Spoke With Decision and Authority

As God’s messenger, Ellen White spoke with decision and authority. “I speak that which I have seen, and which I know to be true.”—Letter 4, 1896. “I implore you [the church members] not to treat this matter with your criticisms and speculations but as the voice of God to you.”—Letter 36, 1890. The messages were not to be parried, for she adds:EGWMR 126.4

“What reserve power has the Lord with which to reach those who have cast aside His warnings and reproofs, and have accredited the testimonies of the Spirit of God to no higher source than human wisdom? In the judgment, what can you who have done this, offer to God as an excuse for turning from the evidences He has given you that God was in the work?”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 466.EGWMR 126.5

Whether men would hear or not, whether they followed or rejected the counsel she imparted, the attitude of others had little effect on her. She knew her message was of God. Usually the messages were gratefully received by those to whom they were directed, and through the years Mrs. White was honored, loved, and highly respected by her brethren in the ministry and by Seventh-day Adventists around the world. The messages which she bore orally and in writing have exerted an immeasurable influence upon the remnant church and the world.EGWMR 126.6

The work of Ellen G. White was not unknown to the world. Of course, there were varying concepts of her call and her mission. Her public ministry and her writings and the influence of her long life of service drew the respect of her contemporaries. George Wharton James, writer and lecturer of note, in his work California—Romantic and Beautiful, in 1914, paid tribute to Mrs. White in these words:EGWMR 126.7

“Near the town of St. Helena is the St. Helena Sanitarium and the home of Mrs. Ellen G. White, who, with her husband, practically founded the church of the Seventh-day Adventists as it is governed today. Mrs. White was also the inspiration and guide of the early day movement toward more hygienic living, and the treatment of disease by what are now known as the Battle Creek Sanitarium methods....EGWMR 126.8

“These sanitariums are to be found in every country of the civilized world, and most of them are specific and direct tributes to her power and influence as an organizer.EGWMR 126.9

“Every Seventh-day Adventist in the world feels the influence of this elderly lady who quietly sits in her room overlooking the cultivated fields of Napa Valley, and writes out what she feels are the intimations of God’s Spirit, to be given through her to mankind.EGWMR 126.10

“This remarkable woman, also, though almost entirely self-educated, has written and published more books and in more languages, which circulate to a greater extent than the written works of any woman of history.”—Pages 319, 320.EGWMR 126.11

On Mrs. White’s death there was wide editorial comment across the United States. The Independent, a weekly journal of the time, published in New York City, devoted a little more than a full column in noticing her life and death. Overlooking some inaccuracies in historical data, and omitting some misstatements, we quote from the article:EGWMR 126.12