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The Shut Door
(Close of Probation)
The "Shut Door" was an idea held by many Millerites following the great
disappointment of October 22, 1844. It said that the door of mercy was then closed,
and that all who were unready and not awaiting the "Second Coming" on that date
could not become ready or become saved.
That the Shut Door was ever confirmed by a vision is something that Mrs. White, in her
later years, denied. (SM means Ellen's book Selected Messages)
1883 - Ellen White, 1 SM page 63
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. (Emphasis Supplied)
1874 - Ellen White, 1 SM page 74
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. (Emphasis Supplied)
1845 - Ellen White, 1 SM page 74
It was on my first journey east to relate my visions
[mid-February, 1845] that the precious light in regard to the heavenly sanctuary was
opened before me and I was shown the open and shut door . . . 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. (Emphasis Supplied)
No vision ever endorsed the Shut Door? It was her visions that led her and her
followers out of the Shut Door? Such was her claim. But the facts are very
much otherwise.
Now that many of those early periodicals are available on the computer, her paper trail
has caught up with her. As shown by the existing documents from 1844 through 1850,
Ellen White (who in this period claimed to write only what she had been shown in vision)
and persons around Ellen White (who looked for guidance to her visions) held to the Shut
Door. They held to it for six years, and rather than being led out of that belief by
the visions, no vision in all that time ever set them straight on it.
1844 - Ellen White Vision, December
While praying at the family altar, the Holy
Ghost fell on me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world.
I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them when a
voice said to me, "Look again, and look a little higher." At this I raised
my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this
path the Advent people were traveling to the City, which was at the farther end of the
path. (Emphasis Supplied)
Going to the heavenly city were the Advent people. This is in accord with the
Shut Door, which said that since October 22, 1844, the only persons going to the heavenly
city were those who had looked for Jesus to come on that date: the Millerites, the
"advent body," the "advent band," the "advent people."
Also in accord with that doctrine is what the vision shows of these persons. The
ones who gave up their Millerite views:
. . . fell off the path down in the dark and wicked world below. It was
just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked
world which God had rejected. (Emphasis Supplied)
The Shut Door doctrine said that anyone not ready on October 22, 1844, couldn't get
ready, and that on that date God closed the door of mercy on "the nominal
(non-Millerite) churches" and on sinners in general, and that those who gave up their
Millerite experience joined the rejected. This is exactly what is taught in this
passage from the vision. No one from the wicked world could get onto the path to the
heavenly city again.
That the first vision validated the Shut Door is shown by other documentation.
Not only was the vision first published in the Cincinnati Day-Star, a Shut Door
journal, it led Ellen and others who believed it to take up the Shut Door idea again.
James White, writing in 1847 when he and Ellen White still believed in the Shut
Door, says:
1847 - James White, A Word to the "Little Flock" p. 22
When she received her first vision, December 1844, she
and all the band in Portland, Maine (where her parents then resided) had given up the
midnight cry, and shut door, as being in the past. [That is, they did not believe
that the giving of the midnight cry and the shutting of the door of mercy had occurred in
1844.] It was then that the Lord shew [sic] her, in vision, the error into which she
and the band in Portland had fallen. She then related her vision to the band, and
about sixty confessed their error, and acknowledged their 7th month experience to be the
work of God.
Thus Ellen White's first vision was the opposite to the way she later
"remembered." The Shut Door had been generally abandoned by her and the
band in Portland, but it was re-established among them by Ellen's vision of December 1844.
The vision didn't bring them out, of the error, as Mrs. White later claimed, but
took them back into it.
The earliest Shut Door vision Ellen Harmon had away from her Portland home was in
January of 1845, in Poland, Maine. John Meguier remembered:
1845 - Ellen White Vision in January
Published in The World's Crisis, July, 1874
About the first visions that she had were at my house
in Poland. She said God had told her in vision that the door of mercy had closed and
there was no more chance for the world, and she would tell who had got spots on their
garments.
1845 - Ellen White Vision, February of 1845
From the tract "To the Little Remnant
Scattered Abroad." April 6, 1846
In February, 1845, I had a vision of events commencing
with the Midnight Cry. I saw a throne and on it sat the Father and the Son . . .
Before the throne I saw the Advent people, the church, and
the world. I saw a company bowed down before the throne deeply interested, while the
most of them stood up disinterested and careless . . .
Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from the
Father to the Son, and from the Son it waved over the people before the throne. But
few would receive this great light. Many came out from under it and immediately
resisted it; others were careless and did not cherish the light and it moved off from
them; some cherished it, and went and bowed down with the little praying company.
This company all received the light, and rejoiced in it as their countenances shone with
its glory.
And I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a
flaming Chariot go into the Holy of Holies, within the veil, and did sit. There I
saw thrones that I had never seen before. Then Jesus rose up from the throne, and
the most of those who were bowed down arose with Him; and I did not see one ray of light
pass from Jesus to the careless multitude after he arose, and they were left in perfect
darkness.
