vegetarian contexts in egw writings - vs or unstrict?

72 rows

vs. flesh food	reference	contents
	11MR 162.1	Schools Not to Run in Debt--In regard to the school's running in debt: The tuition has been altogether too low in America. Cannot those who conduct the schools in America understand that this is the only way out? Why do they keep the price so low? An increase in price of educational advantages would stop that increasing debt. The students are to be fed and they need good, nourishing food. They should not be stinted in the wholesome fruit and vegetarian diet; but cut off everything like the desserts. Let abundance of fruit be eaten with the meals, but custards and pastries are of no manner of use, all unnecessary. {11MR 162.1}
	14MR 226.5	From Hanford we went to Los Angeles, where we stayed over Sabbath and Sunday. We were given rooms in the building above the Vegetarian Restaurant, but as you know, it is a very noisy part of the city, and I did not sleep well. I spoke on Sabbath and Sunday in the large tent in which Brother Simpson has been holding meetings. On Sabbath there were 2500 present, and on Sunday 1000. -227- {14MR 226.5}
	15MR 0.2	Table of Contents A Word of Explanation Manuscript Release Page 1136 Included in Manuscript Release No. 1184. 1137 Exalt and Praise God at Camp Meetings............. 1 1138 Plans for Church Buildings; How to Secure the Best Soul Winning Results from Camp Meetings ..... 6 1139 To Be No Controversies at Camp Meeting; Hold Camp Meeting Near Site of Previous Year's Meeting ..... 10 1140 Image to Beast Formed Before Close of Probation... 12 1141 Cautions About Making Doctrinal Differences Prominent; Contemplating the Marvels and Mysteries of the Incarnation ............................... 18 1142 Physicians Are Reformers and Are Follow Christ's Example; The Sabbath a Sign; The Importance of Attention to Little Things........................ 29 1143 Under Most Circumstances, Children Should Be Part of the Home Firm While Attending School .......... 43 1144 Care To Be Exercised in Making Changes in Textbooks and Other Matters in School; Helping Inexperienced Teachers............................ 47 1145 Productivity of the Soil at Avondale; Workers for God Must Be Thoroughly Converted and Be One With Christ ........................................... 54 1146 Public Evangelism To Be Conducted by Team of Two Ministers ........................................ 59 1147 More Ministers Needed Who Have the Ability to Serve as Evangelists ............................. 61 1148 Ellen G. White and The Apocrypha ................. 65 1149 E. G. White Materials in The Early Years, by A. L. White 1150 Speculation in Lands and Mines ................... 68 1151 Work the Cities; Talk Faith; Do Not Be Discouraged 76 1152 The Message of 1888; An Appeal for Unity; The Need for the Indwelling Christ......................... 80 1153 Deaths on Pitcairn Island......................... 95 1154 Value of the Soul; Importance of the Will; Christ's Intercession in the Heavenly Sanctuary .. 97 1155 The Danger of Extravagance in Illustrating Our Books ............................................ 105 1156 Overuse of Pictures a Species of Idolatry ........ 114 1157 Both Young Teachers and Older Ones Are Needed..... 118 1158 Biblical Counsel on Solving Church Difficulties... 124 1159 Treatment of the Erring........................... 172 1160 How to Deal With Those Who Have Faults ........... 200 1161 Should Our Youth Go To Battle Creek? ............. 203 1162 Satan's Power is Broken Through Prayer ........... 207 1163 Letter From Paris, Maine, November 1850 .......... 210 1164 Different Talents Are Needed in the Ministry ..... 214 1165 Heaven's Judgments on the Wicked; God's People Sealed............................................ 217 1166 The General Conference Relocation; The Book of Daniel; Elder Haskell's Work and Wages ........... 227 1167 Counsel and Reproof............................... 231 1168 More Souls May Be Won by Camp Meetings Than By Gospel Wagons; The Importance of Providing Church Buildings for New Converts ....................... 250 1169 Instruction to Believers ......................... 253 1170 Right Preparation for Medical Missionary Work..... 258 1171 Encouragement for One who Had Been Bereaved ...... 265 1172 Included in Manuscript Release No1349 1173 E. G. White Materials Cited in a Paper by Gary Krause on the History of Adventist Work in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Available at the White Estate. 1174 The Motive Determines the Quality of the Act ..... 269 1175 Disagreements Concerning College View............. 270 1176 False Humility ................................... 271 1177 E. G. White Material Appearing in Ellen White and Vegetarianism, by Roger Coon. Available at Adventist Book Centers. 1178 Building and Managing Sanitariums and Other Health Institutions...................................... 272 1179 The Evil of Rebellion ............................ 286 1180 Put Away Differences; Love One Another; Proclaim the Truth......................................... 294 1181 Counsel Relating to the Work in Los Angeles and the Paradise Valley Sanitarium.................... 312 1182 A Caution Against Heavy Investment in Food Manufacture....................................... 318 1183 Testimony for Monterey, Michigan.................. 326 1184 Building a Meetinghouse at Avondale; How to Make Camp Meetings Productive; Nathaniel Davis and Demon Possession ................................. 338 1185 The European Missionary Council .................. 345 {15MR 0.2}
	17MR 0.2	Table of Contents A Word of Explanation Manuscript Release Page 1236 Testimony Concerning the Views of Prophecy Held by John Bell - Part I................................ 1 1237 Testimony Concerning the Views of Prophecy Held by John Bell - Part II .............................. 6 1238 Comments on the Incarnation of Christ ............ 24 1239 True "Higher Education"; Appeal to Work the Cities; Wives to Receive Remuneration for Their Gospel Work ...................................... 33 1240 Week of Prayer in San Francisco; Visit to an SDA Vegetarian Restaurant ............................ 38 1241 Week of Prayer in San Francisco; Experienced Ministers to Teach Younger Workers; The Importance of Character...................................... 47 1242 Talented Speakers Needed for Camp Meetings; Business Men to Handle Financial Matters ......... 50 1243 Thoughts on Creation and Character Development; Counsel to Seek and Follow God's Guidance ........ 57 1244 A Night of Troubled Sleep; Talented People To Be Educated for Missionary Work ..................... 61 1245 The Southern Work; Ellen White Disturbed by Dissension in Councils and Camp Meetings; Study the Word, and Seek Christ ........................ 1246 E. G. White Materials Used in a Paper Presented by R. W. Olson at the Centennial Commemoration of Ellen White's Visit to Europe, Published in Ellen G. White and Europe. On file at the White Estate. 1247 E. G. White Materials Used in a Paper Presented by G. Poublan at the Centennial Commemoration of Ellen White's Visit to Europe, Published in Ellen G. White and Europe. On File at the White Estate. 1248 E. G. White Material Cited in "The Humor of Ellen White," by Glen Baker, published in The Adventist Review, April 30, 1987. 1249 Counsel on Soul Winning; The Need to Crucify Self; The Importance of Character Development .......... 67 1250 Lessons From Sightseeing in Nimes; The Wilderness Temptations of Christ; Faithful Sabbathkeeping Enjoined ......................................... 75 1251 Complete Victory Possible Through Faith in Christ 83 1252 Safety in Counseling Together .................... 87 1253 William Foy Lectures in Beethoven Hall............ 95 1254 Included in Manuscript Releases 1265 and 1266. 1255 Church Leaders to Set an Example of Christlikeness.................................... 98 1256 Reproof for False Statements Regarding Promotion of EGW Books; Unfair Treatment of Publishing House Workers; God's Law To Be Obeyed................... 107 1257 Funds Needed to Establish Medical Institutions in Australia; Camp Meetings Planned.................. 119 1258 The Need for Church and Sanitarium Buildings...... 125 1259 Earnest Effort Needed in the Cooranbong, Maitland, Newcastle Area.................................... 129 1260 Evangelistic Successes in Newcastle and Brisbane; Cooranbong's Need for a Hospital.................. 133 1261 High Standard of Purity and Holiness to Characterize Gospel Ministers..................... 140 1262 Counsel Regarding a Second Marriage .............. 146 1263 Testimony Regarding the Monterey, Michigan, Church 153 1264 A Message to the Churches ........................ 162 1265 Minds of Committee Members To Be Worked by the Holy Spirit; The Marks of Christlikeness ......... 166 1266 Church Leaders To Be Humble and Spirit-Filled; Board Members Not to Serve Indefinitely .......... 170 1267 Evil Counsels Followed at the Review and Herald and the General Conference........................ 177 1268 Wrong Principles Followed in Battle Creek; Moral Integrity To Be Maintained by Each Individual..... 181 1269 Every Person Has God-Given Talents Which Should Bear Fruit; Church leaders Not to Exercise Absolute Control Over Others ..................... 196 1270 The Work in England; Leaders to Walk With Fear and Trembling Before God, Leading People to the Cross and The True Shepherd ............................ 208 1271 Concern Over the Leadership in Battle Creek; Plans for a Medical Institution in Cooranbong; Leaders To Be Connected With God.......................... 216 1272 Bible Principles to Govern SDA Institutions; Conscience Accountable to God Alone; Unconverted Men Controlling Councils and Boards .............. 221 1273 Satanic Publications in SDA Publishing Houses; Joshua, the High Priest, Being Accused............ 236 1274 God Calls Upon Workers To Be Producers, Not Consumers; Medical Missionary Work To Be Pursued; Study the Word ................................... 244 1275 Christ Understands Humanity's Need for Food; Health Food Business Has Potential for Helping God's Cause....................................... 252 1276 Edson White and W. O. Palmer Not to Act Independently of the Conference in Establishing a Health Food Business ............................. 257 1277 The Health Food Work in Sydney; Improvement in the Spiritual Climate of the St. Helena Sanitarium.... 259 1278 Workers To Be Transformed by God and Reveal Christlike Tenderness............................. 263 1279 Conversations Between Ellen White, A. G. Daniells, and Other Church Leaders Regarding the Work in Nashville......................................... 266 1280 The Work in Nashville, Including the Health Food Business; Spiritual Interests To Be Paramount..... 276 1281 Concern for the Wahroonga Sanitarium; The Purpose of Our Institutions; Leaders Should Be Chosen for Their Spirituality................................ 280 1282 An Appeal for a Leader to Repent and Reform ...... 284 1283 SDA's Not to Erect Mammoth Institutions; If Economy is Practiced, Needs of World Can Be Met; Leaders to Have Upright Characters................ 286 1284 Unity in God's Work; Personal Counsel on Diet and On Becoming Involved in the Health Food Work ..... 289 1285 The Role of Christ's Object Lessons; Concern Over Health Food Companies and Restaurants; Soul Winning To Be Emphasized.......................... 294 1286 W. O. Palmer and the Food Business in the South .. 298 1287 Workers in Food Business to Emphasize Spiritual Values and Witnessing............................. 300 1288 Consultation Regarding the Work of G. C. Tenney; Prayer Offered for G. A. Anderson and Others ..... 301 1289 Non-Essential Subjects To Be Avoided; Soul Winners to Educate and Use All Talents; Baptismal Candidates To Be Fully Instructed................. 303 1290 God's Counsel To Be Sought Before Enlarging Buildings; Means Needed for Opening New Fields.... 308 1291 Counsel Not to Overwork; Present Short Messages; Be Thoroughly Converted........................... 310 1292 The Importance of Philippians 2 and 3; God's Law To Be Proclaimed and Obeyed ...................... 316 1293 A Report on Soul Winning Efforts, Office Matters, and Household and Family Items.................... 323 1294 Labors in Switzerland; Converts Must Be Willing To Carry the Cross; Plans and Techniques for Evangelism........................................ 329 1295 The Divine and Human Nature of Christ ............ 336 1296 The Evil of Gossiping About Fellow Church Members; The Importance of Pressing Together and Maintaining Unity ................................ 341 1297 The Need to Review Sacred History; The Importance of the Sabbath; The Nearness of the End........... 344 1298 E. G. White Materials Cited in "Dietary Advice and Practice of Adventist in the Nineteenth Century," by Ronald Graybill. Available from the General Conference Health and Temperance Department. 1299 Locating Sanitariums Away From the Cities; Health-Care Workers To Be Deeply Spiritual........ 348 1300 The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, available at White Estate or Adventist Book Centers. {17MR 0.2}
	17MR 38.1	MR No. 1240 - Week of Prayer in San Francisco; Visit to an SDA Vegetarian Restaurant Friday, December 21, [1900], I left St. Helena for San Francisco, where I was to spend the Week of Prayer. I was taken to the home of Dr. Mattner, where I was made every comfortable. {17MR 38.1}
	17MR 42.2	From the park we went to our vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, where we received an invitation to take dinner. Here we found in a narrow building tables set to accommodate as many as possible; but many who desired to come in were obliged to turn away. The plain, simple food placed before the guests was fully in accordance with the sign placed in the only window in the room--Vegetarian Restaurant. There was on the table not a particle of meat, poultry, or anything that has animal life, and yet everything was palatable and acceptable. Our party enjoyed the wholesome, substantial food. The neat appearance of the waitresses, with their dark dresses covered with white aprons, was very pleasant. {17MR 42.2}
	20MR 80.2	Yesterday I had a two-hour conversation with Dr. T. S. Evans and his wife, who are working at the Sanitarium here. I think that the interview was a profitable one. They spoke of a plan that they have in mind--to have a banquet at the Sanitarium, and to invite the prominent residents of St. Helena, lawyers, bankers, and ministers. They hope that thus they can do something to remove the impression that seems to be held by some in St. Helena--that this institution is a place where only imbeciles and decrepit people are cared for. Brother Fulton, manager of the San Francisco Vegetarian Cafe, will come up to take charge of the preparation of the banquet. {20MR 80.2}
	21MR 282.5	The tent was full to overflowing when I spoke on Sunday afternoon and a deep impression was made upon the people. From that meeting the interest has steadily increased. Captain Press and his wife, the president of the W.C.T.U. of Victoria, were present. Mrs. Press had visited me at my tent on the campground and she was urgent that I should speak to their society. After the discourse on Sunday she came to me -283- and, grasping my hand, said, "I thank you for that discourse. I see many new points which have made a lasting impression upon my mind. I shall never lose their force." I was introduced to her husband, a most noble looking man. He is a pilot and fills a very important position. Brother and Sister Starr took dinner with them and formed a very pleasant acquaintance. Mrs. Press, in behalf of the W.C.T.U., has made a very earnest request for instruction in hygienic cooking. We have arranged to have a cooking school, to be held in Melbourne in the room adjoining the hall of the W.C.T.U. Four lessons are to be given, one each week, beginning next Thursday. The cooking of eight different dishes is to be taught at each lesson. Great enthusiasm has been created on the subject. Mrs. Press is a vegetarian, not having tasted meat for four years. {21MR 282.5}
	21MR 361.4	The students are to be fed, and they need good, nourishing food. They should not be stinted in the wholesome fruit and vegetarian diet, but cut off everything like the desserts. Let abundance of fruit be eaten with the meals, but custards and pastries are of no manner of use--all unnecessary. {21MR 361.4}
