The Editions of Great Controversy

by
Vance Ferrell Pilgrims Books Beersbeba Springs, TN 57305

PB-2201
THE EDITIONS OF GREAT CONTROVERSY

by
Vance Ferrell
Pilgrims Books
Beersheba Springs, TN 37305 USA Printed in the United States of America Cover and Text Copyright © 1994 Research Institute for Better Reading, Inc.

"Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and the future. In its outline of the closing scenes of this earth's history, it bears a powerful testimony in behalf of the truth. I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written; for in the Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books."

-Letter 281, 1905 (Colporteur Ministry, 127)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface: The Great Controversy Theme was the first to be revealed to Ellen White in vision.

Something to Think About: Urgent statements we should no ignore. Part One

THE WRITING OF THE BOOK

1 – Introduction: The great controversy theme was the first to be revealed to Ellen White in vision
2 - The Most Important Book of Our Time: Great Controversy is the most important of all the Spirit of Prophecy books
3- The 1848-1849 Visions: The 1848-1849 cluster of visions, provided a basic overview of final great controversy truths.
4 - From 1848 to 1858: Why Heaven waited until 1858 to give Ellen the major great controversy vision
5 - The 1858 Vision: The story of this panoramic great controversy vision
6 - The Attempt on Ellen White's Life: Satan began his warfare against Great Controversy by trying to slay the author before it could be written. Why God permitted this
7 - The 1858 Edition: Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1: The writing of the first edition of Great Controversy
8 - Preparation for the 1884 Edition: Work on the second edition, which began in January 1879
9 - The Death of James White: Why James White passed away in 1881
10 - Satan Changes the Method of Attack: Failing in the first two tactics, Satan switched to the primary method of attack he is still using
11 - The 1884 Edition: Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4: The writing of the second edition of Great Controversy
12 - The Trip to Europe (1885-1887) : Providence provided for this European writing tour, so Ellen would immediately begin work on a much larger edition of Great Controversy
13 - The 1888 Edition: "Volume Four": The writing of the third edition of Great Controversy
14 - The Attempt to Stop the 1888 Edition: Battle Creek decides to keep the 1888 edition from being circulated
15 - Post 1888: The Need for a Revision: Although the complete text had been written, a strong need existed for grammatical and typographical correction
16 - Preparation of the 1911 Edition: The many details of how this, mission was carried out
17 - Type of Changes Made In the 1911 Edition: Examples of word changes in the fourth edition
18 - Historical Research for the 1911 Edition: The extensive international search carried out
19 - The 1911 Edition: The Great Controversy: Ellen White's appreciation of the newly-published fourth edition
20 - Ellen White Speaks about all the Editions: Her statement about each of the four editions
21 - Books Written Before and After 1885: Almost none of her books Were written before 1885
22 - People Helped by Great Controversy: Over the years, she considered it one of the first books to be shared with those not of our faith
23 - The Purpose of the Book: Her own writings reveal seven objectives of the book
24 - The Most Valuable Book of All: More quotations about the importance of this book

25 - The 1907 Dream: The very important March 1907 dream
26 - Basic Sections and Principles In the Book: Searching for the divisions and principles in the book
27 - In Conclusion: Her attitude toward the book ought to be ours

PART TWO COMPARISONS OF THE TEXT

28 - Comparing the 1884 and 1888 Editions: What is alike end what is different about them
29 - Comparing the 1888 and 1911 Editions: The method of research used
30 - 1888 to 1911: The Historical and Millerite Chapters: The change: made is chapter: 1 to 22

31 - 1888 to 1911: Comparing the Doctrinal and Closingevents Chapters: The changes made in chapters 23 to 42
32 - Other Changes Made In the 1911 Edition: References, brackets, paragraph breaks, the five "40-year" passages, and typos in the 1911

33 - The "Uniques" in the Editions: What is unique about each of the editions? 34 - We are Being Tested on This Book: You and I know too much; we are accountable for what we do with that book

PART THREE
COMPARISONS OF OTHER PARTS OF THE BOOK

35 - The Book Titles: The various titles which the book has had over the yearn
36 - The Introductions: Comparing the two editions of the author's Introduction
37 - The Chapter Titles: Changes in the chapter titles over the years
38 - Inclusive Dates of Each Chapter: Historical dates for most chapters in the book 39 - The Historical References: Locating every added sod/or changed quotation in the 1911 edition

40 - The Appendices: Carefully comparing the 1884, 1888, 1911, 1956, and 1979 appendices

PART FOUR
THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE BOOK

41 - The Ten Charges: Replies to ten excuses for rejecting Great Controversy
42 - The Plagiarism Charge: A wealth of Information In reply to this charge
43 - The Secret Writers Charge: An analysis of this peculiar charge
44 - Downgrading Scripture: Quotations and comments showing the terrible danger in doing this

45 - Should We Circulate Great Controversy? The book, which Satin sought to prevent from being written by slaying its nether, has, after being written, received more attack than any other of her books! Yes, we, should circulate it!

PART FIVE
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE BOOK
46 - Satan's Instructions to his Angels, c. 1883: The first three pages in the Snares of

Satan chapter of the 1884 edition
47 - 1884 Appendix, c. 1883: The complete, original 1884 appendix
48 - 1888 Appendix, c. 1887: The complete, original 1888 appendix
49 .1888 Biographical Appendix, c. 1887: The complete, original 1888 biographical appendix
50 - W.C. White Statement, October 30, 1911: Statement made to the 1911 General Conference Council

51 - W.C. White Letter, July 25, 1911: Letter from Elmshaven to the General Conference Publication Committee
52 - W.C. White Statement, November 4, 1912: Written statement to a union publishing department secretary

53 - W.C. White Letter, January 8, 1928: Letter to a General Conference Ministerial Department associate secretary
54 - W.C. White Letter, January 8, 1928: Second letter to the same individual
55 - W.C. White Letter, December 13, 1934: Third letter to the same individual

56 - A.L. White Research Paper: The Circulation of Great Controversy: Paper presented to the Field Missionary Secretaries' Council,
Sanitarium, California, September 30, 1938

PART SIX
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK

57 - Dates, People, and Places In the Book: Additional information on the dates, people, and places mentiond in the historical chapters (chapters 1 through 16)
58 - The Historical Sources In the 1911 Edition: The 63 historical sources quoted or referred to in the fourth edition of Great Controversy
59 - Current Foreign Language Editions: The 21 languages in which all or part of Great Controversy is currently available - and where to obtain copies
60 - English Editions: Additional Features: Features in various currently available editions of Great Controversy
61 - Colporteur Helps: How to obtain additional materials to help you sell this most important of books
62 - Where the Bible Ends: An Amazing Story Began: A study filled with canvass material on each individual chapter. It can also be handed to those whom you wish to interest in reading the book
63 - A Wonderful Heritage:A resource too valuable to set aside. A responsibility too great to ignore.

"I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write that book, and while working upon it I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly."-1890.

“No one feels the necessity or the importance of bringing It before the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden?"-1890.

THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK!

THE EDITIONS OF GREAT CONTROVERSY Vance Ferrell
PREFACE

There have been four editions of the book, Great Controversy, six later “1911” issues, plus three other Great Controversys in the 1870s. Six of these editions involved changes in the text or appendix. These six are as follows:

1858 — First writing of the text
1884 — Text revision and first appendix 1888 — Text and appendix revision 1911 — Text and appendix revision

1957 — 1956 appendix revision

1980 — 1979 appendix revision

We will discuss the changes in the above six editions elsewhere in this present volume. Keep in mind that Ellen White did not write any of the appendixes.

Other editions also appeared which involved no changes in the text or appendix (1926, 1927, 1950, 1954, and 1958). Because they only had cover and illustration changes, they will not be analyzed in this present volume. In addition, in the 1870s, three other Great Controversys were also printed. Here is a complete listing of all the editions and issues of Great Controversy and the year each was printed ("Text" in the following discussion means all the chapters in the book.):

1858 — Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1, also titled The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels. This book contained 219 pages, and was published by James White, Steam Press, Battle Creek, Michigan. (All the editions, prior to 1911, were printed at Battle Creek.) Although some preliminary information was given in earlier publications (see Early Writings, 1882), the 1858 book was newly written and included no appendix.

1870 — This Great Controversy bore the title, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 1, and The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels. It deals with the fall of Lucifer, on down to the fall of Solomon, plus a chapter on Christ. This 414—page book, published at Battle Creek, was later amplified into Patriarchs and Prophets. In this present volume, we will not classify this as one of the editions of Great Controversy.

1877 — A second Great Controversy which we will not deal with was published in 1877 under the title, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 2 or The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan: Life, Teachings, and Miracles of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This 396— page book covers the life of Christ, from His birth to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 1878 — A third Great Controversy, which we also will omit from our discussions, bore the title, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 3 or The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan: The Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This 392— page book (442 pages in subsequent printings) dealt with the closing scenes in Christ's life on earth.

1884 — Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4 or The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan: From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the End of the Controversy This 506— page book is the one we today refer to as the 1884 Great Controversy. Soon after the issuance of this volume, a subscription (colporteur) edition was printed, which included illustrations. Ten printings of this 1884 edition were made between 1884 and 1887. Some of them were numbered as such on the copyright page ("Fifth Edition," etc.), along with the date of printing. The text was entirely rewritten for this edition, and an appendix was for the first time added. It had no indexes. It was printed both by the Review and Pacific Press.

1888 — The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan During the Christian Dispensation. This 704—page book included her text and Author's Preface. It also had two appendixes—one general and the other historical. We will closely analyze both the text and the general appendix in the book you now have in hand. We will also reprint the historical appendix. The paging of this book conforms both to the 1911 Great Controversy and to the 3—volume Index to the Writings of Ellen G. White. First begun in Europe during her visit there, this book was a complete enlarged rewriting of the 1884 edition. This was the last edition to contain no indexes. It was printed both by the Review (1890) and Pacific Press (1889). It was the first of her projected five Conflict of the Ages Series. Elsewhere in this present volume we will explain why the 1888 edition was not

printed in 1888.

1911 — The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan. This 719—page book included the body of text of the 42 chapters, plus her preface, now titled Introduction. The appendix was revised. The changes in the text almost totally consisted of different quotations from historians, when those quoted in the 1888 edition could not be located. These changes were necessitated by a decision to provide quotation references. This edition was the first to include indexes: a general index and scripture index. (With the exception of the 1926, all subsequent editions had both indexes.) It was printed by the Review, Pacific Press, and, for the first time, by Southern Publishing Association.

1926 — This issue of the 1911 edition had reset type and new illustrations. Neither text nor appendix was changed. The paging of the 1888 and 1911 texts are identical. It was a special edition for colporteurs to sell, but had no scripture index. It was printed only by the Review.

1927 — Same as the 1926 edition, but with the addition of the scripture index, and it was printed only by Pacific Press.

1950 — This issue of the 1911 edition was a still newer colporteur (subscription) edition. The type was reset and new illustrations were used. Neither the text nor appendix were changed. For this particular edition, the Author's Introduction was shortened.

1954 — This was a special "Missionary Book of the Year" edition, and was the first small paperback edition of the book ever published. The type was reset and everything was in it (text, appendix, and both indexes). In addition, it had the Index paging—which made it a thicker book. It was printed only by Southern Publishing.

1957 — The type was reset to provide a book which could sell both to members (trade edition) and outsiders (subscription edition). The edition for colporteurs had entirely new illustrations, and was part of the "Treasures of Life" series. This 1958 issue had a revised appendix (dated November 19,1956), which we will discuss later.

1980 — This issue of the 1911 edition included another appendix revision (dated December 6, 1979), which we will discuss in chapter 40. It was printed by the Review and Pacific Press.

Let us now begin the fascinating story of the Editions of Great Controversy. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT --

The book you now have in hand was prepared over a year ago, but many difficulties have been encountered in the process of trying to get it printed.

We finally got it onto the press, but then, as the project neared completion, part of the printing equipment burned, along with one of the signatures. The same fire also destroyed an outstanding new Spirit of Prophecy missionary book, which also contained sections from Great Controversy.

Many months later, we tried to get back to completing this present book, Editions of Great Controversy, —and then discovered that several boxes of printed signatures (each one containing 16 pages) were gone. We have no idea where they went.

So we had to redo those signatures. Yet that was not be an easy task since the typesetting computer program, which contained those Great Controversy materials had, in the meantime, crashed, and it had been replaced with an entirely different one. So in order to recover the missing signatures we had to go into DOS, strip out codes, and use special processes to restore the lost material.

The pages which it was necessary to reconstruct were these: Pages 1-16, 193- 208, 273-288, and 481-496.

You will find they are somewhat different in type fonts and certain other aspects, and, occasionally, there is extra space at the end of a restructured signature.

Because, the second time around, we placed the table of contents in a smaller type face, there was room on pages 12 to 16 for an extra inserted chapter. (The complete references are given later in the book.)

We need not be surprised that there are problems when we try to defend the best and most important book for these last days, or try to distribute it. Great Controversy is the book, which Satan wants to destroy. He wants to destroy the book, destroy its influence, destroy our interest in distributing it, destroy the credibility of its historical statements, destroy confidence in its prophetic sections, or destroy the reputation of its author. He wants us to underrate it, ignore it, reject it, or proscribe its distribution.

Of all the books printed we ourselves have printed, Great Controversy is the only one which has gradually been lost as, over the years, we sent layouts for it to an outside printing house for publication. Within four years after beginning to print Great Controversy in 1985, forty percent of the layouts had been lost in the mails! Every other book we have printed—Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing, Bible Readings, Christ's Object Lessons, Patriarchs and Prophets, etc., has had no pages lost in transit. But, over a period of several years, layout pages from Great Controversy kept disappearing, so typographic corrections must be made directly onto the negatives.

Satan has great wrath, as he thinks of the clear truths delineated in that powerful volume. He wants everyone to share his disgust for it. Those who in any way do so are aiding him in his work.

Do you have friends who tell you not to distribute Great Controversy? Do they tell you that some other book should be distributed first? Do they tell you there is something wrong with the book or one of its editions? Be not surprised; Satan is using every means possible to thwart the distribution of that vital book.

"As soon as Great Controversy came from the press, it should have been pushed above every other book. I have been shown this."—1899.

“When the Great Controversy should have been circulated everywhere, it was lying dead."—1899.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

"I have been aroused at one, two, or three o'clock in the morning, with some point forcibly impressed upon my mind as if spoken by the voice of God. "—1890.

"I have spread before them the light given me of heaven in that book."— 1889.

"I was shown that I must write it out; that I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong effort to hinder me, but angels of God would not leave me in the conflict. "—1860.

"The keeping of Great Controversy from the field has done a work that men will have to answer for in the judgment." —1894.

"The results of the circulation of this book are not to be judged by what now appears. "—1890.

"I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write that book, and while working

upon it I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly." —1890.

"Had it been circulated at the time it was lying idle, there would have been a different order of things among our workers. The impressions made would have brought decided changes. "1899.

"The book, Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that It shall come before the people."—1911.

"As I write upon my book, I feel intensely moved. I want to get it out as soon as possible." —1884.

"As soon as Great Controversy came from the press It should have been pushed above every other book. I have been shown this."—1899.

"A much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it."—1890.

"When the Great Controversy should have been circulated everywhere, It was lying dead." —1899.

"The lord has set before me matters which are of urgent importance for the present time, and which reach into the future."—1890.

"I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written."—1905.

"I was shown that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume 4 [The 1888 edition was the fourth volume of a series], and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of this world's history. "— 1890.

"No one feels the necessity or the importance of bringing it before the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden?"—1890.

"Why do not our people appreciate and circulate more widely the books bearing the divine credentials?"—1907.

"My mind is stirred so deeply I cannot rest. Write, write, write, I must, and not delay. Great things are before us, and we must call the people from their indifference to get ready." -- 1884.

"These words have been spoken in a charge to me, 'Write in a book the things which thou hast seen and heard, and let it go to all the people, for the time is at hand when past history will be repeated.' "—1890.

"Do you know what it contains? Have you any appreciation of the subject matter? Do you not see that the people need the light therein given?"—1890.

"When the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency.” —1890.

"Why do we not give greater effort to circulating the books that point out Satan's plans to counterwork the work of God, that uncover his plans and point out his deceptions?" --1907.

controversy between Christ and Satan. "—1888.

"Now Volume 1, or Patriarchs and Prophets, is ready for circulation, but even for this book I would not allow Volume 4 [Great Controversy] to remain longer as a light under a bushel. I am in sore distress of mind, but who of my brethren cares for this?"—1890.

"These books [Patriarchs and Prophets and Great Controversy] 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. "—1890.

"As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of the Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which had thus been revealed, 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. "—1888.

"But Instead of this, the book was suppressed, . . The book that should have gone did not go; and the men who should have worked to carry it forward, discouraged the canvassers from handling it. Thus saith the Lord, 'I will judge for this false, dishonest work.' "—1899.

"By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. "—1905.

"Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and the future. In Its outline of the closing scenes of this earth's history, it bears a powerful testimony in behalf of the truth."—1905.

"This book has to a great degree been misplaced by another book, which has kept from the world the light God has given."—1891.

"In the Great Controversy, the last message of warning for the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books." —1905.

"It [Bible Readings] can never take the place the Lord designed that Volume 4 [Great Controversy] should have in the world and among our people. I have spread before them the light given me of heaven in that book."—1889.

"The statement made that these books [Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets] cannot be sold, is not true. I know; for the Lord has instructed me that this is said because human devising has blocked the way for their sale. It cannot be denied that these books were not the product of any human mind, they are the voice of God speaking to the people, and they will have an influence upon minds that other books do not have. "—1890.

"The Lord would have this work carried into the highways and byways where there are souls to be warned of the dangers so soon to come."—1890.

"While writing the manuscript of Great Controversy I was often conscious of the presence of the angels of God. And many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and new."-- 1911.

"In the sudden attack at Jackson [Michigan], Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to raise me above the effects of Satan's attack."—1880.

"Instruction has been given me that the important books containing the light that God has given regarding Satan's apostasy in heaven should be given a wide circulation just now; for through them the truth will reach many minds. . Many of our people have been blind to the importance of the very books that were most needed. Had tact and skill then been shown. . the Sunday—law movement would not be where it is today. "—1905.

"Light was in that book which came from heaven; but what account will those men have to give to God for the little faith and confidence manifested in that book that the warnings should not come to the people when they should have had them."—1894.

"It is a duty we owe to our people and to God, to send every ray of light given me of God, demanded at this time for every tongue and nation."—1889.

"[In a divinely-given dream] Elder Haskel was presenting strong reasons why the books which contain the knowledge that has been communicated to Sister White —the books containing the special message to come to the world at this time [especially Great Controversy!] —should be more freely circulated.

" 'Why,' he inquired, 'do not our people appreciate and circulate more widely the books bearing the divine credentials? Why is not a specialty made of the books containing the warnings regarding Satan's work? Why do we not give greater effort to circulating the books that point out Satan's plans to counterwork the work of God, that uncover his plans and point out his deceptions?"—9 Testimonies, 66-67.

"[In the same dream] But dissatisfaction was expressed by some of our own people. One said: 'A stop must be put to this work, or our business will be spoiled.' . . Then I heard a voice of our Counselor saying: 'Forbid them not. This is a work that should be done. The end is near. Already much time has been lost, when these books should have been in circulation. Sell them far and near. Scatter them like the leaves of autumn. This work is to continue without the forbiddings of anyone.'—9 Testimonies, 72-73 [italics ours; read the entire chapter].

PART ONE

THE WRITING OF THE BOOK 1 — INTRODUCTION

It had been a crushing disappointment. Between 50,000 and 100,000 Advent believers had been expecting the coming of their Lord in the clouds of heaven. But to their knowledge nothing unusual had occurred.

Writing years later of the experience, Hiram Edson said this:

"Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before. It seemed that the loss of all earthly friends could have been no comparison. We wept and wept, till the day dawn.

"I mused in my own heart, saying, 'My Advent experience has been the richest and brightest of all my Christian experience. If this had proved a failure, what was the rest of my Christian experience worth? Has the Bible proved a failure? Is there no God, no heaven, no golden home city, no Paradise? Is all this but a cunningly devised fable? Is there no reality to our fondest hope and expectation of these things?' And thus we had something to grieve and weep over, if all our fondest hopes were lost. And as I said, we wept, till the day dawn. "—Document File. 588. Hiram Edson manuscript (see also Review, June 23, 1921).

Another believer, Washington Morse in Vermont, later wrote this:

"That day came and passed, and the darkness of an other night closed in upon the world. But with that darkness came a pang of disappointment to the Advent believers that can find a parallel only in the sorrow of the disciples after the crucifixion of their Lord.

"The passing of the time was a bitter disappointment. True believers had given up all for Christ, and had shared His presence as never before. The love of Jesus filled every soul; and with inexpressible desire they prayed, 'Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly;' but He did not come.

"And now, to turn again to the cares, perplexities, and dangers of life, in full view of jeering and reviling unbelievers who scoffed as never before, was a terrible trial of faith and patience. When Elder Himes visited Waterbury, Vermont, a short time after the passing of the time, and stated that the brethren should prepare for another cold winter, my feelings were almost uncontrollable. I left the place of meeting and wept like a child." —Review, May 7, 1901.

The call to prepare for the soon coming of Christ culminated in the summer and early fall of 1844. This call swelled into a powerful Midnight Cry, and began at Exeter, New Hampshire, on August 12, 1844 —only 71 days before October 22, the predicted date of the completion of the 2300-year prophecy. But then came the Great Dis- appointment.

As a result, many gave up their hope in the soon coming of Christ, yet there were some who did not. Among that number was a young girl who, with her family, lived in Portland, Maine, and clung to the blessed hope. Her name was Ellen Harmon:

"It was hard to take up the vexing cares of life that we thought had been laid down forever. It was a bitter disappointment that fell upon the little flock whose faith had been so strong and whose hope had been so high. But we were surprised that we felt so free in the Lord, and were so strongly sustained by His strength and grace.

"We were disappointed but not disheartened. We resolved to refrain from

murmuring at the trying ordeal by which the Lord was purging us from the dross and refining us like gold in the furnace; to submit patiently to the process of purifying that God deemed needful for us; and to wait with patient hope for the Saviour to redeem His tried and faithful ones." —Life Sketches, pp. 61—62.

The date was October 22, 1844. By December of that year, young Ellen (only 17) was clearly nearing the end of her life. Her weakened condition was rapidly worsening; she had a serious lung disease. It was only with great effort that she could speak in a broken voice, generally in a whisper. Frequently at night, she would awaken from sleep coughing blood from her lungs. Her family understood why she hardly spoke, slept a lot, and remained in bed most of the rest of the time. They prayed with and for her, and awaited the day when she would die.

Then one day, several godly women who knew the family well decided to gather for special prayer for the soon return of Jesus —and for little Ellen.

They knelt in prayer at the Portland home of Mrs. Elizabeth Haines, a young married woman. Three other women were present.

And then God gave a great blessing to the people living in these last days: He gave us the Spirit of Prophecy. "While I was praying, the power of God came upon me as I had never felt it before. I was wrapped in a vision of God's glory, and seemed to be rising higher and higher from the earth, and was shown something of the travels of the Advent people to the Holy City."—Early Writings, p. 13 (see also Experience and Views, p. 5).

Here is that first vision, as published in the Day-Star of January 24, 1846.

"While [I was] praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, 'look again, and look a little higher.'

"At this, I raised my eyes and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the City, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the Midnight Cry. This light shone all along the path, and gave light for their feet so they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the City, they were safe. "But soon some grew weary, and said the City was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a glorious light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, 'Hallelujah"

"Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, which left their feet in perfect dark- ness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. It was just as impossible for them to get on the path again and go to the City, as all the wicked world which God had rejected. They fell all the way along the path one after another, until we heard the voice

of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus' coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spake the time, He poured on us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God as Moses' did when he came down from Mount Sinai.

"By this time the 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus' new name. "At our happy, holy state the wicked were enraged, and would rush violently up to lay hands on us to thrust us in prison, when we would stretch forth the hand in the name of the lord, and the wicked would fall helpless to the ground. Then it was that the synagogue of Satan knew that God had loved us who could wash one another's feet and salute the brethren with a holy kiss, and they worshiped at our feet.

"Soon our eyes were drawn to the east. for a small black cloud had appeared, about half as large as a man's hand. which we all knew was the sign of the Son of man. We all in solemn silence gazed on the cloud as it drew nearer, [and became] lighter, and brighter, glorious, and still more glorious, till it was a great white cloud. The bottom ap- peared like fire, a rainbow was over it, around the cloud were ten thousand angels singing a most lovely song.

"And on it sat the Son of man, on His head were crowns. His hair was white and curly and lay on His shoulders. His feet had the appearance of fire, in His right hand was a sharp sickle, in His left a silver trumpet. His eyes were as a flame of fire, which searched His children through and through.

"Then all faces gathered paleness, and those that God had rejected gathered blackness. Then we all cried out, 'Who shall be able to stand? Is my robe spotless?' Then the angels ceased to sing, and there was some time of awful silence, when Jesus spoke, 'Those who have clean hands and a pure heart shall be able to stand; my grace is sufficient for you.' At this, our faces lighted up, and joy filled every heart. And the angels struck a note higher and sung again while the cloud drew still nearer the earth.

"Then Jesus' silver trumpet sounded, as He descended on the cloud, wrapped in flames of fire. He gazed on the graves of the sleeping saints, then raised His eyes and hands to heaven and cried, 'Awake! Awake! Awake! ye that sleep in the dust, and arise.' Then there was a mighty earthquake. The graves opened, and the dead came up clothed with immortality. The 144,000 shouted, 'Hallelujah!' as they recognized their friends who had been tom from them by death, and in the same moment we were changed and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

"We all entered the cloud together, and were seven days ascending to the sea of glass. " —The Day—Star, January 24, 1846 (see also Early Writings, pp. 14—16).

Where did Great Controversy start? It began with that first vision, given in December 1844. This vision contained basic facts later amplified several times in larger and still larger studies of the great controversy warfare and last day events, until the final revision of Great Controversy came from the press.

As you read this first vision, you will note that it does not deal with the subject matter of Christ's Object Lessons, Steps to Christ, or the Testimonies. We do not find here material for Education, Ministry of Healing, Desire of Ages, or Patriarchs and Prophets. The single topic is final events in the great controversy.

The book, Great Controversy, is both the touchstone and capstone to her

"I have spread before them the light given me of heaven in that book. "—1889.

"The keeping of Great Controversy from the field has done a work that men will have to answer for in the judgment. "—1894.

ministry. It both began it and climaxed it. Today, as we open the pages of that hallowed volume, we find the broad panorama of events from Christ's day to our own and beyond. That book explains the past, the present, and the future. It is as a great light shining upon our pathway, illuminating our steps all the way to the city of God.

This is the story of the writing of that book.

"As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word, in the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed, to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast approaching struggle of the future." —Great Controversy. —Letter 281, 1905 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 127:1; Great Controversy, p. xii [1888]).

2 — THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF OUR TIME

The broad, sweeping coverage and the tremendous importance of this book is indicated in the following statement:

"The Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and the future. In its outline of the closing scenes of this earth's history, it bears a powerful testimony in behalf of the truth. I am more anxious to see a wide circulation of this book than for any others I have written; for in the Great Con- troversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books." —Letter 281, 1905 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 127:1).

In this book are to be found most crucial messages which are needed by the people living in these last days. It is of the utmost importance that we share it as widely as possible.

"The book, The Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. While writing the manuscript of The Great Controversy I was often conscious of the presence of the angels of God. Many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind." —Letter 56, 1911 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 128:3).

"It is not so much the object of this book to present new truths concerning the struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and principles which have a bearing on coming events. Yet viewed as a part of the controversy between the forces of light and darkness, all these records of the past are seen to have a new significance; and through them a light is cast upon the future, illuminating the pathway of those who, like the reformers of past ages, will be called, even at the peril of all earthly good, to witness 'for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.' "—Great Controversy xiv (1888).

In that first vision, she wrote:

"Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, which left their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path.” —Day-Star, January 24, 1846 (Early Writings, p. 15).

"The results of the circulation of this book are not to be judged by what now appears. "—1890.

"Had it been circulated at the time it was lying idle, there would have been a different order of things among our workers. The impressions made would have brought decided changes. "—1899.

The Midnight Cry was that light. But could it be that that "light behind them" also included the Spirit of Prophecy? That pure light, which began shortly after the Midnight Cry closed, provided the remnant with light to guide their feet all along the pathway, throughout their journey to the City of God. But, if that be true, then beware of the warning regarding those who —having rejected the light —stumble and fall off that heaven-bound trail!

How did this book come to be? What is the background of its writing? The better we understand the circumstances under which it was written, the more we shall value this special heritage.

We are well-aware of the many attacks leveled against Great Controversy in our own day. But in this study we will learn that, even in the 19th century, it repeatedly received more opposition than any other Spirit of Prophecy book. In addition, its author suffered more in the process of bringing it to us than she did in bringing us any of her other writings.

That first vision was given in December 1844. Over the next several years, Ellen and her husband James White traveled and spoke in many places. Living conditions were difficult and she wrote relatively little.

Later, in 1858, Ellen White made this comment about the basic great controversy vision: "In this vision at Lovett's Grove, much of the material of the Great Controversy which I had seen ten years before was repeated, and I was shown that I must write it out. "2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 270 (Life Sketches, p. 162 is almost identical).

3 — THE 1848—1849 VISIONS

That which she had seen "ten years before" had been shown her in November and December of 1848. Here is a brief overview of those revelations:

On Sabbath, November 18, she was shown in vision that the message of the Third Angel needed to be published and widely circulated.

(It is of interest that, as you read the story of her life, you will find that these specific-information visions which she received came more frequently when they would, as a result, be printed and circulated. That is significant! God wanted that information printed, circulated, and read! All of her writings should be kept in print and distributed to- day; none are unimportant, for all are from Heaven.)

On Saturday night, December 16, at Rocky Hill, Connecticut, another vision was given. At the time, many were suggesting that the massive turmoil occurring just then in Europe was the signal for the end of time. But in this vision, Ellen White was shown that a far greater upheaval was yet in the future.

In that vision, she was also shown that Jesus would return to earth through that region of the sky we call the Orion constellation.

"December 16, 1848, the Lord gave me a view of the shaking of the powers of the heavens. I saw that when the Lord said 'heaven: in giving the signs recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, He meant heaven, and when He said 'earth' He meant earth. The powers of the heavens are the sun, moon, and stars. They rule in the heavens. The powers of the earth are those that rule on the earth. The powers of heaven will be

"The book, Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. "—1911.

"As I write upon my book, I feel intensely moved. I want to get it out as soon as possible. " —1884.

shaken at the voice of God. The sun, moon, and stars will be moved out of their places. They will not pass away, but be shaken by the voice of God.

"Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space.

"I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumors of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the pow- ers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also. I saw that the shaking of the powers in Europe is not, as some teach, the shaking of the powers of heaven, but it is the shaking of the angry nations." —Letter 2, 1848, addressed to The Scattered Remnant (see also Early Writings, p. 41).

Shortly after that, on Friday evening January 5, 1849, the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, the sealing time, the death decree, the seven last plagues, and Jacob's trouble were partially explained to her:

"At the commencement of the holy Sabbath, January 5, 1849, we engaged in prayer with Brother Belden's family at Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and the Holy Ghost fell upon us. I was taken off in vision to the most holy place, where I saw Jesus still interceding for Israel. . Then I saw that Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every case was decided either for salvation or destruction."—Early Writings, p. 36.

As Daniel sought for a further explanation of a vision in Daniel 8, and received it later in Daniel 9, so Ellen White asked for further information and later received it.

'I asked my attending angel for an explanation of what I saw. He told me that I could see no more then, but he would shortly show me what those things that I then saw meant." —Early Writings, p. 37.

The next afternoon (January 6), additional light was given in regard to the intercessory ministry of Christ in the sanctuary in heaven, and how this related to the sealing of God's people.

"I saw four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and were on their way to accomplish it. Jesus was clothed with priestly garments. He gazed in pity on the remnant, then raised His hands, and with a voice of deep pity cried, 'My blood, Father, My blood, My blood, My blood"

"Then I saw an exceeding bright light come from God, who sat upon the great white throne, and was shed all about Jesus. Then I saw an angel with a commission from Jesus, swiftly flying to the four angels who had a work to do on the earth, and waving something up and down in his hand, and crying with a loud voice, 'Hold! Hold! Hold! Hold! until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.' "—Early Writings, p. 38.

Still uncertain as to the full significance of this, she asked for additional information, and it was then given.

"I asked my accompanying angel the meaning of what I heard, and what the four angels were about to do. He said to me that it was God that restrained the powers, and that He gave His angels charge over things on earth; that the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and they were about to let them go; but while their hands were loosening, and the four winds were about to blow, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not sealed, and He raised His hands to the Father and pleaded with Him that He had spilled His blood for them. "Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels and bid them hold, until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads." —Early Writings, p. 38.

These two visions of January 5 and 6 are discussed in Early Writings, pages 36- 38.

In an undated vision received soon after, she was shown God's care over His people, and also the glorious inheritance in heaven awaiting each one of them. It is de- scribed in Early Writings, pages 39-40. In this vision, she was also taken to other worlds.

It is thus clear that ten years prior to Ellen White's very important "Great Controversy vision," she had received several introductory views of many of the closing- scenes events described in that book. Ellen had just turned 21 when she received them.

These 1848-1849 visions of final events were written out and later included in her first three books: Christian Experience and Views of Mrs. E.G. White, (which was printed in 1851; today available in Early Writings, pages 11-83); A Supplement to Experience and Views (printed in 1854; today in Early Writings, pages 85-127); and Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1; now in Early Writings, pages 133-295).

But it was not until her 1858 vision that she was explicitly told that the closing- scenes visions must be published in far greater detail. She was also told at that time that —above all else —Satan did not want that information made available to the people!

Before concluding this section, it would be well to note that, in 1848, Ellen White was also used of God in formulating another major area of Adventism: several of our basic doctrines.

Three powerful blessings were given to the remnant just following the passage of Jesus from the first to the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844:

(1)The Spirit of Prophecy was again in the church, after an absence of about 1750 years.

(2) The Sabbath truth was discovered by the Advent people, after being almost wholly extinguished by the apostasy of the Dark Ages.

(3) The truth about Jesus' ministry in the sanctuary opened up before His people.

Yes, those were indeed blessings. But it was not until 1848 that the first major outline of basic Seventh-day Adventist beliefs was produced during what was called the "Sabbath Conferences." These were meetings held in several locations in New England, some of them in barns. Men, holding to a wide variety of beliefs, attended those gatherings. Because most held to a variety of peculiar theories, and because most believed their own to be correct, theological pandemonium appeared certain. Yet each meeting concluded with a single, unified clear-cut set of teachings! How could that possibly happen?

Our kind Father worked it out in a very definite way: Throughout the time that the meetings were held, the mind of Ellen White was locked so that she could understand neither the reasoning nor the conclusions of the brethren. The men were clearly on their own, but they could go nowhere; too many differences and varied views divided them.

A topic would be selected for prayerful study; it would be investigated; the brethren would then arrive at that point where they knew not how to proceed. Before them lay several doctrinal paths, and they were not clear regarding which one to pursue.

Then Ellen White would be taken off in vision and, while they prayerfully waited, would be given the correct answer. Coming out of vision, she would relate what she had

“A much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it."1890.

“As soon as Great Controversy came from the press it should have been pushed above every other book. I have been shown this. "—1899.

been shown to the assembled group. They would accept the light given, noting that, again, her mind was locked to an understanding of the conversation and issues involved.

4 — FROM 1848 TO 1858

Since the great controversy vision was so very important, why did the Lord wait until 1858 to give it to His messenger in detail? If you will scan through early Advent history, you will note that our publishing work hardly got started until the mid—1850s. Volume One of the Testimonies was not printed until 1855. Prior to that time, only three small books had been released. Each of those three (named earlier, which were in 1882 reprinted in Early Writings) contained data related to the 1848 great controversy visions. Although James White began the publishing work in July 1849, for several years it only consisted of the mailing out of small papers. In November 1850, as a result of overwork, James had a partial nervous breakdown. By early 1852 he was coughing constantly. That summer, their first printing press equipment was purchased, but about all it was used for was the printing of small papers. The great controversy vision needed to go to the people, and the time was drawing near when this would happen. Satan was angry. On May 23, James and Ellen boarded a train in Michigan, but Ellen was convicted they must move to a rear car. After two such moves, she was satisfied. Shortly thereafter, a terrible train wreck occurred. The lead cars had left the tracks, but the railroad inspectors were amazed to find that the car carrying Ellen and James had been unhooked from the forward cars. As a result, it, and the few cars behind it, were perfectly preserved.

A large bolt normally went through the coupling, and in this way connected cars. Their lives were saved by the interworking of several miracles:

(1) This bolt had been taken out just before the crash.

(2) Ellen and James' car had been held back somewhat to separate it, and the cars behind it, from the forward momentum of the lead cars.

(3) Then the bolt had been reinserted into their car.

(4) When the crash came, their car and the ones behind it were mysteriously and immediately slowed and brought to a quiet stop, so they did not crash into the forward cars. The accident is mentioned in Life Sketches, pages 153-154 (1 Testimonies, pp. 94- 95).

In 1855 James was in better health, but much of his and Ellen's time continued to be filled with visits to churches and campmeetings. However, by June 1856 the publishing house debts were paid, it was operating on a much firmer footing, and a board of several men were now managing it.

At last Ellen White could write a major book, her first larger book. Of course, we can know what it was about: the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The Lovett's Grove vision was given at exactly the right time. That initial larger book would be the first edition of Great Controversy.

5 — THE 1858 VISION

In the spring of 1858, Ellen was 30 years old. Accompanied by her husband, she was visiting conference meetings in several locations in Ohio. They had already visited Green Springs and Gilboa.

"The Lord has set before me matters which are of urgent importance for the present time, and which reach into the future. "—1890.

"When the Great Controversy should have been circulated everywhere, it was lying dead.” —1899

"It is our design to be at the conference at Green Springs the twenty-sixth, and to meet in conference with the brethren in Gilboa, March 6 and 7. We may spend three or four weeks in Ohio." —Review, February 18, 1858. Arriving the next weekend at Lovett's Grove (a small town near Bowling Green), they spoke during Sabbath and Sunday, March 13 and 14. The meetings were held in a public schoolhouse. On Sunday, the 14th, a funeral service was held in the building where the meetings were being held. The house was packed and not everyone could get in. Asked to speak, James White conducted the funeral service. As he ended, Ellen rose to express a few words of
comfort to the mourners.

"When he had closed his remarks, I felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord to bear my testimony. As I was led to speak upon the coming of Christ, and the resurrection, and the cheering hope of the Christian, my soul triumphed in God; I drank in rich draughts of salvation. Heaven, sweet heaven, was the magnet to draw my soul upward, and I was wrapped in a vision of God's glory. Many important matters were there revealed to me for the church."—Life Sketches, pp. 161-162.

“ A broad, panoramic view of the entire great controversy between Christ and Satan —covering more than 7,000 years from the fall of Lucifer to the close of the millennium —was given to Ellen White during those two hours while she lay in vision in that small, one-room schoolhouse in Lovett's Grove, Ohio.

As the years passed, additional information was given as she needed it for her writing work, and slowly the books Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles, and Great Controversy were written, and then enlarged upon.

The gathered assembly watched with deep interest throughout that vision, and, when it was ended, the relatives of the deceased bore the casket to the cemetery. But many of the people remained behind to hear Ellen relate what she had been shown in vision. Commenting later on their reaction to what she told them, she said: "a great solemnity rested upon those who remained" (2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 270).

Equally concerned with personal problems of the believers in tiny Wood County as with the history of the intergalactic feud of Satan with Christ, God alotted part of that vision to matters relative to the spiritual welfare of these new converts living in northwest Ohio. So, after Ellen discussed those matters, she then proceeded to tell them portions of the great controversy vision.

And it was that part of this vision, which was of crucial importance to all of us!

(1) It provided the people of God living in these last days with a comprehensive view of trans-world history in its true reality. Instead of the history written by men, with its preoccupation with the actions and interplay of influential men, Ellen White was shown the history of the warfare between Christ and Satan in heaven and on earth—from the beginning of sin all the way down to its end, plus a glimpse beyond!

(2) This view of history is not only true; it fills the remnant with hope. Not only does it draw back the curtain so that we may behold the controversy fought over every soul, but it points us to the final victory of the armies of Heaven over the forces of the evil one.

(3) This vision was accompanied by the command to write it all out—so that the people could have it! It was not enough that the prophet personally know these things; the rest of us must be told also! The great controversy story must be printed and widely circulated!

"I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written. "—1905.

"In this vision at Lovett’s Grove, most of the matter of the great controversy which I had seen ten years before was repeated, and I was shown that I must write it out."2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 270.

6 - THE ATTEMPT ON ELLEN WHITE'S LIFE

But there was more: a most solemn warning was also given:

"I was instructed to write it out. I was shown that while I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong efforts to hinder me, yet I must put my trust in God, and angels would not leave me in the conflict."—Life Sketches, p. 162.

On Monday morning, the 15th, the Tillotsons drove the Whites in their carriage to the railroad station at Freemont, and the next day they boarded a train for Jackson, Michigan, in route to Battle Creek. As they journeyed, Ellen and James earnestly discussed details of the forthcoming writing work. Much must be done, and she was determined to immediately set to work. Arriving at Jackson, they went to the home of Brother Daniel R. Palmer and his wife.

Satan was determined that this work be stopped.

"Two days afterward, while journeying on the cars to Jackson, Michigan, we arranged our plans for writing and publishing, immediately on our return home, the book entitled, The Great Controversy between Christ and His Angels, and Satan and His Angels, commonly known as Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1. I was then as well as usual.

"On the arrival of the train at Jackson, we went to Brother Palmer's. We had been in the house but a short time, when, as I was conversing with Sister Palmer, my tongue refused to utter what I wished to say. and seemed large and numb. A strange, cold sensation struck my heart, passed over my head, and down my right side. For a time I was insensible, but was aroused by the voice of earnest prayer.

"I tried to use my left limbs (left arm and limb, 2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 271), but they were perfectly useless. For a short time I did not expect to live. It was my third shock of paralysis; and although within fifty miles of home, I did not expect to see my children again. I called to mind the triumphant season I had enjoyed at Lovett’s Grove, and thought it was my last testimony, and felt reconciled to die."—Life Sketches, pp. 162-163.

Her friends pled with God to spare her life, and, by God's grace, the healing process began.

"The earnest prayer of my friends were ascending to heaven for me, and soon a prickling sensation was felt in my limbs, and I praised the lord that I could use them a little. The lord heard and answered the faithful prayers of His children, and the power of Satan was broken. That night I suffered much, but the next day I was sufficiently strengthened to return home."—Life Sketches, p. 163.

The pain was especially intense throughout the first night after the stroke occurred. But she felt sufficiently well the next day to continue by train on to Battle Creek. Arriving there, she was taken by carriage to their Wood Street home, where she was carried up the stairs to the front bedroom on the second floor.

One reason God chose Ellen White to be His messenger is because she was determined to stand loyal to Him. No matter how hard Satan might press the battle against her, she would obey, serve, and work for God! Whether it might result in life or

“No one feels the necessity or the importance of bringing it before the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden?" 1890.

death, she would write that book!