This vision assumes the Shut Door. On October 22, 1844, Jesus and the Father went
from the Holy to the Most Holy place in heaven. Before that date light was offered
to everyone ("the Advent people, the church, and the world.") After that
date Christ's concern was withdrawn from those who had not awaited Him.
1845 - Ellen White Vision, January of 1845
This is the continuation of that vision and is omitted by Olson. I take it from Early
Writings pp. 55,56. (I need to check it against the original if possible.)
Those who arose when Jesus did, kept their eyes
fixed on Him as He left the throne and led them out a little way. Then He raised His
right arm, and we heard His lovely voice saying, "Wait here; I am going to My Father
to receive the kingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return
from the wedding and receive you to Myself."
Then a cloudy chariot, with wheels like flaming fire,
surrounded by angels, came to where Jesus was. He stepped into the chariot and was
borne to the holiest, where the Father sat.
There I beheld Jesus, a great High Priest, standing before
the Father. On the hem of His garment was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a
pomegranate.
Those who rose up with Jesus would send up their
faith to Him in the holiest, and pray, "My Father, give us Thy Spirit."
Then Jesus breathed upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and
much love, joy, and peace.
I turned to look at the company who were still bowed
before the throne, they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the
throne, trying to carry on the work of God. I saw them look up to the throne, and
pray, "Father, give us Thy Spirit." Satan would then breathe upon them an
unholy influence.
Those who went in with Jesus on His breastplate in 1844 still had a mediator with the
Father, and could have their prayers answered, while those who did not go in with Him on
His breastplate no longer had a mediator, and could no longer have their prayers answered
(as was possible before the change of position within the heavenly sanctuary on October
22, 1844.)
Although the vision does not specifically mention the Shut Door, it presupposes it and
makes no sense without it. That the vision was taken, in these early years, as
validating the Shut Door is shown by Ellen White's letter to Joseph Bates, July 13, 1847.
In it she says that her vision brought her to the same view as Joseph Turner.
Turner was the inventor and major proponent of the Shut Door.
1847 - Ellen White letter to Joseph Bates, July 13
Brother Bates, you write in a letter to James something about the Bridegroom's
coming, as stated in the first published visions. By the letter you would like to
know whether I had light on the Bridegroom's coming before I saw it in vision. I can
readily answer, No. The Lord showed me the travail of the Advent band and midnight
cry in December (1844), but did not show me the Bridegroom's coming until February
following. (The Midnight Cry, the Bridegroom's coming, and the Shut Door are all derived
from the parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25.)
Perhaps you would like to have me give you a statement in
relation to both visions. At the time I had the vision of the midnight cry I had
given it up in the past and thought it future, as also most of the band had. I know
not what time J. Turner got out his paper (proving the Shut Door via the parable of the
Bridegroom;s coming and the ten virgins.) I knew he had one out and one was in the
house, but I knew not what was in it, for I did not read a word in it. I had been,
and still was very sick. I took no interest in reading, for it injured my head and
made me nervous.
After I had the vision and God gave me light, He bade me
deliver it to the band, but I shrank from it. I was young, and I thought they would
not receive it from me. I disobeyed the Lord, and instead of remaining at home, rode
three or four miles and there I found Joseph Turner. He merely inquired how I was
and if I was in the way of my duty. I said nothing, for I knew I was not.
I passed up (to the) chamber and did not see him again for
two hours, when he came up, asked if I was to be at meeting that I told him I should not.
He said no more, but went away.
I thought, and told those around me, if I went I should
have to come out against his views, thinking he believed with the rest. I had not
told any of them what God had shown me, and I did not tell them in what I should cut
across his track.
All that day I suffered much in body and mind. It
seemed that God had forsaken me entirely. I prayed the Lord if He would give me
strength to ride home that night, the first opportunity I would deliver the message He had
given me. He did give me strength and I rode home that night. Meeting had been
done some time, and not a word was said by any of the family about the meeting.
Very early next morning Joseph Turner called, said he
was in haste going out of the city in a short time, and wanted I should tell him all that
God had shown me in vision. It was with fear and trembling I told him all.
After I had got through he said he had told out the same last evening.
The point of Turner's Bridegroom article was to prove the Shut Door, his text being
Matthew 25:10, "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were
ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut." Ellen stresses
to Bates that she did not read Turner's article until after she had had her vision; but
the article and the vision show striking resemblances: including the idea that Jesus went
in to the Father as a bridegroom to receive His kingdom (described by both) and the idea
that all who did not await the Coming on October 22, 1844, now knocked in vain at a Shut
Door (overtly set forth by the article, implied by the vision.)
Yet another vision on the Shut Door in February of 1845 came at a meeting at Exeter,
Maine. This meeting was one stop prior to her Atkinson meeting, and was later
described in her letter to Joseph Bates.
1845 - Ellen White Vision, February
Taken from same letter above to Joseph Bates
While in Exeter, Maine, in meeting with Israel
Dammon, James, and many others, many of them did not believe in a shut door. I
suffered much at the commencement of the meeting. Unbelief seemed to be on every
hand.
