Visions Copied from Foy?

By Dirk Anderson

Who was William Foy?

In 1835, William Foy, an African-American living in New England, gave his heart to Christ and became a member of the Freewill Baptist Church. In 1842, while preparing to take holy orders as an Episcopal minister he had two visions. Foy began traveling around the local area relating his visions to various Millerite groups. Adventist historian J.N. Loughborough writes:

"Having a good command of language, with fine descriptive powers, he created a sensation wherever he went. By invitation he went from city to city to tell of the wonderful things he had seen; and in order to accommodate the vast crowds who assembled to hear him, large halls were secured, where he related to thousands what had been shown him of the heavenly world..."1

How familiar was Ellen Harmon with Foy?

In an interview Mrs. White admitted that she attended William Foy's lectures:

"Question : Then you attended the lectures that Mr. Foy gave?"

"He came to give it right to the hall, in the great hall where we attended, Beethoven Hall. That was quite a little time after the visions [of 1842]. It was in Portland, Maine. We went over to Cape Elizabeth to hear him lecture. Father always took me with him when we went, and he would be going in a sleigh, and he would invite me to get in, and I would ride with them. That was before I got any way acquainted with him."2

Ellen Harmon was very well acquainted with Foy and his visions. Delbert Baker, an Adventist who authored a book on Foy, tells us:

"Ellen White said that she had copies of Foy's visions and had heard him speak on a number of occasions, so she was acquainted with him and his material."3

Private meeting with Foy

In December of 1844, Ellen Harmon had her first "vision." Delbert Baker writes:

"Shortly after Ellen had her first vision, Foy sought her out and expressed his desire to speak with her. Referring to this meeting, she said, 'I had an interview with him.' We have no record of their conversation, but quite probably it dealt with her visions, what she had seen, and perhaps the accompanying physical phenomena."4

The evening following this interview, Ellen was scheduled to speak of her first vision at a meeting held east of Portland. Unbeknown to Ellen, Foy had decided to attend the meeting. While she was speaking, Foy leaped to his feet and declared it was just what he had seen! He excused himself from the meeting and had no further contact with Ellen White after that point. Later, in 1845, when he published his visions, he had them copyrighted. Mrs. White describes the experience as follows:

"Question : Did you ever have an interview with him? "

"I had an interview with him. He wanted to see me, and I talked with him a little. They had appointed for me to speak that night, and I did not know that he was there. I did not know at first that he was there. While I was talking I heard a shout, and he is a great, tall man, and the roof was rather low, and he jumped right up and down, and oh, he praised the Lord, praised the Lord. It was just what he had seen, just what he had seen. But they extolled him so I think it hurt him, and I do not know what became of him."5

What an amazing coincidence! Ellen Harmon interviews Foy regarding his visions, and later on the same day she relates her visions in a meeting and her visions sound so similar to Foy's that he cannot restrain himself from interupting the meeting, standing up and telling the crowd that she was relating exactly what he had seen in vision!

Did Foy endorse Ellen Harmon's visions?

In 1906, over sixty years after the incident with Foy, Ellen White recalls that Foy was jubilant over her relating the vision, and stood up and praised God. Of course, we now know from the Israel Dammon incident that Mrs. White sometimes stretched the truth when relating incidents in her early life. Besides this recollection, there is no other evidence Foy ever endorsed Ellen White, accepted her visions, or accepted her shut door teachings. In fact, after the meeting mentioned above, Mrs. White never had any further contact with Foy. This is odd considering they lived in the same area and both claimed to be receiving messages from God.

Did Foy pass the prophetic baton on to Ellen Harmon?

Adventist historian J.N. Loughborough, in his book The Great Second Advent Movement describes the process by which Ellen Harmon was selected as God's prophet. Loughborough claims that God first picked Foy as the person to receive visions. After Foy failed to fulfill his commission he sickened and died, and the prophetic baton passed to Hazen Foss, who then received a vision. After Foss refused to relate his vision, God turned to the "weakest of the weak," Ellen Harmon.

There are many problems with this reasoning. First and foremost, Foy did not die shortly after the disappointment as supposed by Loughborough. Foy continued in the Christian ministry pastoring various Freewill Baptist churches throughout Maine. He continued witnessing for the Lord throughout his life until his death on November 9, 1893, at the age of 75. His tombstone can be viewed in Birch Tree Cemetery in East Sullivan, Maine.

Second, Foy's visions appear to support doctrines that Adventists reject, such as life after death. In his book Foy describes his visions as out-of-body experiences:

" appeared to me that I was a spirit separate from this body."6

"It appeared to me that I was a spirit separate from this body, standing upon the earth alone."7

"My guide now informed me what I must do, saying, 'Thy spirit must return to yonder world, and thou must reveal these things which thou hast seen...'"8

"My guide then spread his wings, and brought my spirit gently to the earth, then soared away; and immediately I found myself in the body."9

Foy's visions seem to indicate the spirits of the dead are in heaven, as he describes below:

"I then saw an individual which had passed through death. Her brightness was beyond the expression of mortals, and at her right side stood a guardian angel, the angel's raiment was like pure gold and his wings like flaming fire, and as she passed me, she cried with a lovely voice, 'I am going to the gate to meet my friends.' An angel then appeared flying through the midst of this boundless place, and came to the spirit of one of those which had not passed through death, and cried with a loud voice, saying, 'This is my mother.' He then became her guide."10

The fact that Foy's visions indicate life after death would lead many Adventists to question whether Foy's visions actually came from God.

