Enlightening the Whole Earth

Finally, as she entered her 60s, White increasingly emphasized mission to Catholics and adherents of non-Christian religions. This, it must be stressed, was not the accepted practice of Seventh-day Adventists at the time. The situation in the 1890s was captured by William A. Spicer, missionary leader in the 1890s, General Conference secretary from 1903 to 1922, and then General Conference president until 1930. On retiring, he reminded delegates to the 1930 General Conference session of how, 40 years before,GOP 352.4

we didn’t have much of an idea of going to the heathen. We didn’t expect to go in any really strong way. We never expected to go to the Catholic countries. We thought: We will get a few along the edges, and the Lord will come; but the Lord all the time had in mind this purpose, of calling the heathen, of calling through all the Catholic lands for His people to come. ^{62W. A. Spicer, “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” RH, June 26, 1930, 3.} GOP 352.5

That Adventists’ attitudes changed was largely because of Ellen G. White. She wanted nominal Christians in Western countries to hear full biblical truth, but as her life went on, she looked beyond what contemporaries saw as “civilized countries,” directing Adventist attention to the heartlands of animism and of what today we call world religions.GOP 353.1

In 1887 she wrote passionately of “France and Germany, with their great cities and teeming population,” of “Italy, Spain, and Portugal, after so many centuries of darkness, freed from Romish tyranny, and opened to the word of God,” of “Holland, Austria, Roumania, Turkey, Greece, and Russia, the home of millions upon millions, whose souls are as precious in the sight of God as our own, [but] who know nothing of the special truths for this time.” ^{63E. G. White, “Our Missions in Europe,” RH, Dec. 6, 1887, 1.} In 1900 she declared: “There is a great work to be done in England. The light radiating from London should beam forth . . . to regions beyond.” In a 1902 testimony, published in 1904, she affirmed: “There is a work to be done in Scandinavia.” ^{64E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 6:25. E. G. White to “My Brethren in Europe,” letter 189 (Dec. 7), 1902; published in full in idem, Testimonies for the Church, 8:38-40.}GOP 353.2

Meanwhile, with an eye on the non-Christian world, in 1890 she had written: “God has a great work to be accomplished in Africa. . . . Be not intimidated by apparent difficulties which threaten to obstruct your pathway. . . . This is God’s work, and He will make the rough places smooth, He will prepare the way before you. The work which is to be done in foreign countries can never be done by mortal man unaided by divine wisdom.” ^{65E. G. White to “Brethren Now Laboring as Missionaries in the Field of Africa,” letter 4 (Mar. 9), 1890 (idem, Testimonies to Southern Africa, 25).} In an article for the 1902 Week of Prayer readings, she affirmed:GOP 353.3

The whole world is opening to the gospel. Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God. From Japan and China and India, from the still-darkened lands of our own continent, from every quarter of this world of ours, comes the cry of sin-stricken hearts for a knowledge of the God of love. Millions upon millions have never so much as heard of God or of His love revealed in Christ. It is their right to receive this knowledge. They have an equal claim with us in the Saviour’s mercy. And it rests with us who have received the knowledge, with our children to whom we may impart it, to answer their cry. ^{66E. G. White, “The Definite Aim in Service,” 669 (idem, Education, 262, 263).} GOP 353.4

In a testimony published in 1909 she stated: “In Africa, in China, in India, there are thousands, yes, millions, who have not heard the message of the truth for this time. They must be warned. The islands of the sea are waiting for a knowledge of God.” ^{67E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 9:51.} GOP 353.5

The work was, in fact, worldwide, and she explicitly emphasized this—and stressed, too, the responsibility those in Christian and Protestant strongholds had for those elsewhere, and did so with greater explicitness as she grew older. In 1892, in the first edition of Gospel Workers, she wrote: “The world needs labor now. Calls are coming in from every direction like the Macedonian cry, ‘Come over and help us.’ ” ^{68Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, Instruction for the Minister and the Missionary (Battle Creek, Mich.: Review and Herald®, 1892), 180.} It was an analogy that she reflected on and returned to. In 1900, in an article in the Australasian Union Conference Record, she urged believers in Christian lands to be listening for the cry . . . from far-off lands, “Come over and help us.” These are not so easily reached, and perhaps not so ready for the harvest, as the fields within our sight, but they must not be neglected. We want to push the triumphs of the cross. Our watchword is to be, “Onward, ever onward!” Our burden for the “regions beyond” can never be laid down until the whole earth shall be lightened with the glory of the Lord. ^{69Ellen G. White, “An Appeal,” Australasian Union Conference Record, Jan. 1, 1900, 2.} GOP 353.6

The importance she attached to this testimony is evident from the fact that it was republished, with minor differences, in 1900, in volume 6 of Testimonies, and again in 1903, in the Atlantic Union Gleaner. ^{70Cf. E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 6:25, 27; in Atlantic Union Gleaner, June 17, 1903, 285, 286.} In an essay that also appeared in Testimonies, volume 6, and soon after formed the basis for an article for the 1901 Week of Prayer readings, she powerfully affirmed: “The vineyard includes the whole world, and every part of it is to be worked. . . . There should be representatives of present truth in every city, and in the remote parts of the earth. The whole earth is to be illuminated with the glory of God’s truth. The light is to shine to all lands and all peoples.” ^{71E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 6:23, 24; idem, “Our Duty,” General Conference Bulletin 4:4 (Fourth Quarter 1901, 572).} She concluded this essay with words from the 1900 Record article: “Our burden for the ‘regions beyond’ can never be laid down until the whole earth shall be lightened with the glory of the Lord.” ^{72E. G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 6:29 (and “Our Duty,” 573).}GOP 354.1

In 1907 White stressed that the final message was not just for Christians, declaring (in a testimony that was published twice within 12 months and that she reprinted two years before her death): “God’s work in the earth in these last days is to reflect the light that Christ brought into the world. . . . Men and women in heathen darkness are to be reached. . . . These heathen nations will accept eagerly the efforts made to instruct them in a knowledge of God.” ^{73E. G. White, manuscript 59, 1907, published in 1908 as “A Missionary Education,” 24 (see note 23). Reprinted as idem, Special Testimonies, Series B, no. 11, The Madison School (1908), 27; also reprinted in Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press®, 1913), 532.} In 1912, in an article in the Review, she affirmed: “Angels of God are moving upon the hearts and consciences of the people of other nations, and honest souls are troubled as they witness the signs of the times in the unsettled state of the nations. The inquiry arises in their hearts, What will be the end of all these things?” ^{74Ellen G. White, “Young Men as Missionaries,” RH, May 19, 1912, 3.} GOP 354.2

As her life drew to a close, she returned to the theme of the Macedonian-like cry for assistance when she revised Gospel Workers. She entirely rewrote the paragraph that in 1892 had simply referred to “calls . . . from every direction” and moved it to a section on foreign mission instead of on how to witness. The result was both greater urgency and new specificity about whence the call for help came: “I feel intensely over the needs of foreign countries, as they have been presented before me. In all parts of the world angels of God are opening doors that a little while ago were closed to the message of truth. From India, from Africa, from China, and from many other places is heard the cry, ‘Come over and help us.’ ” ^{75Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers: Instruction for All Who Are “Laborers Together With God” (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald®, 1915), 465.} Having begun our analysis with the account of Ellen White’s publishing vision in 1848, with this testimony, published in the year of her death, we are nearing the end of our survey of Ellen White’s principles of mission.GOP 354.3