There was one sister there that was called very spiritual.
She had traveled and been a powerful preacher the most of the time for twenty
years. She had been truly a mother in Israel. . .
She had great sympathy and could not believe the door
was shut. Sister Durben got up to talk.
At length my soul seemed to be in agony, and while
she was talking I fell from my chair to the floor. It was then I had a view of Jesus
rising from his mediatorial throne and going to the holiest as bridegroom to receive his
kingdom. The Lord worked in mighty power setting the truth home in their hearts.
Sister Durben knew what the power of the Lord was for she
felt it many times, and a short time after I fell she was struck down, and fell to the
floor, crying to God to have mercy on her. When I came out of vision, my ears were
saluted with Sister Durben's singing and shouting. Most of them received the vision
and were settled upon the shut door.
1845 - James White letter to the Cincinnati Day-Star, September 17, 1845
Bless God, dear Brother, there are many in
Maine, who stand firm on the truth, unmoved, fixed, that we have had the "True
Midnight Cry," and of course the Bridegroom has come, and the door is shut . . .
I tell you we need the shield of Faith now. While
the Spiritualizers are pouring in one side, inducing some to "deny the only Lord God
and our Savior Jesus Christ," on the other hand, Brethren J. and C. H. Pearson, and
E. C. Clemons have given up the shut door, and are doing all they can to drag others to
outer darkness.
James, by this time, had been in partnership with Ellen for over half a year. He
wouldn't have written as he did if he knew from the visions that the Shut Door was an
error.
1846 - Otis Nichols letter to William Miller, April 20, 1846
Within is a part of the vision of E.G.H. of
Portland. I fully believe them to be from heaven. The manner and circumstances
attending is unlike anything I have seen or read of since the days of the Apostles.
I would ask you to lay aside prejudice and suspend judgment until you have read and
compared them with the scripture and present truth.
At the time she first went out to deliver her message
(Jan'y 1845) she was scarcely able to walk across the room and could not speak with an
audible voice, but she had perfect faith in God and . . . God fulfilled his word: gave her
strength of body and a clear loud audible voice to talk nearly two hours.
Her message was always attended with the Holy Ghost,
and whenever it was received as from the Lord it broke down and melted their hearts like
little children, fed, comforted, strengthened the weak, and encouraged them to hold on to
the faith, and the 6th month movement; and that our work was done for the nominal church
and the world, and what remained to be done was for the household of faith.
(Document File 439b) (Emphasis Supplied)
1847 - Ellen White letter to Eli Curtis April 21, 1847
The Lord has shown me in vision, that Jesus rose
up, and shut the door, and entered the Holy of Holies, at the 7th month 1844.
(Letter 2, 1847 p. 2)
On May 30th of that year, James White also wrote that the door was shut in 1844:
1847 - James White, A Word to the "Little Flock"
That Jesus rose up, and shut the door . . .
at the 7th month, 1844, I fully believe. . . .
1847 - Joseph Bates, A Word to the "Little Flock"
During the number of visits she has made to
New Bedford and Fairhaven . . . I have seen her in vision a number of times, and also in
Topsham, Me., and those who were present during some of these exciting scenes know well
with what interest and intensity I listened to every word, and watched every move to
detect deception. . . .
I can now confidently speak for myself I believe the work
is of God, and is given to comfort and strengthen his "scattered,"
"torn," and "pealed people," since the closing up of our work for the
world in October, 1844. (Emphasis Supplied)
1847 - Joseph Bates in Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps
Luke shows clearly that after the door is shut, those
that are outside will begin to knock, and when they are denied admittance, they will tell
of the wonders which they have wrought, and still the reply will be "I know you
not." Matthew is as clear.
He then uses the parable of the Ten Virgins to prove that the shutting of the door
occurs not at the Second Advent (as nearly all readers of the Bible believe) but before
(as holders of the Shut Door doctrine believe), and identifies the "door" as the
door spoken of by the apostle Paul: the door through which he and others had come to the
gospel. This door, says Bates, is now closed:
Paul's open door, then, was the preaching the gospel with effect to the
Gentiles. Now let this door be shut, and the preaching of this gospel will have no
effect. This is just what we say is the fact. The gospel message ended at the
appointed time with the closing of the 2,300 days. (Emphasis Supplied)
After stating that he does feel sorrow that the door is now shut, Bates closes with:
I think I have fully proved . . . that the
Bridegroom has come, the marriage is past, and the door is shut.
1848 - James White letter of August 26
Friday p.m. the brethren came in to our meeting
in Volney. There were 30 or 40 who met with us. Brother Bates preached the
Sabbath to them with strong argument, much boldness and power. My principal message
was on Matthew 25:1-11
Matthew 25:1-11 is the parable of the Ten Virgins: the source for the idea that on
October 22nd, 1844, Jesus had come to the Father as the Bridegroom and had shut the door.
Later the others also came. "Sir! Sir! they said, "Open the door for
us!" (NIV)
(Continuing) The brethren were strong on the Sabbath and Shut Door. Ellen
had two visions at the meeting . . .
