White’s early visions played an important role in helping Sabbatarian Adventists decide which new theological ideas would be central to their developing communal identity. Her visions, for instance, affirmed the idea that the Great Disappointment had not been a disappointment at all, but had marked heavenly changes. She also confirmed their belief in the existence of a heavenly sanctuary, and she helped Adventists come to recognize and practice the Saturday Sabbath. While her role in establishing doctrine convinced some that her visions were valuable, White’s leadership during the early years of the movement remained tenuous, as her visions served primarily to advance others’ ideas, not her own. Nevertheless, in arguing for their trustworthiness and their
significance to Adventist theology, she began to carve out a leadership position for herself.
White’s first vision marked her as someone who could help settle the theological questions plaguing former Millerites. In particular, she verified their belief that the Great
Disappointment had a different meaning. This vision came to her while she was praying with a group of disappointed Millerite women in late 1844. In this vision, she saw “the advent people” walking along a lighted path. She understood that this light was “the midnight cry.” As they followed Jesus along this path to the city at the far end, some wanted to give up, because they thought they would have reached the city sooner. She saw, however, that they would arrive at the city and receive salvation as long as they continued to follow Christ.11
White’s vision legitimized the powerful experiences that Adventists had prior to 1844, by suggesting that they were right to heed the midnight cry, and only slightly wrong about what had occurred. Millerite Adventists had believed that his prophecies served as a warning, or “midnight cry”, based on the parable of the ten virgins. In this parable, as the bridegroom returned to his home, a cry went out at midnight announcing his arrival.12 Millerites had thought that the prophecies about 1843 served as a warning
that Christ would come immediately, which turned out to be false. White’s vision, however, confirmed that the “midnight cry” was still lighting the path of the Adventists who expected Christ’s return. This meant that even though the cry had gone out, there would still be more time before the bridegroom, Christ, returned.13
11 White, Life Sketches, 63-64.
12 For more about this parable see chapter 4, note 70.
13 Ronald Graybill argues that White’s first vision “‘fit’ the needs of the confused, struggling Millerite
community in Maine,” because it showed them that God had been with them all along. The midnight cry had meaning—just not what they had thought. It allowed people to believe they had been following God the whole time. Ronald D. Graybill, “The Power of Prophecy: Ellen G. White and the Women Religious Founders of the Nineteenth Century,” (PhD Dissertation: The Johns Hopkins University, 1983), 101-102.
White’s influence in the adoption of this interpretation of the midnight cry can be seen in the early Sabbatarian Adventist periodical, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (R&H). In 1851, James White wrote an article in which he explained that only part of the parable of the ten virgins had already been fulfilled. He pointed to the destruction of Jerusalem (predicted in Matthew chapter 24) and signs prophesied in the heavens as evidence that some of Jesus’ prophesies had already come true. He argued that the prophecies about 1844 had served as the Midnight Cry, warning that Christ would be coming soon: the cry had gone out, but the bridegroom had not yet arrived. Azmond Woodruff wrote a letter to the editors of R&H in which he claimed, “That the parable of the ten virgins is fulfilled, down to the shut door at least, I cannot doubt.” This meant that he agreed with the idea that the midnight cry had already occurred as well. Finally, her vision was published in a special edition of R&H that was delivered to believing
Sabbatarian Adventists. White’s vision had, at least obliquely, served to clarify the Great Disappointment.14
White used her vision of the heavenly sanctuary to make a stronger claim that her visions had authority in doctrinal matters. She was probably not the first person to
suggest that the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 was a heavenly sanctuary and that Jesus had entered the Holiest of Holies.15 In the aftermath of the Great Disappointment, Hiram
14 Ellen G. White, “Experience and Views,” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. II, no. 1, extra
(Paris, Maine, 1851); James White, “The Parable,” James White et all, eds., Ibid, Vol. I, No. 13 (Paris, ME 1851), 97-102. Azmond Woodruff, “Letter,” Ibid, Vol. I, no. 7, (Paris, ME, 1851), 56.
