Hands That Remained Faithful to the End

Writing, writing—writing, all that writing with her right hand took its toll on Ellen White in at least one unexpected way. Her youngest granddaughter, Grace, ^{39Evelyn Grace White-Jacques (1900-1995).} recalled holding her grandmother’s hand and gently rubbing the finger that was flattened by all the writing she did. Grace thought to herself, If Grandma stopped writing so much, I wonder whether her finger would puff back up again to its normal shape. ^{40The personal memory story was told to James Nix by Grace White-Jacques.}GOP 366.4

For more than 70 years Ellen White’s right hand had been spared to write. One may wonder what the Seventh-day Adventist Church would be like today (would it even exist?) had not Ellen’s hands faithfully written out the counsels God gave through her.GOP 366.5

Consider the theological crisis that threatened to divide the church in 1903. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his supporters were strongly urging the church to accept the doctor’s pantheistic views advanced in his book The Living Temple. One day during Autumn Council that year, held in the M Street church in Washington, D.C., the discussion became long and passionate. Finally, late in the evening A. G. Daniells, then General Conference president, adjourned the meeting for the night. Nothing had been decided. As he walked to where he was lodging, he was accompanied by Dr. David Paulson, one of Dr. Kellogg’s supporters. The two men stopped under a lamppost where they continued the discussion of the day.GOP 366.6

Shaking his finger at Daniells, Dr. Paulson said, “You are making the mistake of your life [One] of these days you will . . . find yourself rolled in the dust, and another will be leading the forces.”GOP 367.1

Daniells responded, “I would rather be rolled in the dust doing what I believe in my soul to be right than to walk with princes, doing what my conscience tells me is wrong.”GOP 367.2

The two men parted for the night. Entering the place where he was staying, Daniells found some letters from Ellen White that had arrived earlier that day. Writing from her home on the opposite side of the country, Ellen White warned Daniells against adopting Dr. Kellogg’s views regarding the personality of God. The next morning Daniells read to the delegates from three of Ellen White’s letters. Those letters turned the tide; pantheism was rejected.GOP 367.3

Daniells wrote thanking Ellen White for her timely counsels that had saved the church. She responded by telling him how it happened that her letters arrived on the day they did. “Shortly before I sent the testimonies that you said arrived just in time, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. . . .”GOP 367.4

A few nights later she dreamed of seeing the captain of a ship being suddenly warned of a huge iceberg just ahead. In her dream the lookout shouted, “Iceberg just ahead,” to which an authoritative voice cried out, “Meet it!” Accelerating the ship to full steam, the captain steered the vessel straight into the iceberg. After a violent crash that broke the iceberg into many pieces, the ship, though battered, was able to sail on to its destination.GOP 367.5

Ellen White closed her account to Daniells by stating:GOP 367.6

Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders The time for decided action had come. I must without delay obey the command, “Meet it!”GOP 367.7

This is why you received the testimony when you did. That night I was up at one o’clock, writing as fast as my hand could pass over the paper. ^{41Story based on A. L. White, 5:296-301.} GOP 367.8

Realizing that her aging hands would soon be laying aside her pen, Ellen White wrote in 1907: “Abundant light has been given to our people in these last days. Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak, and their work will go forward as long as time shall last.” ^{42Ellen G. White, The Writing and Sending out of the Testimonies to the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press®, [1913]), 13, 14; quoted in idem, Selected Messages, 1:55.} GOP 367.9

In the spring of 2015 the Smithsonian Institution, in a special issue of its magazine, included Ellen White as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time. More than 20 years earlier (on November 4, 1993), the United States Government’s National Park Service declared Ellen White’s Elmshaven home to be a National Historic Landmark, the highest designation the federal government gives to a historic site.GOP 367.10

Although Adventists appreciate such secular recognition, for us it is the spiritual impact that Ellen White’s writings continue to have in the lives of people worldwide that is most important. Because of such ongoing life-changing influence, it is altogether proper that as a worldwide church family we pause to thank God again for Ellen White’s writings and to reflect upon her legacy and what it continues to contribute to our church.GOP 368.1

July 16, 2015, marked the 100th anniversary of Ellen White’s death.GOP 368.2

A century earlier on Friday afternoon, July 16, 1915, Ellen White lay dying at her Elmshaven home in northern California. Five months earlier she had broken her hip. During the months that followed she grew gradually weaker. Now she lay unconscious, her hands still, her writing all done. Several of her family and staff members had gathered around her bed, aware that her life was about to close. Seated next to her was her second-oldest grandchild, Mabel, ^{43Mabel Eunice White-Workman (1886-1981).} lovingly holding her grandmother’s hand. Somewhere Mabel had heard that sometimes, just before a person who is unconscious dies, consciousness may return momentarily. If her grandmother regained consciousness, Mabel wanted her to know that she was not alone. ^{44Story told by Grace White-Jacques to the author. Grace was present the afternoon her grandmother Ellen G.White died, and she watched her older half sister sitting holding their grandmother’s hand.} One of those hands that had done so much for others through the years was now the recipient of an expression of love from someone else who wanted to do something for her.GOP 368.3

Six years before Ellen White’s death, near the close of the 1909 General Conference session, she had just finished her final sermon to the attentive delegates who were assembled from around the world. Sensing that this was probably the last time she would ever publicly address them, she thought of one more thing that she wanted to say. Picking up the Bible that was lying on the pulpit, she held, with hands trembling from age, the holy Book out toward them and said, “Brethren and sisters, I commend unto you this Book.” ^{45William A. Spicer, The Spirit of Prophecy in the Advent Movement (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald®, 1937), 30; quoted in A. L. White, Ellen G. White, 6:197.}GOP 368.4

Ellen White then turned and walked to her seat. Those were the last words that she spoke to the world delegates at a General Conference session.GOP 368.5

Writing, writing, writing. Always writing. The questions that each of us must answer are these: Will we read? Will we believe? And by God’s grace, will we live the counsels found in His Word—the Holy Bible—and in the inspired writings that He also gave us, through His messenger Ellen White?GOP 368.6