Persons or Beings?
Mrs White demonstrated a distinction between the words "person" and "being". She did not use them interchangeably. While Ellen White speaks of multiple personalities in the Godhead, she consistently identifies only two beings: The Father and His Son.

"The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each. [Hebrews 1:1-5 quoted] God is the Father of Christ; Christ is the Son of God. To Christ has been given an exalted position. He has been made equal with the Father. All the counsels of God are opened to His Son." EGW, 8T 268.3, 1904

"The only being who was one with God lived the law in humanity, descended to the lowly life of a common laborer, and toiled at the carpenter's bench with his earthly parent." EGW, Signs of the Times, October 14, 1897 par. 3

"Christ the Word, the Only Begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father-one in nature, in character, and in purpose-the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God." EGW, Great Controversy 493. 1888, Patriarchs and Prophets, p.34

"There is a personal God, the Father; there is a personal Christ, the Son."
Review & Herald, Nov. 8, 1898.

"God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,"-- not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father's person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895

This is mentioned in Scripture:

How can such statements as these be consistent with a belief in the trinity?
This is blasphemy to trinitarians. And when the Spirit is identified it is the Spirit of Christ.

"Let them be thankful to God for His manifold mercies and be kind to one another. They have one God and one Saviour; and one Spirit-the Spirit of Christ-is to bring unity into their ranks." EGW, 9T 189 1906

Again, notice there is only one relationship between two beings: that of Father and Son:

"Christ is one with the Father, but Christ and God are two distinct personages. Read the prayer of Christ in the seventeenth chapter of John, and you will find this point clearly brought out.” (Ellen G. White to the delegates at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Takoma Park Washington D. C., May 19, 1905 in Review and Herald, June 1, 1905)

"By the power of His love, through obedience, fallen man, a worm of the dust, is to be transformed, fitted to be a member of the heavenly family, a companion through eternal ages of God and Christ and the holy angels.…-Manuscript 21, Feb. 16, 1900. (The Upward Look, page 61).

"The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted." Youth's Instructor, July 7, 1898, par. 2.

"The human family cost God and his Son Jesus Christ an infinite price." Special Testimonies On Education, p. 21

"No man, nor even the highest angel, can estimate the great cost; it is known only to the Father and the Son." E. G. White, The Bible Echo, October 28, 1895 par. 4.

Did we not cost the Spirit anything? Is this great cost not known to the Spirit? There is only one apparent exception to Ellen White's consistent use of persons/personalities and beings. The following was not actually written by Ellen White, but reported by someone listening to a sermon which she gave in Oakland, California, Sabbath afternoon, October 20, 1906:

"You are born unto God, and you stand under the sanction and the power of the three holiest beings in heaven, who are able to keep you from falling . . . When I feel oppressed, and hardly know how to relate myself toward the work that God has given me to do, I just call upon the three great Worthies, and say; You know I cannot do this work in my own strength." 7 Manuscript Release 267.2

The use of the term "beings" differs from all her other published statements where she uses "persons". The fact that this isolated comment alleged to have been made by her contradicts her other written and published statements, makes it applicable to the following words of caution from Ellen herself:

"And now to all who have a desire for truth I would say: Do not give credence to unauthenticated reports as to what Sister White has done or said or written. If you desire to know what the Lord has revealed through her, read her published works." 5T 696.1

It is interesting that this statement of "three holiest beings" was only revealed very recently. The date of release is noted by the White Estate as "Released March 16, 1976." 7MR 273.

Ellen White emphasized the threeness of the Godhead in terms of thinking persons with manifested personalities (not impersonal force fields). She explained the oneness of the Godhead in terms of having the same divine nature, character, purpose and love. But she never speaks of three in one person; she recognizes only two beings.

Because of these changes in Ellen White's explicit statements after 1888, some contend that an understanding of the Godhead was a late development that matured over time into a fully orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. But Ellen White stood firm on maintaining the original "pillars of the faith" established in those early years after 1844.

"When men come in who would move one pin or pillar from the foundation which God has established by His Holy Spirit, let the aged men who were pioneers in our work speak plainly, and let those who are dead speak also, by the reprinting of their articles in our periodicals." EG White, Manuscript Releases Volume 1, p. 55

Ellen White's sons followed her advice and did not change their belief in either the literal Sonship or the separate individuality of the Spirit:

"Christ is the only being begotten of the Father." James Edson White, Past, Present and Future, p. 52. 1909