A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health

Postscript—A Word On Behalf Of Ellen White As A Person

W. P. Bradley, President Ellen G. White Estate

When one undertakes to set forth the life, work, and character of an individual, and especially a leader, it is highly important that the narration be balanced and presented faithfully. In viewing the life and record of Ellen G. White one person may see her as a mostly sickly individual, emotion driven, despondent and fearful of her spiritual future, and given to episodes of hysteria (Prophetess of Health, page 19), while another may see her as a warmhearted, outgoing mother, a neighbor and friend dedicated unselfishly to noble causes she supported with indefatigable effort. It is the former that it appears to me is largely portrayed in Prophetess of Health. CBPH 91.1

Her integrity is questioned and she emerges as a person who played upon the credulity of the honest hearted in the name of religion and manipulated the record in order to gain her own ends. CBPH 91.2

With respect to her health, Ellen White was, especially in her early years, admittedly delicate, but this should not obscure the fact that in spite of intermittent ill health she possessed the stamina to accomplish a life work of lasting value. The first decade of her labors is marked by grinding poverty which must have resulted in the lack of the ordinary amenities of life of the people of her time, and was accompanied by malnutrition in her own home, exposure to disease, and ignorance of many of the basic health tenets. CBPH 91.3

Her family life after her marriage to James White in 1846 followed the usual course of wifely experience, giving birth to four sons; two of whom grew to adulthood. CBPH 91.4

Aside from the family duties, her burdens included writing out of testimonies that came to her in visions and prophetic dreams, as well as volumes of spiritual instruction, biblical enlightenment, and guiding material for carrying on the activities of an emerging church. In all, by the time of her death in 1915 she had produced more than a score of volumes, at least 4,000 periodical articles, and her manuscript files contain 60,000 typewritten pages. She had conducted year after year a program of heavy correspondence. This literary output in itself, from a purely physical viewpoint, does not square with the image of the weakly, inadequate person sometimes suggested in Prophetess of Health. CBPH 91.5

Ellen G. White’s life work reached out into various broad lines of public service, including preaching from the pulpit and witnessing to private individuals and to groups large and small. Her lectures and sermons were heard by large congregations in churches, barns, groves of woods, at campmeetings to audiences up to 20,000 people, and that without the benefit of electronic amplification. CBPH 91.6

Though not large physically, in action in public Ellen White was forceful, and she did not appear as a weakling. CBPH 91.7

“The Lord’s messenger,” as Ellen White described herself, was constantly called upon to travel. These journeys were made by wagon, sleigh, stagecoach, train and by ship. By these means she visited the greater part of North America. She spent two years in Europe and nine in Australia and New Zealand. She took the rough sea voyages in her stride as well as the land travel in all seasons of the year, and always, wherever she was among the people, she was a witnessing Christian and a helper in time of need. She bore constantly on her heart the spiritual, and material, and health burdens of the people around her. CBPH 91.8

In her later active years, after James White’s death, she managed a large staff of assistants and helpers, in bringing out her literary productions, and in the running of the household and the farm. CBPH 91.9

With respect to the experience of the visions of Ellen White there is not an area of religious thought that would call forth sharper contrary opinions than in the operation of the supernatural. One thing is clear: There were no secrets or mysteries about what was taking place. Again and again she was in visions openly, not only in small private circles, but quite frequently in open public meetings, with many kinds of people around her including not only those who believed in her visions, but also her critics. Yet there is no eye witness record that has come to us (except in the case of M. G. Kellogg who in late life changed his testimony) that disputes the accounts of what took place, a vivid other worldly experience open for all to see. The nature of the experience and the content she recorded were such as to engender confidence in the people, to transform skeptics into believers, to turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. Leading, intelligent, discerning people were persuaded that she had truly been selected to be God’s messenger. CBPH 91.10

The Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia identifies Ellen’s husband James Springer White as the founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Ellen G. White as cofounder. The two carried a consistent never to be relinquished burden of counseling and leadership, especially in the early years. For 35 years they labored together, until his death in 1881 at the age of 60. James was strong-minded, a sound planner, and not easily diverted from a course he believed to be right. Ellen in the meantime developed her role in her assigned work, one into which her husband could not enter in the fullest sense, though he gave her valuable technical assistance in preparing and publishing her written material. CBPH 91.11

She continued to be a strong person in her own way, in her own right, not simply led along by a forceful companion. CBPH 92.1

When in 1865 a crisis came to the work of the Whites, when James suffered a stroke, halting his leadership role, threatening the danger of his ending up a useless cripple, it was the supposedly weak Ellen who took the mantle of leadership in the home and saw clearly what her husband most needed—a change of occupation and rest. Thus, by dint of her own efforts and God’s blessing she moved him away from the Battle Creek problems out to a Michigan farm where he would be separated from the crushing mental and spiritual load. Then, through exercise of his physical powers, she perseveringly encouraged him to cooperate in the restoration of his mental and physical vigor for further labors. Here is the dramatic story as she told it to a group of workers engaged in health oriented activities in 1902: CBPH 92.2

