Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Separating Chaff From Wheat

In the autumn of 1865 James White suffered what is commonly described as a stroke, which resulted in partial paralysis. Mrs. White took him to Dr. Jackson’s institution at Dansville, New York. Of their experience there, in relation to the medical and other views promoted, she wrote: EGWC 396.1

“We did not feel that the three months passed at this institution was in vain. We did not receive all the ideas and sentiments and suggestions advanced, but we did gather many things of value from those who had obtained an experience in health reform. We did not feel that there was any necessity of gathering the chaff with the wheat.”—MS. 1, 1867. EGWC 396.2

But how would Mrs. White, who is supposed to be a pathetically ignorant, even if cunning, individual, know that some of the ideas presented at Dr. Jackson’s institution were “chaff” and some “wheat”? And how would she be able to separate the chaff from the wheat? Might it not be an evidence of God’s unique direction of her life and writings that she could thus distinguish and separate the one from the other? EGWC 396.3