A Gift of Light

Chapter 5—“Not Without Honor”

William Foxwell Albright (1891-1971) was America’s—and perhaps the world’s—foremost archaeologist in the twentieth century. He earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University at the age of 25, and during the next 50 years he received 25 honorary doctorates from colleges, universities, and seminaries of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths. He wrote more than 800 publications on archaeology, the Bible, and Eastern subjects. In the 1950s one of his doctoral candidates at Johns Hopkins (the late Alger Johns) introduced Albright to Ellen White’s writings. His curiosity piqued, the famous archaeologist undertook his own investigation of the life, work, and claims of Ellen White. And in his book From the Stone Age to Christianity Albright named Mrs. White as one of five individuals whom he considered to be authentic “prophets” during the past 250 years. ⁵⁰ AGOL 54.1

Traditionally, however, prophets have not had a particularly easy time in pursuing their professional objectives. Invariably—and inevitably—they are not popular. In the final book of the Old Testament (as it was constituted in Jesus’ day) the chronicler of the history of God’s people sadly penned these revealing words: “And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes [“continually and carefully,” margin], and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy [“healing,” margin]” (2 Chronicles 36:15, 16). Jesus added the following disappointing benediction to His discussion of the ironic fact that prophets are often not recognized and accepted by their own community: “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Matthew 13:57). AGOL 54.2

So it was with Ellen G. White. Many members of her church dismissed and discarded her testimonies and counsels. Contrariwise, many not of her religious persuasion recognized the wisdom, beauty, and power of her words—as did Albright. The testimonials included in this chapter come not from Seventh-day Adventists (who might be presumed to be biased) but rather from the pens of those who were not (and did not become) Seventh-day Adventists. They have, however, given Mrs. White the honor due her. AGOL 55.1

In 1960 Paul Harvey, American Broadcasting Company news commentator and United Features syndicated columnist, wrote a 16-paragraph article featuring Ellen White. It began: AGOL 55.2

“Once upon a time, a hundred years ago, there lived a young lady named Ellen White. She was frail as a child, completed only grammar school [actually, she never really finished the third grade], and had no technical training, and yet she lived to write scores of articles and many books on the subject of ‘healthful living.’ AGOL 55.3

“Remember, this was in the days when doctors were still bloodletting and performing surgery with unwashed hands. This was in an era of medical ignorance bordering on barbarism. Yet Ellen White wrote with such profound understanding of the subject of nutrition that all but two of the many principles she espoused have been scientifically established.” ⁵¹ AGOL 55.4

Harvey then pointed out how she was correct about the preference for olive oil over animal fat in the diet. We recognize now her wisdom in scoring refined white flour as lacking in nutritive value. Her warnings concerning the dangers of overuse of salt and irregularity in eating have proved correct. In 1960 there were two unverified statements from her pen: the use of multigrains instead of merely whole wheat in breadmaking, and vegetarianism. ⁵² AGOL 55.5

Nine years later columnist Harvey did an update on Mrs. White for his newspaper readers across America. After citing the low incidence of strokes, respiratory diseases, and cancer among Adventists, he continued: AGOL 55.6

“It has tended to reaffirm the faith of the faithful to discover that the most advanced scientific findings support what was written and taught by this amazing little lady, Ellen White, more than a century ago. If future scientific findings continue to support hers, let’s see what tomorrow’s doctors will be prescribing: AGOL 56.1

“Ellen White advised against overeating. Also against crash dieting. (‘Do not go to extremes.’) Minimal sweets. (She said that sugar is not good for the stomach.) AGOL 56.2

“She recommended grains, vegetables, fruits—especially apples. (‘Apples are superior to any fruit.’) AGOL 56.3

“She recommended against meat. Coffee, and tea. And, sorry, no hot biscuits. AGOL 56.4

“If some of her recommendations sound extreme, imagine how they must have sounded in 1863. Yet modern science continues more and more to say, ‘She was right’!” ⁵³ AGOL 56.5

A graduate student working on an advanced degree at Teachers’ College, Columbia University, in 1959 discovered a copy of Ellen White’s Education in the personal reference library of Florence Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer, a leading educator and professor of education, was invited to give an address before a convention of Adventist teachers in Washington, D.C. In it she said, among other things: AGOL 56.6

