We speak the truth in Love!

Ellen G. White Estate vault at Seventh-day Adventist headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Ellen G. White, with all other early Seventh-day Adventists, strongly taught that, from October 22, 1844, until the same time in 1851, that there was no salvation for sinners. A few months before this seven years ended, Elder White and his wife became convinced that this theory had to be given up. Therefore, at Saratoga Springs, New York, in August 1951, Elder White with his wife, published "Experience and Views," a little pamphlet of sixty-four pages. No reference by either of them is made in this to "A Word to the Little Flock" published by James White in 1847, nor to "Present Truth," published in 1849 and 1850, although all but seven introductory pages of "Experience and Views" is copied word for word from these two publications. Why this studied silence regarding these two publications? Because both of these old works were full of the "shut door" theory. Hence it was necessary to have these quietly dropped out of sight and forgotten as soon as possible. This is the explanation of their having kept out of sight ever since. They will never be seen by the younger generation of Seventh-day Adventists with the consent of the leaders who now know that they once existed. A knowledge of them would absolutely destroy the faith of intelligent and honest believers in Mrs. White, in any of her claims, and this would mean the destruction of the very heart and soul of the denominational life.

In 1882 the office at Battle Creek, Michigan published a small work entitled "Early Writings," by Mrs. White. In the preface the publishers say: "A widespread interest has arisen in all her works, especially in these early views, and the call for the publication of a second edition has become imperative. No portion of the work has been omitted. No shadow of change has been made in any idea or sentiment of the original work; and the verbal changes have been made under the author's own eye and with her full approval." In the "Advent Review" of December 26, 1882 is an article from the pen of Elder G. I. Butler, under the caption, "A Book Long Desired."

In this article he calls the attention of his readers to the importance of purchasing the foregoing mentioned book. From this article we make the following quotations:

Immediately after "Early Writings" was published, Elder A. C. Long published a tract of sixteen pages entitled "Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White with Later Publications." We here present a quotation from Mr. Long's tract:

We now present the evidence to show that the foregoing quotation, in which Elder Butler says that the work he speaks of contains all of Mrs. White's "early writings," is absolutely untrue and deceptive. The earliest writings of Mrs. White were published by Elder White in 1847, in a small pamphlet of only twenty-four pages, entitled "A Word to the Little Flock." The work to which Elder Butler refers, as containing all of her early writings, published in 1882, claims to be an exact reprint of all her early visions. Now note carefully, that, commencing at the beginning of her first vision, as published in 1847, we read down thirty-three lines and discover that the late republished work agrees with the old one nearly word for word, only a few slight changes without altering the sense. But at the end of the thirty-third line we find that four lines have been omitted or "suppressed." These read as follows:

These lines are found on page 14 of the edition of 1847. They are not to be found in the later editions of the visions published in 1851 and in 1882. We have all three editions in our possession. Why were these very few lines left out? Because at the 1847 date Mrs. White believed in the "shut door" theory, and claimed that by divine revelation from God, He had shown her that "all the wicked world which God had rejected" was lost forever. In the autumn of 1851 and in 1882 she no longer believed that theory; hence these lines had to be omitted. Here God's professed prophetic messenger dared to tamper with an alleged divine revelation.

Now, reading on seventy-two lines farther in this vision, we dis60ver twenty-two more lines to have been omitted. Here are a few of them:

At that early date Mrs. White still believed in the conscious state of the dead; so she sees all these patriarchs in heaven. Later she discarded that idea for the theory that the dead are unconscious in the sleep of death. It therefore becomes plain why these lines were omitted. She had changed her views on the state of the dead, and therefore this "revelation" of God to her must go.

A little farther on two lines are omitted;still farther on eight lines are left out; and nine lines yet farther on in the vision.

A vision which Mrs. White had at Camden, New York, June 29,1851, is entirely missing from this volume which professes to include all of Mrs. White's early writings. Here is a quotation from this suppressed vision:

The reason why this vision was suppressed is plain. It taught the "shut door" doctrine in the plainest terms.

