A Spiritualist Discomfited
Present in the congregation at Parkville that Sabbath was a Dr. Brown, who was a local physician and a spiritualist. (Such practitioners, which flourished in Mrs. White’s day, were generally known either as “electric physicians” or as “magnetic healers.”) 16“Shall We Consult Spiritualist Physicians?” The Review and Herald, June 27, 1882, cited in Testimonies for the Church 5:198. Dr. Brown had moved to this town in the interim between the close of Loughborough’s 1859 evangelistic campaign and the dedication of the church’s new edifice on January 12, 1861. 17Loughborough, “Sketches ... No. 122.”GVEGW 77.7
Interestingly, Brown had sent out his own personal invitations to fellow mediums to attend the dedication, when it became known that Mrs. White would attend and speak. His announcement included these words:GVEGW 78.1
“Mrs. White is to be there, and you will hear something good, for she consults with a higher grade of spirits than we do.... If Mrs. White comes, she will probably have a vision. If she does, I know just what it is, as a physician; and if she has a vision, I will bring her out of it in a minute.” 18Ibid.GVEGW 78.2
While Ellen was in vision her husband stepped forward, as he so often did under similar circumstances, and explained the background and nature of his wife’s experience. He invited any present who wished to examine her to do so. This not only provided graphic demonstration of the fact that the supernatural was presently at work, but it also served to destroy the credibility of critics who continued to hurl charges of fraud at the Whites.GVEGW 78.3
Witness Loughborough picks up the story at this point: “Just then someone in the back part of the house, where the doctor stood, said, ‘Doctor, go ahead and do what you said you would.’ We knew not, as yet, what that meant. Brother White, on learning that there was a doctor in the house, invited him to come forward.GVEGW 78.4
“The doctor started in a confident, pompous manner; but when he was about halfway down the aisle, he suddenly stopped, turned deathly pale, and began to shake from head to foot. Brother White urged him to come forward, and he advanced about half of the remaining distance, but stopped in more terror than before.GVEGW 78.5
“Brother White then went to the doctor, put his hand on his shoulder, and urged him forward. The doctor made a careful but hasty examination of the pulse, heart, and breath, and said, ‘Elder, her heart and pulse are all right, but there is not any breath in her body.’ Of course, he found a different case than he expected.GVEGW 78.6
“When he had finished his examination, he made all haste for the door, trying to get out of the house. Those at the door would not let him out, but said, ‘Go back, and do as you said you would.’ Brother White, seeing the man trying to get out, said, ‘Doctor, please report to the audience the result of your examination.’ The doctor said, ‘Her heart and pulse are all right, but there is not a particle of breath in the woman’s body.’GVEGW 78.7
“The people near the door said, ‘Doctor, what is it?’ He replied, ‘God only knows. Let me out of this house.’ They stood back from the door, and he fled. We saw no more of him in our meetings.” 19Testimonies for the Church 5:1, 2. (For earlier accounts, cf. RPSDA 97, 98; The General Conference Bulletin, 1893, 60; and GSAM 210, 211.)GVEGW 79.1
Judge Osborne, who was present, then said to Loughborough, “It was evident to all of us that the spirit that controlled the doctor as a medium, and the Spirit that controlled Mrs. White in vision, had no sympathy with each other. The doctor’s actions made us think of the evil spirits that wanted to know if the Lord had come to torment them before their time [see Matthew 8:29].” 20Testimonies for the Church 5:2.GVEGW 79.2