Ellen G. White and Her Critics
- Contents- Acknowledgments
- Foreword
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To the Reader of this Book
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Chapter 1—Mrs. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church
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Chapter 2—A Life Sketch of Mrs. WhiteWere Mrs. White’s Visions Due To Nervous Disorders?—Part I
- Her Life an Open Book
- Her First Deeply Spiritual Experience
- Her First Vision
- Her Public Ministry Begins
- Could Expect Only Skeptical Hearing
- Her Encounters With Fanatics
- Deep Discouragement Overwhelms Her
- The Setting of Her Visions
- The Dominating Motive in Her Life
- Letters Reveal Her Personality
- Extracts From Her Diary
- Her View of Parent-Child Relationship
- Her Resourcefulness Revealed
- Her Pioneering in Medical Work
- Public Visions and Night Visions
- How She Accepted Death in Her Home
- She Travels to Europe
- She Pioneers in Australia
- Side Lights on Her Closing Years
- Her Mood as Death Approaches
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Chapter 3—Mrs. White, and Bible Prophets, in VisionWere Mrs. White’s Visions due to Nervous Disorders?—Part II
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Chapter 4—Medical Facts Concerning Certain Nervous MaladiesWere Mrs. White’s Visions due to Nervous Disorders?—Part III
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Chapter 5—Certain Nervous-Disorder Proofs ExaminedWere Mrs. White’s Visions Due to Nervous Disorders?—Part IV
- Why the Public Visions Ceased
- John the Baptist’s Question
- Why a Miraculous Display at Pentecost?
- Public Visions End, but Prophet’s Work Continues
- The First Medical Witness Examined
- The Second Medical Witness Examined
- The Third Medical Witness
- The Fourth Medical Witness
- The Critic on the Witness Stand
- Not Medical Testimony but Emotions Determine Diagnosis
- The New Self-delusion Explanation
- Chief Weakness in the Argument
- The Tottering Edifice and the Wayfarer
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Chapter 6—What Do Adventists Claim for Mrs. White’s Writings?
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Chapter 7—The Astronomy Vision
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Chapter 8—The Predictions of the 1856 Vision
- Conditional Quality of Divine Predictions
- A Threat of Judgment Reversed
- A Promise Reversed
- The Case of Eli
- The Implied Qualifying Clause
- Theologians Comment on Predictions
- Further Reasons for Conditional Predictions
- Factors That Affect Promise of Advent
- Mrs. White’s Relevant Statements
- No Failure in the Word of the Lord
- A Final Question Answered
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Chapter 9—The Civil War Predictions
- Charge Number 1
- Charge Number 2
- Further Historical Data
- What Mrs. White Criticized
- Our Consistent Antislavery Position
- Charge Number 3
- Charge Number 4
- Charge Number 5
- Charge Number 6
- Charge Number 7
- Charge Number 8
- Charge Number 9
- Charge Number 10
- Another Reasonable Interpretation
- A Parallel Passage
- A Remarkable Preview of Our Time
- Chapter 10—The Tower of Babel
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Chapter 11—“No Antidote” for Strychnine
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Chapter 12—The Reform Dress
- What We Shall Seek to Prove
- The Fashions of a Bygone Day
- A Threefold Indictment
- An Indictment of Dress in 1862
- Styles of Reform Dress
- Mrs. White Enters the Dress Discussion
- The Visit to Dansville, 1864
- Mrs. White Speaks on Dress Reform in 1865
- Her Remark on “Gazing-stocks”
- The Second Visit to Dansville, 1865
- Waggoner Writes of Reform Dress at Battle Creek
- Mrs. White Answers Questions on Dress
- Mrs. White’s Testimony in 1867
- A Further Testimony in 1867
- Those Dress Reform Patterns
- The Reform Kept in Proper Perspective
- Mrs. White on “Simplicity in Dress,” in 1881
- Why the Reform Dress Was Discarded
- She Refers to a Vision in 1875
- Concessions to Human Frailty
- Reform Dress Not to Be Revived
- What Does Laughter Prove?