Many years ago [1865], while my husband was bearing heavy responsibilities in Battle Creek, the strain began to tell on him. His health failed rapidly. Finally he broke down in mind and body, and was unable to do anything. My friends said to me, “Mrs. White, your husband cannot live.” I determined to remove him to a place more favorable for his recovery. His mother said, “Ellen, you must remain and take care of your family.” CBPH 92.3

“Mother,” I replied, “I will never allow that masterly brain to fail entirely. I will work with God, and God will work with me, to save my husband’s brain.” CBPH 92.4

In order to obtain means for our journey, I pulled up my rag carpets and sold them.... With the money secured by the sale of the carpets, I bought a covered wagon, and prepared for the journey, placing in the wagon a mattress for Father to lie on. Accompanied by Willie, a mere lad eleven years of age, we started for Wright, Michigan. While on the journey, Willie tried to put the bits into the mouth of one of the horses, but found that he could not. I said to my husband, “Put your hand on my shoulder, and come and put the bits in.” CBPH 92.5

He said that he did not see how he could. “Yes, you can,” I replied. “Get right up and come.” He did so, and succeeded in putting the bits in. Then he knew that he would have to do it the next time, too. CBPH 92.6

Constantly I kept my husband working at such little things. I would not allow him to remain quiet, but tried to keep him active. This is the plan that physicians and helpers in our sanitariums should pursue. Lead the patients along step by step, step by step, keeping their minds so busily occupied that they have no time to brood over their own condition. CBPH 92.7

Often brethren came to us for counsel. My husband wanted to see no one. He much preferred to go into another room when company came. But usually before he could realize that anyone had come, I brought the visitor before him, and would say, “Husband, here is a brother who has come to ask a question, and as you can answer it much better than I can, I have brought him to you.” Of course he could not help himself then. He had to remain in the room and answer the question. In this way, and in many other ways, I made him exercise his mind. If he had not been made to use his mind, in a little while it would have completely failed. Daily my husband went out for a walk. In the winter a terrible snowstorm came, and Father thought he could not go out in the storm and snow. I went to Brother Root and said, “Brother Root, have you a spare pair of boots?” CBPH 92.8

“Yes,” he answered. CBPH 92.9

“I should be glad to borrow them this morning,” I said. Putting on the boots and starting out, I tracked a quarter of a mile in the deep snow. On my return, I asked my husband to take a walk. He said he could not go out in such weather. “Oh, yes, you can,” I replied. “Surely you can step in my tracks.” He was a man who had great respect for women; and when he saw my tracks, he thought that if a woman could walk in that snow, he could. That morning he took his usual walk. CBPH 92.10

In the spring there were fruit trees to be set out and garden to be made. “Willie,” I said, “please buy three hoes and three rakes. Be sure to buy three of each.” When he brought them to me, I told him to take one of the hoes, and Father another. Father objected, but took one. Taking one myself, we began work; and although I blistered my hands, I led them in the hoeing. Father could not do much, but he went through the motions. It was by such methods as these, that I tried to cooperate with God in restoring my husband to health. And oh, how the Lord blessed us! CBPH 92.11

I always took my husband with me when I went out driving; And I took him with me when I went to preach at any place. I had a regular circuit of meetings. I could not persuade him to go into the desk while I preached. Finally, after many, many months, I said to him, “Now, my husband, you are going into the desk today.” He did not want to go, but I would not yield. I took him up into the desk with me. That day he spoke to the people. Although the meeting house was filled with unbelievers, for half an hour I could not refrain from weeping. My heart was overflowing with joy and gratitude. I knew that the victory had been gained. CBPH 92.12

After eighteen months of constant cooperation with God in the effort to restore my husband to health, I took him home again. Presenting him to his parents, I said, “Father, Mother, here is your son.” CBPH 92.13

“Ellen,” said his mother, “you have no one but God and yourself to thank for this wonderful restoration. Your energies have accomplished it.” CBPH 92.14

After his recovery, my husband lived for a number of years, during which time he did the best work of his life. Did not those added years of usefulness repay me manyfold for the eighteen months of painstaking care?—Selected Messages 2:306-308. CBPH 92.15

This experience in itself leaves an indelible impression of the character of Ellen White. It is evident that she was no weakling, but rather a woman of great resources of strength, faith, and vision. CBPH 92.16

Very frequently in the founding years of the church James and Ellen White were called upon to face bitter opposition from fanatics and misguided religionists. The burden fell heavily on her as well as James as she was frequently called upon to unveil the deceptive teachings and inconsistent practices of many who claimed great piety. To rebuke those who had enlisted sympathizers and who were not inclined to receive correction called for strict obedience to the heavenly messages entrusted to her and a fearless declaration of truth and righteousness. CBPH 92.17

