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Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
“August 30, 1846, Miss Harmon was married to James White, a
native of Palmyra, Somerset County, Maine. From the time of their
marriage, Mrs. White’s life was closely linked with that of her husband
in strenuous gospel work until his death, August 6, 1881. They traveled
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extensively over the United States, preaching and writing, planting
and building, organizing and administering. Time and test have proved
how broad and firm were the foundations they laid, and how wisely
and well they built.
“The views held and widely promulgated by Mrs. White regarding
vital fundamental questions—the sovereignty of God, the divinity of
Christ, the efficacy of the gospel, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the
majesty of the law, the character of sin and deliverance from its power,
the brotherhood of man and the relationships and responsibilities in
that brotherhood—her teaching regarding these great questions, and
her life of devotion to her Lord and of service to her fellow men, were
made impressive through the revelations given her by the divine Spirit.
They are the fruits of that Spirit—the fruits by which her life work is
to be judged. They must determine the source and the character of the
Spirit that has dominated her whole life. ‘By their fruits ye shall know
them.’ ‘To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them.’
“This question is not involved in any uncertainty whatever. Her
teaching is clear, and the influence of her life has been positive.
“No Christian teacher in this generation, no religious reformer in
any preceding age, has placed a higher value upon the Bible. In all
her writings it is represented as the book of all books, the supreme and
all-sufficient guide for the whole human family. Not a trace of ‘higher
criticism,’ ‘new thought,’ nor skeptical, destructive philosophy can be
found in any of her writings. Those who still believe that the Bible is
the inspired, infallible word of the living God will value most highly
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the positive, uncompromising support given this view in the writings
of Mrs. White.
“In her teaching, Christ is recognized and exalted as the only
Saviour of sinners. Emphasis is placed upon the bold and unqualified
announcement of the disciples that ‘there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ The power to
redeem from sin and its effect is in Him alone, and to Him all men are
directed.