Ellen White’s Understanding of How Inspiration Works

No halfway inspiration. Ellen White was forthright: “God is either teaching His church ... or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not.... There is no halfway work in the matter. The testimonies are of the Spirit of God or of the Devil.” ^{44Testimonies for the Church 4:230; 5:691. See p. 409 for a discussion of degrees of inspiration.} Other than the obvious distinction between the common and the sacred, Mrs. White’s work cannot be divided between the inspired and the less inspired: “The Holy Ghost is the author of the Scriptures and of the Spirit of Prophecy [a metonym for the writings of Ellen White].... These are not to be twisted and turned to mean what man may want them to mean.” ^{45Letter 92, 1900, to J. H. Kellogg, in Manuscript Releases 2:189.}MOL 421.1

This sense of divine direction kept Ellen White from commenting on matters on which she had no special light. In 1909 a minister felt he needed counsel. Mrs. White answered him, in part: “If the Lord gives me definite instruction concerning you, I will give it you; but I cannot take upon myself responsibilities that the Lord does not give me to bear.” ^{46Selected Messages 3:51.}MOL 421.2

Often divinely helped in writing and speaking. In the oft-quoted introduction to The Great Controversy, Ellen White wrote regarding revelation: “One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind—a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all.” ^{47The Great Controversy, vi. See Index, Inspiration, Verbal vs. thought.}MOL 421.3

Ellen White recognized that the Holy Spirit “guided” her in the writing process even as He was “impressing” her in the revealing process, although in a different way. She explained: “Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord 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 be those spoken to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation.” ^{48Selected Messages 1:37.}MOL 421.4

Sometimes she struggled for the appropriate words. In a 1901 letter she shared her gratitude for her Lord’s help: “He works at my right hand and at my left. While I am writing out important matter, He is beside me, helping me. He lays out my work before me, and when I am puzzled for a fit word with which to express my thought, He brings it clearly and distinctly to my mind. I feel that every time I ask, even while I am speaking, He responds, ‘Here am I.’” ^{49Letter 201, 1902, cited in Manuscript Releases 2:156, 157. This is not a reference to verbal inspiration. God used the words in Ellen White’s vocabulary, not in someone else’s. Everyone doing work for God has experienced that gracious touch of the Spirit while seeking right words for the occasion, whether speaking or writing.}MOL 421.5

The time to present the message is not always under the prophet’s control. Ellen White wrote: “I cannot call [the vision] to mind until I am brought before a company where that vision applies, then the things which I have seen come to my mind with force. I am just as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in relating or writing a vision, as in having the vision. It is impossible for me to call up things which have been shown me unless the Lord brings them before me at the time that He is pleased to have me relate or write them.” ^{50Selected Messages 1:36, 37.}MOL 421.6

Interpreting symbols. The Bible frequently employs symbols to teach lessons that otherwise would not have been understood or remembered. The prophet usually explained the symbols in some literal fashion. ^{51“The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves embodied the thought in human language.” Selected Messages 1:25.}MOL 421.7

Ellen White recalled how “in the night season the Lord gives me instruction in symbols, and then explains their meaning.” ^{52Ms 22, 1890, cited in The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 578.} In describing the future of the publishing work (1894), she wrote that “the work has been presented to me as, at its beginning, a small, very small rivulet. The representation was given to the prophet Ezekiel of waters issuing ‘from under the threshold of the house eastward ... at the south side of the altar.’ ... This work was represented to me as extending to ... all parts of the world.” ^{53The Publishing Work, p. 157.} The symbol conveyed the meaning that otherwise would have required many words.MOL 421.8

On another occasion, she wrote to Dr. Kellogg during his crisis years that he was represented in a vision as “trying to push a long car up a steep ascent. But this car, instead of going up the hill, kept running down. This car represented the food business as a commercial enterprise.” ^{54Letter 239, 1903, cited in Manuscript Releases 1:26.} Very graphic, saving her many words that otherwise would have been needed.MOL 422.1

Most symbols were given, not to create mysteries, but to convey truth in a graphic manner, using an economy of words. To try to interpret most symbols literally would falsify or mystify truth. Some symbols in the Bible pointed to reality, to literal events or places. The sanctuary service given by God to Moses is an example of the literal symbol pointing to a literal place. Regarding the sanctuary lessons, Mrs. White wrote: “We all need to keep the subject of the sanctuary in mind. God forbid that the clatter of words coming from human lips should lessen the belief of our people in the truth that there is a sanctuary in heaven, and that a pattern of this sanctuary was once built on this earth. God desires His people to become familiar with this pattern, keeping ever before their minds the heavenly sanctuary, where God is all and in all.” ^{55Letter 233, 1904, cited in Manuscript Releases 4:217. See Spalding, Origin and History, vol. 1, pp. 108-111 for thoughts on how an earthly “diagrammatic pattern” interprets the truth of the heavenly sanctuary.}MOL 422.2

Harmony in a straight line of truth. In looking back over the years in 1905, Ellen White encouraged her readers to note that “there is one straight line of truth, without one heretical sentence” in her many pages of instruction. ^{56Selected Messages 3:52. “There is, throughout my printed works, a harmony with my present teaching.” Selected Messages 3:38.} The key to this harmony is the unfolding of the Great Controversy Theme, especially as developed in the sanctuary doctrine. She said that “the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great Advent Movement, and revealing present duty as it brought to light the position and work of His people.” ^{57The Great Controversy, 423.}MOL 422.3