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Chapter 13—A Sketch of Early Adventist HistoryMrs. White and the Shut Door—Part I
- Millerites Restudy Positions
- The Seventh-Month Movement
- Second Angel’s Message
- The Climax of the Movement
- The Albany Conference
- Leaders Did Not Restudy Key Prophecy
- 457 B.C. Date Questioned
- Rise of Seventh-day Adventism
- What Hiram Edson Saw
- Sabbath Doctrine Accepted
- Mingling of Two Beliefs
- Seventh-day Adventist Doctrines Begin to Take Shape
- Development of Sanctuary Doctrine
- Major Differences Between Two Groups
- Shut-Door and Sanctuary Doctrine
- Vision Supports New Sanctuary Teaching
- Early Thinking of Sabbathkeeping Adventists
- The Central Point in Shut-Door View
- A Logical Lever
- James White’s 1847 Statement on Shut Door
- The Sabbath Doctrine Takes Definite Form
- Substance of Bates’s Argument
- The Sabbath as a Seal
- The Sabbath and Sanctuary Tied Together
- Three Key Doctrines Rounded Out
- Doctrine of 144,000 and Enlarged View
- Earliest Activities of Sabbathkeeping Group
- False Premise Too Often Employed
- Sabbathkeepers’ Position Understandable
- Sense of Cohesion Developing
- James White Reviews the Past
- A Prophetic Forecast
- Two Groups Contrasted
- The Movement Takes Shape
- Early Views Summed Up
- A Strange Situation
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Chapter 14—The Shut-Door Charge ExaminedMrs. White and the Shut Door—Part II
- 1. Mrs. White’s Frank Statement
- Mrs. White’s Reply to Criticisms
- Bible Testimony on Probation’s Close
- Babylon and Probation’s Close
- Final Closing of Door of Mercy
- Adventists Oppose Delusive World-Conversion Idea
- Mrs. White Sets Forth No New Doctrine
- 2. The First Vision Examined
- The Key Passage Scrutinized
- “All the Wicked World Which God Had Rejected”
- Christ’s Sweeping Denunciations
- 3. Mrs. White’s Vision of February, 1845
- 4. Her Letter to Eli Curtis
- 5. Her Endorsement of Crosier’s Article
- 6. Her Use of Hosea 5:6, 7
- Mrs. White’s Words Explain Her Use of Text
- 7. Her Vision of March 24, 1849
- The Argument Against Mrs. White
- Paul’s Prediction
- Particular Kind of Revivals and Reformations
- Further Warnings Against Spiritism
- The Crucial Question
- Two Passages Compared
- 8. The So-called Camden Vision
- 9. “Children of Their Father, the Devil”
- Passage Proves Too Much
- 10. Mrs. White’s Prayer of Blessing on Papers
- A Taunting Question Examined
- 11. Similarity of Her Language to That of Her Associates
- 12. Mrs. White and Labor for Non-Adventists
- Lesson From Activity of Disciples
- Bible Provides Parallel to Adventist Experience
- James White on Laboring for Sinners
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Chapter 15—Mrs. White Taught That Probation Still LingersMrs. White and the Shut Door—Part III
- Testimony From Her Vision of January 5, 1849
- How We Become Children of God
- A Harmonization of Scripture
- Further Positive Testimony
- Not Speaking of Adventists in General
- The Dorchester Vision of November, 1848
- The First Argument Against Dorchester Vision
- The Bates Text of the 1848 Dorchester Vision
- Second Argument Against Dorchester Vision
- Third Argument Against Dorchester Vision
- Fourth Argument Against Dorchester Vision
- Two More Charges Follow Closely
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Chapter 16—Time Setting—The Seven-Year Theory
- 1. Bates’s Time-setting Theory Stated
- 2. How Influential Was Bates?