Why, then, should Elder Butler accuse those who had called the attention of a deluded people to the fact that some of Mrs. White's writings and visions had been suppressed, of making "lying insinuations" against her and her colaborers? Here are the facts. They have never been, nor can they be, successfully refuted.

It is clearly manifest why all these "inspired" statements and visions were suppressed. They taught the shut-door doctrine, and said that the Adventist people were not to "pray for the wicked world which God had rejected"; that their sympathy "must be withdrawn from the ungodly." After 1844 they were to have no sympathy for the ungodly, nor must they pray for them'

The most important work published by Seventh-day Adventists during the years in which they believed and taught that probation had closed for sinners in 1844, was a paper called "Present Truth." There were eleven numbers of this printed. They were issued from various places in the East, covering the period from July, 1849, to November, 1850.

In the number for August, 1849, pages 21 to 24, is a long vision by Mrs. White. This vision is reproduced in "Early Writings," edition 1882, pages 34 to 37, except eight lines from page 22, relating to reformations since 1844, which are omitted. These lines are as follows:

The reason why these lines were suppressed is plain. They teach in the strongest language possible that there were no real conversions after 1844. In 1882 they no longer believed this; so these lines had to be suppressed.

On pages 31 and 32 of "Present Truth" is another long vision by Mrs. White. This vision is quoted on pages 37 to 39 of "Early Writings." Here, again, thirty-five lines are suppressed. The omission is so lengthy we quote only a part of it simply to show why the omission was made. In this she says the messengers sent out of God "would be safe from the prevailing pestilence. But if any went that were not sent of God, they would be in danger of being cut down by the pestilence...What we have seen and heard of the pestilence is but the beginning of what we shall see and hear. Soon the dead and dying will be all around us."

The pestilence here referred to was local, brief, and soon checked. No such thing happened, as she predicted. She simply expressed the fears common to frighten persons at the time. That is all. The vision absolutely failed, and therefore these lines had to be suppressed'

Continuing on to page 64 of "Present Truth," we there find another vision which has been entirely omitted from her "Early Writings." The motive for the omission will be apparent to all. A portion of the vision runs as follows:

Mrs. White here quotes Hosea 5:6,7, to prove that there was no genuine conversions after 1844. This, all their ministers did at that time, as has been seen already. She "saw" just what all the others saw.

Again, in "Present Truth," November, 1850, pages 86 and 87, there are nearly three columns in fine print, recording another of Mrs. White's visions. Almost two whole columns of this vision are omitted from "Early Writings."

All of the omitted passages here quoted or referred to are in the very first writings of Mrs. White.

"Early Writings," published in 1882, claims to contain all the early writings of Mrs. White, with "not a word omitted." If this claim were true' all of the omitted passages here quoted and referred to would be included. But they are not. Why were they suppressed? The answer has already been given. What, then, shall we say of the publishers' statement? Is it not a deliberate misrepresentation of fact, made to hide some of Mrs. White's "inspired" erroneous teachings?

In "Early Writings," edition of 1882 we read: "Preface to the first edition. James White, August, 1851." Was the first edition that of 1851? No, indeed' The first edition of her early writings was issued in 1847.

Then, again, in this 1882 edition' we read: "This second edition," etc. This statement also is untrue, because that was the third edition of her early writings. This was done by Elder and Mrs. White, to keep out of sight the dangerous first edition of 1847.

As this was all done with Mrs. White's approval, and as it was copyrighted by her, did she not know that these statments were not true? Surely she did. But Elder Butler was not aware of it. Up to 1882, the edition of 1851 was the only one of which he knew, and so, of course, he copied from that edition, word for word, just as he said.

As soon, however; as the edition of 1882 was published, Elder A. C. Long issued his pamphlet, giving all the passages omitted from the edition of 1847. Butler read this, Mrs. White also knew of it. Honesty in either, or both of them, required that an apology be made, and that the omitted passages immediately be printed as addenda to be sent with the remaining copies, or at least be printed in the next edition.

But what has occured? Thirty-five years have gone by, eleven editions have been printed, thousands of copies are still being sold to the uninformed people, and yet no reference has been made to these known suppressions, nor has a line of any of them been inserted in later editions. Every copy sent out states what the publishers now know to be false. All this justifies our charge that there is a streak of deception in the whole work of Seventh-day Adventists, from first to last.