My Brother and Sister, here is the standard to rally
around. Jesus has left His mediatorial throne. He is now claiming His new
kingdom. Do you believe it? I hope you do. Well, this is the present
"faith of Jesus." So the shut door and the Sabbath are the present truth.
1848 - James White letter, October 2
(An angel speaking to Ellen says:)
Yea, publish the things thou hast seen and
heard, and the blessing of God will attend. Look ye! that rising is in strength, and grows
brighter and brighter. That truth is the seal, that's why it comes last. The
shut door we have had. God has taught and taught, but that experience is not the
seal, and that commandment that has been trodden under foot will be exalted. And
when ye get that you will go through the time of trouble.
1849 - Ellen White Vision, March 24
Sabbath, March 24th, 1849, we had a sweet,
and very interesting meeting with the Brethren at Topsham, Me. The Holy Ghost was poured
out upon us, and I was taken off in the Spirit to the City of the living God. There I was
shown that the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus, relating to the shut door,
could not be separated.
The last half of the vision addresses a problem that worried believers in the Shut
Door. If the door was shut, no further conversions were possible. No one
unconverted before October 22, 1844, could after that date be converted. Yet, as
opponents of the Shut Door continually pointed out, sinners continued to accept Christ and
become Christians -- for instance, at the great crusades then being held by Moody
and Sankey. These apparent conversions, which seemed to prove that the door wasn't
shut, was a problem which was taken up and answered by the vision.
I saw that Satan was working through agents, in
a number of ways. He was at work through ministers, who have rejected the truth, and
are given over to strong delusions to believe a lie that they might be damned. While
they were preaching, or praying some would fall prostrate and helpless, not by the power
of the Holy Ghost, no, no, but by the power of Satan breathed upon these agents and
through them to the people. Some professed Adventists who had rejected the present
truth (former Millerites who rejected the Sabbath and the Shut Door), while preaching,
praying, or in conversation, used Mesmerism to gain adherents, and the people would
rejoice in this influence, for they thought it was the Holy Ghost . . . (They) were
so far in the darkness and deception of the Devil, that they thought it was the power of
God . . .
I saw that the . . . false reformations would increase and
spread. The reformations that were shown me, were not reformations from error to truth,
but from bad to worse; for those who professed a change of heart, had only wrapt about
them a religious garb, which covered up the iniquity of a wicked heart. Some
appeared to have been really converted, so as to deceive God's people [i.e., make them
think the Door wasn't shut]; but if their hearts could be seen, they would appear as black
as ever.
My accompanying angel bade me look for the travel
[travail] of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked, but could not see it; for the
time for their salvation is past.
The time for the salvation of sinners is past. This is the Shut Door.
Six days after the above vision, Ellen White wrote it out in a letter to the Hastings
and comments as follows:
1849 - Ellen White letter to Brother and Sister Hastings, March 30
I will now write you the vision God gave me on the
Sabbath, the24th of March. We had a glorious meeting. I was taken off in
vision. . .
Dear Brother and Sister, I have now written the
vision God gave me. I am tired sitting so long. Our position looks very clear.
We know we have the truth, the midnight cry is behind us, the door was shut in 1844
. . .
1849 - Ellen White Vision, November
I saw that Jesus was pleading his
blood for Bro. Rhodes, and that the Angel was ready to enroll his name, as soon as he
would come out of that dark place, and stand on all the present truth. . . .
I saw that in Bro. Rhodes' mouth there had been no
guile in speaking against the present truth, relating to the Sabbath, and Shut Door.
(Emphasis Supplied)
1849 - David Arnold, "The Shut Door Explained"
Published in The Present Truth, December, 1849
"And while they went to buy, the
bridegroom came; and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage; and the door
was shut." - Matt. XXV., 10.
This text is the concluding part of one of the most
important parables ever given by the Messiah. . . Let us, therefore, waive every
other consideration of minor importance, and candidly, and thoroughly investigate this
all-important subject.
The text, according to its natural division, contains
five parts: -
1. The buying of oil.
2. Coming of the bridegroom.
3. The going in with him.
4. The marriage.
5. The shut door.
1. The buying of oil is designated to represent a fruitless effort, on the part
of the foolish virgins, to obtain that which would produce light upon the subject of the
coming of the bridegroom . . .
2. The coming of the bridegroom
[Not Christ's second coming to the earth, he says, but His going to the Ancient of days to
receive the bride, the New Jerusalem, which He did October 22, 1844.)]
3. The going in with him.
[The "going in" refers to Jesus' going into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly
sanctuary on October 22, 1844. This event is described by Arnold in terms entirely in
accord with the Shut Door.]
. . . Under the Mosaic economy. . . there was a daily ministration for the
sins of the people, for three hundred and sixty four days, then that ministration ceased.
