The reader will have observed that three communications from the pen of Mrs. E. G. White were included in A Word to the "Little Flock."
First, there is the letter appearing on pages 11 and 12, addressed to Eli Curtis, in reply to his request for Mrs. White's comments on his prophetic positions as presented in articles in the Day-Dawn. In this letter Mrs. White refers to his views on such points as the two resurrections, the Holy City, the cleansing of the sanctuary, etc. This published letter was never reprinted, as the fuller presentation of her views on these subjects obviated the necessity of its being repeated.
The second communication from Mrs. White, found on pages 14-18, is an account of her first vision under the title, "To the Remnant Scat tered Abroad." This was written December 20, 1845, as a personal letter to Enoch Jacobs, and was first published by the recipient in The Day-Star of January 24, 1846. Then on April 6, 1846, it was reprinted in broadside form by James White and H. S. Gurney. The statement as it appears in A Word to the "Little Flock," with the exception of minor editorial changes and added scripture references, is identical with the full account of the vision as first printed.
It may be of interest to note that Mrs. White states in a postscript of her letter to Mr. Jacobs, that this account "was not written for publication," and commenting later she wrote, "Had I for once thought it was to be spread before the many readers of your paper, I should have been more particular." [1]
The third Ellen G. White communication, occupying pages 18-20, is a reprint of a letter addressed to Joseph Bates, presenting an account of a vision which was given April 7, 1847, in which Mrs. White was shown the most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary, and was then carried into the future and viewed scenes connected with the conflicts and victory of the church. This was first published in broadside form by Elder Bates accompanied by his remarks found on page 21 of A Word to the "Little Flock." Scripture references were also added by James White to this third E. G. White communication as it went into print in this pamphlet.
The First E. G. White Book
In August, 1851, her first book, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, was published at Saratoga Springs, New York. Among the articles which comprise this work of sixty-four pages are the last two just referred to, which appeared in A Word to the "Little Flock" -the first E. G. White vision and the letter to Elder Bates. [2]
Introducing her first vision as presented in this book, Mrs. White stated, "Here I will give the view which was first published in 1846. In this view I saw only a very few of the events of the future. More recent views have been more full. I shall therefore leave out a portion and prevent repetition." [3]
Thus, in the first edition of the first E. G. White book, purporting to be only a "sketch," Mrs. White informed her readers that she was not including all of that which had appeared in earlier published accounts of these visions. A fuller presentation of scenes regarding which but very brief reference has been made in her first visions was given in later chapters of the book, and was set forth by her as the reason for these omissions. We offer two illustrations of this.
Near the center of page 16 of A Word to the "Little Flock" is found a statement describing the temple in heaven and that which was viewed by Mrs. White in this temple. This statement is one which was omitted when she prepared the matter for her first book, for it is a close repetition in many respects of the description given on page 18, now found on pages 32 and 33 of Early Writings.
On page 19 of A Word to the "Little Flock" appears a short paragraph dealing with the "mark of the beast." This paragraph also was omitted by Mrs. White, but we find an entire chapter devoted to this subject in Early Writings, pages 64-67.
The scripture references which appear in the E. G. White communications in A Word to the "Little Flock" were inserted by James White. With these are six references to Second Esdras of the Apocrypha. James White assumed the full responsibility for the insertion of all these references, as has been noted by his statement appearing at the bottom of page 13, and they constitute no part of Mrs. White's account.
It will also be observed that in the center of page 19, in connection with the statement regarding the beast and the image beast, the number "666" is found inserted in marks of parenthesis as are the letters referring to the scripture references. The fact that this number appears in parenthesis indicates clearly that it was not a part of the vision, but was inserted by Joseph Bates, the first publisher, as were the scripture references by James White, and reflects the view held by him at that time.
In addition to Mrs. White's brief 1851 statement, referred to above, as to why omissions were made when her first book was published, she, in 1883, wrote at length dealing with most of these omitted portions. Her explanation follows.
Mrs. White's Explanation
"My attention has recently been called to a sixteen-page pamphlet published by ---- of Marlon, Iowa, entitled Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White With Later Publications. The writer states that portions of my earlier visions, as first printed, have been suppressed in the work recently published under the title Early Writings of Mrs. E. G. White, and he conjectures as a reason for such suppression that these passages teach doctrines now repudiated by us as a people.