James White’s death brought great anguish of spirit and a deep sense of loneliness, leaving Ellen without his strength to lean upon. Yet she rose above the disappointment of her bereavement and, only two weeks after his death, she addressed the congregation in Battle Creek for nearly an hour, witnessing to her faith and courage in the message and exhorting the members to show the closest unity in the church family (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 255). A few weeks later she was at the campmeeting at Sacramento, speaking nearly every day and presenting a temperance address to an audience numbering upwards of five thousand (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 259). Out of that campmeeting came the plans for a college on the west coast. During the remaining thirty-four years of her life, Ellen White continued to fulfill the career to which God had called her, making some of her most significant literary contributions, giving inspiring leadership in promoting a sense of mission in the church, in developing a blueprint of educational philosophy, and in completing some of her choicest books. CBPH 93.1

The number who believed and accepted her God-given calling included the whole of the substantial leadership of the church who, as years passed, were involved in the church enterprises in which she gave counsel. Compared to the handful of disaffected and malcontents who were critical or disbelieved her visions, the record of those who stood with her is a very long one. They had confidence in her as a sincere, believable Christian and in the validity of her appointment as messenger and spokesman for God. The list of those who stood with her includes such discerning and strong minded persons as Joseph Bates, John Byington, George I Butler, O. A. Olson, Uriah Smith, S. N. Haskell, J. N. Loughborough, W. A. Spicer, J. N. Andrews, A. G. Daniells and the representatives of overseas sections of the church. One clear evidence of the church’s confidence in her work is that, recognizing her ordination by God and not man she was given ministerial credentials by the General Conference, the highest authority in the church. CBPH 93.2

Did those of her contemporaries who knew her best have confidence in her work and her visions?—Take James White, for instance, who was himself a well-balanced, discerning individual. Also her sons, her grandchildren, and those who were her co-workers and helpers. CBPH 93.3

Questions recently raised in discussing the calling of Ellen White and her influence as a health leader among Seventh-day Adventists, are not new. They were raised during her lifetime, and those close around her, who knew her best rose in her defense. A quarter of a century ago the distinguished Adventist editor, Francis D. Nichol, came to her defense in a 700-page spirited volume in which he reviewed the entire collection of charges then currently leveled against her. CBPH 93.4

“The charges against her,” wrote Nichol, “run the gamit from an accusation that she was a designing woman who foisted upon her followers the plagiarized thoughts of others, to the condescendingly pitying contention that she was a self-deluded hysteric who sincerely thought she had visions.”—Ellen G. White and Her Critics, p. 15. CBPH 93.5

Nichol’s well documented book, Ellen G. White and Her Critics, clears her of the accusations made against her in the minds of most fair-minded people. CBPH 93.6

Ellen G. White occupies a special place in the hearts and affections of Seventh-day Adventists. They have faith in her as an individual and in her mission as God’s messenger. They have her books in their homes and they derive great benefit from reading them and following the instruction contained in them. There is a spirit revealed in these writings that they do not find in ordinary secular literature. These writings bind them together in unity of interest and belief. And is it not unique that sixty years after her death these books—57 of them—continue to have a very wide distribution and reading? Most of these books have annual sales which exceeds the total life of the average book published in North America. CBPH 93.7

We Seventh-day Adventists accept the whole Bible as inspired and authoritative in spite of secular attacks upon its validity, and we refuse in these latter times when Satan has come down with great wrath upon the remnant church to give place to these attacks upon God’s Word, and upon the work of His last-day messenger, Ellen G. White. CBPH 93.8

And may I add that in dealing with the subject of Ellen G. White and her place in the history of the church we are not on shaky ground. Her life was not lived in a corner, her methods were not conceived in the darkness, her spiritual flame was not concealed under a bushel, her role was not contrived by her and James White. We know how it began, we know how she struggled personally to discharge the burden God placed upon her and which she carried from the first vision to the end in 1915. All of her history is one of the most open and best known aspects of the work and development of Seventh-day Adventists. This late-hour attack upon the validity of her messages does not stand the test of history nor the judgment through the years of the church’s trusted spiritual leaders. CBPH 93.9

This in briefest form is but a suggestion of what should be said about the life and character of Ellen G. White. To challenge the validity of her calling as God’s messenger tends to impugn her motives, attack her truthfulness, and pass her off as a charlatan. But such a course does not explain the positive accomplishments or spiritual aspects of her life, the widespread blessing brought to millions who have heard her voice, seen her at work, or have read her writings. The Seventh-day Adventist Church exists, it grows, it witnesses, it is in a sense a monument to the power of Bible truth and the mission among the members of Ellen G. White. CBPH 93.10