"For several weeks I could not feel the pressure of the hand or the coldest water poured upon my head. In rising to walk, I often staggered, and sometimes fell to the floor. In this afflicted condition I began to write on the great controversy. At first I could write
but one page a day, and then rest three days; but as I progressed, my strength in- creased. The numbness in my head did not seem to becloud my mind, and before I closed that work the effect of the shock had entirely left me. "—Life Sketches, p. 163 (Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1).

Three months later, in a vision given to her in Battle Creek, Ellen was shown that the information in that vision was of such overarching importance that Satan would use every means possible to keep it from the people.

"At the time of the conference at Battle Creek, in June, 1858, I was shown in vision that, in the sudden attack at Jackson, Satan intended to take my life, in order to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to my rescue. I also saw, among other things, that I should be blessed with better health than before the attack." Life Sketches, p. 163. (This section is also found, with slight variation, in 2 Spiritual Gifts, pp. 270—272.)

"I was shown that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume 4 [The 1858 edition was volume one of a series, the 1884 and 1888 editions were volume four, and our present Great Controversy is volume five of a series], and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of this world's history. "—1890.

"Why do not our people appreciate and circulate more widely the books bearing the divine credentials?" —1907.

This experience has profound implications.

(1) To our knowledge, there has been only one divinely inspired prophet in the last eighteen centuries, and only one message was given to that prophet which resulted in a direct attack by Satan on the life of that prophet. The attack was made to keep very important information from going to the people.

(2) That message must be very, very important. It must be of utmost importance, not only for her to write it out but for us to share it today!

(3) Ellen White, herself, surely thought so. Pain or no pain, she immediately set to work, putting it down on paper.

(4) Satan actually tried to kill her, just as she had been warned he would.

An intriguing question is why God permitted this attack to occur. It was clearly permitted in His providence. Satan could go so far, but no further. For a split second he was permitted to put forth his hand, but then, almost as instantly, the hand was barred from further access. Why? The answer is very obvious. God was not only trying to show Ellen White the importance of getting those messages to the people; He was trying to tell us also!

In His providential mercy, that attack was permitted because God foresaw what was coming: a seemingly endless variety of ways by which Satan would try to keep that book from reaching those who most needed it. Repeatedly, Ellen was to witness the efforts of fellow believers to slander her and the book, and try to forbid its widespread publication.

Even the very location where the attack occurred was significant. The attack came while Ellen was speaking with Sister Palmer in their home. Her husband, Daniel R.

Palmer, was one of the three-man publishing committee of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, our church paper. Thus, he would be able to carry back an urgent re- port to the Battle Creek publishing house about the importance of that vision and the books she would be writing about it.

Repeatedly, over the years since 1858, Satan has worked to eliminate that book. At Jackson, he tried a physical attack, but since then he has worked through men to accomplish the same effect:

√' There would be so many meetings to attend that she would not have time to write the book (1860-1870s).

√' Scorn, insults, and false accusations would be poured upon her, to force her to give up trying to write the 1884 edition or later enlarge it into the 1888 edition (1880s).

√' "The book is too long, we want shorter books at the Review; make it shorter," she was told (1885-1887).

√' Because she would not return royalties to the Review, that was used as an excuse for not circulating the book (1888 -1890).

√' "There are other books which would sell better, so we'll leave that one on the publishing house shelves," was the policy decided on (1888—1890, and later).

√' "Some other people probably wrote the later editions, so have nothing to do with the 1888 or 1911 editions" (1970s onward).

√‘ "The earlier editions are not officially approved today, so do not circulate them; and we'll keep the current edition so highly priced you cannot afford it" (1950s onward).

√' "Everything in that book was copied from someone else, so the book is worthless" (1970s onward).

√' "The book could get us in trouble with the Sunday keeping churches, so do not distribute it" (1950s onward).

√' "That book should never be distributed first; always later, much later" (19505 onward).
√' "It's too hard a book to sell; the children's books are better" (1950s onward). √' "Yes, I have the book at home on my bookshelf. No, I am so busy with other

things, that I haven't read in it for years. But, yes, I do think it is very important."

Seeing the onslaught which would face that book over the next century and more, God permitted Satan to attack its author, so that we might KNOW of a certainty that THAT volume contained the most important messages for people living in the end-time.

Do not underrate the importance of this book in your own life or in the lives of those around you. Along with the Bible, it is the most important book in our world today. Determine that you will read in it frequently, and that you will give it the widest possible circulation.

7 — THE 1858 EDITION: SPIRITUAL GIFTS, VOL. 1 THE FIRST EDITION OF GREAT CONTROVERSY

As result of having received the sweeping vision of 1858 at Lovett's Grove, Ellen immediately began work on Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1, containing the basic view she had been given of the great controversy of the ages between Christ and Satan.

As mentioned above, when she had nearly completed the writing of the manuscript for that book, she received a vision confirming Satan's intense hatred of the entire project. In later reference to the Lovett's Grove vision, she said this:

"I was taken off in vision. In that vision I was shown that in the sudden attack at Jackson, Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to my rescue, to raise me above the effects of Satan's attack. I saw, among other things, that I should be blest with better health than before the attack at Jackson."—2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 272 (Life Sketches, p. 163).

A month prior to writing the above statement, in May 1858, she told about 400 believers (assembled in the Battle Creek Dime Tabernacle for a General Conference Session) about the vision and the book she was writing. The session itself met from May 21 to 24, and she spoke to them on Sunday, May 23:

"During the forenoon, Sister White related a portion of the views she has had concerning the fall of Satan, the plan of salvation, and the great controversy between Christ and His angels, and Satan and his. It abounded in startling facts and vivid descriptions. And when the course of the narration had brought us down to the days of the first advent, the humiliation, the suffering, and finally the crucifixion of the Saviour, especially then did the silent tear and the audible sobs of many in the congregation an- nounce that their hearts were touched by the sufferings of the Son of God for rebellious man.

"When we view the great controversy as now going forward—its field the world, its subject man—we see not how anyone can long hesitate upon which side to enroll himself. And at least the justice of that sentence is very apparent, which condemns those who will persist to the end on the side of the power of darkness, to the same ruin which overwhelms the first rebel and his worthy sympathizers. "—Review, May 27, 1858.

The above description clearly reveals the immense breadth of what she had been shown in the Lovett's Grove vision: from the fall of Lucifer to the earth made new. After speaking all morning to the congregation, she then returned to the lectern early that evening and spoke till 10 p.m. Deeply stirred by this panoramic view, the people rose one by one and gave testimonies of praise and dedication.

Would you wish that you yourself might have been in that auditorium that day? We all do! Do you wish you could have heard that message by Ellen White? Oh, yes, I am sure you do! Do you wish you could experience what they experienced on May 23, 1858? You can; this evening open Great Controversy—any edition—and read in it. You might begin with the Origin of Evil chapter, which presents such a sweeping view of history. And as you read, thank God for this great gift of light to mankind.

"But instead of this, the book was suppressed, . . The book that should have gone did not go; and the men who should have worked to carry it forward, discouraged the canvassers from handling it. Thus saith the Lord, 'I will judge for this false, dishonest work.' "—1899.

In June, the Review reported that it was beginning to typeset copy for the initial chapters of this new book. In mid—August, she completed the writing of the book, and printing began. In September, it was ready for circulation. The book had a lengthy title: Spiritual Gifts: The Great Controversy between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels. We today call it Spiritual Gifts, Volume I, or the first (1858) edition of Great Controversy.

The following notice of publication appeared in a June 1858 Review:

“The Great Controversy, — This is the title of a work now in the press, written by Mrs. White. It is a sketch of her views of the great controversy between Christ and His angels, and the devil and his angels, from the fall of Satan until the controversy shall close at the end of the one thousand years of Revelation xx, by the destruction of sin and sinners out of the universe of God. It will contain between two and three hundred pages. Price, neatly bound in muslin, 50 cents."—Review, June 24, 1858.

After a 12-page introduction, written by Roswell F. Cottrell, the text by Ellen White begins. Here is the first paragraph of what she wrote:

"The Lord has shown me that Satan was once an honored angel in heaven, next to Jesus Christ. His countenance was mild, expressive of happiness like the other angels. His forehead was high and broad, and showed great intelligence. His form was perfect. He had a noble, majestic bearing."—1 Spiritual Gifts, p. 17.

This small book of 41 chapters and 224 pages was the first edition of Great Controversy. Some will want to know how they can obtain a copy for themselves. It is reprinted in full in the third section of Early Writings (pages 145-295). Never underrate Early Writings; it is a most marvelous little book! Read it all —and frequently! It contains many very important truths that we need to keep in mind. This 1858 edition is also available in reprint from your local ABC. It is Volume 1 of the four-volume, two-book set of Spiritual Gifts.

(Volume 2 of Spiritual Gifts was later enlarged to become Life Sketches. Volume 3 and the first half of Volume 4 was eventually expanded into Patriarchs and Prophets. The last half of Volume 4 is now found in Testimonies, Volume I, pages 113-455.)

Throughout our study, it should be kept in mind that information from that Lovett's Grove vision is to be found not only in Great Controversy but also in Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, Desire of Ages, and Acts of the Apostles. In 1864, Volumes 3 and 4 of Spiritual Gifts came off the press, and provided the remnant with a more comprehensive understanding of the fall of Lucifer, the Creation, the fall of man, the lives of the patriarchs, and the experience of Israel. Those two volumes bore the subtitle, Important Facts of Faith in Connection with the History of Holy Men of Old.

Throughout the 1858 edition of Great Controversy, the words, "I was shown" and "I saw," are to be found as many times, in fact, as there are pages in the book! From Creation, the story takes us down through the Old Testament, into the life of Christ and the apostles, and then to the apostasy of later ages, the Reformation, and the Final Crisis.

Before concluding this section on the 1858 edition of Great Controversy, we might mention that it was not written to bring earthly wealth to its author.

"What little profit there was on it was all solemnly dedicated to the Lord, and $25 out of it had already been given to one of the Lord's needy servants (M.B. Czechowski)." —Review, November 25, 1858.

M.B. Czechowski was a converted Catholic priest who was fluent in seven languages. In the spring of 1858, he had been sent as a missionary from Battle Creek to upstate New York to work among French Catholics.

Are you thankful that the first edition of Great Controversy was not the last? It was so very small! In the providence of God, it was to be enlarged two times: first in 1884, and again in 1888.

Just as we can be thankful that the first edition of Great Controversy was not the last, so we should be thankful that the second edition of that book was not the last, either! Just as the 1858 edition was made larger in the 1884 edition, so that edition was made larger in the publication of the 1888 edition.

Be thankful for all the editions; they are all of great benefit to you and to others. Resist the whispered temptations of the evil one that any of those editions should not be read or shared.

Four years after publication of that book, in July 1872, Ellen and James were vacationing high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. They spent the afternoon outdoors reading this book with friends. What a pleasant way to spend a Sabbath afternoon!

"We arose this beautiful morning with some sense of the goodness and mercy of God to us.

"In the afternoon our niece, Mary Clough, Willie, and myself walked out and sat beneath poplar trees. We read about sixty pages of Great Controversy, or Spiritual Gifts [Volume 1 ]. Mary was deeply interested. We were happily disappointed [that is, happily surprised) in the earnest manner in which she listened. We see no prejudice with her. We hope she will yet see and receive the truth. She is a pure, simple-hearted, yet intellectual girl. We closed the Sabbath of the Lord with prayer. Mary united with us in prayer. Wrote letters upon religious subjects to Louise Walling and Elder Loughborough." —Manuscript 4, 1872.

8 — PREPARATION FOR THE 1884 EDITION

Due to the urgent importance of the 1858 Lovett's Grove vision, Ellen immediately began work on writing it out; and, that same year, it was printed. But, with the passing of years, she was instructed to produce a greatly enlarged edition.

A letter by James reveals that, in mid-January 1879, Ellen began work on the enlarged Great Controversy. This work was primarily done in two ways: (1) She was shown in brief flashbacks, while writing, portions of the 1858 vision which were not as clear in her mind and had therefore not been included in earlier presentations. (2) She was given additional material in new visions. She was also instructed that, as she searched other biographical accounts —especially on the life of Christ—she would recognize worthwhile ways to express her ideas in a fuller, pleasing variety; and, as she read through the writings of church historians, she would locate and date scenes she had been shown in vision. This she did.

As additional light was given regarding the great controversy, she was instructed that she should write it out. This she faithfully did. That is how the 1884 edition came to be. Later still, the same procedure produced the 1888 edition. Each one was an enlargement of the one before it; each one was therefore important. Yet the publication of a new edition did not negate the importance of the previous one. All of it is invaluable food. Remember the words of Jesus: "gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost."

"In the Great Controversy, the last message of warning for the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books. "—1905.

"By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God."—1905.

"This book has to a great degree been misplaced by another book, which has kept from the world the light God has given. "—1891.

All the Inspired writings are important! Value them all, read them all, share them all. Throughout Inspired Scripture, there is not one later writing that is more important than the earliest one, and vice-versa.

Some people will suggest to you that Ellen White did not write the second (1884) or later editions of that book, but instead just sat back, content to let others do the writing for her. That is not true. This woman was clearly willing to die rather than not go forward with the writing of that book. Her determination to obey God did not change in later years. As with all the other charges, accusations, and slander against Great Controversy and
its author, these attacks on her character and authorship are instigated by the evil one. I would urgently warn you: let no man steal your crown. Believe not the lying rumors and vicious accusations. It is only as you remain close to God and in childlike obedience to His Inspired Word that you will be guarded by holy angels in the days ahead.

9 — THE DEATH OF JAMES WHITE

It was while preparing an earlier, smaller study on the writing of Great Controversy that the present writer discovered the startling fact that there appears to have been a special, providential reason why James White died in 1881.

A careful biographical study of James and Ellen reveals that, by the year 1881, she was carrying an intense burden, laid upon her by Heaven, to write a new, enlarged edition of Great Controversy. But, for his own part, James was struggling with different burdens of various kinds and they were very real! On one hand, he was heavily overworked in his management of the Review while others, who should carry a larger share of the load, sat back and let him do the work; on the other hand, he recognized that, if he retired and let other minds take control, apostasy would enter the Review! He did not know what to do.

Yet Ellen White urgently needed to relocate to a quiet, secluded place where she could write the second edition of Great Controversy and many other books as well! Life in Battle Creek was confusion personified. There were problems of all sorts, coupled with seemingly endless calls to speak at churches, camp-meetings, and conference gatherings. Not only was she called to speak, but James was also. Wherever he went, he wanted her to accompany him and speak also.

Picture the situation: It was the early 1880s, and she was already in her mid-50s. Yet she had written almost no books, other than a few small ones! My Spirit of Prophecy library is about 6 feet wide; yet very little of it was printed before the mid-1880s. How many books can you name which Ellen White wrote before 1885? Very few. Yet, at the rate problems and meetings compounded, she never would have been able to set aside time to write all those books if she had remained in Battle Creek! Repeatedly, she pled with James to retire and leave the area and move to the Far West, so she could work on the books. Destructive divisions between James and other workers were intensifying. Pressures and responsibilities were mounting. In reaction, James was becoming more and more impatient and overbearing with those around him.

Already John Harvey Kellogg had obtained a lock-grip on the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The early rumblings of the fight for absolute corporate control between Kellogg and the men in the General Conference, which exploded after the turn of the century, were already smoldering. Battle Creek was becoming like an armed camp, and Ellen was in the middle —and already 53 years of age. The years were rapidly passing.

As the spring of 1881 turned into summer, Ellen and James frequently prayed together in a grove near their home in Battle Creek.

"While walking to the usual place for prayer, he stopped abruptly; his face was very pale, and he said, 'A deep solemnity is upon my spirit. I am not discouraged, but I feel that some change is about to take place in affairs that concern myself and you. What if you should not live? Oh, this cannot be! God has a work for you to do . . It continues so long that I feel much anxiety as to the result. I feel a sense of danger, and with it comes an unutterable longing for the special blessing of God, an assurance that all my sins are washed away by the blood of Christ. I confess my errors, and ask your forgiveness for any word or act that has caused you sorrow. There must be nothing to hinder our prayers. Everything must be right between us, and between ourselves and God."—Manuscript 6, 1881

"The statement made that these books [G. C. and P.P.} cannot be sold, is not true. I know; for the Lord has instructed me that this is said because human devising has blocked the way for their sale. It cannot be denied that these books were not the product of any human mind, they are the voice of God speaking to the people, and they will have an influence upon minds that other books do not have. "—1890.

James had earlier agreed to quit his post of duty at the Review and go west with her so the book work could be begun in earnest, yet in 1881 he hesitated again. He did not see how he dared to leave Battle Creek. He was certain the management of the work would fall into the wrong hands if he departed.

" 'Where are the men to do this work? Where are those who have an unselfish interest in our institutions, and who will stand for the right, unaffected by any influence with which they may come in contact?' "—In Memorium, 1881, p.45.

Significantly, the above statement of James' was quoted by Ellen at James' funeral. Quoting him, she also said this:

" 'My life has been given to the upbuilding of these institutions. It seems like death to leave them. They are as my children, and I cannot separate my interest from them. These institutions are the Lord's instrumentalities to do a specific work. Satan seeks to hinder and defeat every means by which the Lord is working for the salvation of men. If the great adversary can mold these institutions according to the world's standard, his object is gained. It is my greatest anxiety to have the right men in the right place. If those who stand in responsible positions are weak in moral power, and vacillating in principle, inclined to lead toward the world, there are enough who will be led.' "In Memorium, 1881, p. 45.

And she concluded that paragraph with these words of his:

" 'Evil influences must not prevail. I would rather die than live to see these institutions mismanaged, or turned aside from the purpose for which they were brought into existence.' "—In Memorium, 1881, p. 45.

In July, Ellen suggested to James that it was time to leave. "Let us go to Colorado," she said.

"On making this decision, she felt at once a marked return of bodily and mental vigor, giving good evidence that this determination was in the line of duty." —In Memorium, 1881, pp. 34-35.

It was at this very time that, feeling better, she wrote several messages to leaders in the warring factions at Battle Creek. Then an invitation came to spend the weekend in Charlotte, a small town thirty miles northeast of Battle Creek, and Ellen and James went. Evangelistic meetings were being held there, and they spoke at the meetings. Although James spoke three times and Ellen four, they felt better than they had the previous week back in tension filled Battle Creek.

While there, they spoke together and James announced his renewed determination to be more of an encouragement to his fellow workers back home. Impressed with his words, Ellen thought that perhaps it was her duty to help her husband with his work in Battle Creek rather than to keep urging him to leave so the books could be written. "I think Father views matters in a different light in some things I think he is striving hard for the Spirit of God. He seems more humble, more guarded in words and actions. He has a hard battle before him. I shall help him all I can. "I have felt crushed and heartbroken for months, but I have laid my burden on my Saviour and I shall no longer be like a bruised reed."—Letter 8a, 1881.

In addition, she agreed with James that it would be a strengthening of the work for them both to spend several weeks attending campmeetings in the East.

"The Eastern Camp Meetings: We have been urged to attend the camp meetings

to be holden at Magog, P.Q. [Providence of Quebec), Morrisville, Vermont, and Water- ville, Maine. We shall attend these meetings and others, as the providence of God opens the way for us, and we have health and strength to labor."—Review, August 2, 1881.

The die was cast. Providence mercifully intervened. In the sight of Heaven, the books to be produced over the next 34 years were more important than even protecting the heart of the organization from apostasy! Remember that the organization may be important, but the books and the people are far more important.

"Providence mercifully intervened," I say, for James was laid to rest at exactly that time when he had asked forgiveness of God and man, and was at peace with both! You have a wonderful Father; trust your life to Him. He will not fail you.

Three days after the carriage trip home from the Charlotte meetings, on Sabbath, July 30, Ellen and James were walking together in the grove near their home. On Sunday, they laid plans for the trip to the eastern meetings. On Monday James became ill.

Here, in the words of Ellen, is how the end came: "Sabbath morning, as usual, we walked to the grove together, and my husband prayed most fervently three times. He seemed reluctant to cease pleading with God for special guidance and blessing. His prayers were heard, and peace and light came to our hearts. My husband praised the Lord, and said, 'Now I give it all up to Jesus. I feel a sweet, heavenly peace, an assurance that the Lord will show us our duty; for we desire to do His will.'

"He accompanied me to the Tabernacle, and opened the services with singing and prayer. It was the last time he was ever to stand by my side in the pulpit.

"On Sunday he thought he would be able to attend the Eastern camp meetings, and said the Lord could give him strength, if it was his duty to go.

"Monday he had a severe chill. Tuesday he did not rally as expected, but we thought the disease an attack of fever and ague [malaria), and supposed that it would soon yield to treatment.

"Tuesday night I was attacked with chills, and was very sick, being unable to sit up on the following day.

"Dr. Kellogg then proposed that we both be removed to the Sanitarium, where we could enjoy better facilities for treatment. A mattress was placed in a hack, my husband and myself were laid side by side, for the last time, and thus taken to the Sanitarium.

"On Friday my symptoms were more favorable. The doctor then informed me that my husband was inclined to sleep, and that danger was apprehended. I was immediately taken to his room, and as soon as I looked upon his countenance I knew that he was dying.

"I tried to arouse him. He understood all that was said to him, and responded to all questions that could be answered by Yes or No, but seemed unable to say more. "When I told him I thought he was dying, he manifested no surprise. I asked if Jesus was precious to him. He said, 'Yes, oh, yes.'

" 'Have you no desire to live?' I inquired. He answered, 'No.'
"We then knelt by his bedside, and I prayed for my husband in that solemn hour.

"The Lord would have this work carried into the highways and byways where there are souls to be warned of the dangers so soon to come. "—1890.

A peaceful expression rested upon his countenance. I said to him, 'Jesus loves you. The everlasting arms are beneath you.' He responded, 'Yes, yes.'

"I wished to be certain that he recognized us, and I asked him to tell who we were. He said, 'You are Ellen. You'—Iooking at our elder son —'are Edson. I know you all.'

"Brother Smith and other brethren then prayed around his bedside, and retired to spend much of the night in prayer. My husband said he felt no pain; but he was evidently failing fast. Dr. Kellogg and his helpers did all that was in their power to hold him back from death. He slowly revived, but continued very weak. I remained with him through the night.

"The next morning he took some nourishment, and seemed slightly to revive. About noon he had a chill, which left him unconscious, and he quietly breathed his life away, without a struggle or a groan. I was mercifully spared the anguish of seeing my husband in agony battling with death. The scene was as pleasant as it was possible for a deathbed to be."—Manuscript 6, 1881 (see also In Memoriam, pp. 52-54).

James died a little after 5 p.m. on Sabbath, August 6, 1881. The sudden shock of this laid Ellen low also. Friends and physicians thought she would die also. At one point her pulse stopped for a time. By the 12th, she was so near death that most thought her funeral would soon follow. But the next morning she was taken to the funeral, and there laid in a bed. After Uriah Smith gave the funeral address, she unexpectedly rose, went forward and spoke with strength for 10 minutes.

After the funeral, Ellen recovered rapidly, and on Monday, August 22, she left with her two daughters-in-law (Emma and Mary) for Colorado for a rest and an opportunity to pray for guidance as to what she should do next. The burden of the bookwork was again laid on her and, instead of returning east, early in October she went to Oakland, California. Visiting churches and campmeetings, she arrived in Healdsburg that winter, and by March had made her home there.

Work on the books could now begin. The first would be the 1884 Great Controversy.

And what do you think would be the second? Of course, an even larger revision of it—the 1888 Great Controversy! Not until then, was she guided to start on all the other larger books, beginning with Patriarchs and Prophets (1890).

But Satan was not idle. He had failed to kill her in 1858, and then he failed to keep her embroiled in the Battle Creek turmoils in the late 1870s and early 1880s. So now he switched to a more successful attack: the one he uses today.

10 — SATAN CHANGES THE METHOD OF ATTACK

As she traveled from one speaking appointment to another, Ellen wrote letters, magazine articles, and material for the forthcoming book. Many of the magazine articles consisted of content, which would later go into the revised Great Controversy. In addition some material, later to appear in Patriarchs and Prophets, was beginning to be published in journal articles also.

"It is a duty we owe to our people and to God, to send every ray of light given me of God, demanded at this time for every tongue and nation. "—1889.

It was not until the early summer of 1882, nearly a year after James' death, that Ellen was able to get down to serious work on the books. The shock had subsided, and she had had two months to settle into her new home in Healdsburg, California. On her little farm on West Dry Creek Road, on the edge of town, she began by spending half a day working around the place and the other half in writing. This would be her West Coast home until she went to Australia in 1891.

One item she wrote that summer (June 20) was "The Testimonies Slighted, " a remarkable chapter in the Testimonies (5T, pp. 62-84). Interestingly enough, it was not until that same year that the book, Early Writings (containing earlier 1846-1854 materials) was first published.

By 1883, she was deeply engrossed in writing. This marked the first time in her life that, for an extended period of time, this had ever occurred!

The publishing house expressed on-going concern that all the books in the four- volume set, entitled The Spirit of Prophecy, should not exceed 400 pages per book. Volume 1 dealt with Old Testament history, volumes 2 and 3 with the life of Christ and part of Acts. Volume 4 was supposed to conclude the rest of Acts, and a smatter of that later "great controversy" history which Ellen seemed so concerned to write about. Each book was to be about the same size, so each could sell for a dollar a copy. At least, that was the plan worked out by a publishing committee back in Battle Creek.

But Ellen was convicted that she should do differently.

In mid-January 1879, Ellen began work on the enlarged Great Controversy. (A January 17, 1879 letter by James White confirms that date.) But there was so much to do, so many appointments to meet, so many problems to try to settle, that she accomplished but little.

On February 29, 1880, she reported in her diary that, while on the train to meet appointments, she was able to write some on "Volume 4." This was the name she generally used in referring to this forthcoming edition of Great Controversy. (When later published in 1884, the full title would be: Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4.)

Always hoping that, at last, she would soon be able to start on the book work, she wrote on October 14 of that year:

"We [James and Ellen) are now deciding to spend this winter and next summer in preparing books. First I get articles prepared for Signs. 2. I get out articles for private testimony, health institutions. 3. Get out Testimony No. 30. 4. Letters to her children by a mother. 5. [Spirit of Prophecy] Volume Four 6. Life of Christ, both books, the most sharp and interesting matter in one large book for canvassers to use for public sale.

"So you see we have work to do. We dare not go south and will remain here this winter in Michigan. In summer we may go to Colorado. Thus you see how matters stand. Our time now must be in production of books before we get unable to use the pen."— Letter 43, 1880.

"Instruction has been given me that the important books containing the light that God has given regarding Satan's apostasy in heaven should be given a wide circulation just now; for through them the truth will reach many minds. . Many of our people have been blind to the importance of the very books that were most needed. Had tact and skill then been shown. . the Sunday-law movement would not be where it is today. "—1905.

Over the protests of the Review, she determined that Volume 4 must begin with the destruction of Jerusalem, and then proceed with historical and future events, much as we have it in our present edition of Great Controversy. (The omitted portion of the Acts narrative was later written and included in a subsequent edition of Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3.)

"It had been Mrs. White's plan to resume the story of the Acts of the Apostles where it was left at the end of Volume Three, but she was instructed in night visions to adopt the plan now seen in The Great Controversy. It was revealed to her that she should present an outline of the controversy between Christ and Satan, as it developed in the first centuries of the Christian Era, and in the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, in such a way as to prepare the mind of the reader to understand clearly the controversy as it is going on in our day. We can now see that the divine instruction regarding the plan of the book has made it of untold value to the general public. How- ever, at the time of writing, Mrs. White regarded it, like all her former writings, as primarily a message to the church, and in it she used some matter and many phrases and expressions especially adapted to Seventh-day Adventists." —Ellen G. White: Messenger to the Remnant, p.56.

Beginning with the May 31 issue of Signs of the Times, 20 articles by Ellen on the life and work of Martin Luther appeared in that journal. It was obvious that she was hard at work on Volume 4.

As mentioned earlier, in order to gather this material she relied on recollections of earlier visions —especially that one in Lovett's Grove. She also received "flashlight" — sudden, quick-visions to refresh her memory on various items she was in the process of writing about. In addition, she was also presented with new visions dealing with various details of the overall history of the great controversy. She also searched through reliable history books for information that is in agreement with what she had been shown in vision. She was especially dependent on historians for dates, places, and some of the sequences which had not been shown her in vision.

In later describing this, her son William C. White made this comment:

"Mother has never claimed to be authority on history. The things which she has written out are descriptions of flashlight pictures and other representations given her re- garding the actions of men, and the influence of these actions upon the work of God for the salvation of men, with views of past, present, and future history in its relation to this work.

"This is somewhat similar to the way in which the study of the Bible helps her to locate and describe the many figurative representations given to her regarding the de- velopment of the great controversy in our day between truth and error."—W. C. White, October 30, 1911, statement quoted in Notes and Papers, p. 164 (also 3 Selected Messages, p. 437).

She herself said this:

"The question is asked, How does Sister White know in regard to the matters of which she speaks so decidedly, as if she had authority in these things? I speak thus because they flash upon my mind when in perplexity like lightning out of a dark cloud in the fury of a storm. Some scenes presented before me years ago have not been retained in my memory, but when the instruction then given is needed, sometimes even when I am standing before the people, the remembrance comes sharp and clear, like a flash of lightning, bringing to mind distinctly that particular instruction. At such times I cannot retrain from saying the things that flash into my mind, not because I have had a

new vision, but because that which was presented to me perhaps years in the past has been recalled to my mind forcibly."—The Writing and Sending Out of the Testimonies, p. 24 (1 Selected Messages, p. 37).

Ellen especially valued D' Aubigne and Wiley. But she did not try to keep those books to herself. Early in the winter of 1882, she recommended books, which helped her to believers everywhere:

"For those who can procure it, D' Aubigne's History of the Reformation will be both interesting and profitable. From this work we may gain some knowledge of what has been accomplished in the past in the great work of reform. We can see how God poured light into the minds of those who searched His Word, how much the men ordained and sent forth by Him were willing to suffer for the truth's sake, and how hard it is for the great mass of mankind to renounce their errors and to receive and obey the teachings of the Scriptures.

"Many of our people already have the Life of Christ [by Geikie]. The Life of Paul [by Conybeare and Howson], now offered for sale at this office, is another useful and deeply interesting work which should be widely circulated." Review, December 26, 1882 (Geikie, himself, advertised in the Review of November 7, 1882).

In addition, the Review frequently carried advertisements for some of those books. G.I. Butler, in the March 13, 1882 issue, urged believers to purchase and read D'Aubigne's books. A notice on the back page of that same issue offered them for sale at a reduced price.

As she penned the material on Luther, Ellen had beside her D' Aubigne's History of the Reformation. The Spirit of God aided her in locating accurate information which she could use. In doing so, she had no concerns, for she had been told in vision to do this—and that, as she did so, she would be guided to recognize the true from the false in what she read.

But Satan had no intention of letting that enlargement (the 1884 edition of Great Controversy) be produced, if he could in some way stop it. Ellen White's body was pro- tected, her determination was resolute; and, now, for the first time in her life, she had the time to bring out a more complete Great Controversy, plus all those other important books! How would you expect that he would meet this challenge? He met it by switching over to the same tactics he is using today against her and her writings.

The devil decided to work through other people to cast doubt upon her integrity and the worth of what she wrote. There were several non-Adventist organizations who hated God's people, and Satan suggested methods of attack to unprincipled writers. These wrote papers, articles, and booklets against Ellen White and her writings. Liberals among our own people read these materials and triumphantly shared them around.

The timing could not be more perfect. Just when Ellen was ready to begin writing in earnest, Satan tried to bring down the denominational roof over her head. Questions and dissatisfaction, based on shallow assumptions, arose in various areas, but centered at headquarters. A number of the leaders did little to discourage the attack, for they had earlier been reproved for their sins by Ellen and they would gladly see her put out of circulation. The mere fact that the Testimonies, with all its reproofs, were being sold as reading matter to our people was enough to anger them.

"My mind is stirred so deeply I cannot rest. Write, write, write, I must, and not delay. Great things are before us, and we must call the people from their indifference to get ready. "—1884.

"Do you know what it contains? Have you any appreciation of the subject matter? Do you not see that the people need the light therein given?"—1890.

This attack began in earnest in 1882, just one year after the death of James and the same year that Ellen was beginning to focus her attention on writing. When asked about the problem, she replied:

" 'Why don't you meet them? Why don't you resort to the law?' says one. This is not my work. I ask, did Jesus do this when He was on earth? He had to meet just such things. He was abused and insulted. He was reviled, but He reviled not again. He was pursued with falsehood and with calumny. He passed on, doing His work with fidelity whether meeting censure or praise. "—Manuscript, 5, 1882.

Several individuals within the Church of God had begun writing slander against her and her writings. This attracted two dissident Adventists, McLearn and Green, who decided to unite with them. In 1881, Dr. A. McLearn had only recently joined the Adventist Church, but, upon arriving in Battle Creek, was quickly made president of Battle Creek College. Dr. Sidney Brownsberger had retired for health reasons, and McLearn had a Doctor of Divinity degree. Few in Battle Creek were concerned about the fact that McLearn knew practically nothing about our principles, and even less about the Spirit of Prophecy. His doctorate and his worldly education was enough to satisfy them. But, within a short time, he was stirring up trouble. By the summer of 1882, he was threatening to sue the church when they decided to close Battle Creek College, yet his annual salary already exceeded that of any other denominational employee. He told Battle Creek officials he would write against the church if he was not paid off. Uniting with J.S. Green, a discontented Battle Creek lawyer, the two went over to the Church of God and began writing for them. They produced a variety of tracts and papers attacking Ellen White, citing various imagined problems in her writings.

You will be interested to know that their work laid the basis upon which D.M. Canright and the Ballenger brothers later constructed their later hate-filled books against the Spirit of Prophecy.

You will also be interested to know that most of the attacks against Ellen White, which are circulating today, originated in satanic councils of demons working with McLearn, Green, and the dissolute men who followed them.

On which side will you stand in the warfare? Will you unite in the broad way with McLearn, Green, and Canright? Or will you stand on the narrow pathway with historic Adventism and the Spirit of Prophecy?

McLearn and Green's initial writings on these subjects were printed in the Sabbath Advocate, the journal of the Church of God. In the spring of 1883, A.C. Long, a writer in that denomination, published a 16-page pamphlet, Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White With Later Publications. His booklet began a line of attack, which was quickly taken up by liberals in Battle Creek who wanted to vilify the Spirit of Prophecy and, in this way, get rid of it. What better way to destroy the Spirit of Prophecy writings than to pretend to be zealots in defense of them while claiming that "the later writings of Ellen White have been changed or rewritten" by others! That neatly eliminates nine tenths of her writings, since she wrote very little in the earlier years! Has anyone told you that Ellen White did not write many of her own books? Well, now you know where that lie originated. Long, McLearn, and Green then edited a Sabbath Advocate "Extra" which came out c. April 1883. Filled with criticisms of Ellen White and her writings, this bitter attack was widely circulated. McLearn and Green obtained Adventist

"When the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency. "—1890.

mailing lists from friends in Battle Creek, and sent their papers to many of our own people.

Satan was jubilant. Now Ellen White's bookwork would surely grind to a halt. If he could stir up enough discontent and infuse enough shallow questions, her own people would turn against her.

Before 1881 liberals within the church opposed James White because they thought he was the one controlling Ellen White and making her so stubborn to policy changes. After James' death in 1881, it was clear that Ellen was their problem. Her steps were being directed by Heaven, and she would not veer to one side nor to the other.

Can you not see how Satan works? Do you not understand his objectives? Will you cooperate with him in any way? It has been said that Satan is a dirty fighter. That is true. Let us not in any way be found among those aiding him in his work.

"Satan is . . constantly pressing in the spurious—to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony. " 1 Selected Messages, p. 48.

“There will be a hatred kindled against the testimonies which is satanic. The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded. "— 1 Selected Messages, p. 48.

In reply to the attack by the Sabbath Advocate group, Ellen wrote in the Review:

"There are many who consider it a mark of intelligence to doubt, and they pride themselves upon their ability to devise objections to God's Word, to His truth, or to those who proclaim it." —Review, August 28, 1883.

"Brethren and sisters, let not your souls be disturbed by the efforts of those who so earnestly seek to arouse distrust and suspicion of Sister White. These attacks have been repeated hundreds of times during the past forty years; but my labors have not ceased; the voice of warning, reproof, and encouragement has not been silenced. The evil reports framed concerning me have injured those who circulated them; but have not destroyed my work.

"Before some of these opposers had an existence, I was shown what would come, and from what source. In the day of God those who have been seeking to prove me a deceiver must answer for their course. .

"Many ask, Why do you not contradict these reports? Why allow them to be circulated? The same question has been asked again and again for the last forty years. My answer is, in the language of one of old, I am doing a great work and cannot come down." —Review, August 28, 1883. "The adversary of souls is constantly seeking to divert our minds by bringing in side issues. Let us not be deceived. Let enemies handle your name and mine as they please. Let them distort, misrepresent our words and deeds. Let them fabricate falsehoods as best pleases them . .

"Why do we not give greater effort to circulating the books that point out Satan's plans to counterwork the work of God, that uncover his plans and point out his deceptions?"—1907.

"I have been aroused at one, two, or three o'clock in the morning, with some point forcibly impressed upon my mind as if spoken by the voice of God. "—1890.

"Leave Sister White in the hands of God. If the work in which she is engaged be of God, it will prosper; otherwise it will come to naught. But remember that your own eternal interests are now at stake. .

"Many are in reality fighting his [Satan's] battles while they profess to serve under the banner of Christ. These traitors in the camp may not be suspected, but they are doing their work to create unbelief, discord, and strife. Such are the most dangerous of foes. While they insinuate themselves into our favor, and gain our confidence and sympathy, they are busy suggesting doubts and creating suspicion. They work in the same manner as did Satan in heaven when he deceived the angels by his artful representations."—Review, August 28, 1883.

In a letter to Uriah Smith, she mentioned the real source of the attacks:

"I expected worse than this because it is not the men who do this, but Satan behind them. They are merely men, but [are being used as] agents of Satan. It is his power we meet in them."—Letter 14, 1883.

In a brief 16-page pamphlet, she gave this reply:

"My attention has recently been called to a sixteen page pamphlet published by A. C. Long, of Marion, Iowa, entitled Comparison of the Early Writings of Mrs. White With Later Publications. The writer states that portions of my earlier visions, as first printed, have been suppressed in the work recently published under the title Early Writings of Mrs. E.G. White, and he conjectures as a reason for such suppression that these passages teach doctrines now repudiated by us as a people. He also charges us with willful deception in representing Early Writings as a complete republication of my earliest views, with only verbal changes from the original work." —Manuscript 4, 1883 (published in full in 1 Selected Messages, pp. 59-73).

That particular attack, by the way, is being repeated by certain conscientious believers today, who have read it in reports that are critical of Ellen White's writings. For example, it is said that A Word to the Little Flock originally printed in 1847, was later changed by the church in order to eliminate certain earlier beliefs. In an effort to counter this charge, in August 1883 the Review reprinted that 1847 article exactly and offered it for sale. But Ellen White herself denied the charge.

Just as Satan had attacked her physically at Jackson, so now he was attacking her writings. Yet she did not stop her work. Through the winter and early spring of 1883, Ellen continued to write on the revised edition of Great Controversy. This reminds us of the experience of the Jews under Ezra and Nehemiah as they tried to build the walls of Jerusalem. Every possible kind of disruption was introduced by Satan, working through agents both within and outside the church. The Spirit of Prophecy is, today, a special wall of protection to all who would seek safety from delusion before the end of time. The devil is determined to tear down that wall.

"The most extravagant, inconsistent reports in regard to my position, my work, and my writings will be put in circulation. But those who have had an experience in this message, and have become acquainted with the character of my work, will not be affected by those things unless they themselves backslide from God, and become cor- rupted by the spirit of the world. Some will be deceived because of their own unfaithfulness. They want to believe a lie. Some have betrayed sacred, important trusts, and this is why they wander in the mazes of doubt. .

"There are some, even connected with our institutions, who are in great danger of making shipwreck of faith. Satan will work in disguise, in his most deceptive manner, in these branches of God's work. He makes these important instrumentalities his special points of attack, and he will leave no means untried to cripple their usefulness. The same enemy that is even on my track will be on yours also. He will suggest, conjecture,

fabricate all sorts of reports, and those who wish them true will believe them.

"But be assured that the attacks of Satan will not turn me from the path of duty. The work committed to me forty years ago I must carry forward as long as life shall last. I will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. Unpleasant as it may be, I must warn, reprove, rebuke, as God bids me, whether the carnal heart will accept or reject the words of warning.

"For forty years, Satan has made the most determined efforts to cut off this testimony from the church; but it has continued from year to year to warn the erring, to unmask the deceiver, to encourage the desponding. My trust is in God. I have learned not to be surprised at opposition in any form or from almost any source. I expect to be betrayed, as was my Master, by professed friends." Review, October 16, 1883.

Yet, through it all, the common people continued to hear her gladly. Humble laymen, whose primary concern was godliness—Godlikeness—recognized the Spirit of Prophecy writings to be food necessary for their souls.

The heart of the problem is not fault in the Spirit of Prophecy writings, but in our own hearts. Men and women who do not want to be reproved of their sins and required to change their ways are the ones most eager to believe the lies circulated about Ellen White's writings.

"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 workings, in different ages of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. "—1888.

"These books [Patriarchs and Prophets and Great Controversy} 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. "—1890.

On March 26. 1883, in her home in Healdsburg, she wrote this:

"From Washington Territory and from the East. . come urgent requests that I attend the camp meetings. . I am now engaged in important writing that I have for six years been trying to accomplish. Year after year I have broken away from this work to attend camp meetings. .

"The last two summers I was brought very near to the gates of death, and as I felt that it might please the Lord to let me rest in the grave, I had most painful regrets that my writings were not completed. In the providence of God my life is spared, and my health once more restored. I thank the Lord for His mercy and loving-kindness to me. I have felt ready to go east or west, if my duty were made plain; but in answer to my prayer, 'Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?' the answer comes to me, 'Rest in peace until the Lord bids you go.'

". . My brethren who urge me to attend camp meeting and to visit them are (also) anxiously inquiring, 'When shall we have Volume 4, Spirit of Prophecy?' I can now answer them. In a few weeks my work on this book will be completed.

"But there are other important works that require attention as soon as this shall be finished. . While I have physical and mental ability, I will do the work, which is most needed by our people. . I have, when traveling, labored at great disadvantage. I have written in the depot, on the cars, under my tent at camp meeting, often speaking until exhausted, and then rising at three o'clock in the morning and writing from six to fifteen pages before breakfast. "—Life Sketches, pp. 267-268.

"In the sudden attack at Jackson [Michigan], Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to raise me above the

effects of Satan's attack. ". —1880.

11 — THE 1884 EDITION: SPIRIT OF PROPHECY VOL. 4 THE SECOND EDITION OF GREAT CONTROVERSY

Although, beginning in the summer of 1882, Ellen White was able to make her writing work her primary responsibility, yet she did not become a hermit. Part of each year continued to be spent in ministering to our people in campmeeting appointments. Returning to Healdsburg in December 1883 from one such trip, she spent the next several months working steadily on the manuscript for the 1884 Great Controversy. On February 14,1884, she wrote this:

"I am writing every day. Mean to get my book finished next month, and can scarcely write a letter, I am so intent on this matter."—Letter 37, 1884.

Here is an added insight into how that book was written: "While mother was writing this book, many of the scenes were presented to her over and over again in visions of the night. The vision of the deliverance of God's people, as given in Chapter XL, was repeated three times; and on two occasions, once at her home at Healdsburg and once at the St. Helena Sanitarium, members of her family, sleeping in near—by rooms, were wakened from sleep by her clear, musical cry, 'They come! They come!' (See page 636 of Great Controversy.)

"Several times we thought that the manuscript of the book was all ready for the printer, and then a vision of some important feature of the controversy would be re- peated, and mother would again write upon the subject, bringing out the description more fully and clearly. Thus the publishing was delayed, and the book grew in size." W. C. White, letter dated July 25, 1911 (Notes and Papers Concerning Ellen G. White and the Spirit of Prophecy, pp. 167-168).

A.L. White adds this information:

"Mrs. White then wrote out those parts of the history which she had not previously presented. Prayerful meditation would bring clearly to her mind the views given years before. Then, as she strove to perfect the narrative by filling in the gaps, the Lord gave her in night visions new views or a renewal of former views, which resulted in the rewriting in greater detail of many scenes already described.

"Usually Mrs. White wrote comprehensively upon the subject she was presenting, and there was occasionally a difference of opinion between her and the publishers re- garding the quantity of matter that should be used. She was best pleased when the subject was presented very fully, but the publishers were pleased to have the matter condensed or abbreviated so that the books would not be too large. To this she would sometimes consent. But there were times when, after important chapters were prepared in as brief a form as possible and sent to the printer, a new presentation of the subject would be given to Mrs. White, and she would then write additional matter and insist upon its incorporation.

"Mrs. White was not a mere mechanical writer. The deep impressions often made upon the reader of her writings are due in part to her own intensity of spirit while she wrote. Occasionally, she referred in correspondence to her emotional depth of feeling as she penned the solemn messages from heaven to a perishing world. " —A. L. White, El- len G. White: Messenger to the Remnant, pp. 57-58.

By March 27, most of the manuscript was at the Pacific Press, being prepared for publication, but she was still hard at work on the remaining portions. On that date, she wrote to her son William C. White:

"I see by appointments that there are only three weeks left for me to close up my book. Dr. [E.J.] Waggoner [assistant editor of the Signs] is fearful I will not get through, but I mean to by that time, if possible."

"P.S. Bring me another good fountain pen.—Letter 44, 1884.

E.J. Waggoner, editor of the Signs of the Times, had an opportunity to read the first chapter prior to publication, and made this comment:

"We have no fear but that deep interest will be taken in this book, judging from what we have read. We long for its appearing; and so would thousands of our readers if they knew its value. We do not wish to institute comparisons, but we can assure our friends that this volume will not fall below the very best of the writings of Sister White that are already published."—March 27, 1884.

By April, the book was nearing completion, and W. C. White said this:

"Most of the chapters are now written, but a few subjects are not yet completed. The work of writing the latter part of this volume has been accomplished slowly and with great difficulty. The scenes and events to be described were of such solemn importance, and the subjects pressed so constantly on the mind of the author, that she has fre- quently worked beyond her strength. . The manuscript is now so nearly completed that we can speak confidently of the contents of this volume.

"It begins with the destruction of Jerusalem, and gives brief sketches of the experience of the Christian church to the close of the great controversy between righteousness and sin. Several chapters are especially devoted to an exposure of the great deceptions by which the arch rebel has led the world captive, and to a vivid portrayal of his subtlety in introducing these heresies one by one into the church. .

"For a wide range of subjects and the presentation of facts of general interest, this work surpasses all her former volumes."—Review, April 8, 1884.

In the same issue of the Review, it was explained that the book would be available in two bindings, one olive green with the title, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, and the other black with the title, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4. Either binding would sell for a dollar a copy.

It was also explained that the plan was to sell the forthcoming book to Adventists through colporteurs who would call on their homes and show them the book. It is of in- terest that the church had not yet grasped the fact that the truth about the great controversy should go to all the world, not merely to the church.

With the manuscript completed, Ellen attended campmeetings in the northwest during June, and returned in early July as the type was being set at the Pacific Press. The October 2 issue of the Signs reported that the book was finally off the press. It had been published simultaneously by both the Pacific Press and the Review and Herald in editions of 5,000 copies each. But not only were Adventists buying the book, the world was purchasing it also. The initial West Coast print-run was sold out in less than a year, and within three years, 50,000 copies had been printed and sold by both presses.

A month later, Ellen would be 57.

During 1884 alone, having been freed from the incessant Battle Creek controversies, Ellen produced 50 articles for the forty-eight 1884 issues of the Signs, 52 articles in the fifty-one 1884 issues of the Review, and completed the 549-page book, Great Controversy.

12 — THE TRIP TO EUROPE (1885-1887)

A General Conference Session convened in November 1884; and, on the last day of the Session, the following action was taken in regard to the newly published revi- sion of Great Controversy:

"Resolved, That we hail with great pleasure the publication of volume 4, The Great Controversy; that, while we anxiously looked for it, expecting that it would give im- portant information concerning the closing scenes of this world's history, we can freely say that it more than meets our most sanguine expectations; and that we earnestly urge all our people to read it carefully and prayerfully, and to use all proper means to place it before the world." Review, November 25, 1884.

At this Session, Ellen was asked to visit the churches and institutions in Europe. Praying about it, she received no indication from the Lord that she should not go. So she went. She was in Europe from 1885 to 1887.

Some may think that she should not have made that trip. But, in the absence of Inspired guidance on a matter, it is not wrong for a Christian to consider counsel from fellow believers.

"The decision of the conference is passed, 'that W.C. White accompanied by his wife, shall accompany his mother to Europe.' . . I told the conference I could not consent to go unless the writings that are now unfinished could be completed this winter."—Letter 61, 1884.

Interestingly enough, this trip to Europe was very definitely in God's providence. After completing the second (1884) edition of Great Controversy, there was no plan in Ellen's mind that she would ever again redo all that work and enlarge it yet a third time! But, arriving in Europe, she met people, saw places, and learned of incidents, which firmly convicted her that, even though she had already finished an edition of that book, she must do another one! So a sizable amount of that two-year stay in Europe was spent collecting data for a second revision of the book, part of which was completed while there.

In addition, she was shown in vision that the great controversy message must be given the widest circulation to those outside the church. This intensified her conviction to revise the book again. It also affected the format of the book. She felt she should use a more literary writing style, provide more detail on historical incidents, and omit the three- page section in the Snares of Satan chapter which spoke of Satan's plan to destroy the church. This book, she felt, should be written for the world to read, not just the church. (Those three pages were later reprinted for church members in Testimonies to Ministers, pages 472-475.)

These intensified objectives resulted in a much larger book. And it all began with that trip to Europe.

On Monday, July 13,1885, her party left St. Helena for Oakland. On July 20 they reached Battle Creek, and on August 1 left Boston. Two weeks were spent in England, and then they crossed the channel to France on September 2. Rather quickly, Ellen realized she had found a wealth of Great Controversy resource material in Europe.

"Morning came as they entered Basel. As they began to see buildings, including castles on the top of high rocks and mountains, the first thought that came to Ellen White's mind was —having recently finished writing The Great Controversy —'whether the Reformers had not visited these places. ' "—AL. White, The Lonely Years, p. 293.

Nine months after arriving in Europe, in a letter penned June 11, 1886, to friends back home, she wrote that her little party was comfortably settled into their travel pro- gram while making Basel, Switzerland, their base —and that typing of her notes and

enlargements for the NEXT revision of Great Controversy was already in progress!

"We now number ten, W. C. White and Mary and Ella are well. Ella has grown to be quite a girl since you last saw her. Sara McEnterfer is well, and just as busy as she can be taking letters by dictation and writing them out on the calligraph (typewriter]. Marian's health is about as it usually is. She is at work on volume four, Great Controversy . .

"One week ago last Tuesday we returned home from visiting the churches in Switzerland. We traveled with our horse and carriage, and by thus doing obtained a view of the places and scenery of interest which we should not have done had we ridden on the (train] cars. "—Manuscript 20, 1886.

As the above quotation indicates, she frequently traveled in order to obtain further data for the forthcoming revision.

"While in Valence, Ellen White was intensely interested in visiting the Cathedral of Saint Apollinaire where she observed the officiating priests with their white robes and over these a surplice of black velvet trimmed with gold braid, with the form of the cross marked in the back. This exposure while in Europe to the grandeur and impressiveness of the Catholic worship services proved helpful to her as she described Catholic worship in the book, The Great Controversy. (See pp. 566, 567.). "—Ellen G. White in Europe, 1885-1887 p. 35.

On April 25 they went on one of several visits to the home of the Waldenses:

"William and Mary, Elder Bourdeau, and Ellen White went up the mountain to Bobbio to visit the cave where a group of Waldensian refugees had been suffocated in the smoke of a fire ignited by their persecutors. W. C. White was not with his mother on her first visit, so these sites of heroic martyrdom were of thrilling interest to him. As a child he had sat at his mother's knee as she read the history of the Waldenses to him and to James White, and now he was visiting the very scenes where the Waldensian history had been made.

"The little party ate their lunch near the cave and, after a time of prayerful consecration, descended the mountain to Villar Pellice, where an open-air meeting had been scheduled. This innovation was necessary because of the large crowds coming to the meetings.

"Early in the week there was yet another sight-seeing trip, this one to Angrogna, the valley of groans. The little group walked out over a beautiful green tableland. A white-haired Vaudois led them to a place where the plain ended abruptly, falling off hundreds of feet. The Waldenses here had been attacked by their enemies who had come from Turin to burn their village." —D.A. Delafield, Ellen G. White in Europe, p. 179.

Another of these fact-gathering trips took her to Zurich. On May 12,1887, her party journeyed there by train. Upon their arrival, they immediately went to the cathedral and nearby chapel where Zwingli preached nearly 350 years earlier.

"For several days we have been thinking of making a short visit to Zurich. We have been reading the account of Zwingli's work, and before leaving we want to see his city. Mother is especially anxious to see Zurich, and we have some business matters to attend to also."—W. C. White, letter file A-2, p. 225.

"On reaching the site, Ellen White recognized the surroundings. According to teen-age Patience Bourdeau (later Sisco] as told by her to the author, Ellen White served as a guide to the group, pointing out features of interest and of how things appeared in Zwingli's day. As Ellen was engaged at the time in the enlargement of The Great Controversy, her comment, 'We gathered many items of interest which we will use' (Manuscript 29, 1887), is readily understood."—AL White, The Lonely Years, p. 363.On

June 28,1887, she and her group left Scandinavia and two days later arrived in London. The trip to America by steamer took nine days, from August 3 to 11. Believers everywhere were eager to have her speak in their meetings, but her primary concern was to return home so she could finish the second enlarged revision of Great Con- troversy.

"Ellen White was eager to press on to California and her home, to bury herself in the final work on the enlargement of The Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets. "—AL White, The Lonely Years, p. 375.

13 — THE THIRD EDITION: "VOLUME FOUR" THE 1888 GREAT CONTROVERSY

The trip to Europe accomplished more than the enlarging of Great Controversy. Ellen recognized that, if that book was to be sizably added to, it would be well to enlarge the other books which covered the panoramic Eden-to-Eden great controversy story, and also add two more books to make it a full five-volume set: Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophets and Kings, Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles, and Great Controversy.

While she was in Europe, so many copies of the 1884 edition had printed and sold that C.H. Jones, manager of the Pacific Press, wrote to tell her that soon new plates would have to be made. That helped crystallize her decision that the second revision must be completed soon.

On May 18, 1887, she sent the completed first four chapters of the forthcoming third edition to the Pacific Press. In her writings, she often referred to it as "Volume Four," since it was considered an enlarged edition of the 1884 edition, which was Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4. A letter, written by W. C. White, accompanied the package:

"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. "—W. C. White letter to C.H. Jones, Letter file A-2, p. 245.

The 1884 edition had been written in a "folksy," easygoing style. But it was now discovered that such idiomatic writing did not translate as well. In addition, the 1884 edition assumed that the reader was acquainted with many words and phrases common to Adventism.

The best way to compare the three editions of Great Controversy is to open and scan through the books, read here and there, and note the effect of enlargement.

Some people think that it is terrible that the 1884 Great Controversy was enlarged into the 1888 edition. There is nothing wrong with that! Oh, how we wish the 1888 edition were three times as big as it now is! The 1884 edition is a most excellent one, but so is the 1888. (Please note that we do not discuss the 1911 edition in this comparison of enlarged editions. This is because the 1911 edition was not an enlargement; more on that later.)

In the 1884 edition, for example, Huss and Jerome were allotted three pages; in the 1888 edition, 23 pages were devoted to their work and martyrdom. Several chapters were added, including the chapters on the French Reformation and the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Several other chapters were greatly enlarged. This would include the excellent study on obedience to the law of God in chapter 14 (Later English Reformers), which was new material.

In discussing the enlargement, W.C. White noted what they had discovered in Switzerland, when they worked with translators; whereas the 1884 edition tersely ex- plained the essential details, the 1888, which was to be later translated into a number of different languages, would have to include much more detail in order that the non- Adventist mind could understand it.

"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 as 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 (English) edition. . I think that the additions will swell the work one hundred pages of its present size. " — W. C. White, letter to C.H. Jones, Letter file A—2, p. 245.

In a statement made to the General Conference Session on October 30, 1911, W.C. White reviewed the writing of the third (1888) edition:

"In 1885 Mother and I were sent to Europe, and there the question came up regarding its translation into German, French, Danish, and Swedish. As Mother consid- ered this proposition, she decided to make additions to the matter.

"Mother's contact with European people had brought to her mind scores of things that had been presented to her in vision during past years, some of them two or three times, and other scenes many times. Her seeing of historic places and her contact with the people refreshed her memory with reference to these things, and so she desired to add much material to the book. This was done, and the manuscripts were prepared for translation.

"After our return to America, a new edition was brought out much enlarged. In this edition some of the matter used in the first English edition was left out. The reason for these changes was found in the fact that the new edition was intended for world-wide circulation.

"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. "Much of the research for historical statements used in the new European and American editions of Great Controversy was done in Basel [Switzerland], where we had access to Elder Andrew's large library, and where the translators had access to the university libraries." — W. C. White, Statement to General Conference Session, October 30, 1911 (Notes and Papers, pp. 165-166).

At a later time, W.C. White recalled those days back in Switzerland when the third edition was being written: "When we reached those chapters relating to the Re- formation 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."—W.C. White, letter to LE. Froom, December 18, 1934 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 465). In that same letter, W. C. White mentioned how Ellen's visits to so many different places in Europe helped bring back to mind scenes and incidents that should be mentioned in the book.

"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."—W. C. White to LE. Froom, December 18, 1934 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 465).

The following statement is a powerful commentary on how Ellen gathered information that would help her write what she had been shown in vision. It also explains why she needed history books to help her establish locations. "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.

While in Europe, W. C. White contacted European printing and graphics firms, and arranged for copperplate and lithoplate artwork to be included in the forthcoming third edition of Great Controversy and the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, The last portion of the 1888 edition which Ellen wrote was the Introduction at the front, which was dated May 1888. You will want to read it carefully for yourself; it can be found in the front of both the 1888 and 1911 edition. A month earlier, in April, she wrote a letter to D.L. Canright, who, she had been shown, was about to leave the church. In it she mentions the third edition, which she was working on:

"I am writing out more fully the volume of Great Controversy containing the history of the fall of Satan and the introduction of sin into our world; and I can have a more vivid sense of this great controversy between Christ, the Prince of light, and Satan, the prince of darkness, than I have ever had before.

"As I see the various devices of Satan to compass the ruin of erring man, and make him like himself, a transgressor of God's holy law, I would that angels of God could come to earth and present this matter in its great importance. Then I feel so intensely for souls who are willfully departing from light and knowledge and obedience to God's holy law. As Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan, "Ye shall be as gods,' so these souls hope through disobedience to rise to greater heights, to gain some flattering position. I am so anxious that, while others are sleeping, I spend hours in prayer that God will work in mighty power to break the fatal deception upon human minds and lead them in simplicity to the cross of Calvary."--Letter April 20, 1888 (5 Testimonies, pp. 625-626).

Ellen White was 60 years old in 1888. This enlarged edition had 26 full-page illustrations. The 13-page appendix at the back was a very good one. None of the appendices were written by Ellen White. The various sections of the 1888 appendix were written by J.H. Waggoner, M.C. Wilcox, and Uriah Smith, and then copy-read by Marian Davis.

Although copyrighted in 1888, this edition was not printed until September 1889 by Pacific Press and, for reasons discussed in the next section, not until later by the Review. In fact, the canvassing leaders, working out of Battle Creek, were soon told that that book was not to be sold. What is the story behind this?

14 — THE ATTEMPT TO STOP THE 1888 EDITION

To historic Adventists looking back on it, the 1888 General Conference Session presented the possibility of an incredible breakthrough. But, to liberals living through it, Minneapolis was instead considered a most terrible insult to their positions of office. Ellen White and two young men from the West seemed to be challenging their authority.

One way they got back was to oppose the release of Great Controversy. When men cherish pride of position in their hearts, they are an easy mark for Satan. Soon they are but polished instruments in his hand, to work his will.

“The Lord designed that the messages of warning and instruction given through the Spirit to His people should go everywhere. But the influence that grew out of the re- sistance of light and truth at Minneapolis tended to make of no effect the light God had given to His people through the testimonies. Great Controversy. . has not had the circulation that it should have had, because some of those who occupy responsible positions were leavened with the spirit that prevailed at Minneapolis, a spirit that clouded the discernment of the people of God . . The dullness of some and the opposition of others have confined our strength and means largely among those who know the truth, but do not practice its principles.

"If every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. What account will be rendered to God for thus retarding the work?" —Manuscript 1, 1893 (see also 1893 General Con- ference Bulletin, pp. 419-420).

What those men did not know was that they were merely pawns used by Satan to carry on his work. The same devil who tried to kill Ellen when she initially received that lengthy Lovett's Grove vision in 1858, and who encouraged men to spread lies about her integrity in 1882, determined to prohibit the circulation of the book in 1888.

Today the devil is still at work, attacking her integrity and the 1888 Great Controversy. He knows that, by so doing, he is effectively eliminating the 1911 edition as well. In one brief paragraph in the six-volume biography of Ellen White, we are given a brief glimpse of the problem: "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."—AL White, The Lonely Years, p.443.

Years later, Arthur l. White, grandson of Ellen White, related the story of this experience at the Field Missionary Secretary's Council, meeting at the sanitarium, in California on September 30, 1938. A handwritten copy of that paper was sent to the present writer in 1961. Astounded by what he read, he began broadcasting Great Controversy, which went into 16 states before the project ended in the 1960s, He typed out and printed that A. L. White report. A couple years later, Inspiration Books reprinted it and circulated it widely. In the early 1980s, we reprinted it again under its original title (Circulation of Great Controversy [CE-3D]). In this present section we will quote from that 1938 paper extensively. (The complete A. L. White paper is reprinted on this Web Site.)

"When the new, enlarged edition of Great Controversy came from the press in 1888, there was every hope that the book would have a wide sale and accomplish much good. Certain conditions in our publishing work, however, thwarted these hopes, for the management of the Review and Herald had passed from the hands of men who had long experience in the work, to the hands of businessmen —a banker, a title lawyer, and later a sea captain.

"A strong effort was made to have Mrs. White release all royalties on Great Controversy. The banker-manager, being a good financier, objected to paying royalties on books that he supposed would have only limited circulation. Mrs. White stated positively that she had been instructed otherwise and could not relinquish the royalty.

"When she returned from Europe, it was found that the manager and some of his associates were determined to bring but books that were free from royalty. Bible Readings was brought out by a variety of authors who donated their work so the book could be put on the market without royalty. This book was a great success.

"When the enlarged editions of Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets came out, the canvassing business was in the hands of men who were advocating, 'One book; everybody on one book; all agents on one book.' Bible Readings was pushed to the front and Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets lay idle on the shelves and had only a limited sale.

"When Mrs. White protested against this, she was promised that after running Bible Readings a year, they would take up Great Controversy and concentrate on it. When the year was done, those in charge of the publishing and canvassing work did not fulfill their promise and Bible Readings was majored for several years, to the neglect of other books. Then in later years, when the book passed to other hands in the canvassing work, Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets were brought to the front and had a good sale."—AL. White, Circulation of Great Controversy, para. 13—37.

Here are several statements by Ellen White bearing on this matter. In the following references, "CGC" refers to the A.L. White research paper, The Circulation of Great Controversy.

"About this time when the new edition of Volume Four [Great Controversy] came from the press, the new book, Bible Readings, was introduced. This book had a great sale, and has been permitted to swallow up every other interest. Canvassers found it an easy book to handle, and Volume Four was kept out of the field. I felt that this was not right. I knew that it was not right, because it was not in harmony with the light which God had given me." Undated latter, 1890 (Circulation of Great Controversy [CGC], para. 19).

"As soon as Great Controversy came from the press it should have been pushed forward above every other book. I have been shown this. Had it been circulated at the time it was lying idle, there would have been a very different order of things among our workers. The impressions made would have brought decided changes. But instead of this the book was suppressed, although the promise was made to me that it should go forward if I would take the lowest royalty. The book that should have gone did not go; and the men who should have worked to carry it forward, discouraged the canvassers from handling it. Thus saith the Lord, 'I will judge for this false, dishonest work.' "—Letter 39, 1899 (CGC, para. 20).

It is an astonishing fact that there are those today who believe the lie that, although Ellen White wrote the1884 edition, Uriah Smith wrote the 1888 edition! In the present writer's opinion, Smith could not have produced any of her books. He surely was not able to present her exact concepts, yet the 1888 edition exactly mirrors the positions found in the 1884 one! In the 1888, we find nothing odd, nothing different, just the same solid material —only enlarged somewhat.

But the most astounding part of this fiction is that Smith is supposed to have written the very book, which he refused to send out to the field! The facts of history put to shame this lying report, invented in the 1960s by a woodcutter in British Columbia.

Uriah Smith was the most powerful man in the Review during the 1880s and 1890s, yet he and his publishing committee refused to circulate the 1888 edition of Great Controversy. That is a historical fact. This refusal continued on for two years; and, then,

in 1890, he refused to distribute Patriarchs and Prophets also.

"Just at this point his satanic majesty was in the management of books published at the Review and Herald Office. Those at the head of the publishing work there would handle neither Great Controversy nor Patriarchs and Prophets, the books God has specified the people must have at once. They promised me faithfully that after certain months they would handle these books, but they failed to keep their word. When the Great Controversy should have been circulated everywhere, it was lying dead in the Re- view and Herald Office and the Pacific Press." —Letter 35, 1899 (CGC, para. 21).

Uriah decided to send out Bible Readings instead. We all recognize that to be a very good book, but it could not compare with Great Controversy.

"My mind has been so fully occupied with the burden upon me of getting before the people the light having especial reference to these last days, and the crisis before us. The world is to be warned, and I have felt so deeply over Volume Four [Great Controversy] standing still as it has done..

"I do not demerit Bible Readings. It is a book which will do a great amount of good, but it can never take the place the Lord designed that Volume Four should have in the world and among our people. I have spread before them the light given me of heaven in that book. It is a duty we owe to our people and to God to send every ray of light given me of God demanded at this time by every tongue and nation."—Letter 25a, 1889 (CGC, para. 22—23 & 46).

The colporteurs were told that they were to sell only one book, and that it was to be Bible Readings, not Great Controversy.

"This sale of Bible Readings, had it been preceded by the sale of Great Controversy, would have had far more weight than it had in going first. The Lord knew all about this. He knew that principles were violated. He knew the falsehoods told and reiterated, that the books bearing the vital truth to the people would not sell. He knew that ministers and presidents were advised to recommend that all handle the one book; and that the keeping of Great Controversy from the field has done a work that men will have to answer for in the judgment."—Manuscript 64, 1894 (CGC, para. 24).

“This book has to a great degree been misplaced by another book, which has kept from the world the light God has given."—Manuscript 24, 1891 (CGC, para. 25).

When the colporteurs asked why they could not sell Great Controversy, they were told that people would not like it and it was too hard to sell.

"I know that the statement made that these books cannot be sold, is not true. I know; for the Lord has instructed me that this is said because human devising has blocked the way for their sale. It cannot be denied that these works were not the product of any human mind, they are the voice of God speaking to the people, and they will have an influence upon minds that other books do not have." Manuscript 3, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 129:2; CGC, para. 26).

By 1890, two years had nearly elapsed while the most important book of all sat on the Review shelves. Satan rejoiced at how well his agents were doing. It was now time for Patriarchs and Prophets to be printed, and the Review managers were graciously considering releasing Patriarchs and Prophets to the world while still withholding Great Controversy.

"For nearly two years the book containing warnings and instructions from the Lord, given especially for this time, has been lying in our publishing houses, and no one feels the necessity or importance of bringing it before the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden? Now Volume One, or Patriarchs and Prophets, is ready for circulation, but even for this book I would not allow Volume Four to remain

longer as a light under a bushel. I am in sore distress of mind, but who of my brethren cares for this?"—Letter 1, 1890 (CGC, para. 27).

A committee of stubborn men had determined that Great Controversy was not to go to the world. They had the authority to enforce their decision, and they controlled the church paper.

"Has the Lord moved upon my mind to prepare this work to be sent everywhere, and is He moving upon my brethren to devise plans which shall bar the way so that the light which He has given me shall be hid in our publishing houses instead of shining forth to all who will receive it?"—Letter 1, 1890 (CGG, para. 28).

In order to keep the canvassers pacified, they were given a larger profit on Bible Readings than they could make on Great Controversy.

"It is now urged that only one book at a time shall have a place in the field—that all the canvassers shall work for the same book. I do not see the force or propriety of this. If the Lord has light for His people, who shall venture to put up barriers so that the light shall not reach them? One book is published at little expense, and it is therefore sold cheaply; other books that present truths essential at this time have involved greater expense. Shall they therefore be kept from the people? Bible Readings is a good book to occupy its own place, but should not be permitted to crowd out other important works which the people need. The presidents of our conferences have a duty to do; our board of directors should have something to say in this matter, that the different branches of God's work may receive equal attention.

"If our canvassers are controlled by the prospect of financial gain; if they circulate books on which they can make the most money, to the neglect of others that the people need, I ask, in what sense is theirs a missionary work? Where is the missionary spirit? —the spirit of self-sacrifice?

"The work of the intelligent, God-fearing canvasser has been represented as equal to that of the gospel ministry. Then should the canvasser, any more than the minister, feel at liberty to act from selfish motives? Should he turn his back on all the principles of missionary work, and handle the books —placed before him, shall I say, as a temptation —on which he can make the most money? Should he have no interest to circulate any book but that which brings him the greatest financial gain? How is the missionary spirit revealed here? Has not the canvassing work ceased to be what it ought to be? How is it that no voice is raised to correct this state of things?

"I speak to you who are engaged in the canvassing work. Have you read Volume Four? Do you know what it contains? Have you any appreciation for the subject matter? Do you not see that the people need the light therein given? If you have not already done so, I entreat you to read carefully these solemn warnings and appeals. I am sure that the Lord would have this work carried into all the highways and byways where there are souls to be warned of the dangers so soon to come." —Letter 1, 1890 (CGC, para. 29—32; Colporteur Ministry, p. 127).

Several years passed before the blockade was lifted. The present writer suspects that lost sales had something to do with it. For, you see, because the brethren refused to send out Great Controversy, Ellen published Steps to Christ through a non-Adventist publishing house (Fleming H. Revell and Company, of Chicago, Illinois). In April 1892, it came off the press, and immediately became an outstanding seller. Three print-runs were made within two weeks after it was initially printed.

Shortly after that, the Bible Echo, our Australian publishing house, requested permission by Ellen White to also print it. She was living in Australia by that time, and let them do it. But, so far, she had not let our U.S. Adventist publishing houses have it. Bible Echo had never tried to stop any of her books from being circulated. The worst part of

the blockade continued for two years (1888-1890), but the publishing managers did not fully give in until 1894. In 1894 she was finally able to report that the Review had capitulated and was sending out Great Controversy:

"When there came a change of attitude toward her books, Mrs. White recognized it and rejoiced over their wide circulation, for thus the words of truth which had been given her were passed on to the people. A recognition of this change is noted in the two following extracts, written in 1894 and 1907 respectively:

"Light was in that book which came from Heaven; but what account will those men have to give to God for the little faith and confidence manifested in that book that the warnings should not come to the people when they should have had them. I am so glad the people can have them now. The delay was Satan's devising. He was working diligently and had brought about a condition of things that the work cannot go as it would have gone."—Letter 55, 1894 (CGC, para. 34).

In 1907, she made this comment:

"Years ago when I was in Battle Creek I was much distressed that Great Controversy should lie idle on the shelf. For two years it was held back that Bible Readings might have more attention. All that I could say did not change the course of those who had control of the canvassing work . . There is not now a studied, determined effort to hold back those books that are of the most importance. We are planning to bring out many books." —Letter 70, 1907 (CGC para. 35).

In 1899 she recalled the events of those several years, beginning in 1888:

"The rights of brethren are to be respected; there should not be a multiplication of books, when it is well understood one will interfere with the sale of the one just preceding it. This was the way with Great Controversy. This book was not left to have a fair chance in being handled with Bible Readings. The Bible Readings was brought in before the books of great importance.

"Through the instruction to the canvassing agents, Great Controversy had little opportunity to be circulated, and was nearly eclipsed. There is danger that the same course will be followed, therefore it is necessary to refer to the light given on this subject. It was presented to me that one book was crossing the track on another. This is not righteous judgment. I have now to say, that selfishness be uprooted. Let the precious plants of God's own garden of the heart live and flourish."—Letter 91, 1899 (CGC, para. 37).

We earlier noted that the 1884 edition, when it was released, went through ten editions and sold 50,000 copies in but a few years. Yet, when the 1888 edition was printed, the publishing house refused to let the canvassers have it. Why? Simply because, after Ellen White had written the third (1888) edition, she had journeyed to Minneapolis, snubbed their authority at the 1888 Conference Session, and went against their decisions. Then, after the session was over, she traveled around the countryside with Jones and Wagner, supporting their views —positions which leadership had rejected. In rejecting her book, they intended to show her who was boss in the church! All the while Satan, who had suggested this plan to their minds, laughed.

Let no one tell you that "men in Battle Creek" wrote the 1888 edition of Great Controversy. Ellen White wrote it; that is why the "men in Battle Creek" refused to circulate it! If Uriah had written the book, he would have printed the book.

They used as an excuse that she refused to relinquish the royalties from the book, yet she refused because she was told to do so. The royalties provided one of several means by which she could support missionary projects, which the leaders refused to finance. (In the 1905 Watson Letter, she told of another means, revealed to

her by Heaven, by which the work could be done which the leaders refused to do.)

But that did not put an end to the attacks of Satan on that book. They have continued on down to the present day. He still works in various ways to keep the faithful from distributing it. He is still trying to blockade, shelve, discredit, or destroy that book. Mark it; he has not stopped.

We must be as vigilant as ever. "Vigilant to do what?" you may ask. Vigilant to read, recommend, defend, and circulate it is the answer given over and over again in her comments regarding that book. There can be no folding of the hands when it comes to Great Controversy. We must be up and about our work, for Satan is ever busy about his. We will conclude this section with a quotation from Elder M.L. Andreasen's private autobiographical papers, reprinted in Steinweg's book, Without Fear or Favor:

"With the establishment of Union College and also the Nebraska Sanitarium at College View, the place became a kind of center for various activities, and a convenient location for ministers to have their meetings and councils. It was only a matter of eight years since the famous 1888 Conference in Minneapolis, and the conference was frequently the subject of discussion.

"Old Elder J.H. Morrison, father of Prof. H.A. Morrison, lived in Lincoln. He had taken a prominent role in the discussions at Minneapolis and had written a book on the subject.

"It was largely through the kindness of old Brother Morrison that I was permitted to attend the discussions. Of course, I was there to listen and not to talk. And I did not talk. But I learned much. In fact, it was a wonderful school. I only wish that I had notes.

"In retrospect, I doubt that the meetings I attended when the older ministers met were the best for a young convert hardly an Adventist yet. I would call it rather strong meat. They paid little attention to me, but plunged right into a subject of which I knew nothing. But I soon caught on, and was astonished at the freedom with which they discussed personalities. Most of the older men who had known Elder White were not endeared to him, it appeared. In their opinion, he was too strong headed to work well with others. "Sister White's position was not an easy one. As the wife of the president of the denomination, she gave support to him in his work. But at times word would come from the Lord that made it necessary for her to bear messages of reproof to him. And Elder White sometimes questioned in his own mind if she spoke to him as from the Lord. On some occasions this brought on tension.

"This was at times the case when it became her duty to counsel others. While many to whom testimonies were written accepted them with gratitude, others turned against her. No wonder that she said that if she had her choice of having a vision or dying, she would choose the grave. "A few of the leaders were waiting for the day when there would be a change in the way the church was run. They thought that at the Minneapolis meeting such a change might be made.

"I have heard many versions of what took place at Minneapolis. Someday, if I ever get time, I would like to tell the story as I heard it recounted at the meetings held in College View by the men who were the leaders in opposition to Sister White. They did not consider the message of Jones and Waggoner to be the real issue. The real issue, according to my informers, was whether Sister White was to be permitted to overrule the men who carried the responsibility of the work. It was an attempt to overthrow the position of the Spirit of Prophecy. And it seemed the men in opposition carried the day. Eventually she left for Australia, where she stayed nine years. It was there that a plan of organization which called for union conferences was tried that received her blessing and that in 1901 was implemented on the General Conference level. As interpreted by some, the Minneapolis conference was a revolt against Sister White. If that is so, it throws

some light on the omega apostasy."—M.L. Andreasen, quoted in Virginia Steinweg, Without Fear or Favor, pp. 42-44.

The Minneapolis General Conference Session was not simply a rejection of the message of Righteousness by Faith, important though that may be. It was a rejection of the Spirit of Prophecy by many men of prominence in our denomination.

There were men in the 1890s and 1900s who only submitted to Ellen's authority because it was clear that a majority of the church members supported her. There are men today who may praise her and her books, but who present false teachings and support and encourage those who, with craft, ridicule the prophet and the prophet's writings.

The rebellion that marked Minneapolis continues today.

15 – POST 1888: THE NEED FOR A REVISION

The first edition of Great Controversy came off the press in 1858. Twice after that, enlarged editions were published. This was the second edition in 1884, and the third edition was in 1888. But another edition, which was not enlarged, was to be produced. The 1911 was the fourth edition, yet it was not an expansion of the text.

The obvious question is this: Why was the book revised if it was not enlarged?

Books do not have to be enlarged in order to be revised. The potential problem is, instead, this: If the 1888 edition was revised, (1) what was changed? and (2) did those changes affect the meaning of what she had written in the 1884 and 1888 editions? Here are the answers:

In the year 1985, the present writer spent several weeks closely comparing the 1888 and 1911 editions. He jotted notes on everything he discovered. Here are the key differences between the 1888 and 1911 editions:

(1) The scripture references were taken out of the foot notes (where they had been in the 1884 and 1888 editions), and placed in the body of the text. This means that Revelation 5:13, the last reference in the book (p. 678), was in a footnote on the bottom of the last page in the book in the 1888 edition, but it is in the text itself in the 1911 edition (p. 678). The same is true of all the other Bible references in the book.

(2) In the 1884 and 1888 editions, personal pronouns, referring to the Godhead were placed in lower case ("he," "him," "his"); whereas, in the 1911, they are in initial caps ("He," "Him," "His") —the same excellent style found in Desire of Ages.

(3) In the earlier editions, "heaven" was frequently capitalized, but in the 1911 it was not, unless it was clearly used as a synonym for God. (See item 5, below.)

(4) Some typographic errors were corrected. For example, the numerals in two or three Bible references were incorrect.

(5) A few other changes were made in the text. Example: "All see that their exclusion from Heaven is just. By their lives they have declared, 'We will not have this Jesus to reign over us' "(1888 edition, p. 668). In the 1911 edition, it is written: "All see that their exclusion from heaven is just. By their lives they have declared, 'We will not have this Man (Jesus) to reign over us' " (1911 edition, p. 668). Note that "Heaven" lost its capital h, since it was not a synonym for God, and, because the Bible passage was in quote marks, it was rendered exactly as in the Authorized (King James) Version, and the word "Jesus" was placed in brackets. In addition, "man" was capped because it referred to a member of the Godhead (in accordance with point 2, above).

(6) The appendix was changed. The 1884 and 1888 appendices had few notes, most of which were longer. The original 1911 appendix (and the 1956 and 1979 revisions of it) had nearly three times as many notes, although many of them were not lengthy.

(7) The title, Author's Preface in the 1888 edition, was changed to Introduction in the 1911 edition. (The 1884 edition had no introductory statement by the author.)

(8) Certain time expressions needed to be changed. In preparation for the 1884 and 1888 editions, she had several times said "Forty years ago," or something similar, when referring to events in and around 1844. Some of those expressions were in the 1888 edition, and really needed to be changed later on (1911 was NOT 40 years after 1844!). Such changes would make the book correct whatever year it might later be read. Such changes would keep the book chronologically correct, which is what she wanted. An analysis of the five "forty-year" passages clearly shows her concern for chronological accuracy. (Those five passages will be discussed later in this present study.)

(9) Recognizing that many Catholics would read it, certain terms were softened: "popery" became "papacy;" "Romish" became "Roman" or "Roman Catholic." Ellen White's concern was that conscientious Roman Catholics would thereby more easily read and accept the truths in the book without being offended and turning away. Yet the truth about Rome and its corruptions was still given; it is clearly found in all three editions.

"In several places, forms of expression have been changed to avoid giving unnecessary offense. An example of this will be found in the change of the word 'Romish' to 'Roman' or 'Roman Catholic.' "—W. C. White, Letter, July 24, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 435).

"On pages 50, 563, 564, 580, 581, and in a few other places where there were statements regarding the Papacy which are strongly disputed by Roman Catholics, and which are difficult to prove from accessible histories, the wording in the new edition has been so changed that the statement falls easily within the range of evidence that is readily obtainable.

"Regarding these and similar passages, which might stir up bitter and unprofitable controversies, Mother has often said: 'What I have written regarding the arrogance and the assumption of the Papacy is true. Much historical evidence regarding these matters has been designedly destroyed; nevertheless, that the book may be of the greatest benefit to Catholics and others, and that needless controversies may be avoided, it is better to have all statements regarding the assumptions of the pope and the claims of the Papacy stated so moderately as to be easily and clearly proved from accepted histories that are within the reach of our ministers and students. II —W. C. White Letter, July 24, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 436).

(10) A powerful evidence that the text of the 1911 edition is practically the same as that of the 1888 edition is to be found in the fact that the paging of the 42 chapters in both books is identical. Turn to any page in those chapters and you will find essentially the same paragraphs. Thus, page 678 is the same in both books, yet it is the last page of the text, as noted in point 1, above.

(11) Is nothing really different about the two editions? Yes, there is one MAJOR difference! It is the historical quotations. Ellen wrote the text, and that is essentially un- changed. She also quoted from the Bible, and that is basically the same. But she also quoted from historians, and here we find very definite changes. Just what were these changes, and why were they made?

Ellen was concerned with presenting facts and principles. But the way of the world is to use name-dropping to convince the reader; a writer will tell you that a fact or

principle is important because a great man said so. In contrast, for Ellen, the power of a fact or principle was in its inherent rightness, not because a certain historian said so. Because of this, when she quoted historians in the 1888 edition, she did not give their names; she did not consider it important to do so.

She was not hiding anything; in the 1888 Author's Preface, she had carefully explained what she had done:

"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."— Great Controversy, 1888 edition (see 1911 edition, p. xii).

"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."—Great Controversy, 1888 edition (see 1911 edition, p. xii).

But, by the turn of the century, giving references to sources was considered very important. So, when the plates for the 1888 edition were beginning to wear out, friends of Ellen suggested that all references be moved from footnotes into the text; that several typographical errors be corrected; that the "he," "him," "his," and "heaven," in Great Controversy, be written the same way as in Desire of Ages; and that references be inserted for all the historical quotations.

Here is how W. C. White described it:

"Much of the research for historical statements used in the new European and American editions of Great Controversy was done in Basel [Switzerland], where we had access to Elder Andrew's large library, and where the translators had access to the university libraries.

"When we carne to go over this matter for the purpose of giving historical references [in the 1911 edition], there were some quotations which we could not find. In some cases there were found other statements making the same point, from other historians. These were in books accessible in many public libraries. When we brought to Mother's attention a quotation that we could not find, and showed her that there was another quotation that we had found, which made the same point, she said, 'Use the one you can give reference to, so that the reader of the book, if he wishes to go to the source and find it, can do so.'

In that way some historical data have been substituted." W. C. White, statement presented to the General Conference Session, October 30, 1911.

Although the quotations from historians had been placed within quotation marks —showing that they were, indeed, quotations from some other writer—the names of their authors and their books were not given.

It would seem to be a rather simple matter to add references to the quotations, but two major hurdles quickly emerged:

(1) Many of the 1888 quotations could not be found, so others had to be substituted; yet an objective was that the replacement quotations should fill the same amount of space as the one removed, so that each page in the 1911 edition would be the same as in the 1888. Probably the most extensive example of this is to be found in chapter 17 of Great Controversy (1888, pp. 306:1-308:1; 1911, pp. 306:2-308:1).

(2) J.A. Wylie (The History of Protestantism) and J.H. Merle D' Aubigne (History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century) were the two most-quoted historians in the

entire book. A problem arose over D' Aubigne's quotations. He wrote his large history in French. Several English translations were later made; and, for the 1888 edition, Ellen quoted from more than one of them. But, later, D' Aubigne personally examined one of those English translations and declared it to be the only approved English translation of his history. (The others may have been just as good, but he had not examined them, nor was he receiving royalties on those translations.) So, in preparation for the 1911 edition, Ellen's helpers had to change many of the D' Aubigne quotations from one English edi- tion of History to another. For this reason, many of D'Aubigne quotations in the 1888 edition are worded a little differently in the 1911.

Was that an important change in Great Controversy? No, and none of the other changes were important either. None of them changed principles, doctrines, or standards in Great Controversy. None of them changed our beliefs. In fact, the only big changes in the 1911 editions were the changes in quotations —and they were not changes in the text of what Ellen White wrote at all! They were only changes in quotations from historians.

16 — PREPARATION OF THE 1911 EDITION

Let us now follow along during the making of the 1911 edition: In 1907, the most badly-worn 1888-edition printing plates were repaired, some illustrations were improved, and a subject index was added. In early January 1910, C.H. Jones, manager of Pacific Press, wrote to W.C. White that, since the plates were nearly worn out, it would be well to make any corrections to the book before the new plates were made.

W.C. White wrote back that, perhaps, some minor corrections might be necessary, but they ought to be able to be done rather quickly.

Miss Mary Steward, a proofreader on the E.G. White staff, carefully went through the book, checking for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and related items. In late February, she completed her work, which was sent to Pacific Press. She then went there to proofread the reset type.