In the providence of God the author happens to know the inside facts regarding the publication of "Early Writings" in 1882. For years he has been closely connected with Elder White and his wife, Elders Butler, Smith and others. At that time Butler was the President of the General Conference, President of the Publishing Association, etc.

One day in 1880 he came into the office where Elder Smith and myself were. In high glee he said: "Those Western rebels say we have suppressed some of Sister White's earliest visions. I will stop their mouths, for I am going to republish all she ever wrote in those early visions." Elder White leaned forward, dropped his voice low, and said: "Butler, you better go a little slow." That was all. I did not understand what his warning meant, nor did Butler.

Soon Elder White died - in August, 1881. Butler then went ahead, and in 1882 issued the present edition of "Early Writings." In the preface he said not a word of how her early writings had been omitted. The book, he said, contained all she had written. Then, as already stated, came Elder Long's exposure of that untrue statement, in which he gave numerous passages from "A Word to the Little Flock," which had been suppressed. This put Butler in a bad light.

At that time Elder Uriah Smith and myself were on the most intimate terms. We both agreed in having little confidence in Mrs. White's inspiration. So it pleased Smith to have Butler pricked on that point, and have the visions put in doubt. Under date of March 22, 1883, E1Smith, formerly a staunch defender of Mrs. White, wrote me thus:

Elder Bates led Elder White and his wife to believe that Jesus would end his work in the sanctuary above in seven years from October 22, 1844. This period would end in 1851. Near the close of that period, it appears that Elder White and his wife saw that this theory must be abandoned. But what of their two early publications, both full of the doctrine? A study of the situation shows that they must have agreed to leave our of her writings all passages that strongly upheld that view, publish the rest of her writings under a new name, and drop their first two publications, "A Word to the Little Flock," and "Present Truth," out of sight as soon as they could. A new paper was started with a new name, "Advent Review and Sabbath Herald." In August, 1851, two months before the end of the seven years, Mrs. White herself revised what she had before written in "A Word to the Little Flock" in 1847, and in "Present Truth" in 1849-50, and left out the objectionable passaqes and visions already mentioned.

Here are her own words about the affair: "Here I will give the view that was first published in 1846. In this view I saw only a very few of the events of the future. More recent views have been more full. I shall therefore leave out a portion and prevent repitition." ("Experience and Views," August, 1851, p.9). This reveals who did the "leaving out." It was Mrs. White herself. Then Elder White attended to the printing, as shown in the preface. Both of them, therefore, knew about and agreed to the suppressions. Any references to the edition of 1847, or "Present Truth," published in 1849 and 1850, is studiously avoided.

Those old documents of 1847 to 1850 ought to be invaluable to Seventh-day Adventists, because they contain a history of the earliest days of the church, the first writings of Mrs. White and all their pioneers. How eagerly SDA's would buy and read them if they had the opportunity' But their eyes will never behold them if it depends upon their leaders to supply them.

On August 12, 1915, the author wrote to Elder F. M. Wilcox, editor of the "Review and Herald," urging him to republish these old works, offering to loan him copies for the purpose. Here is his answer:

I have never heard from him since. Evidently the board decided that the wise course was to permit these old documents to rest in silence. I knew very well that they would dare do nothing else. After waiting several months, I wrote to Elder Wilcox again, but never received a reply.

Elder J. N. Loughborough, in his book "The Great Second Advent Movement," page 263, edition 1905, desired to give Elder Joseph Bates' testimony concerning Mrs. White's work, as given on page 21 of "A Word to the Little Flock," printed in 1847. The following illustrates the manner in which he uses the material from this early publication. He quotes:

Note those three little dots? They mean that something was left out of the passage quoted. What was it? Just three short words. We will insert those words omitted from the lines quoted and indicate them by using italics. Here they are:

These three little words reveal the fact that Bates and Elder White, who published the tract in 1847, believed that their work for the world closed up in October, 1844. Elder Loughborough wished to use these lines and yet hide this fact regarding the belief of these early leaders. To accomplish it he omitted-suppressed-just three words, and placed three dots in their place in his quotation' He did not do this to save space in a large work of six hundred pages. He did it to hide, conceal and suppress a doctrine which he well knew Bates and Elder and Mrs. White all believed and taught in 1847.It is a deliberate deception, too plain to be denied. It shows how willing he was to falsify in order to shield Mrs. White and the pioneers in this movement who adhered to her and proclaimed her a prophet.