[The analog was Jesus, who ministered to all
sinners up to October 22, 1844] Then on the last day of this cycle . . . (the high
priest) puts on the holy garments, made expressly for the services of this day. Thus
prepared, he passes from the Holy, into the Holiest of all, bearing on the breastplate of
judgment the names of all the tribes of Israel. In this manner, all the true Israel
went in with him. [The ones who went in with Jesus on October 22, 1844, to further
benefit from His ministration, are "the true Israel."]
Thus Christ, in the anti type, in the true
tabernacle; in heaven, closed the anti typical daily ministration in the Holy Place,
clothes himself in the holy garments, having on the breastplate of judgment, on which is
inscribed the names of the true Israel of God, who are described by the following words in
the text, "they that were ready." [Only "they that were ready"
go in with Him, which they do by having their names inscribed on the breastplate when
Jesus went in, October 22, 1844.] Thus arrayed, he is prepared to perform all the
services of the anti typical tenth day, and passes into the Holiest of all before the
mercy-seat, and is brought near before the Ancient of days. Thus, they that were
ready went in with him to the marriage as he went in to receive his bride, "and the
door was shut."
4. The marriage.
[The New Jerusalem is given to Christ.]
5. The shut door.
. . . On this day of atonement, he is a high priest for
those only whose names are inscribed on the breastplate of judgment . . . he will cease to
be a priest in the first apartment of the true tabernacle for the sins of the whole world,
and put on the holy garments, and, with the true Israel of God inscribed on His
breastplate of judgment, go in with them before the mercy-seat . . . and be a merciful
high priest over the household of faith . . .
. . . Thus we had in our experience, previous to the tenth
day of the seventh month, 1844, a perfect fulfillment of all the events in the parable, as
stepping stones to the shut door; and since that time, the event, (knocking at the shut
door,) that was to take place after the shutting of the door, has not failed to fill up
the concluding scene in the drama. We are thus brought to a clear and perfect
fulfillment of every feature of this important parable . . .
Therefore, we are brought, by the force of
circumstances, and the fulfillment of events, to the irresistible conclusion that, on the
tenth day of the seventh month, (Jewish time,) in the autumn of 1844, Christ did close his
daily, or continual ministration or mediation in the first apartment of the heavenly
sanctuary, and shut the door . . .
The professed conversions, through the
instrumentality of the different sects, are urged as positive proof that the door is not
shut. I cannot give up the clear fulfillment of prophecy, in our experience, which
shows the shut door in the past, for the opinions, fancies, and feelings of men, based
upon human sympathy.
. . . God's word is true, though it prove all men liars.
As a stream is of the same character as the fountain that sends it forth, (see James iii,
11) and does not rise higher than the fountain, so these professed converts will not rise
to a better state than the low standard of the fallen sects; therefore, they are converted
to the religion of the various sects, but not to God, and the high and holy standard of
the Bible. The prophet Hosea saw this time; and for "our learning" and
guide has written -- "They have dealt treacherously against the Lord; for
they have begotten strange children." (Emphasis Supplied)
This is an exact statement of the Shut Door doctrine: the ministration of Christ after
October 22, 1844, is only for the household of faith: those who "went in with
Him" on that date. The ministration for the sins of the whole world existed up
to, but ceased on, that date.
Arnold then applies each detail of the virgins to the experience of the Millerites,
showing how the parable leads to the shutting of the door on October 22, 1844. The
virgins go forth to meet the bridegroom but meet with a disappointment: this was the
Millerite expectation that Jesus would come in March of 1844, which expectation was
disappointed. The virgins wait or tarry, still believing that his coming is near:
this was the "tarrying time" between March and October of 1844 (The
seventh-month experience). Midway in the tarrying time came a midnight cry: the
frenzied announcement by the Millerites that Jesus would come in October. Thus those
who reject the doctrine of the Shut Door also have a place in the prophetic parable.
1849 - James White "Who Has Left the Sure Word?"
Published in The Present Truth, December, 1849
We are often charged with following our experience,
instead of the unerring word of God; but such a charge is unjust and untrue. It is
true that we "hold fast" our holy advent experience in the past, which has so
perfectly fulfilled prophecy; but in doing, we do not neglect nor depart from the sure
word. . .
Once, the whole advent host believed that the parable
of the ten virgins applied exclusively to the advent movement; and that the first going
forth, in the parable, was fulfilled in us, as we came up to the first specified time; and
that the cry in the parable, "Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet
him," and the trimming of lamps, &c., were also fulfilled by us, as we gave the
seventh month cry.
We still believe what the whole advent host once
believed. . . And strange to tell, many of those who have abandoned the fulfillment
of prophecy in our past experience, are ready to brand us with fanaticism . . . for
believing what they once believed, and for carrying out and showing a consistent
fulfillment of the parable, in all its parts, which shows that the door is shut. . .
When we in 1843 sang, "My Bible leads to
glory," we sang a true sentiment. It did not stop in 1844, and "lead"
us back around another way, no, no; but it led onward by the shut door, through the
waiting time, and keeping of "the commandments of God," into the kingdom.
