Should a new Adventist seek to purchase, in 1885 (the year Ellen White went to Europe), all the E. G. White books available, he would be able to secure the following:
Early Writings, an 1882 republication of the first three E. G. White books issued in the 1850s.
The Spirit of Prophecy, volumes 1-4, which told the great controversy story. The first three were four-hundred-page books, and the fourth, five hundred pages.
Testimonies for the Church, volumes 1-4, a reprint of thirty testimony pamphlets issued between the years 1855 and 1881 in four volumes of about seven hundred pages each.
Two Testimony pamphlets, Numbers 31 and 32.
Sketches From the Life of Paul, a 334-page volume.
Older Adventists might have had the little Spiritual Gifts,, Volumes I-IV, the forerunners of the Spirit of Prophecy series. The second volume is a biographical work issued in 1860. They might also have had How to Live, comprising six pamphlets on health, each with one feature article from Ellen White and the balance, related material selected and compiled by her; and a sixty-four-page pamphlet, Appeal to Mothers.
At this time a far-reaching concept was emerging, with the use of The Great Controversy, volume 4 of the Spirit of Prophecy series, being successfully introduced by colporteurs to the general public. It was a popular book; ten printings of five thousand each had come from the presses of the Review and Herald and the Pacific Press in four years' time. In 1886 its popularity was enhanced by the introduction of twenty-two illustrations, and it was printed on a larger page size. This, the sixth printing of the book, met with gratifying sale to the general public. Such a response broadened the vistas as to what could be done with the E. G. White books dealing with the controversy story. Attention was next focused on volume 1, which covered Old Testament history to the time of Solomon.
Then there were the two volumes on the life of Christ in the heart of the four-volume Spirit of Prophecy set. From these was developed a single volume, translated and published in Danish-Norwegian, French, and German. Produced by the Review and Herald, it was an attractive colporteur book and enjoyed a good sale in Europe as well as in America. In this period of expanding concepts, there was some talk of issuing it in the English language, but this was not done, possibly because the book seemed to need some expansion in the area that dealt with the earlier years of Christ's ministry.
When Ellen White and her son went to Europe, it was with the thought that if she should be detained there, volume 1 of the Spirit of Prophecy would be enlarged and adapted for the reading of the general public. When it was ascertained that the sojourn would be extended, Marian Davis was called to Basel to assist Ellen White in this and other projects. The objective was to make volume 1 similar in scope and format to the upgraded volume 4, The Great Controversy. The subjects of some of Ellen White's sermons in Basel reflected her application to this phase of Bible history.
But not until late 1886 was Ellen White able to undertake seriously the revising and enlarging of this volume, working toward what is known today as Patriarchs and Prophets. Through January, February, and March, 1887, this work continued with intensity, with the hope that the revised and enlarged book could be ready for sale by Christmas. But plans took a sudden change.
Attention Turned to the Great Controversy
The upgraded five-hundred-page Great Controversy was enjoying an escalating sale. This led C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, to write Ellen White and her son, in Europe, pointing out the need of new printing plates. This would call for a resetting of the type for the book.
The call for new typesetting put into motion a study of the text, with a contemplation of enlarging the book. Although at the time of writing, Ellen White had somewhat in mind that the book could reach beyond the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists, yet the terminology, and in some cases the content, was geared largely to Adventists. Now with the book being distributed by colporteurs to the general public, some adaptation of wording seemed desirable. Added to this was the fact that in Europe she was in the midst of Reformation history, a subject that bore heavily on the contents of the book. Moreover, the book was currently being translated into French and German. The combined elements called for a switch in plans for literary work in Basel. Volume 1 was laid aside, and a concentrated effort was made on volume 4.
Study of the volume took on double objectives: to improve the book for a broader reading public, and to aid translators in obtaining a grasp of the finer meanings of the author. The fact that plans had already been set for Ellen White's return to the United States in late summer led to a hastening of this work.
An Enlightening Experience
On May 18, in a letter to C. H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, W. C. White wrote an enlightening account of what took place in Basel:
At last we are able to send you the corrected copy for the first four chapters of volume 4. About the time that your letter came about resetting it, we were pressing the matter of having it translated into the French and German.... I proposed that the translators and proofreaders of both the French and German, with Brother and Sister Whitney, and Marian and myself, should meet every day, and read, and discuss a chapter. By this means the translators would get the spirit of the work, and would translate better, and the proofreaders, also having a part in this reading, would be prepared to detect the errors in the first reading, instead of the last one, as is often the case now.
