Ellen G. White Looks Back

In the years 1874, 1883, and 1884, Ellen White looked back in retrospect and recounted the history in which the shut door teaching figured, and commented upon it. We present first her published statement appearing in Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4, issued in 1884. In this volume, currently available in facsimile reprint, Ellen White devoted an entire chapter to “An Open and a Shut Door.”EGWSDQ 11.3

The 1884 Ellen G. White Statement. “After the passing of the time of expectation, in 1844, Adventists still believed the Saviour’s coming to be very near; they held that they had reached an important crisis, and that the work of Christ as man’s intercessor before God had ceased. Having given the warning of the judgment near, they felt that their work for the world was done, and they lost their burden of soul for the salvation of sinners, while the bold and blasphemous scoffing of the ungodly seemed to them another evidence that the Spirit of God had been withdrawn from the rejecters of His mercy. All this confirmed them in the belief that probation had ended, or as they expressed it, ‘The door of mercy was shut.’”—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:268.EGWSDQ 11.4

Then the chapter closes with these words:EGWSDQ 12.1

The passing of the time in 1844 was followed by a period of great trial to those who still held the Advent faith. Their only relief, so far as ascertaining their true position was concerned, was the light which directed their minds to the sanctuary above. As has been stated, Adventists were for a short time united in the belief that the door of mercy was shut. This position was soon abandoned. Some renounced their faith in their former reckoning of the prophetic periods, and ascribed to human or satanic agencies the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit which had attended the Advent movement. Another class firmly held that the Lord had led them in their past experience; and as they waited and watched and prayed to know the will of God, they saw that their great High Priest had entered upon another work of ministration, and, following him by faith, they were led to understand also the closing work of the church, and were prepared to receive and give to the world the warning of the third angel of Revelation 14.—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:271-2.EGWSDQ 12.2

The reader of this chapter “An Open and A Shut Door” is referred to an Appendix note. This is enlightening and we quote a portion of it:EGWSDQ 12.3

Note 6. Page 268.—Almost all Adventists, including Mr. Miller, did, for a short time after their disappointment in 1844, believe that the world had received its last warning. They could hardly think otherwise, with their faith in the message which they had given,—“the hour of his judgment is come.” Revelation 14:6, 7. They naturally thought that this proclamation must close the dispensation. They were as unable to find their bearings at once as were the disciples when their Lord, whom they had hailed as their King coming to His throne, was crucified and buried. In both cases they were unable to comprehend their terrible disappointment.EGWSDQ 12.4

But the idea that the work of the gospel was finished was soon renounced, except by some fanatical ones who would neither be counseled nor receive instruction. But most of those who renounced it, and yet retained their faith in the work, continued to believe that they who clearly saw the light of the heaven-sent warning and persistently rejected it, were rejected of the Lord. There is no more fanaticism in that than there is in the common belief that those obdurate Jews who continued to reject the light of the advanced truth sent to that generation, were rejected of God.—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:499, Appendix. (Emphasis supplied).EGWSDQ 12.5

The note then deals with the experience of the early Sabbath-keeping Adventists and their acceptance of the sanctuary truth and an understanding of the message of the Third Angel. It closes with a statement which is well supported in certain of the exhibits which follow in this document.EGWSDQ 12.6

Among the first who taught the third message and the open door, was the author of this book. [E. G. White] By her untiring zeal, her earnest appeals, and the clear light of the testimony which she bore, she did much to advance the cause, to correct the errors of fanaticism, to renew the hopes of the desponding, and to cheer the hearts of the “little flock” who loved the appearing of their soon-coming Saviour.—The Spirit of Prophecy 4:500.EGWSDQ 13.1

See also The Great Controversy, 429, for a similar statement.EGWSDQ 13.2

Ellen White in 1883 Answers the Charge. The second E. G. White statement we present was penned in 1883, and one of the few written by her in refutation of charges brought against her. It declares:EGWSDQ 13.3

For a time after the disappointment in 1844, I did hold, in common with the advent body, that the door of mercy was then forever closed to the world. This position was taken before my first vision was given me. It was the light given me of God that corrected our error, and enabled us to see the true position.EGWSDQ 13.4

I am still a believer in the shut-door theory, but not in the sense in which we at first employed the term or in which it is employed by my opponents.EGWSDQ 13.5

There was a shut door in Noah’s day. There was at that time a withdrawal of the Spirit of God from the sinful race that perished in the waters of the Flood. God Himself gave the shut-door message to Noah:EGWSDQ 13.6

“My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).EGWSDQ 13.7

There was a shut door in the days of Abraham. Mercy ceased to plead with the inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot, with his wife and two daughters, were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven.EGWSDQ 13.8

There was a shut door in Christ’s day. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, “Your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:38).EGWSDQ 13.9

Looking down the stream of time to the last days, the same infinite power proclaimed through John:EGWSDQ 13.10

“These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7).EGWSDQ 14.1

I was shown in vision, and I still believe, that there was a shut door in 1844. All who saw the light of the first and second angels’ messages and rejected that light, were left in darkness. And those who accepted it and received the Holy Spirit which attended the proclamation of the message from heaven, and who afterward renounced their faith and pronounced their experience a delusion, thereby rejected the Spirit of God, and it no longer pleaded with them.EGWSDQ 14.2

Those who did not see the light, had not the guilt of its rejection. It was only the class who had despised the light from heaven that the Spirit of God could not reach. And this class included, as I have stated, both those who refused to accept the message when it was presented to them, and also those who, having received it, afterward renounced their faith. These might have a form of godliness, and profess to be followers of Christ; but having no living connection with God, they would be taken captive by the delusions of Satan. These two classes are brought to view in the vision—those who declared the light which they had followed a delusion, and the wicked of the world who, having rejected the light, had been rejected of God. No reference is made to those who had not seen the light, and therefore were not guilty of its rejection.—Ms 4, 1883 in Selected Messages 1:63, 64.EGWSDQ 14.3

Positive Denial of the False Charge. The third retrospective Ellen G. White declaration which we present was penned in August, 1874, and deals with a charge made by Miles Grant, a First Day Adventist minister, that she had declared on the basis of the visions that probation for the world had closed.EGWSDQ 14.4

Battle Creek, MichiganEGWSDQ 14.5

August 24, 1874EGWSDQ 14.6

Dear Brother Loughborough:EGWSDQ 14.7

I hereby testify in the fear of God that the charges of Miles Grant, of Mrs. Burdick, and others published in the Crisis are not true. The statements in reference to my course in forty-four are false.EGWSDQ 14.8

With my brethren and sisters, after the time passed in forty-four I did believe no more sinners would be converted. But I never had a vision that no more sinners would be converted. And am clear and free to state no one has ever heard me say or has read from my pen statements which will justify them in the charges they have made against me upon this point.EGWSDQ 14.9

It was on my first journey east to relate my visions that the precious light in regard to the heavenly sanctuary was opened before me and I was shown the open and shut door. We believed that the Lord was soon to come in the clouds of heaven. I was shown that there was a great work to be done in the world for those who had not had the light and rejected it. Our brethren could not understand this with our faith in the immediate appearing of Christ. Some accused me of saying that my Lord delayeth His coming, especially the fanatical ones. I saw that in ‘44 God had opened a door and no man could shut it, and shut a door and no man could open it. Those who rejected the light which was brought to the world by the message of the second angel went into darkness, and how great was that darkness.EGWSDQ 15.1

I never have stated or written that the world was doomed or damned. I never have under any circumstances used this language to anyone, however sinful. I have ever had messages of reproof for those who used these harsh expressions.—Letter 2, 1874. Quoted in Selected Messages 1:74.EGWSDQ 15.2