[Soon after the republication in 1882 of the three earliest E. G. White books, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, A Supplement to Experience and Views, and Spiritual Gifts, vol. 1, all three of which today comprise Early Writings, certain questions were raised concerning the completeness of some of the articles and the significance of certain statements appearing here or in still earlier published articles. Mrs. White answered these questions in 1883 in the following statement. Reference is made to the teachings on the “shut door.” For another reference to the significance of the “shut door” see The Great Controversy, 429-432.] Compilers.
(1SM 59)
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My attention has recently been called to a sixteen-page pamphlet published by C, of Marion, Iowa, entitled Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White With Later Publications. The writer states that portions of my earlier visions, as first printed, have been suppressed in the work recently published under the title Early Writings of Mrs. E. G. White, and he conjectures as a reason for such suppression that these passages teach doctrines now repudiated by us as a people.
(1SM 59.1)
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He also charges us with willful deception in representing Early Writings as a complete republication of my earliest views, with only verbal changes from the original work.
(1SM 59.2)
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Before I notice separately the passages which are said to have been omitted, it is proper that several facts be stated. When my earliest views were first published in pamphlet form, [Reference is here made to the 24-page pamphlet “A Word to the Little Flock,” published by James White in 1847, containing three Ellen G. White communications.—Compilers.] the edition was small, and was soon sold. This was in a few years followed by a larger book, The Christian Experience and Views of Mrs. E. G. White, printed in 1851, and containing much additional matter.
(1SM 59.3)
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Another “suppression” reads as follows: “Well, bless the Lord, brethren and sisters, it is an extra meeting for those that have the seal of the living God.”
(1SM 66.1)
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There is nothing in this that we do not still hold. Reference to our published works will show our belief that the living righteous will receive the seal of God prior to the close of probation; also that these will enjoy special honors in the kingdom of God.
(1SM 66.2)
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The following passage is said to be omitted from the vision related on pages 25-28 [pages 32-35, present edition] of Early Writings:
(1SM 66.3)
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“And if one believed, and kept the Sabbath, and received the blessing attending it, and then gave it up, and broke the holy commandment, they would shut the gates of the Holy City against themselves, as sure as there was a God that rules in heaven above.”
(1SM 66.4)
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Those who have clearly seen and fully accepted the truth upon the fourth commandment, and have received the blessing attending obedience, but have since renounced their faith, and dared to violate the law of God, will find, if they persist in this path of disobedience, the gates of the city of God closed against them.
(1SM 66.5)
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A statement published in 1851 in Experience and Views, and found on page 49 [page 58, present edition] of Early Writings is quoted as proving my testimonies false: “I saw that the time for Jesus to be in the most holy place was nearly finished, and that time can last but a very little longer.”
(1SM 66.6)
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