We carried the work through, although it cost a great effort. As we read, we found some things that were figurative expressions that were hard to translate, and other things that were easy to be understood by the class of people to whom it was at first thought that the book would go, expressions familiar to Adventists, and those who had heard their preaching, but which must be very blind to the ordinary reader, not especially familiar with religious phrases.
Again, we found parts of the subject that were very briefly treated, because the reader was supposed to be familiar with the subject. Mother has given attention to all of these points, and has thought that the book ought to be so corrected, and enlarged, as to be of the most possible good to the large number of promiscuous readers to whom it is now being offered. And she has taken hold with a remarkable energy to fill in some parts that are rather too brief.--A-2 WCW, p. 245.
In the 1884 book, chapter five, "Early Reformers," devoted a little more than three pages to the life and work of John Huss and his companion worker, Jerome. This was quite disproportionate to the more than fifty pages that set forth Luther's contribution to the Reformation. It was thought that a chapter, or even two, should be given to Huss and Jerome, and Ellen White set about to provide a sketch of the history. In a hastily handwritten manuscript of eighty-nine pages, drawing heavily on Wylie, she supplied the lack just before she left on her last visit to the northern countries. She left to Marian Davis the task of editing the material for the book and cutting it back to proper length.
W. C. White referred to this expansion of the manuscript and of the reaction to an examination of the text of The Great Controversy from the standpoint of the average non-Adventist reader:
Mother has written enough about Huss and Jerome to make one or two new chapters. She has written something about Zwingli, and may speak of Calvin. The chapter on the two witnesses has been doubled in size, and quite a change will be made in the chapter on William Miller. And some important additions are made to the sanctuary chapter.
In some places more scriptures are introduced, and all the way, more footnote references are used.
You can hardly imagine how differently some things sound when read to sharp, intelligent people, who know they must understand each sentence in order to translate it right, and who are ignorant of the Advent Movement, and experience, than when read where all who hear are familiar with the subject. And as many of the American readers to whom the book will go are nearly as ignorant of the subjects treated and some of them more ignorant than those who read with us, it seemed to us that what needed to be changed in form of expression to make it plain for translation ought to be the same for your new edition.... I think that the additions will swell the work one hundred pages of its present size.-- Ibid.
Then White added, "Please have Elders A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner [associate editor and editor, respectively, of the Signs of the Times] give careful criticism to the corrections, and to the whole matter."
Experience in Europe Benefited the Book
Some years later as W. C. White answered questions concerning his mother's literary work, he recounted the experience in Basel and introduced a point of unique interest.
When we reached those chapters relating to the Reformation in Germany and France, the translators would comment on the appropriateness of the selection of historical events which Sister White had chosen, and in two instances which I remember, they suggested that there were other events of corresponding importance which she had not mentioned.
When this was brought to her attention, she requested that the histories be brought to her that she might consider the importance of the events which had been mentioned. The reading of the history refreshed to her mind that which she had seen, after which she wrote a description of the event.--WCW to L. E. Froom, December 13, 1934 (see also Selected Messages 3:465).
He wrote also of Ellen White's special interest in Zurich during the last week or two they were in Switzerland:
I was with Mother when we visited Zurich and I well remember how thoroughly her mind was aroused by seeing the old cathedral and the marketplace, and she spoke of them as they were in the days of Zwingli.
During her two years' residence in Basel, she visited many places where events of special importance occurred in the Reformation days. This refreshed her memory as to what she had been shown and this led to important enlargement in those portions of the book dealing with Reformation days.-- Ibid. (see also Ibid., 3:465).
In 1905, speaking to believers in Takoma Park, Maryland, W. C. White recalled one experience in Europe that indicated Ellen White's insight into Reformation history.
One Sabbath, at Basel, I was reading Wylie's History of Protestantism, telling about the experience of the Roman armies coming against the Bohemians, and how a large body of persecutors would see a little body of Protestants, and become frightened and beat a hasty retreat. As I read it to Mother, she interrupted me and told me a lot of things in the pages ahead, and told me many things not in the book at all. She said, "I never read about it, but the scene has been presented to me over and over again. I have seen the papal armies, and sometimes before they had come in sight of the Protestants, the angels of God would give them a representation of large armies, that would make them flee."
