There Shines A Light

Chapter 10—Her Works Follow Her ⁶¹

Fifteen years of life and service remained to Ellen G. White upon her return to America in 1900. For two thirds of that time she still traveled, spoke, and worked actively, attending conferences and councils and giving interviews to many, small and great. At the same time she was engaged in writing and supervising the collation of her manuscripts and correspondence in the formation of new books. TSAL 85.1

Soon after her arrival she purchased a home in the country near St. Helena, California, and named it Elms-haven, for the great trees that overarched the house. It lay in the valley just at the foot of the mountain on the side of which, by the great spring which had first attracted it, spread the St. Helena Sanitarium, the second medical institution built by Seventh-day Adventists, in 1878. Five miles farther into the mountains lies Pacific Union College, a newer institution, yet older in that it succeeded Healdsburg College, second Adventist school of collegiate rank. In the shadow of these institutions which represented two branches of the cause to which she had given so much of her constructive energy she spent her last years, rejoicing in the life which God had so graciously extended, and devoting it to His cause in the last full measure. TSAL 85.2

Her son, W. C. White, also located there with his family, as did D. E. Robinson and his wife Ella, her granddaughter. These, with a small staff of secretaries and helpers, gave themselves to the work, now grown great, of correspondence and preparation of her literary products. Marian Davis, her faithful and competent secretary for many years, did not long survive the return to America. Her place as head of the secretarial staff was taken by Clarence C. Crisler, who remained with Mrs. White until the last, and afterward gave invaluable service in a foreign land as secretary of the China Division, where he died while on tour in the far interior. Mrs. White was gratified, in 1914, by the weeks-long visit of her elder son, James Edson, whose extensive work in the South in behalf of the colored race she had so earnestly and effectively seconded. TSAL 86.1

There was some land in the estate, and Mrs. White took pleasure in its development, in the planting of orchards and the cultivation of annual crops, and the ornamental garden at the front. Here she loved to walk and meditate upon the handiwork of God. She also found recreation in a daily ride, when weather permitted, in a horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by her long-time nurse and companion, Sara McEnterfer. The countryside came to know well the gracious old lady who often stopped to converse with parents, to cheer the children, and to brighten the day. TSAL 86.2

Her initial service after her return from Australia was at the great conference of 1901 in Battle Creek, where she counseled and, with the assistance of men of broad vision and noble aims, put through the reorganization which set the church upon its great forward movement. She also attended the General Conferences of 1903 in Oakland and of 1905 and 1909 in Washington, D.C. These were her last great public efforts. To the conference of 1913, though the days of her traveling were over, she sent strong counsel and cheering inspiration. She wrote: TSAL 86.3

“I have been deeply impressed by scenes that have recently passed before me in the night season. There seemed to be a great movement—a work of revival—going forward in many places. Our people were moving into line, responding to God’s call. My brethren, the Lord is speaking to us. Shall we not heed His voice? Shall we not trim our lamps, and act like men who look for their Lord to come? The time is one that calls for light bearing, for action. ‘I therefore ... beseech you,’ brethren, ‘that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’” TSAL 87.1

The final months of her life were quiet and serene. The vast world-sweeping movement of the cause which, under God, she with her husband and Joseph Bates had set in motion threescore and ten years before brought music to her ears. She spoke with confidence and faith and courage to those who came to her, and through infrequent, brief messages in writing. Her interests were universal; and every people, every channel of service, every field, received the touch of her hand. The parents and children and youth of the church were especially upon her heart. TSAL 87.2

A halt, a backward turning, was to her unthinkable. As in her earliest days she saw in vision a light as of the sun rising in the east, and cried, “Oh the power of those rays! They grow in strength! Like streams of light that encircle the earth!” so now, in the last months of her life, she heard in the night season voices crying, “Advance! Advance! Advance! Press the battle to the gate!” TSAL 87.3

