"All we ask is that people shall be reasonable. We are prepared
to support by hundreds of living truthful witnesses all that
we shall claim, so far as facts are concerned, of the manifestation
itself, for this thing has not been done in a corner. For nearly
thirty years past these visions have been given with greater
or less frequency, and have been witnessed by many, oftentimes
by unbelievers as well as those believing them. They generally,
but not always, occur in the midst of earnest sessions of religious
interest while the Spirit of God is specially present, if those
can tell who are in attendance. 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. There is no ghastly look or any resemblance
of fainting. The brightest light may be suddenly brought near
her eyes, or feints made as if to thrust something into the eye,
and there is never the slightest wink or change of expression
on that account; and it is sometimes hours
and even days after she comes out of this condition before she
recovers her natural sight. She says it seems to her that she
comes back into a dark world, yet her eyesight is in no wise
injured by her visions.
"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. It
has been proved many times by tightly holding the nostrils and
mouth with the hand, and by putting a looking glass before them
so close that any escape of the moisture of the breath would
be detected. In this condition she often speaks words and short
sentences, yet not the slightest breath escapes. When she goes
into this condition, there is no appearance of swooning or faintness,
her face remains its natural color, 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 everything going on around her while she is in vision, having
no knowledge whatever of what is said and done in her presence.
A person may pinch her flesh, and do things which would cause
great and sudden pain in her ordinary condition, and she will
not notice it by the slightest tremor.
"There are none of the disgusting grimaces or contortions which
usually attend spiritualist mediums, but 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 has seen while in vision; and the supernatural
character of these visions is seen even more clearly in what
she thus reveals than in her appearance and condition while in
vision, for many things have thus been related which it was impossible
for her to know in any other way.
"Peculiar circumstances in the lives of individuals, whom she
never before had seen in the flesh, and secrets hidden from the
nearest acquaintances, have been made known by her when she had
no personal knowledge of the parties other than by vision. Often
has she been in an audience where she was wholly unacquainted
with the individuals composing it, when she would get up and
point out person after person whom she never had seen before,
in the flesh, and tell them what they had done, and reprove their
sins. I might mention many other items of like nature, but space
forbids. These things can be proved by any amount of testimony,
and we confidently affirm that they are of such a character that
they could not be accomplished by deception." — Review and Herald.
June 9, 1874.
(J. N. Loughborough, Heavenly Visions,
pp. 76a-76d.)
