Visions

VISIONS. To Seventh-day Adventists the question of visions has a unique interest because they hold that Ellen G. White received visions from God. In her earlier experience the visions more often occurred during her waking hours, varying in duration from a few minutes to nearly four hours. At such times much was revealed to her. She received her first vision during waking hours in Portland, Maine, in December 1844 (see 1T 58-61). Her last open vision occurred in a public assembly on the Portland, Oregon, campground in June 1884 (see General Conference Bulletin [1893], pp. 19, 20). At the same time, all through this period and continuing on until Mar. 3, 1915 (see Review and Herald 92:24, Mar. 25, 1915; 92:3, Apr. 15, 1915; MYP 287), Mrs. White received visions, or prophetic dreams, in the hours of the night.

A number of Ellen White's visions during waking hours were accompanied by physical phenomena, numerous eyewitness accounts of which have been widely published. The first indication of the vision was usually an animated exclamation of "Glory!" or "Glory to God!" often repeated two or three times. At this juncture Mrs. White lost all consciousness of her surroundings. While president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, George I. Butler, in 1874, gave a contemporary eyewitness account of such visions: "They generally, but not always, occur in the midst of earnest seasons of religious interest while the Spirit of God is specially present. . . . The time Mrs. White is in this condition has varied from fifteen minutes to one hundred and eighty. During this time the heart and pulse continue to beat, the eyes are always wide open, and seem to be gazing at some far-distant object, and are never fixed on any person or thing in the room. They are always directed upward. They exhibit a pleasant expression. . . .

"While she is in vision, her breathing entirely ceases. No breath ever escapes her nostrils or lips when in this condition. This has been proved by many witnesses, among them physicians of skill, and themselves unbelievers in the visions, on some occasions being appointed by a public congregation for the purpose. . . . When she goes into this condition, there is no appearance of swooning or faintness, her face retains its natural colour, and the blood circulates as usual. Often she loses her strength temporarily and reclines or sits; but at other times she stands up. She moves her arms gracefully, and often her face is lighted up with radiance as though the glory of Heaven rested upon her. She is utterly unconscious of every thing going on around her, while she is in vision, having no knowledge whatever of what is said and done in her presence. . . .

"Calm, dignified, and impressive, her very appearance strikes the beholder with reverence and solemnity. There is nothing fanatical in her appearance. When she comes out of this condition she speaks and writes from time to time what she had seen while in vision, . . . for many things have thus been related which it was impossible for her to know in any other way" (Review and Herald 43:201, June 9, 1874).

On several occasions, while in vision, Ellen White lifted and held a large family Bible on the outstretched hand for extended periods of time, at least on two occasions repeating various verses from it. One weighing 18 pounds she held for nearly a half hour. This has been testified to by many and competent witnesses.

Neither Ellen White nor those around her could induce, prevent, or interfere with a vision. These experiences never left her worn or spent; on the contrary they refreshed her. There were times when she experienced physical healing in connection with a vision. In 1868 James White reported that, between 1844 and that time, Mrs. White had had between 100 and 200 such visions.

Seventh-day Adventists do not cite any physical manifestations as unanswerable proof that God gave visions to Ellen White. The supernatural physical manifestations that accompanied the visions appear to have been simply a means of engendering confidence; they were secondary, not primary, proof. They occurred mostly in her earlier years before it was possible to judge her experience by the fruits of her lifework (cf. Matt. 7:15, 16, 20). SDAs can now see the results in the richness of her personal religious experience, in the elevated spiritual experience of men and women who accept and follow her counsels, and in the progress of the church as it followed her counsels.

In the experience of Ellen White, visions in the night were much more frequent than the visions accompanied by the physical phenomena and were usually less comprehensive in content and scope. All through her life experience it was not uncommon for her to have visions while she was praying (TM 461), or even while she was writing or engaged in public address.

Often it seemed that the information imparted to her was gained through the ordinary organs of sense, such as seeing and hearing. In her introduction to The Great Controversy she refers to "the scenes of the past and the future" that passed before her, and tells of being "permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy" (pp. xi, x).

On this point Ellen White's experience was like that of the biblical prophets. "In the case of visions the scenery passed before their mind, something like a panoramic view of a landscape, gradually unfolding, in symbolical imagery, forms of glory or of gloom; accompanied with actions of a corresponding character, not unfrequently exhibiting, as in actual occurrence, the future and distant events" (Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 8, p. 648).

The impressions made upon her mind were deep and lasting, enabling her to recognise months or years later a voice previously heard in vision or to identify persons seen in the vision.

Ellen White wrote in 1860: "As inquiries are frequently made as to my state in vision, and after I come out, I would say that when the Lord sees fit to give a vision, I am taken into the presence of Jesus and the angels, and am entirely lost to earthly things. I can see no farther than the angel directs me. My attention is often directed to scenes transpiring upon earth.

"At times I am carried far ahead into the future and shown what is to take place. Then again I am shown things as they have occurred in the past.

"After I come out of vision I do not at once remember all that I have seen, and the matter is not so clear before me until I write, then the scene rises before me as was presented in vision, and I can write with freedom. Sometimes the things which I have seen are hid from me after I come out of vision, and I cannot call them to mind until I am brought before a company where that vision applies, then the things which I have seen come to my mind with force. I am just as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in relating or writing a vision, as in having the vision. It is impossible for me to call up things which have been shown me unless the Lord brings them before me at the time that He is pleased to have me relate or write them" (2SG 292, 293).

Some years later Ellen White remarked: "Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own" (Review and Herald 30:260, Oct. 8, 1867).

"I have all faith in God. I know the perfection of His government. He works at my right hand and at my left. While I am writing out important matter, He is beside me, helping me. He lays out my work before me, and when I am puzzled for a fit word with which to express my thought, He brings it clearly and distinctly to my mind. I feel that every time I ask, even while I am still speaking, He responds, 'Here am I'" (letter 127, 1902) -- Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopaedia.