As I explained on Chapter 5's main page: --
What I wish to illustrate is how vastly more powerful it is, when assessing Ellen White's
claims to inspiration, if you don't just read a critic, but rather read the critic and
then go examine a thing for yourself. What is worked up and handed to us by a critic
may put the EGW inspiration claim ever so much to the test; but the reality (if you dig to
find it for yourself) is almost always magnitudes against her.
I've had two recent examples of this, that I think are quite
illuminating, where I saw something by a critic and then decided to see what I'd find if I
went looking for myself.
The starting point was a website called "Ellen G.
White: Prophet? or Plagiarist?" which quoted two passages that Ellen White
claimed to have received by special inspiration from God but in fact got from books in her
library. The messages from God were actually:
 | a passage from Larkin B. Coles;
|
| a passage from Daniel March. |
Here are the parallel passages and the charge as given by the
web site.
Larkin B. Coles |
What she "got from God"
|
Where she actually got it |
| I was shown that one great cause of the
existing deplorable state of things is that |
|
parents do not feel under obligation
to bring up their children
to conform to physical law.
|
Parents are also under obligation
to teach and oblige their children
to conform to physical law . . . .
|
Mothers love their children
with an idolatrous love
and indulge their appetite when
they know
it will injure their health
and thereby bring upon them disease
and unhappiness . . . .
|
How strange and unaccountable that
mothers should love their children
so tenderly
as to indulge them in what
they have occasion to know
may injure their constitutions
and impair
their happiness . . . . |
They have sinned against Heaven and against their children, and God will hold them
accountable.
|
May many children be delivered from such mothers, and from such cruel kindness |
The managers and teachers of schools
|
The managers and teachers of schools
|
Ellen G. White
Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 141
Testimony 22
(1872)
|
Larkin B. Coles
Philosophy of Health, pp. 144-145
Boston: William D. Ticknor & Co.
(1849, 1851, 1853)
|
In other words, something purportedly seen in a vision
was actually seen in a book by Larkin B. Coles.
And here is something similar involving
Daniel March
|
White claimed total
inspiration:
|
She copied this from
Daniel March:
|
| In these letters which I write, in the
testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me.
I do not write one article in the paper, expressing merely my own ideas. They are
what God has opened before me in vision -- the precious rays of light shining from
the throne. |
|
| Yet on the same page . . . |
|
If you refuse to believe
until every shadow of uncertainty
and every possibility
of doubt is removed,
you will never believe.
The doubt that demands
perfect knowledge
will never yield to faith.
Faith rests upon
evidence, not demonstration.
The Lord requires us to obey
the voice of duty,
when there are other voices
all around us urging us
to pursue an opposite course.
It requires
earnest attention from us to distinguish
the voice which speaks from God.
|
We must not defer our obedience
till every shadow of uncertainty
and every possibility
of mistake is removed.
The doubt that demands
perfect knowledge
will never yield to faith,
for faith rests upon
probability, not demonstration. . . .
We must obey
the voice of duty
when there are many other voices
crying
against it,
and it requires
earnest heed to distinguish
the one which speaks for God.
|
Ellen G. White,
Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 27
1882
|
Daniel March,
Night Scenes in the Bible,
Phil.: Zeigler, McCurdy & Co., 1923; p88 |
These I believe are worthwhile points. Almost
anyone not previously committed to Ellen White will perceive the situation as being one in
which the woman pretended to get from God what she in fact got from her library.
On the other hand, a believer will look at this and not
change their mind. Instead they say, "She may have been shown it by God, and
later found it conveniently worded in a book. So why shouldn't she make use of a
passage that states what she had already seen?" And this explains how something
could have come to Ellen White from God and also have come from a book known to have been
in her library.
It occurred to me that something right from the start
shot down this explanation, and that was the length and complexity of the passage
plagiarized. It would be one thing if Ellen White lifted a phrase. But here
she was copying entire sentences -- and even consecutive sentences. That
something this complex would come from God and then be found while reading a book would be
vanishingly unlikely.