David Arnold's long article on the Shut Door, and James White's brief statement,
published by James White in the December, 1849 issue of The Present Truth,
apparently were endorsed by a vision.
1850 - James White wrote to Brother and Sister Hastings on January 3:
Ellen saw that Brother Arnold and I must
put our lights together on the testimony of Jesus or shut door. This we have done. .
. .
1850 - Ellen White Vision? Published in The Present Truth of March, 1850
The excitements and false reformations of
this day do not move us, for we know that the Master of the house rose up in 1844, and
shut the door of the first apartment of the heavenly tabernacle, and now we certainly
expect that they will "go with their flocks," to seek the Lord; but they shall
not find him; he hath withdrawn himself (within the second vail) from them."
The Lord has shown me that the power which is with them is a mere human influence, and not
the power of God.
1850 - James White in The Present Truth of May, 1850
Jesus caused the "sacrifice and
oblation to cease" in the "midst" (middle) of the seventieth week by
"nailing it to his cross" in the spring of A.D. 31. To this add three
years and a half, the last half of the seventieth week, and it brings us to the autumn of
A.D. 34 for the termination of the seventy weeks, [490 years.] Then add 1810 years,
the last part of the 2300, which reach to the cleansing of the Sanctuary, and it brings us
to the Autumn of 1844. Amen.
At that point of time the Midnight Cry was given, the
work for the world was closed up, and Jesus passed into the Most Holy Place to receive the
kingdom, and to cleanse the Sanctuary. . . .
That there is to be a shut door prior to the second
advent, many will admit; yet but few seem willing to have it where it actually took place.
Let us take a brief view of our past history, as marked out by the parable of the
ten virgins [Matt. xxv.1-11] and I think we shall clearly see that there can be no other
place for the shut door but at the Autumn of 1844. . . .
. . . . Now we may see that the only place for the
shut door was in 1844. Amen.
But says the objector - "The door of mercy will
not be closed until Jesus comes." We do not read of such a door as "the
door of mercy" in the Bible; neither do we teach that such a door was shut in 1844.
God's mercy endureth for ever." See Ps. cxxxvi: cvi, I' cxvii, 1.
He is still merciful to his saints, and ever will be' and Jesus is still their advocate
and priest. But the sinner, to whom Jesus had stretched out his arms all the day
long, and who had rejected the offers of salvation, was left without an advocate, when
Jesus passed from the Holy Place, and shut that door in 1844 . . .
The reason why they do not find the Lord is simply
this, they seek him where he is not; "he hath withdrawn himself" to the Most
Holy Place. The prophet of God calls their man-made converts, "strange
children" . . .
It is impossible to harmonize such portions of the
Word as Isa. ii, 19-21, Rev. vi, 15-17, with the idea of the shut-door, and knocking being
at, and after the advent. The 2300 days and cleansing of the Sanctuary of Dan. viii,
13,14, the parable of the ten virgins, and other parallel portions of Scripture clearly
fix the shut door in 1844.
1850 - James White in "Our Tour East" published in The Advent Review,
August, 1850
We left Oswego May 15, in company with Brother Rhodes,
to visit some of the little flock in the east. At Topsham, Me., we found most of our
brethren, where we always expect to find them, strong in the faith. That little
company have been sorely tried. Apostate Adventists have done all in their power, by
flattery, and then by ridicule, to overthrowthem, but they still remain established beyond
all doubt, that the great leading movements in our advent experience, so clearly marked in
the parable [Matt.xxv., 1-11] were fulfillments of prophecy, and the work of God . . .
At North Paris the brethren and sisters needed help.
They had formerly embraced some errors, which they full renounced at the Conference
there last September. And now Satan was tempting some of them to doubt their past
experience in 1843 and 1844. Sadness and gloom seemed to rest upon them, and they
felt and expressed a great lack of spiritual life. But thank the Lord, a review of
the way God has led his people revived them, and the Lord was with us in power. His
refreshing, melting Spirit was poured upon us, and the atmosphere seemed as sweet as
heaven. We left them all firm in the Sabbath and shut door. . .
In Dorchester, Mass., . . .
At Fairhaven . . .
We next visited the house of our bereaved Brother
Hastings of New Ipswich, N.H. Sister Hastings, who has been a bold and consistent
believer and advocate of the present truth for some years past, now sleeps in Jesus.
She died February 28, 1850, of cramp colic, aged forty-two years. She
embraced the Sabbath in 1846, and has ever believed that the work of warning the world
closed in 1844.
1850 - Ellen White Vision of July, 1850
Said the angel, Can ye stand in the battle in the day
of the Lord? Ye need to be washed and live in newness of life. Then I saw that
those whose hands are now engaged in making up the breach and are standing in the gaps
that have formally since '44 broken the commandments of God and have so far followed the
Pope as to keep the first day instead of the seventh, would have to go down into the water
and be baptized in the faith of the shut door and keeping the commandments of God. . . .
1850 - Joseph Bates article in the Review and Herald of December, 1850
We know that these people are saying, and
will still insist, that they have reclaimed hundreds of backsliders, and that scores have
been converted to God, under their teaching since the Albany Conference, April, 1845.
