Ellen White's perspective on the 1844 disappointment was quite different from calling it a "false date." According to her writings, the date calculation was correct, but the understanding of what would happen on that date was mistaken.
**Ellen White's Position on October 22, 1844:**
Ellen White consistently maintained that the prophetic calculation placing the end of the 2300 days in autumn 1844 was accurate: "The computation of the prophetic periods on which that message was based, placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment" (
GC 457.1).
She explained that the error was not in the date, but in the understanding of the event: "Mr. Miller and those who were in union with him supposed that the cleansing of the sanctuary spoken of in Daniel 8:14 meant the purifying of the earth by fire prior to its becoming the abode of the saints. This was to take place at the advent of Christ; therefore we looked for that event at the end of the 2300 days, or years. But after our disappointment the Scriptures were carefully searched with prayer and earnest thought, and after a period of suspense, light poured in upon our darkness; doubt and uncertainty were swept away" (
1T 58.2).
**The Nature of the Disappointment:**
Ellen White described the experience: "But the appointed time had passed, and the Lord had not appeared. The believers knew that God's word could not fail; their interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault; but where was the mistake?" (
GC 409.2).
She emphasized that the disappointment served God's purposes: "The preaching of a definite time for the judgment, in the giving of the first message, was ordered by God" (
GC 457.1).
**Ellen White's Warning Against Future Time-Setting:**
Following 1844, Ellen White became a strong opponent of setting any future dates: "Many who have called themselves Adventists have been time setters. Time after time has been set for Christ to come, but repeated failures have been the result. The definite time of our Lord's coming is declared to be beyond the ken of mortals" (
4T 307.1).
She testified: "This is the testimony I have borne ever since the passing of the time in 1844: 'Time after time will be set by different ones, which will pass by; and the influence of this time-setting will be to destroy the faith of God's people'" (
1T 72.3).
**The Correct Understanding:**
According to Ellen White, what actually began on October 22, 1844, was Christ's ministry in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary - the investigative judgment - rather than His second coming to earth. The date was prophetically significant, but the event was different from what the Millerites expected.
So while 1844 brought disappointment regarding Christ's second coming, Ellen White never considered the date itself to be "false" - rather, she saw it as marking the beginning of a crucial phase in salvation history that the early Adventists had not previously understood.