Messenger of the Lord

Not An Astronomy Lesson

The point seems clear: the vision was not a lesson on astronomy that was intended to be verified by modern telescopes. Rather, it provided enough information, by a young woman totally uninformed on astronomy, that conformed to the limited information that Bates, an amateur astronomer, had in 1847. ⁷ If Ellen White had given a preview of what the Hubble telescope revealed in the 1990s, Joseph Bates would certainly have been convinced that Ellen White was a fraud, a misguided zealot. His doubts would have been confirmed. Probably he would not have identified himself further with Seventh-day Adventists. MOL 145.1

Bates’s confidence in Mrs. White’s visions was tested two years later. The Whites were desperately in need of funds to continue publishing the Present Truth. Unfortunately, Bates was highly critical of the periodical approach to disseminating the message. He favored the pamphlet approach. At the most critical point of disagreement and lack of funds, Ellen White had a vision that the periodical “was needed .... that the paper should go ... that it would go where God’s servants cannot go.” MOL 145.2

When Bates heard of Mrs. White’s endorsement, he dropped his opposition and lent his influence to the developing publishing work. ⁸ MOL 145.3

Young Daniel Bourdeau, at the age of twenty, was doing missionary work for the Baptist Church in Canada when he heard that his parents and older brother (Augustin C.) had joined the Sabbatarian Adventists in northern Vermont. In his attempt to dissuade them, he discovered that they had persuaded him regarding the Sabbath and other doctrines. MOL 145.4

But Daniel was still an “unbeliever in the visions” until Sunday morning, June 21, 1857, when he observed Ellen White in vision at Buck’s Bridge, New York. He was told that he could examine her during the vision. In his words, “to satisfy my mind as to whether she breathed or not, I first put my hand on her chest sufficiently long to know that there was no more heaving of the lungs than there would have been had she been a corpse. I then took my hand and placed it over her mouth, pinching her nostrils between my thumb and forefinger, so that it was impossible for her to exhale or inhale air, even if she had desired to do so. I held her thus with my hand about ten minutes, long enough for her to suffocate under ordinary circumstances. She was not in the least affected by this ordeal.... Since witnessing this wonderful phenomenon, I have not once been inclined to doubt the divine origin of her visions.” ⁹ MOL 145.5

Ellen White’s longest vision (four hours) occurred in 1845 before her marriage to James. One of the allegations against her was that she could not have a vision if James White and her sister, Sarah (both persons accompanied Ellen on her early travels) were not present. Otis Nichols, hoping to expose the charge, invited Ellen and Sarah to his home, leaving James in Portland. Among those in the Boston area who contested the validity of Ellen Harmon’s experience were fanatical leaders, including Sargent and Robbins, who were also advocating that it was a sin to work. ¹⁰ MOL 145.6

Sargent and Robbins were invited and came to Nichols’ home, but when they learned that Ellen Harmon was present, they quickly withdrew, warning Nichols that her visions were “of the devil.” Before they left, Nichols told them that Ellen Harmon would like to attend their next meeting in Boston, to which they gave their approval. MOL 145.7

But the night before the proposed meeting, Ellen was shown in vision that these men had no plan to meet with her; they had alerted their followers to gather in Randolph, thirteen miles south of Boston. In that vision she also was told that she should meet with this group in Randolph, that God would give her a message that would convince “the honest, the unprejudiced ones, whether her visions were of the Lord or from Satan.” ¹¹ MOL 146.1

When Ellen Harmon and her party arrived, Sargent and Robbins groaned in surprise. Robbins told Sarah, Ellen’s sister, that Ellen could not have a vision if he were present! In the afternoon meeting, according to the report of Otis Nichols, Ellen was “taken off in vision with extraordinary manifestations and continued talking in vision with a shrill voice which could be distinctly understood by all present, until about sundown [about four hours].” MOL 146.2

What did Sargent and Robbins do during this time? “They exhausted all their influence and bodily strength to destroy the effect of the vision. They would unite in singing very loud, and then alternately would talk and read from the Bible in a loud voice in order that Ellen might not be heard, until their strength was exhausted and their hands would shake, so they could not read from the Bible.” MOL 146.3