A Response to an Urgent Testimony
By Doctor Charles Stewart
10
Influenced By Others
Unheeded Warnings, South Lancaster, Mass., Nov. 27, 1901:
"If my brethren look upon the warnings that they have received as being unimportant because of words that have been spoken and letters that have been written to me, if they refuse to accept the Testimonies given through me because they think in their hearts, "Somebody has told her," they must bear the responsibility of the influence of their course of action upon themselves and others."
"It makes me very sad to know that some have yielded to this temptation. The Lord has charged me to enter into no controversy with any one who, when a message comes, shall ask, Who has told Sister White? I am neither to affirm or deny such charges, but state the facts according to the instruction that God has given me at different times and in many places."
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-14, p. 563:
"My health was poor, and my mental sufferings were beyond description. Under these circumstances, I yielded my judgment to that of others, and wrote what appeared in No. 11 in regard to the Health Institute, being unable then to give all I had seen. In this I did Wrong."
To Dr. Kellogg, Oct. 28, 1903:
"When you received my letter, you were perplexed, and said, "Some one has misinformed Sister White regarding our work." But no mortal man had ever written to me that this building had been put up."
In a testimony entitled "Unheeded Warnings," written in 1901, writing about the question of your being charged with being influenced by others, you make the positive statement that the Lord has charged you to enter into no controversy with any one who, when a message comes, shall ask, Who has told Sister White? "I am neither to affirm or deny such charges," but to state the facts, etc.
In a testimony written in 1903, you make the following statement: "When you received my letter, you were perplexed, and you said, "Some one has misinformed Sister White regarding our work. But no mortal man had ever written to me or told me that this building had been put up." Since the Lord charged you that you were neither to affirm or deny these charges, did you go contrary to the testimonies in 1903, when you apparently denied the charge that some one had misinformed you? Would it be just for any one under those circumstances to accuse you of being disloyal to the testimonies?
Since on one occasion, as is stated in Volume 1 of your Testimonies, page 563, you yielded your judgment to that of others and in so doing did wrong, is it not possible that some of your other writings contain matter written while your judgment was influenced by that of others?
HOW MISTAKES MAY OCCUR.
To —, Oct. 5, 1898, p. 6:
"I find under my door in the morning several copied articles from Sister Peck, Maggie Hare, and Minnie Hawkins. All must be read, critically by me. Sometimes I am utterly exhausted, then I can not read. That may be the reason that you had that statement in regard to meat-eating."
In quite a number of your testimonies I notice that you refer to your being feeble and exhausted. Is it not possible that a considerable number of the seeming contradictions and inconsistencies in your writings are due to the fact that they slip through without your careful supervision? If this is so, are people to be criticized for calling attention to such, and trying to find out the facts? Or, is it the duty of every one to say, "This is from Sister White, and it must be so because it is the Word of God?"
Spiritual Gifts, The Great Controversy, by Ellen G. White, 1858, Page 22:
"Sorrow filled Heaven, as it was realized that man was lost, and the world that God created was to be filled with mortals doomed to misery, sickness, and death, and there was no way of escape for the offender."
Patriarchs and Prophets by Mrs. E. G. White, Entered according to the Act of Congress, 1890. Page 69:Old Edition
"The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow. The world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin, and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law."
Why was this change made?