I said, "Why did you not put that into your book?" She said, "I did not know where to put it."--DF 105b, "W. C. White Statements Regarding Mrs. White and Her Work," December 17, 1905.
In this connection, her account in The Great Controversy, 116, 117, will be read with interest.
Enlargement of Chapter on Huss
Only one chapter in the book could be allotted to John Huss. This meant that much of the comments Ellen White had written in enlarging on Wylie's remarks had to be cut in order to fit the space. Marian Davis, in Basel, did this further work of preparation after Ellen White and Sara had left and were visiting the northern countries. Then the manuscript for the chapters involved was sent to Ellen White in England for her approval and any changes that might be needed (A-2 WCW, p. 307).
In the meantime, J. H. Waggoner, who was to work in Europe for a time, arrived in Basel. He joined Marian, working with her on the chapters for volume 4 and also on the chapters for volume 1 that had been laid aside (Ibid., 337). Marian's work held her in Basel for a month after Ellen White had sailed for America. As he was able, W. C. White made contacts with European firms, seeking appropriate illustrations for both books. As plans stood in the late summer of 1887, they were to be issued as companion volumes.
Deletion of Materials Especially Intended for Adventists
As The Great Controversy was now being prepared for wide distribution to the general public, some materials were deleted. W. C. White explained this:
In her public ministry, Mother has shown an ability to select, from the storehouse of truth, matter that is well adapted to the needs of the congregation before her; and she has always thought that, in the selection of matter for publication in her books, the best judgment should be shown in selecting that which is best suited to the needs of those who will read the book.
Therefore, when the new edition of Great Controversy was brought out in 1888, there were left out about twenty pages of matter--four or five pages in a place--which was very instructive to the Adventists of America, but which was not appropriate for readers in other parts of the world.--WCW statement to the General Conference Council, October 30, 1911 (see also Selected Messages 3:438, 439).
One such deleted item was pages 337 to 340, being the first part of the chapter titled "The Snares of Satan." In this she presented a view given her of Satan holding a council meeting with his angels to determine the best manner in which to deceive and mislead God's people. This presentation may be found in Testimonies to Ministers, pages 472 to 475, and of course, in the facsimile reprint of Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4.
The Great Controversy Finished at Healdsburg
The work on the book was well along when Ellen White and her staff returned to the United States in the late summer of 1887. The completion of the work was the first task to which she gave attention as she and her helpers settled in her Healdsburg home. Her last writing for the book was for the author's introduction, carrying the date of May, 1888. Here she made a comprehensive statement in the setting of the work of God's prophets, regarding God's commission to her to write the book. She declared:
Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law.--The Great Controversy, x.
Being instructed "to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future" (Ibid., p. xi), she informed the reader that in pursuance of this purpose she had endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the church. She pointed out that these records presented a foreshadowing of the conflict that lay ahead. Taking this in the light of God's Word and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, she unveiled devices of the great adversary, Satan. Then she took up the matter of her reference to and use of historical writings.
She explained how she employed quoted material as a matter of convenience, an aid to her writing:
In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but in some instances no specific credit has been given, since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject.--Ibid., xii.
She had drawn from denominational authors also in presenting views on prophecy. She had been with the pioneers of the church as they earnestly studied Bible doctrines and prophecy. Conclusions were arrived at jointly, and at times one would be the writer to set them before the public, and at times another. She informed her readers:
In narrating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of reform in our own time, similar use has been made of their published works.--Ibid.
This would apply particularly to J. N. Andrews and Uriah Smith, and at times to her husband, James White.
Materials Quoted from Historians
In the 1884 Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4, when presenting the history of the Reformation, Ellen White utilized quotations from D'Aubigne, Wylie, et cetera. In the enlargement of the presentation she brought in considerably more of such materials. In these two books she at times quoted, at times paraphrased, and at times depicted in her own words the events of history that formed the matrix or vehicle for presenting the larger picture, the behind-the-scenes controversy, that had been opened up to her in vision. She and those associated with her did not consider this use of available materials as a matter that called for specific recognition.
Although quotations in the new enlarged edition were used without specific credits, they did stand in quotation marks.
