Ellen G. White: The Early Years: 1827-1862 (vol. 1)

Why Were the Lines Omitted in 1851?

It may be asked, then, why were the three lines omitted from the printing of the vision in 1851 in Mrs. White's first book? In introducing the vision in the book, she gives a very general reason for all omission—space and repetition of subject matter. This would apply more to the paragraphs descriptive of the new earth than the three lines in question. As to the statement embodied in them, the author herself had the right, even the responsibility, to choose content and wording for her book that would correctly convey what was revealed to her. If there were phrases that were capable of distortion or interpretation to mean that which she did not intend to teach, she had the privilege and even the duty of handling the matter in such a way that the printed account would correctly reflect her intentions. 1BIO 270.1

Again, one must not overlook Ellen White's reference to the “144,000 living saints” and her later explanation of what she meant by the “shut door.” One must be alert to other evidences that indicate she did not hold the extreme view of no salvation for sinners, either at the time she wrote the letter to Enoch Jacobs on December 20, 1845, or in 1851, when her first book was published. 1BIO 270.2

In the light of developing history, what to some may at first have seemed perplexing becomes clear and evinces God's gentle but certain leading of His children in difficult times. Fuller documentation and explanation in the form of a sixty-nine-page document titled Ellen G. White and the Shut-Door Question—The Experience of Early Seventh-day Adventist Believers in Its Historical Context, prepared by the author in 1971, is available for more detailed study. [Copies may be secured from the Ellen G. White Estate or the SDA Ellen G. White Research Centers.] An exhaustive statement also appears in F. D. Nichol's Ellen G. White and Her Critics, pages 161-252. 1BIO 270.3