Here is another case in which the same writer, Elder Loughborough, deliberatelvsuporessed several lines from Mrs. White's first vision published in 1847. Again, he did it to shield her, and to hide the fact that she then taught that probation for the world ended in 1844. We will give you this quotation, found on page 204 of his work, and enclose in brackets the lines he left out. Concerning those Adventists who became backsliders after 1844, Loughborough quotes Mrs. White as writing thus:

Was it honest to suppress these lines? Most certainly not. Following in the footsteps of Elder Loughborough, Elder G. I. Butler, writing in the "Review and Herald," August 17, 1916, suppressed the same passage. He gave the same quotation, suppressed the same lines, and for the same purpose. Butler knew that he was deceiving, for only a few years previously he had this very matter fully laid before him. He well knew the entire passage as it appeared in Mrs. White's early vision.

Do Baptists, Methodists, or any other evangelical church, have to practice such methods to cover up past mistakes? Not one of them. All are proud of their past. But Seventh-day Adventists are ashamed of theirs, and well they may be.

In the General Conference vault in the office at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., are many thousands of pages of Mrs. White's unpublished writing. These are carefully guarded from their own people. It is claimed, however, that every line of these writings was inspired by the Holy Ghost to guide that people now. Yet they are withheld from them by the officials. What right have they to withhold all these writings if they are God's ispired words?

Lastly, what prophet of God ever suppressed his own inspired writ-ings? This one test alone is sufficient to disprove Mrs. White's claims to divine inspiration.

(Taken from "Life of Mrs. E. G. White, Seventh-day Adventist Prophet, Her False Claims Refuted," by D. M. Canright, for 25 years a prominent writer and minister of the Seventh-day Adventist church.)

Dr. Ronald L. Numbers, author of "Prophetess of Health: Ellen G. White," comments on suppression within the White Estates:

I don't know how many of you have worked within the White Estate, but perhaps I should say a word or two about their procedures. The Estate does not allow browsing in their documents. You must request a specific manuscript or letter. It is then brought to you if it is not restricted, you may read it, but you are not allowed to take notes. If you see a passage you would like to use, you make a notation, bring it to the attention of the officials of the Estate, they then bring it before the Board of Trustees of the White Estate. If they agree, then it goes before the Spirit of Prophecy Committee composed of officials of the church. If they pass on it, the material is released and you have permission to use it. During this initial contact with Elder White and his staff, they were most cordial. They granted me special permission not only to see many of the documents that I requested, but, in effect, to browse through Ellen White's entire correspondence for the 1860's, which was the period I was particularly interested in...I had only about a week to spend, and it was impossible for me to go through the procedure that was necessary with all the documents I wished to see; so I arranged with Elder White to have a number of other documents, which I specifically requested, sent...Most of the documents which I requested were sent; however, five were withheld. If any of you are interested:

W-6-1863; W-4-1886; W-13-1871; W-21-1883; B-53-1888.

The explanation given me for this was, and I quote: 'In four or five instances we have withheld letters because of the highly personal nature of some of the contents of them.' But as I recall none of these letters involved anyone outside the White family. They were not revelations about secret sins in other individual's lives. After going througt these documents, I submitted a lengthy release request to Elder White and the officers of the White Estate. Shortly after submitting this request, Elder White came to Loma Linda to discuss my request. He spent an entire afternoon with me and asked a number of rather pointed questions. Before releasing this material he wanted to make sure how it would be used. At one point he pulled out of his briefcase a copy of Mrs. White's little volume Appeal to Mothers, which was her first booklet on health in which she descrilbes her revelations on masturbation, and he asked me, 'Brother Numbers, do you believe this?' and I told him that I thought that this would be one of the most difficult documents to substantiate today.