	6T 112.1	Object Lessons in Health Reform The large gatherings of our people afford an excellent opportunity of illustrating the principles of health reform. Some years ago at these gatherings much was said in regard to health reform and the benefits of a vegetarian diet; but at the same time flesh meats were furnished at the tables in the dining tent, and various unhealthful articles of food were sold at the provision stand. Faith without work is dead; and the instruction upon health reform, denied by practice, did not make the deepest impression. At later camp meetings those in charge have educated by practice as well as by precept. No meat has been furnished at the dining tent, but fruits, grains, and vegetables have been supplied in abundance. As visitors ask questions in regard to the absence of meat, the reason is plainly stated, that flesh is not the most healthful food. {6T 112.1}
	7MR 398.1	The work in Greater New York is to be carried on in a way that will properly represent the sacredness and holiness of the truth of God. Vegetarian restaurants, treatment rooms, cooking schools, are to be established. The people are to be taught how to prepare wholesome food. They are to be educated by showing the need of discarding tea, coffee, and flesh meat. There are to be suitable furnished rooms, where people can be received, and given religious instruction.--Letter 49, 1902, p. 12. (To S. N. Haskell and wife, February 5, 1902.) {7MR 398.1}
	7MR 420.2	The large gatherings of our people afford us an excellent opportunity to illustrate our principles, to educate the people, not only by our words, but by our practice. Some years ago at these gatherings there was much said upon Health Reform, and the benefits of a vegetarian diet, but at the same time meat was furnished upon the tables at the dining tent. Faith without works is dead; and the instruction upon health reform, denied by the practice, did not make the deepest impression. At the campmeetings in Victoria and New South Wales, those in charge educated by practice as well as by precept. Although it has been but a few years since they received the truth, they took a noble stand for health principles. No meat was furnished at the dining tent, but fruits, grains, and vegetables, were supplied in abundance. I could not but be pleased; for precept and practice combined have a telling influence. Both believers and unbelievers asked questions in reference to the absence of meat, and then the reason was plainly stated, that meat is not the most healthful food. . . . -421- {7MR 420.2}
	7T 126.4	Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. This is foolish indeed and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {7T 126.4}
	7T 55.1	It was presented to me that we should not rest satisfied because we have a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn, but that others should be established in other sections of the city. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not know what is going on in other parts of that great city. Men and women who eat at the restaurants established in different places will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they will be more ready to accept God's special message of truth. {7T 55.1}
	7T 56.3	Let schools and sanitariums now be established in many places in the Southern States. Let centers of influence be made in many of the Southern cities by the opening of food stores and vegetarian restaurants. Let 57 there also be facilities for the manufacture of simple, inexpensive health foods. But let not selfish, worldly policy be brought into the work, for God forbids this. Let unselfish men take hold of this work in the fear of God and with love for their fellow men. {7T 56.3}
	9MR 388.2	The work in Greater New York is to be carried on in a way that will properly represent the sacredness and holiness of the truth of God. Vegetarian restaurants, treatment rooms, cooking schools, are to be established. The people are to be taught how to prepare wholesome food. They are to be shown the need of discarding tea, coffee, and flesh-meat. There are to be suitably furnished rooms, where people can be received and given religious instruction. These things are necessary for the advancement of the work. The work is not to be carried on in such a self-sacrificing way that an unfavorable impression will be made on the minds of the people, because of its meager showing. All that is done is to bear favorable witness to the Author of truth. The worship of God in the beauty of holiness demands a dignity and nicety that is in harmony with the sacredness and importance of the truth.--Letter 49, 1902, pp. 4,5,8,10-12. (To S. N. Haskell and wife, February 5, 1902.) White Estate, Washington, D. C. March 3, 1980 {9MR 388.2}
	9T 156.3	Flesh Foods If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we cannot. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present 157 truth and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {9T 156.3}
	AUCR, March 1, 1901 par. 9	Nearer the centre of the city, our people conduct a Vegetarian Cafe, which is open six days in the week, and is entirely closed on the Sabbath. Here about five hundred meals are served daily, and no flesh-meats are used. {AUCR, March 1, 1901 par. 9}
	BLJ 304.4	Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth, and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. . . . {BLJ 304.4}
	CCh 0.3	Introduction—The Prophetic Gift and Ellen G. White PREPARING TO MEET CHRIST ALL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS LOOK FORWARD LONGINGLY TO THE TIME WHEN JESUS WILL COME TO TAKE THEM TO THE HEAVENLY HOME THAT HE HAS GONE TO PREPARE FOR THEM. IN THAT BETTER LAND THERE WILL BE NO MORE SIN, NO DISAPPOINTMENTS, NO HUNGER, NO POVERTY, NO SICKNESS, AND NO DEATH. WHEN THE APOSTLE JOHN CONTEMPLATED THE PRIVILEGES THAT AWAIT THE FAITHFUL, HE EXCLAIMED: “BEHOLD, WHAT MANNER OF LOVE THE FATHER HATH BESTOWED UPON US, THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD…. NOW ARE WE THE SONS OF GOD, AND IT DOTH NOT YET APPEAR WHAT WE SHALL BE: BUT WE KNOW THAT, WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.” 1 JOHN 3:1,2. TO BE LIKE JESUS IN CHARACTER IS GOD’S AIM FOR HIS PEOPLE. FROM THE BEGINNING IT WAS GOD’S PLAN THAT MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, CREATED IN HIS IMAGE, SHOULD DEVELOP GOD-LIKE CHARACTERS. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, OUR FIRST PARENTS IN EDEN WERE TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTION FROM CHRIST AND THE ANGELS IN FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSE. BUT AFTER ADAM AND EVE SINNED, THEY COULD NO LONGER FREELY SPEAK TO HEAVENLY BEINGS IN THIS MANNER. SO THAT THE HUMAN FAMILY MIGHT NOT BE LEFT WITHOUT GUIDANCE, GOD CHOSE OTHER WAYS TO REVEAL HIS WILL TO HIS PEOPLE, ONE OF WHICH WAS THE MEDIUM OF PROPHETS. TO ISRAEL, GOD EXPLAINED, “IF THERE BE A PROPHET AMONG YOU, I THE LORD WILL MAKE MYSELF KNOWN UNTO HIM IN A VISION AND WILL SPEAK UNTO HIM IN A DREAM.” NUMBERS 12:6. IT IS GOD’S PURPOSE THAT HIS PEOPLE SHALL BE INFORMED AND ENLIGHTENED, KNOWING AND UNDERSTANDING NOT ONLY THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVE BUT ALSO WHAT IS YET TO COME. “SURELY THE LORD WILL DO NOTHING, BUT HE REVEALETH HIS SECRETS UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.” AMOS 3:7. THIS CONTRASTS GOD’S PEOPLE, “THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT” 1 THESSALONIANS 5:5, WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. THE WORK OF THE PROPHET INCLUDES MUCH MORE THAN JUST MAKING PREDICTIONS. MOSES, A PROPHET OF GOD WHO WROTE SIX BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, WROTE VERY LITTLE ABOUT WHAT WAS TO COME IN THE FUTURE. HIS WORK IS DESCRIBED BY HOSEA IN ITS BROADER SENSE, “BY A PROPHET THE LORD BROUGHT ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT, AND BY A PROPHET WAS HE PRESERVED.” HOSEA 12:13. A PROPHET IS NOT ONE WHO IS APPOINTED BY HIS FELLOW MEN, NOR IS HE SELF-APPOINTED. THE CHOICE OF A PERSON TO BE A PROPHET IS ENTIRELY IN THE HANDS OF GOD. BOTH MEN AND WOMEN HAVE FROM TIME TO TIME BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD TO SPEAK FOR HIM. 10 THESE PROPHETS, THESE MEN AND WOMEN CHOSEN OF GOD AS CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION, HAVE SPOKEN AND WRITTEN WHAT GOD HAS REVEALED TO THEM IN HOLY VISION. THE PRECIOUS WORD OF GOD COMPRISES THESE MESSAGES. THROUGH THESE PROPHETS MEMBERS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY HAVE BEEN LED TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONFLICT THAT GOES ON FOR THE SOULS OF MEN, THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS AND SATAN AND HIS ANGELS. WE ARE LED TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THIS CONFLICT IN EARTH’S CLOSING DAYS, AND OF THE MEANS PROVIDED BY GOD TO CARE FOR HIS WORK AND TO PERFECT THE CHARACTERS OF HIS PEOPLE. THE APOSTLES, THE LAST OF THE BIBLE WRITERS, GAVE US A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE EVENTS OF THE LAST DAYS. PAUL WROTE OF “PERILOUS TIMES,” AND PETER WARNED OF SCOFFERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS, ASKING, “WHERE IS THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING?” THE CHURCH AT THIS TIME WILL BE IN CONFLICT, FOR JOHN SAW SATAN AS HE “WENT TO MAKE WAR WITH THE REMNANT.” THE APOSTLE JOHN IDENTIFIES THE MEMBERS OF THE LAST-DAY CHURCH, “THE REMNANT CHURCH,” AS THOSE “WHICH KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD” REVELATION 12:17, THUS MAKING THEM A COMMANDMENT-KEEPING CHURCH. THIS REMNANT CHURCH WOULD ALSO HAVE “THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS,” WHICH IS “THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.” REVELATION 19:10. PAUL STATES THAT THE CHURCH THAT IS EXPECTANTLY WAITING FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST WOULD COME BEHIND IN NO GIFT. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:7,8. IT WOULD BE BLESSED WITH THE GIFT OF THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST. IT IS CLEAR, THEN, THAT IN GOD’S PLAN THE CHURCH OF THE LAST DAYS WOULD, WHEN IT CAME INTO BEING, HAVE IN ITS MIDST THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. HOW REASONABLE IT IS THAT GOD SHOULD SPEAK TO HIS PEOPLE IN EARTH’S LAST DAYS JUST AS HE SPOKE TO HIS PEOPLE IN TIME OF SPECIAL NEED IN CENTURIES PAST. WHEN THIS CHURCH OF PROPHECY—THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH—CAME INTO BEING IN THE MID-1800S, A VOICE WAS HEARD AMONG US, SAYING, “GOD HAS SHOWN ME IN HOLY VISION.” THESE WERE NOT BOASTING WORDS, BUT THE UTTERANCE OF A MAIDEN OF SEVENTEEN YEARS WHO HAD BEEN CALLED TO SPEAK FOR GOD. THROUGH SEVENTY YEARS OF FAITHFUL MINISTRY THAT VOICE WAS HEARD, GUIDING, CORRECTING, INSTRUCTING. AND THAT VOICE IS STILL HEARD TODAY THROUGH THE THOUSANDS OF PAGES WRITTEN BY THE LORD’S CHOSEN MESSENGER, ELLEN G. WHITE. THE VISION OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN THE LITTLE SCHOOLHOUSE IN A VILLAGE IN THE EASTERN PART OF AMERICA WAS FILLED WITH MEN AND WOMEN THAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN MID-MARCH, 1858, AS THEY GATHERED FOR A SERVICE. ELDER JAMES WHITE CONDUCTED THE FUNERAL OF A YOUNG MAN, PREACHING THE SERMON. AS HE FINISHED SPEAKING, MRS. WHITE FELT IMPRESSED TO SAY A FEW WORDS TO THOSE WHO MOURNED. SHE ROSE TO HER FEET, SPOKE FOR A MINUTE OR TWO, AND THEN PAUSED. THE PEOPLE LOOKED UP TO CATCH THE NEXT WORDS FROM HER LIPS. THEY WERE A BIT STARTLED BY THE EXCLAMATION OF “GLORY TO GOD!” REPEATED THREE TIMES WITH INCREASING EMPHASES. MRS. WHITE WAS IN VISION. ELDER WHITE TOLD THE PEOPLE ABOUT THE VISIONS GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE. 11 HE EXPLAINED THAT VISIONS HAD BEEN GIVEN TO HER SINCE SHE WAS A YOUNG WOMAN OF SEVENTEEN. HE TOLD THEM THAT ALTHOUGH HER EYES WERE OPEN, AND IT SEEMED AS IF SHE WERE WATCHING SOMETHING IN THE DISTANCE, SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY UNCONSCIOUS OF HER SURROUNDINGS AND KNEW NOTHING OF WHAT WAS GOING ON ABOUT HER. HE REFERRED TO NUMBERS 24:4 AND 16, WHERE WE READ OF ONE “WHICH HEARD THE WORDS OF GOD, AND KNOW THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MOST HIGH, WHICH SAW THE VISION OF THE ALMIGHTY, FALLING INTO A TRANCE, BUT HAVING HIS EYES OPEN.” HE EXPLAINED TO THE PEOPLE THAT SHE DID NOT BREATHE WHILE IN VISION. THEN HE TURNED TO DANIEL 10:17 AND READ DANIEL’S EXPERIENCE WHILE IN VISION: “THERE REMAINED NO STRENGTH IN ME, NEITHER IS THERE BREATH LEFT IN ME.” ELDER WHITE NEXT INVITED THOSE WHO CARED TO DO SO TO COME FORWARD AND EXAMINE MRS. WHITE. HE ALWAYS GAVE FREEDOM FOR SUCH AN EXAMINATION AND WAS PLEASED IF A PHYSICIAN WAS PRESENT WHO COULD EXAMINE HER WHILE IN VISION. AS THE PEOPLE PRESSED CLOSE, THEY SAW THAT MRS. WHITE DID NOT BREATHE, YET HER HEART CONTINUED TO BEAT NORMALLY, AND THE COLOR OF HER CHEEKS WAS NATURAL. A MIRROR WAS BROUGHT AND HELD BEFORE HER FACE, BUT NO MOISTURE GATHERED ON THE MIRROR. THEN THEY BROUGHT A CANDLE AND LIT IT AND HELD IT CLOSE TO HER NOSE AND MOUTH. BUT THE FLAME STOOD ERECT, WITHOUT A FLICKER. THE PEOPLE COULD SEE THAT SHE DID NOT BREATHE. SHE WALKED ABOUT THE ROOM, MOVING HER ARMS GRACEFULLY AS SHE SPOKE IN SHORT EXCLAMATIONS OF WHAT WAS BEING REVEALED TO HER. LIKE DANIEL, THERE HAD AT FIRST BEEN A LOSS OF NATURAL STRENGTH; THEN SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH WAS IMPARTED TO HER. SEE DANIEL 10:7,8,18,19. FOR TWO HOURS MRS. WHITE WAS IN VISION. FOR TWO HOURS SHE DID NOT BREATHE. THEN AS THE VISION CAME TO A CLOSE, SHE TOOK A DEEP INHALATION, PAUSED FOR ABOUT A MINUTE, BREATHED AGAIN, AND SOON WAS BREATHING NATURALLY. AT THE SAME TIME SHE BEGAN TO RECOGNIZE HER SURROUNDINGS, BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF WHAT WAS GOING ON ABOUT HER. ONE WHO OFTEN SAW MRS. WHITE IN VISION, MRS. MARTHA AMADON, GIVES THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION: “IN VISION HER EYES WERE OPEN. THERE WAS NO BREATH, BUT THERE WERE GRACEFUL MOVEMENTS OF THE SHOULDER, ARMS, THE HANDS, EXPRESSIVE OF WHAT SHE SAW. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE ELSE TO MOVE HER HANDS OR ARMS. SHE OFTEN UTTERED WORDS SINGLY AND SOMETIMES SENTENCES WHICH EXPRESSED TO THOSE ABOUT HER THE NATURE OF THE VIEW SHE WAS HAVING, EITHER OF HEAVEN OR OF EARTH. “HER FIRST WORD IN VISION WAS ‘GLORY,’ SOUNDING AT FIRST CLOSE BY, AND THEN DYING AWAY IN THE DISTANCE, SEEMINGLY FAR AWAY. THIS WAS SOMETIMES REPEATED…. “THERE WAS NO EXCITEMENT AMONG THOSE PRESENT DURING A VISION; NOTHING CAUSED FEAR. IT WAS A SOLEMN, QUIET SCENE…. “WHEN THE VISION WAS ENDED, AND SHE LOST SIGHT OF THE HEAVENLY LIGHT, AS IT WERE COMING BACK TO THE EARTH ONCE MORE, SHE WOULD EXCLAIM WITH A LONG-DRAW SIGH, AS SHE TOOK HER FIRST NATURAL BREATH, ‘D-A-R-K.’ 12 SHE WAS THEN LIMP AND STRENGTHLESS.” BUT WE MUST RETURN TO OUR STORY OF THE TWO-HOUR VISION IN THE SCHOOLHOUSE. OF THIS VISION MRS. WHITE LATER WROTE: “MOST OF THE MATTER WHICH I HAD SEEN TEN YEARS BEFORE CONCERNING THE GREAT CONTROVERSY OF THE AGES BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN, WAS REPEATED, AND I WAS INSTRUCTED TO WRITE IT OUT.” IN THE VISION IT SEEMED TO HER THAT SHE WAS PRESENT, WITNESSING THE SCENES AS THEY APPEARED BEFORE HER. FIRST IT SEEMED THAT SHE WAS IN HEAVEN, WHERE SHE WITNESSED THE FALL OF LUCIFER. THEN SHE WITNESSED THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND SAW OUR FIRST PARENTS IN THEIR EDEN HOME. SHE SAW THEM YIELD TO THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE SERPENT AND LOSE THEIR GARDEN HOME. IN QUICK SUCCESSION BIBLE HISTORY PASSED BEFORE HER. SHE SAW THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS OF ISRAEL. SHE WITNESSED THE LIFE AND DEATH OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ASCENSION TO HEAVEN, WHERE HE HAS BEEN MINISTERING AS OUR HIGH PRIEST EVER SINCE. FOLLOWING THESE SHE SAW THE DISCIPLES GO FORTH TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL MESSAGE TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. QUICKLY THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE APOSTASY AND THE DARK AGES! THEN SHE SAW IN VISION THE REFORMATION, AS NOBLE MEN AND WOMEN AT THE RISK OF THEIR LIVES STOOD FOR TRUTH. SHE WAS BROUGHT DOWN TO THE SCENES OF THE JUDGMENT WHICH BEGAN IN HEAVEN IN 1844, AND ON TO OUR DAY; THEN SHE WAS TAKEN INTO THE FUTURE AND SAW THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN. SHE WITNESSED THE SCENES OF THE MILLENNIUM AND THE EARTH MADE NEW. WITH THESE VIVID REPRESENTATIONS BEFORE HER, MRS. WHITE, AFTER RETURNING TO HER HOME, UNDERTOOK TO WRITE OUT WHAT SHE HAD SEEN AND HEARD IN THE VISION. ABOUT SIX MONTHS LATER A LITTLE 219-PAGE VOLUME CAME FROM THE PRESS BEARING THE TITLE THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS ANGELS AND SATAN AND HIS ANGELS. THE LITTLE BOOK WAS RECEIVED ENTHUSIASTICALLY, FOR IT PORTRAYED VIVIDLY THE EXPERIENCE THAT WAS BEFORE THE CHURCH, AND UNMASKED THE PLANS OF SATAN AND THE MANNER IN WHICH HE WILL ATTEMPT TO MISLEAD THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD IN THE LAST CONFLICT OF EARTH. HOW THANKFUL THE ADVENTISTS WERE THAT GOD WAS SPEAKING TO THEM IN THESE LAST DAYS THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, JUST AS HE HAD PROMISED TO DO. THE ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, SO BRIEFLY TOLD IN THE LITTLE