It was at the Albany Conference that the Millerites almost en masse repudiated
the Shut Door, leaving it in the possession of a few splinter groups such as the one that
looked for leading to the visions of Ellen White. Even at this late date, Bates is
concerned to show what his Shut Door belief requires: that all alleged conversions are
spurious.
Continuing from Joseph Bates' Article above:
We say, that as long as they continue
rebellious against their lawful Prince, it is morally impossible for them to beget for Him
one peaceful subject. God has a true test, by which to try every individual since
the Midnight Cry. It is "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,"
Rev. xiv, 9-12. We have yet to learn, that one single one of their professed
converts, or reclaimed backsliders, have reached this standard.
1850 - Ellen White Vision, December 24, 1850
Then I saw Laodiceans. They will make a mighty
effort. Will they get the victory? One who has the truth will chase a
thousand, and two will put ten thousand to flight. They are coming to conclusions
that bring them into close quarters, and they cannot tell where they be themselves, for
they are lost in the foggy, terrible fear that takes hold of them. Anguish of spirit
will seize them. Dare they admit the door is shut?
The sin against the Holy Ghost was to ascribe to
Satan what belongs to God or what the Holy Ghost has done. They said the shut door
was of the devil and now admit it is against their own lives. They shall die the
death.
1851 - Joseph Bates Article in the Review and Herald of January, 1851
When the Master of the house (the Lord Jesus) rose up
and shut the door, all honest believers, that had submitted to His will, and children that
had not arrived to the years of accountability, were undoubtedly borne in on his
breastplate of judgment which is over his heart. The names of all that fully keep
the commandments are retained. Those that do not, will have their names erased
before Jesus leaves the Holiest.
The children, that are taught, and that keep the commandments of
God, as they come to the years of accountability, are believers just as fully as adult
persons that are now embracing all of the commandments, in addition to what they believed
before.
It is true, some persons that are ignorant of this
message may, and undoubtedly will be saved if they die before Jesus leaves the Holiest.
I mean those that were believers before 1844. Sinners and backsliders cannot
get their names on the breast-plate of judgment now.
1851 - A "letter written by a Second Advent brother to his son" and published
in the Review and Herald of February, 1851
I have, from the presentation of truth,
embraced the seventh-day Sabbath, and the shut door . . . The embracing these truths
has opened a light upon the book of Revelation, and on the Types (so freely used in
proclaiming the Midnight Cry), as I have never seen before. I now feel that I am on
the track of prophecy, and that the coming of the Lord is near. . . .
My time and your patient might be exhausted, were I
to undertake to bring to your view the whole subject connected with the Shut Door.
Suffice it to say, it does not in my opinion, exclude all conversion. But it does
exclude those who have willfully rejected all these Messages. . . .
Since I began this, I have got the small tract on the
Sanctuary, and Shut Door, which I will send you. Read it with attention, it will
give you much light on the cleansing of the Sanctuary.
The Shut Door, even at this late date, is a doctrine of major importance. Yet
there is a change; the letter writer believes that the Shut Door applies "to those
who have willfully rejected all these Messages," and not to everyone not in the
Millerite movement. So far as I've been able to find, this is the first time that
this is genuinely stated in anything published by James or Ellen White.
1851 - James White, April 7, 1851
Quoting a letter from a Marshall Truesdell:
Brother White:
I am not ready to endorse your view of the shut door,
but if it is truth I hope I shall see it. I would like to have you answer one
question through your paper. Does the shut door exclude all conversions?. . . .
Here is how James White answers the question.
Conversion, in the strictest sense,
signifies a change from sin to holiness. In this sense we readily answer that it
does not "exclude ALL conversions," but we believe that those who heard the
"everlasting gospel" message and rejected it, or refused to hear it, are
excluded by it. We have no message to such. They have no ears to hear us,
unless we lower the standard of truth so low that there would be no salvation in it.
But there are those who may be converted.
1. Erring brethren. We believe there are many in the Laodicean
church [SDA's?], who will yet be converted. . . .
2. Children, who were not old enough to understandingly receive or reject
the truth, when our Great High Priest closed his mediation in the Holy Place at the end of
the 2300 days, are subjects of conversion from sin to holiness. Their names were
borne in upon the breast-plate of judgment, and they are subjects of the mediation of
Jesus. [Note how this implies the usual Shut Door view -- the exclusion of
mediation of Jesus for all who in 1844 were non-Millerite adults. The Shut Door is
breaking and splintering, but slowly.] (Emphasis Supplied)
3. When Elijah thought that he was alone, God said to him, "I have
reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed to the image of
Baal." We believe that God has reserved to himself a multitude of precious
souls, some even in the churches. These he will manifest in his own time. They
were living up to what light they had when Jesus closed his mediation for the world, and
when they hear the voice of the Shepherd in the message of the third angel they will
gladly receive the whole truth. Such will be converted to the truth, and from their
errors. But we think we have no message to such now. . .