“Recently the book Education, by Ellen G. White, has been brought to my attention. Written at the turn of the century, this volume was more than fifty years ahead of its times. And I was surprised to learn that it was written by a woman with but three years of schooling. AGOL 56.7

“The breadth and depth of its philosophy amazed me. Its concepts of balanced education, harmonious development, and of thinking and acting on principle are advanced educational concepts. AGOL 56.8

“The objective of restoring in man the image of God, the teaching of parental responsibility, and the emphasis on self-control in the child are ideals that the world desperately needs. AGOL 56.9

“Mrs. White did not necessarily use current terms. In fact, she did not use the word curriculum in her writing. But the book Education in certain parts treats of important curriculum principles. She was concerned with the whole learner—the harmonious development of mental, physical, and spiritual powers. AGOL 57.1

“Today many are stressing the development of the intellect. But feelings and emotional development are equally important. In our changing society, the ability to act on thought and in terms of principle is central. It is this harmonious development that is so greatly needed, yet so generally neglected today. AGOL 57.2

“I am not surprised that members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church hold the writings of Mrs. White in great respect and make them central in developing the educational program in their schools.” ⁵⁴ AGOL 57.3

Stratemeyer was doubtless familiar with educational viewpoints current in 1903 when Education was published, as well as those of an earlier era. If Mrs. White had merely reshuffled various views in vogue in the past, the Columbia University professor would hardly have dared publicly to call Ellen White’s views “advanced”! AGOL 57.4

Six years earlier Professor Tsunekichi Mizuno of Japan’s Tamagawa University (and formerly head of the Tokyo Museum of Science and director of social education for the Japanese Ministry of Education) recommended Education to parents, teachers, and students. He called it “most profitable reading in our understanding of the ‘New Education.’” AGOL 57.5

“Education, written with the inspired pen of Ellen G. White, has for fifty some years been a well-known book which has rendered the greatest possible service and joy to students, teachers, and parents the world over. AGOL 57.6

“When I was studying at the University of Illinois, it was my privilege to read the book in its original language. I was profoundly moved by the book at that time [Professor Mizuno is not a Christian and professes no particular religion], and it has been my desire ever since to recommend it to the educators in Japan. It is my sincere joy to hear that the book has been finally translated into the Japanese language.” ⁵⁵ AGOL 57.7

The minister of education of a Southern European country had been studying at Teachers’ College, Columbia University. He had come to the United States for the newest and best in educational policy and program of his newborn state. AGOL 58.1

Upon his return to Southern Europe, Paja R. Radosavljevich “authored” a work on religious and moral education. It was written in the Serbian language, published by the state university press, and acclaimed by that institution as the “best book” on religious education in that language. AGOL 58.2

When Adventist church leaders in Serbia read the work, they recognized it immediately—it was a translation of Ellen White’s Education, with an introduction written by the Serbian minister of education. Eighty percent of the new book came directly from Ellen White’s pen! ⁵⁶ Was it plagiarism? Who knows the good man’s motivation? If Charles Caleb Colton is correct in his dictum (“Imitation is the sincerest [form] of flattery”), then Adventists should indeed feel flattered! AGOL 58.3

In 1965 a German sociologist, Irmgard Simon, published her doctoral dissertation in Münster, Westphalia. It dealt with Seventh-day Adventists and Ellen White. She said, in part: AGOL 58.4

“As to the question of how it was possible that a woman who had never received a real education, and also suffered from poor health, would fill such an important and far-reaching office in spite of these handicaps—many answers have been given. AGOL 58.5

“The most important reason was to be found in her powerful faith, in her strong religious equipment, and in her visionary capacities, things that rendered her absolutely certain of being one especially called.... The feeling of being one especially chosen gave her energy, persistency, and patience. AGOL 58.6

“She was filled with lofty moral ideas, which she met in her own personal life and which she also expected her fellow beings to live up to. In addition to this, she knew human beings as few have.... She looked upon people in the modern way in the wholeness of their beings, with body, mind and spirit. She was without fear of men; courageous and consistent, she struggled within the movement to solve the many problems. She solved problems which the churches did not expect to see solved in many decades. AGOL 58.7