So far, so good; the corrections could be quickly made. But then Ellen White and some of her assistants began thinking of other factors that needed changing. Keep in mind that she always, consistently, considered Great Controversy to be her most important book:

"When I learned that Great Controversy must be reset, I determined that we would have everything closely examined, to see if the truths it contained were stated in the very best manner, to convince those not of our faith that the Lord had guided and sustained me in the writing of its pages."—Letter 56, 1911.

So W.C. White sent out letters of inquiry regarding other corrections that should be made.

"We took counsel with the men of the Publishing Department, with State canvassing agents, and with members of the publishing committees, not only in Washington, but in California, and I asked them to kindly call our attention to any passages that needed to be considered in connection with the resetting of the book."— W.C. White to 'Our General Missionary Agents’, July 24, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, pp. 439-440).

Ellen and her staff began work on the changes. She, of course, did not carry out all this work, but she did check it all over. In a sense, the 1911 edition was not a revision, but rather a correction of the 1888. Miss Steward returned to Elmshaven to help Clarence C. Crisler in checking quotations used in the book.

(Elmshaven is where Ellen White lived upon her return from Australia in 1901. It is located in a valley just below the St. Helena Sanitarium in Napa Valley, California, and about 40 miles northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area.) Soon, another faithful helper, Dores Robinson, was helping with this project also. At the same time, Pacific Press had assigned artists the task of preparing several new full-page illustrations.

One group of suggestions was rejected. These came from W.W. Prescott, who had a number of peculiar theories, which he wanted inserted into Great Controversy. The present writer has found a number of incidents in which Prescott was not reliable, either in his thinking or his accusations. Some of our readers may recall that Prescott was the one who wrote doubting letters about Ellen White, which the Spectrum and Ford liberals like to quote. Prescott did not like her because she would not accept his peculiar ideas (such as a novel theory about the 1260 year prophecy).

All the corrections sent in were reviewed on May 23, 1910.

The main task was the revision of the historical quotations. This proved to be a monumental job! There were 417 quotations in the book, taken from 75 authors, 10 periodicals, and 3 encyclopedias. They had been collected and put into the 1888 edition while Ellen was in Switzerland, and she and her helpers had access to J.N. Andrew's extensive library in Basel. But, in 1910, many of those books could not be found, although Crisler searched the extensive holdings of four major libraries: the University of California Library at Berkeley, the Stanford University Library at Palo Alto, the California State Library at Sacramento, and the San Francisco Main Library .

Calls were sent out for educators and pastors of experience who were living near Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. to join in the search. Lists of specific items were sent to them. From there, the search spread to major libraries in London, Paris, and Germany. Not two or three weeks, as first expected, but four months were given to the task. From California, Crisler directed a wide-ranging search which ultimately netted many of the quotations.

Substitute quotations —approved by Ellen White in each instance —were then used for those not found. In a very few cases, quotations were left within quotation marks without references.

In regard to the chapter, The Bible and the French Reformation, Ellen had relied heavily for historical quotations on a lengthy study written by Uriah Smith on that topic. In that study he had quoted several historians, and she had used those same quotations. But there is nothing in any sense wrong with that. Researchers and writers regularly use quotations they find separately in books, and also clusters which they find quoted by other researchers. In the case of Ellen White, we are thankful that she did so. She still had many books to write as she worked on the third edition in the mid-1880s, and there was no need to lose needless time getting bogged down on original research work in history books. She did a lot of that as it was.

Because of the delay, rumors began spreading that perhaps other people were rewriting Great Controversy, and changing its teachings. A typesetter from Pacific Press visited Pacific Union College one weekend and mentioned the delay. Immediately fears and speculation abounded. But the they, the ones helping in the revision, were Ellen's trusted fellow workers; associates God had shown her she could trust, believers whom she had personally selected to help her in the everyday details of her office work. If evil men had crept in among them, God would have shown it to her. He faithfully protected His Word. William C. White wrote this in June 1910:

"Shortly after we sent word to the Pacific Press to delay electrotyping [making the printing plates], one of the workers in the type foundry visited the school [Pacific Union College], and soon questions and reports were as plentiful on the hillside and in the

valley as quails in August.

"Questions and suppositions and remarks come to Mother from all quarters, and she will continue to be perplexed by them until the work is done." —AL. White, The Later Elmshaven Years, p. 309.

A leading helper of Ellen White, from the mid-1890s onward, was her son, W.C. White. She did not accept him for that responsible position, even though he was her son, until Heaven gave its approval:

"While my husband lived, he acted as a helper and counselor in the sending out of the messages that were given to me. We traveled extensively. Sometimes light would be given to me in the night season, sometimes in the daytime before large congregations. The instruction I received in vision was faithfully written out by me, as I had time and strength for the work. Afterward we examined the matter together, my husband correcting grammatical errors and eliminating needless repetition. Then it was carefully copied for the persons addressed or for the printer.

"As the work grew, others assisted me in the preparation of matter for publication. After my husband's death, faithful helpers joined me, who labored untiringly in the work of copying the testimonies and preparing articles for publication.

"But the reports that are circulated, that any of my helpers are permitted to add matter or change the meaning of the messages I write out, are not true.

"While we were in Australia the Lord instructed me that W.C. White should be relieved from the many burdens his brethren would lay upon him, that he might be more free to assist me in the work the Lord has laid upon me. The promise had been given, 'I will put My Spirit upon him, and give him wisdom.'

"Since my return to America I have several times received instruction that the Lord has given me W.C. White to be my helper, and that in this work the Lord will give him of His Spirit." —1 Selected Messages, p. 50.

The above statement is dated July 8, 1906. Fifteen months later, she wrote the following clarifying statement, regarding her helpers, to another faithful friend:

"Dear Brother [F.M.] Wilcox:

"I received and read your recent letter. Regarding the sister who thinks that she has been chosen to fill the position that Sister White has occupied, I have this to say: She may be honest, but she is certainly deceived.

"About a year after the death of my husband, I was very feeble, and it was feared that I might live but a short time. At the Healdsburg camp meeting, I was taken into the tent where there was a large gathering of our people. I asked to be raised up from the lounge on which I was lying, and assisted to the speaker's platform, that I might say a few words of farewell to the people. As I tried to speak, the power of God came upon me, and thrilled me through and through. Many in the congregation observed that I was weak, and that my face and hands seemed bloodless; but as I began speaking they saw the color coming into my lips and face, and knew that a miracle was being wrought in my behalf. I stood before the people healed, and spoke with freedom.

"After this experience, light was given me that the Lord had raised me up to bear testimony for Him in many countries, and that He would give me grace and strength for the work. It was also shown me that my son, W.C. White, should be my helper and counselor, and that the Lord would place on him the spirit of wisdom and of a sound mind. I was shown that the Lord would guide him, and that he would not be led away because he would recognize the leadings and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

"The assurance was given me: 'You are not alone in the work the Lord has

chosen you to do. You will be taught of God how to bring the truth in its simplicity before the people. The God of truth will sustain you, and convincing proof will be given that He is leading you. God will give you of His Holy Spirit, and His grace and wisdom and keeping power will be with you. .

"The Lord will be your instructor. You will meet with deceptive influences; they will come in many forms, in pantheism and other forms of infidelity; but follow where I shall guide you, and you will be safe. I will put My Spirit upon your son, and will strengthen him to do his work. He has the grace of humility. The Lord has selected him to act an important part in His work. For this purpose was he born.

"This word was given me in 1882, and since that time I have been assured that the grace of wisdom was given to him. More recently, in a time of perplexity, the Lord said: 'I have given you My servant, W.C. White, and I will give him judgment to be your helper. I will give him skill and understanding to manage wisely.'

"The Lord has given me other faithful helpers in my work. Many of my discourses have been reported, and have been put before the people in printed form. Through nearly the whole of my long experience I have endeavored, day by day, to write out that which was revealed to me in visions of the night. Many messages of counsel and reproof and encouragement have been sent out to individuals, and much of the instruction that I have received for the church has been published in periodicals and books, and circulated in many lands. .

"The work is constantly moving forward. We are making earnest efforts to place my writings before the people. We hope that several new books will go to press shortly. If I am incapacitated for labor, my faithful workers are prepared to carry forward the work.

"Abundant light has been given to our people in these last days. Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak, and their work will go forward as long as time shall last. My writings are kept on file in the office, and even though I should not live, these words that have been given to me by the Lord will still have life and will speak to the people." —1 Selected Messages, pp. 5455.

Continuing on with that June 1910 progress report on the preparation of the 1911 edition, W.C. White said this: "During the last two weeks, we have been busily engaged in studying those matters which demanded consideration in connection with the bringing out of the new edition of Great Controversy. When I presented to Mother questions as to what we should do regarding the quotations from historians and the references to these historians, she was prompt and clear in her opinion that we ought to give proper credit wherever we can. This has called for a good deal of searching of histories.

"Brethren Crisler and Robinson have taken much pains to look up the very best English authorities for the bulls and decrees and letters quoted and referred to, and they have been successful beyond my fondest hopes.

"Further than this there will be very few changes made. In a few places where ambiguous or misleading terms have been used, Mother has authorized a changed reading, but she protests against any change in the argument or subject matter of the book, and indeed, we find, as we study into the matter, a clear and satisfactory defense for those passages to which our critics might take exception. "There are a few historical matters which we are still searching for. The most perplexing one is that regarding the three and a half days when the dead bodies of the two witnesses lay unburied, as referred to in Revelation 11:9-11."—W.C. White, Letter, June 20, 1910.

There were those who feared that changes would be made in the teachings of the book, and that peculiar ideas, invented by W.W. Prescott and Uriah Smith, would be slipped into the book. In reply to this fear, W.C. White wrote this:

"A number of questions have arisen over here as to what we are doing and why. Some have asked if you and Brother Prescott have been criticizing Great Controversy, and have asked to have it changed so that it will agree with the new light on the 'daily.'

"Our answer is, No; that you have neither of you expressed any wish of this sort; that the 'daily' is not mentioned or referred to in Great Controversy, that it is wholly ignored in that book, as are many other points of prophetic interpretation which, as published in Elder Smith's Daniel and Revelation, are being criticized. .

"I have maintained that as far as I can discern, you and Brother Salisbury and Elder Wilcox are in hearty sympathy with us and are doing what you can to help us to find clear and substantial evidence for the positions taken in Great Controversy. "—W.C. White, Letter, June 20, 1910.

Then there was that major problem of the D' Aubigne quotations. A.L. White provides us with the background of this problem, which we have already referred to:

.. A question arose, sparked by the checking of all quoted materials in the book. It was found that the most frequently quoted historian was D' Aubigne, whose History of the Reformation, written in French, had been published in five translations in England and the United States. Three of the translations were represented in the Great Controversy, but it was discovered that only one had the wholehearted approval of the author. The question now was 'Should all the matter quoted from this author be from just the one which had the author's approval?' To do so would call for a good many changes in the Great Controversy text, and in some cases, provide a less desirable wording. Work on the pages involved was held up until this matter could be settled by Ellen White herself. And this was delayed considerably because of some long absences of W.C. White from Elmshaven, a number of them in behalf of the new medical school."—AL. White, The Later Elmshaven Years, p.311.

"The next day, W.C. White was back home and hastened to place the D' Aubigne matter before his mother for a decision. Her decision was to use the translation approved by the author." —A.L. White, The Later Elmshaven Years, pp. 311—312.

Just before W.C. White found time to ask Ellen about her decision regarding the D'Aubigne quotations, Clarence Crisler wrote her this letter:

"The historical work connected with the resetting of Great Controversy is nearly finished. We are finding nearly all the quoted matter, and proper references are being given in the margins at the foot of the pages. The quotations are all being verified. When we learn from you what translation of D'Aubigne should be followed in the quotations taken from his History of the Reformation, we will act accordingly. .

"Great Controversy will bear the severest tests. When it was prepared years ago, thorough work was done. This is more and more evident, the more the book is examined."—W.C. White, Letter, Monday, August 1, 1910. Throughout the work of revision, the staff worked only within the limits set out by Ellen White. Periodically, that which they had accomplished was shown to her. Matters of major importance were taken to her for her decision before proceeding farther.

17 — TYPE OF CHANGES MADE IN THE 1911 EDITION

In a later major section of this study, we will discuss in much greater detail changes that were made in the text, quotations, and appendix of the 1888 edition — changes which transformed it into the 1911 edition. But, briefly, let us consider some of the types of changes which were made in the text.

One example would be the addition of alone on page 383 in the 1911 edition.

Without it, the text could appear to say that the daughter churches of Babylon were corrupt, but that the mother —Rome —was not! The mother church, Rome, was Babylon (p. 382), and the mother has daughters (pp. 382, 383). The message of Revelation 14 cannot therefore apply to the mother church alone, but also to the daughter churches:

“The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon, must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message fol- lows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone [alone added in the 1911 edition; not in the 1888], for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries."—Great Controversy, 1911 edition, p. 383.

"The criticism was brought to Mrs. White's attention, and in order to clarify the thought, she inserted the word alone, so that in the new edition it reads: 'It cannot refer to the Roman Church alone.' Not a word is altered in what precedes, with its application to the Roman Church. Not a word is altered in the pages that follow in which some of the Protestant churches are shown to answer to the picture."—Document file, 85e, D.E. Robinson's article— It a Contradiction?

Another example of a word change is found on page 27. In A.D. 31, Christ predicted that judgments would fall on Jerusalem. In A.D. 66, they began to fall; and, in A.D. 70, the city fell. The Bible frequently uses numbers in a rounded sense, and Ellen had done the same on page 27. But, in the 1911 edition, the word nearly was added to made the sentence more technically exact. (In the following several quotations, we added the italics.)

"For nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself, the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation." —Great Controversy, 1911, p. 27.

On page 52, the following phrase (shown in italics) was added to clarify the meaning:

" Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment also. " Great Controversy, 1911, p. 52.

On page 53, many was added to a sentence to indicate that not all Christians in the early centuries were led into apostasy.

"But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment."—Great Controversy, 1911, p. 53.

On page 329, the word well-known is substituted for recent. "A well-known writer speaks thus of the attitude of the papal hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience." Great Controversy, 1911, p. 329.

On page 287, statistics for the book output of the London-based British and Foreign Bible Society were written in a way that the paragraph would not later become outdated.

The 1888 edition:

"When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into more than two hundred languages and dialects. By the efforts of Bible societies, since 1804, more than 187,000,000 copies of the Bible have been circulated."—Great Controversy, 1888, p. 287. .

The 1911 edition:

"In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was fanned, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects." (See Appendix.)—Great Controversy, 1911, p. 287.

18 — HISTORICAL RESEARCH FOR 1911 EDITION

Here are several additional examples of the thoroughness with which Ellen White's assistants carried on their work:

On September 20, Crisler wrote to H. Camden Lacey, a well—known Adventist researcher at that time. (You may have seen his Bible study outlines.) Lacey was teaching at our college near London, and had been assigned the task of locating quotations in the libraries of that large city.

"We have endeavored to have all quoted matter in the book carefully verified, and references to proper sources inserted at the foot of each page where the extracts occur, throughout the book. Of course, no revision of the text has been attempted; and the paging of the reset plates will remain practically the same as in the former subscrip- tion editions all chapters beginning and ending on the same pages as hitherto." —C. C. Crisler, Letter, September 20, 1910 (italics supplied).

As part of their work, Crisler, working with researchers in library centers in America and Europe, tried to find verification of E.G. White statements in Great Controversy regarding various historical details. This consumed much time, but was quite rewarding. They found that what she had written could withstand the critical examination of learned historians.

Crisler wrote this on January 1911: "In all this historical work, we are eager to have the manuscripts that may be submitted, given the most searching tests. We need never be afraid of historical truth. "We would do well to avoid accepting the conclusions of some of the more modern historians who are attempting to rewrite history so as to shape it up in harmony with their philosophical viewpoint. We find it necessary to ex- ercise constant vigilance in this respect; and this leads us to set considerable store by the original sources, or fountainheads, of history.

"The more closely we examine the use of historical extracts in Great Controversy, and the historical extracts themselves, the more profoundly are we impressed with the fact that Sister White had special guidance in tracing the story from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, down through the centuries until the end. No mortal man could have done the work that she has done in shaping up some of those chapters, including, we believe, the chapter on the French Revolution, which is a very remarkable chapter, in more ways than one.

"And the more we go into these matters, the more profound is our conviction that the Lord has helped not only Sister White in the presentation of truth, but that He has overruled in the work of other writers, to the praise of His name and the advancement of present truth. " —Document file, 84d, C.C. Crisler to Guy Dail, January 3, 1911.

A surprising amount of historical research was carried out for the express purpose of validating that Ellen White did, indeed, write good history, contrary to what her critics said.

1— The Pope and the Papacy: On page 50 of the 1888 edition, the following statement appeared:

"The pope has arrogated the very titles of Deity. He styles himself 'Lord God the Pope,' assumes infallibility, and demands that all men pay him homage."—Great Con- troversy, 1911, p. 50. (Italics supplied.)

First, the pope had been called "Lord God the Pope;" and, second, the pope himself had called himself that. The first could be verified historically, but could the second? "It was pointed out to Ellen White's staff that 'there is abundant proof to establish the fact that the attributes of the Deity have been ascribed to the pope, but the style of expression in Great Controversy makes it appear that the pope, himself, has taken these titles to himself and that he has also assumed infallibility.' "—S.N. Curtiss to C.H. Jones, February 14, 1911.

Although Giustianni, in his Papal Rome as It Is, verified the second point, yet many historians questioned the validity of that book (probably because it told too much). In December 1910, Crisler found a decretal by Pope Gregory IX, in which he called himself by that name. But a question still existed in some minds. Since a decision re- garding a possible wording change in the text was involved, Ellen was asked to make a decision, since she was the only one who could do that.

"It will depend upon Mother's decision. We have some questions to submit to her as soon as she is feeling a little better, and willing to consider them.

"The question as to what the pope has arrogated to himself is a difficult one. The church has attributed to him all that is claimed in our books, and he has received it and acted upon it, but it is a little difficult to prove from histories within our reach that he has assumed the titles of the Deity and the right to change divine law, and Mother may decide that it is best for us to take a very conservative position in view of the controversies. . before us. "As soon as she decides this question (I hope she will consider it tomorrow), then we will report to you."—W.C. White, letter dated February 28, 1911.

She said to go ahead and make the change to the following:

"More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled 'Lord God the Pope,' . . and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men." —Great Controversy, 1911 edition, p. 50. (Italics supplied.)

Her statements about the conduct of the Roman Catholic Church were challenged by Catholic critics, but she maintained her position unchanged.

"On the other hand, Sister White has not felt clear in adopting as the full authoritative teaching of the Roman Catholic Church some of the utterances of their apologists in lands where religious liberty prevails. For this reason, she has felt clear in holding to the wording she adopted years ago for her presentation of the doctrine of indulgences, and her various references to this doctrine also, in the main, her references to withholding the Bible from the common people,

"I might refer to still other declarations in Great Controversy that have not been changed in order to harmonize them with the published works of certain apologists of the Church of Rome,"—C.C. Crisler to W.A. Colcord, April 9, 1911.

2— The edicts of the French Assembly: The 24-page chapter in Great Controversy on the French Revolution is a very important historical analysis. Ellen White's helpers sought to vindicate her statements made in that chapter. Here is an overview of the first of two of those research projects:

"I wish very soon to look up items connected with the French Revolution. This has been left, as you know, to the very last. Most of the other items have been cleared up."C.C. Crisler, letter, August 1, 1910.

A basic message on pages 267 to 287 is that, in 1793 or a little before 1798, the French Assembly prohibited and publicly burned the Bible. This historical fact is tied to the 1260-year prophecy, as explained in Revelation 12. A number of French and British original sources and historical commentaries were found which vindicated that position. They did, however, discover that the prohibition had been mentioned in several French public statements or decrees. So the wording in Great Controversy was pluralized:

The 1888 edition:

"It was in 1793 that the decree which prohibited the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding the decree, and granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body."—Great Controversy, 1888 edition, pp. 286-287.

The 1911 edition:

"It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body."—Great Controversy, 1888 edition, p. 287.

Ellen White herself had been anxious that the book reflect correct historical scholarship without, of course, compromising any of its principles.

3— The French Bell: St. Bartholomew's massacre began with the tolling of a bell in the darkness of night. What bell was it? There were critics who complained that Ellen referred to the wrong bell in her description of the incident. In vision she heard the bell in the nighttime, and witnessed what followed. Then, when writing up the event, finding that the palace bell was mentioned in a history book, she wrote it up that way:

"The great bell of the palace, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter [to begin]." —Great Controversy, 1888 edition, p. 272.

One of the complainants was W.W. Prescott, who was happy to report something wrong with Great Controversy: "All the histories dealing with the French Revolution which I have been able to consult state that it was the original plan to toll the bell of the palace as the signal, but owing to special circumstances, the signal was given by the ringing of the bell of the church of St. Germain." W. W. Prescott to W.C. White, April 26, 1910.

Upon investigating this, Ellen's assistants found that Prescott was incorrect in his assertion that historians almost unanimously favored his view. In reality, they differed among themselves on this point. Some preferred one bell, and some another; in fact, there were three possible bells which might have given the signal that night! Could it have been the palace bell, as stated in the 1888 edition? Yes, this was very possible. In regard to identifying it as the palace bell, they found much support for this from the historians. But, since it could have been the palace bell, the palace of justice bell, or the St. Germain Church bell —all within a block of one another —no one really could say for sure. For her part, Ellen was concerned that the focus be on her message, not on a dispute about bells! So she told her helpers to change the sentence to:

"A bell, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter."—Great Controversy, 1911 edition, p. 272.

Why did Ellen not originally write these things more accurately? Perhaps she wrote it very accurately, some matters the history books can neither confirm nor deny. But, actually, she was not given dates and place names. When shown historical events. W.C. White wrote:

"Mother has never claimed to be an authority on history. The things which she

has written out are descriptions of flashlight pictures and other representations given her regarding the actions of men, and the influence of these actions upon the work of God for the salvation of men, with views of past, present, and future history in its relation to this work.

"In connection with the writing out of these views, she has made use of good and clear historical statements to help make plain to the reader the things which she is en- deavoring to present. When I was a mere boy, I heard her read D' Aubigne's History of the Reformation to my father. She read to him a large part, if not the whole, of the five volumes. She has read other histories of the Reformation. "This has helped her to locate and describe many of the events and the movements presented to her in vision. This is somewhat similar to the way in which the study of the Bible helps her to locate and describe the many figurative representations given to her regarding the development of the great controversy in our day between truth and error."—W.C. White, July 23, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 437.)

Fifteen months later, he wrote this:

"The great truths revealed to Mother regarding the controversy between good and evil, light and darkness, have been given to her in various ways, but chiefly as flashlight views of great events in the lives of individuals and in the experiences of churches, of bands of reformers, and of nations.

"When Great Controversy was written, Mother never thought that the readers would take it as authority on historical dates or use it to settle controversy regarding de- tails of history, and she does not now feel that it should be used in that way. Mother recards with great respect the work of those faithful historians who devoted years Of time to the study of God's great plan as presented in the prophecy, and the outworking of that plan as recorded in history."—W.C. White to W. W. Eastman, November 4, 1912 (see also 3 Selected Messages, appendix B, pp. 446—447). [Italics ours.]

A key factor here is the nature of the Inspiration given to prophets. Many believe it was verbal inspiration, whereas it was actually thought inspiration.

Verbal inspiration is the theory that each word was personally selected by God, and it is totally accurate and unchangable. In contrast, thought inspiration teaches that the Holy Spirit gives the thoughts to the prophet, and then guides the prophet's mind as he writes it out. The result will still be correct in concept, but the prophet himself will have to consider which of several ways the sentence should be structured, and which of several synonyms, etc., should be used.

Of course, if true verbal inspiration had been used, then only the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible would be inspired.

"Mother has never laid claim to verbal inspiration, and I do not find that my father, or Elder Bates, Andrews, Smith, or Waggoner, put forth this claim. If there was verbal inspiration in writing her manuscripts, why should there be on her part the work of addition or adaptation? It is a fact that Mother often takes one of her manuscripts and goes over it thoughtfully, making additions that develop the thought still further."—W.C.

White, Letter, July 24, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 437).

"In a few places where ambiguous or misleading terms have been used, Mother has authorized a changed reading, but she protests against any change in the argument or subject matter of the book." —Documentary File 83b, W.C. White, June 20, 1910.

"Your letter came to me while in southern California. For some weeks the consideration of matters connected with the development of our sanitarium work there, and the writing out of the views given me regarding the earthquake and its lessons, have taken my time and strength.

"But now I must respond to the letters received from you and others. In your letter you speak of your early training to have implicit faith in the testimonies and say, 'I was led to conclude and most firmly believe that every word that you ever spoke in public or private, that every letter you wrote under any and all circumstances, was as in- spired as the Ten Commandments.'

"My brother, you have studied my writings diligently, and you have never found that I have made any such claims, neither will you find that the pioneers in our cause ever made such claims.

"In my introduction to The Great Controversy you have no doubt read my statement regarding the Ten Commandments and the Bible, which should have helped you to a correct understanding of the matter under consideration. Here is the statement:

"The Bible points to God as its author; yet it was written by human hands; and in the varied style of its different books it presents the characteristics of the several writers" —Letter dated June 14, 1906 (1 Selected Messages, pp. 24—25). [Several additional paragraphs from the Introduction of Great Controversy are then quoted. For the context, see 1 Selected Messages, p. 24 and onward.]

19 — THE FOURTH EDITION THE 1911 GREAT CONTROVERSY

Finally the work, which had begun in January 1910, was completed in early 1911. The printing was completed and the book was being bound by July. On July 17, 1911, copies of the completed book arrived in the Elmshaven mailbox. They were thankful the task was done, and that it had turned out so well.

"The paging has been preserved throughout the work; it is essentially the same, even if it is greatly improved in some respects, notably in the verification of quoted mat- ter, and the insertion of new or improved illustrations and the betterment of the indexes." —C.C. Crisler to Manager, Review and Herald, February 19, 1911.

"Our work of research has been difficult and expensive beyond all calculation. We do not regret the time nor begrudge the money. We believe that our people every- where will appreciate what has been done.

"A few days ago I had a talk with Elder Haskell about this. At one time he was quite unreconciled to the work we were doing, supposing we were making unnecessary changes; but when we told him we were glad that when the moss-backs said to us, Let bad enough alone, we could say, It is not necessary. And when the modern critics said, You must make many changes to make this harmonize with modern historians, we could say, It is not necessary, because we find in the most trustworthy historians full corroboration of the positions taken in this book."—AL. White, The Later Elmshaven Years, p. 323.

The 1911 Great Controversy had 10 new illustrations added, the 13 appendix notes were replaced by 31 notes, and the 12-page index was enlarged to 22 pages.

Both the 1888 and 1911 editions had 700 Biblical references, but more than 400 historical references to 88 authors and authorities had been added to the 1911.

When the new book finally came off the press, Ellen White was very happy with it, and read and reread it. Much more information on changes between the two editions will be given in Parts Two and Three of this study. "When the new book came out, she took great pleasure in looking over and rereading it. Said W.C. White, 'She was glad that the work we have done to make this edition as perfect as possible was completed while she was living and could direct in what was done.' "—W.C. White Letter, July 24, 1911 (see also 3 Selected Messages, p. 437).

After receiving and reading large portions of the new printing, and after reading W.G. White's letters of explanation dated July 24 and 25 (quoted elsewhere in this present study), on July 25, 1911, Ellen White wrote a letter to Elder F.M. Wilcox, president of the Review board and editor of the Review and Herald, in which she ex- pressed satisfaction with the 1911 edition. Here is the complete letter:

"Dear Brother Wilcox:

"A few days ago, I received a copy of the new edition of the book Great Controversy, recently printed at Mountain View, and also a similar copy printed at Washington. The book pleases me. I have spent many hours looking through its pages, and I see that the publishing houses have done good work.

"The book, Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. While writing the manuscript of Great Contro- versy, I was often conscious of the presence of the angels of God. And many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind.

"Recently it was necessary for this book to be reset, because the electrotype plates were badly worn. It has cost me much to have this done, but I do not complain; for whatever the cost may be, I regard this new edition with great satisfaction.

"Yesterday I read what W.C. White has recently written to canvassing agents and responsible men at our publishing houses regarding this latest edition of Great Controversy, and I think he has presented the matter correctly and well.

"As a result of the thorough examination by our most experienced workers, some changing in the wording has been proposed. These changes I have carefully examined and approved. I am thankful that my life has been spared, and that I have strength and clearness of mind for this and other literary work."—Letter 56, July 25, 1911.

Shortly after the 1911 edition was released, a Spanish translation was made under the direction of her faithful associates. A special chapter was added (between chapters 12 and 13), dealing with the Reformation in Spain. That chapter (entitled, EI Despertar de Espana) was not written by Ellen White, and this fact is noted in a footnote at its beginning:

"This chapter was compiled by C.C. Crisler and H.H. Hall, and was inserted in this book with the approval of the author."—Spanish Great Controversy, 1913 edition, footnote on page 252 at beginning of the inserted chapter 13.

20 — ELLEN WHITE SPEAKS ABOUT ALL THE EDITIONS

There are those who think that the second (1884) edition is the only one which should be distributed while others are certain that the third (1888) edition is the best. And there are those who will distribute nothing except the fourth (1911) edition..

Is only one edition the right one? What did Ellen White have to say about these three editions? What are the unique values and distinctive differences in each of them? In this present section we will deal with her statements about these four editions; in the next, we will note some of their unique qualities.

The 1858 Edition: The 1858 edition can today be found in the third section of Early Writings, pages 133-295. The 1858 edition was very small. Living and working conditions for Ellen were very primitive back then. She did the best she could, but it was not until the 1884 edition that we find ourselves with the first full length Great Controversy.

There can be no doubt that Ellen White's messages, recorded in the 1858 edition and later amplified in the later editions, were important:

"In this vision at Lovett's Grove, much of the material of the Great Controversy which I had seen ten years before was repeated, and I was shown that I must write it out; that I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong efforts to hinder me, but angels of God would not leave me in the conflict, that in God must I put my trust."—2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 270 (Life Sketches, p. 162 is almost identical. For the full story, read pp. 162-163).

"In the sudden attack at Jackson [Michigan], Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to raise me above the effect of Satan's attack."—2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 272 (Life Sketches, p. 163 is almost identical).

The 1884 Edition: The 1884 edition of Great Controversy was, at the time, called Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4. Ellen White spoke highly of it:

"I was shown. . that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume Four [Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4 was the 1884 Edition of Great Controversy]; and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go; and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of the world's history." —Letter 1, May 14, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 128).

"I was moved by the Spirit of God to write that book, and while working upon it I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly." —Letter 1, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 127).

"I write from fifteen to twenty pages each day. It is eleven o'clock, and I have written fourteen pages of manuscript for Volume Four. . As I write upon my book, I feel intensely moved. I want to get it out as soon as possible, for our people need it so much. I shall complete it next month if the Lord gives me health as He has done. I have been unable to sleep nights, for thinking of the important things to take place. Three hours and sometimes five is the most sleep I get. My mind is stirred so deeply I cannot rest. Write, write, write, I feel that I must, and not delay." Letter 11, February 19, 1884.

"The volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, and also the Testimonies, should be introduced into every Sabbath keeping family, and the brethren should know their value and be urged to read them. It was not the wisest plan to place these books at a low figure and have only one set in a church. They should be in the library of every family and read again and again. Let them be kept where they can be read by many, and let

them be worn out in being read by all the neighbors."—4 Testimonies, p. 390.

"You should lend Spirit of Prophecy to your neighbors and prevail upon them to buy copies for themselves. Missionaries for God, you should be earnest, active, vigorous workers."—4 Testimonies, p. 391.

"I was glad to hear Elder Haskell present before the pe0ple the necessity of placing reading matter in private families, especially the three volumes of Spirit of Prophecy and the four volumes of Testimonies. These could be read aloud during the long winter evenings by some member of the family, so that all the family might be instructed." 4 Testimonies, p. 304.

"Let those who wish to make valuable presents to their children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces procure for them the children's books mentioned above. For young people the Life of Joseph Bates is a treasure; also the three volumes of The Spirit of Prophecy. These volumes should be placed in every family in the land. God is giving light from heaven, and not a family should be without it." Review, December 11, 1879 (Adventist Home, p. 479.)

"We made it a practice to read instructive and interesting books, with the Bible, in the family circle, and our children were always happy as we thus entertained them. Thus we prevented a restless desire to be out in the street with young companions, and at the same time cultivated in them a taste for solid reading. The volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, should be in every family, and should be read aloud in the family circle."—Review, December 26, 1882 (Sons and Daughters of God. p. 178).

Many people disparage the 1884 edition because it is smaller than the 1888 and 1911 editions, yet it has several outstanding characteristics:

(1) The 1884 edition contains the smallest number of pages of any regular Great Controversy. This means it is more likely to be read by those you hand it to. (2) It has the lowest cost of any of the regular editions. This means that you can distribute it for less money than any other Great Controversy. (3) It does not need to be placed in tiny print in order to be printed in a small book. This makes it more readable, and more likely to be read.

These three qualities of the 1884 edition are outstanding.

How does it compare with the 1888 edition? In regard to the earlier, historical chapters, it has a similar coverage. It is not as complete in regard to Huss and Jerome and other historical figures, but this is not a terrible loss. It totally lacks the French Reformation and Netherlands and Scandinavia chapters, but that lack is not crucial to the overall message of the book. It is not as complete in its coverage of the English Reformation chapter. (In this regard, chapter 14 of the 1888 and 1911 editions contain some very worthwhile material about the law and Christian experience which is unfortunately not found in chapter 10 of the 1884 edition.) In regard to the sanctuary chapters (chapters 23, 24, 28 in the last two editions), it is not as complete. This is a lack. In regard to the closing chapters (chapters 25-42 in the 1888 and 1911 editions), the 1884 edition contains essentially the same information. This is a plus for it, since those closing chapters are especially important. However, the Origin of Evil chapter is presented in a better way in the later editions (chapter 29) than in the 1884 (chapter 24). A careful reading of both chapters reveals that, in the later editions of this crucial chapter, it is clearly shown that the great controversy was fought over obedience to the law of God. Thus, the 1884 edition is a good book; but, in some respects, the later editions are definitely better. The 1888 Edition: With the 1888, we arrive at the full-size editions. We have already compared it with the 1884, and with the 1911.

The 1888 stands as the edition much-maligned by two different classes of believers:

On one hand, there are those who fervently declare that only the 1884 edition was inspired of God, and that it alone should be distributed; on the other hand, there are those who feel that only the current one, whichever one that may be, should be circulated.

(The position of the present writer is that all the editions are equally inspired, worthwhile, and excellent for widespread distribution. It matters not which edition you may favor I as long as you will keep sharing it with others!)

In the middle are the 1888 advocates. This is a sizable group also. These folk want a full size edition, but fear that some unknown, damaging changes may have occurred in the preparation of the 1911 edition. But we have already seen the kind of changes that were made, and find they are not really significant. The principles are all there, just as they were in the 1888 edition.

The outstanding advantages of the 1888 edition are these: (1) For the first time we had the complete book. Essentially everything in the 1911 edition (aside from some changed historical quotations) is in the 1888 edition. (2) It was her original full size book, before the concern to insert references was carried out. Yet, frankly, for practical purposes there is no real difference between either edition! The teachings are the same; nearly every word in the text is the same. Only some quotations from historians are different, but is that important? No, it is not. (3) The 1888 appendix is definitely more complete than the 1884. But the 1911 revision would result in a still more complete appendix; one enlarged by two thirds in the number of notes.

So those are the benefits of the 1888 Great Controversy. The drawbacks are its large size, higher cost, and smaller print, in comparison with the 1884, and the fact that it lacks the clarifications and corrections made in the 1911. These constitute two significant drawbacks. Two other worthwhile features of the 1911 edition are the historical quotation references and the very helpful fact that all references are in the text and not in footnotes, as they are in the original 1884 and 1888 editions.

Another drawback —found in both the 1888 and 1911 editions —is the absence of the 3-page satanic monologue, which, in the 1884, begins the Snares of Satan chapter. That is the longest direct quotation from the devil to be found anywhere in the Spirit of Prophecy. But, since it was about the faithful and not the world, it was omitted from the 1888 edition, which was intended for sale to the world.

(I will here mention that our own editions of the 1888 edition include that 3-page Snares of Satan as Appendix 2 in the back, have the 1888 appendix, have put all references into the text, and still retain a larger print size in a thinner book. Try it; you'll like it.) It is anticipated that our 1992 reprint of the 1888 and 1911 editions will also be one of the lowest —if not the lowest-cost Great Controversys available anywhere.)

Before leaving the 1888 edition to consider the 1911 edition, a major question remains: The charge has been leveled that only the 1884 edition is inspired by God, and it alone should be read and shared with others because the 1888 edition was written by our leaders in Battle Creek!

If that be true, then why did Ellen White have to plead with our leaders in Battle Creek to circulate it? (See the quotations below.)

If that be true, then why did our leaders in Battle Creek refuse to let the colporteurs sell it?

If that be true, then why did Ellen White let them write the book for her? For her to let them do it and not speak up would have been an overt act of treason against the God of heaven who gave her the great controversy message in the first place.

If that be true, then why is it that the 1888 edition has all the same principles in it

that the 1884 has?

If that be true, then why is there no real evidence that the 1888 edition was written by Uriah Smith or anyone other than Ellen White? All that these critics can offer are allusions, hints, and insinuations.

If that be true, then the 1911 edition, which is essentially the same as the 1888 edition, is also a fake. Why was Ellen White totally silent regarding the alleged cheat for 29 years, from 1886 to 1915?

There are men who want a following, who are willing to even cast doubt upon the genuineness of the Spirit of Prophecy writings in order to gain that following.

Listen to what Ellen White had to say about the 1888 edition, in light of the charges made that she did not write that book but Uriah Smith or one of his cronies at the Review wrote it. She says far more about its importance than she ever said about the 1884 edition!

"About this time when the new edition of Volume Four (the new edition of the 1884 Volume Four was the 1888 Volume Four] came from the press, the new book, Bible Readings, was introduced. This book had a great sale, and has been permitted to swallow up every other interest. Canvassers found it an easy book to handle, and Volume Four [Great Controversy] was kept out of the field. I felt that this was not right. I knew that it was not right because it was not in harmony with the light which God had given me." —Letter, 1890.

"The keeping of Great Controversy from the field has done a work that men will have to answer for in the judgment."—Manuscript 64, 1894.

"For nearly two years the book (Great Controversy] containing warnings and instructions from the Lord, given especially for this time, has been lying in our publishing houses, and no one feels the necessity or importance of bringing it to the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden? Now Volume One, or Patriarchs and Prophets, is ready for circulation, but even for this book I would not allow Volume Four to remain longer as a light under a bushel. I am in sore distress of mind, but who of my brethren cares for this?

"The Lord has set before me matters which are of urgent importance for the present time, and which reach into the future. The words have been spoken in a charge to me, 'Write in a book the things which thou hast seen and heard, and let it go to all the people; for the time is at hand when past history will be repeated.' I have been aroused at one, two, or three o'clock in the morning with some point forcibly impressed upon my mind, as if spoken by the voice of God. .

"I was shown. . that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for

volume 4 [Great Controversy]; that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of this world's history."—Letter 1, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 128).

"God gave me the light contained in The Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets and this light was needed to arouse the people to prepare for the great day 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 (Colporteur Ministry. p. 129).

"As soon as Great Controversy came from the press it should have been pushed forward above every other book. I have been shown this. Had it been circulated at the time it was lying idle, there would have been a very different order of things among our workers. The impressions made would have brought decided changes. But instead of this the book was suppressed, although the promise was made me that it should go forward if I would take the lowest royalty. The book that should have gone did not go; and the men who should have worked to carry it forward discouraged the canvassers from handling it. Thus saith the Lord, 'I will judge for this false, dishonest work.' "—Letter, 1899.

"Just at this point his satanic majesty was in the management of the books at the Review and Herald Office. Those at the head of the publishing work there would handle neither Great Controversy nor Patriarchs and Prophets, the books God has specified the people must have at once. They promised me faithfully that after certain months they would handle these books, but they failed to keep their word. When the Great Controversy should have been circulated everywhere, it was lying dead in the Review and Herald Office and the Pacific Press." —Letter 35, 1899.

"My mind has been so fully occupied with the burden upon me of getting before the people the light having especial reference to these last days and the crisis before us. The world is to be warned, and I have felt so deeply over Volume Four standing still as it has done."—Letter 25a, 1889.

"This book has to a great degree been misplaced by another book, which has kept from the world the light God has given."—Manuscript, 24, 1891.

"I know that the statement made that these books cannot be sold is not true. I know; for the Lord has instructed me that this is said because human devising has blocked the way for their sale. It cannot be denied that these works were not the product of any human mind, they are the voice of God speaking to the people, and they will have an influence upon minds that other books do not have." Manuscript 13, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 129).

"The work of the intelligent, God-fearing canvasser has been represented as

equal to that of the gospel minister. Then should the canvasser, any more than the minister, feel at liberty to act from selfish motives? Should he turn his back on all the principles of missionary work, and handle the books —placed before him, shall I say, as a temptation —on which he can make the most money? Should he have no interest to circulate any book but that which brings him the greatest financial gain? How is the missionary spirit revealed here? Has not the canvassing work ceased to be what it ought to be? How is it that no voice is raised to correct this state of things?" —Letter 1, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 127).

"I was shown. . that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume Four (Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4, later became the present Great Contro- versy); and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of the world's history. "—Letter 1, May 14, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 128).

The 1911 Edition: No other book written by Ellen White received the special care that Great Controversy received. This is shown by the fact that it, alone, over the passing decades received so much attention, correction, and enlargement. Her first vi- sion was basically a great-controversy-type vision, and she received a number of visions in 1848 which amplified on that first vision. Later came the 1858 Lovett's Grove vision, to be followed by the four editions of the book.

She never worked as hard on any other book, as on that one. Even the book of Jeremiah was only written twice, but Great Controversy was written three times, plus a capstone of corrections in the 1911 revision.

Before the 1911 revision was started, this was her view of the matter:

After it was completed, she wrote at length regarding its value. Elsewhere we have quoted that letter of July 25, 1911.

21 — BOOKS WRITTEN BEFORE AND AFTER 1885

For several years the present writer has vigorously opposed this charge that the E.G. White books published after 1885 were written by others, contain little of value, and should not be read or circulated.

That surely is a deceptive accusation; for, as we all know, nearly all her books were penned after 1885! Read this:

"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 1-4, 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."—AL. White, The Lonely Years, p. 434. Now you know what was written prior to 1885. Here is part of what was written after 1885:

Acts of the Apostles; Counsels on Health; Colporteur Handbook; Christ's Object Lessons; Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students; Education; Fundamentals of Christian Education; the enlarged (1888) Great Controversy; Gospel Workers; Life Sketches; Mount of Blessing; Ministry of Healing; Medical Ministry; Messages to Young People; Prophets and Kings; Patriarchs and Prophets; Steps to Christ; Sanctified Life; Testimonies, volumes 5-9; and Testimonies to Ministers.