"He also charges us with willful deception in representing Early Writings as a complete republication of my earliest views, with only verbal changes from the original work.
"Before I notice separately the passages which are said to have been omitted, it is proper that several facts be stated. When my earliest views were first published in pamphlet form [A Word to the "Little Flock"], the edition was small, and was soon sold. This was in a few years followed by a larger book, The Christian Experience and Views of Mrs. E. G. White, printed in 1851, and containing much additional matter.
"In our frequent change of location in the earlier history of the publishing work, and then in almost incessant travel as I have labored from Maine to Texas, from Michigan to California -and I have crossed the plains no less than seventeen times -I lost all trace of the first published works. 1 When it was decided to publish Early Writings at Oakland, last fall, we were obliged to send to Michigan to borrow a copy of Experience and Views. And in doing this we supposed that we had obtained an exact copy of the earliest visions as first published. This we reprinted, as stated in preface to Early Writings, with only verbal changes from the original work.
"And here I will pause to state that any of our people having in their possession a copy of any or all of my first views, as published prior to 1851, will do me a great favor if they will send them to me without delay. I promise to return the same as soon as a copy can be produced.
"So far from desiring to withhold anything that I have ever published, I would feel great satisfaction in giving to the public every line of my writings that has ever been printed...
Omitted Statements
"The first quotation mentioned by -----is from a pamphlet of twentyfour pages published in 1847, entitled A Word to the 'Little Flock.' Here are the lines omitted in Experience and Views:
"'It was just as impossible for them [those that gave up their faith in the '44 movement] to get on the path again and go to the city as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another.' [Page 14]
"I will give the context, that the full force of the expressions may be clearly seen:
"'While praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell on me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them - when a voice said to me, "Look again, and look a little higher." At this I raised my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were travelling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the Midnight Cry. This light shone all along the path, and gave light for their feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the City, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and they said the City was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a glorious light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted Hallelujah. Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below.'
"Now follows the passage said to be in the original work, but not found in Experience and Views or in Early Writings:
"'It was just as impossible for them [those that gave up their faith in the '44 movement] to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another.'
"It is claimed that these expressions prove the shut door doctrine, and that this is the reason of their omission, in later editions. But in fact they teach only that which has been and is still held by us as a people, as I shall show.
The Shut Door Defined
"For a time after the disappointment in 1844, I did hold in common with the Advent body, that the door of mercy was then forever closed to the world. This position was taken before my first vision was given me. It was the light given me of God that corrected our error, and enabled us to see the true position.
"I am still a believer in the shut door theory, but not in the sense in which we at first employed the term or in which it is employed by my opponents.
"There was a shut door in Noah's day. There was at that time a withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the sinful race that perished in the waters of the flood. God Himself gave the shut door message to Noah:
"'My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.'
"There was a shut door in the days of Abraham. Mercy ceased to plead with the inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters, were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven.
"There was a shut door in Christ's day. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, 'Your house is left unto you desolate.'
"Looking down the stream of time to the last days, the same infinite power proclaimed through John:
"'These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.'
"I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angel's messages and rejected that light, were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them.
"Those who did not see the light, had not the guilt of its rejection. It was only the class who had despised the light from heaven that the Spirit of God could not reach. And this class included, as I have stated, both those who refused to accept the message when it was presented to them, and also those who, having received it, afterward renounced their faith. These might have a form of godliness, and profess to be followers of Christ, but having no living connection with God, they would be taken captive by the delusions of Satan. These two classes are brought to view in the vision, -those who declared the light which they followed, a delusion, and the wicked of the world who, having rejected the light, had been rejected of God. No reference is made to those who had not seen the light, and therefore were not guilty of its rejection.
"In order to prove that I believed and taught the shut door doctrine, Mr. ----gives a quotation from the Review of June 11, 1861, signed by nine of our prominent members. The quotation reads as follows:
"'Our views of the work before us were then mostly vague and indefinite, some still retaining the idea adopted by the body of Advent believers in 1844 with William Miller at their head, that our work for "the world" was finished and that the message was confined to those of the original Advent faith. So firmly was this believed, that one of our number was nearly refused the message, the individual presenting it having doubts of the possibility of his salvation because he was not in "the '44 move."
"To this I need only to add that in the same meeting in which it was urged that the message could not be given to this brother [J. H. Waggoner], a testimony was given me through vision to encourage him to hope in God and to give his heart fully to Jesus, which he did then and there.