VOLUME OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS, WAS LATER REPRINTED IN THE LAST HALF OF EARLY WRITINGS, AND MAY BE FOUND THERE TODAY. BUT AS THE CHURCH GREW AND TIME WENT ON, THE LORD IN MANY SUCCEEDING VISIONS OPENED UP THE GREAT CONTROVERSY STORY IN GREATER DETAIL, AND MRS. WHITE REWROTE IT, BETWEEN 1870 AND 1884, IN FOUR VOLUMES CALLED THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. THE BOOK THE STORY OF REDEMPTION PRESENTS THE MORE IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY STORY DRAWN FROM THESE BOOKS. THIS VOLUME, PUBLISHED IN MANY LANGUAGES, BRINGS TO MANY PEOPLE WHAT WAS SHOWN IN THESE VISION OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. LATER, IN THE FIVE VOLUMES OF THE “CONFLICT OF THE AGES SERIES”—PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS, PROPHETS AND KINGS, THE DESIRE OF AGES, THE ACTS OF THE 13 APOSTLES, AND THE GREAT CONTROVERSY—MRS. WHITE PRESENTED, IN MINUTE DETAIL, THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. THESE VOLUMES, WHICH PARALLEL THE BIBLE ACCOUNT FROM CREATION TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA AND TAKE THE STORY THROUGH TO THE CLOSE OF TIME, GIVE GREAT LIGHT AND ENCOURAGEMENT. THESE ARE BOOKS THAT HELP TO MAKE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS “THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT” AND “CHILDREN OF THE DAY.” WE SEE IN THIS EXPERIENCE THE FULFILLMENT OF THE ASSURANCE: “SURELY THE LORD GOD WILL DO NOTHING, BUT HE REVEALETH HIS SECRET UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.” AMOS 3:7. WRITING OF HOW THE LIGHT CAME TO HER, MRS. WHITE SAYS: “THROUGH THE ILLUMINATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SCENES OF THE LONG-CONTINUED CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL HAVE BEEN OPENED TO THE WRITER OF THESE PAGES. FROM TIME TO TIME I HAVE BEEN PERMITTED TO BEHOLD THE WORKING, IN DIFFERENT AGES, OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST, THE PRINCE OF LIFE, THE AUTHOR OF OUR SALVATION, AND SATAN, THE PRINCE OF EVIL, THE AUTHOR OF SIN, THE FIRST TRANSGRESSOR OF GOD’S HOLY LAW…. “AS THE SPIRIT OF GOD HAS OPENED TO MY MIND THE GREAT TRUTHS OF HIS WORD, AND THE SCENES OF THE PAST AND THE FUTURE, I HAVE BEEN BIDDEN TO MAKE KNOWN TO OTHERS THAT WHICH HAS THUS BEEN REVEALED—TO TRACE THE HISTORY OF THE CONTROVERSY IN PAST AGES, AND ESPECIALLY SO TO PRESENT IT AS TO SHED A LIGHT ON THE FAST-APPROACHING STRUGGLE OF THE FUTURE.” HOW THE LIGHT CAME TO THE PROPHET AT ONE TIME IN THE EXPERIENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AS WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN, THE LORD TOLD THE PEOPLE HOW HE WOULD COMMUNICATE WITH THEM THROUGH THE PROPHETS. HE SAID: “IF THERE BE A PROPHET AMONG YOU, I THE LORD WILL MAKE MYSELF KNOWN UNTO HIM IN A VISION, AND WILL SPEAK UNTO HIM IN A DREAM.” NUMBERS 12:6. WE STATED ABOVE THAT THE 1858 GREAT CONTROVERSY VISION WAS ACCOMPANIED BY CERTAIN PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. ONE MIGHT VERY LOGICALLY ASK WHY VISIONS WERE GIVEN IN THIS WAY. UNDOUBTEDLY IT WAS TO ESTABLISH THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE AND TO ASSURE THEM THAT THE LORD WAS TRULY SPEAKING TO THE PROPHET. NOT OFTEN DID MRS. WHITE REFER IN DETAIL TO HER CONDITION WHILE IN VISION, BUT ON ONE OCCASION SHE SAID, “THESE MESSAGES WERE THUS GIVEN TO SUBSTANTIATE THE FAITH OF ALL, THAT IN THESE LAST DAYS WE MIGHT HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.” AS MRS. WHITE’S WORK DEVELOPED, IT COULD BE TESTED BY ITS RESULTS. “BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.” BUT IT TAKES TIME FOR FRUIT TO DEVELOP, AND THE LORD AT THE OUTSET GAVE EVIDENCES IN CONNECTION WITH THE GIVING OF THE VISIONS, WHICH HELPED THE PEOPLE TO BELIEVE. BUT NOT ALL OF THE VISIONS WERE GIVEN IN PUBLIC, ACCOMPANIED BY MARKED PHYSICAL PHENOMENA. THE LORD PROMISED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE PROPHETS THROUGH DREAMS AS WELL. NUMBERS 12:16. THESE ARE PROPHETIC DREAMS, SUCH AS DANIEL HAD. HE DECLARES: “IN THE FIRST YEAR OF BELSHAZZAR KING OF BABYLON, DANIEL HAD A DREAM AND VISIONS OF HIS HEAD UPON HIS BED: THEN HE WROTE THE DREAM, AND TOLD THE SUM OF THE MATTERS.” DANIEL 7:1. 14 AS DANIEL TELLS OF WHAT WAS REVEALED TO HIM, IN SEVERAL INSTANCES HE SAYS, “I SAW IN THE NIGHT VISIONS.” LIKEWISE, IN MRS. WHITE’S EXPERIENCE VISIONS WERE GIVEN TO HER WHEN HER MIND WAS AT REST DURING THE HOURS OF THE NIGHT. HER WRITINGS OFTEN CONTAIN THE INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: “IN THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT SOME THINGS WERE CLEARLY PRESENTED TO ME.” FREQUENTLY GOD SPOKE TO THE PROPHET IN A PROPHETIC DREAM. QUESTIONS MAY ARISE CONCERNING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A PROPHETIC DREAM OR NIGHT VISION, AND AN ORDINARY DREAM. OF THIS MRS. WHITE WROTE IN 1868: “THERE ARE MANY DREAMS ARISING FROM THE COMMON THINGS OF LIFE, WITH WHICH THE SPIRIT OF GOD HAS NOTHING TO DO. THERE ARE ALSO FALSE DREAMS, AS WELL AS FALSE VISIONS, WHICH ARE INSPIRED BY THE SPIRIT OF SATAN. BUT DREAMS FROM THE LORD ARE CLASSED IN THE WORD OF GOD WITH VISIONS. SUCH DREAMS, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE PERSONS WHO HAVE THEM, AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THEY ARE GIVEN, CONTAIN THEIR OWN PROOFS OF THEIR GENUINENESS.” AT ONE TIME, QUITE LATE IN MRS. WHITE’S LIFE, HER SON, ELDER W. C. WHITE, SEEKING INFORMATION TO HELP THOSE WHO WERE LESS INFORMED, MADE THIS INQUIRY OF HER: “MOTHER, YOU OFTEN SPEAK OF MATTERS BEING REVEALED TO YOU IN THE NIGHT SEASON. YOU SPEAK OF DREAMS IN WHICH LIGHT COMES TO YOU. WE ALL HAVE DREAMS. HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU IN THE DREAM OF WHICH YOU SO FREQUENTLY SPEAK?” “BECAUSE,” SHE ANSWERED, “THE SAME ANGEL MESSENGER STANDS BESIDE ME INSTRUCTING ME IN THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT AS STANDS BESIDE ME INSTRUCTING ME IN THE VISIONS OF THE DAY.” THE HEAVENLY BEING REFERRED TO WAS AT OTHER TIMES SPOKEN OF AS “THE ANGEL,” “MY GUIDE,” “MY INSTRUCTOR,” ETC. THERE WAS NO CONFUSION IN THE MIND OF THE PROPHET, NO QUESTION AS TO THE REVELATION THAT CAME DURING THE HOURS OF THE NIGHT, FOR THE VERY CIRCUMSTANCES IN CONNECTION WITH IT MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WAS INSTRUCTION FROM GOD. AT OTHER TIMES WHILE MRS. WHITE WAS PRAYING, SPEAKING, OR WRITING, VISIONS WERE GIVEN TO HER. THOSE ABOUT HER WOULD NOT BE AWARE OF THE VISION, UNLESS THERE WAS A BRIEF PAUSE IF SHE WAS SPEAKING OR PRAYING PUBLICLY. AT ONE TIME SHE WROTE: “WHILE ENGAGED IN EARNEST PRAYER, I WAS LOST TO EVERYTHING AROUND ME; THE ROOM WAS FILLED WITH LIGHT, AND I WAS HEARING A MESSAGE TO AN ASSEMBLY THAT SEEMED TO BE THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.” OF THE MANY VISIONS GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE THROUGH HER LONG MINISTRY OF SEVENTY YEARS, THE LONGEST VISION LASTED FOUR HOURS AND THE SHORTEST JUST A BRIEF MOMENT. OFTEN THEY WERE FOR A HALF HOUR, OR A LITTLE LONGER. BUT NO SINGLE RULE CAN BE STATED WHICH WOULD COVER ALL THE VISIONS, FOR IT WAS AS PAUL WROTE: “GOD, WHO AT SUNDRY TIMES AND IN DIVERS MANNERS SPAKE IN TIME PAST UNTO THE FATHERS BY THE PROPHETS.” HEBREWS 1:1. 15 THE LIGHT WAS IMPARTED TO THE PROPHET THROUGH VISIONS, BUT THE PROPHET DID NOT WRITE WHILE IN VISION. HIS WORK WAS NOT A MECHANICAL TASK. EXCEPT ON RARE OCCASIONS, THE LORD DID NOT GIVE HIM THE VERY WORDS TO SPEAK. NOR DID THE ANGEL GUIDE THE HAND OF THE PROPHET IN THE PRECISE WORDS TO RECORD. FROM THE MIND, ENLIGHTENED BY VISIONS, THE PROPHET SPOKE OR WROTE THE WORDS THAT WOULD CONVEY THE LIGHT AND INSTRUCTION TO HIS AUDIENCE, WHETHER THEY READ THE MESSAGE OR HEARD IT ORALLY. WE MIGHT ASK HOW THE MIND OF THE PROPHET WAS ENLIGHTENED—HOW DID HE GAIN THE INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTION HE WAS TO IMPART TO THE PEOPLE? JUST AS NO ONE RULE CAN BE ESTABLISHED FOR THE GIVING OF THE VISIONS, SO NO ONE RULE CAN BE ESTABLISHED GOVERNING THE WAY THE PROPHET RECEIVED THE INSPIRED MESSAGE. IN EACH CASE, HOWEVER, IT WAS A VERY VIVID EXPERIENCE THAT MADE AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION ON THE MIND OF THE PROPHET. AND JUST AS THAT WHICH WE SEE AND EXPERIENCE MAKES A MUCH DEEPER IMPRESSION ON OUR MINDS THAT WHAT WE ONLY HEAR, SO THE REPRESENTATIONS TO THE PROPHETS, WHERE THEY SEEMED TO WITNESS DRAMATIC EVENTS, MADE DEEP AND LASTING IMPRESSIONS ON THEIR MINDS. MRS. WHITE WROTE ONCE, “MY ATTENTION IS OFTEN DIRECTED TO SCENES TRANSPIRING UPON EARTH. AT TIMES I AM CARRIED FAR AHEAD INTO THE FUTURE AND SHOWN WHAT IS TO TAKE PLACE. THEN AGAIN, I AM SHOWN THINGS AS THEY HAVE OCCURRED IN THE PAST.” FROM THIS IT BECOMES EVIDENT THAT ELLEN WHITE SAW THESE EVENTS TAKE PLACE, SEEMINGLY AS AN EYEWITNESS. THEY WERE REENACTED BEFORE HER IN VISION, AND THUS THEY MADE A VIVID IMPRESSION ON HER MIND. AT OTHER TIMES IT SEEMED TO HER THAT SHE WAS ACTUALLY TAKING PART IN THE SCENE PRESENTED TO HER, AND THAT SHE WAS FEELING, SEEING, HEARING, AND OBEYING, WHEN, OF COURSE, SHE WAS NOT, BUT THE IMPRESSION WAS MADE ON HER MIND IN AN UNFORGETTABLE MANNER. HER VERY FIRST VISION, PRESENTED ON PAGES 33 TO 36, WAS OF THIS NATURE. ON OTHER OCCASIONS WHILE IN VISION, MRS. WHITE SEEMED TO BE PRESENT AT GATHERINGS OR IN HOMES OR INSTITUTIONS LOCATED AT DISTANT PLACES. SO VIVID WAS THIS SENSE OF BEING PRESENT AT SUCH GATHERINGS THAT SHE COULD REPORT IN DETAIL THE ACTIONS AND WORDS SPOKEN BY VARIOUS PERSONS. ONCE, WHILE IN VISION, MRS. WHITE HAD THE SENSATION THAT SHE WAS BEING TAKEN ON A TOUR OF ONE OF OUR MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS, VISITING THE ROOMS, AS IT WERE, SEEING EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON. OF THIS EXPERIENCE SHE WROTE: “THE FRIVOLOUS TALK, THE FOOLISH JESTING, THE MEANINGLESS LAUGH, FELL PAINFULLY ON THE EAR…. I WAS ASTONISHED AS I SAW THE JEALOUSY INDULGED, AND LISTENED TO THE WORDS OF ENVY, THE RECKLESS TALK, WHICH MADE THE ANGELS OF GOD ASHAMED.” THEN OTHER MORE PLEASANT CONDITIONS AT THE SAME INSTITUTION WERE REVEALED. SHE WAS CONDUCTED TO THE ROOMS “FROM WHICH CAME THE VOICE OF PRAYER. HOW WELCOME WAS THE SOUND!” A MESSAGE OF INSTRUCTION WAS WRITTEN BASED ON THE SEEMING VISIT TO THE INSTITUTION AND ON THE WORDS OF 16 THE ANGEL WHO SEEMED TO GUIDE HER THROUGH THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS AND ROOMS. OFTEN LIGHT WAS GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE IN VIVID SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATIONS. ONE SUCH REPRESENTATION IS CLEARLY DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES, TAKEN FROM A PERSONAL MESSAGE SENT TO A LEADING WORKER, WHO WAS SEEN TO BE IN PERIL: “AT ANOTHER TIME YOU WERE REPRESENTED TO ME AS A GENERAL, MOUNTED ON A HORSE, AND CARRYING A BANNER. ONE CAME AND TOOK OUT OF YOUR HAND THE BANNER BEARING THE WORDS, ‘THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE FAITH OF JESUS,’ AND IT WAS TRAMPLED IN THE DUST. I SAW YOU SURROUNDED BY MEN WHO WERE LINKING YOU UP WITH THE WORLD.” THERE WERE TIMES, ALSO, WHEN DIFFERENT, CONTRASTING VIEWS WERE PRESENTED TO MRS. WHITE—ONE ILLUSTRATING WHAT WOULD TAKE PLACE IF CERTAIN PLANS OR POLICIES WERE FOLLOWED, AND IN ANOTHER VIEW THE OUTWORKING OF OTHER PLANS OR POLICIES. AN EXCELLENT ILLUSTRATION OF THIS MAY BE FOUND IN CONNECTION WITH THE LOCATING OF THE HEALTH FOOD FACTORY AT LOMA LINDA, IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES. THE MANAGER AND HIS ASSOCIATES WERE PLANNING TO ERECT A LARGE BUILDING VERY NEAR THE MAIN SANITARIUM BUILDING. WHILE PLANS WERE DEVELOPING, MRS. WHITE, AT HER HOME HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY, WAS ONE NIGHT GIVEN TWO VISIONS. OF THE FIRST VISION SHE SAYS: “I WAS SHOWN A LARGE BUILDING WHERE MANY FOODS WERE MADE. THERE WERE ALSO SOME SMALLER BUILDINGS NEAR THE BAKERY. AS I STOOD BY, I HEARD LOUD VOICES IN DISPUTE OVER THE WORK THAT WAS BEING DONE. THERE WAS A LACK OF HARMONY AMONG THE WORKERS, AND CONFUSION HAD COME IN.” SHE THEN SAW THE DISTRESSED MANAGER IN HIS ATTEMPTS TO REASON WITH THE WORKERS TO BRING ABOUT HARMONY. SHE SAW PATIENTS WHO OVERHEARD THESE DISPUTES, AND WHO “WERE EXPRESSING WORDS OF REGRET THAT A FOOD FACTORY SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED ON THESE BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS,” SO NEAR THE SANITARIUM. “THEN ONE APPEARED ON THE SCENE AND SAID: ‘ALL THIS HAS BEEN CAUSED TO PASS BEFORE YOU AS AN OBJECT LESSON, THAT YOU MIGHT SEE THE RESULT OF CARRYING OUT CERTAIN PLANS.’” THEN THE SCENE CHANGED, AND SHE SAW THE FOOD FACTORY “AT A DISTANCE FROM THE SANITARIUM BUILDINGS, ON THE ROAD TOWARD THE RAILROAD.” HERE THE WORK WAS BEING CONDUCTED IN A HUMBLE WAY AND IN HARMONY WITH GOD’S PLAN. WITHIN A FEW HOURS OF THE VISION, MRS. WHITE WAS WRITING TO THE WORKERS AT LOMA LINDA, AND THIS SETTLED THE QUESTION OF WHERE THE FOOD FACTORY SHOULD BE BUILT. HAD THEIR ORIGINAL PLAN BEEN CARRIED OUT, WE WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH EMBARRASSED IN LATER YEARS WITH A LARGE COMMERCIAL BUILDING RIGHT NEAR THE SANITARIUM. THUS IT CAN BE SEEN THAT IN VARIED WAYS THE MESSENGER OF THE LORD RECEIVED INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTION THROUGH THE VISIONS BY DAY OR BY NIGHT. IT WAS FROM AN ENLIGHTENED MIND THAT THE PROPHET SPOKE FORTH OR WROTE, CONVEYING THE MESSAGE OF INSTRUCTION AND INFORMATION TO THE PEOPLE. IN DOING THIS MRS. WHITE WAS AIDED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD, BUT THERE WAS NO MECHANICAL CONTROL. SHE WAS LEFT TO CHOOSE WORDS BY 17 WHICH TO CONVEY THE MESSAGE. IN THE EARLY YEARS OF HER MINISTRY SHE DECLARED: ALTHOUGH I AM AS DEPENDENT UPON THE AID OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN WRITING MY VIEWS AS I AM IN RECEIVING THEM, YET THE WORDS I EMPLOY IN DESCRIBING WHAT I HAVE SEEN ARE MY OWN, UNLESS THEY ARE THOSE SPOKEN TO ME BY AN ANGEL, WHICH I ALWAYS ENCLOSE IN MARKS OF QUOTATION.” LIKE SEVERAL BIBLE WRITERS, MRS. WHITE AT TIMES ELECTED, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TO USE THE LANGUAGE OF OTHER AUTHORS, WHERE SHE ESPECIALLY APPRECIATED THEIR WORDING AND THEIR EXPRESSIONS. THE LIFE AND WORK OF MRS. E. G. WHITE ELLEN G. HARMON AND HER TWIN SISTER WERE BORN NOVEMBER 16, 1827, AT GORHAM, MAINE, IN THE NORTHEASTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES. WHEN NINE YEARS OF AGE, ELLEN WAS INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT IN WHICH A STONE WAS THROWN BY A THOUGHTLESS CLASSMATE. THE SEVERE FACE INJURY NEARLY COST HER LIFE AND LEFT HER IN A WEAKENED CONDITION SO THAT SHE WAS UNABLE TO CONTINUE HER SCHOOLING. AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN SHE GAVE HER HEART TO GOD. WHEN SHE WAS FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, SHE WAS BAPTIZED BY IMMERSION IN THE SEA AND WAS RECEIVED AS A MEMBER OF THE METHODIST CHURCH. WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY SHE ATTENDED THE ADVENTIST MEETINGS IN PORTLAND, MAINE, ACCEPTING FULLY THE VIEWS OF THE NEARNESS OF THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST, PRESENTED BY WILLIAM MILLER AND HIS ASSOCIATES. ONE MORNING IN DECEMBER 1844, WHILE SHE WAS PRAYING WITH FOUR OTHER WOMEN, THE POWER OF GOD RESTED UPON HER. AT FIRST SHE WAS LOST TO EARTHLY THINGS; THEN IN A FIGURATIVE REVELATION SHE WITNESSED THE TRAVELS OF THE ADVENT PEOPLE TO THE CITY OF GOD AND THE REWARD OF THE FAITHFUL. WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING THIS SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL RELATED THIS AND SUCCEEDING VISIONS TO HER FELLOW BELIEVERS IN PORTLAND. THEN AS OPPORTUNITY AFFORDED, SHE RECOUNTED THE VISION TO COMPANIES OF ADVENTISTS IN MAINE AND NEARBY STATES. IN AUGUST, 1846, ELLEN HARMON WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE WITH JAMES WHITE, A YOUTHFUL ADVENTIST MINISTER. THROUGH THE NEXT THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, HER LIFE WAS CLOSELY LINKED WITH THAT OF HER HUSBAND IN STRENUOUS GOSPEL WORK UNTIL HIS DEATH, AUGUST 6, 1881. THEY TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY IN THE UNITED STATES, PREACHING AND WRITING, PLANTING AND BUILDING, ORGANIZING AND ADMINISTERING. TIME AND TEST HAVE PROVED HOW BROAD AND FIRM WERE THE FOUNDATIONS JAMES AND ELLEN WHITE AND THEIR ASSOCIATES LAID, AND HOW WISELY AND WELL THEY BUILT. THEY LED OUT AMONG THE SABBATHKEEEPING ADVENTISTS IN INAUGURATING THE PUBLISHING WORK IN 1849 AND 1850, AND IN DEVELOPING CHURCH ORGANIZATION WITH A SOUND SYSTEM OF CHURCH FINANCE IN THE LATE 1850S. THIS WAS CULMINATED BY THE ORGANIZATION OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS IN 1863. THE YEAR 1866 MARKED THE BEGINNING OF OUR MEDICAL WORK, AND THE GREAT EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE DENOMINATION HAD ITS INCEPTION IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES. THE PLAN OF HOLDING ANNUAL CAMP MEETINGS WAS DEVELOPED IN 1868, AND IN 1874 SEVENTH-DAY 