The enlarged edition, which came to be known as the 1888 edition, carried twenty-six full-page illustrations and at the close devoted thirteen pages to general notes and thirteen pages to biographical notes. These notes were prepared by several authors, including J. H. Waggoner, Uriah Smith, and M. C. Wilcox. Marian Davis assisted. The final work progressed slowly; even as late as March 11, 1889, the Signs of the Times was still advertising the older, upgraded 1884 book of five hundred pages. The author's introduction for the new enlarged book was dated Healdsburg, California, May, 1888, and the copyright date was given as 1888, but not until September 2, 1889, did the Signs of the Times carry an advertisement for it. It was advertised as the "Revised and Enlarged Edition of The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan."
At the time, the newly issued Bible Readings was being pressed as the denomination's leading colporteur book. The Great Controversy was allowed to wait, neglected, but eventually it became a leading book distributed to the general public.
Patriarchs and Prophets
Patriarchs and Prophets was in the development stage while Ellen White and her staff were in Basel, but it was laid aside in April, 1887, to give priority to The Great Controversy. But it was not forgotten, and when Ellen White and her staff could give time to it, the work advanced, if slowly. At this point she had occasion to write to Canright, who had just left the church. In doing so, she mentioned this book:
I have been writing upon the first volume of Great Controversy [Patriarchs and Prophets], and it makes me feel very solemn as I review these important subjects--creation and the events from the fall of Satan to the fall of Adam. The Lord seems very near to me as I write, and I am deeply moved as I contemplate this controversy from the beginning to the present time. The workings of the powers of darkness are laid clearly before my mind.--Testimonies for the Church, 5:572, 573.
In January, 1887, W. C. White wrote from Switzerland to G. I. Butler:
Mother is doing her best to complete her manuscript on Old Testament History, and Sister Davis is making good progress in preparing it for the printer. I tell you, my brother, it will be a splendid book. It will have twice as much matter as Spirit of Prophecy, volume 1, and it will accomplish a great deal more in the matter of teaching present truth. I think it will stand next to volume 4 in value and usefulness.--A-2, WCW, p. 93.
He added, "I wish she had time to prepare her book on the Life of Christ before leaving here, for when we reach America I fear she will have but little time to write."
Patriarchs and Prophets was published by the Pacific Press in 1890, and was handled like The Great Controversy. The text was introduced by a statement explaining the current function of the Spirit of Prophecy in the church. This excellent eight-page presentation was written by Uriah Smith. The Review and Herald, August 26, 1890, announced the availability of the book.
It contained fifty-one illustrations, many of them full-page, prepared expressly for the volume. It contained also eight pages of appendix notes prepared by others than Ellen White.
On November 24, Ellen White wrote of the two companion books:
God gave me the light contained in Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets, and this light was needed to arouse the people to prepare for the great day of God, which is just before us. These books contain God's direct appeal to the people. Thus He is speaking to the people in stirring words, urging them to make ready for His coming. The light God has given in these books should not be concealed.--Manuscript 23, 1890.
Ellen White did not get to work on the life of Christ before leaving Europe, as W. C. White had wished she might. The single-volume Life of Christ, translated from materials from The Spirit of Prophecy, volumes 2 and 3, was making its way in Europe, and an English edition was contemplated, but as with Patriarchs and Prophets and The Great Controversy, any thought given to this conjured up pictures of expanding the materials--and that had to wait for another time. In the interim, a letter from H. P. Holser mentioned a significant development in the distribution of the Life of Christ in the Scandinavian countries. The situation that prompted Holser's letter was to be given careful consideration in book preparation during the next decade. From W. C. White's letter of December 13, 1888, to Holser, we pick up the reference to the problem:
I am glad to hear what you say about the continued demand for the Life of Christ. I am sorry it is receiving adverse criticism from the newspapers, for although your sales seem to continue, I fear this will be against other works which you may print.
At a late meeting of the book committee a vote was passed requesting that this book be revised, leaving out those portions which strike the new reader as flights of the author's imagination, and unsustained by Scripture--and fit it to be used as a pioneer work. You may say we are two years too late for this, but I suppose there are very large sections of Germany and France, besides the colonies and the islands of the sea, that have not been canvassed as yet.--D WCW, p. 60.
The extra-scriptural materials introduced by Ellen White as the result of the views given her in vision on the life of Christ were at the seat of the problem. White alluded to this in a letter written to E. W. Whitney in Europe on December 13, 1888.
