The term is interpreted as the closing of the door of mercy to sinners on October 22, 1844. The “shut door” is an involved question. To assess it correctly, one must have a thorough knowledge of the circumstances of the times, and also of the perceptive change of the meaning of the term as employed by Sabbathkeeping Adventists between the years 1844 and 1851. In its strictest sense, the term referred to the close of probation for all mankind on October 22, 1844. In its broader and much used sense, it came to stand for having confidence in the fulfillment of prophecy in 1844.CBPH 33.13

There appears in the The Review and Herald, February, 1851 a letter which a new convert to the teachings of the Sabbathkeeping Adventists wrote to his son. It sheds some light on the meaning of the term shut door as held at that time. It begins as follows: “I have from the presentation of truth embraced the seventh-day Sabbath and shut door as being my last refuge in this dark and gloomy day.” And when about half through he says, “Hence I embraced the ‘midnight cry,’ the ‘shut door,’ and the third angel’s message as being my last refuge, as I started at first.” (Emphasis supplied.)CBPH 33.14

As explained by Ellen White, and others, while they held that probation had closed for those who had received light and had rejected it, or those in the Advent movement who repudiated their Advent experience, they did not maintain for long that there was no opportunity for the salvation of sinners generally after 1844. The ample evidence concerning this includes the personal work of Ellen White for sinners.CBPH 34.1

It is asserted on page 27 that “By 1851 the Whites had abandoned much of their shut door doctrine” and “systematically deleted from her writings what might be construed as supporting the shut door.” It is of interest to observe that Ellen White in her 1884 Spirit of Prophecy Volume IV, in a chapter entitled “An Open and a Shut Door” (pp. 268-272), explained the choices open to Adventists in 1844. The concluding paragraph is significant:CBPH 34.2

The passing of the time in 1844 was followed by a period of great trial to those who still held the Advent faith. Their only relief, so far as ascertaining their true position was concerned, was the light which directed their minds to the sanctuary above. As has been stated, Adventists were for a short time united in the belief that the door of mercy was shut. This position was soon abandoned. Some renounced their faith in their former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and ascribed to human or Satanic agencies the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit which had attended the Advent movement. Another class firmly held that the Lord had led them in their past experience; and as they waited and watched and prayed to know the will of God, they saw that their great High Priest had entered upon another work of ministration, and, following him by faith, they were led to understand also the closing work of the church, and were prepared to receive and give to the world the warning of the third angel of Revelation 14.—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:271-2.CBPH 34.3

Ellen White also made reference to this experience in all printings of The Great Controversy, 429 (trade edition).CBPH 34.4

On August 24, 1874, in answering a question raised by J. N. Loughborough she stated her position:CBPH 34.5

With my brethren and sisters, after the time passed in forty-four I did believe no more sinners would be converted. But I never had a vision that no more sinners would be converted. And am clear and free to state no one has ever heard me say or has read from my pen statements which will justify them in the charges they have made against me upon this point.CBPH 34.6

It was on my first journey east to relate my visions that the precious light in regard to the heavenly sanctuary was opened before me and I was shown the open and shut door.—Selected Messages 1:74.CBPH 34.7

Considerable material has been written on “the shut door” and may be found in the SDA Encyclopedia pp. 921-924; Ellen G. White and Her Critics, pp. 161-252; and a sixty-two page A. L. White well-documented monograph on the subject is available on request from the Ellen G. White Estate. In 1883 looking back to the shut door experience Mrs. White explained:CBPH 34.8

For a time after the disappointment in 1844, I did hold, in common with the advent body, that the door of mercy was then forever closed to the world. This position was taken before my first vision was given me. It was the light given me of God that corrected our error, and enabled us to see the true position.CBPH 34.9

I am still a believer in the shut-door theory, but not in the sense in which we at first employed the term or in which it is employed by my opponents.CBPH 34.10

There was a shut door in Noah’s day. There was at that time a withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the sinful race that perished in the waters of the Flood. God Himself gave the shut-door message to Noah:CBPH 34.11

“My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).CBPH 34.12

There was a shut door in the days of Abraham. Mercy ceased to plead with the inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot, with his wife and two daughters, were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven.CBPH 34.13

There was a shut door in Christ’s day. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, “Your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:38).CBPH 34.14

Looking down the stream of time to the last days, the same infinite power proclaimed through John:CBPH 34.15

“These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7).CBPH 34.16

I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angels’ messages and rejected that light, were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them.CBPH 34.17

Those who did not see the light, had not the guilt of its rejection. It was only the class who had despised the light from heaven that the Spirit of God could not reach. And this class included, as I have stated, both those who refused to accept the message when it was presented to them, and also those who, having received it, afterward renounced their faith. These might have a form of godliness, and profess to be followers of Christ; but having no living connection with God, they would be taken captive by the delusions of Satan. These two classes are brought to view in the vision [her first vision].—Selected Messages 1:63-64.CBPH 34.18

Chapter 1—A Prophetess Is Born

The Visions