Introduction—The Prophetic Gift and Ellen G. White
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in short exclamations of what was being revealed to her. Like Daniel,
there had at first been a loss of natural strength; then supernatural
strength was imparted to her. See
Daniel 10:7, 8, 18, 19
.
For two hours Mrs. White was in vision. For two hours she did not
breathe. Then as the vision came to a close, she took a deep inhalation,
paused for about a minute, breathed again, and soon was breathing
naturally. At the same time she began to recognize her surroundings,
becoming conscious of what was going on about her.
One who often saw Mrs. White in vision, Mrs. Martha Amadon,
gives the following description:
“In vision her eyes were open. There was no breath, but there were
graceful movements of the shoulder, arms, the hands, expressive of
what she saw. It was impossible for anyone else to move her hands or
arms. She often uttered words singly and sometimes sentences which
expressed to those about her the nature of the view she was having,
either of heaven or of earth.
“Her first word in vision was ‘glory,’ sounding at first close by,
and then dying away in the distance, seemingly far away. This was
sometimes repeated....
“There was no excitement among those present during a vision;
nothing caused fear. It was a solemn, quiet scene....
“When the vision was ended, and she lost sight of the heavenly
light, as it were coming back to the earth once more, she would exclaim
with a long-draw sigh, as she took her first natural breath, ‘D-a-r-k.’
[12]
She was then limp and strengthless.”
But we must return to our story of the two-hour vision in the
schoolhouse. Of this vision Mrs. White later wrote:
“Most of the matter which I had seen ten years before concern-
ing the great controversy of the ages between Christ and Satan, was
repeated, and I was instructed to write it out.”
In the vision it seemed to her that she was present, witnessing the
scenes as they appeared before her. First it seemed that she was in
heaven, where she witnessed the fall of Lucifer. Then she witnessed the
creation of the world and saw our first parents in their Eden home. She
saw them yield to the temptations of the serpent and lose their garden
home. In quick succession Bible history passed before her. She saw
the experience of the patriarchs and prophets of Israel. She witnessed