So I got to wondering. Was either parallel merely
what someone had noticed? Was either parallel in fact part of something
longer? If so, it would stretch the above "explanation" even further past
the shattering point. (Stretch it so far that no one could look at the evidence and
honestly say they still believed it.)
I had a photocopy of Coles' Philosophy of Health,
so I got it out along with a copy of 3T and did some digging. What I found were the
Coles/White parallels you see below. Compare them with the parallel given by the
critic and see if you don't feel some of the force of what I mean when I say that a critic
may look good, but the reality usually goes against the EGW claim far worse.
Here, then, is what I found when I compared this part of
3T with Coles' book.
|
| L. B. Coles
Philosophy of Health
1853
|
E. G. White
Testimonies, Vol. 3
1872 |
| The strange abandonment of principle
which characterizes this generation
[ 141.0 by violating
the laws of life and health ]
is almost enough to dishearten . . .
Instead of seeking after a true knowledge
of themselves
. . . they foolishly and wickedly inquire,
"What shall I eat,
and wherewithal shall I
enjoy the present hour?"
--143.
The . . . community
.is exceedingly obtuse
.on this
subject.
.With the .great. majority,
appetite is the only law
which governs.
--137.
|
The strange absence of principle
which characterizes this generation,
and which is shown in their
disregard of
the laws of life and health,
is astonishing.
.Ignorance prevails
.upon this
subject . . . .
.With the
majority,
their principle anxiety is,
What shall I eat?
what shall I drink?
and wherewithal shall I
be clothed?
. . . appetite is the .great. law
which governs . . .
--140.1 |
| If .the majority of men .. . . --140.1
Obedience to the laws of health
should be made
a matter
of individual and personal duty.
It is
every individual's
duty to study
.the laws of his being .. . .
Ignorance . . . on
.this subject .is sin.
--140.2
|
The moral powers are weakened
because men and women will not live in
obedience to the laws of health
and make
.this .great .subject
a personal duty . . .
.The majority of men .and women
remain in ignorance of
.the laws of their being .. . .
--140.2 |
| If a man chew
or smoke tobacco till
the electric forces of his nervous system
are .undermined,
or the vital properties
of his .blood
.are .corrupted . . .
and he consequently
be laid upon
a premature dying couch,
[ 139.0 .bring
upon themselves .]
would his
.sickness and death
be properly considered
visitations of Providence?
To send a note to church
in such a case,
. . . would be insulting
to Heaven.
. . . a .dispensation
of .Heaven . . .
--141. |
They indulge the depraved appetite
in the use of slow poisons
which .corrupt the .blood
and .undermine
the nervous forces,
and in consequence
.bring upon
.themselves sickness and death.
Their friends call the result of this course
the .dispensation
of .Providence.
In this
they insult Heaven.
--140.2
|
[a] Parents are also under obligation
to teach and oblige their children
to conform to physical law
for their own sakes.
[c] How strange and unaccountable
.that
mothers should love their children
so tenderly
as to indulge them
in what they have occasion to know
may injure their constitutions
and impair
their happiness . . .
May many children be delivered
from such mothers,
and from such cruel kindnesses!
[ 144.2 to more or less extent ]
[b] The mother . . . commits a crime
against her offspring,
against humanity, and .against
Heaven ,
for which God will hold her
responsible . . .
--144.3
|
I was shown
that one great cause of the existing
deplorable state of things is that
parents do not feel under obligation
to bring up their children
to conform to physical law.
Mothers love their children
with an idolatrous love
and indulge their appetite
when they know
that it will injure their health
and thereby bring upon them disease
and unhappiness.
This cruel kindness
is manifested
to a great extent
in the present generation . . .
They [the mothers] have sinned
.against
Heaven .and
against their children,
and God will hold them
.accountable
.