“In spite of her strong, yes, ecstatic union with God, she rarely lost the ground of reality. On the contrary, she tackled many practical questions in life. Ellen G. White lived for only one purpose, to benefit and expand the denomination she served, in order that her church members might be well prepared, and by a God-pleasing life belong to the number of ‘the remnant church.’ AGOL 59.1

“Her knowledge of the various subjects she would practice with all emphasis, yet not in an overzealous way, for she rebuked all kind of fanaticism, but in such a way as to fit prevailing circumstances. E. G. White was a wise and commanding woman, and she had a strong soul. She thought of and lived for the movement which she formed. She disdained ‘the world’ and worked untiringly for the purpose of breaking its ties and winning people to Christ. AGOL 59.2

“It is easy to understand that a person involved in such a work, and being its central figure, would receive severe criticism, especially being a woman.” ⁵⁷ AGOL 59.3

Simon discussed the question of whether Mrs. White was one of the renowned of the Christian church throughout the various ages. Simon was unable to find adequate scientific explanation for Ellen White’s visions and remarkable experiences. She held the opinion that had Ellen White been a Roman Catholic instead of a Seventh-day Adventist, she might very well be canonized in due course! AGOL 59.4

“Undoubtedly it was the established fact of her mystic vision of God which worked as a powerful radiance on her fellow believers, enabling her to be their leader without holding an official office in the church. She functioned as a messenger between God and the churches. Through her the members had a part in the divine Being. This explains the strong position E. G. White has won among Adventists. In spite of her high position, E. G. White never fell for the temptation other founders of various movements have done, where they claimed to be elevated themselves above the weaknesses of human flesh, but was a servant and did not claim the honor that belongs to God. AGOL 59.5

“The Seventh-day Adventists still live on the spirit of E. G. White and only so far as this heritage lives on do the Adventists have a future.” ⁵⁸ AGOL 60.1

At the time of her death Mrs. White received considerable editorial comment in the secular press. Two examples are fairly typical of the observations of non-Adventist newspaper editors concerning her life and the significance of her accomplishments. The editor of the Toledo (Ohio) Blade wrote: AGOL 60.2

“Mrs. White ...early manifested some of the gifts of prophecy. With the formation of the church of the Seventh-day Adventists, she immediately developed an influence, and that influence was maintained to the hour of her death, a period of seventy years. Besides unusual talents as a preacher, she had organizational and administrative powers. These were all given to her church. It prospered and grew until it has spread through many lands. Universities were founded, medical schools, hospitals and schools for teachers and missionaries. AGOL 60.3

“Mrs. White was a remarkable woman. Had she lived in an earlier period of the career of Christianity and escaped the bigots and the fire she would most surely have been canonized. She was of the flesh of which saints are made.” ⁵⁹ AGOL 60.4

The New York City Independent editorialized first concerning the results, and then the life that produced them, stating: AGOL 60.5

“Of course, these teachings were based on the strictest doctrine of inspiration of the Scriptures. Seventh-day Adventism could be got in no other way. And the gift of prophecy was to be expected as promised to the ‘remnant church,’ who had held fast to the truth. This faith gave great purity of life and incessant zeal. No body of Christians excels them in moral character and religious earnestness. AGOL 60.6

“Their work began in 1853 in Battle Creek, and it has grown until now they have thirty-seven publishing houses throughout the world, with literature in eighty different languages, and an annual output of $2 million. They have now seventy colleges and academies, and about forty sanitariums; and in all this, Ellen G. White has been the inspiration and a guide. Here is a noble record, and she deserves great honor. AGOL 60.7

“Did she really receive divine visions, and was she really chosen by the Holy Spirit to be endued with the charisma of prophecy? Or was she the victim of an excited imagination? Why should we answer? One’s doctrine of the Bible may affect the conclusion. At any rate, she was absolutely honest in her belief in her revelations. Her life was worthy of them. She showed no spiritual pride and she sought no filthy lucre. She lived the life and did the work of a worthy prophetess, the most admirable of the American succession.” ⁶⁰ AGOL 61.1