Other Fanatical Views

Beyond these more clearly definable types of fanaticism, Ellen White confronted other erroneous ideas and demonstrations during 1845 and 1846. For instance, a few were teaching that people should cut off their hair, while others said it was wrong to eat anything grown that year. One man, named Hewitt, thought he was to eat nothing but sugar.⁵⁰

Extracts from a letter of Marion C. Stowell Crawford to W. C. White, Oct. 14, 1908; Ellen G. White, Ms 131a, 1906 (c. 1906).

While Ellen White was sympathetic to certain forms of religious demonstration, she was consistently opposed to the mixed-gender aspect of foot washing and the salutation kiss.⁵¹

Ellen G. White, “Early Experiences in Meeting Fanaticism,” Ms 10, 1859 (c. 1859); idem, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, pp. 7, 8; idem, Lt 2, 1874 (Aug. 24); J. N. Andrews, “Testimonials,” September 1874 (Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate); Marion C. S. Truesdail, L. O. Stowell, W. A. Barton, C. C. Chase, P. F. Chase, and L. B. Stowell, “Testimonial,” Aug. 17, 1875, Ellen G. White Estate.

“The Lord tells me,” she responded, “that you have no business with my feet at all. When my feet are washed, it will be by a sister, not by any man.” The man then began to “cry and cry and cry and cry.” Ellen told him, “I wouldn't use up my strength in that way, because it doesn't make any more impression on me than the barking of a dog, not a bit.”⁵²

Ellen G. White and Clarence C. Crisler, 1906 interview, Ellen G. White Estate, DF 733-c.

Fanaticism is an affliction of the sincere who become misguided and lose a biblical and reasoned basis for their faith and practice. Later in life Ellen White observed: “We have found in our experience that if Satan cannot keep souls bound in the ice of indifference, he will try to push them into the fire of fanaticism. When the Spirit of the Lord comes among His people, the enemy seizes his opportunity to work also upon different minds and lead them to mingle their own peculiar traits of character with the work of God. Thus there is always danger that they may allow their own spirit to mingle with the work and that unwise moves may be made.”⁵³

Ellen G. White, Lt 34, 1889 (Jan. 4); see also idem, Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, p. 38.

In the uncertainty and confusion of Millerite Adventism following the 1844 disappointment, Ellen White's prophetic gift helped to stabilize and preserve a core group of people who retained faith in the prophetic significance of 1844 and later adopted the teaching of the seventh-day Sabbath. Her visions consistently opposed the more radical or fanatical aspects of Adventism in the confusing months following the 1844 disappointment. This did not mean, however, that she was opposed to sometimes-exuberant religious expression.1EGWLM 930.3