--141.1 - .2
|
| The managers and teachers of schools
. . . are under
obligations
to secure such facilities for exercise . . .
. . . .to
preserve health .. . .
--145.1 |
The managers and teachers of schools
. . . .to
preserve health .. . .
. . . necessary
exercise . . .
--141.3
This paragraph draws on Coles only minimally. Yet even here, some of what
is allegedly from God actually came from Coles.This opportunistic use of a source, copying closely from one
paragraph but larding the copywork with isolated words or phrases from another paragraph
(almost always one that lies open while copying from the main one), runs all through Ellen
White's "borrowings," and is yet another thing that makes the result most
implausible to have been something priorly "shown" her by God.
|
|
|
and regulations
in regard to observance of dietetic law,
as are adapted
to preserve the health,
promote
the literary
progress,
and secure to the world
the usefulness of their pupils.
And students
owe it to the world
that they
so walk in obedience to law,
as to render
their existence
and advantages
a blessing to society.
--145.1
All
. . . are under obligation to exert
.an
influence .. . .
.by
example and precept .. . . .
his influence by word or deed
is constantly telling
--146.2
|
The students' employment and amusements
should have been regulated
with reference to physical law
and should have been adapted
to preserve to them the healthy
tone of all the powers of body and mind.
Then a practical knowledge of business
could have been obtained while
their literary
education was being gained.
Students . . .
should . . . see and feel that
society has claims upon them and
that they
should live in obedience to natural law
so that they can,
by their existence
.and
influence ,
.by
precept and example ,
be an advantage
and blessing to society.
It should be impressed upon the youth that
all
have
an influence
that is constantly telling
--142.1
|
I'd found so much when I pursued Coles/White that I
decided to see what I'd find if I pursued March/White. I ordered a copy of Night
Scenes from the Bible through inter-library loan, and here's what happened after I
brought the book home.
I opened to p. 88-89: the pages on which I expected to
find the statement about how we mustn't defer obedience till every shadow is removed, and
about how faith rests upon probability not demonstration. My purpose was to see if
this was all that Selected Messages had plagiarized, or if some of March's
material before and after the passage had also been plagiarized.
I read the two pages by Daniel March and to my surprise
didn't find the faith/demonstration passage at all. What I did find was something
else, and although I had never read a book by Daniel March in my life it sounded familiar:
--
We must not think that God was more interested in the world in ancient times, when he
spoke by miracles and prophets and apostles, than he is now when he speaks by his written
word and by his holy providence. The heart of the Infinite Father never yearned
toward his earthly children with a deeper or more tender compassion than now . . .
There never was a time when God was doing more to govern, to instruct and to save the
world than he is doing now. To those who look for him the tokens of his presence are
manifest everywhere . . .
|
So I checked it against the EGW writings and found
that (sure enough) it was a chunk of March used by Ellen White.
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Testimony 24
1875
|
| The heart of the
Infinite Father
never yearned
toward his earthly children
with a deeper and more
tender compassion
than now . . .
There never was a time
when God was
doing more
to govern, to .instruct
and to serve the world
than he is doing now.
To those who look for him
the tokens
of his presence
are manifest everywhere . . .
--88-89 |
The heart of God
never yearned
toward His earthly children
with deeper love and more
compassionate tenderness
|than now.
There never was a time
when God was
ready and waiting to do more
for His people
than now.
And He will .instruct
and save all who choose to be saved
in His appointed way.
Those who are spiritual
can discern spiritual things and
see tokens
of the presence and work
of God everywhere.
--3T 455.02
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Testimony 27
1876
|
| We must not think that
God
was more interested in the world
in ancient times
when he spoke
by miracles and
prophets and apostles,
than he is
now when he speaks
by his written word
and by his holy providence.
There never was a time
when God
was doing more . . . to instruct . . .
than he is doing now.
--88-89
|
In ancient times
God spoke
to men by the mouth of
prophets and apostles.