Here are later compiled books composed of statements, most of which were not written until after 1885:

Adventist Home; SDA Bible Commentary quotations; Counsels on Diet and Foods; Child Guidance; Christian Service; Colporteur Ministry; Counsels on Stewardship; Counsels on Sabbath School Work; Counsels to Writers and Editors; Evangelism; God's Amazing Grace; Maranatha; My Life Today; Reflecting Christ; Sons and Daughters of God; This Day with God; Temperance; Upward Look; and Welfare Ministry.

Be honest with yourself. Is it worth rejecting most of the Spirit of Prophecy writings just because some misguided friends tell you it is best to do so?

Are you going to entrust your salvation to their guidance?

Here is a fairly complete, alphabetical listing of her published books. All those produced after 1885 are placed in full caps: (For your convenience, we have prefaced each entry with a common abbreviation.)

AA — ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
AH — ADVENTIST HOME
1-7BC — ADVENTIST BIBLE COMMENTARY, VOL. 7A
AM — AMAZING GRACE, GOD'S
CME — CALL TO MEDICAL EVANGELISM
CE — CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
CET — CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND TEACHINGS OF E.G. WHITE CTBH — CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE AND BIBLE HYGIENE
CE — COLPORTEUR EVANGELIST
CM — COLPORTEUR MINISTRY
CC — CONFLICT AND COURAGE
Con — CONFRONTATION
CDF — COUNSELS ON DIET AND FOODS

CG — CHILD GUIDANCE
CH — COUNSELS ON HEALTH
Ch S — CHRISTIAN SERVICE
CM — COLPORTEUR MINISTRY
CL — COUNTRY LIVING
COL — CHRIST'S OBJECT LESSONS
CS — COUNSELS ON STEWARDSHIP
CSS — COUNSELS ON SABBATH SCHOOL WORK
CT — COUNSELS TO PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND STUDENTS
CWE — COUNSELS TO WRITERS AND EDITORS
CA — CRISIS AHEAD
DA — DESIRE OF AGES
DC — Disease and Its Causes (from How to live)
Ed — EDUCATION
EV — EVANGELISM
EW — Early Writings
FW — FAITH AND WORKS
FLB — FAITH I LIVE BY
FE — FUNDAMENTALS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
HS — HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF SDA FOREIGN MISSIONS
1884 GC — 1884 Great Controversy
1888 GC — 1888 GREAT CONTROVERSY
1911 GC — 1911 GREAT CONTROVERSY
GW — GOSPEL WORKERS
HP — IN HEAVENLY PLACES
LDE — LAST DAY EVENTS
LS — LIFE SKETCHES OF ELLEN G. WHITE
LHU — LIFT HIM UP
LLM — LOMA LINDA MESSAGES
MC — MANUAL FOR CANVASSERS
1-16MR — MANUSCRIPT RELEASES, VOL. 1—16 Mar — MARANA THA 1-2MCP — MIND, CHARACTER, AND PERSONALITY, VOL. 1—2
MB — MOUNT OF BLESSING
MH — MINISTRY OF HEALING
MLT — MY LIFE TODAY
MM — MEDICAL MINISTRY
MYP — MESSAGES TO YOUNG PEOPLE

MT — MORNING TALKS
NL — NEW LIFE
NBL — NOTEBOOK LEAFLETS
OHC — OUR HIGH CALLING
PP — PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS
PK — PROPHETS AND KINGS
PM — PUBLISHING MINISTRY
RC — REFLECTING CHRIST
RY — RETIREMENT YEARS
Series A — SPECIAL TESTIMONIES, SERIES A
Series B — SPECIAL TESTIMONIES, SERIES B
LP — Sketches from the Life of Paul
SC — STEPS TO CHRIST
SO — SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD
1-4SG — Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1-4
SL — SANCTIFIED LIFE
1SM — SELECTED MESSAGES, BOOK 1
2SM — SELECTED MESSAGES, BOOK 2
3SM — SELECTED MESSAGES, BOOK 3
1ST — SERMONS AND TALKS, VOL. 1
SA — Solemn Appeal
SW — SOUTHERN WORK
SR — Story of Redemption
1-4T — Testimonies, Vol. 1-4
5-9T — TESTIMONIES, VOL. 5-9
TSB — TESTIMONIES ON SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, ADULTERY, AND DIVORCE Te — TEMPERANCE
TM — TESTIMONIES TO MINISTERS
TMK — THAT I MAY KNOW HIM
TDG — THIS DAY WITH GOD
UL — UPWARD LOOK
UT — UNPUBLISHED (SPALDING-MAGAN) TESTIMONIES
VSS — VOICE IN SPEECH AND SONG
WM — WELFARE MINISTRY

Similar lists could be made of her journal articles, written and published before and after 1885. Large numbers of invaluable articles were penned after 1885 for the Re- view, Signs, Bible Echo, Pacific Union Recorder, and other denominational periodicals.

Ellen White wrote "many books," not just a few. She wrote them "for over sixty

years" (see statement, below, written in 1906), not just for 39 years (1846-1885). Believe not the words of those who tell you that Ellen White's books, written after 1885 are suspect and cannot be trusted.

"I understand that some were anxious to know if Mrs. White still held the same views that she did years ago when they had heard her speak in the sanitarium grove, in the Tabernacle, and at the camp meetings held in the suburbs of Battle Creek. I assured them that the message she bears today is the same that she has borne during the sixty years of her public ministry. She has the same service to do for the Master that was laid upon her in her girlhood. She receives lessons from the same Instructor. The directions given her are, 'Make known to others what I have revealed to you. Write out the messages that I give you, that the people may have them.' This is what she has endeavored to do.

"I have written many books, and they have been given a wide circulation. Of myself I could not have brought out the truth in these books, but the Lord has given me the help of His Holy Spirit. These books, giving the instruction that the Lord has given me during the past sixty years, contain light from heaven, and will bear the test of inves- tigation.

At the age of seventy-eight I am still toiling. We are all in the hands of the Lord. I trust in Him; for I know that He will never leave nor forsake those who put their trust in Him. I have committed myself to His keeping.

" 'And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.'” (1 Tim. 1:12)."—Review, July 26, 1906.

22 — PEOPLE HELPED BY GREAT CONTROVERSY

"The ministers are opening up their tirade, and against Mrs. White in particular. But this is only hurting themselves . . I am placing Desire of Ages, Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Christ Our Saviour in families; so, while the ministers are working against me, I will speak in my writings to the people. I believe souls will be con- verted to the truth. We are now turning them to the law and to the testimonies. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." —Letter 217,

Here are several incidents in Ellen's life in which individuals have been helped through the reading of Great Controversy: In 1893, a non-Adventist minister attended an Adventist church service, and afterward spoke with Ellen: "This Sabbath was a most precious day to his soul; he said that he had never had a happier day in his life.

"He afterward desired an interview with me, we had a pleasant visit. His conversation was very interesting, and we had a precious season of prayer together. I believe that he is a servant of God. I gave him my books Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Steps to Christ. He seemed much pleased, said he wanted all the light he could get in order to meet the opponents of our faith. He was baptized before leaving for his home, and will return to present the truth to his own congregation." — Manuscript 4, 1893 (Evangelism, p. 277:1).

In early May 1994, Ellen, with a helper, visited the Radley family in Castle Hill, Australia. The wife was favorable to the Sabbath, but the husband was resisting the truth. Ellen received a vision in which she was told, "Go to Brother Radley, place your books before him, and this will save his soul."

"I visited with him, taking with me a few of my large books. I talked with him just as though he were with us. I talked of his responsibilities. I said, 'You have great re- sponsibilities, my brother. Here are your neighbors all around you. You are accountable

for everyone of them. You have a knowledge of the truth, and if you love the truth and stand in your integrity, you will win souls for Christ.' "He looked at me in a queer way, as much as to say, 'I do not think you know that I have given up the truth, that I have allowed my girls to go to dances and the Sunday School, that we do not keep the Sabbath.' But I did know it. However, I talked to him just at though he were with us.

" 'Now,' I said, 'we are going to help you to begin to work for your neighbors. I want to make you a present of some books.'

"He said, 'We have a library, from which we draw books. '

"I said, 'I do not see any books here. Perhaps you feel delicate about drawing from the library. I have come to give you these books, so that your children can read them, and this will be a strength to you.'

"I knelt down and prayed with him, and when we rose, the tears were rolling down his face as he said, 'I am glad you came to see me. I thank you for the books.'

"The next time I visited him, he told me that he had read part of Patriarchs and Prophets. He said, 'There is not one syllable I could change. Every paragraph speaks right to my soul.'

"I asked Brother Radley which of my large books he considered the most important. He said, 'I lend them all to my neighbors, and the hotelkeeper thinks that Great Controversy is the best. But,' he said, while his lips quivered, 'I think that Patriarchs and Prophets is best. It is that which pulled me out of the mire.' "—1901 General Conference Bulletin, pp. 84-85 (Evangelism, pp. 451-452).

Soon after, Brother Radley was baptized, along with his entire family, and united with a local congregation of believers. Several of the children later spent their lives in the work.

In 1896, Ellen wrote of a family at Dora Creek (near Avondale) who had accepted the truth after attending meetings and reading Great Controversy (Letter 167, 1896, written June 1, 1896).

In August 1990, as she was returning from Australia to America, Ellen read several letters handed to her as the group departed Sydney. One was from a convert who had expressed his gratitude for Great Controversy, for it was through that book that he came to God and into an acceptance of the Third Angel's Message. (See The Early Elmshaven Years, p. 519.)

Here is her experience with the head of the Women's Christian Temperance Organization, a nationwide antiliquor group. (Dr. Merritt G. Kellogg was the brother of J.H. Kellogg and a very successfully non-drug-physician. He earlier helped found the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and, later still, the St. Helena Sanitarium.) Contrary to the pat- tern recommended today of sharing it "later," Ellen White was not afraid to give Great Controversy to anyone on first meeting them:

"Dr. M.G. Kellogg came to my tent to see if I would have an interview with the president and secretary of the W.C.T.U. We invited them to our tent, and we had a very pleasant visit. The president is a strict vegetarian, not having tasted meat for four years. She bears a clear countenance, which does credit to her abstemious habits. The secretary is a young woman. Both are ladies of intelligence. They manifest deep interest in all they have heard. They have made a request that I speak in the beautiful hall in which they hold their meetings, and they asked Brother Starr to write for their temperance paper.

"The president expressed an earnest desire that we should harmonize in the temperance work. 'Be assured,' they said, 'we shall enter every door open to us that we may let our light shine to others. ' They seemed highly gratified in seeing and hearing

and being convinced that the fruits of the Spirit are possessed and revealed by this pe0- ple. I gave each of them a copy of Christian Temperance, to one The Great Controversy, to the other Patriarchs and Prophets. "—Manuscript 2, 1894 (Temperance, p. 262).

23 — THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

The Introduction to Great Controversy clearly explains the reason why it was written and the objectives that it will help fulfill in the lives of all willing to read and accept its message. You will find the Introduction at the front of the book. (In the 1888 edition, it is called the Author's Preface; and, in the 1911, it is titled The Introduction. This preface or introduction was not in the 1884 edition.)

The entire Introduction is invaluable. The basic content of the book is described in these two paragraphs:

"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 workings, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the author of salvation; and Satan, the author of evil, the first transgressor of God's holy law."[Great Controversy, p. 13, old edition: p. 10 (1888)].

"As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us. Regarding them in the light of God's Word and by the illumination of His Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one and the dangers which they must shun who would be found without fault before the lord at His corning." —Great Controversy, p. 11:2-3 [old edition, p. 9:2—31, 1888.

The seven objectives of the book are plainly stated in this powerful paragraph:

"To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error; to reveal the wiles of Satan and the means by which he may be successfully resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great problem of evil, shedding such light on origin and the final disposition of sin as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealing with His creatures; and to show the holy, unchanging nature of the law is the object of the book. That through its influence souls may be delivered from the powers of darkness, and become 'partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;' to the praise of Him who loves us, and gave Himself for us, is the earnest prayer of the writer. " —Great Controversy, p. xii (in current edition).

The above three quotations are worth reading and thinking about quite a while.

24 — THE MOST VALUABLE BOOK OF ALL

In 1905, after the 1884 and 1888 editions had been printed, Ellen wrote this:

You will find that most of her strong affirmations of that book were penned after 1888. That is not to say that the 1884 edition is not a good one also, but it clearly shows that the 1888 was not a bad one. And what about the 1911 edition? It is a mirror image of the 1888, plus some corrections, which do not affect the teachings and a number of changed historian statements, so references can be given with them.

Here are more of her expressions of confidence in that book, and the powerful good it can and will do when it is read and shared with others:

"We are warned to avoid the mistakes the Israelites made in stubbornly refusing to receive the warnings that came to them from God." —Letter 229, 1903.

"The results of the circulation of this book [Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now appears. By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. But a much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it. The fulfillment of some of the predictions will inspire faith that others will also come to pass, and when the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency."—Manuscript 31, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, pp. 128-129).

Here are statements about Great Controversy and similar books, which tell the facts about the great controversy between Christ and Satan:

"Many will depart from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits. Patriarchs and Prophets and Great Controversy are books that are especially adapted to those who have newly come to the faith, that they may be established in the truth. The dangers are pointed out that should be avoided by the church. Those who become thoroughly ac- quainted with the lessons in these books will see the dangers before them, and will be able to discern the plain, straight path marked out for them. They will be kept from strange paths. They will make straight paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way."—Colporteur Ministry, pp. 129-130 (Evangelism, p. 366).

"Let there be an interest awakened in the sale of these books. Their sale is essential, for they contain timely instruction from the Lord. They should be appreciated as books that bring to the people light that is especially needed just now. Therefore these books should be widely distributed. Those who make a careful study of the instruc- tion contained in them, and will receive it as from the Lord, will be kept from receiving many of the errors that are being introduced. Those who accept the truth contained in these books will not be led into false paths." —Colporteur Ministry, p. 130.

"In Desire of Ages, Patriarchs and Prophets, Great Controversy, and in Daniel and Revelation there is precious instruction. These books must be regarded as of special importance, and every effort should be made to get them before the people."— Colporteur Ministry, p. 123.

"The larger books, Patriarchs and Prophets, Great Controversy, and Desire of Ages, should be sold everywhere. These books contain truth for this time—truth that is to be proclaimed in all parts of the world. Nothing is to hinder their sale." —Colporteur Evangelist, p. 35 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 124; Review, January 20, 1903).

"The light given was that Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, Great Controversy, and Patriarchs and Prophets would make their way. They contain the very message the people must have, the special light God has given His people. The angels of God would prepare the way for these books in the hearts of the people." —Colporteur Ministry, pp. 123—124.

"Instruction has been given me that the important books containing the light that God has given regarding Satan's apostasy in heaven should be given a wide circulation

just now; for through them the truth will reach many minds. Patriarchs and Prophets, Daniel and Revelation, and the Great Controversy are needed now as never before; they should be widely circulated because the truths they emphasize will open many blind eyes. . Many of our people have been blind to the importance of the very books that were most needed. Had tact and skill then been shown in the sale of these books, the Sunday-law movement would not be where it is today."—Colporteur Evangelist, p. 21 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 123; Review, February 16, 1905).

"Sister White is not the originator of these books. They contain the instruction that during her lifework God has been giving her. They contain the precious, comforting light that God has graciously given His servants to be given to the world. From their pages this light is to shine into the hearts of men and women, leading them to the Saviour. The Lord has declared that these books are to be scattered throughout the world. There is in them truth which to the receiver is a savor of life unto life. They are silent witnesses for God. In the past they have been the means in His hands of convicting and converting many souls. Many have read them with eager expectation, and by reading them, have been led to see the efficacy of Christ's atonement, and to trust in its power. They have been led to commit the keeping of their souls to their Creator, waiting and hoping for the coming of the Saviour to take His loved ones to their eternal home. In the future these books are to make the gospel plain to many others, revealing to them the way of salvation." Colporteur Ministry, p. 125 (Review, January 20, 1903).

"My brethren and sisters, work earnestly to circulate these books. Put your hearts into this work, and the blessing of God will be with you. Go forth in faith, praying that God will prepare hearts to receive the light." —Colporteur Evangelist, pp. 36-37 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 126; Review, January 20, 1903).

"How many have read carefully Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and the Desire of Ages? I wish all to understand that my confidence in the light that God has given stands firm because I know that the Holy Spirit's power magnified the truth and made it honorable, saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it.' In my books the truth is stated, barricaded by a thus saith the Lord. The Holy Spirit traced these truths upon my heart and mind as indelibly as the law was traced by the finger of God upon the tables of stone which are now in the ark to be brought forth in that great day when sentence will be pronounced against every evil, seducing science produced by the father of lies."—Letter 90, 1906 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 126:2).

Here are additional statements:

“Canvassers should be secured to handle the books, Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, Desire of Ages, Daniel and Revelation, and other books of like character, who have a sense of the value of the matter these books contain, and a realization of the work to be done to interest people in the truth. Special help, which is above all the supposed advantages of illustrations, will be given to such canvassers. Canvassers who are born again by the work of the Holy Spirit, will be accompanied by angels, who will go before them to the dwellings of the people, preparing the way for them." —Manuscript 131, 1899 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 88:1).

"The ministers (non-S.D.A.) are opening up their tirade, and against Mrs. White in particular. But this is only hurting themselves. . I am placing Desire of Ages, Great Con- troversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Christ Our Saviour in families; so that while the ministers are working against me, I will speak in my writings to the people. I believe souls will be converted to the truth. We are now turning them to the law and to the testimonies. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."—Letter 217, 1899 (Evangelism pp. 259:2 and 260:0).

Here are still more quotations:

"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 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 129).

"I do not demerit Bible Readings. It is a book, which will do a great amount of good, but it can never take the place the Lord designed that Volume Four should have in the world and among our people. I have spread before them the light given me of heaven in that book.

"It is a duty we owe to our people and to God, to send every ray of light given me of God, demanded at this time for every tongue and nation,"—Letter 25a, 1889.

"We are warned to avoid the mistakes the Israelites made in stubbornly refusing to receive the warnings that came to them from God," —Letter 229, 1903.

"The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith."—5 Testimonies, p. 463.

"The Lord has sent His people much instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. Little heed has been given to the Bible, and the Lord has given a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light. Oh, how much good would be accomplished if the books containing this light were read with a determination to carry out the principles they contain! There would be a thousand fold greater vigilance, a thousand fold more self-denial, and resolute effort. And many more would now be rejoicing in the light of present truth." Colporteur Ministry, pp. 125-126 (Review, January 20, 1903).

25 — THE 1907 DREAM

Ellen White had a very important dream on the night of March 2, 1907. That afternoon she had been counseling with S.N. Haskell and his wife, discussing evangelis- tic work in the Oakland area and their forthcoming journey to Massachusetts.

Retiring to bed afterward, Ellen was weary and in pain from arthritis, but at last fell asleep. At 9:30 p.m. she was awakened, free from pain, to a vision of loveliness. Afterward she slept again. In the extended dream which followed, these topics were presented: (1) She was shown the importance of reading and circulating widely the books about the great controversy message, especially those written by herself (9T, pp. 66-67). (2) In vivid contrast with the pure truth in those books were the errors in the worldly books, and in J.H. Kellogg's book, Living Temple (9T, pp. 66-69). (3) After this, she was shown the importance of printing and selling the important books, but not so cheaply as to drive the publishing house into closure, and not at an exorbitant price either (9T, pp. 69-75). (4) Other matters were also revealed.

Here are the portions of that dream which concern Great Controversy and similar books, as well as the price they should be sold at:

"About half past nine I attempted to turn myself, and as I did so, I became aware

that my body was entirely free from pain. As l turned from side to side, and moved my hands, I experienced an extraordinary freedom and lightness that I cannot describe. The room was filled with light, a most beautiful, soft, azure light, and I seemed to be in the arms of heavenly beings.

"This peculiar light I have experienced in the past in times of special blessing, but this time it was more distinct, more impressive, and I felt such peace, peace so full and abundant no words can express it. I raised myself into a sitting posture, and I saw that I was surrounded by a bright cloud, white as snow, the edges of which were tinged with a deep pink. The softest, sweetest music was filling the air, and I recognized the music as the singing of the angels. Then a Voice spoke to me, saying: 'Fear not; I am your Saviour. Holy angels are all about you.' " 'Then this is heaven,' I said, 'and now I can be at rest. I shall have no more messages to bear, no more misrepresentations to endure. Everything will be easy now, and I shall enjoy peace and rest. Oh, what inexpressible peace fills my soul! Is this indeed heaven? Am l one of God's little children? and shall I always have this peace?'

"The Voice replied: 'Your work is not yet done.' "Again I fell asleep, and when I awoke I heard music, and I wanted to sing. Then someone passed my door, and I wondered if that person saw the light. After a time the light passed away, but the peace remained.

"After a while I fell asleep again. This time I seemed to be in a council meeting where our bookwork was being discussed. There were a number of our brethren present, leaders in our work, and Elder Haskell and his wife were there consulting together and with the brethren about the circulation of our books, tracts, and periodicals.

"Elder Haskell was presenting strong reasons why the books which contain the knowledge that has been communicated to Sister White —the books containing the special message to come to the world at this present time —should be more freely circulated. 'Why,' he inquired, 'do not our people appreciate and circulate more widely the books bearing the divine credentials? Why is not a specialty made of the books containing the warnings regarding Satan's work? Why do we not give greater effort to circulating the books that point out Satan's plans to counterwork the work of God, that uncover his plans and point out his deceptions? The moral evils of his deceptions are to be removed by opening the eyes of the people so that they shall discern the situation and the dangers of our times; so that they shall make diligent effort to lay hold by faith upon Christ and His righteousness.'

“A messenger from heaven stood in our midst, and he spoke words of warning and instruction. He made us clearly understand that the gospel of the kingdom is the message for which the world is perishing and that this message, as contained in our publications already in print and those yet to be issued, should be circulated among the people who are nigh and afar off."—9 Testimonies, pp. 65-67.

"The work of bookmaking is a grand and good work; but it has not always stood in the high and holy position that God designed it should occupy, because self has been interwoven with the work of some who have engaged in it. The bookwork should be the means of quickly giving the sacred light of present truth to the world. The publications that come forth from our presses today are to be of such a character as to strengthen every pin and pillar of the faith that was established by the Word of God and by the revelations of His Spirit.

"The truth that God has given for His people in these last days should keep them firm when there come into the church those who present false theories. The truth that has stood firm against the attacks of the enemy for more than half a century must still be the confidence and comfort of God's people.

"Our evidence to non professors that we have the truth of the Word of God will be given in a life of strict self-denial. We must not make a mockery of our faith, but ever keep before us the example of Him who, though He was the Prince of heaven, stooped to a life of self-denial and sacrifice to vindicate the righteousness of His Father's Word. Let us each resolve to do our best, that the light of our good works may shine forth to the world.

"Perfect agreement should exist in the plans laid for the publications of our books and periodicals, that the light which they contain may be quickly carried everywhere to the nominal churches and to the world. Much more should have been accomplished in the sale of our books than we see accomplished today.

"Our ministers should call upon the church members to let the truth triumph. 'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.' Isaiah 60:1-3. Unity and love will accomplish wonderful things for the believers. Will not our churches arouse and give the last warning message to the world?"—9 Testimonies pp. 69-70.

"God designs that we shall learn lessons from the failures of the past. It is not pleasing to Him to have debts rest upon His institutions. We have reached the time when we must give character to the work by refusing to erect large and costly buildings. We are not to copy the mistakes of the past and become more and more involved in debt. We are rather to endeavor to clear off the indebtedness that still remains on our institutions. Our churches can help in this matter if they will. Those members to whom the Lord has given means can invest their money in the cause without interest or at a low rate of interest, and by their freewill offerings they can help to support the work. The Lord asks you to return cheerfully to Him a portion of the goods He has lent you, and thus become His almoners.

"Afterward we were in camp meetings and in large meetings in our churches, where the ministers presented clearly the perils of the times in which we live and the great importance of making haste in the circulation of our literature. In response to these appeals the brethren and sisters came forward and purchased many books. Some took a few, and some purchased large quantities. Most of the purchasers paid for the books they took. A few arranged to pay afterward.

"Because books were being sold at low prices, some being especially reduced for the occasion, many were purchased, and some by persons not of our faith. They said: 'it must be that these books contain a message for us. These people are willing to make sacrifices in order that we may have them, and we will secure them for ourselves and our friends.'

"But dissatisfaction was expressed by some of our own people. One said: 'A stop must be put to this work, or our business will be spoiled.' As one brother was carrying away an armful of books, a canvasser laid his hand upon his arm and said: 'My brother, what are you doing with so many books?' Then I heard the voice of our Counselor saying: 'Forbid them not. This is a work that should be done. The end is near. Already much time has been lost, when these books should have been in circulation. Sell them far and near. Scatter them like the leaves of autumn. This work is to continue without the forbiddings of anyone. Souls are perishing out of Christ. Let them be warned of His soon appearing in the clouds of heaven.'

"Some of the workers continued to appear much cast down. One was weeping and said: 'These are doing the publishing work an injustice by purchasing these books at so Iowa price; besides, this work is depriving us of some of the revenue by which our work is sustained.' The Voice replied: 'You are meeting with no loss. These workers who

take the books at reduced prices could not obtain so ready sale for them except it be at this so-called sacrifice. Many are now purchasing for their friends and for themselves who otherwise would not think of buying.'

"Then instruction was given to Elder Haskell that in his anxiety to supply the people with the precious truth contained in his books, in his desire that all should feel that the books are worth more than they cost, and that all should be encouraged to give them a wide circulation, he was selling his books too cheap, and thus making his own burden too heavy.

"Our Counselor said: 'The books should be sold in such a way that the author will not be left barehanded and that the publishing house shall have a proper margin so that it will have means to carryon its work.' "—9 Testimonies pp. 71-73.

"Blessed will be the recompense of grace to those who have wrought for God in the simplicity of faith and love. The value of service to God is measured by the spirit in which it is rendered, rather than by the length of time spent in labor.

"I am very desirous that the light contained in my books shall come to every soul possible, for God has sent the message for all. These books contain precious lessons in Christian experience. I would not dare forbid that these books be sold on special occasions at a low price, lest I should hinder the reading of the books, and thus withhold the light from some soul who might be converted to the truth. I have no forbiddings to place on the work of circulating our books. Let the light be placed on the candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house."—9 Testimonies, pp. 7475.

26 — BASIC SECTIONS AND PRINCIPLES IN THE BOOK

The acid test of whether the 1888 and 1911 editions are as valuable as the 1884 edition is to be found in the principles stated in these editions. If an uninspired writer wrote any of its chapters, we would find clear evidence of this in the changed viewpoints, concepts, and principles.

Yet we find no such evidence. The editions all read alike. This is because they were all written by the same hand.

Single-sentence chapter summaries: Here is a sample single-summary listing of principles for each of the first four chapters of Great Controversy:

Chapter 1 . The Destruction of Jerusalem: Disaster came because they obeyed men instead of God and His Word.

Chapter 2 . Persecution In the First Centuries: The one group received salvation because they obeyed God and His Word.

Chapter 3. The Apostasy: The other class went into ever deeper apostasy because they disobeyed God and His Word.

Chapter 4. The Waldenses: This people received divine protection and human persecution because they obeyed God and His Word.

Try writing single-line summaries of the other chapters in the book. Ask your friends to do it also; then read them aloud, compare, and discuss.

Basic principles In Chapter One: Here is a simple list of some underlying principles in the first chapter, The Destruction of Jerusalem:

17:1b,18:1b When men do not return to God in repentance and obedience, destruction is their final end.

18:1-19:0 An astounding sacrifice had been provided to save them through

Christ.

19:1 Repeatedly, through inspired prophets, God had called and waited for a proper response.

19:2-21:0 Finally, Christ personally came and they slew Him.

21:0-22:0 The apostasy of Israel brought upon them a host of problems.

22:1-23:0 Jerusalem is but a symbol of the greater calamities and destruction that will ultimately come upon the world for having rejected Christ.

23:1-25:1 Their very temple, the structural wonder of the world, had been their greatest pride; yet, because of their apostasy, it would be torn down.

25:2-26:0 In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, Christ presented a brief outline of future apostasy and judgments.

26:1-27:2 Jerusalem, although apparently impregnable, would be destroyed because of its apostasy.

27:328:0 The sentence of doom was mercifully delayed that they might be given additional time to repent. During that final probationary time, the children continued to share in the sins and guilt of their forefathers.

28:1-29:1 God withdrew His protection because of their sins and stubborn resistance. Those very evil qualities brought on their destruction; yet, even to the end, they blindly believed they were still serving God! 29:2—30:1 Warning signs and messages were given to the people before their end.

30:2-31:0 The faithful in Israel heeded the warnings and escaped the final destruction. 31:1-36:0 A description of the final crisis and destruction. 36:1 All this stands as a solemn warning to us today.

It is only God's protection that keeps us from satanic dominance. But, when the limits of transgression are passed, men are given up to the control they want that of Satan. Then the wicked cooperate with Satan in destroying themselves.

36:2-37:0 The entire wicked world will, because of ever deepening sin, soon pass under the control of Satan—and this will bring on the final desolations. 37:1 But, through it all, God's faithful ones will be secure, protected by heavenly angels.

37:2-38:0 Carefully consider these principles and warnings, for the end is drawing near.

38:1 Unfortunately, as did the Jews, the world in these last days will ignore the warnings, even down to the final destruction.

Chapter 1 is the introductory chapter to the entire book. It sets the tone for all that follows. The entire book is one vast warning from history and Scriptural principles, given to prepare men today for coming events.

Many other principles are delineated in this book. Search for them and write them out. As you look, note whether you find even one false principle in any of the editions — earlier or later. Not one will be found! The God of heaven has protected this, His special book.

Basic subdivisions of the book: Great Controversy can be divided into several subsections. They can be split in a variety of ways:

1 — Historical chapters — chapters 1-17 (pp. 17-316)
2 — Millerite chapters — chapters 18-22 (pp. 317-408)
3 — Doctrinal chapters — chapters 23-34, 37 (pp. 409-562, 593-602)

4 — Final-event chapters — chapters 36, 38-42 (pp. 582-592, 603-678)

Although chapter 37 is actually a doctrinal chapter, it was placed within the closing-events chapters to emphasize its urgent importance. The message of that chapter is (1) we must never consider the words of any man, organization, or government to be more important than Scripture and obedience to it, and (2) the final controversies and deceptions will be over exactly that point!

But there are other subdivisions which could be used.
Here is a more extended one (including some overlap):
1 — Introduction — chapter 1 (pp. 17-38)
2 — Lessons from pre-Reformation history — chapters 2-6 (pp. 39-119) 3 — Lessons from the Reformation — chapters 7-14 (pp. 120-264)

4 — Post-Reformation effects and apostasy — chapters 1517 (pp. 265-316) 5 — The Millerite Movement — chapters 18-22 (pp. 317-408)

6 — The Sanctuary Message — chapters 23-24, 28 (pp. 409-432, 479-491) 7 — Importance of the Law of God — chapters 25-29 (pp. 433-504)
8 — Satan and his methods of operation — chapters 29-34 (pp. 492-562)
9 — Truth and error about death — chapters 33-34 (pp. 531-562)

10 — Final events — chapters 35-42 (pp. 563-678)

Correlating Great Controversy to Daniel and Revelation: Back in late 1979, the present writer typeset much of Great Controversy and placed it into 11x17 tracts (our 16-tract Great Controversy Series).

As the task was concluding, one evening the thought came to mind to select only the choicest areas and shorten it all to five tracts, dealing with the most crucial points in the book. It was typeset, and is now available in three formats: (1) The five-tract Final Crisis Series, (2) the back half of our small paperback, Mark of the Beast, and (3) the back half of our Steps to Christ book, Shelter in the Storm.

As the five-part tract was being completed, it seemed that the crucial chapters of Revelation 12 to 14 ought to correspond to it in some way. Checking this out, it was discovered that the two matched!

Of course, Great Controversy would correspond with part of this, since much of it is represented in those basic materials. These crucial sections which begin with the Origin of Evil chapter and focus on the Roman apostasy, Sabbath message, importance of obedience to God's law, Revelation 13 and 14, state of the dead, spiritism error, and final crisis dovetail nicely into the messages of Revelation 12 to 14. Here it is:

Bringing a Planet into Rebellion: CRISIS OF THE AGES. A sweeping presentation of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The Groundwork for the Mark. Revelation 12: 1-12 (Great Controversy, chapter 29).

Out of the Dark Centuries: THE FORMING OF THE BEAST. The gradual development of the Beast of Revelation 13. The Making of the Mark. Revelation 12:13- 17 and 13: 1-2 (Great Controversy, chapters 2-15).

Laying Plans to Destroy: PREPARING FOR THE MARK. The crisis we face today and what it is leading us to. The Meaning of the Mark. Revelation 13:2-12 and 14:6-12 (Great Controversy, chapters 25-28).

Supernatural Power to Enslave: TALKING WITH DEVILS. The wonder-
20

working power that is gradually appearing. The Force behind the Mark. Revelation 13:13-15 and 16:12-14 (Great Controversy, chapters 30-34).

By Threat or by Violence: ENTERING THE FINAL CRISIS. Rolling back the curtain on the end of time. The Giving of the Mark. Revelation 13:16-18 and 18:1-7 (Great Controversy, chapters 36-42).

It is a fascinating thought to consider that Great Controversy is actually a commentary on the basic chapters of Daniel and Revelation! Most of the book is concerned with Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 through 14 while part of Great Controversy (not included in the above brief five part tract set) deals with Daniel 8 and 9 (the sanctuary and Investigative Judgment chapters).

Recognizing this close correlation would help our people produce better interpretations of Daniel and Revelation. In our time, some of the analytic studies of those two books, done by our people show little correlation with the principles and events in Great Controversy. Instead, too much effort is made to squeeze the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation into a few short years at the close of time.

27 — IN CONCLUSION

We know that the purest truth is to be found in the Spirit of Prophecy writings. Along with the Bible, they are the books most needed by this final generation. But, among them, Great Controversy is the most important book which she wrote. It should receive special attention when we select those books we will circulate. In conclusion, let us read again three statements which we quoted earlier:

The full impact of that book will not be realized until later:

“The results of the circulation of this book (Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now appears. By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. But a much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it. The fulfillment of some of the predictions will inspire faith that others will also come to pass, and when the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency."—Manuscript 31, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, pp. 128-129).

There are seven special reasons why Great Controversy was written:

"To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error; to reveal the wiles of Satan and the means by which he may be successfully resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great problem of evil, shedding such light on the origin and the final disposition of sin as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God in all His dealing with His creatures; and to show the holy, unchanging nature of the law is the object of the book. That through its influence souls may be delivered from the powers of darkness, and become 'partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;' to the praise of Him who loves us, and gave Himself for us, is the earnest prayer of the writer." —Great Controversy, p. xii (in current edition).

Clearly, there is work to be done. Soon the final crisis will be upon us.

"When the storm of God's wrath breaks upon the world, it will be a terrible revelation for souls to find that their house is being swept away because it is built upon the sand. Let the warning be given them before it is too late. We should now feel the responsibility of laboring with intense earnestness to impart to others the truths that God has given for this time. We cannot be too much in earnest."—6 Testimonies, p. 16.

Comparing the 1884 and 1888 Editions

- PART TWO -

COMPARISONS OF THE TEXT

Through His inspired prophet, the God of heaven gave us more than one edition of the book, Great Controversy. He considered it important enough to say it more than once. The four Gospels in the Bible were also considered important, so He gave us that material, written four times in somewhat different ways.

"There is variety in a tree, there are scarcely two leaves just alike. Yet this variety adds to the perfection of the tree as a whole.

"In our Bible, we might ask, Why need Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Gospels, why need the Acts of the Apostles, and the variety of writers in the Epistles, go over the same things?

"The Lord gave His word in just the way He wanted it to come."-1 Selected Messages, p. 21.

I have here before me, as I write, an original copy of each edition of Great Controversy-1858, 1884, 1888, 1911 edition with the 1911 appendix, the 1911 edition with its 1956 revised appendix, and the 1979 appendix revision edition.

The 1858 edition (which you can find in Early Writings, pp. 133-295) begins with the fall of Satan, fall of man, and the plan of redemption, then jumps down to eight chap- ters on the life of Christ, and thence to five chapters on the apostles. After that, five brief chapters are then alotted to the next 17 centuries. The remaining 20 small chapters span from William Miller's time on down to the second death.

Most of this material is extremely short and to the point, so it is difficult to compare it with the later editions of Great Controversy.

The next three editions are much closer together.
In this section, we will do some comparing of the 1884, 1888, and 1911 editions.

28 - COMPARING THE 1884 AND 1888 EDITIONS

There is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in the 1858 edition, but it is assigned a full chapter in each of the next three editions. If we were to compare chapter one in all three editions (1884, 1888, and 1911), we would find no startling differences. Compare them for yourself; they are all available in print. (We now publish the 1884 and 1888, and may soon release the 1911, if there is enough demand.) You will only find added material in the 1888 which fills out the picture portrayed in the 1884. The 1911 is essentially a duplicate of the 1888. Your own examination of chapter one in these three editions will emphasize it a lot stronger than I can. There is nothing peculiar, strange, nor erroneous in any edition of that chapter.

After that, comparatively examine any other chapter in the book. You will find that the very same situation applies. I assure you that there are those who have triedand tried hard-to find error in the 1888 or 1911 editions, and they have been unable to do so. The errors just are not there; in the 1884 are the solid basics, and the later editions only provide us with excellent amplifications of those basic points.

It is not difficult to compare the 1884 with the 1888/1911; simply obtain one of our 1884 editions and, using the paging guide in the left or right margin of our 1884 edition, compare it with the later editions.

Later, in the comparision of the 1888 with the 1911 which will immediately follow, we will carefully analyze the differences between the 1884 and 1888 editions as they relate to chapter 37 (The Scriptures a Safeguard). Those interested in close comparisons of the two editions will find it of special interest.

THE HISTORICAL CHAPTERS (1884: chapters 1-12; 1888: chapters 1-17)- These chapters were significantly enlarged in the 1888 edition, which were rewritten while Ellen White was in Europe.

1884: Chapter 1: The Destruction of Jerusalem (1888/1911: same chapter number and title)-This chapter is about the same in both the 1884 and 1888. Small ad- ditions were made throughout the chapter. Everything is essentially there in the 1884 as in the 1888, and vice versa.

1884: Chapter 2: Persecution in the First Centuries (1888/1911: same)-All the essential parts are in both the 1884 and 1888 of this chapter.

1884: Chapter 3: The Apostasy (1888/1911: same)The same holds true for this chapter.

1884: Chapter 4: The Waldenses (1888/1911: same) This chapter also has all the essential parts.

1884: Chapter 5: Early Reformers (1888/1911: chapters 5 and 6: John Wycliffe, Huss and Jerome)-So far, al I the chapters in the 1884 had been essentially complete, plus extras here and there in the 1888. But now we come to a chapter that was sizably expanded in the 1888. Chapter 5, Early Reformers, in the 1884 was enlarged into two chapters in the 1888. The basics of both are in the 1884 chapter, but many more narrative details are fleshed out in the 1888. Yet all the basic principles were in the 1884, before the 1888 was produced. The concluding paragraph is of interest. It bridges the reader across to the sixteenth century Reformation in Germany and Switzerland.

"When one witness was forced to let fall the torch of truth, another seized it from his hand, and with undaunted courage held it aloft. The struggle had opened that was to result in the emancipation, not only of individuals and churches, but of nations. Across the gulf of a hundred years, men stretched their hands to grasp the hands of the Lollards of the time of Wycliffe. Under Luther began the Reformation in Germany; Calvin preached the gospel in France, Zwingle in Switzerland. The world was awakened from the slumber of ages, as from land to land were sounded the magic words, 'Religious Liberty.' "-1884 Great Controversy, p. 93.

1884: Chapter 6: Luther's Separation from Rome (1888/1911: chapter 8, same title)-This chapter has all the basic features of the later editions.

1884: Chapter 7: Luther Before the Diet (1888/1911: chapter 8, same title)-Once again, the two chapters are essentially the same. At this point in the historical chapters, the 1911 begins using many more quoted, referenced statements attributed to those discussed in the chapter.

1884: chapter not Included till 1888 edition (Chapter 9 in the 1888/1911; The Swiss Reformer)-This chapter, primarily about Zwingli, is not in the 1884 edition.

1884: Chapter 8: Progress of the Reformation (1888/1911: chapter 10; Progress of Reform in Germany)The chapters are, for practical purposes, about the same.

1884: Chapter 9: Protest of the Princes (1888/1911: chapter 11, same title)- Once again we find all the primary material in the later editions that was in the 1884.

1884: Chapter 10: Later Reformers (1888/1911: chapter 14; Later English Reformers)-This chapter was greatly enlarged in the 1888/1911. In the 1884, the earlier English and Scottish Reformers (Tyndale, Knox, Latimer, Barnes, Frith, Ridleys, Cranmer, Bunyan, Whitefield, the

Wesleys, and others are briefly mentioned; whereas, in 1888/1911, this is sizably expanded, especially the work of Charles Wesley. Notably absent from the 1884 is the excellent discussion on Christian experience in relation to obedience to the law of God. Yet the Modern Revivals chapter somewhat covers the same ground. One of the two unique sections in the 1884 is to be found on pp. 180187. Here we find the story of the Sabbathkeepers, the Seventh-Day Baptists, in England and America. This section was omitted from the 1888 because it brings the reader to the Sabbath many chapters before it is explained and discussed in detail (1884: chapter 20, pp. 273 onward; 1888/1911: chapter 25, pp. 433 onward).

1884: chapter not Included till 1888 edition (Chapter 12 in the 1888/1911; The French Reformation)-This chapter is not in the 1884 edition.

1884: chapter not Included till 1888 edition (Chapter 13 in the 1888/1911; The Netherlands and Scandinavia)is not in the 1884 edition.

1884: Chapter 11: The Two Witnesses (1888/1911: chapter 15; The French Revolution)-Chapter 11 in the 1884 was greatly enlarged in the 1888/1911. A large amount of historical detail was added; yet, as with the other chapters, all the basic principles were retained and only strengthened.

1884: chapter not Included till 1888 edition (Chapter 16 in the 1888/1911; The Pilgrim Fathers)-This chapter is not in the 1884 edition. It deals with the journeys of the pilgrims, the religious intolerance of the Puritans, the religious liberty principles of John Robinson, Roger Williams, the U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

1884: Chapter 12: God Honors the Humble (1888/1911: chapter 17; Heralds of the Morning)-This chapter was greatly enlarged when the 1888 edition was prepared. The first part of the 1888/1911 chapter (an in-depth study on the teaching of the Second Coming) is almost totally missing. The second part (1888: pp. 306-316; about preparing for His coming) was decidedly enlarged.

THE MILLERITE CHAPTERS (1884: chapters 13-17; 1888: chapters 18-22)- These chapters were also amplified in the 1888 edition. An attempt to compare the next five chapters can be confusing. The OUTLINE CHART on this or a nearby page will explain the relationship between these chapters in the 1884 and 1888/1911 editions. Most of the material in these five chapters received some enlargement in the 1888. Because the 1884 edition was written for believers, the 2300-year prophecy is NOT explained in chapter 13 (p. 206, after para. 0; but a footnote refers the reader to an appendix note with that information), nor is it summarized in chapter 23; whereas, in the 1888/1911, that information is given twice in the text (chapter 18, pp. 321-329; chapter 23, p. 410:1). Here is a brief summary:

1884: Chapter 13: William Miller (1888/1911: chapter 18; An American Reformer)-See chart.

