On July 16, 1915, 109 years ago, Ellen G. White passed to her rest. In recognition of this event, we herewith present a brief review of the last 153 days of her life. What Sister White said and did during this time conveys a message of relevance to the church today.—Editors.
It was about noon on Sabbath, February 13, 1915, that Ellen G. White, while passing through a door into her large writing room at Elmshaven, near St. Helena, California, tripped and fell. Her nurse, May Walling, was near, and endeavored to help Mrs. White to her feet, but found that any movement of her left leg brought severe pain. Mrs. White did not walk again after her fall.
The following is a commentary on some of the events of the last five months of her life, written by her son W. C. White in personal letters, or for the Review and Herald.
The words in quotation were spoken by Mrs. White herself and taken down by one of her secretaries.
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At first, when I learned that the femur was fractured, I felt that it was doubtful if she could ever recover; but as I see how she is sustained and how little she has suffered yesterday and today, I begin to hope that she will live through the shock and the suffering.
Mother bore with remarkable fortitude the painful experiences of being carried downstairs and conveyed up the hill in a wagon; then the X-ray examination and the return home. Notwithstanding all this, she slept about six hours the night following the accident.
Sunday morning, Drs. Klingerman and Jones came down from the Sanitarium. They brought a surgical bed, which we set up in Mother’s study. Then her leg was bandaged and set and the weights were attached to keep it in place. She has two good, competent nurses—May Walling and Mrs. Hungerford—and her bed is in the room where she has done her writing for more than ten years. When I visited her this morning, she was looking bright and cheerful, and after our season of prayer together she expressed great thankfulness that she suffered so little pain.1
Day before yesterday [March 1], when I repeated to her some of the messages of sympathy from old friends in Mountain View, Los Angeles, and Washington and mentioned Elder Corliss, Adelia van Horn, Brother and Sister J. J. Wessels, and Elders Butler and Haskell, she said: “Tell my old friends that I do not forget them.”2
“I feel, the sooner the better; all the time that is how I feel—the sooner the better. I have not a discouraging thought, nor sadness. I have hoped I should be able once more to speak to the people; but that is the Lord’s business, not mine.”
“I have light and faith and hope and courage and joy in the Lord, and that is enough. The Lord understands what I can endure, and He has given me grace to bear up under the discouragements that I have sometimes had to bear, and I feel thankful for this.
“I have nothing to complain of; I thank the Lord for all His goodness, all His mercy, all His love.”
The Lord wants us each to do all we possibly can, and fight the good fight of faith.
Pointing to and handling some of her books, she continued: “I appreciate these books as I never did before. I appreciate them. They are truth, and they are righteousness, and they are an everlasting testimony that God is true.
“I have nothing to complain of. Let the Lord take His way and do His work with me, so that I am refined and purified; and that is all I desire. I know my work is done; it is of no use to say anything else: I shall rejoice, when my time comes, that I am permitted to lie down to rest in peace. I have no desire that my life should be prolonged.”
Following a prayer by Brother Crisler, she prayed:
“Heavenly Father, I come to Thee, weak, like a broken reed, yet by the Holy Spirit’s vindication of righteousness and truth that shall prevail. I thank Thee, Lord, I thank Thee, and I will not draw away from anything that Thou wouldst give me to bear. Let Thy light, let Thy joy and grace be upon me in my last hours, that I may glorify Thee, is my great desire; and this is all that I ask of Thee. Amen.”
Following the prayer: “I did not know how it would be in the last, the very last, on account of the affliction. But I find that I can lean my whole weight on the promises of God; and do not at all doubt or question His wisdom in any way. He has provided for me to be carried through; and I will rejoice just as long as I have tongue and voice.”3
Sunday evening, April 18, Mother was sitting in her big bay window, with a copy of The Desire of Ages in her hands. I sat down beside her and spoke of the precious truths which the book contains and the good that is being accomplished by it and her other books in bringing souls to Christ. I told her that her books are being circulated more and more. To this she, replied: “Keep it up, keep it up. Do not be discouraged. Do what you know to be right, though others may object. I want the truth to stand out in its beauty. I get terribly tired of nonentities. Let us not serve the devil in that way.
“I do not say that I am perfect, but I am trying to be perfect. I do not expect others to be perfect; and if I could not associate with my brothers and sisters who are not perfect, I do not know what I should do.
“I try to treat the matter the best that I can, and am thankful that I have a spirit of uplifting and not a spirit of crushing down. . . . No one is perfect. If one were perfect, he would be prepared for heaven. As long as we are not perfect, we have a work to do to get ready to be perfect. We have a mighty Saviour. . . .
“I am going to keep my mind as much as ever I can on the prominent things of eternal life. They are not dwelt upon enough. I rejoice that I have that faith that takes hold of the promises of God, that works by love and sanctifies the soul. A sanctified soul will not blunder a great deal. I will not keep talking, talking, talking about what this one should do, and what that one should do. The Lord wants us each to do all we possibly can, and fight the good fight of faith. That is what I mean to do. I will not give up to a mind of despondency.”4
May 1, 1915, Elder White wrote to his cousin Mary Watson:
I am delighted to tell you that Mother has been stronger since Wednesday morning, and she is now eating a little better. We begin to hope that her life will be prolonged for several weeks yet.5
On July 7 he reported:
Mother is slowly losing ground. She talks but little now and longs for rest. It is now 144 days since the accident. What a strange world this will be to me when mother is gone!6
The end came, and the tired warrior entered into her rest at 3:40 on Friday afternoon, July 16, 1915.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen G. White (1827-1915) exercised the biblical gift of prophecy during more than 70 years of public ministry. This excerpt was taken from Review And Herald, July 23, 1970.
1 W. C. White to cousin Mary C. Watson, Feb. 15, 1915.
2 W. C. White to the editor of the Pacific Union Recorder, Mar. 3. 1915.
3 W. C. White to the editor of the Pacific Union Recorder, Mar. 7, 1915.
4 W. C. White to the editor of the Pacific Union Recorder, Apr. 23, 1915.
5 W. C. White to Mary C. Watson, May 14, 1915.
6 W. C. White, in Review and Herald, July 22, 1915.