Ellen G.White—Plagiarist?

History has demonstrated that Ellen White's work was of the Lord. Whenever her counsels have been followed, great blessings attended and our church advanced; when rejected, great loss was sustained and our church faltered.

The Los Angeles Times for October 23, 1980, carried a front-page article titled "Plagiarism Found in Prophet Books." Syndicated by the Associated Press, it appeared in newspapers across the country and in a number of religious journals. Primarily, the article charges Ellen White with extensive plagiarism and seeks to discredit her role as a special messenger of the Lord to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Since these articles (and others of a similar nature) have circulated rather widely in recent months, we thought our readers might be interested in the following editorial perspective on the role of Ellen White in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In doing so, it is not our purpose to attempt a detailed rebuttal of the plagiarism charges, although we will have a few words to say on the subject. Rather we want to set forth briefly what we feel was the nature of her work and its effect.

When but a girl of 17, Ellen had her first vision. Frail and in poor health from an accident five years earlier, she was not given many years to live, yet she reluctantly agreed to reveal to others what the Lord had revealed to her. This unusual ministry continued for seventy years, until her death on July 16, 1915. During this time she received more than 2,000 visions, wrote 100,000 pages in longhand, 4,600 magazine articles, and thousands of letters. Her counsels and guidance have been inseparably bound up with the growth and progress of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Of her work, she wrote, "As the Lord has manifested Himself through the spirit of prophecy, 'past, present, and future have passed before me. I have been shown faces that I had never seen, and years afterward I knew them when I saw them. I have been aroused from my sleep with a vivid sense of subjects previously presented to my mind; and I have written, at midnight, letters that have gone across the continent and, arriving at a crisis, have saved great disaster to the cause of God. This has been my work for many years. A power has impelled me to reprove and rebuke wrongs that I had not thought of. Is this work of the last thirty-six years from above or from beneath?' " —Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 671.

History has demonstrated, we believe, that her work was indeed of the Lord. Whenever and wherever her counsels have been fol lowed, great blessings attended and our church advanced; when rejected, great loss was sustained and our church faltered.

In 1957 we published Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine. This volume, resulting from conversations with several leading scholars of other denominations, contained a section dealing with Ellen White's writings and their relationship to the Bible. Our position, clearly stated then, has not changed: "We do not regard the writings of Ellen G. White as an addition to the sacred canon of Scripture. . . .

"We do not think of them as of universal application, as is the Bible, but particularly for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. . . .

"We do not regard them in the same sense as the Holy Scriptures, which stand alone and unique as the standard by which all other writings must be judged.

"Seventh-day Adventists uniformly believe that the canon of Scripture closed with the book of Revelation. We hold that all other writings and teachings, from whatever source, are to be judged by, and are subject to, the Bible, which is the spring and norm of the Christian faith. We test the writings of Ellen G. White by the Bible, but in no sense do we test the Bible by her writings." —Questions on Doctrine, pp. 89, 90.

In her very first book, in 1851, Ellen White said concerning the Bible: "I recommend to you, dear reader, the Word of God as the rule of your faith and practice. By that Word we are to be judged." —Early Writings, p. 78. Later she wrote: "The Spirit was not given nor can it ever be bestowed to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the Word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.'' —The Great Controversy, p. vii. And according to W. A. Spicer, in her last appearance before the assembled delegates to the church's General Conference in 1909, she held the Bible aloft in hands trembling with age, and said, "Brethren and sisters, I commend to you the Book."

What role, then, do we see for Ellen White and her writings?

As pointed out in the 1957 volume, we have never considered her to be in the same category as the writers of the canon of Scripture. However, apart from the chosen writers of the canonical books of Scripture, God used a line of prophets or messengers who lived contemporaneously with the writers of the two Testaments but whose utterances were never a part of Scripture canon. These prophets or messengers were called of God to give encouragement, counsel, and admonition to the Lord's ancient people. Among these were such figures as Nathan, Gad, Heman, Asaph, Shemaiah, Azariah, Eliezer, Ahijah, Iddo, and Obed in the Old Testament, and Simeon, John the Baptist, Agabus, and Silas in the New. The line also included women, such as Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah, who were called prophetesses, and in the time of Christ, Anna, and Philip's four daughters, "which did prophesy" (Acts 21:9). The messages that came through these prophets, it should be recognized, came from the same God who spoke through those prophets whose writings were included in the Sacred Canon.