In these days He speaks
to them by the testimonies
of His spirit.
There was never a time
when God
instructed
His people more earnestly
than He instructs them now.
--4T 147.04
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Testimony 33
1889
|
| We must not think that
God
was more interested in the world
in ancient times
when he spoke
by miracles and
prophets and apostles,
than he is
now when he speaks|
by his written word
and by his holy providence.
There never was a time
when God
was doing more . . .
to instruct . . .
than he is doing now.
--88-89
|
In ancient times
God spoke
to men by the mouth of
prophets and apostles.
In these days He speaks
to them by the testimonies
of His spirit.
There was never a time
when God
instructed
His people more earnestly
than He instructs them now.
--5T 661.01
|
Thus the very first thing I read, on opening Night
Scenes in the Bible, had gone into the "inspired" Ellen White
writings.
From there the situation became almost comical.
I tried again to find March's passage on faith vs.
demonstration. Thinking that the critic at the website might have simply inverted a
couple digits, I turned from p. 88-89 to p. 98-99. Again I found nothing on faith
versus demonstration. But I did find some lines having a nice ring. So I
decided to see if they also had been pressed into inspired service.
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Testimony 27
1876
|
|
There are deep mysteries
in the word of God --
unsearchable mysteries
in Divine Providence --
mysteries
past finding out
.in
the plan of redemption . . .
--98
|
There are deep mysteries
in the word of God;
there are unexplainable mysteries
in His providences;
there are mysteries
.in
the plan of salvation
that man can never fathom.
--4T 163-164 |
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Testimony 29
1880
|
|
There are deep mysteries
in the word of God --
unsearchable mysteries
in Divine Providence --
mysteries past finding out
.in the plan of redemption .. . .
God's providence is the school
in which he is ever
setting before us the true aims of life.
The term of instruction
takes in all our earthly days.
None are too young,
none are too old
to learn,
if only they heed
the Divine Teacher
who "guides with his eye,"
and who whispers to the wanderer,
"This is the way -- walk ye in it."
--98-99
|
There are deep mysteries
in the word of God,
which will never be discovered by
minds that are unaided by the Spirit of God.
There are also
unsearchable mysteries
.in the plan of redemption
which finite minds can never comprehend . . .
God's providence is a continual school,
in which He is ever
leading men to see the true aims of life.
None are too young,
and none too old,
to learn in this school
by paying diligent heed
to the lessons taught by
the divine Teacher.
He is the True Shepherd,
and He calls His sheep by name.
By the wanderers His voice is heard, saying:
"This is the way, walk ye in it."
--4T 444.01
|
I then spent 15 or 20 minutes skimming through March to
catch sight of knowledge or uncertainty or demonstration and thus
finally find the passage I had originally set out for. After fruitless searching,
and becoming curious about that consecutive chain of White/March plagiarisms (two for two:
better than Shaq at the free throw line!) I decided just for the heck of it to take a
passage at random and see if it also had gone into the writings of Ellen White.
I closed March's book and let it open. What lay
before me was a description of the feast of Belshazzar. Would two-for-two become
three-for-three?
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Ms 50, 1893
1893
|
| [b] in the hour
of their wildest mirth . . .
[a] The handwriting appeared
upon the wall
of the banqueting-room
--297
|
At the very moment
when the feasting was at its height
.a
bloodless hand .came forth
and traced on the wall
of the banqueting room
the doom of the king and his kingdom
. . .
|
| There is nothing said or
done . . .
that can escape
the Infinite Eye . . .
.The bloodless hand
that wrote in flaming letters . . .
is ever writing upon every heart:
"God is here -- God is everywhere!" . . .
We cannot hide anything from him . . .
We cannot escape
our accountability to him . . .
--298
|
. . . there is nothing said or done
that is not recorded
on the books of heaven.
The mystic characters traced by
.the bloodless hand
testify that
God is a witness to all we do . . .