Foy's visions show a heaven that is devoid of modern technology. The angels who record the sins of humans in books receive their updates from angels flying back and forth between earth and heaven:

"I then beheld angels ascending and descending to and from the earth; they bore tidings to the recording angels."11

Of course, this was before the advent of radio, telephone, and internet communications. The only way to communicate in the 1840s over a long distance was for someone to personally carry a message between parties.

In summary, the modern Adventist may have some difficulty believing Foy's visions originated with God. This fact would lead one to question whether there was ever any prophetic baton that was passed from Foy to Ellen White.

Mrs. White Had Copies of Foy's Visions

The two initial visions of Foy were published in 1845 in a pamphlet in Portland, Maine. Later statements from Mrs. White indicate that she apparently had a copy of these visions.

"Then another time, there was Foy that had had visions. He had had four visions. He was in a large congregation, very large. He fell right to the floor. I do not know what they were doing in there, whether they were listening to preaching or not. But at any rate he fell to the floor. I do not know how long he was [down]--about three quarters of a hour, I think-- and he had all these [visions] before I had them. They were written out and published, and it is queer that I cannot find them in any of my books. But we have moved so many times. He had four."12

From Foy or from God? You Decide:

Ellen G. White
Christian Experience and Views of Mrs. White (1851)
William E. Foy
The Christian Experience of William E. Foy (1845)
All the angels that are commissioned to visit the earth hold a golden card, which they present to the angels at the gates of the city as they pass in and out. (pp. 37, 39) I then beheld countless millions of shining ones coming with cards in their hands. These shining ones became our guides. The cards, they bore shone above the brightness of the sun; and they placed them in our hands but the name of them I could not read. (pp. 10, 11)
On either side of the chariot were wings, and beneath it wheels. And as the chariot rolled upwards, the wheels cried Holy, and the wings as they moved, cried Holy, and the retinue of Holy Angels around the cloud cried Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. (p. 35) There were countless millions of bright angels, whose wings were like pure gold, and they sang with loud voices, while their wings cried, holy. (p. 18)
And as the chariot rolled upward, the wheels cried, "Holy," and the wings, as they moved, cried, "Holy," and the retinue of holy angels around the cloud cried, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!" Maranatha, p. 305 Behind the angel I beheld countless millions of bright chariots. Each chariot had four wings like flaming fire and an angel followed after the chariot, and the wings of the chariot, and the wings of the angel cried as one voice saying "holy." (p. 18)
On one side of the river was a trunk of a tree, and a trunk on the other side of the river, both of pure, transparent gold... Its branches bowed to the place where we stood, and the fruit was glorious; it looked like gold mixed with silver. (p. 17) I then beheld in the middle of this boundless place a tree, the body of which was like unto transparent glass, and the limbs were like transparent gold, extending all over this boundless place...the fruit appeared like clusters of grapes in pictures of pure gold. (pp. 14,15)
I asked Jesus to let me eat of the fruit. He said: "Not now. Those who eat of the fruit of this land go back to earth no more... (pp. 19, 20) With a lovely voice the guide spoke to me and said, "Those who eat of the fruit of this tree return to earth no more." (p. 15) His right hand was a sharp sickle; in His left, a silver trumpet. (p. 16) Against His breast and across his left hand was as it were a trumpet of pure silver... (p. 18)
Here on the sea of glass the 144,000 stood in a perfect square. Some of them had very bright crowns, others not so bright. ... And they were all clothed with a glorious white mantle from their shoulders to their feet. (p. 11) I then saw in midst of the place an innumerable multitude, arrayed in white raiment, standing in a perfect square, having crowns of unfading glory upon their heads. (p. 19)
Jesus raised his mighty glorious arm, laid hold of the pearly gate and swung it back on its glittering hinges, and said to us, You have washed your robes in my blood, stood stiffly for my truth, enter in. We all marched in and felt we had a perfect right in the City.(p. 11) Before the gate stood a tall and mighty angel clothed in raiment pure and white; his eyes were like flaming fire, and his he wore a crown upon his head which lighted up this boundless plain. The angel raised his right hand, and laid hold upon the gate and opened it; and as it rolled upon its glittering hinges, he cried with a loud voice to the heavenly host, "Your all welcome!" Then the guardian angels in the midst of the saints struck a song of triumph, and the saints, both great and small sang with loud voices and passed within the gate... (p. 10)


1. J.N. Loughborough, The Great Second Advent Movement, p. 145.

2. Ellen White quoted in an interview. Manuscript Releases vol. 17, pp. 96-97; Ms 131, 1906, pp. 1, 4-6. Relased by the Ellen G. White Estate, Washington, D. C. June 4, 1987.

3. Delbert Baker, Spectrum, "Questions and Answers about the Unknown Prophet, William Foy", vol. 17, no. 5, p. 25.

4. Delbert Baker, The Unknown Prophet (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 2013), p. 143.

5. E.G. White interview cited in footnote #2.

6. William Foy, Christian Experience of William Foy, p. 9.

7. Ibid., p. 16.

8. Ibid., p. 20.

9. Ibid., p. 21.

10. Ibid., pp. 11,12.

11. Ibid., p. 20.

12. E.G. White interview cited in footnote #2.

Category: Plagiarism
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