15 White’s vision affirmed the idea that the “cleansing of sanctuary” in Daniel 8:14 referred to a heavenly
rather than an earthly sanctuary. At the time, Adventists believed that there was a literal sanctuary in heaven that was an exact replica of the sanctuary created by the Israelites. This sanctuary had an outer courtyard that was separated from the Holy Place, which was where priests performed some sacrifices.
Edson and O.R.L. Crozier, two Millerites who became Sabbatarian Adventists, identified a passage in Revelation, which said, “…the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This suggested to them that a change had actually occurred in the heavenly temple.16
Nevertheless, White positioned her visions as having the final decision about the doctrine taught by Crozier and Edson. In 1847, she wrote a letter to Eli Curtis, the editor of Day-Dawn, an Adventist periodical. She explained to Curtis that she had seen in a vision that “Jesus rose up, and shut the door, and entered the Holy of Holies, at the 7th month, 1844.” She affirmed her belief that “the Sanctuary, to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, is the New Jerusalem temple, of which Christ is a minister.” She referred Curtis to Crozier’s writing on the subject, saying, “The Lord shew me in vision, more than one year ago, that Brother Crosier had the true light, on the cleansing of
Sanctuary…” By saying that she had had this vision over a year ago, White was trying to claim precedence in positing the interpretation of the sanctuary—her vision had occurred around the same time that Crozier published his views. Furthermore, her vision gave the last word on the subject: “it was [God’s] will, that Brother C. should write out the view
Within it was a separate space, the Most Holy Place, or Holiest of Holies. Israelites were not allowed to enter the Most Holy Place, not even priests. Once per year the High Priest could enter it after a series of ceremonial cleansing processes and sacrifices. This cleansing of the sanctuary was intended to atone for the sins of the community for an entire year. White’s vision definitively showed Jesus in this heavenly
sanctuary. Leviticus 16
16 Godfrey T. Anderson, “Sectarianism and Organization, 1846-1864,” in Gary Land, ed., Adventism in
which he gave us in the Day-Star, Extra, February 7, 1846. I feel authorized by the Lord, to recommend that Extra, to every Saint.”17
White’s assertion of her right to provide holy sanction did not necessarily mean that everyone in the Sabbatarian Adventist community accepted her visions right away, so she argued that she never suffered from outside influence. In July 1847, She wrote to Joseph Bates to clarify when and how she received her vision about the bridegroom entering the holiest of holies. She told him the story of how she had first received “the view about the Bridegroom’s coming…about the middle of February, 1845.”18 She
recalled, “While in Exeter, Maine in meeting… many of them did not believe in” the new teachings about the shut door.19 While she spoke, she “fell from [her] chair to the floor”
in agony of soul. “It was then I had a view of Jesus rising from his mediatorial throne and going to the holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom.” According to White this idea was new to everyone in the room. She underscored to Bates: “Previous to this I had no light on the coming of the Bridegroom, but had expected him to this earth to deliver His
17 Ellen G. White to Brother Eli Curtis, April 21, 1847, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center
of Southwestern Adventist University, C-002-1847. Crozier’s article was published on February 7, 1846, as White suggested in her letter. O.R.L. Crozier, “The Law of Moses,” E. Jacobs, ed., The Day-Star, Vol. 9, extra (Cincinnati, Ohio: D. Truesdale, Printer, February 7, 1846), 37-44.
18 “The coming of the Bridegroom” refers to the Adventist interpretation of the parable of the ten virgins in
Matthew 25:13. See footnote chapter 4, note 70.
19 The “shut door” was a theological concept that circulated only during the first five to seven years after
the Great Disappointment. Adventists still expected Jesus to return very soon, so they thought that the door to salvation had been shut to anyone who had not accepted their teachings prior to 1844. They later recanted when they realized that people outside of Millerite circles were eager to accept their teachings. This change was somewhat controversial in light of White’s claims to divine inspiration about the shut door—which she later disavowed. As this was not a significant stumbling block to White’s authority for many Adventists later on, I do not address it at length. Anderson 40.
