Did Ellen White Breathe While in Vision?

One of the phenomena connected with Ellen White’s visions with which Hodder and Couperus seem to have special difficulty, is the testimony of many eyewitnesses to the effect that she did not breathe while in vision. ^{24Ibid., pp. 207-210.}ViOSe 24.4

Loughborough, who says he saw Ellen White in vision “about fifty times,” ^{25Ibid., p. 204.} simply states that while in vision “she does not breathe, yet her pulse beats regularly.” ^{26Ibid., p. 205.} But of all the witnesses, perhaps the most convincing testimony is that of Daniel T. Bourdeau, who was skeptical of the visions at the time he performed his own test. He states that:ViOSe 24.5

[On] June 28, 1857, I saw Sister Ellen G. White in vision for the first time. I was an unbeliever in the visions; but one circumstance among others that I might mention convinced me that her visions were of God. To satisfy my mind as to whether she breathed or not, I first put my hand on her chest sufficiently long to know that there was no more heaving of the lungs than there would have been had she been a corpse. I then took my hand and placed it over her mouth, pinching her nostrils between my thumb and forefinger, so that it was impossible for her to exhale or inhale air, even if she had desired to do so. I held her thus with my hand about ten minutes, long enough for her to suffocate under ordinary circumstances she was not in the least affected by the ordeal. ^{27Ibid., p. 210, (emphasis supplied).}

According to Butler and others, the length of time Ellen White was in vision “varied from fifteen minutes to one hundred and eighty” ^{28George I. Butler, “Visions and Prophecy,” The Advent Review and the Herald of the Sabbath, vol. 43 (June 9, 1874), p. 201.} and possibly more. ^{29Gifts, vol. 2, pp. 77-79.} This, to say the least, is a remarkable length of time to suspend breathing.ViOSe 25.1

As stated earlier, the common basis on which both Ellen White’s critics and her defenders reach their conclusions is on the basis of the historical record. Depositions left by eyewitnesses stating that Ellen White did not breathe while in vision are so consistent, clear, and unequivocal that Hodder is constrained to admit that “it is possible that something ‘supernatural’ was happening.” ^{30Hodder, p. 33.} Yet he goes right on and impugns the veracity of these witnesses by claiming that her breathing was “imperceptible.” ^31Ibid. Couperus claims it was “almost imperceptible”. ^{32Couperus, p. 22.}ViOSe 25.2

It should be noted that neither critic offers evidence to support this allegation.ViOSe 26.1