18 ADVENTISTS SENT OUT THEIR FIRST OVERSEAS MISSIONARY. ALL OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS WERE GUIDED BY THE MANY ORAL AND WRITTEN COUNSELS THAT GOD GAVE THIS PEOPLE THROUGH ELLEN WHITE. MOST OF THE EARLY COMMUNICATIONS WERE WRITTEN OUT IN THE FORM OF PERSONAL LETTERS, OR THROUGH ARTICLES IN THE PRESENT TRUTH, OUR FIRST REGULAR PUBLICATION. IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1851 THAT MRS. WHITE ISSUED HER FIRST BOOK OF SIXTY-FOUR PAGES, ENTITLED A SKETCH OF THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND VIEWS OF ELLEN G. WHITE. BEGINNING IN 1855 A SERIES OF NUMBERED PAMPHLETS WAS PUBLISHED, EACH BEARING THE TITLE OF TESTIMONY FOR THE CHURCH. THESE MADE AVAILABLE MESSAGES OF INSTRUCTION AND CORRECTION WHICH, FROM TIME TO TIME, GOD CHOSE TO SEND HIS PEOPLE. TO MEET THE CONTINUED DEMAND FOR THIS INSTRUCTION, THE FIRST THIRTY PAMPHLETS WERE REPUBLISHED IN 1885 IN THE FORM OF FOUR BOUND BOOKS. WITH THE ADDITION OF OTHER VOLUMES, WHICH APPEARED FROM 1998-1909, THESE NOW CONSTITUTE A SET OF NINE VOLUMES KNOWN AS TESTIMONIES FOR THE CHURCH. FOUR CHILDREN WERE BORN TO THE WHITES. THE ELDEST BOY, HENRY, LIVED TO THE AGE OF SIXTEEN; THE YOUNGEST BOY, HERBERT, DIED AT THE AGE OF THREE MONTHS. THE TWO MIDDLE BOYS, EDSON AND WILLIAM, LIVED TO MATURITY. EACH ENGAGED ACTIVELY IN THE WORK OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST DENOMINATION. IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, MRS. WHITE WENT TO EUROPE IN THE SUMMER OF 1885. THERE SHE SPENT TWO YEARS IN STRENGTHENING THE NEWLY DEVELOPED WORK ON THE CONTINENT. MAKING HER HOME IN BASEL, SWITZERLAND, SHE TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY THROUGH SOUTHERN, CENTRAL, AND NORTHERN EUROPE, ATTENDING THE GENERAL GATHERINGS OF THE CHURCH. AFTER FOUR YEARS BACK IN THE UNITED STATES, MRS. WHITE AT THE AGE OF SIXTY-THREE, IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, SAILED TO AUSTRALIA. THERE SHE MINISTERED FOR NINE YEARS, AIDING IN PIONEERING AND DEVELOPING THE WORK, ESPECIALLY IN EDUCATIONAL AND MEDICAL LINES. MRS. WHITE RETURNED IN 1900 TO MAKE HER HOME IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES, AT ST. HELENA, CALIFORNIA, WHERE SHE LIVED UNTIL HER DEATH IN 1915. DURING MRS. WHITE’S LONG SERVICE OF SIXTY YEARS IN AMERICA AND TEN YEARS OVERSEAS, SHE WAS GIVEN APPROXIMATELY 2,000 VISIONS WHICH, THROUGH HER TIRELESS EFFORT IN COUNSEL TO INDIVIDUALS, CHURCHES, PUBLIC GATHERINGS, AND GENERAL CONFERENCE SESSIONS, LARGELY SHAPED THE GROWTH OF THIS GREAT MOVEMENT. THE TASK OF PRESENTING TO ALL CONCERNED THE MESSAGES GOD GAVE HER WAS NEVER LAID DOWN. HER WRITINGS AGGREGATE ABOUT 100,000 PAGES. THE MESSAGES FROM HER PEN REACHED THE PEOPLE THROUGH PERSONAL COMMUNICATION, WEEK-BY-WEEK ARTICLES IN OUR DENOMINATIONAL JOURNALS, AND IN HER MANY BOOKS. THE SUBJECTS DEALT WITH RELATE TO BIBLE HISTORY, EVERYDAY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, HEALTH, EDUCATION, EVANGELISM, AND OTHER PRACTICAL TOPICS. MANY OF HER BOOKS ARE PRINTED IN THE LEADING LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD, AND 19 MILLIONS OF COPIES HAVE BEEN SOLD. THE BOOK STEPS TO CHRIST ALONE FROM 1892 TO 1990 SOLD AN ESTIMATED 50,000,000 COPIES IN 127 LANGUAGES. AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY-ONE MRS. WHITE CROSSED THE AMERICAN CONTINENT FOR THE LAST TIME TO ATTEND THE GENERAL CONFERENCE SESSION OF 1909. THE REMAINING SIX YEARS OF HER LIFE WERE SPENT IN COMPLETING HER LITERARY WORK. NEAR THE CLOSE OF HER LIFE SHE PENNED THESE WORDS: “WHETHER OR NOT MY LIFE IS SPARED, MY WRITINGS WILL CONTINUALLY SPEAK, AND THEIR WORK WILL GO FORWARD AS LONG AS TIME SHALL LAST.” WITH UNDAUNTED COURAGE AND IN FULL CONFIDENCE OF HER REDEEMER, SHE DIED AT HER CALIFORNIA HOME, JULY 16, 1915, AND WAS LAID TO REST BY THE SIDE OF HER HUSBAND AND CHILDREN IN THE OAK HILL CEMETERY IN BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN. BY HER FELLOW WORKERS, THE CHURCH, AND THE MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY, MRS. WHITE WAS ESTEEMED AND HONORED AS A DEVOTED MOTHER AND AS AN EARNEST, TIRELESS, RELIGIOUS WORKER. SHE NEVER HELD OFFICIAL CHURCH OFFICE; BY THE CHURCH AND BY HERSELF IT WAS KNOWN THAT SHE WAS “A MESSENGER” WITH A MESSAGE OF GOD FOR HIS PEOPLE. NEVER DID SHE ASK OTHERS TO LOOK TO HER, NOR DID SHE EVER USE HER GIFT TO BUILD HERSELF UP FINANCIALLY OR IN POPULARITY. HER LIFE AND ALL THAT SHE HAD WERE DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF GOD. ON HER DEATH, THE EDITOR OF A POPULAR WEEKLY MAGAZINE, THE INDEPENDENT, IN THE ISSUE OF AUGUST 23, 1915, CLOSED HIS COMMENTS ON HER FRUITFUL LIFE WITH THESE WORDS: “SHE WAS ABSOLUTELY HONEST IN HER BELIEF IN HER REVELATIONS. HER LIFE WAS WORTHY OF THEM. SHE SHOWED NO SPIRITUAL PRIDE, AND SHE SOUGHT NO FILTHY LUCRE. SHE LIVED THE LIFE AND DID THE WORK OF A WORTHY PROPHETESS.” A FEW YEARS BEFORE HER DEATH, MRS. WHITE CREATED A BOARD OF TRUSTEES, MADE UP OF CHURCH LEADERS, TO WHOM SHE LEFT HER WRITINGS WITH THE CHARGE THAT THEY SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CARE AND THEIR CONTINUED PUBLICATION. WITH OFFICES AT THE WORLD HEADQUARTERS OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, THIS BOARD FOSTERS THE CONTINUED ISSUANCE OF THE E. G. WHITE BOOKS IN ENGLISH AND ENCOURAGES THEIR PUBLICATION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN OTHER LANGUAGES. THEY HAVE ALSO ISSUED NUMEROUS COMPILATIONS OF PERIODICAL ARTICLES AND MANUSCRIPTS, THIS BEING IN HARMONY WITH MRS. WHITE’S INSTRUCTION. IT IS UNDER THE AUTHORIZATION OF THIS BOARD THAT THE PRESENT VOLUME IS ISSUED. MRS. E. G. WHITE AS OTHERS KNEW HER HAVING LEARNED OF THE UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE OF MRS. WHITE IN BEING THE MESSENGER OF THE LORD, SOME HAVE ASKED, WHAT KIND OF PERSON WAS SHE? DID SHE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS THAT WE HAVE? WAS SHE WEALTHY, OR WAS SHE POOR? DID SHE EVER SMILE? MRS. WHITE WAS A THOUGHTFUL MOTHER. SHE WAS A CAREFUL HOUSEWIFE. SHE WAS A GENIAL HOSTESS, OFTEN ENTERTAINING CHURCH MEMBERS IN HER HOME. SHE WAS A HELPFUL NEIGHBOR. SHE WAS A WOMAN OF CONVICTION, PLEASANT OF DISPOSITION, GENTLE IN HER MANNER AND VOICE. THERE WAS NO 20 PLACE IN HER EXPERIENCE FOR A LONG-FACED, SMILELESS, JOYLESS RELIGION. ONE FELT AT PERFECT EASE IN HER PRESENCE. PERHAPS THE BEST WAY TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH MRS. WHITE IS TO CALL AT HER HOME IN 1859, THE FIRST YEAR SHE KEPT A DAY-BY-DAY DIARY ACCOUNT. WE FIND THAT THE WHITES LIVED IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF BATTLE CREEK, IN A LITTLE COTTAGE ON A LARGE LOT, GIVING OPPORTUNITY FOR A GARDEN, A FEW FRUIT TREES, A COW, SOME CHICKENS, AND A PLACE FOR THEIR SONS TO WORK AND PLAY. MRS. WHITE AT THE TIME WAS THIRTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. JAMES WHITE WAS THIRTY-SIX. THERE WERE AT THAT TIME THREE BOYS IN THE HOME, FOUR, NINE, AND TWELVE YEARS OF AGE. WE WOULD FIND A GOOD CHRISTIAN YOUNG WOMAN IN THE HOME EMPLOYED TO ASSIST WITH THE HOUSEWORK, FOR MRS. WHITE OFTEN WAS AWAY FROM HOME AND WAS OFTEN BUSY WITH HER SPEAKING AND WRITING. YET MRS. WHITE CARRIED THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HOME, THE COOKING, THE CLEANING, THE WASHING, AND THE SEWING. ON SOME DAYS SHE WOULD GO DOWN TO THE PUBLISHING HOUSE, WHERE SHE HAD A QUIET PLACE TO WRITE. OTHER DAYS WE FIND HER IN THE GARDEN, PLANTING FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES, AND AT TIMES EXCHANGING FLOWER PLANTS WITH THE NEIGHBORS. SHE WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE HOME JUST AS PLEASANT AS SHE COULD FOR HER FAMILY, THAT THE CHILDREN MIGHT EVER CONSIDER HOME THE MOST DESIRABLE PLACE TO BE. ELLEN WHITE WAS A CAREFUL BUYER, AND THE ADVENTIST NEIGHBORS WERE HAPPY WHEN THEY COULD GO SHOPPING WITH HER, FOR SHE KNEW VALUES. HER MOTHER HAD BEEN A VERY PRACTICAL WOMAN AND HAD TAUGHT HER DAUGHTERS MANY VALUABLE LESSONS. SHE FOUND THAT POORLY MADE THINGS WERE IN THE LONG RUN MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE THAN GOOD QUALITY MERCHANDISE. SABBATH WAS MADE THE MOST PLEASANT DAY OF THE WEEK FOR THE CHILDREN. OF COURSE THE FAMILY WOULD ATTEND THE CHURCH SERVICE, AND IF ELDER AND MRS. WHITE WERE FREE FROM SPEAKING RESPONSIBILITIES, THE FAMILY WOULD SIT TOGETHER DURING THE SERVICE. FOR DINNER THERE WOULD BE SOME CHOICE DISH NOT HAD ON OTHER DAYS, AND THEN, IF IT WAS A PLEASANT DAY, MRS. WHITE WOULD WALK WITH THE CHILDREN IN THE WOODS OR BY THE RIVER, AND THEY WOULD OBSERVE THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE AND STUDY THE CREATED WORKS OF GOD. IF THE DAY WAS RAINY OR COLD, SHE WOULD GATHER THE CHILDREN AROUND THE FIRE IN THE HOUSE AND READ TO THEM, OFTEN READING FROM MATERIALS SHE HAD GATHERED FROM HERE AND THERE AS SHE MADE HER JOURNEYS. SOME OF THESE STORIES WERE LATER PRINTED IN BOOKS SO OTHER PARENTS MIGHT HAVE THEM TO READ TO THEIR CHILDREN. MRS. WHITE WAS NOT TOO WELL AT THIS TIME, AND SHE OFTEN FAINTED DURING THE DAY, BUT THIS DID NOT DETER HER FROM GOING FORWARD WITH HER WORK IN THE HOME AS WELL AS HER WORK FOR THE LORD. A FEW YEARS LATER, IN 1863, SHE WAS GIVEN A VISION CONCERNING HEALTH AND THE CARE OF THE SICK. SHE WAS SHOWN IN VISION THE PROPER CLOTHES TO WEAR, THE FOOD TO EAT, THE NECESSITY OF PROPER EXERCISE AND REST, AS WELL AS THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST IN GOD IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN A STRONG, HEALTHY BODY. THE LIGHT FROM GOD CONCERNING DIET, AND THE HARMFULNESS OF FLESH FOOD, CUT RIGHT ACROSS MRS. WHITE’S OWN PERSONAL OPINION THAT FLESH 21 MEAT WAS ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH AND STRENGTH. WITH THE LIGHT OF THE VISION TO ILLUMINATE HER MIND, SHE INSTRUCTED THE GIRL WHO ASSISTED IN PREPARING THE FOOD FOR THE FAMILY TO PUT ON THE TABLE ONLY THE WHOLESOME, SIMPLE FOODS MADE FROM GRAINS, VEGETABLES, NUTS, MILK, CREAM, AND EGGS. THERE WAS AN ABUNDANCE OF FRUIT. AT THAT TIME THE WHITE FAMILY ADOPTED ESSENTIALLY A VEGETARIAN DIET. IN THE YEAR 1894 ELLEN WHITE BANISHED MEAT FROM HER TABLE COMPLETELY. THE HEALTH REFORM WAS A GREAT BLESSING TO THE WHITE FAMILY, AS IT HAS BEEN TO THOUSANDS OF ADVENTIST FAMILIES AROUND THE WORLD. AFTER THE VISION ON HEALTH REFORM IN 1863, AND THE ADOPTION OF THE SIMPLE METHODS OF TREATING THE SICK, THE WHITES WERE OFTEN CALLED UPON BY THEIR NEIGHBORS IN TIMES OF ILLNESS TO HELP IN GIVING TREATMENTS, AND THE LORD GREATLY BLESSED THEIR EFFORTS. AT OTHER TIMES THE SICK WERE BROUGHT TO THEIR HOME AND TENDERLY CARED FOR UNTIL THEY HAD MADE A FULL RECOVERY. MRS. WHITE ENJOYED PERIODS OF RELAXATION AND RECREATION, WHETHER IN THE MOUNTAINS, ON SOME LAKE, OR ON THE OPEN WATER. IN MIDLIFE, WHILE SHE WAS LIVING NEAR THE PACIFIC PRESS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, IT WAS PROPOSED THAT A DAY BE SPENT IN REST AND RECREATION. MRS. WHITE, WITH HER HOME AND OFFICE FAMILY, WERE ASKED TO JOIN THE PUBLISHING HOUSE FAMILY, AND SHE READILY ACCEPTED THE INVITATION. HER HUSBAND WAS IN THE EAST ON DENOMINATIONAL BUSINESS. IT IS IN A LETTER TO HIM THAT WE FIND HER ACCOUNT OF THIS EXPERIENCE. AFTER ENJOYING A WHOLESOME LUNCH ON THE BEACH, THE ENTIRE GROUP WENT FOR A BOAT RIDE ON SAN FRANCISCO BAY. THE CAPTAIN OF THE SAILING CRAFT WAS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH, AND IT WAS A PLEASANT AFTERNOON. THEN IT WAS PROPOSED THAT THEY GO OUT INTO THE OPEN OCEAN. IN RECOUNTING THE EXPERIENCE ELLEN WHITE WROTE: “THE WAVES RAN HIGH, AND WE WERE TOSSED UP AND DOWN SO VERY GRANDLY. I WAS HIGHLY ELEVATED IN MY FEELINGS, BUT HAD NO WORDS TO SAY TO ANYONE. IT WAS GRAND! THE SPRAY DASHED OVER US. THE WIND WAS STRONG OUTSIDE THE GOLDEN GATE, AND I NEVER ENJOYED ANYTHING AS MUCH IN MY LIFE!” THEN SHE OBSERVED THE WATCHFUL EYES OF THE CAPTAIN AND THE READINESS OF THE CREW TO OBEY HIS COMMANDS, AND SHE COMMENTED: “GOD HOLDS THE WINDS IN HIS HANDS. HE CONTROLS THE WATERS. WE ARE MERE SPECKS UPON THE BROAD, DEEP WATERS OF THE PACIFIC; YET ANGELS OF HEAVEN ARE SENT TO GUARD THIS LITTLE SAILBOAT AS IT RACES OVER THE WAVES. OH, THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF GOD! SO FAR BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING! AT ONE GLANCE HE BEHOLDS THE HIGHEST HEAVENS AND THE MIDST OF THE SEA!” MRS. WHITE HAD EARLY ADOPTED AN ATTITUDE OF CHEERFULNESS. ONE TIME SHE ASKED, “DO YOU EVER SEE ME GLOOMY, DESPONDING, COMPLAINING? I HAVE A FAITH THAT FORBIDS THIS. IT IS A MISCONCEPTION OF THE TRUE IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER AND CHRISTIAN SERVICE, THAT LEADS TO THESE CONCLUSIONS…. A HEARTY, WILLING SERVICE TO JESUS PRODUCES A SUNNY RELIGION. THOSE WHO FOLLOW CHRIST THE MOST CLOSELY HAVE NOT BEEN GLOOMY.” ON ANOTHER OCCASION SHE WROTE: “IN SOME CASES THE IDEA HAS BEEN 22 ENTERTAINED THAT CHEERFULNESS IS INCONSISTENT WITH THE DIGNITY OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER; BUT THIS IS A MISTAKE. HEAVEN IS ALL JOY.” SHE DISCOVERED THAT IF YOU GIVE SMILES, SMILES WILL BE RETURNED TO YOU; IF YOU SPEAK KIND WORDS, KIND WORDS WILL BE SPOKEN IN RETURN. NEVERTHELESS THERE WERE TIMES WHEN SHE SUFFERED A GREAT DEAL. ONE SUCH PERIOD OCCURRED SOON AFTER SHE WENT TO AUSTRALIA TO ASSIST IN THE WORK THERE. SHE WAS VERY ILL FOR NEARLY A YEAR AND SUFFERED INTENSELY. SHE WAS CONFINED TO HER BED FOR MONTHS AND COULD SLEEP BUT A FEW HOURS AT NIGHT. OF THIS EXPERIENCE SHE WROTE IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND: “WHEN I FIRST FOUND MYSELF IN A STATE OF HELPLESSNESS, I DEEPLY REGRETTED HAVING CROSSED THE BROAD WATERS. WHY WAS I NOT IN AMERICA? WHY AT SUCH EXPENSE WAS I IN THIS COUNTRY? TIME AND AGAIN I COULD HAVE BURIED MY FACE IN THE BED QUILTS AND HAD A GOOD CRY. BUT I DID NOT LONG INDULGE IN THIS LUXURY OF TEARS. I SAID TO MYSELF, ELLEN G. WHITE, WHAT DO YOU MEAN? HAVE YOU NOT COME TO AUSTRALIA BECAUSE YOU FELT THAT IT WAS YOUR DUTY TO GO WHERE THE CONFERENCE JUDGED IT BEST FOR YOU TO GO? HAS THIS NOT BEEN YOUR PRACTICE? “I SAID, ‘YES.’ “THEN WHY DO YOU FEEL ALMOST FORSAKEN AND DISCOURAGED? IS NOT THIS THE ENEMY’S WORK? I SAID, ‘I BELIEVE IT IS!’ “I DRIED MY TEARS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE AND SAID, ‘IT IS ENOUGH. I WILL NOT LOOK ON THE DARK SIDE ANY MORE. LIVE OR DIE, I COMMIT THE KEEPING OF MY SOUL TO HIM WHO DIED FOR ME.’ “I THEN BELIEVED THAT THE LORD WOULD DO ALL THINGS WELL, AND DURING THIS EIGHT MONTHS OF HELPLESSNESS I HAVE NOT HAD ANY DESPONDENCY OR DOUBT. I NOW LOOK UPON THIS MATTER AS A PART OF THE LORDS’ GREAT PLAN, FOR THE GOOD OF HIS PEOPLE HERE IN THIS COUNTRY, AND FOR THOSE IN AMERICA, AND FOR MY GOOD. I CANNOT EXPLAIN WHY OR HOW, BUT I BELIEVE IT. AND I AM HAPPY IN MY AFFLICTION. I CAN TRUST MY HEAVENLY FATHER. I WILL NOT DOUBT HIS LOVE.” MRS. WHITE LIVED IN HER HOME IN CALIFORNIA DURING THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS OF HER LIFE AND, ALTHOUGH SHE WAS GROWING OLDER, SHE TOOK AN INTEREST IN THE WORK ABOUT THE LITTLE FARM, AND IN THE WELFARE OF THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO ASSISTED HER IN HER WORK. WE FIND HER BUSY WITH HER WRITING, OFTEN BEGINNING SOON AFTER MIDNIGHT, AS SHE RETIRED EARLY. IF IT WAS A PLEASANT DAY, SHE WOULD, IF HER WORK PERMITTED, GO FOR A LITTLE DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY, STOPPING TO TALK WITH A MOTHER SHE MIGHT SEE IN THE GARDEN OR ON THE PORCH OF A HOME SHE PASSED. SOMETIMES SHE FOUND A NEED FOR FOOD AND CLOTHES, AND SHE WOULD GO HOME AND GET SOME THINGS FROM HER HOME SUPPLY. YEARS AFTER HER DEATH SHE WAS REMEMBERED BY THE NEIGHBORS OF THE VALLEY WHERE SHE LIVED, AS THE LITTLE WHITE-HAIRED WOMAN WHO ALWAYS SPOKE LOVINGLY OF JESUS. WHEN SHE DIED, SHE HAD LITTLE MORE THAN THE NECESSITIES AND BASIC COMFORTS OF LIFE. SHE WAS A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHRISTIAN, TRUSTING IN THE MERITS OF HER RISEN LORD AND FAITHFULLY ATTEMPTING TO DO THE WORK THE LORD ASSIGNED TO HER. THUS WITH THE CONFIDENCE IN HER HEART SHE CAME TO THE 23 CLOSE OF A FULL LIFE, CONSISTENT IN HER CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. MESSAGES THAT CHANGED LIVES AN EVANGELIST HELD A SERIES OF MEETINGS IN BUSHNELL, MICHIGAN. SOON AFTER THE BAPTISM, HOWEVER, HE LEFT THE PEOPLE WITHOUT PROPERLY GROUNDING THE BELIEVERS IN THE MESSAGE. THE PEOPLE SLOWLY BECAME DISCOURAGED, AND SOME BEGAN THEIR BAD HABITS AGAIN. FINALLY THE CHURCH BECAME SO SMALL THAT THE TEN OR TWELVE MEMBERS WHO WERE LEFT DECIDED THAT IT WAS NO USE TO CONTINUE ANY LONGER. JUST AFTER THEY DISPERSED FOR WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS THEIR LAST MEETING, THE MAIL ARRIVED AND AMONG THE LETTERS WAS THE REVIEW AND HERALD. IN THE ITINERARY SECTION WAS A NOTICE THAT JAMES AND ELLEN WHITE WERE TO BE AT BUSHNELL FOR MEETINGS ON JULY 20, 1867. THIS WAS ONLY ONE WEEK AWAY. THE CHILDREN WERE SENT TO CALL THE PEOPLE BACK WHO WERE ON THEIR WAY HOME. IT WAS DECIDED TO PREPARE A PLACE IN THE GROVE AND INVITE THEIR NEIGHBORS, ESPECIALLY THE