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

The Great Controversy Vision

As Ellen White told the story of the meeting held that Sunday afternoon, she reported: 1BIO 368.3

At Lovett's Grove the Lord met with us, and His blessing rested upon us. First-day afternoon there was to be a funeral at the schoolhouse where our meetings were held. My husband was invited to give a discourse on the occasion. The people could not all get into the house. My husband was blessed with freedom, and the power of truth seemed to affect the hearers. 1BIO 368.4

When he closed his remarks, I felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord to bear my testimony. As I was led to speak upon the coming of Christ and the resurrection and the cheering hope of the Christian, my soul triumphed in God. I drank in rich draughts of salvation. Heaven, sweet heaven, was the magnet to draw my soul upward, and I was wrapt in a vision of God's glory. Many important things were revealed to me for the church.—Spiritual Gifts, 2:265, 266. 1BIO 368.5

The vision lasted for two hours (WCW, in The Review and Herald, February 20, 1936), the congregation in the crowded schoolhouse watching with intense interest all that took place. When the vision ended, the friends and relatives of the deceased, along with a portion of the congregation, bore the casket to the cemetery. Others remained to hear Ellen White relate some of what was shown to her, in the vision, of the glorious reward of the faithful. 1BIO 368.6

Many matters were opened up to her. A portion of the vision was for the instruction and encouragement of the new believers in Ohio, some of whom were parts of families divided in the acceptance of the message: 1BIO 368.7