We cannot hide anything from God.
We cannot escape
from our accountability to Him.
|
| Whatever we do, wherever
we are,
we can never cease to be responsible
to him.
--301
|
Wherever we are and
whatever we do,
we are responsible
to Him
whose we are . . . |
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
The Signs of the Times
1894
|
| Whatever we do,
wherever we are,
we can never cease to be
responsible to him.
For he has appointed us
to do his work.
He has given us the means, the faculties
and the opportunity,
and he holds us
answerable for using
them well.
--301
|
Whatever we do,
and wherever we may be,
we are God's property, and
we can never cease to be
responsible to him.
He has given us faculties,
privileges and opportunities,
and he holds us
responsible for the use
to which we put his intrusted gifts.
-- ST 11-26-94 05 |
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the
Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
Special Testimony to the
Battle Creek Church
1882
|
| Whatever we do,
wherever we are,
we can never cease
to be responsible to him.
For he has appointed
us to do .his work .
He has given us the means,
the faculties and the opportunity,
and he holds us answerable
for using them well.
So far as we are true
to our high destiny, we
are warranted in looking upon ourselves
as co-laborers
with the Builder
of all worlds,
ambassadors of the eternal King,
executors of the supreme Will.
Thus our accountability to God,
fully accepted and faithfully met,
will
raise us above everything
that is mean and selfish and impure.
It will make us believe and feel
that we always have something
great and glorious and good to live for.
It will
make us earnest,
cheerful and strong under
all the burdens, .discouragements .and
difficulties
of life.
|
Whatever we do,
whatever we say,
wherever we are,
we can never cease
our responsibility to God.
He has appointed
our work.
[sentence]
God has given us the means,
the faculties and the opportunities,
and he holds us accountable
for using them well.
When we work with a single eye
to God's glory . . . we
have praise of God, and
may consider ourselves
as co-laborers
with him, as building
for eternity.
Every one,
whether ministers or lay members, are
God's embassadors,
executing .his work .. . .
The Judge standeth before the door.
Our accountability to God,
fully accepted and faithfully met,
will
balance our characters . . . We shall be,
through the grace given unto us,
raised above everything
that is mean and selfish and impure.
[sentence]
It will make us realize
that we have something
great and good to live for.
This close connection with God will
make our lives earnest,
cheerful, and strong under
difficulties,
hopeful amid .discouragements
that will be the lot of all.
|
| What the world wants
most is men
in whose minds
the great thought
of responsibility to God
is ever present
-- men who are made strong
by the consciousness
that they are doing God's work,
and they mean to do it
so as to receive his approbation.
-- 301-302 |
. . . The church now most want men
whose minds
can comprehend and bear the thought
of their responsibility to God,
-- men who are made strong
by the consciousness
that we are doing God's work,
and that they will do it
with fidelity.
--PH155 22-23
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869
|
Ellen White
The Health Reformer
1878 |
| . . . he has appointed
us .to do his work.
He has given us
the means, .the faculties .. . .
he holds us accountable
for using them well . . .
we are
warranted in looking upon ourselves as
co-laborers with
the Builder of all worlds,
ambassadors of the eternal King . . .
Thus our accountability to God,
fully accepted and faithfully met,
will raise us above
everything that is mean and selfish
and impure.
It will make us believe and feel
that we always have
something great and glorious and good
to .live for .
It will make us
earnest, cheerful and strong
under all the burdens, discouragements
and difficulties of life.
--301
|
.Our faculties .are given us
.to be used in the work .of God; . . .
we shall be
co-laborers with
the Creator of the universe,
ambassadors for Christ.
We shall be elevated above
the taint of selfishness
and moral defilement;
and the thought
that we are .living for
a grand and noble purpose,
fulfilling the design of our being,
will make us
earnest, cheerful, and strong
under all discouragements
and difficulties.