For the last two years of her life she was freer from suffering and pain than in any other period of her experience. She walked with quick, sure steps about the house and in the garden. When in January of 1915 her son, W. C. White, returned home after a four months’ absence in the East and the South, she was apparently as strong as when he had left. She was still enjoying a good degree of comfort, healthwise, and was able to be about. Some two weeks later, only the day before she was stricken, she spent a little time walking in the yard with him, and conversing on the general interests of the cause of God. TSAL 88.1

It was on a Sabbath day, February 13, 1915, that she met with the accident which prostrated her for the remaining five months she was to live. An accident had ushered in her career seventy-seven years before, and an accident now signalized its close. As she was entering her study from the hallway that Sabbath morning, she fell. Her niece and nurse, May Walling, hastened to her. Succeeding finally in removing her to her bed, she called a physician from the sanitarium. Examination proved that she had suffered a break of the left femur within the hip socket. At her advanced age, eighty-seven, there could be no hope of healing. But mercifully the Lord spared His aged servant from severe pain, shock, or weariness. Her spacious study on the second floor was made her chamber, and here for the weeks and months of her illness she filled the room with her patience and cheer. Sometimes she was moved to her study chair, transformed now into a reclining couch; and here in the sunny bay window she could look out upon the pleasant landscape, in the resurrection time of the year. Her Bible was still her ever-present companion, more in memory, however, than in reading. Others read to her as she wished. Some of her books lay upon the table by her side, and often she fingered them lovingly. “They are truth, and they are righteousness,” she said; “they are an everlasting testimony that God is true.” TSAL 88.2

Often, when she was briefly alone, her family heard her voice raised in song, a favorite hymn being that one composed by W. H. Hyde seventy years before, when he saw and heard her witness in an early vision: TSAL 89.1

“We have heard from the bright, the holy land,
We have heard, and our hearts are glad;
For we were a lonely pilgrim band,
And weary, and worn, and sad.
They tell us the saints have a dwelling there—
No longer are homeless ones;
And we know that the goodly land is fair,
Where life’s pure river runs.
“We’ll be there, we’ll be there in a little while,
We’ll join the pure and the blest;
We’ll have the palm, the robe, the crown,
And forever be at rest.” TSAL 89.2

Many were the friends of old time who visited her, and as much as she was able she talked and prayed with them. She testified, “Jesus is my blessed Redeemer, and I love Him with my whole being.” “I see light in His light. I have joy in His joy, and peace in His peace. I see mercy in His mercy, and love in His love.” To Sara McEnterfer she said, “If only I can see my Saviour face to face, I shall be fully satisfied.” And to another she said: “My courage is grounded in my Saviour. My work is nearly ended. Looking over the past, I do not feel the least mite of despondency or discouragement. I feel so grateful that the Lord has withheld me from despair and discouragement, and that I can still hold the banner. I know Him whom I love, and in whom my soul trusteth.” TSAL 89.3

One day, following a prayer by her secretary, Clarence Crisler, she prayed: “Heavenly Father, I come to Thee, weak, like a broken reed, yet by the Holy Spirit’s vindication of righteousness and truth that shall prevail. I thank Thee, Lord, I thank Thee, and I will not draw away from anything that Thou wouldst give me to bear. Let Thy light, let Thy joy and grace, be upon me in my last hours, that I may glorify Thee, is my great desire; and this is all that I shall ask of Thee. Amen.” TSAL 90.1

The months passed, and she grew steadily weaker. As the summer harvest days came, her life, like a sheaf fully ripened, was gathered to the garner. On Friday, July 16, 1915, she passed quietly to her rest. The last words she spoke to her son were, “I know in whom I have believed.” TSAL 90.2

“And I heard a voice from heaven,” wrote John, speaking of this last period in earth’s history, “saying unto me, Write: Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” ⁶² TSAL 90.3

Long was the day of her labor, peaceful its twilight, and blessed its shades. The cause to which she had given her life saw no night in the eventide of her death. Wrought in God, it was to rise ever higher, stronger, farther-reaching, to meet the glorious day of God. A life had gone, but the Life remained. And still the Light shines on. TSAL 91.1