Not Included in 1884 edition (Chapter 19 in the 1888/1911; Light through Darkness)- This chapter is not in the 1884 edition.-See chart.

1884: Chapter 14: The First Angel's Message (1888/1911: chapter 20; A Great Religious AwakeningSee chart.

1884: Chapter 15: The Second Angel's Message (1888/1911: chapter 21; A Warning Rejected.)-See chart.

1884: Chapter 16: The Tarrying Time (1888/1911: chapter 22, PART 1; Prophecies Fulfilled, part 1)-See chart.

1884: Chapter 17: The Midnight Cry (1888/1911: chapter 22, PART 2; Prophecies Fulfilled, part 2.)-See chart.

MILLERITE CHAPTER COMPARISONS

1884 EDITION
1884: Chapter 13 Similar to

1888/1911, Chapter 18

1884: Chapter 14 Similar to 1888/1911, chapter 20

1884: Chapter 15 Similar to1888/1911: Chapter 21

1884: Chapter 16 Similar to 1888/1911 chapter 22, PART 1 (1843 disappointment; parable of ten virgins; 1844 summer fanaticism).

1884: Chapter 17 Similar to 1888/1911 chapter 22, PART 2 (Midnight Cry; Great Disappointment; disap- pointment of Christ's disciples; the faithful maintained their faith and waited for divine guidance through Scripture).

1888/1911 EDITION

1888/1911: Chapter 18 William Miller's message; ignorance of Scripture; Scoffers reject it; lovers of God and Bible accept it.

1888/1911: Chapter 19

New light will come, but it will agree with Scripture.

1888/1911: Chapter 20

The giving of the message overseas and in America.

1888/1911, chapter 21

The First Angel's Message is rejected by the majority of those who hear it; the Second Angel's Message concerns the Protestant apostasy and fall; the Re- velation 18 message will have a second fulfillment later.

1888/1911: Chapter 22

The 1843 disappointment; parable of ten virgins; 1844 events (summer fanaticism; August-October Midnight Cry; October Great Disappointment; disappointment of Christ's disciples; awaiting further light).

THE CLOSING CHAPTERS (1884: Chapters 18-37; 1888: Chapters 35-42)- These are the doctrinal and closing-events chapters. Although doctrine and closing events are discussed earlier in the book, the last 20 chapters deal with these topics to a

very special degree. We generally consider these chapters to be very, very important! It is of interest that BOTH the 1884 and 1888/1911 editions are very similar in their presentation of these concluding 20 chapters. The last 18 chapters are extremely similar (1884: chapters 20-37; 1888/1911: chapters 25-42) in the editions. Although, because of the importance of those chapters we have noted in our comments on the closing chapters (below) some special differences, yet those chapters are still very much alike in the editions. It is in the historical and Millerite chapters that the major differences are to be found, where many worthwhile additions were made when the 1888 was prepared.

1884: Chapter 18: The Sanctuary (1888/1911: chapter 23; What is the Sanctuary?)-This is amplified somewhat in the 1888/1911. Because the 1884 edition
was written for believers, the 2300-year prophecy is NOT explained in chapter 13 (p. 206, after para. 0; although a footnote refers the reader to an appendix note with that informa- tion), nor is it summarized in chapter 23; whereas, in the 1888/1911, that information chapter 23, p. twice in )the text (chapter 18, pp 321-329; chapter 23, p. 410.1)

1884: Chapter 19: An Open and a Shut Door (1888/1911: chapter 24; In the Holy of Holies)-Several very important truths are given in the 1888/1911 edition, which are not in the 1884. You will want to read both. That part which is not in the 1884 is 1888/1911: pp. 424-430:2.

1884: Chapter 20: The Third Angel's Message (1888/1911: chapter 25; God's Law Immutable). 1884, chapter 20, PART 1 (pp. 273-283:0) is similar to part of 1888/1911 edition, chapter 25. 1884, chapter 20, PART 2 to chapter 21, all (pp. 283:1- 293) is similar to PART 1 of 1888/1911, chapter 26.

1884: Chapter 21: The Third Message Rejected (1888/1911: chapter 26; A Work of Reform). 1884 is similar to PART 2 of 1888/1911, chapter 26 (See important comment in paragraph, above.)

1884: Chapter 22: Modern Revivals (1888/1911: chapter 27; same title). This chapter was decidedly enlarged in the 1888/1911.

1884: Chapter 23: The Investigative Judgment (1888/1911: chapter 28; same title).

1884: Chapter 24: The Origin of Evil (1888/1911: chapter 29; same title). Several important comments on the relation of the law of God to the basic great controversy issue is not in the 1884 edition. In the present writer's opinion, chapter 29 in the 1888/1911 is therefore decidedly better.

1884: Chapter 25: Enmity between Man and Satan (1888/1911: chapter 30; same title). Almost identical, plus two added paragraphs in the 1888/1911 (506:1, 509:1).

1884: Chapter 26: Agency of Evil Spirits (1888/1911: chapter 31; same title). Similar, but with some enlargement in the 1888/1911.

1884: Chapter 27: The Snares of Satan (1888/1911: chapter 32; same title) Because 1884 edition was written for the church, not as an evangelistic tool, pp. 337-340 are not in the 1888/1911, although several of those concepts were absorbed into the 1888/1911 edition in different wording. But Snares in 1888/1911 edition also included additional material not in 1884 (518:1-2 added, 522:3 larger, 525:4 added, 526:2-530:0 added).

1884: Chapter 28: The First Great Deception (1888/1911: chapter 33; same title).

1884: Chapter 29: Spiritualism (1888/1911: chapter 34; same title).

1884: Chapter 30: Character and Aims of the Papacy (1888/1911: chapter 35; Aims of the Papacy). 1884 is similar to 1888/1911, but 1888/1911 have some added

quotations. Also, although we know that quotations from historians frequently vary between the 1888 and 1911 editions (see chapter 39 for a detailed list of them all), here is one of the very few instances in which material was added in the body of the 1911 edition, which was not in the 1888:

1884: Chapter 31: The Coming Conflict (1888/1911: chapter 36; The Impending Conflict). Similar content, but note first and last paragraphs in chapter which, in 1884, indicate that the book was written in U.S. and to Americans. This was changed in 1888/1911, for by 1885, while in Europe, she was shown the book should be enlarged, written as an evangelistic tool for non-believers, and published all over the world.

1884: Chapter 32: The Scriptures a Safeguard (1888/1911: chapter 37; same title). Similar material, but several added paragraphs in the 1888/1911. These additions are discussed in detail elsewhere in this present book.

1884: Chapter 33: The Loud Cry (1888/1911: chapter 38; The Final Warning). Similar, but with added material in the 1888/1911; some of which is important (such as 604:3605:2). Another example would be the added 1888/1911 material in 611:2-612:1 (cf. 1884: 429:2-430). A bracketed note in 1888 was omitted from 1911: ".. may be blotted out (in the investigative judgment), when the times .."1888 edition, 612:0 (cf. 1911: 612:0).

1884: Chapter 34: The Time of Trouble (1888/1911: chapter 39; same title). The following paragraphs are not in the 1884: 614:1b-616:0, 620:3-621:0, and 623:1-2.

1884: Chapter 35: God's People Delivered (1888/1911: chapter 40; same title). First two paragraphs differ in the 1884 and 1888/1911 editions. Some other variations also exist (460:3 in 1884 is not in 1888/1911 (it would go after 642:2 in 1888/1911). 468:1 in 1884 is not in 1888/1911 (would go after 651:1). 1888/1911: 646:2-647:1 and 648:3649:0 are not in 1884.

Comparing the 1884 and 1888 Editions

1884 EDITION
1 Destruction of Jerusalem
2 Persecution in the First Centuries 3 The Roman Church
4 The Waldenses
5 Early Reformers

6 Luther's Separation from Rome 7 Luther before the Diet

8 Progress of Reform in Germany 9 Protest of the Princes

1888/1911 EDITION
1 Destruction of Jerusalem
2 Persecution in the First Centuries 3 The Apostasy
4 The Waldenses
5 John Wycliffe
6 Huss and Jerome
7 Luther's Separation from Rome 8 Luther before the Diet
9 The Swiss Reformer
10 Progress of Reform in Germany 11 Protest of the Princes
12 The French Reformation

10 Later Reformers 11 The Two Witnesses

13 The Netherlands and Scandinavia 14 Later English Reformers
15 The Bible and the French Revolution

1884 EDITION

12 God Honors the Humble 13 William Miller

14 The First Angel's Message 15 The Second Angel's Message

16 The Tarrying Time 17 The Midnight Cry

18 The Sanctuary
19 An Open and Shut Door
20 The Third Angel's Message 21 The Third Message Rejected 22 Modern Revivals
23 The Investigative Judgment 24 The Origin of Evil

1888/1911 EDITION

16 The Pilgrim Fathers
17 Heralds of the Morning
18 An American Reformer
19 Light through Darkness
20 A Great Religious Awakening 21 A Warning Rejected

22 Prophecies Fulfilled

23 What is the Sanctuary? 24 In the Holy of Holies 25 God's Law Immutable 26 A Work of Reform

27 Modern Revivals
28 The Investigative Judgment 29 The Origin of Evil

1884 EDITION
25 Enmity Between Man and Satan 26 Agency of Evil Spirits
27 Snares of Satan
28 The First Great Deception
29 Spiritualism
30 Character and Aims of the Papacy 31 The Coming Conflict
32 The Scriptures a Safeguard
33 The Loud Cry
34 The Time of Trouble
35 God's People Delivered
36 Desolation of the Earth
37 The Controversy Ended

1888/1911 EDITION
30 Enmity Between Man and Satan

31 Agency of Evil Spirits 32 Snares of Satan

33 The First Great Deception 34 Spiritualism
35 Aims of the Papacy
36 The Impending Conflict
37 The Scriptures a Safeguard 38 The Final Warning

39 The Time of Trouble 40 God's People Delivered 41 Desolation of the Earth 42 The Controversy Ended

1884: Chapter 36: Desolation of the Earth (1888/1911: chapter 41; same title). 1884: 475:0b-end of chapter (475:2) are different in 1884. First paragraph in 1884 and first 3 paragraphs in 1888/1911 are different. The following 1888/1911 paragraphs are not in the 1884: 654:4655:2, 656:1, 659:2-661:2.

1884: Chapter 37: The Controversy Ended (1888/1911: chapter 42;same title). 1888/1911: 670:3 in the 1888/1911, onward to the end of the book, have variations from and additions to 1884 edition.

29 - COMPARING THE 1888 AND 1911 EDITIONS

Several years ago, the present writer carried out an indepth study of the 1888 edition, as compared with the 1911. Throughout the following presentation of his findings, the paging of the original 1888 edition will be used. The 1911 paging will either be the same, or on the bottom of the preceding page, or on the top of the next page.

It is relatively easy to compare the 1888 with the 1911 edition, for the text (if not the historical quotations) of the two are almost mirror-images of one another. Let us go through the 1888 edition of chapter one, and consider the ways it was transformed into the 1911 edition. In so doing, we will find that, although corrections were made,yet not one changed an essential teaching:

30 - THE HISTORICAL AND MILLERITE CHAPTERS

Chapter One - Page 17, para. 1: A small super-script "1" is found at the end of the first paragraph of the 1888 edition. It directs us to a Scripture reference in a footnote at the bottom of the page. Throughout the entire book, the same pattern will be found in our current books. It is a good pattern. Whereas, in the 1884 and 1888, all the references were in footnotes, they are today in the text.

Page 17: We find two changes here. The 1888 says "Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before him" whereas the 1911 says, "Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before Him." Hardly a noticeable difference, yet a worthwhile improvement has been made: the divinity of Christ has been emphasized by the use of the initial capital "H" in "Him." / Further down that paragraph, "sung" in the 1888 is changed to "sang" in the 1911. This is a grammatical correction. It is helpful, but it did not affect the teaching of the book.

Pages 18-19: Here are the changes we encounter on these two pages: Many "he," "him," and "his;" changed to "He," Him," and "His." / "threshing-floor" changed to "threshing floor" / "mercy-seat" changed to "mercy seat" I "dwelling-place" changed to "dwelling place" I "Heaven" changed to "heaven," indicating that "heaven" in this particular context is a place, rather than a synonym for the Deity. / "The word "gift," referring to Christ, changed to "Gift."

Really, now; were any of those changes significant? No, not one of them. Were any of them helpful? Yes, most, if not all, were.

And that is the way it is throughout the remainder of the text changes. It is such changes as these that transformed the 1888 edition into the 1911.

Ignoring the specific types of change already mentioned ("dwelling-place," "mercy-seat," "him," "his," etc.), here are more changes in this first chapter: Page 21: "God,his" to "God, His" / Page 22: "Judgment" to' judgment," a correction we will find throughout the book. / Page 23: "a grassy slope" to "the grassy slope" / Page 30: "a voice against all the people" to "a voice against the whole people" I "Woe to Jerusalem!" to Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" / On this page we find the first of many differences in historical quotations. Twice reference is made in the 1911 edition to an historian (Milman, The History of the Jews) as the information source for the strange man who walked the streets of Jerusalem, whereas earlier in the 1888, Milman was not mentioned. It is because of Milman's statements, that "whole people" and "Woe, woe" are used in the

1911, in place of the wording in the 1888. Yet, once again no teaching was altered. / Page 33: "judgment-seat" to "judgment seat" I Page 35: Another reference to Milman.

And that concludes the changes in chapter one. Improvements, yes; doctrinal distortions or perversions, no.

Chapter two - Here are the changes in the second chapter. Not included in this report are the "he," his," and some others already mentioned:

Page 42: Another reference to Milman. / Page 44: "evildoers" to "evildoers" / "foot-hold" to "foothold" / Page 46: "sung" to "sang" / Page 48: "to-day" to "today."

We have completed an examination of the first two chapters. Let us now consider several more:

Chapter three - Page 52: "Satan tampered with the fourth" to "Satan working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth" / "While Christians continued to observe the Sunday" to "While Christians generally continued to observe the Sunday" / Page 56: "Romish Church" to "Roman Church" / Page 59: "Papist priests" to "Papal priests."

Chapter four - Page 61: "Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, was destroyed. A single expression of doubt, questions as to" to "Everything heretical, whether persons or writings, she sought to destroy. Expressions of doubt or questions as to." / Page 67: "taught to sacredly regard" to "taught to regard sacredly." (This correction was made to eliminate a split infinitive.) / Page 75: "He had made his way to other lands, he was wearing out his life" to ".. other lands, or he was wearing .."

That takes us through the first four chapters. In addition, there was "rest-day" to rest day," fellow-men" to "fellow men," and "lesson-book" to "lesson book". By now you should have a clearer view of the type of changes made in the text of the 1888 edition, that transformed it into the 1911.

Chapter five - Aside from the "Romish" to Roman" and "papist" to "papal," about all that we find in this chapter is "after-reformers" to after Reformers," "afterlabors" to "after labors," along with the addition of still more historians' references (a total of 20 by the end of this chapter), and names of source publications (books or journals) placed within italics (see pp. 86 and 87).

As a refreshing change, page 91 is full of changes! On this page, is to be found an extended quotation from Wycliffe. In the 1888 edition it is placed within quotation marks. Finding that it may have came from John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, in preparation for the 1911 edition the quotation was written exactly as given in Foxe's book. Of course, she may have obtained it from a source which Foxe obtained it from, which had a different wording; no one can know. But, assuming that it may have come from Foxe, several changes were made to transform it into quotations from his book. (You may recall that he was the one who wrote Foxe's Book of Martyrs).

Chapter six - Page 97: "to pull down the pride of kings" to "to humble the pride of kings" (That change, plus some of the others, was probably made because the European translators told them they could not understand the idiom.) / Page 98: "enemies of truth" to "enemies of the truth" / "she had no gift of worldly greatness" to "she had no gifts of worldly greatness" / Page 100: "Christ the Master, and" to "Christ the Master and" Page 102: "hour to hour" to "hour by hour" / Page 106: "wasted hours in trifling occupations" to. . frivolous occupations" / Page 109: "do commend my spirit" to "do commit my spirit" / Page 113: "rendered against Wycliffe, and the holy martyr" to ". . Wycliffe, and against the .." / "the scandals of the clergy" to "the scandals proceeding from the clergy" /Page 114: "'is everything to be judged by them? Who can understand

them until the' " to "' is everything then to be judged by them? Who can understand them till the' " / Page 116: "invaded Bohemia, to be ignominiously repulsed" to "invaded Bohemia, only to be ignominiously repulsed" /Page 119: "resting on the foundations of Scripture." to "resting on the foundations of Scripture, and protesting against the idolatrous corruptions of Rome." (Does that addition sound like the folk in 1911 were pro- Catholic?) /"These were to the Hussites what" to "These were to the Taborites [Hussites] what."

In addition, that chapter presented us with "church-yard" to "churchyard," "anti- popes" to "antipopes," "loth" to "loath" / "to-morrow" to "tomorrow" / "prisonhouse" to "prison house" / "light-bearers" to "light bearers" / "hiding-places" to "hiding places" / "mothertongue" to "mother tongue."

That concludes the first six chapters of the book.

Chapter seven - Aside from taking hyphens out of words (such as "All-saints" to "All saints"), there are only a few real changes in this chapter: Page 123: "cast yourself into the arms of your Redeemer" to "throw yourself into your Redeemer's arms" / "The only response was 'recant, recant.' " to "The only response was, 'Retract, retract!' " / Page 136: "Luther, fully roused," to "Luther, fully aroused" or "take cognizance of your case" to take cognizance of your cause."

book. By the end of chapter seven, 75 historian's references have been added to the

We should also mention another dramatic change in the book: the treatment given to Roman numerals. The period after each one was removed. On pages 89 and 94, Richard II.," and Gregory VII.," were changed to "Richard II," and "Gregory VII," From page 145 to 211, "Charles V." and "Charles V.," is consistently changed to "Charles V" and "Charles V,".

31-THE DOCTRINAL AND CLOSING-EVENTS CHAPTERS

Chapter 23 - Now let us go to the doctrinal and finalevents chapters (23-42), and compare them in the 1888 and 1911 editions. Those are crucial chapters. We will begin with chapter 23 (What is the Sanctuary?):

Page 410: "B.C. 457" to "457 B.C." / Page 412: "by the Romans, A.D. 70" to "by the Romans in A.D. 70" / "One sanctuary was on earth, the other is in Heaven" to ". . in heaven" [occurs repeatedly] / Page 415: "Paul declares that that pattern" to "Paul teaches that that pattern." ! "mercy-seat" to "mercy seat" [repeatedly] / Page 416: "corner-stone" to "Cornerstone" / Page 420: "scape-goat" to "scape goat." Those are the changes in that basic sanctuary chapter.

Chapter 24 - This chapter has two changes: Page 425, footnote: "Cant. 6:10" to text: "Song of Solomon 6:10" / "Judgment" to "judgment" [repeatedly].

Chapter 25 - Page 437: "he is the Creator, and we his creatures" to "He is the Creator, and we are His creatures" / "The Declaration of Independence sets forth" to "Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence, which sets forth" / "down- trodden" to "downtrodden" / Page 442: "the leopard-like beast" to "the leopardlike beast" / Page 443: "ministers were forced to leave their churches" to "ministers were forced to flee from their churches" / Page 444. "And the Bible declares that" to "The Bible declares that" / Page 448: "keeping Sunday strictly they" to "keeping Sunday they" [In the 1911, this is a quotation and it is quoted as in the original.] / Page 449: "Sunday-keeping" to "Sundaykeeping" [repeatedly].

Chapter 26 - This change is on page 459: "that whoever would obey all the divine precepts must brave reproach and punishment as an evil-doer" to "that whosoever would obey all the divine precepts must brave reproach and punishment as an evildoer."

Chapter27 - Page 465: "Prof. Edward Park" to "Professor Edwards A. Park" / Page 467: "love to God and man" to "love to God and love to man" / Page 474: "Says Peter:" to "Peter says:"

Chapter 28 - Page 485: "and his reward is with him" to "and His reward will be with Him" / Page 487: "to justify or to condemn" to "to justify or condemn" / "God has made us the depository of" to "God has made us the depositories of" / "For more than forty years this work has been in progress" [since 1844] to "for many years this work has been in progress" [since 1844] / "arch-deceiver" to "archdeceiver," "gain-seeking" to "gain seeking" / "pleasure-lover" to "pleasure lover."

Since these closing chapters are considered by all of us to be so very important, it is well that we take the time to go through them all.

Chapter 29 - Page 492: "It is impossible to so explain" to "It is impossible to explain" / Page 496: "reinstated" to reinstated" I Page 500: "arch-rebel" to "arch rebel" I Page 503: "death-knell" to "death knell" / Page 504: "his honor before a universe" to His honor before the universe".

Chapters 30-31 - In chapters 30-31, I found one change: Page 513: "Old- Tesament history" to "Old Testament history."

Chapter 32 -Page 518: "to so control" to "so to control" [split infinitive] / Page 520: "confuse minds that" to "confuse minds so that" / Page 521: "interpret to suit" to "interpret them to suit" / Page 524: "deity" to "divinity" (These two terms appear twice on this page. "Deity" is the encompassing one, denoting self-contained Godhood.) / Page 525: "to-day" to "today."

Chapter 33 - Page 534: "arch-fiend" to "archfiend" / "He is seeking to overcome men to-day," to "Satan is seeking to overcome men today" / Page 536: "he perpetuates sin" to "it is perpetuated" / Page 543: "and the Lamb?-No, no" to "and the Lamb? No, no" / Page 547: "The martyr Tyndale, defending the doctrine that the dead sleep, declared to his papist opponent" to "The martyr Tyndale, referring to the state of the dead, declared" [This change was required because the quotation in the 1888 edition apparently could not be located, and a different one was used] / Page 549: " 'Well done, good and' " to " 'Well done, thou good and' " [Bible verse correction] / "to receive the sentence from" to "to receive sentence from."

Chapter 34 - Page 551: "Spiritualism" to "spiritualism" [repeatedly done] / Page 552: "divinity" to "deity" / Page 556: "to-day" to "today" / Page 558: "for nearly forty years" (1844 to the present time] to "for many years" (1844 to the present time].

By the end of chapter 34, we have already concluded 349 reference additions. These will be identified in a later section of this study.

Chapter 35 - Page 563: "which has been purchased" to "which had been purchased" / "to-day" to "today" / Page 564: "re-instated" to "reinstated" / "A recent writer" to "A well-known writer" / "State" to "state" / Page 566: "Romish" to "Roman" [several times in the chapter] / Page 567: "fellow-mortal" to "fellow mortal" / Page 568: "Romish leaders" to "leaders of the Roman Catholic Church" / Page 569: "The Romish Church" to "The Roman Catholic Church" / "fellow-creatures" to "fellow creatures" / Page 571: "Christ-like" to "Christlike" I Popery" to "The Papacy" / "who pervert or reject it" to "who pervert and reject it" / "popery" to "the papacy" / Page 573: "Thus, the false

science of the nineteenth century, which undermines" to "Thus, the false science of the present day, which undermines" / Page 575: "for time to come" to "for the time to come" / "Sunday-keeping" to "Sundaykeeping" / Page 578: "papists" to "Roman Catholics" / Page 579: "In this homage to papacy" to "In this homage to the papacy" / "For about forty years," to "Since the middle of the nineteenth century," / Page 580: "in by-gone days" to "in bygone days" / "The Roman Church" to "The Roman Catholic Church" /"State" to "state".

In the 1888 edition (1911, pp. 580:3-581:0), we find a total paragraph change. A certain concept was presented. In the 1911, two powerful quotations (from Dowling and Mosheim; references 580 and 581) were put in its place. They provide essentially the same information, but have the force on the reader of historical quotations. In our own medium print, 1888 edition, that omitted paragraph will be found on page 555:2; but, here it is, reprinted below:

"Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let history testify of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism openly puts forth the claim that the pope 'can pro- nounce sentences and judgments in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of God and man. "'-Great Controversy, 1888 edition, p. 580:2 [italics in the original]. Examining the switched paragraphs closely, we find that the first two sentences of the 1888 paragraph were important, yet they were omitted. The 1911 revisers realized that fact also, so they placed those two sentences in the very next paragraph, thus preserving them. Here is that section of the next paragraph (page 581) in the 1888 edi- tion, before it was enlarged by the addition of those two paragraphs: ". . with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Let the principle . ." Here it is (page 581) in the 1911, after enlargement by the addition of those two added sentences (shown here in italics):

". . with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re- establish her power, to recover her bst supremacy. Let the principle .." Great Controversy, 1888 edition, p. 581:1.

Examining the change, we find that the inserted two sentences (shown above in our added italics) were simply deleted from the preceding paragrah, and then moved down and placed in the next paragraph. Thus, an improvement was made in the text, but no principles were eliminated or changed.

Page 581: "vantage-ground" to vantage ground."

Chapter 36 - Page 585: "to lightly regard" to "to regard lightly" [split infinitive] / Page 587: "willing to perform, popular teachers" to "willing to perform, many popular teachers" / Page 588: "Spiritualism" to "spiritualism" [repeatedly] / "church-members" to "church members" / Page 590: "hail-storms" to "hail storms" / Page 591: "Romish Church" to "Roman Church" / "evil-doers" to "evildoers" / Page 592: "commandment- keepers" to "commandment keepers."

Chapter 37 - This chapter (The Scriptures a Safeguard is very special. It has been charged that others wrote Ellen White's later books, and the reason given was to insert their own ideas into those books. But there is no evidence that this happened, and worldly policy is not to be found in any of those sacred writings.

If we were to find unconsecrated church men making changes in Great Controversy, it would be chapter 37 (The Scriptures a Safeguard), where we would definitely find those changes. That would be the first chapter they would rewritel

Stop just now and reread that chapter thoughtfully, then continue on with this present analysis of that book in the 1888, 1911, and 1884 editions.

Chapter 37 repeatedly warns the reader not to trust church leaders, church policies, or church decisions over and above the plain teachings of the Word of God. Re- peatedly it tells us to obey God rather than man. Yet that is also the teaching of the rest of the book--in all of its editions!

In spite of such a clarion call to personal freedom to worship God in accordance with HIS--not man's--will, those hallowed words were never changed in favor of the mind-control policies, so valued by worldly administrators and governments in all ages.

In the 1884 edition, the 1888 edition, and the 1911 edition of Great Controversy, we find absolutely no indication of tampering of any kind by the hand of a worldling. God has indeed protected His Wordl He protected the Bible down through the centuries, and He has protected the Spirit of Prophecy in these last days. By faith in Christ, BELIEVE those books, READ those books, and OBEY those books, and you will have eternal life. Listen not to those who would whisper doubts in your ear about the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, so they can transfer your confidence from Scripture to themselves. They are ravening wolves in sheeps' clothing.

Read chapter 37 in any edition of Great Controversy, and consider its pointed counsels and warnings. They are for you and me today.

Chapter 37: 1888 edition to 1911 edition: In the process of making the 1911 revision, here are the changes that were made in chapter 37: Page 596: "light-bearers" to "light bearers" / Page 599: "to so comprehend" to "so to comprehend" / On page 600, we find an interesting correction: The 1888 publishers typeset a Bible verse incorrectly: " 'The Comforter, the Holy Ghost, whom ..' " to" 'The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom..' "

(In this and other corrections of Bible verses in this book, there are two possibilities: (1) She provided a rough approximation, not concerned to make it exactly as in the King James Version; perhaps with the plan in mind that helpers would correct it to the exact wording of that Bible version. (2) The publishers typeset it incorrectly.)

Chapter 37: 1884 edition to 1888 edition: That concludes the changes in the 1911 revision of chapter 37. While we are considering this pivotal chapter, we cannot help wondering what changes were made in the process of producing the 1888 edition out of the 1884? Surely, something had to be toned down if, as claimed, Uriah Smith and the other Battle Creek church politicians did the writing on the 1888 edition!

So before continuing on with our comparisons of the 1888 and 1911 editions, let us compare chapter 37 in its transformation from the 1884 to the 1888 edition.

There are 27 paragraphs in chapter 37 of the 1888/1911 Great Controversy. You will find the same 27 paragraphs in the 1888 edition and (including the few corrections listed above) in the 1911 edition. You will find some of those 27 paragraphs in the 1884 edition, plus one concluding paragraph not in the 1888 or 1911. Copies of all three editions are available; read and compare them for yourself if you have any question regarding the reliability of Great Controversy. We can provide you with the 1884 and 1888 editions; the 1911 is available at your local ABC.

Here is how the 1884 edition is different from the 1888 edition of chapter 37, and it is a most dramatic difference!

(1) The 1888 contains everything the 1884 has, except for that one concluding paragraph. (2) The 1888 also includes much more of the same principles!

In the 1888 edition, (1) no principles are removed, (2) everything is present that was in the 1884 (except for the the one concluding paragraph), and (3) no erroneous principles were introduced.

The difference between the two is that the 1888 has everything that was in the 1884, but buttresses the concepts with additional strong statements!

Now, to begin with, on the inside margins, number each paragraph of your 1888 (and/or 1911, if you wish) copy of Great Controversy. Then, referring to the paragraphs in the 1888 or 1911 as a guide, number your 1884 edition while carefully omitting the paragraph numbers for those paragraphs which are not in the 1884 because they were not added until the 1888 edition.

When you have completed your marking project, here is what you will find:

1 - Paragraphs in the 1888 (and 1911) edition: para. 1 - 27.

2 - Paragraphs in the 1884 edition: para. 1-9, 11-12, 16-20, 22, 24a, 25, 28.

3 - Paragraphs missing from the 1884 edition: para. 10, 13, 14, 15, 21, 24b, 26, 27

4 - Paragraphs in the 1884 which are not in the 1888 edition: para. 28.

In summary, everything in the 1884 was placed into the 1888, and carried on into the 1911. But the 1888 added several paragraphs which were not in the 1884. Which paragraphs were added, and what do they say? That is of paramount importance.

Using the paging found in the 1911 edition, here are the paragraphs in the 1888 and 1911 editions which are lacking in the 1884:

Added paragraph one - Chapter paragraph number 10; page 596:3: "The Roman Church. ...teaching of their church." This is a powerful paragraph! We must go by Scripture, not by what the church says. A conniving church leader, willing to fraudulently rewrite Scripture would never add that paragraph! Yet the "secret writers" charge de- clares that designing, unprincipled men wrote the 1888 edition, and Ellen White let them do it (thus implying that she was as thoroughly unprincipled as they were). This paragraph is missing from page 415 of the 1884 edition (page 415 of the original edition, not p. 415 of a 20th century reprint).

Added paragraph two - Chapter paragraph 13b-15; pages 597:2b-598:1: "Many claim that it matters not.... not to guess at anything." We must not reject the light of Scripture, in spite of what anyone says. Another powerful statement. This paragraph is missing from page 416 of the 1884 edition.

Added paragraph three -Chapter paragraph 21; page 600:1: "Jesus promised His disciples .... might not sin against Thee. Psalm 119:11." We must store our minds with Scripture in order to be safe from deception. God's Word always turns us toward God and His Word; the writings of worldlings try to turn us away from God and His Word. This paragraph is missing from page 418 of the 1884 edition.

Added paragraph four - Chapter paragraph 24b; pages 601:2b-602:0: "Yet the case of even this class is not utterly evil." Ephesians 5:14-16. There is still time for those, who have been leaning on men instead of God, to repent. Thank God, there is still time to return to Him and obey His Word instead of the theories of men! This paragraph is missing from page 420 of the 1884 edition.

Added paragraph five - Chapter paragraphs 26-27; page 602:2-3: Says the psalmist: "Thy testimonies... .yielding fruit." Proverbs 3:13; Jeremiah 17:8. The Bible teaches that life and salvation is found in clinging to God's Word. This paragraph is missing from page 420 of the 1884 edition.

Those are the paragraphs missing from the 1884 edition. The essential message of chapter 27 is found in the 1884 edition, so it is good to read and share with others. But, as with all the other chapters in the book, the message is amplified in the 1888 edition, and retained in the 1911.

But what about that one paragraph which is in the 1884 edition, but not in the later editions? It consists of Psalm 1:1-3 quoted-nothing more nor less. Yet, the last two paragraphs of the 1888 (1911) edition (which replace the 1884 last paragraph) say basically the very same thing. Read and compare. Actually, comparing the passages, it appears that the last two paragraphs in the 1888 (1911) are closer to the point of that which the entire chapter has been trying to say.

Now we will return to our discovery of the changes made in the transition between the 1888 and 1911 editions:

Chapter 38 - Page 604: "rest-day" to "rest day" I Page 608: "Sabbath-keepers" to "Sabbathkeepers."

Chapter 39 - Page 615: "State" to "state" / Page 619: "to so destroy" to "so to destroy" / Page 623: "foothold" to "foothold" / Page 626: One paragraph on this page ("Will the Lord forget..") contains seven instances where, in the 1888 edition, the pronoun indicating the Lord is lower case, and the names of mere humans are upper case. Personally, I think that pronouns indicating the true God should always be initially capitalized. The 1911 edition is definitely an improvement on this point. / Page 627: "in describing these terrific" to "in describing those terrific" / Page 633: "foot-prints" to "footprints".

Chapter 40 - Page 638: "divinity" to "deity" / Page 645: Here is another Bible quotation which was corrected in the 1911 edition: " 'gather together the elect' " to " 'gather together His elect.' " This quotation, not referenced, is Matthew 24:31 (a variant is in Mark 13:27). / Page 647: "will be sharers in this joy" to "will be sharers in His joy" / Page 648: "re-instated" to "reinstated."

Chapter 41 - Page 656: "fellow-creatures" to fellow creatures" / "life-time" to "lifetime" / "fellow-men" to "fellow men" / Page 655: Here we find another Bible quote correction: " 'and your dispersions' " to " 'and of your dispersions' " / Page 656: "all have made their decision" to "all have made their decisions." I Page 659: Another Bible quote correction: " 'how art thou cast down to the ground' " to " 'how art thou cut down to the ground.' " It is well to note that each time a Bible quotation was corrected to match the Authorized King James Version, the meaning had not been changed.

Chapter 42 - Page 665: "key-note" to "keynote" I Page 668: Another Bible quote correction. It originally was a paraphrased statement; but, in preparation for the 1911 edition, was changed to the exact Bible wording: " 'We will not have this Jesus to reign over us' ' to " 'We will not have this Man [Jesus] to reign over us.' " Context indicates that it was a purposeful paraphrase, so they placed "Jesus" within brackets. / Page 672: Another Bible quote: " 'and a horrible tempest' " to " 'and an horrible tempest' " As with the other changes
that resulted in the 1911 edition, this correction did not change the meaning of the passage. I Page 673: "'And I saw a new heaven' " to " 'I saw a new heaven' " This is an interesting one, since Revelation 21:1 has the "And." It was omitted from the beginning of this paragraph, for the sake of a better presentation.

(1911 ed, p. 667:1 begins with "And" to indicate continuation of a scene; whereas, 1911, p. 674 marks the beginning of a totally new scene.) I Page 677: "There is no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt" to "There will be no cruel, deceiving foe to tempt."

32 - OTHER CHANGES

Reference additions: That concludes a view of corrections in the closing chapters (25-42). The present writer found 362 quotations which were either changed and/or just had the references added. The first of these was on p. 30, and the last on p. 580. These 362 quotations will be listed in a later section of this present study.

(As mentioned earlier, remember that all basic paging, cited here, is in the 1888 edition. The 1911 edition will either be the same or give the item on the bottom of the preceding page or the top of the next page.)

Bracketed comments: In several instances in the 1888 edition, bracketed comments were placed inside quoted biblical statements. In nearly all such instances, they were later included in the 1911 edition. (See 1888: pp. 417, 445, 447, 448, 472, 660, 668, 673.) An exception would be on page 611 in the 1888 (which is on the top of page 612 in the 1911). This is one of those rarities in which something very nice in the 1888 was left out of the 1911. Here is how it reads in both editions:

"'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out [in the Investigated Judgment], when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus.' " Great Controversy, 1888, p. 611.

" 'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus.' " Great Controversy, 1911, p. 612.

The 1888 bracketed comment makes Acts 3:19-20 a direct prophecy of certain events that will occur in the Investigative Judgment. However, the lack of the bracketed statement in the 1911 is really no loss, since those same events are linked several times with the Investigative Judgment in chapter 28 (The Investigative Judgment).

Paragraph breaks: One other type of change in the transition to the 1911 involved several instances in which longer paragraphs were split into two. When a paragraph ran too long, or appeared to change topics in the middle, the 1911 made two paragraphs out of one. (In the closing chapters, see 1888: pp. 414, 444, 457, 530, 569, and 611 for paragraph splits.)

Quotations and their references: The BIG changes were in the historical quotations. We earlier discussed the significance of those alterations. But the quotations were not the text; they were not what she wrote, but only added to illustrate her points and principles. Adding those quotations,
changing those quotations, or leaving out those quotations would not have changed what she wrote unless those quotations invalidated or denied what she wrote. But they did not do that.

Both the 1888 and 1911 editions are available today, so if you want to compare the quotations in the two editions, you are welcome to do so. But I

can assure you that they in no way subtract from the message given in either edition of that book. (In another section in this study, we will provide you with researched information on the subject of the 1911 quotations.)

The "forty year" passages: There were five "forty year" passages in Great Controversy. Here are the facts about them:

Both the 1884 and 1888 editions were written approximately forty years after both the climatic events of 1844 and certain other events in the mid-nineteenth century. In four passages Ellen White referred to the intervening time span as being approximately forty years. Obviously, with the passing of time, a correction needed to be made.

In later years, readers of the book would not be forty years removed from 1844! In each occurrance, the "forty years" was changed in the 1888 and 1911 revisions. (The 1884 edition was forty years after 1844; the 1888 was forty-four; but the 1911 was sixty-seven years.) Please notice that Ellen White herself was always very careful to use the correct time span to the present. Here is the history of each of those five forty-year passages:

(1) Prophecies Fulfilled chapter - The effects of the religious movement of 1844 are still felt down to the present day. Therefore, the 1884 edition said: "Even now, after the lapse of forty years" (1884: p. 250:1). The 1888 added "nearly": "Even now, after the lapse of nearly half a century" (1888: p. 401:1). The 1911 changed it to: "Even now, after the lapse of many years" (1911: p. 401:3).

(2) Modern Revivals chapter - This paragraph is referring to the trend of preaching in modern revivals since 1844. 1884 edition: "during the last forty years" (1884: p. 294:1). This was changed by Ellen in the preparation of the 1888 edition to "modern times" (1888/1911: p. 463). The sentence, by the way, was at the front of chapter 27 in the 1884, and moved to the third page of that chapter in the 1888.

(3) Investigative Judgment chapter - This passage is speaking about the fact that the Investigative Judgment has been underway since 1844. 1884 edition: "Forty years" (1884: p. 315:0). This paragraph passed directly into the 1888 and 1911 editions. In the 1888, it was changed to "For more than forty years" (1888: p. 490:2), and in the 1911 it became: "For many years" (1911: p. 490:1).

(4) Spiritualism chapter - This forty-year passage did not appear until the 1888 edition. It referred, not to 1844, but to the later, widespread public proclamation of the benefits of spiritism. Therefore, in 1888, she said "for nearly forty years" in estimating that span of time (1888: p. 558:1). In the 1911 edition, this was changed to "for many years" (1911: p. 558:0).

(5) Aims of the Papacy chapter - The proclamation of the Revelation 13- 14 warnings against the beast by the Advent people did not begin until after 1844. Therefore, the 1884 edition said, "For nearly forty years" (1884: p. 396:2), and
the 1888 edition said, "For about forty years" (1888: p. 579:1). You will notice that she tried to be very careful to state the numbers correctly. We should be also. The 1911 revision changed it to "Since the middle of the nineteenth century" (1911: p. 579:1). The year 1848 was nearly forty years before 1884 and-viewing
it from the twentieth century-about the middle of the nineteenth century. As a result of the 1848 Sabbath Conferences and her 1848-1849 great controversy

visions (discussed earlier in this present study), our proclamation of the Reve- lation 13-14 warnings began.

Thus we find that four of these forty-year passages were in the 1884 edition (pp. 250:1, 294:1, 315:0, and 396:2); four were in the 1888 (pp. 401:1, 490:2, 558:1, and 579:1); and none were in the 1911.As you can see from the above, not one principle, standard, or doctrinal belief has been changed in the doctrinal and closing-events chapters (chapters 23 to 42) of Great Controversy.

Typographical errors in the 1911 edition: As for the typographical errors we noted in the 1888 edition, please keep in mind that it is quite normal for books to have occasional faults such as these. Book publishers try to eliminate them, but they occur anyway. These are "errors in transmission, that is, errors which occur in the process of getting the message to us (in this case, through the printed page). Several years ago, we found a Bible reference and several other typographical errors in the 1884. Even the 1911 edition can have such errors. For example, in the current 1911 edition copy I have here (which may identical to the one you have), several have been found:

(1) On page 200, the open-quote marks (") are omitted at the beginning of the quotation which initiates paragraph one.

(2) On page 388, the bottom two lines are juxtapositioned; that is, the order of the bottom three lines must now be read in a 1-3-2 order to be properly understood.

(3) On page 394, line 8, a close quotes (end quotes) mark (") is missing after "lamps."

(4) On page 366:2, line 7, "place" is misspelled (to "placs").
(5) On page 673, line 6, a comma is placed at the end of a sentence,

instead of a period.

(6) Most of the Bible references, not included in the 1888 edition (and, therefore of course, missing also from the 1884), were inserted into the 1911. But a few continue to be missing. One example would be page 424, line 4, where the present writer, when broadcasting this book, had to insert "Revelation 14:7." The problem here is that a nonbeliever reading this content for the first time would find this verse to be crucial to an understanding of the entire section. The reference ought to be supplied, since the First Angel's Message is only elsewhere discussed in the book not less than 69 pages earlier on page 355 (and earlier still on page 311). So the reader ought to have ready access to the source of that Bible quotation. (A similar problem was encountered on pp. 367:0 and 369:1.)

(7) On page 685, a one-line appendix note was accidentally placed in the middle of the preceding note on Wycliffe. That one-line note (which reads: "Page 86. INFALLIBILITY.-See note for page 50.") should be moved down to page 686, following line 6. That error was made in the typesetting of the 1946 revision of the appendix, and is not to be found in the original 1911 edition (see page 683 of the original 1911). More information on this in the section on appendices. (8 and 9) In addition, two other errors are in the post 1979 Great Controversy. Four lines are omitted at the top of p. 693, and four lines are duplicated at the top of p. 694. For more on this, see the section on the appendices.

What then shall we say of such transmission errors? Ellen White has already told us. It is the thoughts of the prophet which are Inspired. The prophet then writes those thoughts down in his or her own words. The writing is then recopied, read, translated, and passed on to later generations. Small, insignificant mistakes can creep in during transmission. Because, in His providence, God has only permitted small, insignificant errors to occur, we can have fullest confidence in Inspired Scripture. Speaking of the Bible, Ellen said this:

"The writers of the Bible had to express their ideas in human language. It was written by human men. These men were inspired of the Holy Spirit. Because of the imperfections of human understanding of language, or the perversity of the human mind, ingenious in evading truth, many read and understand the Bible to please themselves. It is not that the difficulty is in the Bible."-1 Selected Messages, p. 19.

"The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus, in order to reach man where he is, took humanity. Everything that is human is imperfect. Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one word for each distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical purposes."-1 Selected Messages, p. 20.

"The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God's mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible.

The writers of the Bible were God's penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers.

"It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man's words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the indivdual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the Word of God."-Manuscript 24, 1886 (written in Europe in 1886).

"Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own, unless they be those spoken to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation."-Review, October 8, 1867.

Thoughtfully read 1 Selected Messages, pp. 15 to 24; but, even better, read pp. 15 to 76. Also read 5 Testimonies, pp. 654 to 691.

33 - DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE EDITIONS

If everything is about the same in the 1884, 1888, and 1911 editions, is there not anything that is decidedly different? Here are some unusual things:

Unique things in the 1884 edition:

(1) A number of spelling changes occurred between the 1884 and 1888 editions. Here are some examples: "loth" was changed to "loath;" "Eld." to "Elder;" "Wm." to "William;" "vail" to "veil;" and "Phenicia" to "Phoenicia." But does that count as genuine differences?

(2) In a statement which we quoted earlier in this study, W.C. White said that, in order to give Great Controversy a better circulation in the world, two sections of several pages pertaining to our own people were left out. Here are those two sections:

(2a) At the end of the Later Reformers chapter of the 1884 edition (original paging: pp. 179:3-186:1; our paging: 127:2-132:2) is a section on the first Sabbathkeepers in America. This is worthwhile reading, but its omission from the 1888 and later editions is not a great loss. These several pages were omitted because they strongly advocated Sabbathkeeping in our day (in chapter 10 in the original 1884 edition), before the later chapter (chapter 20 in the 1884) when the reasons for its observance were explained.

(2b) The first three pages (pp. 337:0-340:3 in the 1884; pp. 247:0-250:0 in ours) of the Snares of Satan chapter in the 1884 edition were omitted from
the later editions. Later reprinted in Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 472:0475:2, it is also reprinted in the text of our 1884 edition, and a second appendix in the rear of our 1888 edition. It constituted a set of directives by Satan as to how to destroy the Adventist people. But those in the world, upon first reading the book, were thought not to be ready for that material.

"Unlike the 1884 subscription edition, which was the standard edition with added illustrations, the 1888 edition was prepared with the idea in mind of circulation to the general public. Consequently a few pages of material appropriate for the church, but not suitable for general circulation, were omitted. An example may be seen in the chapter, The Snares of Satan, pages 518-530, in the 1911 edition. Portions of this chapter, delineating the work of Satan through many Protestant ministers, as it appeared in the earliest edition, were omitted from the 1888 edition in order to avoid giving unnecessary offense to those of other religions. Later the omitted portions were reprinted elsewhere for the information of Seventh- day Adventist workers, e.g., Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 472-475, "The Snares of Satan," where this matter appears with the footnote: 'From the fourth volume of Spirit of Prophecy, or The Great Controversy (1884), ch. 27, pp. 337-340.' "-T.H. Jamisen, A Prophet Among You, p. 309.

Unique things In the 1888 edition:

In relation to the 1884 edition, the 1888 gives so many additional amplifications of details and clarifications of principles! It is a splendid enlarg3ment of the basics found in the 1884 edition. But, in relation to the 1911 edition, there are very few differences.

(1) The quotation references and changed historical quotations do not really constitute a significant difference. The text itself-the part she herself wrote-is nearly identical. In addition, there is nothing in the quoted historical statements which denies her principles and teachings.

(2) The bracketed comment on p. 611 (original 1888) was unique, in that it was not in the 1884 and, unlike the other bracketed comments within Bible quotations in the 1888, it was accidently not taken on into the 1911 edition:

" 'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out [in the Investigated Judgment], when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus.' " Great Controversy,1888, p. 611.

Unique things in the 1911 edition:

The text of the 1911 edition is so fundamentally like that of the 1888, that the present writer cannot recall any truly unique qualities about it. Perhaps you can. Such things as corrected grammar, spelling, and references, inserted references, and changed quotations are only on the fringes of the message she wrote in that book; it is not the message.

As you can see from the above, not one principle, standard, or doctrinal belief has been changed in any of these variant passages.

34 - WE ARE BEING TESTED ON THIS BOOK

It is not Great Controversy that is being tested; it is us. Will we submit to the will and principles of God, as presented in this book-in all its editions-or will we harden our necks, until we are broken without remedy?

The more we value Scripture-the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy-and the more we trust our very lives to Scripture and, in the strength of God, resolutely obey it-the more likely we will finally be saved. The basic teachings and principles are like a towering rock of strength to the soul. In comparison with it, the tiny human flaws such as typographical errors noted above are as nothing.

God permits the little flaws as a test to us. Will we take our stand on the solid granite of divinely given principles and salvation offered us in God's Word, or will we look for an excuse to avoid surrender and obedience? "Many of the Israelites saw no help in the remedy which Heaven had appointed" (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 432). Must we stumble as they did? "And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:18-19). In the following passage, "philosophy" is the reasonings and rationalizations about God and His Inspired directions, that men use to avoid obedience to those directions!

"Many wander in the mazes of philosophy, in search of reasons and evidence which they will never find, while they reject the evidence which God has been pleased to give. They refuse to walk in the light of the Sun of Righteousness, until the reason of its shining shall be explained. All who persist in this course will fail to come to a knowledge of the truth. God will never remove every occasion for doubt. He gives sufficient evidence on which to base faith, and if this is not accepted, the mind is left in darkness. If those who were bitten by the serpents had stopped to doubt and question before they would consent to look, they would have perished. It is our duty, first, to look; and the look of faith will give us life."-Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 432.

In the wilderness, God, through His prophet, told them that which could save their lives. Today, only through obedience to the prophets can we be saved. Yet some quibble still, and say that God did not write His Word, when the very principles in those writings prove that He did!

Inspirational Variety: All editions of Great Controversy are equally inspired of God. For, indeed, all Scripture "is inspired of God;" that is, they are fully inspired. Prophets are either true prophets or false prophets; there are no half-way prophets. The true prophets are fully inspired of God, equally inspired in comparison with one another. Ellen White was as inspired as Moses; David as Malachi. All of their writings are important.

All editions of Great Controversy are equally inspired of God: the 1858 edition, the 1884 edition, the 1888 edition, and the 1911 edition. "Oh," but someone will say, "why bother with the earlier editions; they are out-of-date, and the later editions cover the ground better and more completely.

To understand this better, let us consider Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Just as the four editions of Great Controversy each tell the same story, but differently, so do Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And there is more: It appears that Mark was written first, and it is by far the smallest. We could say it is the biblical first edition of the life of Christ. Then came Matthew. Should we then ignore Mark? No, we should not and we do not. We frequently quote Mark because it says things in a way that the others do not. But if we want a more complete statement on almost anything covered in Mark, we go to Matthew.

There are also unique things in each of the four Gospels, passages not to be found in any of the others. So it is also with the four editions of Great Controversy. Can you imagine the foolishness of people who might argue together over whether to stick by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, thus avoiding to read or share any of the other books? Yes, what foolishness that would be! Only a sick Christian would do that.

Yet there are believers today who flee as the plague certain editions of Great Controversy. They will have nothing to do with anything before the 1911, or they will not touch anything after 1884, or they only stick with the 1888 and refuse to consider anything in the 1884 or 1911.

Let us grow up! There are invaluable treasures to be found in each and every edition of Great Controversy. Search for and find them; with a humble spirit promise God that, in His strength, you will, by faith, claim and obey them.

Why did God permit four Gospels to be penned? Why not just one? Because, in His great wisdom, He knew we would learn more by searching through and comparing four than merely reading the one! The same with Great Controversy. The message was so very special that He gave it to us four times in somewhat different ways! That is exactly what He did with the four Gospels.

Heaven has also used this same method at other times in history to impress truth on the minds of men. When Martin Luther had completed his very important speech, giving the basics of Protestantism to the leaders of Germany, Providence guided that he give it again:

"Luther had spoken in German; he was now requested to repeat the same words in Latin. Though exhausted by the previous effort, he compiled, and again delivered his speech, with the same clearness and energy as at the first. God's providence directed in this matter. The minds of many of the princes were so blinded by error and superstition that at the first delivery they did not see the force of Luther's reasoning; but the repetition enabled them to perceive clearly the points presented."-Great Controversy, 1911, p. 159.

- PART THREE -

COMPARISONS OF OTHER PARTS OF THE BOOK 35 - THE BOOK TITLES

The first (1858) edition of Great Controversy is today referred to by the simple title, Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1. But the original title was more

lengthy: Spiritual Gifts: The Great Controversy between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels.

The second (1884) edition came in two bindings, each with a different title. The black edition was entitled, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4, and the avocado green edition bore the name The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

The third (1888) edition was entitled, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

The fourth (1911) edition was named, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

In each instance, the complete title of the book was given both on the cover and on the title page.

At some time prior to 1941, the cover title of the 1911 edition was changed to The Great Controversy while the title page still said, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

That has remained the title arrangement on down to the present time. Of course, a variety of other titles have been applied to large colporteur and small paperback editions (The Triumph of God's Love, Cosmic Conflict, America in Prophecy. (Our own editions of the book use the original title that Ellen White selected for it: The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.)

36 - THE INTRODUCTIONS

No introductory section, written by Ellen White, was in the 1884 edition. But a sizable one (titled Author's Preface) was written by her for the 1888 edition. It was slightly modified and renamed Introduction, when the 1911 edition was prepared. That name for the introductory chapter has continued on down to the present time. When referring to it, the unambiguous title, Author's Introduction, is generally used.

For your information, there was no E.G. White or non E.G. White preface in the 1884 edition. The 1888 had a Publisher's Preface of slightly more than two pages, and the Author's Preface of six pages. The 1911 edition had a two-page Preface by the publisher, and an eight-page Introduction by the author.

Does that represent a two-page enlargement in her preface, from the 1888 to the 1911 edition? No, there was hardly any change. The difference is in type size. The 1888 Author's Preface was set in small type, while the 1911 was placed in the same large type that was in the text of the 42 chapters of the 1888 and 1911. Because of this, the paging of the two Introductions differs from one another.

Throughout the text of the 1888 edition, the references were placed in footnotes at the bottom of the pages except for the Author's Preface and Publisher's Preface that were set in the body of the text, as was routinely done throughout the entire next (1911) edition.

In the 1888 edition, the Publisher's Preface is on pages a-c, and partway down that page the Author's Preface continues on from pages c to h. In the 1911 edition, the Publisher's Preface is on pages iii-iv, and the

Author's Introduction is on pages v-xii. This latter paging arrangement has continued on down to the present.

Due to the confusing paging variations, in the following comparative analysis of the 1888 and 1911 Author's Introductions, we will list each item by the paragraph number of the chapter (both have 24 of them) rather than by page numbers. Here are the differences between the 1888 and 1911 Introductions:

Para. 1: "his" to "His" [repeatedly thereafter].
Para. 4: "They [the Ten Commmandments] are of divine, and not

human composition" to "They are of divine, and not of human composition." Para. 12: "throughout the entire period" to "throughout the period."

Para. 17: "master-mind" to "master mind."
Para. 20: "make known to others what has thus been revealed" to

"make known to others that which has thus been revealed."

Para. 22: "but except in a few instances" to "but in some instances" I "similar use has occasionally been made" to "similar use has been made."

Para. 23: "which have a bearing upon coming events" to "which have a bearing on coming events."

Para. 24: "as to fully make manifest" to "as to make fully manifest" [split infinitive].

As you can see from the above, not one principle, standard, or doctrinal belief was changed in the author's Introduction, when the 1911 edition was prepared.

37 - CORRELATIVE CHAPTER TITLES

The following list contains each of the chapters in the 1884, 1888, 1911, and current (1979) 1911 editions of this important book. The list is arranged so that you can see which chapters match, and those chapters which changed chapter titles. In addition, this correlative list shows which of the later edition chapters were missing in the 1884 and which chapters in the 1884 match those in the later editions.

Interesting secondary chapter titles were added to our own (HB = Harvestime Books) editions of the 1884 and 1888 editions, and also to the Cosmic Conflict (ABC - 1911) editions. When they are different than the regular titles, they are also be given in the list which follows. Our own titles were designed to attract readers to want to read each chapter. But, in each such instance, the original title was always included in the table of contents, at each chapter opening, and on the page tops throughout the book. (If anyone might wish to use our chapter titles in connection with a reprint of Great Controversy which they might print, they are welcome to do so. It is not control of the book but circulation of the book which is needed.)

In comparing the page counts of the several chapters (also listed below), keep in mind that the 1884 edition had a smaller page size.

CHAPTER 1

1884 edition: chapter 1 - Destruction of Jerusalem

pages 17-38 22 pages in chapter 1888: 1 - Destruction of Jerusalem17-38 22 pp.

1911: 1 - The Destruction of Jerusalem 17-38 22 pp. 1979: 1 - The Destruction of Jerusalem 17-38 22 pp. HB-1884: Foreshadowing the End
HB-1888: Like a Blazing Volcano

ABC-1911: A Forecast of the World's Destiny

CHAPTER 2

1884: 2 - Persecution in the First Centuries 39-50 12 pp. 1888: 2 - Persecution in the First Centuries 39-48 10 pp. 1911: 2 - Persecution in the First Centuries 39-48 10 pp. 1979: 2 - Persecution in the First Centuries 39-48 10 pp. HB-1884 & 1888: Whiter than Snow

ABC-1911: The First Christians

CHAPTER 3

1884: 3 - The Roman Church... 51-65 15 pp. 1888: 3 - The Apostasy ............ 49-60 12 pp. 1911: 3 - The Apostasy ............ 49-60 12 pp. 1979: 3 - An Era of Spiritual Darkness

(The Apostasy)......................... 49-60 12 pp. HB-1884 & 1888: All the Steps Down ABC-1911: An Era of Spiritual Darkness

CHAPTER 4

1884: 4 - The Waldenses .......... 66-84 1888: 4 - The Waldenses .......... 61-78 1911: 4 The Waldenses ............ 61-78 1979: 4 - The Waldenses .......... 61-78 HB-1884 & 1888: Faithful to the Death ABC-1911: Faithful Torchbearers

CHAPTER 5

1884: 5 - Early Reformers ......... 85-93 1888: 5 - John Wycliffe..............79-96 1911: 5 - John Wycliffe..............79-96 1979: 5 - John Wycliffe..............79-96 HB-1884 & 1888: A Voice in the Wilderness ABC-1911: The Light Breaks in England

19 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp.

9 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp.

CHAPTER 6

1884: (in the second part of chapter 5)
1888: 6 - Huss and Jerome .... 97-119 23 pp. 1911: 6 - Huss and Jerome .... 97-119 23 pp.

1979: 6 - Huss and Jerome ..... 97-119 23 pp. HB-1888: Nearing the Daybreak
ABC-1911: Two Heroes Face Death

CHAPTER 7

1884: 6 - Luther's Separation From Rome 94-118 25 pp. 1888: 7 - Luther's Separation From Rome...120-144 25 pp. 1911: 7 - Luther's Separation From Rome...120-144 25 pp. 1979: 7 - Luther's Separation From Rome ...120-144 25 pp. HB-1884: The Man Who Shook Kingdoms

HB-1888: Out of Darkness ABC-1911: Luther-A Man for His Time

CHAPTER 8

1884: 7 - Luther Before the Diet 1888: 8 - Luther Before the Diet 1911: 8 - Luther Before the Diet 1979: 8 - Luther Before the Diet HB-1884: Out of Darkness HB-1888: Here I Stand ABC-1911: A Champion of Truth

CHAPTER 9

119-143 25 pp. 145-170 26 pp. 145-170 26 pp. 145-170 26 pp.

1884: (missing)
1888: 9 - The Swiss Reformer 171-184 14 pp. 1911: 9 - The Swiss Reformer 171-184 14 pp. 1979: 9 - The Swiss Reformer 171-184 14 pp. HB-1888: Unshakable as the Mountains ABC-1911: Light Kindled in Switzerland

CHAPTER 10

1884: 8 - Progress of the Reformation 144-155 12 pp. 1888: 10 - Progress of Reform in Germany..185-196 12 pp. 1911: 10 - Progress of Reform in Germany..185-196 12 pp. 1979: 10 - Progress of Reform in Germany..185-196 12 pp. HB-1884: Luther Disappears

HB-1888: Luther Disappears
ABC-1911: Progress of Reform in Germany

CHAPTER 11

1884: 9 - Protest of the Princes
1888: 11 - Protest of the Princes 1911: 11 - Protest of the Princes 1979: 11 - Protest of the Princes HB-1884: A Noble Protest
HB-1888: The Turning Point ABC-1911: The Protest of the Princes

CHAPTER 12

1884: (missing, except for brief section in chap 12) 1888: 12 - The French Reformation211-236 26 pp. 1911: 12 - The French Reformation211-236 26 pp. 1979: 12 - The French Reformation211-236 26 pp. HB-1888: They Were Willing to Die

ABC-1911: Daybreak in France

CHAPTER 13

1884: (missing)
1888: 13 - In the Netherlands and Scandinavia
911: 13 - The Netherlands and Scandinavia
1979: 13 - The Netherlands and Scandinavia
HB-1888: Like Fire in the Stubble
ABC-1911: The Netherlands and Scandinavia Stirred by Reform

CHAPTER 14

1884: 10 - Later Reformers ....170-187 18 pp.
1888: 14 - Later English Reformers 245-264 20 pp. 1911:14-LaterEnglishReformers 245-26420pp. 1979: 14 - Later English Reformers 245-264 20 pp.

HB-1884: Spiritual Forefathers
HB-1888: A Great Cloud of Witnesses
ABC-1911: Truth Advances in the British Isles
CHAPTER 15
1884: 11 - The Two Witnesses 188-193 6 pp.
1888: 15 - The Bible and the French Revolution 265-288 24 pp. 1911: 15 - The Bible and the French Revolution 265-288 24 pp.

156-169 14 pp. 197-210 14 pp. 197-210 14 pp. 197-210 14 pp.

237-244 8 pp. 237-244 8 pp. 237-244 8 pp.

1979: 15 - The Bible and the French Revolution 265-288 24 pp. HB-1884: Reap the Whirlwind
HB-1888: The Deadly Harvest
ABC-1911: Terror and Retribution in France

CHAPTER 16

1884: (missing)
1888: 16 - The Pilgrim Fathers
1911: 16 - The Pilgrim Fathers
1979: 16 - The Pilgrim Fathers
HB-1888: Brave New World
ABC-1911: Seeking Freedom in a New World

CHAPTER 17

1884: 12 - God Honors the Humble 194-201 8 pp. 1888: 17 - Heralds of the Morning 299-316 18 pp. 1911: 17 - Heralds of the Morning 299-316 18 pp.

1979: 17 - Heralds of the Morning 299-316 18 pp. HB-1884: An Upward Path
HB-1888: Nearing the Advent
ABC-1911: Promises of Christ's Return

CHAPTER 18

1884:13 - William Miller .........202-221 20 pp.

1888: 18 - An American Reformer
1911: 18 - An American Reformer
1979: 18 - An American Reformer HB-1884 & 1888: Opening the Prophecies ABC-1911: New Light in the New World

CHAPTER 19

1884: (missing)
1888: 19 - Light Through Darkness 343-354 12 pp. 1911: 19 - Light Through Darkness 343-354 12 pp. 1979: 19 - Light Through Darkness 343-354 12 pp. HB-1888: Night of Sorrow
ABC-1911: Light Through Darkness

CHAPTER 20

1884: 14 - The First Angel's Message 222-229 8 pp. 1888: 20 - A Great Religious Awakening 355-374 20 pp.

289-298 10 pp. 289-298 10 pp. 289-298 10 pp.

317-342 26 pp. 317-342 26 pp. 317-342 26 pp.

1911: 20 - A Great Religious Awakening 1979: 20 - A Great Religious Awakening HB-1884: A Powerful Message
HB-1888: From Land to Land
ABC-1911: A Global Religious Awakening

CHAPTER 21

355-374 20 pp. 355-374 20 pp.

1884: 15 - The Second Angel's Message 230-240 11 pp.

1888: 21 - A Warning Rejected
1911: 21 - A Warning Rejected
1979: 21 - A Warning Rejected HB-1884: A Warning Rejected HB-1888: Time of Tarrying ABC-1911: Results of Rejecting Truth

CHAPTER 22

1884: 16 - The Tarrying Time 241-247 7 pp. 1884: 17 - The Midnight Cry .. 248-257 10 pp.

1888: 22 - Prophecies Fulfilled 1911: 22 - Prophecies Fulfilled 1979: 22 - Prophecies Fulfilled HB-1884 (16): Waiting Ones HB-1884 (17): "Go Out to Meet Him" HB-1888: The Midnight Cry ABC-1911: Prophecies Fulfilled

CHAPTER 23

1884: 18 - The Sanctuary ...... 258-267 10 pp.

1888: 23 - What Is the Sanctuary?
1911: 23 - What Is the Sanctuary?
1979: 23 - What Is the Sanctuary?
HB-1884: The Tabernacle of Prophecy
HB-1888: The Sanctuary of Prophecy
ABC-1911: The Mystery of the Sanctuary Unfolded

CHAPTER 24

1884: 19 - An Open and a Shut Door 268-272 5 pp.

1888: 24 - In the Holy of Holies 1911: 24 - In the Holy of Holies 1979: 24 - In the Holy of Holies

423-432 10 pp. 423-432 10 pp. 423-432 10 pp.

375-390 16 pp. 375-390 16 pp. 375-390 16 pp.

391-408 18 pp. 391-408 18 pp. 391-408 18 pp.

409-422 14 pp. 409-422 14 pp. 409-422 14 pp.

HB-1884: The Intercession of Christ HB-1888: Into the Presence of God ABC-1911: Jesus Christ Our Advocate

CHAPTER 25

1884: 20 - The Third Angel's Message 273-286 14 pp.

1888: 25 - God's Law Immutable
1911: 25 - God's Law Immutable
1979: 25 - God's Law Immutable HB-1884 & 1888: The Mark of the Beast ABC-1911: America in Prophecy

CHAPTER 26

1884: 21 - The Third Message Rejected 287-293 7 pp.

1888: 26 - A Work of Reform.451-460 1911: 26 - A Work of Reform.451-460 1979: 26 - A Work of Reform.451-460 HB-1884: Pathways to Eternity HB-1888: Restoring the Foundations ABC-1911: An Hour for Reform

CHAPTER 27

1884: 22 - Modern Revivals...294-306 1888: 27 - Modern Revivals...461-478 1911: 27 - Modern Revivals...461-478 1979: 27 - Modern Revivals...461-478 HB-1884: Revivals That Don't Revive HB-1888: When the Fire Goes Out ABC-1911: Modern Revivals

CHAPTER 28

1884: 23 - The Investigative Judgment

1888: 28 - The Investigative Judgment

1911: 28 - The Investigative Judgment

10 pp. 10 pp. 10 pp.

13 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp. 18 pp.

307-315 9 pp. 479-491 13 pp. 479-491 13 pp.

1979: 28 - Facing Life's Record (The Investigative Judgment) ....479-491

13 pp.
HB-1884 & 1888: Judgment Before the End ABC-1911: Facing Our Life Record

CHAPTER 29

1884: 24 - Origin of Evil ......... 316-323 8 pp.

433-450 18 pp. 433-450 18 pp. 433-450 18 pp.

1888: 29 - The Origin of Evil..492-504 13 pp. 1911: 29 - The Origin of Evil..492-504 13 pp. 1979: 29 - The Origin of Evil..492-504 13 pp. HB-1884: Origin and Destiny

HB-1888: Fall From Paradise
ABC-1911: Why Were Sin and Suffering Permitted?

CHAPTER 30

1884: 25 - Enmity Between Man and Satan ...324-330 7 pp. 1888: 30 - Enmity Between Man and Satan ...505-510 6 pp. 1911: 30 - Enmity Between Man and Satan ...505-510 6 pp. 1979: 30 - Enmity Between Man and Satan ...505-510 6 pp. HB-1884 & 1888: The First Prophecy

ABC-1911: Man's Worst Enemy

CHAPTER 31

1884: 26 - Agency of Evil Spirits 1888: 31 - Agency of Evil Spirits 1911: 31 - Agency of Evil Spirits 1979: 31 - Agency of Evil Spirits HB-1884: In Christ We Conquer HB-1888: Victory in Christ ABC-1911: Who are the Angels?

CHAPTER 32

1884: 27 - The Snares of Satan
1888: 32 - Snares of Satan.... 518-530 13 pp.
1911: 32 - Snares of Satan.... 518-530 13 pp.
1979: 32 - Snares of Satan.... 518-530 13 pp.
HB-1884: Sixty-five Snares of Satan HB-1888: Satan's Tool Box ABC-1911: Snares of Satan

CHAPTER 33

1884: 28 - The First Great Deception 1888: 33 - The First Great Deception 1911: 33 - The First Great Deception 1979: 33 - The First Great Deception HB-1884 & 1888: The First Lie ABC-1911: The Mystery of Immortality

351-369 19 pp. 531-550 20 pp. 531-550 20 pp. 531-550 20 pp.

CHAPTER 34

331-336 6 pp. 511-517 7 pp. 511-517 7 pp. 511-517 7 pp.

337-350 14 pp.

1884: 29 - Spiritualism...........370-379 10 pp.
1888: 34 - Spiritualism...........551-562 12 pp.
1911: 34 - Spiritualism...........551-562 12 pp.
1979: 34 - Can Our Dead Speak to Us? (Spiritualism)551-562 12 pp. HB-1884 & 1888: Satan's Masterpiece

ABC-1911: Can the Dead Speak to Us?

CHAPTER 35

1884: 30 - Character and Aims of the Papacy 380-397 18 pp.

1888: 35 - Character and Aims of the Papacy 563-581 19 pp.

1911: 35 - Aims of the Papacy 563-581 19 pp.

1979: 35 - Liberty of Conscience Threatened (Aims of the Papacy) 563- 581 19 pp.

HB-1884: Mystic Babylon
HB-1888: Collision Course
ABC-1911: Liberty of Conscience Threatened

CHAPTER 36

1884: 31 - The Coming Conflict 398-410 13 pp.
1888: 36 - The Impending Conflict-Its Causes 582-592 11 pp.

1911: 36 - The Impending Conflict 1979: 36 - The Impending Conflict HB-1884: The Impending Crisis HB-1888: Satan's Master Plan ABC-1911: The Impending Conflict

CHAPTER 37

1884: 32 - The Scriptures a Safeguard 1888: 37 - The Scriptures a Safeguard 1911: 37 - The Scriptures a Safeguard 1979: 37 - The Scriptures a Safeguard HB-1884: The Rock of Scripture HB-1888: Build on the Rock ABC-1911: Our Only Safeguard

CHAPTER 38

1884: 33 - The Loud Cry 421-430 10 pp. 1888: 38 - The Final Warning 603-612 10 pp. 1911: 38 - The Final Warning 603-612 10 pp. 1979: 38 - The Final Warning 603-612 10 pp.

582-592 11 pp. 582-592 11 pp.

411-420 10 pp. 593-602 10 pp. 593-602 10 pp. 593-602 10 pp.

HB-1884: The Final Warning HB-1888: To All the World ABC-1911: God's Final Warning

CHAPTER 39

1884: 34 - The Time of Trouble 1888: 39 - "The Time of Trouble... 1911: 39 - "The Time of Trouble... 1979: 39 - The Time of Trouble HB-1884: Beyond Probation HB-1888: When Probation Closes ABC-1911: The Time of Trouble

CHAPTER 40

1884: 35 - God's People Delivered 1888: 40 - God's People Delivered 1911: 40 - God's People Delivered 1979: 40 - God's People Delivered HB-1884: The Second Advent of Christ HB-1888: The Coming of the King ABC-1911: God's People Delivered

CHAPTER 41

1884: 36 - Desolation of the Earth 1888: 41 - Desolation of the Earth 1911: 41 - Desolation of the Earth 1979: 41 - Desolation of the Earth HB-1884: The Thousand Years HB-1888: Time to Think ABC-1911: The Earth in Ruins

CHAPTER 42

1884: 37 - The Controversy Ended 1888: 42 - The Controversy Ended 1911: 42 - The Controversy Ended 1979: 42 - The Controversy Ended HB-1884: Life Without End HB-1888: An Eternity with Christ ABC-1911: The Controversy Ended

470-475 6 pp. 653-661 9 pp. 653-661 9 pp. 653-661 9 pp.

476-492 17 pp. 662-678 17 pp. 662-678 17 pp. 662-678 17 pp.

431-451 21 pp. 613-634 22 pp. 613-634 22 pp. 613-634 22 pp.

452-469 18 pp. 635-652 18 pp. 635-652 18 pp. 635-652 18 pp.

38 - INCLUSIVE DATES OF EACH CHAPTER

When did each chapter actually occur in history? The following list (keyed to 1888/1911 chapters) will give you the span of dates within which the narrative in each chapter took place. Of course, the last 20 chapters in the book are undated because they either contain doctrinal instruction or refer to future events (chapters 23-42).

CHAPTER ONE: The Destruction of Jerusalem--The primary events in this chapter took place in the spring of A.D. 31 and between the spring of A.D. 66 to August A.D. 70.

CHAPTER TWO: Persecution In the First Centuries-- While this chapter spans a period of time from A.D. 64 through the mid-seventh century, several of its most important events occurred between A.D. 311 to 337. The persecutions against Christians began under Emperor Nero about July of A.D. 64 and continued intermittently for centuries. It was the Christian writer, Tertullian (197-227) who, about the year 206, wrote to the emperor,
Septimius Severus, saying that "The blood of Christians is seed." Following the peace which began under Constantine in April 311, unscriptural errors crowded into the Christian church as, during the reign of Constantine (311- 337), it became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

CHAPTER THREE: The Apostasy--The dates in this chapter cover nine centuries, from A.D. 311 to 1229, and beyond. Constantine's decree of March 7, 321, requiring Sunday observance, laid the foundation for the entire apostasy. The Council of Laodicea (c. 337) gave it church approval.

CHAPTER FOUR: The Waldenses--The information in this chapter about the early British Christians covers the years A.D. 300 through 614, and onward. The history of the Waldenses spans more than a millennium of persecution and bloodshed.

CHAPTER FIVE: John Wycliff-- All of the events in this chapter took place within the years A.D. 1328 to 1428 (when his ashes were thrown into a brook).

CHAPTER SIX: Huss and Jerome-- The crucial events in this chapter, during the lives of Huss and Jerome, took place between A.D. 1396 and 1416.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Luther's Separation From Rome-- This chapter covers the period of time between November 10, 1483, and January 2, 1521, the first 37 years of Martin Luther's life.

CHAPTER EIGHT: Luther Before the Diet--The events in this chapter occurred between November 1520 and December 1521.

CHAPTER NINE: The Swiss Reformer--The events related in this chapter extend from 1484 to 1528.

CHAPTER TEN: Progress of Reform in Germany--The events of this chapter span eighteen months from April 1521 to September 1522.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Protest of the Princes--The events of this chapter cover seventeen months, from February 1529 to June 1530. Martin Luther was about 47 years old by that time.

CHAPTER TWELVE: The French Reformation--The primary events recounted in this chapter took place between 1523 and 1561. The entire future of France was engraven during those unfortunate years.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Netherlands and Scandinavia--The primary events mentioned in this chapter took place between the years 1526 and 1581 (the victories of Gustavus II Adolphus that concluded the Thirty Years War which occurred in 1630-1632).

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Later Reformers-- The events in this chapter span the birth of William Tyndale on down to the death of John Wesley (from 1492 to 1791). John Trask (Traske) was brought before the infamous Star Chamber, in 1618, and imprisoned three years before his recantation in 1621. His wife was imprisioned 16 or 17 years for Sabbathkeeping. The first Sabbathkeeping church in the
American colonies was founded in 1671.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Bible and the French Revolution--This chapter takes us rapidly down the annals of time, from the three savage Huguenot wars, which began in 1562, to the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, a three-month butchery which began on August 24, 1574. The inevitable result was the French Revolution, which started on July 1789 and brought suffering and death to millions of Frenchmen in the years that followed.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Pilgrim Fathers--Throughout most of the seventeenth century, there was much persecution of the faithful Christians of England who were determined to stand by the truths of the Bible. Their era of suffering spanned nearly a hundred years from the time that James I ascended the British throne in 1603.

39 - THE 1888 to 1911 HISTORICAL REFERENCES

Listed below is each historical quotation which had a source reference added to it in the 1911 edition. In addition, some quotations were decidedly different in the 1911 edition than they were in the 1888; these are identified below with a "C." In this way, you can personally examine each quotation and prove for yourself that, in regard to the choice of historical quotations included in the

1911 edition, no change was made in the principles or doctrines taught in that book. (As discussed elsewhere in this present book, quotations were changed when the original quotations could not be found-so source references could be added to them.)

Because, after the 1888 edition was published, Merle D'Aubigne officially approved a different English translation of his History of the Reformation, many of the D'Aubigne quotations had to be changed for the 1911 edition. In the list, below, each D'Aubigne quotation is marked with a "D." If it was also changed, the quotation will be marked with a "DC."

Here are the codes used below:

No code = a reference was added in the 1911 edition, but the passage was not been changed, and that passage may or may not have been in quotation marks in the 1888 edition.

C = a different quotation was used in the 1911 than was in 1888 edition.

D = A D'Aubigne quotation which was the same in both the 1888 and 1911 editions.

DC = a D'Aubigne quotation which was worded differently in the other English translation, and therefore was different in the 1888 edition than it was in the 1911.

It will be the "C" quotations which you may wish to especially examine. They are the ones in which decided changes occurred between the 1888 and 1911 editions.

In all of the following paging references, the location of the reference AT THE END of the quotation was used as the focal point of pagination, not where the quotation began; thus, if a quotation began on page 30 and ended on page 31, it will be listed below as being on page 31. But if it was a "C" quotation, then the complete paging is given-to help you locate that quotation which was changed in preparation for the 1911 edition.

1 30
2 30335

4 41-42 C 41:3b-42:0 to 41:3b-42:0

5 59
6 60 C 60:2a to 60:2a 7 63 D

8 71 C 71:1m to 71:1m 9 77 C 77:0m to 7T 1 m 10 77
11 82

12 84 D
13 85
14 85
15 86 C 86:3b to 87:0b

16 88 D

17 90

18 92

19 92 D

20 95 C 95:2b to 95:2b- 96:0b

21 97 C 97:1 m to 97: l m 22 98
23 101
24 102

25 105 26 106

27 106 C 106:3a to 106:2m

28 107 C 107: 1b to 107: 1b

48 119 49 122 D

50 122 DC 122:2m to 122:2m

51 123 D

52 124 D

53 124 D 125 D

54 125 DC 125:0b to 125:0b

55 126 to 126-127 DC 126:3b to 126:3b 127:0b

56 127 57 127 D

58 127 to 128 DC 127:2b to 128:0m

59 128

29 107

30 108 DC 108:0b to 108:1b

31 108 C 108:2b to 108:3b 32 108 to 108-109

33a 109 C 109:0b to 109:0b

33b 109 C 109:1b to 109: 1b

34 109

35 110

36 110-111 to 111

37 111

38 112

39 113

40 114

41 114

42 115

43 116 C 116:1m to 116:2m

44 118 C 118:0m to 118:1m

45 119 C 119:2m to 119:2m

46 119

47 119 C 119:3m to 119:3m

60 129 D 129: 0b to 129: 0b

61 a 130 to 131 C 130:2b to 131: 0b

61b 131 D

62 132 DC 132: 0a to 132:1m

63 132 DC 132:1a to 132:2a

64 132 to 132-133 DC 132:2m to 132:3b 133:0m

65 133 to 133-134 DC 133:3m to 133:3b 134:0m

66 134-135 to 135 DC 134:3b-135: 0b to 135:0b

67 136
68 136D to 137D

69 138 DC 138:2b to 138:3b

70 139 DC 139: 0b to 139:1b

71 139 DC 139:1m to 139:2m

72 140 DC 140: 0b to 140: l b

73 140 DC 140:1b to 140.2b

74 140

75 140 DC 140:3b to 140:4b

76 140 to 140-141 DC 140:4 to 140:5-141:0

77 141 DC 141:1m to 141:2m

78 141 to 141-142 DC 141:2 to 141:3-142:0

79 142 DC 142:1b to 142:2b

97 155 D

98 156 DC 156:1m to 156:0m

99 157 to 156-157 DC 157.1 to 156:3-157:0

100 158 to 157-158 DC 158:1b to 157:2b-158:0

101 158 DC 158:3 to 158:2

102 159 DC 159:1 to 159:1-2

80 142-143 DC 142:2- 143:0 to 142:3 143:0

81 143 82 145 D

83 146 DC 46., 1b to 146., 1b

84 147 DC 147:1b to 147:1b

85 147

86a 148 DC 148:0b to 148: 1b

86b 148 DC 148:1 to 148:2

87 149-150 to 149 DC 149:3-150:0 to 149:3

88 150 DC 150:3b to 150:3b

89 151 to 150-151 DC 151:0b to 150:5b-151:0

90 151 DC 151:1m to 151:1m

91 152 to 151 DC 152:0b to 151:2b

92 152 DC 152:3 to 152:3

93 153 DC 153:1b to 153:1b

94 153 DC 153:2b to 153:2b

95 154 to 153-154 DC 154:0b to 153:4b-154:0

96 155 to 154-155 DC 155:1 to 154:3-155:0

103 160 DC 160:2 to 160:2

104a 161 DC 161:1b to 161:1b

104b 161 D

104c 161 DC 161:3b to 161:3b

105 163 to 162-163 DC 163:0m to 162:3b 163:0m

106 163 D

107 163 DC 163:2a to 163:2a

108 164 to 163

109 164 to 163 DC 164:1a to 163:3a

110 166 to 165-166 DC 166: 1b to 165:2b-166:0

111 166 DC 166:2 to 166:1

112 166 DC 166:3a to 166:2a

113 166

114 167 DC 167.-1b to 167.-0b

115 167 DC 167:2 to 167.1

116 167

117 167-168 to 167 C 167.4b-168:0a to 167:3a

118 169 D
119 173
120 174
121 174 C 174:1 to 174:2

122 174 to 174-175 C 174:2m to 174:3b 175:0a

123 175 DC 175:1 to 175:1 124 176 DC 176:2 to 176:3 125 176-177 to 177 DC

148 189 C 189:1 to 189:1 149 189 C 189:2 to 189:2

150 189-190 DC 189:4 190:1 to 189:4 190:1

151 191 DC 191:0b to

176:3m-177:0m to 177:0m 126 177 D
127 177 D

128 177 to 178 DC 177:2b to 178:0b

129 178 178:1b

130 180 180:1m

131 180 180:1b

132 181

133 181

134 181

135 181

136 183 183:1b

137 183 183:3a

138 183 183:4a

139 183 183:4b

140 185 185:2m

141 187 187:1b

142 187 187:2b

143 187 187:3b

144 187

145 188 188:1b

146 188

147 188-189 DC 188:3- 189:0 to 188:4 189:0

DC 178:1b to C 180:0m to DC 180:0b to

DC 183: 0b to DC 183:2a to DC 183:3a to DC 183:3b to DC 185:2m to DC 187:1b to DC 187:2b to DC 187:3b to D

DC 188:0b to

191:0b 152 191

153 191 C 191:1b to 191:1b

154 194 C 194:2 to 194:2

155 195 C 195:2m to 195:2m

156 195-196 C 195:3b- 196:0 to 195:3b 196:0

157 197 D

158 198 C 198:1m to 198:1m

159 198

160a 199 C 199:2 to 199:2

160b 199 C 199:3a to 199:3a

161 199 C 199:3b to 199:3b

162 200-201

163 201 DC 201:0b-1a to 201:0b-1a

164 201

165 201 C 201:3b- 202:0a to 201:3b-202:0a

166 202 C 202:1 to 202:1

167 202 C 202:2b to 202:2b

168 202-203 C 202:4- 203:0 to 202:4 -203:2

169 203-204 C203:2- 204:0m to 203:4-204:0m

170 170

171 205 DC 205:1-2 to 205:1-3

202 225 C 225:2b to 226:0b

203 226

172 206 D

173 207 DC 207:0b to 207:0b

174 207 DC 207: 1b to 207: 1b

175 207 C 207:2b to 207:2b

176 208 DC 208:0b to 208: 1b

177 208 DC 208:1a to 208:1

178 209 D
179 209 DC 209:2 to 209:2

180 209-210 to 209 DC 209:3-210:0 to 209:3

181 210 DC 210:1m to 210:1m

182 212

183 212 to 212-213 D

184 213 D

185 213

186 213

187 213-214 to 214 D

188 215 to 215-216

189 216

190 216

191a 217 C 217:0b to 217:0b

191b 217

192 218 D

193 218

194 218

195 218 to 218-219

196 219 C 219:0b to 219:1b

197 220 198 221 199 221

C 228:0-1a to 205 229 D

204 228 228:1m

206 229 229:2m

C 229:2m to to 229-230

207 229 208 230 209 231 210 234 D

211 237 237:1b

212 238 238:1b

213 238 214 240

215 240 216 240

217 243

218 243-244 C 243:2- 244:0 to 243:3-224:0

219 245-246 D

220 246

221 246

222 246 C 246:3 to 246:3

223 248 C 248:1 to 248:1

224 248 C 248:2b to 248:3

225 249 C 249:1b to 249:1b

226a 250-251 C 250:5- 251:0 to 250:5 251:0

226b 251 C 251:2 to 251:2

227 253-254 228 255
229 255
230 256

231 256 232 259

C 237- 1b to C 238:0 to

C 240:2 to 240:2

200 223 to 223-224

201 225 DC 225: 1b to 225: 1b

233 260 234a 261

234b 261 C 261:2a to 261:2a

235 262-263

236 263-264 to 263

237 264

238 269-270

239 270

240 270 to 271

241 271

242 272 C 272:0b to 272:0b

243 272-273 C 272:3- 273:0 to 272:3 273:0

244 274

245 274 to 274-275

246 275

247 275-276 C 275:2- 276:0 to 275:3 276:0

248 276

249 276 C 276:3 to 276:3

250 277

251 277 C 277:2m to 277:2m

252 277
253 278-279 to 279 254 289

255 290

256 290 C 290:1m to 290:2m

257 290 to 291
258 291
259 291 to 291-292 260 292
261 292
262 292 to 292-293

296. 329 to 329-330 297.330

298.331

299.333

300.333

301. 333 to 333-334

302. 334 C 334:1a to 334:1a

303.334

263 293
264 293 to 293-294

265 293 to 294 266 294

267 294
268 294 to 294-295

269 294-295 to 294 C 294:4b-295:0a to 295:1m

270 295 to 295-296 271 295-296 to 296 272 296
273 302

274 302-303 to 303 275 302-303 to 303 276 303
277 303

278 303

279 303

280 303 to 303-304

281 303 to 304

282 304-305

283 305

284a 305

284b 305 C 305:2b to 305:2b

285 306

286 306-307 C 306:1b, 2- 307:1 to

306:3-4-307:0-1

287 307 C 307:2 to 307:2- 3

288 307 to 307-308 C 307:3m to 307:4b-308a

289 307-308 to 308 C 307:3b-308:1 to 308:0b

290 319
291 320 to 320-321

304. 334 to 334-335 C 334:4b to 334:4b-335:0

305. 336 C 336:2 to 336:3

306.337

307.357

308. 357-358

309.359

310.359

311. 359-360

312.360

313. 360-361

314.361

315.361

316. 361-362 to 362

317. 362 C 362:0 to 362:0b

318. 363 C 363:1b to 363:2b

319.365

320.375

321. 376 to 376-377

322. 384 C 384:1 to 384:1

323.384 324.384
325. 384-385 326.385 327.385
328. 385-386

329a. 386-387 to 387 C 386:3-387:0 to 387:1

329b. 387 C 387:2 to 387:3

330.388
331. 388 to 388-389 332. 396-397 333.397

292 323
293 324
294 324-325 295 329

334. 397
335. 400 401 to 401

336.401

337.406

338. 406-407 339. 437-438 340.440

341. 440-441 to 440 342.447

343.447 344.448 345.448 346. 547 C

547:2 to 547:1 347.547

348.549

349. 549-550 to 549 C 549:3b-550:0 to 549:2b

350. 563-564 to 564

351.565

352. 571 C 571:1m to 571:2m

353.574

354.575 355.575 356.575

357. 576 to 576- 577

358.577 359.577

360. 577 to 577- 578

361. 580 to 580- 581 C 580:2 to 580:3

362. 580 to 580-581 C 580:2 to 581:0

40 - THE FOUR APPENDICES

Five appendices (which can also properly be spelled and pronounced "appendixes") have been in the 1884, 1888, and 1911 editions of Great Controversy. The original 1911 appendix was later slightly revised on November 19, 1956, and again on December 6, 1979. Ellen White wrote none of the appendices. From the beginning, that has always been an understood, definite fact.