people on the tenth day of the seventh month.” She reiterated, “I did not hear a lecture or word in any way relating to the Bridegroom’s going to the holiest.”20
Finally, White’s role in solidifying the practice of worship on Saturday helped her to gain notoriety as a visionary leader. In this case, White acknowledged hearing Joseph Bates’ teachings about the Sabbath prior to receiving a vision about it. Initially, she “did not feel its importance, and thought that he erred in dwelling upon the fourth
commandment more than upon the other nine.”21 That night, however, she saw a vision
of angels gazing reverently at the ark of the covenant. Inside the ark, were the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments. She “was amazed as [she] saw the fourth
commandment in the very center of the ten precepts, with a soft halo of light encircling it.” She understood that “if the true Sabbath had been kept, there would never have been an infidel or an atheist.” She became convinced that changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week was the root of many other sins and problems in the world. If Adventists would spread the message, “many would embrace the Sabbath of the Lord.”22
Sabbatarian Adventists recognized the importance of White’s vision of Sabbath enough to publish it in R&H.23 They also wrote to each other about the importance of the
20 Ellen G. White to Brother Bates, July 13, 1847, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center of
Southwestern Adventist University, B-003-1847.
21 White, Life Sketches, 95
22 Ibid 96. White had additional visions of the Sabbath. See Ibid 100-101; Ellen G. White to Brother and
Sister Hastings, April 21, 1849, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center of Southwestern Adventist University, H-005-1849, and Ellen G. White to Sister Harriet, August 11, 1851, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center of Southwestern Adventist University, H-003-1851.
23 Ellen G. White, “To the Remnant Scattered Abroad,” James White et al, eds, The Review and Sabbath
Sabbath. Mary Nichols, for instance, rejoiced with Sister Collins that a relative of hers— perhaps her husband—had “come out so clear and strong in the Sabbath.”24 Joseph Bates
informed the Hastings that he thought, “The saints will be sealed under this covenant & sign. The Holy Sabbath.” If they did not unite under this practice, they would lose the opportunity for salvation: “I conceive that our work for the saving, securing or sealing the little flock is now closing up forever because we cannot offer the united prayed to God… in at least one point of our faith.”25
Not only were Adventists keeping the Sabbath on Saturday, but White’s significance to this practice had spread beyond their faith community. Jane Clow, a young woman who was not an Adventist, wrote to her aunt and uncle about “some in our neighborhood that keep the seventh day for the Sabbath and do their work on the first such as washing ploughing and the like.” She recognized that most of them had been “millerites” but “now they have a woman among them that has visions her name is ellen white she tells great things that she sees…”26 White had acquired a reputation as a
visionary leader by the early 1850s.
editor of R&H, making it a natural output for White’s visions. Scholars have written about the dynamic team that James and Ellen White made during the first two decades of their marriage. James defended the legitimacy of his wife’s visions, while she had visions defending his role in the church and rebuking people who hurt him. See, for instance, Graybill 1-25. While Graybill is certainly accurate in his description of the mutual support the Whites provided for each other, I nevertheless use R&H as a gauge of the beliefs that Seventh-day Adventists were teaching, because it was the primary vehicle by which the group remained connected in the years leading up to the official founding of the church in 1863.
24 Mary Nichols to Sister Collins, December 12, 1850, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center
of Southwestern Adventist University, IN-001.
25 Joseph Bates to Brother and Sister Hastings, August 7, 1848, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage
Center of Southwestern Adventist University, IN-001.
26 Clow added at the end of her description of White’s visions that she did “not believe her.” Jane Clow to
Henry and Margaret Harris, June 27, 1853, Ellen White Collection, Adventist Heritage Center of Southwestern Adventist University, IN-001.
In the early years of the Sabbatarian Adventist movement, White’s visions were more adopted and implemented by her community through an identifiable process. She would have a vision in a public or private setting, which she and others would write about in letters. Once R&H was operating, publishing her visions—either directly, as in the case of the vision of the Sabbath, or indirectly, as in the case of the heavenly sanctuary— indicated that the community was beginning to accept them. People began to profess the truth of the visions by living them out, especially evident in the case of the seventh-day Sabbath. Nevertheless, publication in R&H did not signify total recognition of White as a visionary. Indeed, despite many ardent supporters, she faced an uphill battle that required people to overcome doubts about the possibility of visions and, then, about her visionary leadership qualifications in particular.