The book committee recommends that the Life of Christ shall be revised, adapting it for use as a pioneer book and removing those things which create so many queries with the new reader.-- Ibid., 59.
These points had a bearing in the preparation of Patriarchs and Prophets and would be kept in mind a decade later in the preparation of The Desire of Ages.
Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White
One of the last tasks in which James White was involved was the preparation of the manuscript for a volume published in 1880 titled Life Sketches. It contained the story of James White's life and that of Ellen G. White. Actually it was made up largely of materials published earlier, Life Incidents (1868) for James White, and Spiritual Gifts,, Volume II (1860), for Ellen White. The 416-page Life Sketches was well received and had a good circulation.
James White had intended in time to revise and enlarge it, but his death prevented this. As the volume went out of print in the mid-1880s, some study was given to its revision, bringing it up to date. As J. H. Waggoner, a lifelong editor who joined the ranks of Adventists in 1852, became available, W. C. White contacted him in late 1886 or early in 1887 with the hope that he could take hold of the book and perfect it and bring it up to date. Waggoner agreed to this, and soon after joining the workforce in Basel in early 1887, he began the work that eventually yielded the manuscript for the 1888 edition of Life Sketches of James and Ellen White.
Testimonies for the Church,
Just before Ellen White left for Europe in 1885, three of the four seven-hundred-page volumes of Testimonies for the Church, reprinted from the early pamphlets, came from the press. Shortly thereafter, volume 4 finished out the republication. Testimony No. 31, a 244-page book, was published in 1882, and No. 32, with its 238 pages, followed in 1885. After the Minneapolis General Conference session Ellen White in 1889 brought out No 33, with 288 pages.
Later in the year 1889, Testimonies 31, 32, and 33 were published in a single volume, Testimonies for the Church, volume 5.
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
In the early 1870s James and Ellen White had come to the rescue of the Health Reformer, the monthly health journal issued by Seventh-day Adventists, which was suffering a serious decline. In it, over a period of several years, James White published editorials on Bible hygiene. At the special session of the General Conference in the spring of 1876, he proposed preparing the manuscript for a book on the subject (Ibid., April 6, 1876). The General Conference gave hearty support to this, but other tasks and then his death intervened.
The idea, however, did not die, but found fruition in a volume issued in 1890, titled Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene. Nine chapters from James White's pen filled the last section of the book, "Bible Hygiene." The first part of the volume, "Christian Temperance," was a compilation of a broad spectrum of E. G. White materials on the subject of "Health and the Home"--nineteen chapters in all.
Dr. J. H. Kellogg was drawn in to assist in the compilation of this volume. In the preface, which he wrote, he paid high tribute to the major contribution to the world made by Ellen White in leading out in health teachings. Dr. Kellogg stated that up to that time, "nowhere, and by no one, was there presented a systematic and harmonious body of hygienic truths, free from patent errors, and consistent with the Bible and the principles of the Christian religion."--Page iii. He wrote of the enduring nature of the principles she set forth. His closing paragraphs give the history of the book:
This book is not a new presentation of the principles referred to in the above paragraphs, but is simply a compilation, and in some sense an abstract, of the various writings of Mrs. White upon this subject, to which have been added several articles by Elder James White, elucidating the same principles, and the personal experience of Elder J. N. Andrews and Joseph Bates, two of the pioneers in the health movement among Seventh-day Adventists. The work of compilation has been done under the supervision of Mrs. White, by a committee appointed by her for the purpose, and the manuscript has been carefully examined by her.
The purpose in the preparation of this volume has been to gather together, in a condensed form, writings which were scattered through various volumes, and some that have never before appeared in print, so that the teachings of Mrs. White upon this subject might reach as large a number as possible of those for whom they were specially intended; and it is confidently believed that the work will receive a cordial reception, and the earnest consideration which its importance demands.--Ibid., iv.
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, with Ellen White's consent, was published in Battle Creek by the Good Health Publishing Company. For a number of years it was the standard E. G. White presentation on health. The "Christian Temperance" portion of the book--the E. G. White section--was in whole or in part issued in several of the languages of Europe. In 1905 The Ministry of Healing took its place as the prime E. G. White book on health written for the church and the world--a book for which no revision has ever been called.