Mother. She examines it, making
such corrections, changes, and additions as she sees fit. Then it is copied
again and sent out according to Mother's direction. Sometimes a long personal
letter will contain matter which she wishes to use in a more general letter to
be sent to a group of workers. Sometimes it contains material for an article
for one of our periodicals, or a chapter in a book.
Some of the most precious chapters of
The Desire of Ages
are made up of material first written in letters to men laboring under trying
circumstances, for the purpose of cheering and instructing them regarding their
work. Some of these beautiful lessons about Christian experience as illustrated
in the life of our Saviour were first written in letters to my brother Edson,
when he was struggling with many difficulties in his work in Mississippi. Some
were written first to Elder Corliss when he was holding a discussion with a
wily Campbellite in Sydney.
One thing I should feel condemned about if I did not speak
of it, and that is the longsuffering and patience of God toward erring men as
manifested in the messages that are sent to the church through Mother.
Oftentimes a man is chosen for a position of responsibility, and the enemy
comes in with all power to unfit him for his work and place. Then when the
brethren see his weakness they are ready to dispense with him. But the Lord
looks upon him as the Lord Jesus looked upon His disciples--having loved them,
He loved them unto the end--when He said, "Of those Thou hast given Me, none is
lost save the son of perdition." It shows how patient, how determined He was
that men shall have all the opportunity that heaven can give. That
characteristic you will see in the messages God sends to the church in the
Testimonies.
If the brethren, when they see a brother doing wrong, will
deal with him faithfully, they may win him back, or they would develop the fact
that he is hopeless. If
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this were done, there would not be any need of the testimony
so often given, cautioning the church about pushing away men whom the Lord is
still anxious to save.
We can only come to a clear understanding of the
Testimonies by a diligent study of the messages the Lord has given to His
church in past ages, remembering that the same forms of language mean the same
today, and by studying them in the light of the love of Jesus.
I pray God that we all may become wise in our study of
these things, because we all will have opportunities to help others.
Ellen G. White Estate
General Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists
Washington 12, D.C.
May 20, 1954
Edited
and reformatted 6-6-91
Silver Spring, Maryland. nc.