- 3. Mrs. White’s Statements Allegedly Supporting Bates
- Fictitious Date Needed to Support Charge
- Mrs. White’s Second Statement Supposedly Supporting Bates
- Her Words in 1854 Explain Key Phrase
- Two Points Made Clear
- Mrs. White Follows Bible Pattern
- She Warns Against Time Setting
- James White and Time Setting
- Six Reasons Against Seven-Year Theory
- How Widespread Was the Theory?
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Chapter 17—Did Mrs. White Suppress Some of Her Writings?
- 1. Interlocking of Two Theories
- 2. Elder and Mrs. White’s Relation to Seven-Year Theory
- 3. The “Suppression” of Two Publications
- 4. The Publication of “Experience and Views”
- 5. “Experience and Views” Out of Print
- 6. Publication of “Early Writings”
- George I. Butler’s Statement
- The Charge Regarding “Early Writings”
- The “Early Writings” Charges Answered
- Contents of 1847 Tract
- The Charge Narrowed Down
- 7. Uriah Smith’s Statement
- Undependability of Memory
- 8. Those Deleted Passages
- The Messages of Ancient Prophets
- The Key Question Answered
- The Honorable Motives for Deletions
- The First Cry of Suppression
- Deletions to Avoid Repetition
- Reasoning to Opposite Conclusions
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Chapter 18—The Image Beast and 666
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Chapter 19—Mrs. White’s Attitude Toward Other Churches
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Chapter 20—“Amalgamation of Man and Beast”
- What Does the Word “Amalgamation” Mean?
- What Does the Key Phrase Mean?
- The Results of Amalgamation
- The Divine Image Defaced
- Parallel Passages Summarized
- Second Controversial Passage Examined
- Three Important Conclusions
- Darwinism and Creationism
- The Greatest Objection Considered
- The Plan of God for Eden
- Satan and the Animal Kingdom
- A Belief Consistent With Scripture
- Mrs. White Focuses on Satan as Evil Power
- The Suppression Charge Examined
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Chapter 21—“Rome Alone”—An Alleged Contradiction
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Chapter 22—The Ignorant Slave—Slavery Until Second Advent
- Chapter 23—Did God Deceive the Advent Movement in 1843?
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Chapter 24—Did Mrs. White Break a Promise?
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Chapter 25—The Time to Begin the Sabbath
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Chapter 26—Did Mrs. White Contradict Herself Regarding Sabbathkeeping?
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Chapter 27—Mrs. White’s Teachings on Healthful Living
- Charge Number 1:
- Reason for Health Doctrine
- Reasoning to Logical Conclusion
- Remarkable Agreement by Critics
- Mrs. White Presents Balanced Health Teaching
- Four Reasons for Eliminating Certain Foods
- Appeals to Avoid Extremes
- The Jerusalem Council’s Action
- Charge Number 2
- Charge Number 3
- Charge Number 4
- How Paul’s Prediction Was Fulfilled
- Charge Number 5
- Charge Number 6
- Reasons for Variations in Applying Health Laws
- Quotations 1 to 6 Examined
- Comments on Eggs
- Discoveries Suggest Restraint in Passing Judgment
- Quotation 7 Examined
- Quotations 8 to 10 Examined
- Diet In Different Countries
- Charge Number 7
- The “Backslidden” Family
- Light From “a Catholic Woman”
- Nothing Concealed, Nothing Inconsistent
- That “Suppressed” Quotation
- Charge Number 8
- Critics Disclose No Secret
- An Important Question
- An Even More Important Question
- Physical Activity and Health
- Separating Chaff From Wheat
- Dr. Kellogg Testifies
- The Proof of a Good Guide
- What of That Visit to “Our Home”?