BACKSLIDDEN MEMBERS. ON SABBATH MORNING, JULY 20, THE WHITES ARRIVED AT THE GROVE WHERE SIXTY PERSONS HAD GATHERED. ELDER WHITE SPOKE IN THE MORNING. IN THE AFTERNOON MRS. WHITE ROSE TO SPEAK, BUT AFTER READING HER TEXT, SHE LOOKED PERPLEXED. WITHOUT FURTHER COMMENT SHE CLOSED HER BIBLE AND BEGAN TO SPEAK TO THE PEOPLE IN A VERY PERSONAL WAY. “AS I STAND BEFORE YOU THIS AFTERNOON, I AM LOOKING INTO THE FACES OF THOSE WHO WERE SHOWN TO ME IN VISION TWO YEARS AGO. AS I LOOK INTO YOUR FACES, YOUR EXPERIENCE COMES BACK CLEARLY TO MY MIND, AND I HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU FROM THE LORD. “THERE IS THIS BROTHER OVER NEAR THE PINE TREE. I CAN’T CALL YOUR NAME FOR I HAVEN’T BEEN INTRODUCED TO YOU, BUT YOUR FACE IS FAMILIAR TO ME, AND YOUR EXPERIENCE STANDS OUT CLEARLY BEFORE ME.” THEN SHE SPOKE TO THIS BROTHER OF HIS BACKSLIDING. SHE ENCOURAGED HIM TO COME BACK AND WALK WITH GOD’S PEOPLE. THEN, TURNING TO A WOMAN IN ANOTHER PART OF THE AUDIENCE, SHE SAID, “THIS SISTER SEATED BY SISTER MAYNARD OF THE GREENVILLE CHURCH—I CAN’T SPEAK YOUR NAME BECAUSE I HAVEN’T BEEN TOLD WHAT IT IS—BUT TWO YEARS AGO YOUR CASE WAS SHOWN TO ME IN VISION, AND YOUR EXPERIENCE IS FAMILIAR TO ME.” THEN MRS. WHITE GAVE ENCOURAGEMENT TO THIS SISTER. “THEN THERE IS THIS BROTHER BACK THERE BY THE OAK TREE. I CAN’T CALL YOU BY NAME EITHER, FOR I HAVEN’T MET YOU YET, BUT YOUR CASE IS CLEAR TO ME.” THEN SHE SPOKE OF THIS MAN, OPENING TO EVERYONE THERE HIS INMOST THOUGHTS AND TELLING OF HIS EXPERIENCE. FROM ONE TO ANOTHER SHE TURNED IN THAT CONGREGATION, TELLING OF WHAT HAD BEEN SHOWN TO HER TWO YEARS BEFORE IN VISION. AFTER MRS. WHITE HAD FINISHED HER SERMON, SPEAKING NOT ONLY WORDS OF REPROOF BUT WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AS WELL, SHE SAT DOWN. ONE OF THE COMPANY STOOD UP. HE SAID, “I WANT TO KNOW IF WHAT SISTER WHITE HAS TOLD US THIS AFTERNOON IS TRUE. ELDER AND MRS. WHITE HAVE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE; THEY ARE NOT ACQUAINTED WITH US AT ALL. SISTER WHITE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW THE NAMES OF 24 MOST OF US, AND YET SHE COMES HERE THIS AFTERNOON AND TELLS US THAT TWO YEARS AGO A VISION WAS GIVEN TO HER IN WHICH OUR CASES WERE SHOWN TO HER, AND THEN ONE BY ONE SHE PROCEEDS TO SPEAK TO US INDIVIDUALLY, OPENING UP TO EVERYONE HERE OUR COURSE OF LIVING AND OUR INMOST THOUGHTS. ARE THESE ALL TRUE IN EVERY CASE? OR HAS SISTER WHITE MADE SOME MISTAKE? I WANT TO KNOW.” ONE BY ONE THE PEOPLE STOOD UP. THE MAN OVER BY THE PINE TREE STOOD TO HIS FEET AND SAID THAT MRS. WHITE HAD DESCRIBED HIS CASE BETTER THAN HE COULD HAVE DESCRIBED IT. HE CONFESSED HIS WAYWARD COURSE. HE EXPRESSED HIS RESOLUTION TO COME BACK AND WALK WITH GOD’S PEOPLE. THE WOMAN SEATED BY SISTER MAYNARD FROM THE GREENVILLE CHURCH ALSO TESTIFIED. SHE SAID THAT MRS. WHITE HAD TOLD HER EXPERIENCE BETTER THAN SHE COULD HAVE TOLD IT. THE MAN BY THE OAK TREE SAID THAT SISTER WHITE HAD DESCRIBED HIS CASE BETTER THAN HE COULD HAVE DESCRIBED IT. CONFESSIONS WERE MADE. SINS WERE PUT ASIDE. THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAME IN, AND THERE WAS A REVIVAL AT BUSHNELL. ELDER AND MRS. WHITE CAME BACK ON THE NEXT SABBATH, WHEN A BAPTISM WAS HELD, AND THE CHURCH AT BUSHNELL WAS WELL ESTABLISHED. THE LORD LOVED HIS PEOPLE IN BUSHNELL, AS HE DOES ALL THOSE WHO LOOK TO HIM. “AS MANY AS I LOVE, I REBUKE AND CHASTEN: BE ZEALOUS THEREFORE, AND REPENT” REVELATION 3:19, MUST HAVE COME TO THE MINDS OF SOME PRESENT. WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW THEIR OWN HEARTS AS THE LORD SAW THEM, THEY UNDERSTOOD THEIR TRUE CONDITION AND LONGED FOR A CHANGE IN THEIR LIVES. THIS IS THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE MANY VISIONS GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE. SHORTLY AFTER JAMES WHITE’S DEATH IN 1881, MRS. WHITE LIVED CLOSE TO HEALDSBURG COLLEGE. SEVERAL YOUNG WOMEN STAYED IN HER HOME WHILE THEY ATTENDED SCHOOL. IT WAS THE CUSTOM AT THAT TIME TO WEAR A SIMPLE NET OVER THE HEAD SO AS TO KEEP THE HAIR NEAT AND ORDERLY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. ONE DAY WHILE PASSING THROUGH MRS. WHITE’S ROOM, ONE OF THE GIRLS SAW A WELL-MADE HAIRNET THAT SHE WANTED. THINKING THAT IT WOULD NOT BE MISSED, SHE TOOK IT AND PUT IT IN THE TOP OF HER TRUNK. A LITTLE LATER WHILE DRESSING TO GO OUT, MRS. WHITE MISSED HER NET AND HAD TO DO WITHOUT IT. IN THE EVENING WHEN THE FAMILY WERE TOGETHER MRS. WHITE INQUIRED ABOUT HER MISSING NET, BUT NO ONE GAVE ANY INDICATION OF KNOWING WHERE IT WAS. A DAY OR SO LATER WHEN MRS. WHITE WAS PASSING THROUGH THE GIRL’S ROOM, A VOICE SAID, “OPEN THAT TRUNK.” BECAUSE THE TRUNK WAS NOT HERS, SHE DID NOT WISH TO DO SO. AT THE SECOND COMMAND SHE RECOGNIZED THE VOICE AS THAT OF THE ANGEL. WHEN SHE LIFTED THE LID, SHE SAW WHY THE ANGEL HAD SPOKEN, FOR THERE WAS HER NET. WHEN THE FAMILY MET AGAIN MRS. WHITE AGAIN ASKED ABOUT THE NET, STATING THAT IT COULD NOT DISAPPEAR BY ITSELF. NO ONE SPOKE UP, SO MRS. WHITE DID NOT PURSUE THE MATTER. A FEW DAYS LATER WHILE MRS. WHITE WAS RESTING FROM HER WRITING, SHE WAS GIVEN A VERY SHORT VISION. SHE SAW THE HAND OF A GIRL LOWER A HAIRNET INTO A KEROSENE LAMP. WHEN THE NET TOUCHED THE FLAME IT WAS GONE 25 IN A FLASH OF FIRE. THAT WAS THE END OF THE VISION. WHEN THE FAMILY WERE NEXT TOGETHER, MRS. WHITE AGAIN PRESSED THE MATTER OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE HAIRNET, BUT STILL THERE WAS NO CONFESSION, AND NO ONE SEEMED TO KNOW OF ITS WHEREABOUTS. THEN A LITTLE LATER MRS. WHITE CALLED THIS YOUNG WOMAN ASIDE, TOLD HER OF THE VOICE AND WHAT SHE SAW IN THE TRUNK, AND THEN RELATED THE VERY SHORT VISION IN WHICH SHE SAW THE HAIRNET BURN OVER THE LAMP. WITH THIS INFORMATION BEFORE HER, THE GIRL CONFESSED TAKING THE NET, AND BURNING IT LEST SHE BE DETECTED. SHE MADE THE MATTER RIGHT WITH MRS. WHITE AND WITH THE LORD. WE MAY THINK THAT THIS IS A VERY SMALL MATTER FOR GOD TO BOTHER ABOUT—JUST A HAIRNET. BUT IT WAS A MATTER OF MUCH GREATER IMPORTANCE THAN THE VALUE OF THE OBJECT STOLEN. HERE WAS A YOUNG WOMAN, A MEMBER OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH. SHE FELT SHE WAS ALL RIGHT, BUT SHE DID NOT SEE THE DEFECTS IN HER OWN CHARACTER. SHE DID NOT SEE THE SELFISHNESS THERE, WHICH LED HER TO STEAL AND DECEIVE. NOW WHEN SHE REALIZED HOW IMPORTANT THE LITTLE THINGS ARE—THAT GOD WOULD GIVE A VISION TO HIS BUSY MESSENGER HERE ON EARTH JUST ABOUT A HAIRNET—THIS YOUNG WOMAN BEGAN TO SEE MATTERS IN THEIR TRUE LIGHT. THIS EXPERIENCE WAS THE TURNING POINT IN HER LIFE. THAT IS ONE REASON VISIONS WERE GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE. THOUGH MANY OF THE TESTIMONIES WRITTEN BY MRS. WHITE HAD VERY SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS, YET THEY PRESENT PRINCIPLES THAT MEET THE NEEDS OF THE CHURCH IN EVERY COUNTRY OF THE WORLD. MRS. WHITE HAS MADE PLAIN THE PURPOSE AND PLACE OF THE TESTIMONIES IN THESE WORDS: “THE WRITTEN TESTIMONIES ARE NOT TO GIVE NEW LIGHT, BUT TO IMPRESS VIVIDLY UPON THE HEART THE TRUTHS OF INSPIRATION ALREADY REVEALED. MAN’S DUTY TO GOD AND TO HIS FELLOW MAN HAS BEEN DISTINCTLY SPECIFIED IN GOD’S WORD, YET BUT FEW OF YOU ARE OBEDIENT TO THE LIGHT GIVEN. ADDITIONAL TRUTH IS NOT BROUGHT OUT; BUT GOD HAS THROUGH THE TESTIMONIES SIMPLIFIED THE GREAT TRUTHS ALREADY GIVEN…. THE TESTIMONIES ARE NOT TO BELITTLE THE WORD OF GOD, BUT TO EXALT IT, AND ATTRACT MINDS TO IT, THAT THE BEAUTIFUL SIMPLICITY OF TRUTH MAY IMPRESS ALL.” ALL THROUGH HER LIFE MRS. WHITE KEPT THE WORD OF GOD BEFORE THE PEOPLE. AS SHE CLOSED HER VERY FIRST BOOK SHE STATED: “I RECOMMEND TO YOU, DEAR READER, THE WORD OF GOD AS THE RULE OF YOU FAITH AND PRACTICE. BY THAT WORD WE ARE TO BE JUDGED. GOD HAS, IN THAT WORD, PROMISED TO GIVE VISIONS IN THE ‘LAST DAYS’; NOT FOR A NEW RULE OF FAITH, BUT FOR THE COMFORT OF HIS PEOPLE, AND TO CORRECT THOSE WHO ERR FROM BIBLE TRUTH.” THE VISION THAT COULD NOT BE TOLD DURING A SERIES OF MEETINGS IN SALAMANCA, NEW YORK, IN NOVEMBER 1890, IN WHICH MRS. WHITE WAS MAKING SOME PUBLIC ADDRESSES TO LARGE GATHERINGS, SHE BECAME QUITE WEAK, AS SHE HAD CAUGHT A SEVERE COLD ON THE TRIP TO THE CITY. AFTER ONE OF THE MEETINGS SHE LEFT FOR HER ROOM DISCOURAGED AND SICK. SHE WAS THINKING ABOUT POURING OUT HER SOUL 26 BEFORE GOD AND PLEADING FOR MERCY AND FOR HEALTH AND STRENGTH. SHE KNELT BY HER CHAIR, AND IN HER OWN WORDS, IN TELLING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, SHE SAID: “I HAD NOT UTTERED A WORD WHEN THE WHOLE ROOM SEEMED FILLED WITH A SOFT SILVERY LIGHT, AND MY PAIN OF DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISCOURAGEMENT WAS REMOVED. I WAS FILLED WITH COMFORT AND HOPE—THE PEACE OF CHRIST.” AND THEN SHE WAS GIVEN A VISION. AFTER THE VISION SHE DID NOT WISH TO SLEEP. SHE DID NOT WISH TO REST. SHE WAS HEALED—SHE WAS RESTED. IN THE MORNING A DECISION MUST BE GIVEN. COULD SHE GO ON TO THE PLACE WHERE THE NEXT MEETINGS WERE TO BE HELD, OR MUST SHE GO BACK TO HER HOME AT BATTLE CREEK? A. T. ROBINSON, WHO HAD CHARGE OF THE WORK, AND WILLIAM WHITE, MRS. WHITE’S SON, CALLED AT HER ROOM TO GET HER ANSWER. THEY FOUND HER DRESSED AND WELL. SHE WAS READY TO GO. SHE TOLD OF THE HEALING. SHE TOLD OF THE VISION. SHE SAID, “I WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT WAS REVEALED TO ME LAST NIGHT. IN THE VISION I SEEMED TO BE IN BATTLE CREEK, AND THE ANGEL MESSENGER SAID, ‘FOLLOW ME.’” AND THEN SHE HESITATED. SHE COULD NOT RECALL IT TO MIND. TWICE SHE ATTEMPTED TO TELL IT, BUT COULD NOT RECALL WHAT HAD BEEN SHOWN TO HER. IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED SHE WROTE ABOUT WHAT SHE WAS SHOWN. IT WAS ABOUT PLANS BEING MADE FOR OUR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY JOURNAL, THEN CALLED THE AMERICAN SENTINEL. “IN THE NIGHT SEASON I WAS PRESENT IN SEVERAL COUNCILS, AND THERE I HEARD WORDS REPEATED BY INFLUENTIAL MEN TO THE EFFECT THAT IF THE AMERICAN SENTINEL WOULD DROP THE WORDS ‘SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST’ FROM ITS COLUMN, AND WOULD SAY NOTHING ABOUT THE SABBATH, THE GREAT MEN OF THE WORLD WOULD PATRONIZE IT; IT WOULD BECOME POPULAR, AND DO A LARGER WORK. THIS LOOKED VERY PLEASING. “I SAW THEIR COUNTENANCES BRIGHTEN, AND THEY BEGAN TO WORK ON A POLICY TO MAKE THE SENTINEL A POPULAR SUCCESS. THE WHOLE MATTER WAS INTRODUCED BY MEN WHO NEEDED THE TRUTH IN THE CHAMBERS OF THE MIND AND SOUL.” IT IS CLEAR THAT SHE SAW A GROUP OF MEN DISCUSSING THE EDITORIAL POLICY OF THIS PAPER. WHEN THE GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS OPENED IN MARCH 1891, MRS. WHITE WAS ASKED TO SPEAK TO THE WORKERS EACH MORNING AT HALF PAST FIVE AND TO ADDRESS THE WHOLE CONFERENCE OF 4,000 ON SABBATH AFTERNOON. HER TEXT ON SABBATH AFTERNOON WAS, “LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE MEN, THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS, AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.” THE ENTIRE DISCOURSE WAS AN APPEAL TO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS TO HOLD FORTH THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THEIR FAITH. THREE TIMES DURING THE MEETING SHE STARTED TO TELL OF THE SALAMANCA VISION, BUT EACH TIME SHE WAS RESTRAINED. THE EVENTS OF THE VISION WOULD SIMPLY LEAVE HER MIND. THEN SHE SAID, “OF THIS, I SHALL HAVE MORE TO SAY LATER.” SHE ROUNDED OUT HER SERMON IN ABOUT AN HOUR’S TIME, AND THE MEETING WAS DISMISSED. ALL HAD NOTICED THAT SHE WAS UNABLE TO CALL THE VISION TO MIND. 27 THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE CAME TO HER AND ASKED IF SHE WOULD TAKE THE MORNING MEETING. “NO,” SHE REPLIED, “I’M WEARY; I’VE BORNE MY TESTIMONY. YOU MUST MAKE OTHER PLANS FOR THE MORNING MEETING.” OTHER PLANS WERE MADE. AS MRS. WHITE RETURNED TO HER HOME, SHE TOLD THE MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY THAT SHE WOULD NOT BE ATTENDING THE MORNING MEETING. SHE WAS WEARY, AND SHE WAS GOING TO HAVE A GOOD REST. SHE WAS GOING TO SLEEP IN ON SUNDAY MORNING, AND PLANS WERE LAID ACCORDINGLY. THAT NIGHT, AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE CONFERENCE SESSION, A SMALL GROUP OF MEN MET IN ONE OF THE OFFICES IN THE REVIEW AND HERALD BUILDING. AT THAT MEETING WERE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PUBLISHING HOUSE THAT ISSUED THE AMERICAN SENTINEL, AND THERE WERE PRESENT ALSO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION. THEY MET TO DISCUSS AND SETTLE A VERY VEXING QUESTION—THE EDITORIAL POLICY OF THE AMERICAN SENTINEL. THE DOOR WAS THEN LOCKED, AND ALL AGREED THAT THE DOOR WOULD NOT BE UNLOCKED UNTIL THE QUESTION WAS SETTLED. A LITTLE BEFORE THREE O’CLOCK ON SUNDAY MORNING THE MEETING ENDED IN A DEADLOCK, WITH THE ASSERTION ON THE PART OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY MEN THAT UNLESS THE PACIFIC PRESS WOULD ACCEDE TO THEIR DEMANDS AND DROP THE TERM “SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST” AND “THE SABBATH” FROM THE COLUMNS OF THAT PAPER, THEY WOULD NO LONGER USE IT AS THE ORGAN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION. THAT MEANT KILLING THE PAPER. THEY UNLOCKED THE DOOR, AND THE MEN WENT TO THEIR ROOMS, WENT TO BED, AND WENT TO SLEEP. BUT GOD, WHO NEVER SLUMBERS NOR SLEEPS, SENT HIS ANGEL MESSENGER TO ELLEN WHITE’S ROOM AT THREE O’CLOCK THAT MORNING. SHE WAS AROUSED FROM HER SLEEP AND INSTRUCTED THAT SHE MUST GO INTO THE WORKERS’ MEETING AT HALF-PAST FIVE, AND THERE SHE MUST PRESENT WHAT WAS SHOWN TO HER AT SALAMANCA. SHE DRESSED, WENT TO HER BUREAU, TOOK FROM IT THE JOURNAL IN WHICH SHE HAD MADE THE RECORD OF WHAT HAD BEEN SHOWN TO HER AT SALAMANCA. AS THE SCENE CAME CLEARLY TO HER MIND, SHE WROTE MORE TO GO WITH IT. THE MINISTERS WERE JUST GETTING UP FROM PRAYER IN THE TABERNACLE AS MRS. WHITE WAS SEEN COMING IN THE DOOR, A BUNDLE OF MANUSCRIPTS UNDER HER ARM. THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS THE SPEAKER, AND HE ADDRESSED HER: “SISTER WHITE,” HE SAID, “WE ARE HAPPY TO SEE YOU. DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FOR US?” “INDEED I DO,” SHE SAID, AND STEPPED TO THE FRONT. THEN SHE BEGAN RIGHT WHERE SHE LEFT OFF THE DAY BEFORE. SHE TOLD THEM THAT AT THREE O’CLOCK THAT MORNING SHE HAD BEEN AROUSED FROM HER SLEEP AND INSTRUCTED TO GO TO THE WORKERS’ MEETING AT HALF-PAST FIVE AND THERE PRESENT WHAT HAD BEEN SHOWN TO HER AT SALAMANCA. “IN THE VISION,” SHE SAID, “I SEEMED TO BE IN BATTLE CREEK. I WAS TAKEN TO THE REVIEW AND HERALD OFFICE, AND THE ANGEL MESSENGER BADE ME, ‘FOLLOW ME.’ I WAS TAKEN TO A ROOM WHERE A GROUP OF MEN WERE 28 EARNESTLY DISCUSSING A MATTER. THERE WAS A ZEAL MANIFEST, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE.” SHE TOLD OF HOW THEY WERE DISCUSSING THE EDITORIAL POLICY OF THE AMERICAN SENTINEL, AND SHE SAID, “I SAW ONE OF THE MEN TAKE A COPY OF THE SENTINEL, HOLD IT HIGH OVER HIS HEAD, AND SAY, ‘UNLESS THESE ARTICLES ON THE SABBATH AND THE SECOND ADVENT COME OUT OF THIS PAPER, WE CAN NO LONGER USE IT AS THE ORGAN OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION.’” ELLEN WHITE SPOKE FOR AN HOUR, DESCRIBING THE MEETING THAT HAD BEEN SHOWN TO HER IN VISION MONTHS BEFORE, AND GIVING COUNSEL BASED UPON THAT REVELATION. THEN SHE SAT DOWN. THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF IT. HE HAD NEVER HEARD OF ANY SUCH MEETING. BUT THEY DID NOT WAIT VERY LONG FOR AN EXPLANATION, FOR A MAN STOOD UP IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM AND BEGAN TO SPEAK: “I WAS IN THAT MEETING LAST NIGHT.” “LAST NIGHT!” SISTER WHITE REMARKED, “LAST NIGHT? I THOUGHT THAT MEETING TOOK PLACE MONTHS AGO, WHEN IT WAS SHOWN TO ME IN VISION.” “I WAS IN THAT MEETING LAST NIGHT,” HE SAID, “AND I AM THE MAN WHO MADE THE REMARKS ABOUT THE ARTICLES IN THE PAPER, HOLDING IT HIGH OVER MY HEAD. I AM SORRY TO SAY THAT I WAS ON THE WRONG SIDE, BUT I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PLACE MYSELF ON THE RIGHT SIDE.” HE SAT DOWN. ANOTHER MAN STOOD TO SPEAK. HE WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION. NOTE HIS WORDS: “I WAS IN THAT MEETING. LAST NIGHT AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE CONFERENCE SOME OF US MET IN MY ROOM IN THE REVIEW OFFICE WHERE WE LOCKED OURSELVES IN AND THERE TOOK UP AND DISCUSSED THE QUESTIONS AND THE MATTER THAT HAS BEEN PRESENTED TO US THIS MORNING. WE REMAINED IN THAT ROOM UNTIL THREE O’CLOCK THIS MORNING. IF I SHOULD BEGIN TO GIVE A DESCRIPTION OF WHAT TOOK PLACE AND THE PERSONAL ATTITUDE OF THOSE IN THE ROOM, I COULD NOT GIVE IT AS EXACTLY AND AS CORRECTLY AS IT HAS BEEN GIVEN BY SISTER WHITE. I NOW SEE THAT I WAS IN ERROR AND THAT THE POSITION THAT I TOOK WAS NOT CORRECT. FROM THE LIGHT THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN THIS MORNING, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I WAS WRONG.” OTHERS SPOKE THAT DAY. EVERY MAN WHO WAS IN THE MEETING THE NIGHT BEFORE STOOD TO HIS FEET AND BORE HIS TESTIMONY, SAYING THAT ELLEN WHITE HAD ACCURATELY DESCRIBED THE MEETING AND THE ATTITUDE OF THOSE IN THE ROOM. BEFORE THAT MEETING CLOSED THAT SUNDAY MORNING, THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY GROUP WERE CALLED TOGETHER, AND THEY RESCINDED THE ACTION THEY HAD TAKEN ONLY A FEW HOUR BEFORE. HAD MRS. WHITE NOT BEEN RESTRAINED AND HAD SHE RELATED THE VISION ON SABBATH AFTERNOON, HER MESSAGE WOULD NOT HAVE SERVED THE PURPOSE THAT GOD HAD INTENDED, FOR THE MEETING HAD NOT YET TAKEN PLACE. SOMEHOW THE MEN DID NOT APPLY THE GENERAL COUNSEL GIVEN SABBATH AFTERNOON. THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW BETTER. PERHAPS THEY REASONED AS SOME DO TODAY, “WELL, PERHAPS SISTER WHITE DID NOT UNDERSTAND,” OR, “WE ARE LIVING IN A DIFFERENT DAY NOW.” THE THOUGHTS THAT SATAN WHISPERS 29 TO US IN THESE DAYS ARE THE SAME WITH WHICH HE TEMPTED OUR MINISTERS IN 1891. GOD, IN HIS OWN TIME AND IN HIS OWN WAY, MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WAS HIS WORK; HE WAS GUIDING; HE WAS GUARDING; HE HAD HIS HAND UPON THE WHEEL. ELLEN WHITE TELLS US THAT GOD “HAS OFTEN PERMITTED MATTERS TO COME TO A CRISIS, THAT HIS INTERFERENCE MIGHT BECOME MARKED. THEN HE HAS MADE IT MANIFEST THAT THERE IS A GOD IN ISRAEL.” THE TESTIMONIES AND THE READER FOR SEVENTY YEARS ELLEN G. WHITE SPOKE AND WROTE OF THE THINGS GOD HAD REVEALED TO HER. MANY TIMES THE COUNSELS WERE GIVEN TO CORRECT THOSE WHO ERRED FROM BIBLE TRUTH. MANY TIMES THEY POINTED OUT THE COURSE GOD WOULD HAVE HIS PEOPLE FOLLOW. AT TIMES THE TESTIMONIES DEALT WITH THE MANNER OF LIFE, THE HOME, AND THE CHURCH. HOW DID THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH RECEIVE THESE MESSAGES? FROM THE OUTSET OF HER WORK, RESPONSIBLE LEADERS EXAMINED HER WORK TO ASSURE THEMSELVES THAT THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GIFT OF PROPHECY WAS GENUINE. THE APOSTLE PAUL ADMONISHES, “DESPISE NOT PROPHESYINGS. PROVE ALL THINGS; HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD.” 1 THESSALONIANS 5:20, 21. THE BIBLE TESTS OF A PROPHET WERE BROUGHT TO BEAR ON MRS. WHITE’S WORK. AND THIS IS AS SHE WOULD HAVE IT, FOR SHE WROTE: “THIS WORK IS OF GOD, OR IT IS NOT. GOD DOES NOTHING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SATAN. MY WORK FOR THE PAST THIRTY YEARS BEARS THE STAMP OF GOD OR THE STAMP OF THE ENEMY. THERE IS NO HALFWAY WORK IN THE MATTER.” THE BIBLE GIVES FOUR BASIC TESTS BY WHICH A PROPHET IS TO BE EXAMINED. MRS. WHITE’S WORK STANDS EACH TEST. THE MESSAGE OF THE TRUE PROPHET MUST BE IN HARMONY WITH THE LAW OF GOD AND THE MESSAGES OF THE PROPHETS. ISAIAH 8:20. THE E. G. WHITE WRITINGS ELEVATE THE LAW OF GOD AND EVER LEAD MEN AND WOMEN TO THE BIBLE IN ITS ENTIRETY. SHE POINTS TO THE BIBLE AS THE SOLE RULE OF FAITH AND PRACTICE AND AS THE GREAT LIGHT TO WHICH HER WRITINGS, “THE LESSER LIGHT,” LEAD. THE PREDICTIONS OF THE TRUE PROPHET MUST COME TO PASS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CONDITIONALITY. JEREMIAH 18:7-10; 28:9. WHILE THE WORK OF MR. WHITE WAS MUCH LIKE THAT OF MOSES IN LEADING AND GUIDING THE PEOPLE, YET SHE WROTE IN A PREDICTIVE MANNER OF THE MANY EVENTS TO TAKE PLACE. AT THE OUTSET OF OUR PUBLISHING WORK IN 1848, SHE SPOKE OF HOW IT WOULD GROW TO ENCIRCLE THE WORLD WITH LIGHT. TODAY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS PUBLISH LITERATURE IN 200 LANGUAGES VALUED AT MORE THAN $100,000,000 A YEAR. IN 1890, WHEN THE WORLD DECLARED THAT THERE WOULD BE NO MORE WAR AND THE MILLENNIUM WAS ABOUT TO DAWN, ELLEN WHITE WROTE: “THE TEMPEST IS COMING, AND WE MUST GET READY FOR ITS FURY…. WE SHALL SEE TROUBLE ON ALL SIDES. THOUSANDS OF SHIPS WILL BE HURLED INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. NAVIES WILL GO DOWN, AND HUMAN LIVES WILL BE SACRIFICED BY MILLIONS.” THIS WAS FULFILLED IN WORLD WARS I AND II. THE TRUE PROPHET WILL CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE 30 FLESH, THAT GOD WAS INCARNATE IN HUMAN FLESH. 1 JOHN 4:2. THE READING OF THE DESIRE OF AGES MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THE WORK OF ELLEN G. WHITE MEASURED UP TO THIS TEST. OBSERVE THESE WORDS: “JESUS MIGHT HAVE REMAINED AT THE FATHER’S SIDE. HE MIGHT HAVE RETAINED THE GLORY OF HEAVEN, AND THE HOMAGE OF THE ANGELS. BUT HE CHOSE TO GIVE BACK THE SCEPTER INTO THE FATHER’S HANDS, AND TO STEP DOWN FROM THE THRONE OF THE UNIVERSE, THAT HE MIGHT BRING LIGHT TO THE BENIGHTED, AND LIFE TO THE PERISHING. “NEARLY TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, A VOICE OF MYSTERIOUS IMPORT WAS HEARD IN HEAVEN, FROM THE THRONE OF GOD, ‘LO, I COME.’ ‘SACRIFICE AND OFFERING THOU WOULDEST NOT, BUT A BODY HAS THOU PREPARED ME…. LO, I COME IN THE VOLUME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME, TO DO THY WILL O GOD.’ HEBREWS 10:5-7. IN THESE WORDS IS ANNOUNCED THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PURPOSE THAT HAD BEEN HIDDEN FROM ETERNAL AGES. CHRIST WAS ABOUT TO VISIT OUR WORLD, AND TO BECOME INCARNATE… IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD HE POSSESSED NO BEAUTY THAT THEY SHOULD DESIRE HIM; YET HE WAS THE INCARNATE GOD, THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. HIS GLORY WAS VEILED. HIS GREATNESS AND MAJESTY WERE HIDDEN THAT HE MIGHT DRAW NEAR TO SORROWFUL, TEMPTED MAN.” PERHAPS THE MOST CRUCIAL TEST OF THE TRUE PROPHET IS FOUND IN HIS LIFE, HIS WORK, AND THE INFLUENCE OF HIS TEACHINGS. CHRIST ENUNCIATED THIS TEST IN MATTHEW 7:15,16: “YE SHALL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.” AS WE LOOK AT THE FRUIT AS MANIFESTED IN THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO HAVE FOLLOWED THE SPRIT OF PROPHECY COUNSELS, WE SEE THAT IT IS GOOD. THE TESTIMONIES HAVE YIELDED GOOD FRUIT. AS WE LOOK AT THE CHURCH, KNOWING THAT WE HAVE BEEN LEAD INTO VARIOUS LINES OF ACTIVITY BY THESE COUNSELS, WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT MRS. WHITE’S WORK MEASURES UP TO THIS TEST. THE UNITY OF TEACHING IN THE WRITINGS PENNED OVER A PERIOD OF SEVENTY YEARS ALSO BEARS POSITIVE WITNESS TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE GIFT. PRACTICAL TESTS OF A TRUE PROPHET IN ADDITION TO THESE FOUR MAJOR BIBLE TESTS, THE LORD HAS GIVEN EVIDENCES THAT MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THE WORK IS OF HIS DIRECTION. AMONG THESE ARE: THE TIMELINESS OF THE MESSAGE. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE IN SOME SPECIAL NEED, AND THE MESSAGE COMES JUST IN TIME TO MEET THE NEED, AS DID THE FIRST VISION GIVEN TO MRS. WHITE. THE PRACTICAL NATURE OF THE MESSAGES. THE INFORMATION REVEALED TO MRS. WHITE IN THE VISIONS WAS OF PRACTICAL VALUE, MEETING PRACTICAL NEEDS. LOOK AT THE WAY IN WHICH THE TESTIMONY COUNSELS ENTER IN A PRACTICAL WAY INTO OUR EVERYDAY LIVES. THE HIGH SPIRITUAL PLANE OF THE MESSAGES. THEY DO NOT DEAL WITH MATTERS THAT ARE CHILDISH OR COMMON, BUT WITH GRAND, ELEVATED THEMES. THE LANGUAGE ITSELF IS SUBLIME. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE VISIONS WERE GIVEN. MANY OF THE VISIONS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY PHYSICAL PHENOMENA AS DESCRIBED EARLIER. 31 MRS. WHITE’S EXPERIENCE IN VISION WAS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE BIBLE PROPHETS, THE VISIONS WERE DEFINITE EXPERIENCES, NOT JUST IMPRESSIONS. IN VISION, MRS. WHITE SAW, HEARD, FELT, AND RECEIVED INSTRUCTION FROM THE ANGELS. THE VISIONS COULD NOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY EXCITEMENT OR IMAGINATION. MRS. WHITE WAS NOT CONTROLLED BY THOSE ABOUT HER. TO ONE MAN SHE WROTE: “YOU THINK INDIVIDUALS HAVE PREJUDICED MY MIND. IF I AM IN THIS STATE I AM NOT FITTED TO BE ENTRUSTED WITH THE WORK OF GOD.” HER WORK WAS RECOGNIZED BY HER CONTEMPORARIES. BOTH THOSE IN THE CHURCH WHO LIVED AND WORKED WITH MRS. WHITE, AND MANY OUTSIDE THE CHURCH RECOGNIZED HER AS THE “MESSENGER OF THE LORD.” THOSE CLOSEST TO HER HAD THE GREATEST CONFIDENCE IN HER CALL AND WORK. THESE FOUR BIBLE TESTS AND THE ADDITIONAL EVIDENCES OUTLINED ABOVE ASSURE US THAT ELLEN WHITE’S WORK IS OF GOD AND IS WORTHY OF UNQUESTIONED CONFIDENCE. THE MANY E. G. WHITE BOOKS ARE FILLED WITH COUNSEL AND INSTRUCTION OF PERMANENT VALUE TO THE CHURCH. WHETHER THESE TESTIMONIES WERE OF A MORE GENERAL NATURE OR PERSONAL TESTIMONIES TO FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS, THEY ARE OF SERVICE TO US TODAY. CONCERNING THIS POINT, MRS. WHITE SAYS: “SINCE THE WARNING AND INSTRUCTION GIVEN IN TESTIMONIES FOR INDIVIDUAL CASES APPLIED WITH EQUAL FORCE TO MANY OTHERS WHO HAD NOT BEEN SPECIALLY POINTED OUT IN THIS MANNER, IT SEEMED TO BE MY DUTY TO PUBLISH THE PERSONAL TESTIMONIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHURCH…. I KNOW OF NO BETTER WAY TO PRESENT MY VIEWS OF GENERAL DANGERS AND ERRORS, AND THE DUTY OF ALL WHO LOVE GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, THAN BY GIVING THESE TESTIMONIES.” IT IS A MISTAKEN USE OF THE TESTIMONIES TO READ THEM TO FIND SOME POINT ON WHICH CONDEMNATION OF A FELLOW CHURCH MEMBER CAN BE BASED. THE TESTIMONIES MUST NEVER BE USED AS A CLUB TO BRING SOME BROTHER OR SISTER TO SEE THINGS JUST AS WE SEE THEM. THERE ARE MATTERS THAT MUST BE LEFT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TO SETTLE ALONE WITH GOD. THE COUNSELS SHOULD BE STUDIED TO FIND THE BASIC PRINCIPLES THAT APPLY IN OUR OWN LIVES TODAY. THE HUMAN HEART IS MUCH THE SAME THE WORLD OVER; THE PROBLEMS OF ONE ARE OFTEN THE PROBLEMS OF ANOTHER. “IN REBUKING THE WRONGS OF ONE,” MRS. WHITE WROTE, GOD “DESIGNS TO CORRECT MANY.” “HE MAKES PLAIN THE WRONGS OF SOME THAT OTHERS MAY THUS BE WARNED.” NEAR THE CLOSE OF HER LIFE, MRS. WHITE GAVE THE FOLLOWING COUNSEL: “THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT THE VOICE OF GOD HAS COME TO US CONTINUALLY IN WARNING AND INSTRUCTION…. TIME AND TRIAL HAVE NOT MADE VOID THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN…. THE INSTRUCTION THAT WAS GIVEN IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE MESSAGE IS TO BE HELD AS SAFE INSTRUCTION TO FOLLOW IN THESE ITS CLOSING DAYS.” THE COUNSELS THAT FOLLOW ARE DRAWN FROM A NUMBER OF THE E. G. WHITE BOOKS—BUT MAINLY FROM THE THREE VOLUMES OF TESTIMONY TREASURES, THE WORLD EDITION OF THE TESTIMONIES FOR THE CHURCH—AND REPRESENT 32 THE LINES OF INSTRUCTION THOUGHT TO BE MOST HELPFUL TO THE CHURCH IN AREAS WHERE THE LIMITATIONS OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO PUBLISH MORE THAN A SINGLE VOLUME OF MODERATE SIZE. THE WORK OF SELECTING AND ARRANGING THESE COUNSELS WAS DONE BY A LARGE COMMITTEE, WORKING UNDER THE AUTHORIZATION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE, TO WHOM WAS ASSIGNED THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CARE OF THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY COUNSELS. THE SELECTIONS ARE OFTEN BRIEF AND CONFINED TO A STATEMENT OF PRACTICAL BASIC PRINCIPLES, AND THUS A WIDE RANGE OF SUBJECTS IS INCLUDED. “BELIEVE IN THE LORD YOUR GOD, SO SHALL YE BE ESTABLISHED; BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS, SO SHALL YE PROSPER.” 2 CHRONICLES 20:20. THE TRUSTEES OF THE ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 22, 1957. REVISED, SILVER SPRING, MD JANUARY 1, 1990. {CCh 0.3}
	CCh 234.3	If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we cannot. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {CCh 234.3}
	CD 0.1	CD - Counsels on Diet and Foods (1938) YOU SHOULD READ THIS HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE DECADES BEFORE MANY PHYSIOLOGISTS WERE CONCERNED WITH THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIET AND HEALTH, ELLEN G. WHITE IN HER WRITINGS CLEARLY POINTED OUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE FOOD WE EAT AND OUR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE. IN HER DISCOURSES AND WRITINGS FROM 1863 ONWARD, SHE DISCUSSED FREQUENTLY THE IMPORTANCE OF DIET AND ADEQUATE NUTRITION. HER COUNSELS, AS PRESERVED IN PAMPHLETS AND BOOKS, IN THE JOURNALS OF THE DENOMINATION, AND IN PERSONAL TESTIMONIES, HAVE EXERTED A STRONG INFLUENCE ON THE DIETETIC HABITS OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, AND INDIRECTLY HAVE LEFT THEIR IMPRESS UPON THE GENERAL PUBLIC. MRS. WHITE'S WRITINGS REGARDING FOODS AND A HEALTHFUL DIET WERE DRAWN TOGETHER IN 1926 IN A TOPICALLY ARRANGED WORK DESIGNED TO SERVE PRIMARILY AS A TEXTBOOK FOR STUDENTS OF DIETETICS AT THE COLLEGE OF MEDICAL EVANGELISTS AT LOMA LINDA. THIS INITIAL PRINTING, TITLED TESTIMONY STUDIES ON DIET AND FOODS, WAS SOON EXHAUSTED. A NEW AND ENLARGED VOLUME, TITLED COUNSELS ON DIET AND FOODS, APPEARED IN 1938. IT WAS REFERRED TO AS A "SECOND EDITION," AND WAS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE. A THIRD EDITION, PRINTED IN A SMALLER PAGE SIZE TO CONFORM TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME LIBRARY SERIES, WAS PUBLISHED IN 1946. THE PRESENT EDITION IS THE FOURTH, AND INVOLVES NO CHANGE IN TEXT OR PAGINATION. THIS IS A UNIQUE COMPILATION IN ASSEMBLING THE MATERIALS COMPRISING COUNSELS ON DIET AND FOODS, AN EFFORT WAS MADE TO INCLUDE THE FULL RANGE OF INSTRUCTION ON THE SUBJECT FROM MRS. WHITE'S PEN. THE RESULTING COMPILATION IS UNIQUE AMONG THE ELLEN G. WHITE BOOKS, 4 FOR IT PRESENTS THE COUNSELS CLUSTERED TOPICALLY UNDER A GENERAL HEADING, WITH NO ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE A CONTINUITY IN READING. EACH SECTION CONTAINS THE E. G. WHITE MATERIALS THAT, ASSEMBLED, MAKE A REPRESENTATIVE PRESENTATION OF THE TOPIC DEALT WITH. NOTHING THAT WOULD MAKE A SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTION HAS BEEN IGNORED. OFTEN IN THE ORIGINAL SOURCES MANY PHASES OF HEALTH INSTRUCTION ARE TREATED TOGETHER IN ONE PARAGRAPH. TO GIVE ALL THE CONTEXT IN SUCH CASES WOULD HAVE INVOLVED CONSIDERABLE REPETITION. THROUGH THE USE OF CROSS REFERENCES SUCH REPETITION IS MINIMIZED. WHILE THE LIMITATIONS OF SPACE AND THE EFFORT TO AVOID REPETITION HAVE MADE IT INADVISABLE TO INCLUDE EVERY STATEMENT ON THE MORE GENERAL PHASES OF THE DIET QUESTION, A COMPLETE AND COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE E. G. WHITE TEACHINGS HAS BEEN GIVEN. PERIL OF TAKING A PART FOR THE WHOLE THE FACT THAT THIS VOLUME IS CONSTRUCTED SOMEWHAT LIKE AN ENCYCLOPEDIA, ISOLATING THE MAJOR PRESENTATIONS AND GROUPING THEM BY TOPIC, MAKES IT A CONVENIENT REFERENCE WORK. BUT THE ENCYCLOPEDIA DESIGN ALSO MAKES THE BOOK ONE THAT MAY EASILY BE MISUSED. TO GAIN THE AUTHOR'S INTENT AND THE FULL IMPACT OF ALL HER TEACHINGS, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE BOOK BE STUDIED AS A WHOLE. THE READER SHOULD BEAR IN MIND THAT A SINGLE ELLEN WHITE STATEMENT ON SOME PHASE OF THE SUBJECT OF NUTRITION MAY COME FAR SHORT OF EXPRESSING HER FULL INTENT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE NUTRITIONAL NEEDS OF THE BODY. FOR EXAMPLE, IN A SENTENCE APPEARING ON PAGE 314 OF THIS BOOK, TAKEN FROM TESTIMONIES, VOLUME 2, PAGE 352, SHE SAYS; "GRAINS AND FRUITS PREPARED FREE FROM GREASE, AND IN AS NATURAL A CONDITION AS POSSIBLE, SHOULD BE THE FOOD FOR THE TABLES OF ALL WHO CLAIM TO BE PREPARING FOR TRANSLATION." IN THE LIGHT OF OTHER OF HER STATEMENTS, CLEARLY IT WAS NOT MRS. WHITE'S INTENT TO TEACH THAT THOSE PREPARING FOR TRANSLATION SHOULD REDUCE THEIR DIET TO SIMPLY" GRAINS AND FRUITS." PENNED IN 1869 IN THE SETTING OF COUNSEL AGAINST THE USE OF MEAT, THIS STATEMENT SEEMS TO MAKE "GRAINS AND FRUITS" STAND FOR THE NONMEAT DIET. THE 5 STATEMENT DOES NOT MENTION NUTS, VEGETABLES, OR DAIRY PRODUCTS, ALL OF WHICH ELLEN WHITE RECOGNIZED AS IMPORTANT TO A BALANCED NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM. ANOTHER STATEMENT ON THE SAME PAGE (314), WRITTEN SOME TWENTY YEARS LATER, IN DELINEATING A DIET INTENDED TO IMPART NOURISHMENT AND GIVE ENDURANCE AND VIGOR OF INTELLECT, MENTIONS "FRUIT, GRAINS, AND VEGETABLES" PREPARED WITH "MILK OR CREAM." NUTS ARE NOT MENTIONED. ACROSS THE PAGE IN ANOTHER PARAGRAPH WRITTEN IN 1905, "GRAINS, NUTS, VEGETABLES, AND FRUITS" ARE LISTED AS TAKING THE PLACE OF MEAT. IN THIS STATEMENT MILK IS NOT MENTIONED. YET MILK IS INCLUDED IN HER 1909 STATEMENT THAT APPEARS ON PAGE 355: "VEGETABLES SHOULD BE MADE PALATABLE WITH A LITTLE MILK OR CREAM, OR SOMETHING EQUIVALENT. . . . SOME, IN ABSTAINING FROM MILK, EGGS, AND BUTTER, HAVE FAILED TO SUPPLY THE SYSTEM WITH PROPER NOURISHMENT, AND AS A CONSEQUENCE HAVE BECOME WEAK AND UNABLE TO WORK. THUS HEALTH REFORM IS BROUGHT INTO DISREPUTE." THERE ARE A NUMBER OF OTHER INSTANCES SIMILAR TO THOSE CITED ABOVE WHERE ELLEN WHITE DOES NOT IN A GIVEN STATEMENT ENUMERATE ALL THE ELEMENTS OF AN ADEQUATE DIET. CARE MUST BE EXERCISED TO GET HER COMPLETE THOUGHT ON EACH SUBJECT. AN ISOLATED STATEMENT SHOULD NOT BE USED BY ITSELF, LEST THE PART BE TAKEN FOR THE WHOLE. A CALL FOR EVERYONE TO STUDY ELLEN WHITE DID NOT INTEND THAT HER WRITINGS ALONG NUTRITIONAL LINES SHOULD EXCLUDE THE NEED FOR EARNEST STUDY TO FIND THE BEST AND MOST AGREEABLE DIET, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A GROWING KNOWLEDGE, AND THE EXPERIENCE AND INVESTIGATION OF OTHERS. SHE WROTE: "TO KEEP THE BODY IN A HEALTHY CONDITION, IN ORDER THAT ALL PARTS OF THE LIVING MACHINERY MAY ACT HARMONIOUSLY, SHOULD BE THE STUDY OF OUR LIFE."