Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Chapter 22—The Ignorant Slave—Slavery Until Second Advent

Charge Number 1

Mrs. White, writing in 1858, declared that the slaves were kept in such ignorance that they could not discern between right and wrong. Therefore God could not take them to heaven, but in mercy will simply not resurrect them. He will simply let them be as though they had not been. This is contrary to facts and Scripture. “In truth slaves were often more godly than their masters and perhaps this visionist [Mrs. White] didn’t know that the slaves had their own separate places in churches in those days.” Mrs. White’s statement is “contrary to the Word, of God,” which declares that “all that are in their graves” will come forth. See John 5:28, 29. EGWC 334.1

This charge is based on the following statement by Mrs. White in 1858, in Spiritual Gifts 1:193: EGWC 334.2

“I saw that the slave-master would have to answer for the soul of his slave whom he has kept in ignorance; and all the sins of the slave will be visited upon the master. GOD cannot take the slave to heaven, who has been kept in ignorance and degradation, knowing nothing of GOD, or the Bible, fearing nothing but his master’s lash, and not holding so elevated a position as his master’s brute beasts. But he does the best thing for him that a compassionate GOD can do. He lets him be as though he had not been.” (See also Early Writings, 276.) EGWC 334.3

Let us examine in order the two parts of this Charge: EGWC 334.4