The writings of Ellen White are replete with contrasting categories: “bigotry,” “extremism,” “fanaticism,” “narrowness,” “smallness,” and “tangent,” on the one hand; and “balance,” “moderation,” “equilibrium,” and “common sense” on the other.GVEGW 20.8

In the area of dress she cautioned: “Shun extremes.” ^{14Selected Messages 2:477.}“There is a medium position in these things. Oh, that we all might wisely find that position and keep it.” ^{15Testimonies for the Church 1:425.}GVEGW 20.9

In the area of diet, she repeatedly urged, “Take the middle path, avoiding all extremes.” ^{16Counsels on Diet and Foods, 211.}GVEGW 20.10

In the area of educational theory and practice she pleaded: “God wants us all to have common sense, and He wants us to reason from common sense.” ^{17Selected Messages 3:217; the immediate context is a discussion of the proper age for a child’s first entry into school.}GVEGW 20.11

Ellen White viewed many a vice as being a virtue that has been carried to an unwarranted extreme: “It is carrying that which is lawful to excess that makes it a grievous sin.” ^{18Testimonies for the Church 4:505.} Satan recognized that if he can get Christians into either the right-hand or the left-hand ditch of the road to heaven, they will make no forward advancement. Therefore, he seeks to change the metaphor—to get Christians into the “ice of indifference” or the “fire of fanaticism.” ^{19Testimonies for the Church 5:644; cf. Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 228; Counsels on Health, 628.} Either will suit his purpose.GVEGW 21.1

And her lament for the church of her day is equally applicable to our own:GVEGW 21.2

“There is a class of people who are always ready to go off on some tangent, who want to catch up something strange and wonderful and new.” ^{20Evangelism, 611.}GVEGW 21.3

Her reasons for opposing extremists and urging moderate views are practical and not far to seek:GVEGW 21.4

1. They bring the church into “disrepute“: a few can discredit the entire body. ^{21Testimonies for the Church 1:212.}GVEGW 21.5

2. They “have greatly injured the cause of truth.” ^{22Testimonies for the Church 3:315.}GVEGW 21.6

3. They “make Christian duties ... burdensome.” ^{23Selected Messages 2:319.}GVEGW 21.7

4. They “raise a false standard and then endeavor to bring everybody [up] to it.” ^{24Testimonies for the Church 2:375.}GVEGW 21.8

5. Their spiritual eyesight is “perverted.” ^{25Evangelism, 610, 611; cf. The Signs of the Times, August 1, 1895.}GVEGW 21.9

6. Satan uses them “to cast contempt upon the work of the [Holy] Spirit.” ^{26The Great Controversy, 10.}GVEGW 21.10

At the heart of the philosophy of ancient Greece was the idea of not-too-much, not-too-little:” ‘Nothing to excess’ (Medan agan) was their central doctrine, ... which the Roman poet Horace later interpreted as ‘the golden mean.’” ^{27“Ancient Greece: The Heritage of the Ancient Greeks,” Compton’s Encyclopedia (1982), vol. 10, p. 226.}GVEGW 21.11

Ellen White interpreted it in her own characteristically inimitable way: “True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely”—total abstinence—“with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful.” ^{28Patriarchs and Prophets, 562.}GVEGW 21.12

And to those who went to the ultimate extreme in “going overboard”—leaving the remnant church entirely—her warning to Dudley M. Canright (who did just that, in spite of her warnings) ^{29Testimonies for the Church 5:571-573. The story is told—and illustrated—in Roger W. Coon, “Look a Little Higher” (Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, Inc., 1990), pp. 10, 11.} remains as a timely caution today. Whether from skepticism and doubt, or from going to extreme positions, the tragedy is the same: making “shipwreck” of faith (1 Timothy 1:19). ^{30See Testimonies for the Church 4:233, 246; Testimonies for the Church 5:275, 675, 676.}GVEGW 21.13

God’s Message Today

Conclusion