Ellen G. White and Her Critics

The Testimony of a Pioneer

The words of J. H. Waggoner may fittingly be quoted here. He mentions having listened to Mrs. White preach on the subject of health reform. He speaks with fervor of his conviction that her message on health and on other subjects is from God. Then he adds: EGWC 402.1

“We do not profess to be pioneers in the general principles of the health reform. The facts on which this movement is based have been elaborated, in a great measure, by reformers, physicians, and writers on physiology and hygiene, and so may be found scattered through the land. But we do claim that by the method of God’s choice it has been more clearly and powerfully unfolded, and is thereby producing an effect which we could not have looked for from any other means. As mere physiological and hygienic truths, they might be studied by some at their leisure, and by others laid aside as of little consequence; but when placed on a level with the great truths of the third angel’s message by the sanction and authority of God’s Spirit, and so declared to be the means whereby a weak people may be made strong to overcome, and our diseased bodies cleansed and fitted for translation, then it comes to us as an essential part of present truth, to be received with the blessing of God, or rejected at our peril.”—The Review and Herald, August 7, 1866, p. 77. EGWC 402.2

Here is a frank statement in the church paper, long before critics spread their charges abroad, that we make no attempt to claim for Mrs. White exclusive possession of health reform ideas. What we do claim is this: That she was not dependent on others for her ideas; that she guided us safely and sanely on the road to health, warning us against many and tempting bypaths; and that she placed the health teachings in a certain spiritual context, cheering us along with the revelation that these teachings are designed of God to smooth our upward path to the kingdom. EGWC 402.3

We think the reader will agree that the evidence supports these claims. EGWC 402.4