Summary and Conclusions
1. For a few weeks after the Great Disappointment, Ellen Harmon and many others believed that the door of mercy had been forever closed for the whole world. Christ’s return was expected at any time. (See entries 1-3.)SDD 56.3
2. About a month or so after the disappointment, Ellen changed her mind. She decided that the Millerite computations were a mistake and that their interpretations of Scripture were wrong, and that no door affecting man’s salvation had yet been closed. (Entry no. 4.)SDD 56.4
3. In December, 1844, Ellen’s first vision led her to the conclusion that the Millerite Movement with its interpretation of Daniel 8:14 was of God after all. This led her to reaffirm once again her view of a shut door. She concluded correctly that there was a shut door on October 22, 1844. She concluded incorrectly that the door of mercy was closed on that day for everyone in the world. She saw that two groups of sinners—the apostate Millerites and the wicked world—had sinned away their day of grace. She failed to recognize, however, that there was a third category—the honest in heart who had never heard or fully appreciated the Millerite message in the first place. (Entries 5-9.)SDD 56.5
4. In February, 1845, the Lord showed Ellen that although one door was indeed shut in heaven on October 22, 1844, another door was opened. Ellen did not understand the meaning of this “open door.” (Entries 14-16.)SDD 56.6
5. At the Albany Conference, April 29-May 1, 1845, most of the Millerite leaders dropped all their previous ideas of a shut door and rejected their own previous interpretations of Scripture which had led them to the October 22, 1844 date. No door, they said, had been closed at that time. They became known as the “open door” Adventists. October 22, 1844, lost all significance for them. (Entries 18-19.)SDD 56.7
6. By way of contrast, Ellen Harmon, James White, Joseph Bates, and their friends were now known as the “Shut Door” Adventists—those who held that prophecy had been fulfilled on October 22, 1844. This date soon became a major cornerstone in their developing theology. The phrase “shut door” stood for the integrity of the October 22, 1844, date. (Entry no. 23.)SDD 57.1
7. The Lord never at any time showed Ellen White that no more sinners would be converted. She was always prepared to welcome honest souls who sought to fellowship with the little flock. Apparently, however, her missionary endeavors for several years were directed exclusively—or almost so—to former Millerites and to the children of those who belonged to the various advent bands. (Entries 24, 25, 84.)SDD 57.2
8. After Ellen White accepted the Sabbath in the autumn of 1846 she felt the burden, with her husband, of carrying this new and important truth to the advent bands. The two principal doctrines dwelt upon by Joseph Bates, James White and Ellen White were the Shut Door (integrity of the 1844 movement) and the Sabbath. (Entries 26, 32.)SDD 57.3
9. In November 1848, Ellen White saw in vision that the Sabbath-keeping Adventists should begin a publishing ministry. (Entries 34-35.)SDD 57.4
10. On January 5, 1849, Ellen White saw that not every case was yet decided for salvation or destruction. The door of mercy obviously was still open. (Entry no. 36.)SDD 57.5
11. By November, 1849, honest souls were “seeking for the truth,” and joining the Sabbathkeepers. Their numbers were “constantly increasing.” By now Ellen White and others must have been convinced that their earlier concept of the shut door was too limited. (Entry no. 42.)SDD 57.6
12. One reason that the “Sabbath and Shut Door” Adventists did not urge their ministry upon the world at large was due to the strong prejudice against them. However, by 1851 this prejudice had gradually begun to dissipate. (Entry no. 57.)SDD 57.7
13. The conversion of Heman Churchill, on or before July 6, 1850, must have made a deep impression upon James White. He took occasion to mention in the Advent Review that one had been converted “who had not been in the advent.” (Entries 55-56.)SDD 57.8
14. On July 29, 1850, Ellen White stated clearly that converts to the truth would include “others who had not heard the Advent doctrine and rejected it.” Heman Churchill’s example was to be followed by others. (Entry no. 59.)SDD 58.1
15. By August 19, 1851, the door was “open almost everywhere.” By late 1851 there were many among the Sabbath and Shut Door people who “had but little or no experience in the advent movement.” (Entry no. 81.)SDD 58.2
16. It took about seven years, from 1844 to 1851, for most Sabbath-keeping Adventists to realize that a major mission to the world still lay ahead of them in the proclamation of the third angel’s message.SDD 58.3
17. While the term “shut door” at first was used to indicate probation’s close in 1844, it soon came to mean the close of Christ’s ministry in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. It stood for a change of Christ’s ministry in heaven on October 22, 1844.SDD 58.4
18. While Ellen White’s personal beliefs underwent a gradual modification during this period, I find no evidence that she at any time taught theological error in her shut door writings.SDD 58.5