--PAGE 18. "IT IS PLAINLY OUR DUTY TO GIVE THESE [NATURE'S] LAWS CAREFUL STUDY. WE SHOULD STUDY THEIR REQUIREMENTS IN REGARD TO OUR OWN BODIES, AND CONFORM TO THEM. IGNORANCE IN THESE THINGS IS SIN."--IBID. CLEARLY MRS. WHITE FELT THAT EACH PERSON SHOULD BECOME WELL INFORMED, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE ADVANCEMENTS OF SCIENCE 6 IN NUTRITIONAL INVESTIGATIONS, SO LONG AS THE CONCLUSIONS HARMONIZE WITH THE COUNSELS GIVEN THROUGH INSPIRATION. THE HAZARDS OF EXTREMES ELLEN WHITE WAS NOT SLOW TO POINT OUT THE HAZARDS OF EXTREMES, OR INATTENTION, OR LAXITY IN PROVIDING AN ADEQUATE DIET FOR THE FAMILY. THIS FACT IS ILLUSTRATED BY THE STATEMENT THAT THE MOTHER "BY ILL-PREPARED, UNWHOLESOME FOOD" MIGHT ACTUALLY "HINDER AND EVEN RUIN BOTH THE ADULT'S USEFULNESS AND THE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT" (P. 476). IN THE SAME STATEMENT SHE CALLED FOR "PROVIDING FOOD ADAPTED TO THE NEEDS OF THE BODY, AND AT THE SAME TIME INVITING AND PALATABLE." WHILE THE REASONS FOR INCLUDING SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS IN A BALANCED, ADEQUATE DIET WERE NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD, ELLEN WHITE SPOKE IN FAVOR OF THEM, AND EVEN CAUTIONED AGAINST ELIMINATING THEM. TODAY IN THE LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE THAT CERTAIN MINUTE NUTRIENTS ARE VITAL TO BODY FUNCTIONS, WE HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. SOME OF THESE NUTRIENTS, WHILE APPARENTLY NOT PRESENT IN ALL-VEGETABLE DIET, ARE AVAILABLE IN ADEQUATE AMOUNTS IN A LACTO-OVO-VEGETARIAN DIET. THIS IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT TO CHILDREN WHOSE PROPER DEVELOPMENT ELLEN WHITE STATED MIGHT BE HINDERED BY "ILL-PREPARED UNWHOLESOME FOOD." NEAR THE TURN OF THE CENTURY ELLEN WHITE BEGAN TO WRITE THAT BECAUSE OF ACCUMULATING DISEASE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM ALL ANIMAL FOODS, INCLUDING MILK, WILL IN TIME HAVE TO BE GIVEN UP (SEE PP. 356, 357); YET AT THE SAME TIME SHE REPEATEDLY CAUTIONED AGAINST PREMATURE STEPS IN THIS DIRECTION AND IN 1909 DECLARED THAT THE TIME WILL COME WHEN SUCH MAY BE NECESSARY, BUT URGED AGAINST CREATING PERPLEXITY BY "PRE-MATURE AND EXTREME RESTRICTIONS." SHE COUNSELED THAT WE "WAIT UNTIL THE CIRCUMSTANCES DEMAND IT, AND THE LORD PREPARES THE WAY FOR IT" (PP. 355-359). IT WAS THE LACTO-OVO-VEGETARIAN DIET THAT SUSTAINED ELLEN WHITE IN ACTIVE SERVICE WELL INTO HER EIGHTY-EIGHTH YEAR. EMPLOY SOUND PRINCIPLES IN STUDY CERTAIN SOUND PRINCIPLES MUST EVER BE APPLIED IN THE STUDY OF THE DIETARY COUNSELS FOUND IN THIS BOOK. ALL THE 7 INSTRUCTIONS, AS A BROAD, CONSISTENT, WELL-BALANCED WHOLE, SHOULD BE STUDIED WITH AN OPEN MIND. CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN TO READ THE ENTIRE STATEMENT ON A GIVEN TOPIC. THEN, TO GAIN THE FULL INTENT OF THE AUTHOR, STATEMENT SHOULD BE PUT WITH STATEMENT. IF ONE STATEMENT DOES NOT SEEM TO ACCORD WITH ANOTHER, THE STUDENT WOULD DO WELL TO TRACE ONE, OR BOTH, TO THE ORIGINAL SETTINGS. THE STUDENT SHOULD ALSO FOLLOW ELLEN WHITE'S EXAMPLE IN RECOGNIZING THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES AS ENUMERATED ON PAGE 481: 1. "THE DIET REFORM SHOULD BE PROGRESSIVE."--MH 320. 2. "WE DO NOT MARK OUT ANY PRECISE LINE TO BE FOLLOWED IN DIET."--9T 159. 3. "I MAKE MYSELF A CRITERION FOR NO ONE ELSE."--LETTER 45, 1903. A RECOMMENDATION FOR HEALTH REFORM TRUE DIET REFORM WILL RECOMMEND ITSELF BECAUSE OF ITS GOOD SENSE. ITS FRUITAGE WILL BE SEEN IN GOOD HEALTH, STRENGTH, A SWEET BREATH, AND A SENSE OF WELL-BEING. EVEN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE MAY BE AIDED BY GOOD HEALTH HABITS. IT HAS BEEN GRATIFYING TO WITNESS, THROUGH THE ONWARD MARCH OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY, A FULL SUBSTANTIATION OF MANY GREAT PRINCIPLES AND EVEN MINUTE POINTS OF INSTRUCTION REVEALED TO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS THROUGH ELLEN WHITE'S INSPIRED PEN. THAT THIS VOLUME MAY AID ITS READERS IN OBTAINING BETTER HEALTH, BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL, IS OUR SINCERE WISH. THE TRUSTEES OF THE ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE WASHINGTON, D. C. SEPTEMBER 17, 1976 {CD 0.1}
	CD 108.1	MS 3, 1897 171. Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner yet with painstaking effort, will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {CD 108.1}
	CD 276.1	The Mission of Hygienic Restaurants (1902) 7T 55 416. It was presented to me that we should not rest satisfied because we have a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn, but that others should be established in other sections of the city. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not know what is going on in other parts of that great city. Men and women who eat at the restaurants established in different places will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they will be more ready to accept God's special message of truth. {CD 276.1}
	CD 318.3	The Advantage of Using Bread and Other Hard Foods MS 3, 1897 499. Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh meat to a vegetarian diet, to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much 319 porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner, yet with painstaking effort, will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {CD 318.3}
	CD 402.5	A Summary (1909) 9T 156-160 719. If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know 403 we cannot. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth, and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {CD 402.5}
	CD 443.4	By Example as Well as Precept (1900) 6T 112 765. The large gatherings of our people afford an excellent opportunity of illustrating the principles of health reform. Some years ago at these gatherings much was said in regard to health reform and the benefits of a vegetarian diet; 444 but at the same time flesh meats were furnished at the tables in the dining tent, and various unhealthful articles of food were sold at the provision stand. Faith without work is dead; and the instruction upon health reform, denied by practice, did not make the deepest impression. At later camp meetings those in charge have educated by practice as well as by precept. No meat has been furnished at the dining tent, but fruits, grains, and vegetables have been supplied in abundance. As visitors ask questions in regard to the absence of meat, the reason is plainly stated, that flesh is not the most healthful food. [SALE OF CANDIES, ICE CREAM, AND OTHER KNICKKNACKS ON THE CAMPGROUND--529, 530] {CD 443.4}
	CD 462.1	Handle the Flesh Meat Question Wisely Letter 102, 1896 795. In this country [AUSTRALIA] there is an organized vegetarian society, but its numbers are comparatively few. Among the people in general, meat is largely used by all classes. It is the cheapest article of food; and even where poverty abounds, meat is usually found upon the table. Therefore there is the more need of handling wisely the question of meat eating. In regard to this matter there should be no rash movements. We should consider the situation of the people, and the power of lifelong habits and practices, and should be careful not to urge our ideas upon others, as if this question were a test, and those who eat largely of meat were the greatest sinners. {CD 462.1}
	CD 469.3	(1902) 7T 126 806. Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. This is foolish, indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {CD 469.3}
	CH 130.2	Flesh Foods If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we cannot. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {CH 130.2}
	CH 467.1	Objects Lessons in Health Reform [TESTIMONIES FOR THE CHURCH, VOL. 6, PP. 112, 113 (1900).] The large gatherings of our people afford an excellent opportunity of illustrating the principles of health reform. Some years ago at these gatherings much was said in regard to health reform and the benefits of a vegetarian diet; but at the same time flesh meats were furnished at the tables in the dining tent, and various unhealthful articles of food were sold at the provision stand. Faith without work is dead; and the instruction upon health reform, denied by practice, did not make the deepest impression. At later camp meetings those in charge have educated by practice as well as by precept. No meat has been furnished at the dining tent, but fruits, grains, and vegetables have been supplied in abundance. As visitors ask questions in regard to the absence of meat, the reason is plainly stated, that flesh is not the most healthful food. {CH 467.1}
	CH 473.4	The Value of Fresh Fruits The Lord desires those living in countries where fresh fruit can be obtained during a large part of the year, to awake to the blessing they have in this fruit. The more we depend upon the fresh fruit just as it is plucked from the tree, the greater will be the blessing. Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. 474 This is foolish indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {CH 473.4}
	CH 487.2	It was presented to me that we should not rest satisfied because we have a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn, but that others should be established in other sections of the city. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not know what is going on in other parts of that great city. Men and women who eat at the restaurants established in different places will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they will be more ready to accept God's special message of truth. {CH 487.2}
	CH 493.3	Let schools and sanitariums now be established in many places in the Southern States. Let centers of influence be made in many of the Southern cities by the opening of food stores and vegetarian restaurants. Let there also be facilities for the manufacture of simple, inexpensive health foods. But let not selfish, worldly policy be brought into the work, for God forbids this. Let unselfish 494 men take hold of this work in the fear of God and with love for their fellow men. {CH 493.3}
	Ev 572.1	City Bases for Foreign Work.--We drove out to see the newly established Swedish Mission on Oak Street [in Chicago]. There we were shown a building which our Swedish brethren, under the leadership of Elder -----, have recently purchased for the headquarters of their work in Chicago. The building presents a good appearance. In the basement they have a well-equipped vegetarian restaurant. On the first floor there is a pleasant, commodious hall for meetings, comfortably seated for a congregation of about one hundred and fifty, and the two upper stories are rented to lodgers. I was indeed glad to see this evidence of progress in the Swedish work in Chicago. {Ev 572.1}
	GCDB, March 1, 1897 par. 15	Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat diet to a vegetarian diet, to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. 189 {GCDB, March 1, 1897 par. 15}
	GCDB, March 1, 1897 par. 16	Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat diet to a vegetarian diet, to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge-eating is a mistake. {GCDB, March 1, 1897 par. 16}
	HFM 26.4	Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. This is foolish indeed and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {HFM 26.4}
	HL 80.1	358. Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh meat to a vegetarian diet, to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food.--U. T., Jan. 11, 1897. {HL 80.1}
	KC 135.2	Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh meat. In this they are foolish indeed; for the animal creation is becoming more and more diseased. But in many cases the reason for this is that they do not know enough about true health reform to substitute proper food in the place of meat. {KC 135.2}
	KC 141.5	(B) THAT WE ENCOURAGE THE FOOD COMPANY TO UNDERTAKE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF VEGETARIAN RESTAURANTS IN CONNECTION WITH ITS FOOD STORES AND IN OTHER PLACES AS MAY SEEM ADVISABLE. {KC 141.5}
	KC 141.9	W. C. WHITE: ANOTHER QUESTION, MOTHER, THAT WE HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING IS, WHAT IS OUR DUTY IN THE MATTER OF ESTABLISHING RESTAURANTS? WE HAVE HEARD YOU SAY IN PRIVATE AND IN PUBLIC, AND HAVE READ IN WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN, SOMETHING WITH REFERENCE TO THE ADVANTAGES TO THE CAUSE, OF ESTABLISHING VEGETARIAN RESTAURANTS. RECENTLY THERE HAVE SEEMED TO BE SOME GOOD OPENINGS. THE DIFFICULTY THAT WE HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING IS THE EXPENSE. TO ESTABLISH A RESTAURANT ACCORDING TO THE PLAN ON WHICH THEY ARE USUALLY CONDUCTED, MEANS AN INVESTMENT OF FROM SEVEN HUNDRED TO A THOUSAND DOLLARS. 142 {KC 141.9}
	KC 142.9	While in New York last winter, I received light in regard to hygienic restaurants. Night after night the course that our brethren should pursue in that city, passed before me. They have a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn. They should go forward in the establishment of other hygienic restaurants. Instead of resting satisfied with having only the one that has been opened, they are to open other restaurants in various sections of the city. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not usually know what is going on in the other 143 parts of that great city; and therefore it is necessary to establish many restaurants. As men and women eat at these places, they will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they are more ready to accept God's special message of truth. {KC 142.9}
	LLM 25.3	The communications sent were most carefully read, as I had been connected with the starting of the Vegetarian Cafe and Los Angeles treatment rooms before I left for Australia. At that time I felt no desire to return to America, and so wrote her. The Lord, however, was evidently preparing my mind for the work in this field, although at the time I did not know it. {LLM 25.3}
	PaM 117.3	A "beehive" church will have a multi-faceted program for reaching the community.--During the past few years the "beehive" in San Francisco has been indeed a busy one. Many lines of Christian effort have been carried forward by our brethren and sisters there. These included visiting the sick and destitute, finding homes for orphans and work for the unemployed, nursing the sick, and teaching the truth from house to house, distributing literature, and conducting classes on healthful living and the care of the sick. A school for the children has been conducted in the basement of the Laguna Street meetinghouse. For a time a workingmen's home and medical mission was maintained. On Market Street, near the city hall, there were treatment rooms, operated as a branch of the St. Helena Sanitarium. In the same locality was a health-food store. Nearer the center of the city, not far from the Call building, was conducted a vegetarian cafe, which was open six days in the week and entirely closed on the Sabbath. Along the water front, ship mission work was carried on. At various times our ministers conducted meetings in large halls in the city. Thus the warning message was given by many.--RH July 5, 1906. {PaM 117.3}
	PC 161.2	Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food, that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner yet with painstaking effort will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {PC 161.2}
	PH038 6.3	The work in Greater New York is to be carried on in a way that will properly represent the sacredness and holiness of the truth of God. Vegetarian restaurants, treatment rooms and cooking schools, are to be established. The people are to be taught how to prepare wholesome food. They are to be shown the need of discarding tea, coffee and flesh-meat. {PH038 6.3}
	RH, February 16, 1905 par. 6	At Salt Lake we were met by several of our brethren, who urged us to remain with them for a few days. By a hard struggle the church in Salt Lake City has built a good meeting-house. In a prominent part of the city our brethren are conducting a vegetarian cafe and a health food store; and all felt the need of counsel as to how to conduct the work in Utah. {RH, February 16, 1905 par. 6}
	RH, February 19, 1901 par. 6	One day Brother Pearson drove us to Strawberry Hill, one of the beautiful parts of the city, and then to our vegetarian restaurant, on Market Street, near the heart of the city. Here we met Brother E. G. Fulton and his wife, who, with a company of willing helpers, are serving about five hundred meals a day. The building is narrow, and will accommodate about fifty persons at once. Everything about the place was clean, wholesome, and attractive. We were pleased to see that right principles are observed in the selection and preparation of all the foods. There was not a particle of meat, poultry, fish, nor anything that requires the sacrifice of life. We were also pleased to learn that this restaurant is wholly closed on the Sabbath. At first the complaints and pleadings of regular boarders were listened to, and some meals were served on the Sabbath. Many declared that the enterprise could not be maintained if it closed its doors on Saturday. But since the Sabbath closing, a special blessing has manifestly rested upon the work. {RH, February 19, 1901 par. 6}