An Unreasonable Conjecture
"In another passage from the book A Word to the 'Little Flock,' I speak of scenes upon the earth, and state that I there saw holy men of old, 'Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Daniel, and many like them.' [Page 16] Because I speak of having seen these men, our opponents conjecture that I then believed in the immortality of the soul, and that having since changed my views upon this point, I found it necessary to suppress that passage. They are as near the truth here as in other conjectures.
"In the year 1844, I accepted the doctrine we now hold, concerning the nonimmortality of the soul, as may be seen by reference to Life Sketches, pp. 170, 171 [1880 ed. See also 1915 ed., p. 49; Testimonies, Vol. I, pp. 39, 40], and I have never, by voice or pen, advocated any other. Had we suppressed this passage on account of its teaching the immortality of the soul, we would have found it necessary to suppress other passages.
"In relating my first vision, page 13 of Early Writings [1882 ed.; present ed., p. 17], I speak of having seen brethren who had but a short time previous fallen asleep in Jesus, and on page 14 [present ed., p. 18] I state that I was shown a great company who had suffered martyrdom for their faith.
"The immortality of the soul is no more taught in the 'suppressed' passage than in the two last cited.
"The fact in the case is, that in these visions I was carried forward to the time when the resurrected saints shall be gathered into the kingdom of God. In the same manner the Judgment, the second coming of Christ, the establishment of the saints upon the new earth have been presented before me. Does anyone suppose that these scenes have yet transpired? My adversaries show the spirit by which they are actuated in thus accusing me of deception on the strength of a mere 'conjecture.'
A Misquotation
"In this quotation are also found the words, 'I saw two long golden rods, on which hung silver wires, and on the wires most glorious grapes.'
"My opponents ridicule 'that weak and childish expression of glorious grapes growing on silver wires, and these wires attached to golden rods.'
"What motive impelled the writer of the above to misstate my words? I do not state that grapes were growing on silver wires. That which I beheld is described as it appeared to me. It is not to be supposed that grapes were attached to silver wires or golden rods, but that such was the appearance presented. Similar expressions are daily employed by every person in ordinary conversation. When we speak of golden fruit, we are not understood as declaring that the fruit is composed of that precious metal, but simply that it has the appearance of gold. The same rule applied to my words removes all excuse for misapprehension.
The Seal of God
"Another 'suppression' reads as follows:
"'Well, bless the Lord, dear brethren and sisters, it is an extra meeting for those who have the seal of the living God.' [Page 17]
"There is nothing in this that we do not still hold. Reference to our published works will show our belief that the living righteous will receive the seal of God prior to the close of probation. Also that these will enjoy special honors, in the kingdom of God.
Renouncing the Sabbath
"The following passage is said to be omitted from the vision related on pages 25-28 [pp. 32-35, present ed.] of Early Writings:
"'And if one believed, and kept the Sabbath, and received the blessing attending it, and then gave it up, and broke the holy commandment, they would shut the gates of the Holy City against themselves, as sure as there was a God that rules in heaven above.' [Page 19]
"Those who have clearly seen and fully accepted the truth upon the fourth commandment and have received the blessing attending obedience, but have since renounced their faith, and dared to violate the law of God, will find if they persist in this path of disobedience, the gates of the city of God closed against them...
"There are two other passages said to be found in my first book, but not given in my later writings. Concerning these I shall only say, when I can obtain a book containing them, so that I can be assured of the correctness of the quotations and can see for myself their connection, I shall be prepared to speak understandingly in regard to them.
"From the beginning of my work, I have been pursued by hatred, reproach, and falsehood. Base imputations and slanderous reports have been greedily gathered up and widely circulated by the rebellious, the formalist, and the fanatic. There are ministers of the so-called orthodox churches traveling from place to place to war against Seventh-day Adventists and they make Mrs. White their textbook. The scoffers of the last days are led on by those ministers professing to be God's watchmen.
"The unbelieving world, the ministers of the fallen churches, and the First-day Adventists are all united in the work of assailing Mrs. White. This warfare has been kept up for nearly forty years, but I have not felt at liberty even to notice their vile speeches, reproaches, and insinuations. And I would not now depart from this custom, were it not that some honest souls may be misled by the enemies of the truth who are so exultantly declaring me a deceiver. In the hope of helping the minds of the honest, I make the statements that I do." [4]
Notes: