a confession Prescott made in a letter he wrote to W.C. White, dated April 6, 1915:
I have noted what you have said about your mother's condition, although you neglected to enclose the statement which you mentioned. When I see these early believers, like your mother, my father, and Elder Olsen passing away so rapidly, and then think of how little has really been accomplished in seriously warning the whole world of the impending second advent, I am led to wonder whether any of us now connected with this movement will, after all, live to see the consummation. It is a serious question.
It seems to me that a large responsibility rests upon those of us who know that there are serious errors in our authorized books and yet make no special effort to correct them. The people and our average ministers trust us to furnish them with reliable statements, and they use our books as sufficient authority in their sermons, but we let them go on year after year asserting things which we know to be untrue. I cannot feel that this is right. It seems to me that we are betraying our trust and deceiving the ministers and people. It appears to me that there is much more anxiety to prevent a possible shock to some trustful people than to correct error.
Your letter indicates a desire on your part to help me, but I fear that it is a little late. The experience of the last six or eight years, and especially the things concerning which I talked with you, have had their effect on me in several ways. I have had some hard shocks to get over, and after giving the best of my life to this movement, I have little peace and satisfaction in connection with it, and I am driven to the conclusion that the only thing for me to do is to do quietly what I can do conscientiously and leave the others to go on without me. Of course this [is] far from a happy ending to my life-work, but this seams to be the best adjustment that I am able to make. The way your mothers writings have been handled and the false impressions concerning them, which is still fostered among the people, have brought great perplexity and trial to me. It seems to me that what amounts to deception, though probably not intentional, has been practiced in making some of her books, and that no serious effort has been made to disabuse the minds of the people of what was known to be their wrong view concerning her writings.
But it is no use to go into these matters. I have talked with you for years about them but it brings no change. I think, however, that we are drifting toward a crisis which will come sooner or later and perhaps sooner. A very strong feeling of reaction has already set in.
Yes, I've read this letter years ago. If you dig into the details behind it, you will see that Prescott knew of some of the changes being made "surreptitiously" to books with Ellen White's name on the cover. It is quite worthy of noting that Prescott was one of the most vocal voices in calling for revisions to be made to the 1888 Great Controversy book. They publishing officials opened up suggestions for changes to everyone, and if I remember correctly, over half of the changes made came from the pen of Prescott. For example, he is the one who changed the Roman Catholic Church from not being in Babylon at the time of October 22, 1844 (according to the 1888gc), to being IN Babylon at the time of OCtober 22, 1844 (according to the 1911gc).
Yet nearly everyone I know says that no changes have been made to the books,
OR
That Ellen White personally approved all the changes.
Actually, it appears that Uriah Smith and Willie White were the ringleaders in changing the inspired words.
This all came to a head in the 1919 Bible Conference. Notes from that Conference are quite revealing, but few are aware of them.
Oh, you mean that here he was telling others they were doing a bad thing by changing around Ellen White's books, but he was helping in this work?
What sounds like to me, is that while he was helping in that work of changing the books, he at least had the moral insight to know that the people should be told that the books were being changed. Why he, nor any other leader then came out and publicly declared that they would (or had) change the books (after that one statement in 1883 that they would change Ellen White's books), is mysterious. But then, most of the works of darkness are done outside the public eye.
Oh, you mean that here he was telling others they were doing a bad thing by changing around Ellen White's books, but he was helping in this work?
What sounds like to me, is that while he was helping in that work of changing the books, he at least had the moral insight to know that the people should be told that the books were being changed. Why he, nor any other leader then came out and publicly declared that they would (or had) change the books (after that one statement in 1883 that they would change Ellen White's books), is mysterious. But then, most of the works of darkness are done outside the public eye.
Yes... concentrating only on the originals right now and looking for tidbits and nuggets for the end times....
