The Work of Mrs. E. G. White
By Editor
DURING the visit of Mrs. E. G. White to Battle Creek, Mich., last autumn, the press dispatches announced under flaming headlines that she had made a public acknowledgment that she was not a prophetess, and much emphasis was laid upon the great deception which it was claimed she had practised upon this people. Since that time some papers whose columns have often contained attacks upon Sister White and her work have rejoiced over “the fall of Seventh-day Adventism,” and have called attention to this “providential” experience as being designed “to convince our Seventh-day Adventist brethren of their too long cherished error.” In Sister White’s article in this issue of the REVIEW will be found her own report of what she did say, and her own statement concerning her work. The whole abstract of her remarks at Battle Creek should be read in order to get the setting of her specific statements about her work, but we call special attention to the following paragraph:— I said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. I have not stood before the people claiming this title, though many called me thus. I have been instructed to say, “I am God’s messenger, sent to6bear a message of reproof to the erring and of encouragement to the meek and lowly.” With pen and with voice I am to bear the message given to me. The word given me is, “You are faithfully to reprove those who would mar the faith of the people of God. Write out the things which I shall give you, that they may stand as a witness to the truth till the end of time.” If with great flourish of trumpets and with loud-sounding phrases Sister White had made extraordinary claims for herself, like John Alexander Dowie, there would have been nothing said about “the fall of Seventh-day Adventism,” but when she made no claim for herself, and did not assert her right to the title of prophetess, but simply called herself “God’s messenger,” and emphasized her work rather than her position, she is branded as a deceiver. But what is the work of a prophet? Let us read the Lord’s commission to the prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, . . . and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. . . . And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.” Is not a prophet God’s messenger? Consider the reply of Amos the prophet to Amaziah the priest of Bethel: “Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees: and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.” Was Amos a deceiver because he did not boastfully claim to be a prophet and in the line of the prophets? Of John the Baptist it is written, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face.” And when he was asked concerning his work, he said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” But of this same John the Baptist Jesus said, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” And of the people it is said, “All verily held John to be a prophet.” On his own part John simply claimed to be a voice in fulfilment of the promise to send a messenger to the people; but that is the work of a prophet, and Jesus and the people recognized him as such. Was John the Baptist a deceiver? It ought to be apparent to all unprejudiced people that in her statements Sister White sought to make clear what her work is rather than to exalt herself, but those who have known her work most intimately for more than half a century know that it is the work of a mere prophet. And the scriptures quoted show that in not making any claim in her own behalf to the office of a prophet she was in harmony with the statements of acknowledged prophets of the Bible.