He also explained why the White Estate would not be able to release one of the documents I had requested. This document was a letter, as I recall, written by Mrs. White to the President of the General Conference, Elder A. D. Daniells, in the 1890's. In the 1890's after a lapse of several decades Mrs. White once again enthusiastically embraced the health reform and vegetarianism, and she suggested to the President of the General Conference that Seventh-day Adventists now begin to circulate an anti-meat pledge analogous to the temperance pledge that had gone over so well in the church. Daniells, who had just returned from Europe, responded that this would be impractical, that such a device would undoubtedly split the church in two, and that certainly before circulating an anti-meat pledge we would want to embark on an educational campaign. Mrs. White subsequently backed down from this and at the next session of the General Conference endorsed Elder A. G. Daniell's view of things:

In July I received word from Arthur White saying that the Trustees and the Spirit of Prophecy Committee had approved most of my requests, but, and here again I quote:

I think it's important to note that not one of the documents not released was related to any revelation of personal sin in an individual's life, the Ellen G. White Estate's only publicly stated reason for withholding material. The concern was soleY in protectinq a cer-tain image of Mrs. White carefully constructed by the White Estate over a period of many years.

In April 1974, I re-submitted my request for release of that paragraph of L-6-1864 relating to Dr. Jackson's examination of Edson and Willie White, pointing out at this time that the officials of the White Estate had repeatedly stated that the Trusteees had no interest in restricting significant historical data but were concerned only with protecting confidential correspondence dealing with personal sins. It seems to me, I said, that my request is in harmony with the stated policy of the White Estate. Later that month, Elder White notified me that my second request for this document had also been denied by the Trustees. Quote:

That same spring I learned that the staff of the White Estate had discovered and brought to the attention of Elder White Dr. Jackson's own handwritten description of Willie White's physical and mental characteristics. When I subsequently visited the Estate, I asked Elder White if he knew of any documents besides L-6-1864 relating to Dr. Jackson's examination of the White boys. He assured me in the presence of Elder Paul Gordon that he did not know that any such document existed. Later, during a second visit to the White Estate, I prevailed upon Elder Ron Graybill to show me this document. I might add that subsequently in a phone conversation with Elder White I asked him why had had formerly denied that any such document existed, and he said, quote:

I might also add that the paragraph from the 1864 letter relating to the examination of Willie and Edson White was released only after I had cited, but not quoted, that document in the second draft of my manuscript which was submitted to the White Estate for criticism...

For years Seventh-day Adventists have applauded as excellent historical studies those biographies of Joseph Smith and Mary Baker Eddy which freely incorporate the views of individuals who eventually left Mormonism and Christian Science. But it seems that when the same methodology is applied to Ellen White, it becomes, to quote a friend of mine, 'wildly irresponsible.' Frankly, I'm puzzled by this attitude. It seems to me that we get a perspective of Ellen White from the people who left the church that we cannot possibly get from those who stayed in the church, and it also strikes me that the tendency to distort is no greater on the part of the 'apostates' than it is on the part of the 'disciples.'

If we are truly committed to discovering the truth about Ellen White, we cannot afford to leave any explanation - no matter how unpleasant - untested. It is not easy to examine critically the beliefs that have given meaning to one's life. Sometimes the task can be excruciatingly painful, but it is always immensely rewarding. As the Apostle John once said:

(Taken from Dr. Ronald Number's lecture "Prophetess of Health," San Bernardino, California, 5/29/76; "Spectrum," Volume 8, Number 2, p.36)

In LIFE SKETCHES, page 104 written by Ellen G. White there is reproduced a portion of her letter to Joseph Bates dated July 13, 1847 in which she stated over and over again that she had been shown the shut door in vision.

When F. D. Nichol prepared his book ELLEN G. WIIITE AND HER CRITICS, he deliberately refused to publish the 1847 letter from Ellen G. White to Joseph Bates because "it might raise too many questions." (See SPECTRUM, Volume 8, Number 2, page 36.)

We Speak truth in LOVE
"you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth" Jn 8:40

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