I saw how holy a minister of Christ should be, how pure in conversation and actions. He should ever bear in mind that he is handling words of inspiration, words of a holy God. He must bear in mind that the flock is entrusted to his care, and he is to bear their cases to Jesus and plead for them as Jesus pleads for us to the Father.1EGWLM 340.7

I was pointed back to the children of Israel anciently, and saw how pure and holy ministers of the sanctuary had to be because they were brought by their work into a close connection with God. They that minister must be holy, pure, and without blemish, or God would destroy them.1EGWLM 340.8

I saw that God had not changed. He was just as holy and pure, just as particular as ever He was. He changeth not. Those who profess to be the ministers of Jesus should be men of experience and deep piety, and then at all times and in all places they can shed a holy influence and be a blessing to the cause, and not a curse.¹

This first section of the manuscript, dealing with the moral requirements of ministers, was incorporated into a section headed “Gospel Order” when it was published some months later, with a few modifications, in Supplement to the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White. The drive by the Whites for a basic measure of church order in the early 1850s tended to concentrate on the problem of “self-sent” unauthorized preachers who lacked the skills and/or moral qualities needed to represent the young movement properly. James White echoed the sentiments of this passage in a series of articles in December 1853, also entitled “Gospel Order”: “He who enters upon the work of the gospel ministry, must be called of God, a man of experience, a holy man of God.”

See: Ellen G. White, Supplement to the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, pp. 21, 22; “Gospel Order,” Review, Dec. 13, 1853, p. 180. For a detailed study of the development of Seventh-day Adventist organization in the early decades, see Andrew Gordon Mustard, James White and SDA Organization.

1EGWLM 340.9

I saw the brethren using tobacco, tea, etc., [and that it] was a needless expense, and had a bad effect upon the cause; that tobacco defiled the children of God, and they must lay it aside, never to touch it again; that God did not require His servants to help to sustain anyone that used this filthy weed.1EGWLM 341.1

I saw that God wanted His children to be clean and holy. I was pointed back to the children of Israel, and saw the commands of God to wash their clothes and in all things to be clean and neat, lest the Lord should pass by and see their uncleanness. I saw that if ever there was a people that should be clean and tidy it is those who are believing that they are soon to be made immortal and are to dwell with holy angels and with a holy God.²

Although a comprehensive program of health reform was not given Ellen White until 1863, some aspects were shown earlier, such as the strictures against tobacco and an appeal for personal hygiene found in this vision. According to James White, the earliest vision given Ellen White against tobacco, tea, and coffee was in the autumn of 1848, although no contemporary account of that vision has been preserved.

See: James White, “Western Tour,” Review, Nov. 8, 1870, p. 165; EGWEnc, s.v. “Tobacco.” For surveys of the development of health reform among Seventh-day Adventists, see Herbert E. Douglass, Messenger of the Lord, pp. 278-298; P. Gerard Damsteegt, Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission, pp. 221-241; Dores Eugene Robinson, The Story of Our Health Message.

1EGWLM 341.2

I saw that God had not changed in this thing, but wanted His children now to be as particular and careful as the children of Israel were; and if there were persons among us that were not clean and tidy, after giving admonition after admonition and they did not mend their ways, the church must disfellowship them because His frown would be upon the camp.³

Two years later (1855), in her first published statement on the need for cleanliness and tidiness among members, Ellen White highlighted the seriousness of this issue for a movement struggling to advance in a hostile environment: “It is a dishonor to God, and a stain upon His cause … [to] go with slack, untidy habits uncorrected. … The world is watching for their [Sabbatarians'] faults, they despise God's children, and to give them occasion to reproach the religion of Christ is a sin in the sight of God.”

Stern, prophetic warnings of the type given here, of unholy conduct bringing the “frown” and disapprobation of God on individuals and assemblies, are frequent in the writings of Ellen White. Balancing such statements, however, is the insistence on the loving benevolence of God that ever seeks to draw the sinner to Himself. “All heaven is interested in your salvation,” she writes to young people in 1852. “God has given His only beloved Son to die for your transgressions, angels are watching over you, and are trying to turn your attention to God, to seek your soul's salvation.”

See: Ellen G. White, “To the Church,” Review, June 12, 1855, p. 246; idem, “Dear Young Friends,” Youth's Instructor, December 1852. Andrew Mustard discusses the question of church discipline in the setting of a wider study of the nascent development of order and organization among Sabbatarian Adventists in the 1850s in James White and SDA Organization, pp. 122, 123. See also SDAE, s.v. “Church Discipline.”

1EGWLM 341.3

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