Chapter 59—The “Elmshaven” Funeral Service
At five o’clock on the afternoon of Sunday, July 18, 1915, at
“Elmshaven,”
“A little spot hallowed by grace,
Out of the world’s wide wilderness,”
there assembled nearly five hundred friends and neighbors to pay their
last tribute of respect to the memory of Mrs. Ellen G. White, and to
comfort by their presence and sympathy those who had been called to
suffer the loss of one they had loved dearly.
The service was held on the lawn in front of Mrs. White’s quiet
country home, which had long been to her a haven of rest,—a veritable
“refuge,” as she often styled it when returning from public labors.
At one end of the lawn had been erected a canopy for the officiating
ministers; while chairs and benches conveniently placed beneath the
wide-spreading elms, with sofas and rockers for the aged and the
infirm, gave seats for all who came.
The familiar strains of the hymn, “It is well with my soul,” sung by
a double quartette from the Pacific Union College and the St. Helena
Sanitarium, marked the opening of the service. Elder R. W. Munson,
in his prayer, petitioned that all might profit by the example of the
devoted and godly life of the one now sleeping, and that special help
and strength might be found by many through reading her published
writings. “Grant especially,” he prayed, “to bless those writings which
she has sent forth to the four corners of the earth, that the world may
hear the message in the many languages into which her books have
been translated. We thank Thee for those in China, in Korea, in Japan,
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in India, in Africa, and in the islands of the seas, who have been
helped to a saving knowledge of truth by reading the writings of Thy
servant. Bless also, we beseech Thee, those who have gone forth into
these countries to carry the truth for this time.... O God, hasten the
proclamation of this message to all the inhabitants of earth, that this
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