The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Unique Life and Writings of Ellen G. White

1. HER EARLY LIFE AND ENVIRONS

ELLEN GOULD HARMON (1827-1915) was born of Puritan stock and Methodist parents, near Portland, Maine. After a sound conversion in 1840 she was baptized by immersion in the waters of Casco Bay, at the Methodist baptizing place, in front of the poet Longfellow’s old home in Portland, and joined the Methodist Church. But while still in her teens, and a member of the Methodist Church, she became troubled over the popular concept of an angry God consigning His wayward children to the flames of an eternal Hell, and an enveloping wall of darkness seemed to separate her from such a God. CFF2 706.1

Just at that time the far-flung Great Second Advent Movement, which powerfully stirred hundreds of thousands both in the Old World and in the New, was nearing its crest. The Harmon family, including Ellen, were deeply stirred by it. As a result the sublime truth of the premillennial second coming of Christ became thereafter the guiding star of her faith and her hope throughout life. CFF2 706.2

Some of those proclaiming the message of the imminent Second Advent also taught the Conditionalist view of the nature and destiny of man-that immortality is only for those “in Christ,” that in death all men sleep until the resurrection morn, and that the incorrigibly wicked will be ultimately and utterly destroyed. Ellen Harmon accepted that teaching as Bible truth in the spring of 1843, ⁵ and never veered from it. The remainder of her long life paralleled, and was tied inseparably with, the developing Seventh-day Adventist Church, which she helped to found. CFF2 706.3

It may be well to remember that Ellen Harmon grew to womanhood during a period of turbulent forces in a critical era of American historya time when strong men and women emerged who played a definite role in resolving its various conflicts. The Abolitionist Movement was nearing high tide, followed by the tragic years of the Civil War and its aftermath. Woman suffrage was another area of ardent discussion, and the temperance cause was just emerging. At the same time there were heated religious discussions, with some groups bordering on fanaticism. Such was the background setting and the timing of the earlier decades of her life. CFF2 706.4

Picture 1: Ellen G. White
Ellen G. White (d. 1915)—Adventism’s most representative conditionalist spokesman.
Page 707

2. ADULT LIFE TIED IN WITH ADVENTIST CHURCH

Ellen Harmon married James White in 1846, and in 1848 participated in a series of six important Bible conferences in New England and New York, at which time the coordinated doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were established. CFF2 707.1

And as noted, one of the cardinal tenets of the emerging church, seeking to restore all fundamental truths of the early Christian faith, was that of Conditionalism. CFF2 707.2

In her public speaking Ellen White developed into a convincing and eloquent speaker, gifted with deep spiritual insights. Her voice in public address carried to multiplied thousands in ringing tones and impressive phrasing. There was a compelling power in her speaking. The novelty of a woman speaker, then not so common as now, often gave her an initial audience, but they were held and brought back by the vital content of her messages. CFF2 707.3

While her themes were chiefly religious, she was equally persuasive as a speaker in the fields of health and temperance and other important reforms. But though her spoken words charmed thousands, her published writings have reached millions. CFF2 708.1

3. ESTABLISHES REMARKABLE WRITING RECORD

In her earlier days her platform addresses were better known than her writings. She held great audiences spellbound, speaking on one occasion to some twenty thousand-and that without benefit of loud-speakers. ⁶ But as we shall see, her writings live on with increasing, rather than diminishing, influence. With the pen of a ready writer, Mrs. White established a writing record unmatched by few if any other authors. CFF2 708.2

Her theological and expositional writings, represented chiefly by her five-volume Conflict of the Ages series-beginning with Creation and ending with a vivid portrayal of earth’s last events, the Second Advent, and the eternal home of the redeemed-are noted for their grasp and portrayal of the great principle that God rules in the affairs of men, that righteousness will triumph, and for the lessons drawn from the past to guide the present and illuminate the future. Midway in the series (which begins with Patriarchs anal Prophets and closes with The Great Controversy), stands The Desire of Ages, her unexcelled life of Christ, regarded by many as her masterpiece. CFF2 708.3

Much of her writing, it is interesting to note, was done during two years of travel and lecturing in Europe, from 1885 to 1887, and especially during a nine-year period in Australia, from 1891 to 1900, where two or three of her greatest books were produced. So it was that Ellen White became the most prolific writer and one of the pre-eminent spokesmen of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. CFF2 708.4

4. EXTRAORDINARY TRIBUTE BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES

Viewed from any angle, Ellen Gould White was a woman of extraordinary endowments. Even by the time of her husband’s death in 1881, she was already lauded in the Lansing [Michigan] Republican as “one of the ablest platform speakers and writers in the West.” ⁷ And the Detroit Commercial Advertiser and Michigan Home Journal similarly remarked on “her gifts as a writer and especially her power as a public speaker.” ⁸ But her best writing extended into the last years of her life. Near the close of her long life the explorer, writer, and lecturer, George Wharton James, in his California-Romantic and Beautiful (1914), made the extraordinary statement that “this remarkable woman,” then residing in California, “has written and published more books in more languages, which circulate to a greater extent than the written works of any woman of history.” ⁹ CFF2 708.5

5. TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES CHARACTERIZE E. G. WHITE WRITINGS

Certain basic principles characterize all of Ellen G. White’s writings. Specifically: They ever exalt the Bible as the Word of God in a day of emasculating higher criticism. ¹⁰ They affirm the doctrine of Creation and deny evolution. ¹¹ They deal with the satanic origin of sin and death ¹³ and with Life Only in Christ. They comprehensively and persuasively present the divine plan of redemption. They set forth this redemption as accomplished solely through Christ and made possible to all who wish to experience it through faith and obedience. They present the Holy Spirit as making such salvation effectual in the individual. They ever exalt the moral law of God and its perpetuity. But they always present abounding grace as the basis of salvation. ¹⁷ The gift of righteousness is derived solely through Christ, in accordance with Scripture. ¹⁸ And they depict the glorious consummation brought to pass through the second coming of Christ and its attendant events. ¹⁹ Such are the undeviating characteristics. CFF2 709.1