The Record Is Clear

From the earliest days of the Seventh-day Adventist Church both the church leadership and Mrs. White have been on record that her writings are not to be viewed as a new Bible, a kind of substitute for the Holy Scriptures. Listen to these words of James White, husband of Ellen G. White, that he wrote in 1847:WBEGW 120.2

“The Bible is a perfect and complete revelation. It is our only rule of faith and practice. But this is no reason, why God may not show the past, present, and future fulfilment of his word, in these last days, by dreams and visions; according to Peter’s testimony. True visions are given to lead us to God, and his written word; but those that are given for a new rule of faith and practice, separate from the Bible, cannot be from God, and should be rejected.”—A Word to the Little Flock, 13.WBEGW 120.3

Lack of space prevents our quoting a long array of similar statements by other church leaders through the years that are written in the same tenor.WBEGW 120.4

But let us quote, now, a statement by Mrs. White herself. Her first published work, which appeared in 1851, climaxes with these words:WBEGW 120.5

“I recommend to you, dear reader, the Word of God as the rule of your 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.”—Early Writings, 78.WBEGW 120.6

This was the unchanging position she took throughout her life. We may rightly conclude, therefore, that neither Mrs. White nor the church leadership hold up her writings as another Bible, a kind of substitute for the Holy Word. It is an interesting fact that the publishers of Bibles declare that Seventh-day Adventists are perhaps their best customers—an incomprehensible state of affairs if we had adopted a substitute for Holy Writ.WBEGW 121.1