ADVENTIST HISTORY
White’s first published use of the book’s language appeared in
1858 in Spiritual Giſts, Vol. 1, where she copied nearly 100 words, including two complete sentences. She made further use of Mirror in 1860 in Spiritual Giſts, Vol. 2. Te next year, 1861, she borrowed extensively from Mirror in a February letter. Ten, in July of that same year, she used a different section of the book in a Review article. Tat same year, Testimony for the Church – No. 6 used some Mirror language, as did Testimony for the Church – No. 7, in 1862. An 1872 letter to M. E. Cornell borrows from Mirror,
One way to explain this dream, in which Jesus seems to be quoting from an 1852 book, is simply to say that the dream was not a divine revelation but a common, ordinary dream such as any of us might experience.
and that passage was reprinted the next year in Testimony for the Church – No. 22. Other parallels cropped up in Testimony for the Church – No. 31, written Sept. 25, 1881, and in an 1884 Review and Herald article. When White recorded her dream in 1887, she may have had
her copy of Mirror of the Soul with her in Germany. She may also have taken it with her to Australia, for we find the use of Christian Lady’s language in an 1897 Youth’s Instructor article, as well as in a personal letter that she wrote while in Australia.
Plagiarism or Familiarity? Pacific Union College Professor of Teology Katrina Blue first noticed Mrs. White’s use of Mirror of the Soul in her writings in 2015, while she was writing her doctoral dissertation at Andrews University. In the course of her research, Blue set out to read every book on spirituality that was in White’s library when she died in 1915, including Mirror of the Soul.
28 AD VENTIS T T OD A Y In 2024, aſter I noticed the parallel in the 1887 dream, I found
still more parallels. Kevin Morgan, a pastor and expert in Ellen White’s history and writings, found most of the other parallels I cited above. Morgan prefers to say that White “adapted” wording from
Mirror of the Soul or used that wording merely to convey the gist of what Jesus said. I prefer to say she “virtually copied” some parts of the speech. Of course, White’s most vociferous critics will call it plagiarism,
a term I avoid because I don’t believe she used the writings of others to enhance her own reputation. Te issue is rather that she claims God revealed ideas to her when it appears that the ideas could have come from her reading and been in her mind prior to any visionary experiences, which doesn’t rule out God’s endorsement of those ideas during her visions.
White’s Dreams One might suppose that it would have been more candid for White to simply say, “In my dream, a stranger had wonderful words for the group. I don’t remember them exactly, but they were much like the following passage in Mirror of the Soul, which has been such an inspiration to me.” But ever since her episode of psychogenic aphasia (“I was struck dumb”) as a teenager, when she resisted the “power of God” thinking it might be mesmerism, and her subsequent terror when she saw Jesus frown on her for doubting, she was virtually unable to see her daytime visions or “visions of the night” as anything but divine visitations, and she was unwilling to attribute earthly influence to the messages she conveyed. One way to explain this dream, in which Jesus seems to be
quoting from an 1852 book, is simply to say that the dream was not a divine revelation but a common, ordinary dream such as any of us might experience. White herself says, “Te multitude [i.e., the majority] of dreams arise from the common things of life, with which the Spirit of God has nothing to do.” Already familiar with the book Mirror of the Soul in 1887,
White doubtless had some of its language lodged in her memory. Consequently, as she dreamed, her sleeping mind mingled the words she remembered into the speech of Jesus. When she awoke, she fetched the book and expanded on what she recalled from the words of the “stranger.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