--HR 04-01-78
"The Apostasy of Solomon"
|
Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
The Youth's Instructor
1873
|
|
. . . .our accountability to .God . . .
will raise us above everything
that is mean and selfish and impure.
It will make us believe
.and feel
that we always have something
great and glorious and good to live for.
It will
make us earnest, cheerful and strong
under all the burdens,
discouragements and
difficulties of life.
--301
|
They .may feel
.their accountability to
labor with Jesus Christ in the
great plan of saving souls. If youth
.will feel
their responsibility before God,
they will be elevated above everything
that is mean, selfish, and impure.
Life to such will be full of importance.
They will realize
that they have something
great and glorious to live for.
This will
have an influence upon youth to
make them earnest, cheerful, and strong
under all the burdens,
discouragements, and
difficulties of life . . .
--YI 09-01-73 18
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
The Signs of the Times
1881
|
| So long as we have a
conscience
we must have a voice within us to tell us that
God's eye is ever fixed
upon us,
and that we must give account to him
for all we do
and for all we
are.
That infinite and awful .Witness .is
in every storehouse, workshop
and place of business
every day of the week
and every hour of the day.
His eye scrutinizes
every transaction in trade,
every quality in goods,
every degree of fidelity or neglect in .work .
His ear catches every word . . .
There is nothing said or done or thought
that can escape
the Infinite Eye.
.In the deepest solitude
we must all have one companion . . .
Whatever we do,
.wherever we are,
we can never cease to be responsible to him . . .
So far as we are true to our high destiny
we are
warranted in looking upon ourselves as
co-laborers with
the Builder of all worlds . . .
Thus our accountability to God,
fully accepted
and faithfully met,
will
raise us above everything that is
mean and selfish and impure . . .
. . . so as to receive his approbation.
--297-298, 301, 302
|
God's eye is fixed
upon every individual,
and every one must render an account to him
for all they do,
and for what they
permit themselves to be.
.Wherever we are,
in storehouse and workshop,
in all our business,
every day in the week,
and every hour in the day,
his eye scrutinizes
all our .works ,
his ear listens to our every word.
.In the deepest solitude
every act and word of our lives
has still one .witness , --
the infinite God.
When we are true to the high destiny
which he has marked out for us,
we become
co-laborers with
him.
If our responsibility
be fully and heartily accepted
and faithfully discharged,
it will
secure for us the joyful commendation . . .
--ST 10-06-81 12
"An Unwise Marriage"
|
| Daniel March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869 |
Ellen White
The Ministry of Healing
1905
|
| the only safeguard . . .
is not to drink at all.
If none ever took a .temperate .glass [etc.]
--296
|
the only safeguard
for the .temperate .man
is total abstinence.
--446.02
|
The best one yet -- and a good
indication that Ellen White didn't plagiarize (as per the claim by the White Estate) at
the rate of 1 or 2%.
At this point I fished out my copy of The White Lie,
which I supposed had been the source for much at the website, and found that March's
elusive disquisition on faith vs. demonstration was on p. 201-202. Sure enough,
there was the passage. And sure enough, it also had undergone the usual multiple
plagiarism. Here is what I found when I looked for uses of it in the Ellen White
writings.
[1]
Her first use of it seems to have been in Letter 22, 1872. As March's book was published in 1869, we
see that Ellen's use of it started early. Notice how closely her letter follows
March.
|
| Daniel
March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869
|
E. G.
White
Letter 22
1872 |
| The word of the Lord comes
to us all,
and it is a message
of light and salvation.
--202.01 |
The word of the Lord has come
to the people of San Francisco
in messages
of light and salvation.
|
| If we
[ 202.01 neglecting to ]
[ 12 lines down:
improve the opportunities of the present ]
wait for louder calls
or better opportunities,
the light
may be withdrawn
and our path left to us in darkness . . .
The argument which convinces today
if rejected,
may have less force tomorrow.
