Introduction—The Prophetic Gift and Ellen G. White
xxiii
main sanitarium building. While plans were developing, Mrs. White,
at her home hundreds of miles away, was one night given two visions.
Of the first vision she says:
“I was shown a large building where many foods were made. There
were also some smaller buildings near the bakery. As I stood by, I
heard loud voices in dispute over the work that was being done. There
was a lack of harmony among the workers, and confusion had come
in.”
She then saw the distressed manager in his attempts to reason with
the workers to bring about harmony. She saw patients who overheard
these disputes, and who “were expressing words of regret that a food
factory should be established on these beautiful grounds,” so near the
sanitarium. “Then one appeared on the scene and said: ‘All this has
been caused to pass before you as an object lesson, that you might see
the result of carrying out certain plans.’”
Then the scene changed, and she saw the food factory “at a distance
from the sanitarium buildings, on the road toward the railroad.” Here
the work was being conducted in a humble way and in harmony with
God’s plan. Within a few hours of the vision, Mrs. White was writing
to the workers at Loma Linda, and this settled the question of where
the food factory should be built. Had their original plan been carried
out, we would have been much embarrassed in later years with a large
commercial building right near the sanitarium. Thus it can be seen
that in varied ways the messenger of the Lord received information
and instruction through the visions by day or by night.
It was from an enlightened mind that the prophet spoke forth or
wrote, conveying the message of instruction and information to the
people. In doing this Mrs. White was aided by the spirit of the Lord,
but there was no mechanical control. She was left to choose words by
[17]
which to convey the message. In the early years of her ministry she
declared:
Although I am as dependent upon the aid of the Spirit of God in
writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in
describing what I have seen are my own, unless they are those spoken
to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation.”
Like several Bible writers, Mrs. White at times elected, under
the direction of the Holy Spirit, to use the language of other authors,
where she especially appreciated their wording and their expressions.