31. “I Saw” and “I was Shown”

Mrs. White in books intended for the reading of the general public designedly left out all expressions, “I saw” and “I was shown” lest the readers, being unfamiliar with her experience, should have their minds diverted from the message itself. One looks in vain through the five volumes of the Conflict Series for one such expression, yet in her introduction to Great Controversy, the first of the series to appear in 1888, she makes it known that she witnessed the events take place and was “bidden to make known to others that which has been revealed.” (p. xi) Look also at Steps to Christ, Mount of Blessing, Christ’s Object Lessons, Education, Ministry of Healing. “Sister White is not the originator of these books, she wrote.”EGWATHW 15.8

Except for that which is in the nature of the biographical, that which Mrs. White set before the people was based upon the visions given to her, whether or not she used the term “I saw.” She, in her day, and we today, draw the line, not between books and letters, etc., but between the sacred and the common. No person of intelligence will be confused.EGWATHW 16.1