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Ellen White: Woman of Vision

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Guidance Regarding Voting

She related a dream in which she seemed to be in a large gathering where the temperance movement was being discussed. A fine-looking man with pen in hand was circulating a temperance pledge, but no one would sign. As the visitor was leaving, he turned and said: WV 203.3

God designs to help the people in a great movement on this subject. He also designed that you, as a people, should be the head and not the tail in the movement; but now the position you have taken will place you at the tail (in DF 274, “The Des Moines, Iowa, Temperance Experience”). WV 203.4

When Ellen was asked, “Should we vote on prohibition?” she answered, “Yes, to a man, everywhere, and perhaps I shall shock some of you if I say, ‘If necessary, vote on the Sabbath day for prohibition if you cannot at any other time’” Ibid. WV 203.5

From Iowa James and Ellen White went to the Wisconsin camp meeting. It was their plan to attend the Minnesota meeting also, but division of feelings between Butler and Haskell on the one hand and James White on the other led the Whites to withdraw and hasten back from Wisconsin to Battle Creek. It had been Ellen's hope that as she and James attended these camp meetings there could be a reconciliation. WV 203.6

There was another matter that also gave her deep concern. The two leading men in the General Conference were doing little to exert a right influence on the sanitarium, which she mentioned as being “managed by one man's mind and one man's judgment” and that man veering from the “light God has given” (Letter 8, 1881). Taking the several situations into account, she wrote Butler and Haskell expressing her distress and concern: WV 204.1

I had a dream. I saw Dr. Kellogg in close conversation with men and with ministers. He adroitly would make statements born of suspicion and imagination to draw them out, and then would gain expression from them, while I saw him clap his hands over something very eagerly. I felt a pang of anguish at heart as I saw this going on. WV 204.2

I saw in my dream yourself [probably Haskell] and Elder Butler in conversation with him. You made statements to him which he seemed to grasp with avidity, and close his hand over something in it. I then saw him go to his room, and there upon the floor was a pile of stones systematically laid up, stone upon stone. He placed the additional stones on the pile and counted them up. Every stone had a name—some report gathered up—and every stone was numbered. WV 204.3

The young man who often instructs me came and looked upon the pile of stones with grief and indignation, and inquired what he had and what he purposed to do with them. The doctor looked up with a sharp, gratified laugh. “These are the mistakes of Elder White. I am going to stone him with them, stone him to death.” WV 204.4

The young man said, “You are bringing back the stoning system, are you? You are worse than the ancient Pharisees. Who gave you this work to do? The Lord raised you up, the Lord entrusted you with a special work. The Lord has sustained you in a most remarkable manner, but it was not for you to degrade your powers for this kind of work. Satan is an accuser of the brethren.” WV 204.5

I thought the doctor seemed very defiant and determined. Said he, “Elder White is trying to tear us to pieces. He is working against us, and to save our reputation and life we must work against him. I shall use every stone to the last pebble here upon this floor to kill him. This is only self-defense, a disagreeable necessity.” WV 204.6

And then said the young man solemnly, “What have you gained? Have you in the act righted your wrongs? Have you opened your heart to Jesus Christ, and does He sit there enthroned? Who occupies the citadel of the soul under this administration of the stoning system?” ... WV 204.7

I then saw my husband engaged in a similar work, gathering stones, making a pile and ready to begin the stoning system. Similar words were repeated to him with additional injunctions, and I awoke (Manuscript 2, 1880). WV 205.1

Through late June and into July, James and Ellen continued their ministry in Battle Creek—James through his editorials and back-page notes in the Review, Ellen with her writing; the two united in efforts in the Battle Creek Tabernacle church. Often they repaired to the grove near their home for seasons of prayer. One particular occasion Ellen especially remembered: WV 205.2

While walking to the usual place for prayer, he [James] stopped abruptly; his face was very pale, and he said, “A deep solemnity is upon my spirit. I am not discouraged, but I feel that some change is about to take place in affairs that concern myself and you. What if you should not live? Oh, this cannot be! God has a work for you to do.... It continues so long that I feel much anxiety as to the result. I feel a sense of danger, and with it comes an unutterable longing for the special blessing of God, an assurance that all my sins are washed away by the blood of Christ. WV 205.3

Both James and Ellen had an overwhelming burden for the Battle Creek church. WV 205.4

Continuing, with tears in his eyes, James expressed his anxiety for the institutions in Battle Creek. He said: WV 205.5

My life has been given to the upbuilding of these institutions. It seems like death to leave them. They are as my children, and I cannot separate my interest from them. These institutions are the Lord's instrumentalities to do a specific work. Satan seeks to hinder and defeat every means by which the Lord is working for the salvation of men. If the great adversary can mold these institutions according to the world's standard, his object is gained. It is my greatest anxiety to have the right men in the right place. If those who stand in responsible positions are weak in moral power, and vacillating in principle, inclined to lead toward the world, there are enough who will be led. Evil influences must not prevail. I would rather die than live to see these institutions mismanaged, or turned aside from the purpose for which they were brought into existence (In Memoriam: A Sketch of the Last Sickness and Death of Elder James White, 45). WV 205.6

Uriah Smith, resident editor of the Review and Herald and James's closest associate in the work of the church, had labored at his side for nearly three decades. Smith was well aware of the bruising conflicts; indeed, they had been out in the open for a year or two. He viewed the situation in the light of White's total dedication to the cause of God. Understandingly he declared: WV 205.7

Some have thought that he was deficient in social qualities, and sometimes rigid, harsh, and unjust, even toward his best friends. But these feelings, we are persuaded, come from a failure to comprehend one of the strongest traits in his character, which was his preeminent love for the cause in which he was engaged. To that he subordinated all else; for that he was willing to renounce home and friends. WV 206.1

No man would have been more glad than he to enjoy continuously the pleasures of domestic and social life, and the intercourse of friends, had he not thought that integrity to the cause called him to take a different course (Ibid., 34, 35). WV 206.2