Our message is to the Laodiceans, yet some of these
hidden souls are being manifested.
Some will slip through the Door, but as exceptions.
1851 - James White, June 9, 1851
"And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write; 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: I
know thy works; behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for
thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name"
This language is addressed to only one church of the
seven. Adventists have agreed in applying them to seven periods, or states of the
church. This language does not apply to the Sardis [nominal church], neither to the
Laodicean church; but to the Philadelphia, the church of Brotherly Love, that came out of
the different sectarian bodies, and were united in the Advent faith in 1844. All
denominational tenets were laid aside, and although the Advent brethren came out from the
different sect, yet all were perfectly united on the great subject of Christ's coming.
To this church, one door is opened, while another is shut. "Behold, I
set before thee an open door." This door Christ opens, while he shuts another.
So even at this late date (as before), the door opened by Jesus is only for those who
had been in the movement.
James White's concluding paragraph is thought by some to show a belief in a partially
opened door. It says that God is "ready to pour salvation and mercy on those
who zealously repent of their backslidings . . . and receive the present truth,"
and that God is leading "by the power and his Spirit and truth to the open door"
-- statements that seem to imply a more or less open door. But this doesn't
seem to be the case, for the statements are applied not to just anyone but (as in the full
Shut Door) to "the scattered members of his body" and to "the
Laodiceans" -- code phrases for Millerites and Adventists.
We do believe, however, that Jesus entered
the "tabernacle of the testimony" at the end of the 2300 days, and now stands
before the mercy-seat, pleading his blood before the Father, in our behalf. There he
stands an intercessor between the Father and the scattered members of his body, ready to
pour salvation and mercy on those who zealously repent of their back-slidings; turn to God
with the whole heart, and receive the present truth. Oh, may God wake up the
Laodiceans, and lead them by the power of his Spirit and truth to the open door, which
presents to our view Jesus in the Holiest, standing beside the Ark of the ten
commandments.
1851, August - James and Ellen White publish the early visions in a book (titled Experiences
and Views). They omit all visions that clearly teach the Shut Door, and omit
phrases and statements from the visions that they do publish, that show too clearly that
Ellen White, during these years, believed the doctrine.
August, of 1851 is nearly seven years after the Great
Disappointment -- long after everyone else has abandoned the Shut Door.
Now, at long last, despite years of supposed leading by visions from above, James and
Ellen White finally see the light.
Hereafter, we find the new view: those who had willfully rejected Miller's message were
rejected by God; just about anyone else, including persons who didn't "go in"
with Jesus on October 22, 1844, could be converted and find salvation.
1851 - James White article in Review and Herald of August 19, 1851
We do not say that the "everlasting
gospel" has ceased to have effect upon all, for some are now embracing the doctrine
of the speedy coming of the Lord, who have not been identified with the Advent people in
the past movements. . .
Neither do we say that the message of the second
angel, setting forth the fallen state of the various sects, with the call to leave them,
cannot now be obeyed by those honest children of the Lord who find themselves bound by
sectarian creeds.
1852 - James White Article in Review and Herald of February 17, 1852
Jan. 31st, and Feb. 1st we spent with the
brethren in the vicinity of Pitcher . . .
Monday night, Feb. 2d, we stopped with Bro. E. D.
Cook, of Manlius. We found Bro. and Sr. Cook, wholeheartedly in the present truth .
. . [Tuesday morning] we left for Oswego. . . . Those who have recently
embraced the Sabbath in that city are very decided.
Feb. 7th and 8th we were with the brethren in the
vicinity of Lorain. Here the Lord has raised up quite a large company of Sabbath
keepers within a few months, many of whom had but little or no experience in the advent
movement.
Present truth is now the Sabbath: not the Sabbath and the Shut Door. In fact, the
phrase "the Shut Door," which had hitherto polka-dotted the publications of
James White now disappears, and remains unmentioned until resurrected by persons who had
known James and Ellen White in the early days.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now that we have seen the evidence, let us take one more look at the letter Ellen White
wrote to Elder Loughborough in 1874 to answer the charges of some of her early critics as
they remembered her, when she
was preaching the shut door doctrine.
1874 - Ellen White Letter to Elder Loughborough
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 1844 are false.
With my brothers and sisters, after the time passed
in '44, I did believe no more sinners would be converted. But I never had a vision
that no more sinners would be converted, and I 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.
Can anyone who has read all this evidence, which was gleaned from this seven year time
period that followed the great disappointment, still say that this can be an honest,
sincere attempt to help the researcher find the truth? Could it, by chance, be a
deceitful statement that would try to prevent anyone from finding out what actually
occurred at that time -- a time when her activities were still fresh in the
memory banks of her contemporaries? Could it be anything other than deceitful?
I'm afraid not. Could we come right out and call it an obvious lie? Could we
answer to God how we could call it anything else?
I believe the question that God is waiting for us to answer is -- "Do you
believe that I sent her to bring you the messages which she claims I sent?"
This should not be a difficult question to answer.
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