	RH, February 19, 1901 par. 8	I wish that some of those who have means tied up in banks, could be led to study the situation, and devise means whereby this work of establishing vegetarian restaurants could be enlarged, so that more might be benefited. {RH, February 19, 1901 par. 8}
	RH, February 24, 1910 par. 12	If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh-meats, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we can not. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth, and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {RH, February 24, 1910 par. 12}
	RH, February 9, 1905 par. 3	From the Life Boat Mission we drove out to see the newly established Swedish Mission on Oak Street. There we were shown a building which our Swedish brethren, under the leadership of Elder S. Mortenson, have recently purchased for the headquarters of their work in Chicago. The building presents a good appearance. In the basement they have a well-equipped vegetarian restaurant. On the first floor there is a pleasant, commodious hall for meetings, comfortably seated for a congregation of about one hundred and fifty, and the two upper stories are rented to lodgers. I was indeed glad to see this evidence of progress in the Swedish work in Chicago. {RH, February 9, 1905 par. 3}
	RH, July 5, 1906 par. 24	During the past few years, the "beehive" in San Francisco has been indeed a busy one. Many lines of Christian effort have been carried forward by our brethren and sisters there. These included visiting the sick and destitute, finding homes for orphans, and work for the unemployed; nursing the sick, and teaching the truth from house to house; the distribution of literature, and the conducting of classes on healthful living and the care of the sick. A school for the children has been conducted in the basement of the Laguna Street meeting-house. For a time a working men's home and medical mission was maintained. On Market Street, near the city hall, there were treatment rooms, operated as a branch of the St. Helena Sanitarium. In the same locality was a health food store. Nearer the center of the city, not far from the Call building, was conducted a vegetarian cafe, which was open six days in the week, and entirely closed on the Sabbath. Along the water front, ship mission work was carried on. At various times our ministers conducted meetings in large halls in the city. Thus the warning message was given by many. {RH, July 5, 1906 par. 24}
	RH, June 14, 1906 par. 3	The Los Angeles Vegetarian Restaurant Our train into Los Angeles was a few minutes late, and we could not make close connections with the train for Loma Linda, so we spent a pleasant hour at the vegetarian restaurant, on the corner of Third and Hill Streets. This restaurant is now conducted by the medical missionary department of the Southern California Conference, and is in charge of Brother and Sister Allen, who were stanch Roman Catholics until they attended a series of meetings held by Brother W. W. Simpson and his associates less than two years ago. {RH, June 14, 1906 par. 3}
	SpM 117.3	There are ministers' wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, "The laborer is worthy of his hire." When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work as the ministers are doing, and this tithe I will reserve for work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to educating those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them. All these things must be adjusted and set in order, and justice be done to all. Proof-readers in the office receive their wages, two dollars and a half and three dollars a week. This I have had to pay, and others have to pay. But ministers' wives, who carry a tremendous responsibility, devoting their entire time, have nothing for their labor. This will give you an idea of how matters are in this conference. There are seventy-five souls organized into a church, who are paying their tithe into the conference, and as a saving plan it has been deemed essential to let these poor souls labor for nothing! But this does not trouble me, for I will not allow it to go thus. In regard to the school's running in debt. The tuition has been altogether too low in America. -118- Can not those who conduct the schools in America understand that this is the only way out? Why do they keep the price so low? An increase in price of educational advantages would stop that increasing debt. The students are to be fed, and they need good, nourishing food. They should not be stinted in the wholesome fruit and vegetarian diet; but cut off everything like the desserts. Let abundance of fruit be eaten with the meals, but custards and pastries are of no manner of use--all unnecessary. Now when the wise heads officiating in our schools study to run the school upon a sum wholly insufficient, year after year, they are engaged in a work that will bring debts; it can not be prevented. They have begun this policy in Cooranbong, but the very same results will follow. There is no justice, or requirement of God, for them to make such loose calculations. They make it necessary to practice the closest economy, and it is not always wise to bring down the diet as a means of avoiding debt. Economy must be practiced in every line to keep afloat, and not be drowned with debts: but there is to be an increase in the sum paid for tuition. This was presented to me while in Europe, and has been presented since to you and our schools; and the problem, "How shall our schools keep out of debt?" will always remain a problem until there are wiser calculations. Charge higher rates for students' educational advantages, and then let persons have the management in cooking who know how to save and economize. Let the best talent be secured, even if good, reasonable wages have to be paid. The binding about the edges is essential. When these precautions are attended to, you will not have increasing debts in your schools. Let the teachers be health reformers; let them teach the Bible as the foundation study; let them practice the Word themselves. Let infidel books be laid aside, and the Word of God find its place in every school. Some will say, "We shall have fewer students." This may be; but those that you do have will appreciate their time, and see the necessity of diligent work to qualify them for the positions they fill. If the Lord is kept ever before the students as the one to whom they should look for counsel, like Daniel, they will receive of him knowledge and wisdom. All will then become channels of light. Lay the matter before the students themselves. Inquire who of them will practice self-denial and make sacrifice to cancel the debt already incurred. With some students only the willing mind is needed. God help the managers of our schools never to allow the outgoes to exceed the incomes, if the school has to be closed. There has not been the talent that is needed in the management of our schools financially. These things God will require of the managers. Every needless, expensive habit is to be laid aside, every unnecessary indulgence cut away. When the principles so manifestly indicated by the Word of God to all schools are taken hold of as earnestly as they should be, the debts will not accumulate. {SpM 117.3}
	SpTB14 3.2	In the providence of God, the minds of a few of our workers were directed to this field as a center for medical missionary work. At the time I returned from Australia, in 1900, treatment-rooms and a large vegetarian restaurant were being conducted in Los Angeles. {SpTB14 3.2}
	Te 262.2	Contacts With W.C.T.U. Workers at Melbourne.--Dr. M. G. Kellogg came to my tent to see if I would have an interview with the president and secretary of the W.C.T.U. We invited them to our tent, and we had a very pleasant visit. The president is a strict vegetarian, not having tasted meat for four years. She bears a clear countenance, which does credit to her abstemious habits. The secretary is a young woman. Both are ladies of intelligence. They manifest deep interest in all they have heard. They have made a request that I speak in the beautiful hall in which they hold their meetings, and they asked Brother Starr to write for their temperance paper. {Te 262.2}
	Te 263.1	I was introduced to her husband, a most noble-looking man. He is a pilot, and fills a very important position. Brother and Sister Starr took dinner with them, and formed a very pleasant acquaintance. Mrs. Press, in behalf of the W.C.T.U., has made a very earnest request for instruction in hygienic cooking. We have arranged to have a cooking school, to be held in Melbourne in the room adjoining the hall of the W.C.T.U. Four lessons are to be given, one each week, beginning next Thursday. The cooking of eight different dishes is to be taught at each lesson. Great enthusiasm has been created on the subject. Mrs. Press is a vegetarian, not having tasted meat for four years. {Te 263.1}
	TSDF 10.12	MS.--3--'97 Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner, yet with 11 painstaking effort, will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {TSDF 10.12}
	TSDF 107.9	7 T.--55-57 It was presented to me that we should not rest satisfied because we have a vegetarian restaurant in Brooklyn, but that others should be established in other sections of the city. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not know what is going on in other parts of that great city. Men and women who eat at the restaurants established in different places will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they will be more ready to accept God's special message of truth. {TSDF 107.9}
	TSDF 108.2	Let schools and sanitariums now be established in many places in the Southern states. Let centers of influence be made in many of the Southern cities by the opening of food stores and vegetarian restaurants. Let there also be facilities for the manufacture of simple, inexpensive health foods. But let not selfish, worldly policy be brought into the work; for God forbids this. Let unselfish men take hold of this work in the fear of God, and with love for their fellow-men. {TSDF 108.2}
	TSDF 119.4	MS.--3--'97 Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner yet with painstaking effort will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {TSDF 119.4}
	TSDF 132.13	MS.--3--'97 Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner yet with painstaking 133 effort will be healthful. Bread should never have the slightest taint of sourness. It should be cooked until it is most thoroughly done. Thus all softness and stickiness will be avoided. {TSDF 132.13}
	TSDF 22.1	7 T.--126 Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh-meat. This is foolish, indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {TSDF 22.1}
	TSDF 23.8	Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh-meats. This is foolish indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge of how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {TSDF 23.8}
	TSDF 78.4	6T.--112 The large gatherings of our people afford an excellent opportunity of illustrating the principles of health reform. Some years ago at these gatherings much was said in regard to health reform and the benefits of a vegetarian diet; but at the same time flesh-meats were furnished at the tables in the dining-tent, and various unhealthful articles of food were sold at the provision stand. Faith without work is dead; and the instruction upon health reform, denied by practice, did not make the deepest impression. At later camp-meetings those in charge have educated by practice as well as by precept. No meat has been furnished at the dining-tent, but fruits, grains, and vegetables have been supplied in abundance. As visitors ask questions in regard to the absence of meat, the reason is plainly stated, that flesh is not the most healthful food. {TSDF 78.4}
	TSDF 80.2	9 T.--156-160 If we could be benefited by indulging the desire for flesh foods, I would not make this appeal to you; but I know we can not. Flesh foods are injurious to the physical well-being, and we should learn to do without them. Those who are in a position where it is possible to secure a vegetarian diet, but who choose to follow their own preferences in this matter, eating and drinking as they please, will gradually grow careless of the instruction the Lord has given regarding other phases of the present truth, and will lose their perception of what is truth; they will surely reap as they have sown. {TSDF 80.2}
	TSDF 95.6	U. T.--Jan 11, '97 (H. L. para. 358) Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat to a vegetarian diet, to supply the table with wisely-prepared, well-cooked articles of food. {TSDF 95.6}
	TSDF 98.5	Chapter 23 - Health Foods 7 T.--56-57 Let schools and sanitariums now be established in many places in the Southern states. Let centers of influence be made in many Southern cities by the opening of food stores and vegetarian restaurants. Let there also be facilities for the manufacture of simple, inexpensive health foods. But let not selfish, worldly policy be brought into the work; for God forbids this. Let unselfish men take hold of this work in the fear of God, and with love for their fellow-men. {TSDF 98.5}
	TSDF 99.9	Some, after adopting a vegetarian diet, return to the use of flesh-meat. This is foolish, indeed, and reveals a lack of knowledge as to how to provide proper food in the place of meat. {TSDF 99.9}
	WM 112.2	During the past few years the "beehive" [REFERENCE IS HERE MADE TO A REVELATION IN 1876 WHEN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE THEN RELATIVELY NEW CHURCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO AND OAKLAND WERE REPRESENTED AS TWO BEEHIVES.] in San Francisco has been indeed a busy one. Many lines of Christian effort have been carried forward by our brethren and sisters there. These included visiting the sick and destitute, finding homes for orphans and work for the unemployed, nursing the sick, and teaching the truth from house to house, distributing literature, and conducting classes on healthful living and the care of the sick. A school for the children has been conducted in the basement of the Laguna Street meetinghouse. For a time a workingmen's home and medical mission was maintained. On market Street, near the city hall, there were treatment rooms, operated as a branch of the St. Helena Sanitarium. In the same locality was a health-food store. Nearer the center of the city, not far from the Call building, was conducted a vegetarian cafe, which was open six days in the week and entirely closed on the Sabbath. Along the water front ship mission work was carried on. At various times our ministers conducted meetings in large halls in the city. Thus the warning message was given by many.-- Review and Herald, July 5, 1906. {WM 112.2}
	WM 285.1	Planning for a Banquet.--Yesterday I had a two hours' conversation with A and his wife, who are working at the sanitarium here. I think that the interview was a profitable one. They spoke of a plan that they have in mind--to have a banquet at the sanitarium and to invite the prominent residents of St. Helena--lawyers, bankers, and ministers. They hope that thus they can do something to remove the impression that seems to be held by some in St. Helena-- that this institution is a place where only imbeciles and decrepit people are cared for. Brother B, manager of the San Francisco Vegetarian Cafe, will come up to take charge of the preparation of the banquet. {WM 285.1}

98.61% of checkboxes are checked.
71 checked, 1 unchecked.

Notes

• all mention of schools, vegetarian restaurants / cafes are classed to be vs flesh food based on instruction for students / schools.
• these are publications, doesn't include the letters
• in one letter EGW uses the rarely used meaning of vegetarian that is not strict:
  "All are vegetarians, many abstaining wholly from the use of flesh food, while others use it in only the most moderate degree." {9LtMs, Lt 99, 1894, par.1}
  cited about 5 times in commentaries.
• there are 71 out of 72 uses of the word "vegetarian" in a vs flesh food context in egw publications. and only 1 in a letter that is not strictly vs fleshfood.

Conclusion

• in egw publications 98.61% of use of the word vegetarian is in the context vs flesh foods.
• in egw writings 97.30% of use of the word vegetarian is in the context vs flesh foods.
• there are only 42 index entries for vegetarian, but 664 for "flesh food", and 686 for "flesh foods".

Winelfred G. Pasamba - researcher Jan 25 2025