That some of these prophets not only spoke their inspired messages but wrote them as well is evident from such scriptures as 1 Chronicles 29:29 and 2 Chronicles 9:29. It is in this category that we consider Ellen White to be. We recognize her as one who possessed the gift of the Spirit of prophecy, although she herself never assumed the title of prophetess. In 1906 she explained why:

"Early in my youth I was asked several times, Are you a prophet? I have ever responded, I am the Lord's messenger. I know that many have called me a prophet, but I have made no claim to this title. . . . Why have I not claimed to be a prophet? . . . Because in these last days many who boldly claim that they are prophets are a reproach to the cause of Christ; and because my work includes much more than the word 'prophet' signifies. . . . My work has covered so many lines that I cannot call myself other than a messenger." —Review and Herald, July 26, 1906.

Recently, at its General Conference session of April, 1980, the church reaffirmed its confidence in this unique role for Ellen White. Among the fundamental beliefs voted there, number 17 reads: "One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing and authoritative source of truth and provide for the church comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10.)"

She wrote of scientific matters far beyond her time. In 1864 she wrote, "Tobacco is a poison of a most deceitful and malignant kind." At various times she also warned that the air of our cities, with smoke and dust and poisonous gases, is a threat to life; that alcohol damages the brain permanently; and that drugs could cause birth defects.

In the area of nutrition, Dr. Clive M. McCay, then professor of nutrition at Cornell University, wrote, in 1959, "Whatever may be the reader's religion, he can gain much in the midst of this confused world in which we live by a study of the writings of Mrs. White. Also, every thoughtful, modern nutritionist must be impressed by the soundness of Mrs. White's teachings in spite of the fact that she began to write nearly a century ago." It is remarkable how closely the 1977 United States Senate Committee report on nutrition and human needs, "Dietary Goals for the United States," conforms to what she advocated a century ago. Unlike the stream of predictions offered by the "supermarket psychics," the writings of Ellen White have stood the test of time.

Through the years occasional attacks against Ellen White have come both from within and without the church. Thus the present charges do not come as a surprise. Rather, they simply confirm our conviction in her and in the fact that the second coming of Christ is near. She wrote: "The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. . . . Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony." —Letter 12, 1890.

"There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them." —Letter 40, 1890.

Concerning the charges of plagiarism, Mrs. White openly stated in 1888 that at times she used the words of other authors: " In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but in some instances no specific credit has been given, since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject." The Great Controversy, p. xii. In doing this Ellen White was following a commonly accepted practice of nineteenth-century writers, as research into the writings of other authors will reveal.

Although we feel the Los Angeles Times article misstates the situation in some instances, we certainly do not charge it with willful misrepresentation. However, we will willingly send a more detailed response to the Times article to those readers who provide a large, self-addressed, stamped envelope. In addition, the January and February releases of the ASPIRE Tape Club contain discussions by Ron Graybill, Robert Olson, and Roger Coon of the Ellen G. White Estate regarding recent charges of literary borrowing. Each release, consisting of two C-90 cassettes, is $5.00 and may be purchased separately. Order from ASPIRE Tape Club, 6840 Eastern Avenue NW., Washington, D.C. 20012. Please enclose payment with the order.

Those interested in reading something by this unusual woman may receive the 640- page book The Great Controversy by sending $2.00 to MINISTRY at the address above.

Millions have been inspired to surrender all anew to the Lord Jesus by her book Steps to Christ. This little volume has been such a valuable one to me that I will send a copy without charge to any reader who requests it.

In conclusion, it is my conviction that the work of Ellen G. White, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has been of inestimable blessing to the growth and nurture of this church. Certainly she has had this effect in my own life and experience with the Lord.—J.R.S.


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March 1981

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