- Mrs. White’s Own Answer
- The Testimony of a Pioneer
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Chapter 28—Mrs. White’s Literary BorrowingsThe Plagiarism Charge—Part I
- The Form of the Answer
- The Historical Background of Literary Borrowing
- Religious Writers Borrowed Without Acknowledgment
- All Commentators Have Borrowed—Often Without Credit
- Canright as an Author
- Why Parallels Are Cited
- The Legal Aspect of Plagiarism
- What Is the Essence of Plagiarism?
- The Historical Background of “The Great Controversy”
- The “Spirit of Prophecy” Volumes
- Writers Quoted in “The Great Controversy”
- The “Protest” of “Leading Brethren”
- The 1888-Edition Preface
- Mrs. White Describes Prophet’s Work
- The Total of Literary Borrowing in “The Great Controversy”
- Borrowed Matter in “The Great Controversy”
- “Taken Largely”!
- “Sketches From the Life of Paul”
- Conybeare and Howson Book Widely Circulated
- The Extent of Mrs. White’s Borrowings in Her Work on Paul
- Borrowings From Farrar
- Do the Facts Justify the Charge of Plagiarism?
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Chapter 29—That Threatened LawsuitThe Plagiarism Charge—Part II
- Amadon’s Article in the Newspaper
- Good Men and Bad Memories
- An Eyewitness Sees Too Much
- The Anonymous Article That Amadon Answered
- A Strange Oversight
- The Anonymous 1907 Pamphlet
- The 1907 Pamphleteer’s Statement Analyzed
- A Present-Day Critic Speaks
- Most Amazing Part of Story
- Kolvoord Story Analyzed
- The Final “Proof” Examined
- Letters Between Haskell and White
- All Set to Publish New Edition
- The Conflict of the Ages Series
- Delays in Carrying Out Plans
- W. C. White Discusses 1907 Rumors
- Comments on W. C. White Letter
- Which Publisher Threatened Suit?
- The Facts Regarding Copyright Law
- A Publisher of Conybeare and Howson Book Testifies
- The Threatened Lawsuit Quashed
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Chapter 30—Literary Borrowings and InspirationThe Plagiarism Charge—Part III
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Chapter 31—Did Mrs. White’s Secretaries Write Her Books?
- Doctrine of Verbal Inspiration Not Taught
- Why She Read Her Manuscripts to Others
- The Illustration of Lazarus
- Saved From One Problem
- Assistants Did Not Change Thought
- Literary Quality of Mrs. White’s Earliest Writings
- Mrs. White’s Public Addresses
- Newspaper Comments on Her Speaking
- Literary Assistants Testify
- Mrs. White’s Own Statement
- The Sad Story of Fannie Bolton
- Miss Bolton’s Service for Mrs. White
- Did Fannie Bolton Write “Steps to Christ”?
- An Exhibit of Early Sources of “Steps to Christ” Expressions
- The Polishing of Her Manuscripts
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Chapter 32—Was Mrs. White “Influenced to Write Testimonies”?
- What Mrs. White Actually Said—Quotation Number 1
- Quotation Number 2
- Quotation Number 3
- Three Conclusions That Follow
- Critic’s Exhibit Number One of “Influenced” Testimonies
- “Elder E. P. Daniels’ Reply.
- The Notable Case of Nathan
- A Postscript to the Exhibit
- Critic’s Exhibit Number Two of “Influenced” Testimonies
- Two Facts That Explain Much
- Large Building Plans Develop
- Counsel Given in Testimony No. 12
- The Key Passage Examined
- The Nature of Mrs. White’s Confession
- Are Prophets Infallible?
- James White’s Relation to the Matter
- Resolution Exonerates Elder and Mrs. White
- The Critic’s “Proof” From Deleted Names
- The Critic’s “Proof” Regarding “Hidden Sins”
- God Is Sparing of Miracles
- Certain Facts to Consider in Rejoinder
- Did She Conduct a Gossip Department?
