Ellen G. White and Her Critics

A Present-Day Critic Speaks

Finally, a present-day critic restates the lawsuit charge and adds a new time element to the story. He declares that “it was about 1893-4 when the edition was exhausted.” But he also says, “It was suddenly taken off the market,” and explains that this was on account of a threatened lawsuit. EGWC 438.5

There is a fatal discrepancy in these reminiscences and charges. The 1907 Battle Creek Moon article does not even hint that a lawsuit was threatened. But it does say, though without proof, that the book was “suppressed.” Amadon’s reply gives no hint of a lawsuit or even of a request that Mrs. White’s book be withdrawn from the market. He simply states that it was “promptly” withdrawn, presumably about 1883-4. The 1907 pamphleteer expresses the opinion that the Review and Herald was “requested” to withdraw the book and states that it had been “suppressed” for “now nearly a quarter of a century,” which would carry us back to the date of publication. A critic in 1919 says nothing about the date when it was allegedly withdrawn, but bluntly states that there was a “threatened prosecution.” The present-day critic lets the book be sold for ten years, and then “when the edition was exhausted” “it was suddenly taken off the market”! In support of his version, he declares: EGWC 439.1

“Mrs. White had placed an order for a new edition. H. W. Kellogg, manager of the Review & Herald publishing house, notified Mrs. White that they had been threatened and informed her that they would get out another edition if she would give bonds to protect them against the threatened damage suit. She did not produce the bonds and the new edition was never issued.” EGWC 439.2

Naturally, the question arises: If H. W. Kellogg had to deal with a threatened suit, is it reasonable to believe that the unidentified “former Board member,” with whom the anonymous 1907 pamphleteer conversed, did not know the facts about this suit? And what about those who fed scurrilous articles to the daily press in Battle Creek in 1907? Would none of that whole group, which included a former Review and Herald board member, have heard of this threatened lawsuit? Had the secret been kept inviolate by H. W. Kellogg so that none knew of it? EGWC 439.3