The Ellen White Investigation - Online Books

Patriarchs and Profits

Chapter 6 - John Cumming

by Dirk Anderson

John Cumming (1807–1881) was a prominent Scottish clergyman, author, and influential preacher in London. His vivid, descriptive commentaries were extensively published in both Britain and the United States, making his works standard holdings in nineteenth-century American Protestant libraries.

If Conant supplied Hebrew technicalities and historical notes, John Cumming supplied something entirely different. His Lives and Lessons of the Patriarchs (1865), found in Ellen White's library, is not a scholar's commentary but a preacher's exposition. He is interested in motives, moral lessons, applications, and the spiritual significance of biblical events.

Those are precisely the kinds of additions that suddenly appear in the expanded Patriarchs and Prophets. Characters acquire motives. Decisions receive moral explanations. Actions are given spiritual significance. The biblical story becomes richer — not because White had a revelation, but because a new book entered her library. Following are extra-biblical examples of where White picked up ideas from Cumming and turned them into facts:

John Cumming, 1865Patriarchs and Prophets
God celebrates the first marriage. “Marriage has a divine foundation, its origin is in Deity; God was the first celebrant of the holy rite… Inspiration alone decides the question, ‘Marriage is honourable in all.’”1“God celebrated the first marriage. Thus the institution has for its originator the Creator of the universe. ‘Marriage is honorable’ (Hebrews 13:4).”2
Altar built when tent planted. “Wherever he halted and pitched his tent, there he raised an altar… wherever he pitched his tent for himself, there he raised an altar for the worship of God.”3“Wherever he pitched his tent, close beside it was set up his altar, calling all within his encampment to the morning and evening sacrifice.”4
Abraham's boldness, Spirit of Christ. “Abraham prayed with humility, and fervour, and yet with boldness… Abraham, in the spirit of Jesus, groaned at the certain catastrophe of Sodom.”5“Abraham asked not once merely, but many times. Waxing bolder as his requests were granted…” “The spirit of Abraham was the spirit of Christ.”6
Why Lot lingered. “his lingering was not altogether love of Sodom; but the poor man's heart was so broken, his expectations so shocked, his hopes so crushed by all that he saw, that I believe he was bewildered and paralyzed.”7“It was hard to forsake his luxurious home and all the wealth acquired by the labors of his whole life… Stupefied with sorrow, he lingered, loath to depart.”8
Melchizedek's bread and wine. Not a sacrificial act but “a hospitable act — a refreshment to a weary and way-worn warrior.”9“Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine for the refreshment of his army.”10
The coat. “it was indiscreet in him to show that he entertained a peculiar and disproportionate affection… Jacob, evidently with great imprudence, gave to the son whom he loved most a distinctive badge.”11“The father's injudicious gift to Joseph of a costly coat… seemed to them another evidence of his partiality.”12 In 1864 she had blamed nobody.
The vow at Bethel. “the sacred words unfortunately seem to convey that Jacob made a sort of mercenary bargain with God… But this is not the exact rendering.”13“Jacob was not here seeking to make terms with God… this vow was the outflow of a heart filled with gratitude.”14
Eliezer's errand. “he was intensely and faithfully devoted to his work… he would not even eat until he had explained the whole matter.”15“Eliezer would not partake of food until he had told his errand.”16
Rebekah at the well. “It does not altogether suit our ideas and habits that females of the highest rank should draw water… for she was of a high family, and of distinguished birth.”17“a service which it was customary even for the daughters of princes to perform for their fathers' flocks and herds.”18
Deborah the nurse. “It is the habit, in Eastern countries, to give special honour to a nurse… The nurse of the family was of old a very important personage.”19“one who had long been an honored member of his father's family — Rebekah's nurse, Deborah.”20
“My lord Esau.” “He advisedly gave Esau a title of dignity… Jacob still addressed Esau as if he, the elder, had obtained what he was entitled to — the blessing.”21“it had been foretold… that the elder should serve the younger, and, lest the memory of this should be a cause of bitterness, Jacob told the servants they were sent to ‘my lord Esau.’”22

When a Magazine Article Becomes Revelation

One example shows how multiple sources were used by White. Genesis says that Lot lingered when the angels urged him to leave Sodom. It does not tell us what was going through his mind. Cumming supplies an explanation: Lot's heart was broken, his hopes were crushed, and he was left “bewildered and paralyzed.” White incorporates these ideas into Patriarchs and Prophets but White adds details that Cumming does not mention, such as Lot reluctance to leave his “luxurious home.” Did these details come to her in a vision?

Cumming was not the only nineteenth-century Christian author to add extra-biblical details to the story of Lot in Sodom. In 1882, G. A. Lofton wrote in an article:

Lot feels himself secure in his splendid and luxurious home... Lot seemed impressed with a stupid sense of unbelief. He was reluctant to leave his home and his other children, and he lingered.23

Eight years later, Patriarchs and Prophets gives us this:

It was hard to forsake his luxurious home and all the possessions he had gained. Stupefied with sorrow, he lingered, loath to depart.24

Genesis does not mention Lot's luxurious home. It does not say that he was stupefied, reluctant, unbelieving, or emotionally paralyzed. Those are interpretations of what was happening inside Lot's mind. Yet three of those distinctive ideas appear together in Lofton, and the same cluster appears again in White.

The biblical text gives the event. The preacher imagines the internal motives of the characters. Then, the prophetess paraphrases the preacher and presents it was though it had been revealed to her.

The Preacher Behind the Prophetess

In the introduction to Patriarchs and Prophets, Uriah Smith explained that White's book would provide insight into the motives of biblical characters. It certainly does. But that raises the more important question: where did those motives come from?

Again and again, the biblical narrative provides the skeleton while Cumming supplies the flesh.

The chronology makes the pattern even harder to dismiss. Cumming's book appeared in 1865. Ellen White's 1864 account does not contain these additions. They appear in the expanded Patriarchs and Prophets of 1890.

The visions did not merely become more detailed. They began to sound like the preacher's commentary.

References and Notes

  1. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, on Eden and the institution of marriage.
  2. Patriarchs and Prophets, 45.
  3. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, on Abraham.
  4. Patriarchs and Prophets, 128.
  5. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “Abraham pleading for the Cities of the Plain.”
  6. Patriarchs and Prophets, 140.
  7. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, on Lot in Sodom.
  8. Patriarchs and Prophets, 160.
  9. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “Abraham and Melchisedek.”
  10. Patriarchs and Prophets, 136.
  11. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “Joseph and his Brothers.”
  12. Patriarchs and Prophets, 209.
  13. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “The fugitive Jacob and his Dream.”
  14. Patriarchs and Prophets, 187.
  15. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “Patriarchal Wedding.”
  16. Patriarchs and Prophets, 173.
  17. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, “Patriarchal Wedding.”
  18. Patriarchs and Prophets, 172.
  19. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, on the death of Deborah.
  20. Patriarchs and Prophets, 206.
  21. Cumming, Lives and Lessons, on Jacob’s meeting with Esau.
  22. Patriarchs and Prophets, 196.
  23. G. A. Lofton, “Lot and Sodom,” The Preacher's Monthly, vol. 3 (London: J. Lobb, 1882), 94-96. The White Estate has no published catalog of the periodicals Ellen White read or had in her possession. She was known for collecting articles from periodicals and she was in England in 1885 when writing Patriarchs and Prophets. No further connection can be made other than the similarity in wording itself: Lot owning a "luxurious home" appears to be unique to Lofton during the nineteenth century.
  24. Patriarchs and Prophets, 160. On page 162 another extra-biblical similarity can be found — people getting up for work on the day Sodom was destroyed:

    White, 162 Lofton, 96
    "The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar." The bright rays of the morning seemed to speak only prosperity and peace to the cities of the plain. The stir of active life began in the streets; men were going their various ways, intent on the business or the pleasures of the day. Unconscious of their doom thousands begin to rise and resume the vocations of the day, while the worn-out revellers of the night fall as unconsciously to sleep. Already has the sun risen upon Zoar and Lot has entered this distant city.