- How Gossipmongers Work
- Effects Produced by Mrs. White’s Letters
- Adventists Far From Being Bewitched
- Dr. J. H. Kellogg Testifies for Mrs. White
- Canright Testifies for Her
- The Most Remarkable of All the Facts
- The Nature of Our Claim for Mrs. White
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Chapter 33—Mrs. White’s Financial Affairs
- Charge Number 1
- What She Did With Her Money
- Generous Gifts to the Needy
- “Is Not Mrs. White Worth Millions?”
- Charge Number 2
- A Survey of “Two Hundred Acres”
- Lots Given to Church
- Charge Number 3
- Heavy Debts in Latter Years
- What the Figures Reveal
- Charge Number 4
- Charge Number 5
- What If She Had Forgotten Her Children?
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Chapter 34—In Conclusion
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APPENDIXES
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Appendix A
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Appendix B: Perpetuity of the Gifts
- Necessity of Spiritual Gifts
- Spiritual Gifts in Last Days
- Prophetic Gift Still With Us
- Distinguishing Characteristic of “Remnant”
- The Word “Testimony” in the Bible
- The Divine Definition
- Significance of the Genitive Form
- The Testimony of Jesus Himself
- The Conclusions of Commentators
- Spirit of Prophecy
- An Objection Considered
- Further Objection Examined
- Gifts Bestowed by the Lord
- “Spirit” and “Gift” Intimately Related
- Comparing Two Vital Passages
- Equivalent Statements Prevent Misunderstanding
- Appendix C: A Remarkable Test
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Appendix D: A Word to the “Little Flock”
- Appendix E: That Typographical Change in J. N. Loughborough’s Book
- Appendix F: Mrs. White’s 1883 Statement Regarding Deletions
- Appendix G: Fanaticism and Sabbathkeeping Adventists
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Appendix H: From Shut Door to Open DoorA Supplement to Chapter 13
- Unfolding Picture From 1849 Onward
- Not Lost, but “Misguided Souls”
- James White on Door of Mercy
- Comments on Editor’s Exposition
- Harmonization of Bates’s Statement
- Hope for Adventist Children
- Three Classes Who Have Hope
- Further Interpretation of Marriage Parable
- Failure to Accept Further Light
- No Attempt to Blur Narrow Views
- “Who May Hear the Truth?”
- Preachers of an Open Door
- Story of Growth Throws Light
- Enlarged View of Sanctuary Service
- Restricted View of Salvation Surrendered
- Appendix I: The Spurious Camden Vision, Dated June 29, 1851
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Appendix J: Deleted Passages Examined
- 1. “To the Little Remnant Scattered Abroad”
- 2. “End of the 2300 Days”
- 3. Time of Jacob’s Trouble
- 4. Letter to Brother Bates (“Subsequent Visions”)
- 5. Letter to Eli Curtis
- 6. “Shaking of the Powers of Heaven”
- 7. “The Sealing”
- 8. “God’s Love for His People”
- 9. “Duty in View of the Time of Trouble”
- 10. “The Open and the Shut Door”
- 11. “The Trial of Our Faith”
- 12. Vision Concerning Brother Rhodes
- 13. False Reformations
- 14. “To the ‘Little Flock’”
- 15. Warning Against Eli Curtis
- 16. “The Last Plagues and the Judgment”
- 17. The Shepherds
- 18. “The Gathering Time”
- 19. “Time Not Connected With the Message of the Third Angel, Revelation 14, 9-12”
- 20. Autobiographical Article, “Experience and Views”
- Additional Material in “Experience and Views”
- Appendix K: Pictures in “The Great Controversy”
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Appendix L: The Writing and Sending Out of the Testimonies to the Church
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Appendix M: Mrs. White Discusses Inspiration
- Appendix N: W. C. White’s Statement Regarding Sister White’s Work
- Appendix O: Canright Condemns Himself
- Appendix P: To Those in Doubting Castle
- Appendix Q: Last Will and Testament of Mrs. Ellen G. White
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Bibliography