Ellen G. White and Her Critics

The Dorchester Vision of November, 1848

Let us look, now, at the vision given to Mrs. White in Dorchester, Massachusetts, November, 1848. EGWC 245.2

“At a meeting held in Dorchester, Mass., November, 1848, I had been given a view of the proclamation of the sealing message, and of the duty of the brethren to publish the light that was shining upon our pathway. EGWC 245.3

“After coming out of vision, I said to my husband: ‘I have a message for you. You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. Let it be small at first; but as the people read, they will send you means with which to print, and it will be a success from the first. From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.’”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 125. EGWC 245.4

It was this counsel given to James White that prompted him to begin publishing the Present Truth in 1849, and to go on from that to ever larger publishing activities, which ultimately have gone “clear round the world.” EGWC 245.5

Surely the reasonable interpretation of Mrs. White’s words is that she is picturing a world work. Then what becomes of the charge that Mrs. White in vision taught that there was no more salvation for sinners, in other words, that God had no interest for anyone in the world except a little handful of Adventists? The answer to this question is so evident that the critics have sought to avoid it by certain arguments. Let us consider these under four heads: EGWC 245.6