To have better opportunities
in the future
we must
improve the opportunities
of the present
with prompt and willing hearts. |
If they
neglect to
improve the present opportunity
and wait for louder calls
or greater light,
the light
which has been given
may be withdrawn
and the path be left in darkness.
The light which shines today
upon the people and upon the church,
if not cherished,
will have less force tomorrow.
To have better opportunities
and great light
in the future
we must
improve the blessings of the present
with willing hearts.
|
| We must not defer obedience
till every shadow
of uncertainty
and every possibility of mistake
is removed.
[ below: will never yield to faith ]
The doubt that demands
perfect knowledge
will never yield to faith,
for .faith
.rests
upon probability,
not demonstration. |
Those who defer their obedience
till every shadow
of uncertainty
and every possibility of mistake
is removed
will never believe and obey.
A belief that demands
perfect knowledge
will never yield.
Faith
and demonstration
are two things.
|
| |
Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
|
| |
.Faith
.rests .not .upon probability.
|
| We .must obey the voice
of duty
when there are many other voices
crying against it,
and it requires
earnest heed to distinguish
the one which speaks for God. |
It has been our work to obey the voice
of duty
even when many voices
may be raised in opposition against it.
It requires
discernment to distinguish
the voice which speaks for God.
|
| He [Elijah]
obeyed the Divine voice
which sent him
forth
at the peril of his life.
--201.01
|
The messengers of God
.must obey the .divine
.voice
which sends them
with a disagreeable message, even
at the peril of life
and if there is not one to sustain them.
|
[2]
That was 1872, and a letter. By the
following year she was paraphrasing March's passage into a Testimony.
|
| Daniel
March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869
|
E. G.
White
Testimony 23
1873 |
| |
I was shown that God has laid
upon my husband and myself
a special work . . .
3T 258.01
[ The testimony begins with
"I was shown." ]
|
| And the word of the
Lord
which enjoins a great and perilous duty
is the one which we
are most likely to receive
with doubts and fears.
We must not defer obedience
till every shadow of uncertainty
. . . is removed.
The doubt that demands
.perfect knowledge
will never yield
to faith,
for faith rests
upon probability,
not demonstration.
We
must obey the voice of duty
when there are many other voices
crying against it,
and it requires earnest heed
to distinguish
the one which speaks for God.
--201.02
|
The word of the Lord,
spoken through His servants,
is received by many
with questionings and fears.
And many will defer their obedience
to the warnings and reproofs given,
waiting till every shadow of uncertainty
is removed
from their minds.
The unbelief that demands
perfect knowledge
will never yield
to the evidence that God is pleased to give.
He requires of His people
faith that rests
upon the weight of evidence,
not upon .perfect knowledge .
Those followers of Christ
who accept the light that God sends them
must obey the voice of God
speaking to them
when there are many other voices
crying out against it.
It requires discernment
to distinguish
the voice of God.
--258.02
|
|
The word of the Lord comes to us . . .
If we wait for louder .calls
or better opportunities,
.the light may be withdrawn
and our path left to us in darkness.
The argument which convinces to-day,
if rejected,
may have less force tomorrow.
--202.01 |
Those who will not act
when the Lord .calls
.upon them,
but who wait for more certain evidence
and more favorable opportunities,
will walk in darkness,
for .the light will be
withdrawn .
The evidence given one day,
if rejected,
may never be repeated.
--258.03
|
[3]
That was March's passage in Testimonies, Vol. 3.
Here's how it went into Volume 4.
|
| Daniel
March
Night Scenes in the Bible
1869
|
E. G.
White
Testimony 26
1876 |
| And
the word of the Lord
which enjoins
a great and perilous duty
is the one which we are most likely
to receive with doubts and fears.
We must not defer obedience
till every shadow of uncertainty
.and
every possibility of mistake
.is
removed.
The doubt that demands .perfect knowledge
will never yield
to faith,
[ cp. above | |
