Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Her Night Visions

So much for the descriptions of her public visions. But she also had night visions. Here is the way she pictures a night vision she received in 1896, when almost seventy years of age: EGWC 55.2

Friday, March 19, 1896, “I arose early, about half past three o’clock in the morning. While writing upon the fifteenth chapter of John, suddenly a wonderful peace came upon me. The whole room seemed to be filled with the atmosphere of heaven. A holy, sacred presence seemed to be in my room. I laid down my pen and was in a waiting attitude to see what the Spirit would say unto me. I saw no person. I heard no audible voice, but a heavenly watcher seemed close beside me. I felt that I was in the presence of Jesus. The sweet peace and light which seemed to be in my room it is impossible for me to explain or describe. A sacred, holy atmosphere surrounded me, and there was presented to my mind and understanding matters of intense interest and importance. A line of action was laid out before me as if the unseen presence was speaking with me. The matter I had been writing upon seemed to be lost to my mind and another matter distinctly opened before me. A great awe seemed to be upon me as matters were imprinted upon my mind.”—MS. 12c, 1896. EGWC 55.3

This vision represented one kind of night vision, the kind that she had, at times, when awake in the night seasons. The other kind, which corresponds to what the Bible describes as night visions, were those that came to her during the hours of sleep. (See, for example, Daniel 7:1.) In describing these experiences she sometimes uses the word vision and sometimes the word dream. The scenes portrayed were as graphic, and as much the basis for later writings, as any scenes presented to her in public visions. That fact becomes evident when we examine Testimonies, volume 9, which was published in 1909, and presents, among other matters, what she saw in vision during the immediately preceding five years. Here are a few excerpts: EGWC 56.1

“In the visions of the night a very impressive scene passed before me. I saw an immense ball of fire fall among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction.... EGWC 56.2

“In great distress I awoke. I went to sleep again, and I seemed to be in a large gathering. One of authority was addressing the company, before whom was spread out a map of the world.”—Page 28. EGWC 56.3

“In the night of March 2, 1907, many things were revealed to me regarding the value of our publications on present truth.... EGWC 56.4

“After a while I fell asleep again. This time I seemed to be in a council meeting where our book work was being discussed. There were a number of our brethren present, leaders in our work.”—Pages 65, 66. EGWC 56.5

“While at Loma Linda, Cal., April 16, 1906, ^* there passed before me a most wonderful representation. During a vision of the night, I stood on an eminence, from which I could see houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were falling to the ground.”—Page 92. EGWC 56.6

Thus is concluded a description of Mrs. White in vision over a long period of years. EGWC 56.7

If there is any small measure of plausibility in the charge before us, it resides in the fact that Mrs. White’s condition in vision, that is, in public vision, is obviously not a normal condition. Her case may appear to present a few “symptoms” that are similar to those of certain mental and nervous maladies. And from those few similarities the charge is built. This kind of reasoning and diagnosis is strangely like that which results from a layman’s examining a medical book and noting symptoms of certain diseases. Before he has gone far in his reading he is quite likely to conclude, for a frightened moment, that he is afflicted with a strange array of maladies. EGWC 56.8

What a doctor learns after arduous years of study and practice is that symptoms, like appearances, can be deceiving, and that if the patient’s condition is an unusual one, only a most exhaustive study of the case can assure a correct diagnosis. He notes that certain symptoms seem to indicate a particular malady, but certain other symptoms indicate a very different one. Then by a differential diagnosis he notes the symptoms of one that cannot belong to the other, and so methodically proceeds to his conclusion. Only thus can he avoid making ludicrous or tragic mistakes in diagnosis. EGWC 57.1