(In the following analysis, we will refer to the paging of each original edition, plus the 1956 and 1971 revisions. The original 1911 appendix paging will be written "1911 orig." In most instances, the 1911 appendix paging is the same as that used today. The 'text' refers to what was written in the 42 chapters, not in the appendix. "1888/1911" means that both appendices were essentially the same in content and/or paging. "1911/1956/1979" would mean the same. "1911" by itself would include the 1956 and 1979 revisions; whereas, "1911 orig." would mean the original 1911 edition, as distinct from the 1956 and 1979 appendix revisions. No changes occurred in the 1911 appendix until the 1956 revision. The 1956 and 1979 appendix notes are paged alike (except on pages 684-685).

The 1884 appendix notes were provided to provide additional material, either because the text said little about it or because it dealt with a topic which only deserved fuller treatment at the back of the book. In rewriting for the next (the 1888) edition, Ellen referred to the 1884 appendix and used the best of it as a basis with which to write additional material for the 1888. Therefore, only about half of the notes in the 1884 appendix continued on, in some form or other, in the later ones.

The 1884 and 1888 appendix notes were sequentially numbered, but did not have introductory titles. The 1911, 1956, and 1979 appendix notes were not sequentially numbered, but did have the titles.

The 1884 Appendix: There were 9 notes in the 1884 edition. These topics were as follows:

1 - The 2300-year prophecy, from Artaxerxes to Miller. In the text of the 1888/1911, this prophecy was explained in detail. So this note, as it was written in the 1884, was not carried on into the 1888 appendix. However, in the 1911 edition, it is on pages 326-327 and summarized on page 410.

2 - The Matthew 24:36 statement, "No man knoweth the day nor the hour" (cf. 1911 text, p. 371). By 1888, this was not considered a point requiring a special appendix.

3 - Ascension robes. This note was essentially carried through all the later appendices (1888, p. 682; 1911 orig., p. 688; 1956/1979, p. 692). It was also mentioned in the later texts (1911 text, p. 363.)

4 - The 1843 dating error explained. This clarification of the mistake in dating the end of the prophecy in 1843 instead of 1844 was explained in the text of the 1888/1911 editions.

5 - The "earth is the sanctuary" error explained. This note was essentially taken on into the 1888 appendix. The mistake is explained in the 1888/1911 text, but the reason why the Millerites thought the earth was the sanctuary was not true. Therefore, that point is not found in our current editions, text or appendix. Yet there is no reason to explain why the Millerites thought the earth was the sanctuary, for it is an error and one which no one today defends or is concerned about.

6 - Shut door error explained. This point was explained in the 1888/ 1911 text (1911, pp. 428-430), but only in the 1888 appendix (1888, p. 684).

7 - The Third Angel's warning. The Third Angel's Message is discussed in all the appendices (1888, p. 685; 1911 orig., p. 689; 1958/ 1979, p. 693). It is also explained in the text of all three editions.

8 - The two beasts of Revelation 13. This is dealt with in the 1888 appendix (p. 679), in partial detail in the text of the 1884 (chapter 20), and in greater detail in the 1888/1911 (chapter 25).

9 - The seal of God. This note is also found in the 1888 appendix (p. 69), and more fully in the text of the 1888/1911.

That concludes the 9 notes in the 1884 appendix.

The 1888 Appendix: The 1888 appendix had 13 notes. These included some of those in the 1884, plus seven new ones. The new notes are mentioned below:

1 - Constantine's Sunday Law. This note (p. 679) was taken into all the appendices which followed (1911 orig., p. 680; 1956/1979, p. 680). The 1888 note had more explanation, but less references.

5 - Adventist chronology admitted to be correct. This note contained a contemporary quotation admitting that Adventists were right in their day-year principle and 1844 dating. It was not in the 1884 appendix (probably because it was not discovered until later), but was included in the three later appendices (1888, p. 682; 1911 orig., p. 688; 1956/1979, p. 692).

9 - Victor and the timing of Easter. This note is only in the 1888 appendix (p. 685). It would be well if it had been included in the later ones. Easter is not mentioned in the text of Great Controversy; yet, as you probably know, the linking of Easter to Sunday was a major step toward Sunday sacredness in Christendom.

10 - Catholic resurgence in Europe and the U.S. This note is only in the 1888 appendix. Reading it, you will see why; it consists of news notes from the 19th century. It would be well if updated versions had been included in the later appendices. But the problem in so doing would be that the news clips would go out of date every couple decades.

11 - Sunday movement in U.S. Not in the later appendices, for the same reasons as note 10.

12 - Ethiopian Sabbathkeepers. A very brief note, first mentioned in the 1888 appendix, is included with amplification in the later appendices (1911 orig., p. 889; 1956/1979, p. 694). It is also mentioned in the 1888/1911 text.

13 - The seal of God. This, the last note in the 1888 appendix, had also been in the 1884. We mention it again because it is not included in the appendices after 1888. Even though this topic is discussed in the text of the 1888 and 1911 editions, this particular appendix note is a very good explanatory one. It would have been well if it had been included in the 1911/1956 appendices.

The 1911 and 1956 Appendices: The 1911 appendix is almost identical to the 1956 appendix revision. Comparing the two closely, we find that the 1956 is somewhat fuller and more complete, without having any of the good points of the 1911 removed. Therefore we would recommend the 1956 appendix as superior to the 1911. (And, because of the errors noted below, we consider it better than the 1979 also.) The 1956 appendix is the one found in those copies of the 1911 edition of Great Controversy, purchased from fall 1956 to fall 1979. Since that time only the 1979 revision has been available at ABCs. Perhaps someday the 1979 appendix errors will be corrected.

In comparing the 1884/1888 appendices with the 1911/1958/1979, we find that the first two appendices had explanatory notes, which were designed to provide additional information to that found in the text. In contrast, the 1911/1956/1979 appendices were intended to provide some information, but they also provide historical references which show that the historical statements made in the book were, indeed, accurate.

With all this in mind, there is no reason to go through all of the 1911/1958/1979 notes, since, with rare exception, they are about the same and can be read at the back of your own current copy of Great Controversy. Therefore, for the most part, those notes which were in the 1888 edition-and essentially unchanged in all later editions-are NOT discussed below.

The 1911 original appendix had 31 notes; the 1956/1979 had 33. According to the reckoning of the present writer, 7 of the 1888 notes passed on into the 1911/1956/1979 appendices. That figure would provide us with 24 new notes.

Now let us compare the 1911 and 1956/1979 notes:

The "Infallibility" note is included in both; it was simply moved up from p. 683 to p. 679; it is not missing in the 1956 edition.

A new note in the 1956 edition is on p. 685 of that revision (p. 684 of the 1979 revision): "Sabbath Among the Waldenses."

The "Wycliffe" note is interesting: In the 1911, it concerned bulls against the English Reformer; in the 1956, it was slightly enlarged, and an introductory paragraph about the various spellings of his name was added. But, in the process of revision, a cross reference to another note was inserted into the middle of the "Wycliffe" note! That error passed on into the 1979 revision and is there today.

One, among many good examples of how much improvement was made in the changeover from the 1911 to 1956 appendix, is to be seen in the "Reign of Terror" note (1911 orig., p. 685; 1956, p. 688). 1 1/2 column inches was increased to 41/2 of good material.

The data in some notes had gotten out of date, and urgently needed revision. Compare the "Circulation of the Scriptures" note in both appendices (1911 orig., p. 686; 1956, p. 689). Also compare the next note, titled "Foreign Missions." Neither note was updated in 1979.

There are several notes in the various appendices which deal with prophetic dates. In fact, it can become somewhat confusing. For that reason, we will summarize them here: In the 1884, a note dealt with the 2300-year and 490-year prophecies (1884, p. 493); it passed into the 1888 (p. 681). In the 1911 (because so much explanation was in the text [pp. 326-327, 410]), it became a brief paragraph of historical references (p. 887), called "Prophetic Notes." In the 1956/1979, it became two "Prophetic Dates" notes! The first concerned the year-for-a-day prophetic principle (1956/1979, p. 681); and the second, also titled "Prophetic Dates," provided references for the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign (1956/1979, p. 690). In addition to these notes, there was also the Bush statement, declaring that the Adventists were right about their day-year application and 1844 dating. This note first appeared in the 1888, and subsequently in all the later appendices (1888, p. 682; 1911 orig., p. 688; 1956/1979, p. 692 [yes, George Bush has been in Great Controversy since 1888!]). Unfortunately, in the 1979 note, it was garbled, as noted below.

The above notes concerned Daniel 8 and 9. There were also notes about Revelation 12-14. From the 1888 appendix onward, Revelation 12 and 13 is to be found in one note while the Third Angel's Message is to be found in another (and, in the 1888, the Seal of God is to be found in yet another).

Here is a list of all the additional notes (in both the 1911 and 1956 appendices) which were NOT in the 1888 or 1884. When they vary, the note titles given in the 1956/1979 appendices will be listed below. These 26 notes, not found before the 1911 edition appendix, are listed sequentially below according to the 1979 paging, so page references are not needed here. (The only paging difference between the 1956 and 1979 revisions is found on pp. 684-685.) Here are the 26:

Titles / Infallibility / Image Worship / Forged Writings / Dictates of Hildebrand / Purgatory / Indulgences / Waldensian Version of the Bible / (In the 1956 appendix, the next two notes are switched in sequence.) Edict Against the Waldenses / Sabbath Among the Waldenses (not in 1911 original) / Wycliffe / Council of Constance / Jesuitism / The Inquisition / Causes of the French Revolution / Efforts to Suppress and Destroy the Bible / The Reign of Terror / The Masses and the Privileged Classes / Retribution / The Atrocities of the Reign of Terror / The Circulation of the Scriptures / Foreign Missions / Fall of the Ottoman Empire / Withholding the Bible from the People / Supremacy of the Bishops of Rome.

Thus we see that only six of the 32/33 notes, entered the 1911/ 1956 appendices from the 1888 edition. All the rest are original from 1911 onward. Here are those six:

Constantine's Sunday Law / Prophetic Dates (into two notes in the 1956 edition) / Ascension Robes / Chronology of Prophecy / Three Angels' Message / Ethiopian Church and the Sabbath.

Only one note was added in the 1956 appendix revision: "Sabbath Among the Waldenses" (p. 685). But, after this revision was completed and printed, it was discovered that one note had been put into the appendix out of order with the text, so the 1979 revision switched the sequence of the two Waldensian notes (pp. 684-685).

But the 1979 revision proved to be an even more hurried job. (1) After reversing the order of the two Waldensian notes, the cross reference introduced into the 1956 revision (p. 685, which inserted a cross referenced note in the middle of another note) was not removed. (That cross reference says this: "Page 86."). (2) In addition to reversing the two Waldensian notes, one other change was made by the 1979 revision: the note, "Withholding the Bible from the People" (pp. 691-692), was enlarged somewhat. But, when this was done, the remainder of the appendix had to be moved forward somewhat to make room for the 2 inches of additional material. In doing that, each subsequent page break brought another error!

(3) At the first page break, four lines from the Bush quotation in the "Chronology of Prophecy" note were omitted. If you only have the 1979 edition, you will want those four lines. They should be inserted at the top of p. 693 of the 1979 appendix:

"should be studied, and probably, in the end, fully understood; and no man is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt to do this .. In taking as the prophetical term for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of . . "-1888, p. 682; 1911 orig., p. 689; 1956, p. 692.

(4) At the second and last page break in the appendix, four lines were duplicated in the "Supremacy of the Bishops of Rome" note. If you only have the 1979 edition, you will want to know which four lines were duplicated. They are the first four lines on the top of p. 694.

In addition, a new cross reference (a cross reference, not a note) was added in the 1979 revision (p. 694).

All considered, it would have been better to omit the 1979 revision; more problems were produced than were solved.

Perhaps, in the 1990s, a new revision will be printed to correct all nine errors mentioned in this present study (see the section titled, Comparing the Editions). If that occurs, we hope the publishing house will be as careful as earlier publishing house staffs had been with the 1884, 1888, and original 1911 editions.

PART FOUR -THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE BOOK

41 - THE TEN CHARGES

After Satan failed to kill Ellen White, he tried to-delay the writing of the book. Not succeeding in that, he resorted to attacks on her character and the veracity of the book itself.

Here are ten charges which have been leveled against Ellen White and Great Controversy:

1 - Profiteering charge: She only wrote the book to make money, and there is no other value to it but the money shrewd salesmen may derive from it.

The worldling who cannot discern spiritual things and is determined to cling to his cherished sins enjoys attributing evil motives to good people and what they do. Various statements have been made over the years about the relative sparseness of funds received by Ellen White during her life and existent at her death.

As mentioned earlier, Great Controversy was not written to bring earthly wealth to its author:

“What little profit there was on it was all solemnly dedicated to the Lord, and $25 out of it had already been given to one of the Lord's needy servants [M. B. Czechowski]."-Review, November 25, 1858.

M.B. Czechowski, who was a converted Catholic priest and fluent in seven languages, had, in the spring of 1858, been sent as a missionary from Battle Creek to upstate New York to work among French Catholics.

When Ellen did receive money, she spent most of it to help build the cause she so loved.

"I study every pound which I invest in buildings for myself, lest I shall in any way limit the resources which I can invest in the upbuilding of the cause of God. I do not regret that I have done this. We have seen some trying times, but amid all we say, 'It pays.' "-Letter 130, 1897.

I do not begrudge a cent that I have put into the cause, and I have kept on until my husband and myself have about $30,000 invested in the cause of God. We did this a little at a time and the Lord saw that He could trust us with His means, and that we would not bestow it on ourselves. He kept pouring it in and we kept letting it out."-Manuscript, 3, 1888.

"I have already appropriated two thousand dollars of royalties on books, to help students to attend the school. They would never have been able to enjoy the advantages of the school unless some one did help them, and as no one assumed the responsibility, it dropped on me. I carried several through the first term of school, and am paying the expenses of six during the present term, and the number may swell to eight."-Letter 65, 1893.

"A brother in Europe wrote to me, 'I have a thousand dollars that is due you on the sale of your books. Could not you let us have a portion of this to help in the education of young men, and fitting them to engage in missionary work?'

"In reply I wrote, 'Keep it all, if you can only train young men to go out and labor as missionaries. I will continue to pay interest on that money, in order that I may give this to you as a donation.”

"This is how Sister White is becoming rich. I have been laying up my treasure in heaven."-Letter 106, 1908.

"I wish to invest all that I possibly can in the advancement of the work in this country. What is done should go forward without delay . . Sister White is straining every nerve to advance the work in these countries that God may be glorified. She is not seeking to hoard money or live extravagantly . .

"In order to erect our school buildings, Mother Wessels loaned me one thousand pounds at 4 per cent interest. Brother Peter Wessels gave a donation of three hundred dollars. All this is invested in the work; every gift coming from any source has been put into the work."-Manuscript 80, 1897.

"I have recently added to my indebtedness by borrowing two thousand dollars from the bank to help in the purchase of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium property. I could not endure the thought that the opportunity to purchase this property for so low a price should not be improved, and Sister Gotzian and I clasped hands over the table in a resolution that we would purchase it and set the sanitarium in operation." Letter 81, 1905.

"Sometimes it has been reported that I am trying to get rich. Some have written to us, inquiring, 'Is not Mrs. White worth millions of dollars?' I am glad that I can say, 'No.' I do not own in this world any place that is free from debt. Why?-- Because I see so much missionary work to be done. Under such circumstances, could I hoard money? --No, indeed. I receive royalties from the sale of my books; but nearly all is spent in missionary work.

"The head of one our publishing houses in a distant foreign land, upon hearing recently from others that I was in need of means, sent me a bill of exchange for five hundred dollars; and in the letter accompanying the money, he said that in return for the thousands upon thousands of dollars royalty that I had turned over to their mission field for the translation and distribution of new books and for the support of new missionary enterprises, they regarded the enclosed five hundred dollars as a very small token of their appreciation. They sent this because of their desire to help me in time of special need; but heretofore I have given, for the support of the Lord's cause in foreign lands, all the royalties that come from the sale of my foreign books in Europe; and I intend to return this five hundred dollars as soon as I can free myself from debt."-Manuscript 8, 1904.

2 - Bad history charge: What she wrote was inaccurate historically.

Several years ago, the president of Southwestern Adventist College, in Keene, Texas, wrote an article in Spectrum, in which he pictured Ellen White as a writer of false history. He claimed that her writings did not agree with statements made by the best historians. Therefore he wrote articles that she was in error; and, her book, Great Controversy, was in error.

How much wisdom a Ph.D. degree appears to put into a man! Yet man's wisdom is foolishness with God; and, in the final judgment all the wise men of

earth who have failed to submit their lives to obedience to God's Word will meet their day of reckoning.

The following statement was given by Elder William (Bill) May (in the early 1980s president of the Texas Conference) in a sermon at the Texas Conference camp meeting, on May 30, 1980. He speaks about his conversation with the learned professor who, in the course of their conversation, admitted the flaw in his "historic method":

"Now at this point, I would like to mention this. I have a friend, a minister
in our church, who likes to do historical research. This person believes that our prophet copied error in some of her historical information. So I asked him, 'Let
me ask you a question: Can you be sure of that?' 'Well,' he said, 'I believe I can be.' 'Well, let me ask you: How can you be sure?' He replied, 'Well, we have something of a scientific method in going about this. We go to the time period
and the event under question, and read in the various historical papers available on the subject. If nine of them mention a certain detail in one way, and a tenth wrote it in a different way then we would say that the nine are correct and the tenth is invalid; he is in error--and you cannot rely on him.' And then he added, 'And it was that tenth one that the prophet copied--and therefore she copied error. Thus we have proven it.'

" 'Just a minute,' I said, 'Let me ask you something: Can you really be sure of that? You know you weren't back there. So you can't know because you weren't there. Couldn't it be possible that the one whom you think to be in error-- and God who understood it directed the prophet to copy the one which was right?' And he stood there in silence for a moment, and then said softly, 'Yes, it is possible.' "--Bill May, sermon, Texas camp meeting, May 30, 1980 (Give the Trumpet a Certain Sound, [FF 33, p. 3]).

3 - Plagiarism charge: She copied the book from others.
We will reply to this point in far greater detail in the next section. But a few

points will be noted here:

(1) Ellen was told by the angel that she would find helpful data in other books. While in vision, she was not shown dates, locations, and names of a variety of historical incidents (such as the battle of the Taborites [Hussites]). So she read in historical books to obtain this information.

(2) Recent research studies have established that she DID NOT do wholesale copying, or oorrowing, from other writings. In fact, while preparing Desire of Ages, she hardly copied any sentences from other authors. But she did quote from historians in Great Controversy. Not only did she quote from historians, but she said that she had done so in her Introduction to the 1888 edition (see para. 22 in both the 1888 and 1911 editions, which is pp. xi-xii in the 1911 edition).

(3) Venomous critics, such as Walter Rea, accuse her of wrongdoing. But, upon examining the Bible, we find that the Bible writers used the same research and writing methods she did! They also read in other writings, and occasionally partially quoted them. They also made direct quotes, as Ellen White did with the writings of historians in Great Controversy. Walter Rea was well-aware of this fact; and so, at the conclusion of his Walla Walla area lecture, he walked away from the microphone and then returned to it, and said this: "Now don't you do to the Bible what I've done to Ellen White!"

Rea well-knew that the very same attack could be leveled against the Bible writers that he was trying to use on Ellen White. The truth is that his subtle

arguments of skepticism, if accepted, would destroy people's faith in both the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy!

Later, during his income-producing lecture circuit across America, Rea spoke in the Lancaster, Massachusetts area, where Atlantic Union College is located. Since it was agreed that a Bible teacher at the college would, at its conclusion, reply to his lecture, they ate at a restaurant beforehand in order to get acquainted. As soon as they sat down and were handed menus, Rea snapped, "I never took the Mau-Mau pledge!" and proceeded to order a meat dinner. So Walter Rea, a former Adventist pastor, never had been truly converted to our Spirit of Prophecy beliefs.

4 - Secret writers charge: Someone else wrote the book while she sat around and let him do it.

This shallow charge, which has a number of variations, is replied to in a forthcoming section, titled The Secret Writers Charge.

5 - Suppression charge: Her teachings in the earlier editions were removed from the later ones.

Page after page of this present study is filled with in-depth analyses of the changes in the editions. Repeatedly, we have seen that no changes in or additions to its principles and teachings were ever made.

But at the heart of the refutation to this charge is this:

(1) Not once has anyone come forward with any principle, standard, belief, or doctrine, written by Ellen White in an earlier edition of Great Controversy, which was omitted from a later one!

(2) Instead, we only find an enlargement of additional points in the later volumes. Not once has anyone found an error in those additionally stated points in the later books, which is in violation of our historic beliefs.

(3) As with the secret writers charge, if her later writings were changed, she participated in the fraud by not exposing it. She did not expose it because it never took place.

(4) Yes, some writings have been permitted to go out of print. That type of suppression has clearly occurred. But the changing of her writings has not.

6 - Noncanonical charge: Her books are only inspired and useful for comfort and encouragement; but, in regard to doctrine, standards, and predictions, they are of no more value than the writings of anyone else.

This is a basic new theology charge. It appears not to be a charge, for it is presented in a very mellow, soft-spoken, wise tone of voice. "Yes, we believe in the Spirit of Prophecy; we believe fully. She was given by God to us as a prophet, but you need to understand the nature of this inspiration."

Then the speaker goes on to explain that she had a "different kind of inspiration" than that experienced by the Bible writers. They had a "doctrinal and prophetic inspiration," and she only had a "comfort and encouragement inspiration." It is claimed that the Bible writers had "canonical inspiration," and she only had the "non-canoncial" type. Theirs was "prophetic and doctrinal," but hers was only "inspirational."

The objective is to neutralize her teachings, so that no one need obey them. According to these liberals, all her writings are good for is comfort and

encouragement, but never for instruction, principles, doctrines, standards, or predictions.

Obviously, anyone accepting this softy-presented, but equally vicious, attack will regard the Spirit of Prophecy writings as of no more value than any inspirational writer in the religious book stores!

To this we reply:

(1) There is only one level, type, and degree of divine inspiration. All the approximately 45 writers who, over a 1,500-year span, wrote the books of the Bible, had the same type and amount of divinely inspired guidance. There is no difference in the inspiration received by James, David, Moses, Joel, or Jude. There is no such thing as "half-inspiration" when it comes to such special writings.

(2) Theologians tell us that the books of the Bible (which they call the canon) were written by canonical prophets. But, they tell us, noncanonical prophets (those who did not write a book of the Bible) could not have correct ideas regarding principles, standards, beliefs, or doctrines.

What about Abraham and Enoch, both of whom predicted the Advent of Christ, yet did not write a book of the Bible? What about a variety of other Bible prophets? Take Nathan for example. He was a true prophet, and he gave a prophetic prediction to King David, which was later fulfilled. But Nathan was a noncanonical prophet.

More could be said about this shallow argument. Ultimately, each of us will stand or fall on the basis of our willingness to submit to and obey God's sacred Word, through faith in Jesus Christ our only Saviour.

"There is another thing they are saying about the prophet to discredit the solemn messages for our time: 'The prophet is like your pastor. You know, your pastor is kindly and helpful in what he preaches. But he is sometimes wrong... and he is never inspired--nor was the prophet. These gifts in the church-apostles, teachers, prophets, evangelists, they are all the same. All the same.'--And the effect of such words is to destroy confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy as an inspired authority. These men are determined to erase its messages from your mind, so that they can mold your understanding in accordance with their own ideas."--Bill May's sermon at the Texas camp meeting on May 30, 1980 (Give the Trumpet a Certain Sound, FF 33).

7 - Lying charge: The book is full of lies about Rome, its history, objectives, and priests.

That is a good Jesuit argument, but a variation of it is the expediency charge, below. Far more people than Ellen White have written the truth about the abominations of the papal system down through the ages. Those who refuse to consider the facts of history will someday wish they had.

8 - Editorial charge: Editors in 1887 and 1910 changed the book and/or the principles stated in it.

This is similar to the suppression charge and the secret writers charge. If it be true, then Ellen White would, through divine guidance, have known about it. In the strength of God, she would have put a stop to it. Not to do so would have made her equally culpable.

Yet if such changes were made, we could find them in her books! We would be able to locate erroneous concepts. But, instead, we find her books to be clean throughout.

9 - Inferior charge: This book is less important than her other books, and her others should be distributed first.

This slander of Great Controversy is frequently heard today. "No, no; don't hand out Great Controversy; that's too strong to begin with. Give that one to them later, after they've had Bible studies."

But the teaching is in total contradiction to her own direct statements, quoted earlier in this present study. Repeatedly, by word and example, she taught that Great Controversy was to be one of the first books to be shared with others.

10 - Expediency charge: In order to maintain good relations with the Catholic and Protestant denominations, it is best that we not distribute this book. It is expedient that the book be shelved, so that the organization can be accepted.

This excuse is similar to the inferior charge, above. A friend of ours determined, in the late 1970s, to spread paperback Great Controversys across Europe. He began by typesetting that important book into Romanian, and then, at the risk of great personal danger, he repeatedly took them into that country for distribution.

Then he printed editions of this invaluable book in French and German, and did the same. In order to widen the opportunities for printing and distribution, he told Adventist church members about his project and encouraged them to help with the costs of publishing and the work of distributing the book.

But, when they learned what was happening, denominational leaders became incensed at the thought of having that book receive widespread distribution in Europe. They determined to stop the project.

First, they contacted the General Conference who, at their request, issued an order that no one in Europe could print any Spirit of Prophecy book without written permission of our publishing house in Germany (the Hamburg Publishing House). Then they sent European leaders to the local churches to warn them against these "offshoots" who were distributing a paperback edition of Great Controversy. Thoroughly frightened, lest they be censured, a majority of our church members in Europe refused to help fund or distribute those paperbacks.

Men will answer in the judgment for what they have done. But, to this date, many try to stop every effort to widely distribute the most important book for these last days.

THE NEXT THREE SECTIONS are composed of tract reprints, prepared earlier by the present writer. We will first overview the contents of each of the four sections (42, 43, 44, and 45) here. Then we will go directly to those reprinted studies. Each of them is also included in our White Tractbook.

There are four of these tracts which nicely summarize a defense of E.G. White against the plagiarism charge. Some of that material will be photographically reprinted below, while other parts will have been re-typeset for inclusion into this present volume. Key areas in the charge are dealt with, and excellent source quotations are included. (We hope later to include this defense in a small booklet; it is now currently available in our 181-page White Tractbook.

(Continued on the next page)

THE OBJECTIVES OF GREAT CONTROVERSY
1 - 'To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error.

2 - "To reveal the wiles of Satan and the means by which he may be successfully resisted.

3 - "To present a satisfactory solution of the final disposition of sin as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God In all His dealing with His creatures.

4 - "To show the holy, unchanging nature of the law.

5 - "That, through Its Influence, souls may be delivered from the powers of darkness, and become 'partakers of the Inheritance of the saints In light;' to the praise of Him who loves us, and gave Himself for us."

-Great Controversy, 12 (old edition); 14 (new edition).

Here is what is included in this section:

1 - The Plagiarism Charge-Part 1-5 (PG-1-5] An excellent summary collection of material relating to this charge.

2 - The Use of Earlier Writings [PG-6] A research study prepared by the E.G. White Estate and presented at the 1985 New Orleans Pre- ministerial Session.

3 - A Book Not Worth Reading [PG-30] A brief analysis of the foolish logic found in the book, The White Lie.

4 - The Walter Rea Attack [PG-31] Information on Walter Rea's good money-producing lecture tours, and good reasons why you should not attend them.

5 - The Desire of Ages Project [WM-351-354] Fred Veltman spent eight years trying to find plagiarism in Desire of Ages. His findings are worth noting here, for they tell us many things about Ellen White's writing style. The conclusion of the eight-year project was that Desire of Ages contained almost nothing that could be interpreted as "copying."

43 - THE SECRET WRITERS CHARGE

This has been one of Satan's most effective tools in destroying confidence in Great Controversy and other Spirit of Prophecy writings. The format of the charge is simple enough: We were not alive back then, and many of us have learned to distrust some of our leaders. Therefore, when it is suggested that they wrote portions of Ellen White's books after 1884, the accusation sounds so reasonable that it is accepted. As a result, doubt fills the mind in regard to the truthfulness of the vast majority of her writings.

But, of course, the charge requires that Ellen White meekly went along with the ghost writers. By accepting this accusation, not only are the books destroyed but she is also!

A few pages from here, you will find a reply to this charge, written by the present author. It examines the flimsy evidence cited in support of it, and refutes that evidence.

The Secret Writers Charge-Part 1-5 (WM-337-341) This study was prepared in 1991.

44 - DOWNGRADING SCRIPTURE

The study in this section will discuss the cause, nature, and effect of the various attempts to discredit Ellen White and her writings. You will find it of special interest.

Downgrading Scripture-Part 1-2 [PG-21-22] Quotations and comments showing the terrible danger in doing this, what will result, and predictions that it would happen before the end.

45 - SHOULD WE CIRCULATE GREAT CONTROVERSY?

It is of special interest that the book, which Satan sought to prevent from being written by slaying its author, has, after being written, been subject to a wide variety of attacks-in fact, more attacks than any other books in the Spirit of Prophecy!

In this section you will find a tract reprint, written by the present author, which presents a strong defense of the book and gives an urgent call to circulate it widely. As with our other tracts, this one is presently available in a bound tractbook (and is specifically included in our White Tractbook). It may also be available in single-tract format.

1 - Should We Circulate Great Controversy? [WM-293]

The book that should go to everyone is not being distributed as it ought because there are those among us who are circulating untruths about the book-instead of circulating the book itself.

The above summarizes what you will now read in sections 42, 43,44, and 45. WE WILL NOW BEGIN SECTION 42:

42 - THE PLAGIARISM CHARGE THE PLAGIARISM CHARGE [PG-1-51

Just below will be found a reprint of our tract study, The Plagiarism Charge-Part 1-5(PG-1-5]. It is an unusually comprehensive summary collection of principles replying to this incorrect charge.

249

THE USE OF EARLIER WRITINGS [PG-61

Just below will be found a reprint of our tract study, The Use of Earlier Writings [PG--6]. This is a research study prepared by the E.G. White Estate and presented at the 1985 New Orleans Pre-ministerial Session.

On June 24 and 27, 1985, at the New Orleans General Conference Minister's Pre-session Council, several class studies were given by representatives of the Ellen G. White Estate. To save space, the written transcripts of these presentations consisted of incomplete sentences followed by quotations.

We have, in this present study, fleshed out the transitional bridgework and re-typeset the quotations. In this way, it is our hope that many excellent citations may be more widely circulated.

The primary study, here adapted, is 'The Literary Borrowing Issue," by Robert W. Olson. In addition, a portion of the quotations cited in "The Integrity Issue: Was Ellen G. White an Honest and Honorable Person?" by Roger W. Coon, and two quotations cited in "Doctrinal Development, Authority, and Ellen White," by Paul A. Gordon are used.

LITERARY BORROWING BY BIBLE WRITERS

The inspired writings of Scripture have always been given to mankind through the Holy Spirit. He directs and supervises in the preparation of these writings.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."--2 Timothy 3:16.

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scriptures is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."--2 Peter 1:20-21.

The guidance they received in preparing these writings was from God, yet it is clear as we study the Bible that not everything they wrote had its origin in a divine revelation. The information came to the prophets in a number of ways, yet the Holy Spirit guided them as to which information to use and which not to use. And the Holy Spirit also guided them to earlier written sources.

A number of examples of this are to be observed:

They borrowed material from earlier Scriptural writers: Compare Isaiah 2:2-4 with Micah 4:1-3. Also compare Isaiah 36-39 with 2 Kings 18-20. A third example would be the book of Mark, 95% of which is to be found in Matthew or Luke-- In contrast, John's gospel is surprisingly unique; the majority of its material is not to be found in any of the first three gospels.

(2) If the Code of Hammurabi was written before the time of Moses, there is a definite possibility that Moses may have been guided in using some of the principles to be found in Hammurabi's Code:

The code of Hammurabi No. 14 says, "If a citizen has stolen the son of a citizen he shall be put to death." In similar vein Moses wrote, "And he that

stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death" (Ex. 21:16). The code of Hammurabi No. 196 and No. 200 read, "If a citizen destroys the eye of the son of a citizen his eye shall be knocked out." Two and a half centuries later Moses wrote, "life shall go for life, and eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Deut. 19:21). Inhumane laws were not included, so Moses was not just copying. (See 1 Bible Commentary, 616- 619.)

(3) Solomon, in preparing the book of Proverbs, may have made use of earlier materials:

"In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly."- New American Standard Bible.

(4) Luke, in the Prologue of his Gospel, carefully explains the careful research into sources that preceded the writing of this book:

"Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."- Luke 1:1-4, New American Standard Bible.

"It appears indubitable from Luke 1:1-3 and from the verbal parallels in the Synoptic Gospels that Matthew and Luke, at least, were led by the Holy Spirit to use previously written documents in the preparation of their Gospels. Similarities in the material common to Matthew and Luke, but not found in Mark, indicate that they drew upon another common source, or sources, besides Mark."-5 Bible Commentary, 178179.

(5) Paul quoted from Epimenides, a sixth century B.C. Greek poet. Compare Titus 1:12 and Acts 17:28 with the following poetical passage from Epimenides:

"They fashioned a tomb for thee, 0 holy and high one. The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies! But thou are not dead: thou livest and abidest for ever; for in thee we live and move and have our being."-Quoted in 6 Bible Commentary, 354.

(6) Jude may have quoted from an earlier work in the preparation of Jude 14-15. The following quotation is to be found in the "Book of Enoch," an Old Testament pseudepigraphal book that was written about a hundred years before Jude wrote his book. It is also very possible that both Jude and the "Book of Enoch" quoted from a still earlier source.

"And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: and to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."- Enoch 1:,9, Quoted in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, volume 2, page 189 (quoted in 7 Bible Commentary, 708).

(7) In addition, there are several passages in the book of Revelation which bear a close resemblance to other "Book of Enoch" sentences:

"And I saw . . and behold a star fell from heaven." Enoch 86:1 (Compare Revelation 9:1).

"They were all judged and found guilty and cast into this fiery abyss."-- Enoch 90:26 (Compare Revelation 20:15).

"And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, and a new heaven shall appear."--Enoch 91:16 (Compare Revelation 21:1).

"The horse shall walk up to the breast in the blood of sinners."--Enoch

100:3 (Compare Revelation 14:20).

"Their names shall be blotted out of the book of life." Enoch 108:3 (Compare Revelation 3:5).

"After that I saw . . a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood by the Lord of Spirits."-Enoch 40:1 (Compare Revelation 7::9).

In summary then, the writers of Scripture are guided by God in what they shall write, but this guidance includes not only information given by direct revelation, but also information they are divinely guided to in the writings of others who preceded them.

"When we say the Bible is the Word of God, it makes no difference whether the writers of Scripture gained their information by direct revelation from God as in the case of the Book of Revelation, or whether they researched matters as Luke did, or whether they got their knowledge from extant sources, court records or even by word of mouth. The question we must ask is whether what they wrote, wherever they may have secured their knowledge, can be trusted." The Battle for the Bible, 20.

"if God did not guide the sacred writers in the choice of the material that they decided to incorporate into their own text, then it will be forever impossible to distinguish between what is truly God's Word and what may be simply an accurate record of a fallible source. To the extent that any material appears endorsed by the sacred writer, it must be viewed as endorsed by God as well." Inerrancy and Common Sense, 89.

LITERARY BORROWING BY ELLEN G. WHITE

(1) In a letter dated January 8, 1928, William C. White, one of Ellen White's sons, mentioned her use of the writings of others:

"Her habit of using parts of sentences found in the writings of others and filling in a part of her own composition, was not based upon any definite plan nor was it questioned by her copyists and copy writers until about 1885 and onward. When critics pointed out this feature of her work as a reason for questioning the gift which had enabled her to write, she paid little attention to it. Later on, when complaint was made that this was an injustice to other publishers and writers, she made a decided change."-W. C. White, Letter dated January 8, 1928, quoted in 3 Selected Messages, page 460.

(2) Only a relatively small portion of Ellen White's writings are traceable to sources. And this is a pattern that we also find as we study the Bible.

But, as with the Bible, there are sections here and there in which larger amounts of borrowings are to be found. Here are some of the principal ones:

"Roughly 20 percent of the chapter 'Science and the Bible' in Education can be traced to prior sources. Approximately 40 percent of two articles each in the Review and Herald (July 18, 1882; July 5, 1887) can be identified as coming from two chapters in Melvill's Sermons. It is interesting that one article, 'The First Prophecy,' has the same title as the Melvill sermon and both begin with the same scriptural text, Genesis 3:15.

"Personal testimonies and letters have examples of borrowed material. A testimony dated June 20, 1882, and written to the Battle Creek members (5 Testimonies, 62-84) has 31.5 percent of its material in common with portions of two books, Daniel March's, Night Scenes in the Bible, (c. 1868), and F.W. Krummacher's, Elijah the Tishbite (1838). I have also determined that 42 percent of Manuscript 24, 1886 (1 Selected Messages, 19-21), was obtained from Calvin E. Stowe's, Origin and History of the Books of the Bible (1867), 13-20, based upon an actual count of parallel words and synonyms in Stowe. Unpublished letters also have examples of literary parallels. More than half of Letter 19e, 1892, has been adapted from a chapter in J.C. Geikie's, The Precious Promises (pp. 47-52), which was in her personal library.

"The above percentages apply only to small portions of her writings, and thus should not be extrapolated to cover all that she wrote."-Warren H. Johns, Ministry magazine, June, 1892, 7-8.

(3) One careful researcher, Tim Poirier, did a fairly thorough analysis of the borrowed material in a number of her books. Commonly known as the "Tim Poirier Marking Project," it yields the following information:

The Great Controversy contains 20 percent borrowed material; most of which is from historical quotations included in this book. Steps to Christ includes about 10 percent, and the Testimonies for the Church yields about 1 percent of borrowed material.

(4) The Desire of Ages is often cited as a good example of one of her books in which she borrowed "large amounts" from other writers. Let us, for a moment, examine one of the lengthy chapters in this book, and compare it with nine books on the Life of Christ that Ellen White used.

First, here are the nine books:
1 - Lyman Abott, A Life of Christ.
2 - Alfred Edersheim, The life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.
3 - F.W. Farrar, Life of Christ.
4 - John Fleetwood, The Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 5 - Cunningham Geikie, The Life and Works of Christ.
6 - William Hanna, The Life of Christ.
7 - George Jones, Life Scenes from the Four Gospels.
8 - Daniel March, Walks and Homes of Jesus.
9 - Hugh MacMillan, Our Lord's Three Raisings from the Dead.

Second, let us now compare the similarities in wording to be found in this particular chapter:

DA: "The greatest of Christ's miracles"-page 524. "The greatest of His miracles"-Hanna, page 452. / DA: "This crowning miracle"-page, 529. "The great closing crowning miracle" -Hanna, page 450. / DA: "Lazarus was stricken with sudden illness"-page 525. "Lazarus was stricken down with one of those sharp malignant fevers of Palestine which break out suddenly"- MacMillan, page 146-147. / DA: "I have entered upon the last remnant of My day, but while any of this remains, I am safe"-page 527. "So long as I do what he desires, my life is safe"-Hanna, page 449. / DA: "Absorbed in her grief, Mary did not hear the words"-page 529. "Mary had not heard at first of the Lord's coming, or, if she had, was too absorbed in her sorrow to heed it"- Hanna, page 458. / DA: "Jesus encouraged her faith"-page 530. "Jesus, who was willing to encourage this imperfect faith"-Fleetwood, page 281.

In the above comparisons, it is to be noted that whenever two writers discuss the same subject (such as the raising of Lazarus), it should not be difficult to find them frequently using similar words and phrases in describing the events they are writing about.

Third, let us now compare the similarities-and the differences-in the ideas brought forth by these writers on the theme of the raising of Lazarus. It will be seen that Ellen White is clearly unique in what she chooses to include and what she does not choose to include in her description of this subject:

1 - Lazarus died "after" the messenger returned to Bethany (not "before" the messenger returned). Here E.G.W. differed with Abbott, Edersheim, Farrar, Hanna, March, and MacMillan.

2 - Christ's promise, "Thy brother shall rise again," pointed to the future resurrection of the just (not to the immediate raising of Lazarus). Here E.G.W. disagreed with Edersheim, Farrar, and MacMillan.

3 - Lazarus' death was an unconscious sleep (not a conscious existence somewhere). Here E.G.W. disagreed with Abbott, Farrar, Geikie, Hanna, March, and MacMillan.

4 - One reason why Jesus wept was that the people were mourning while the Life-giver stood by to help them. Abbott, March, and MacMillan gave other reasons but not this one.

5 - He groaned and was troubled (John 11:33) because He felt a righteous indignation against the hypocritical Jews. Farrar says He groaned in that He restrained Himself from weeping.

(5) Here are replies to some questions regarding her use of source materials:

(A) She did not give credit to earlier sources because footnotes and "credit-lines" were not commonly used then as they are today. But, even more important, she believed that it was the presentation of principles that mattered, not the citing of this or that authority for the principle.

"All quotations in the notes taken from the Spirit of Prophecy are duly credited to book and page. The other quotations have been selected from many sources, but as they are not cited as authority, but are used merely for

the expression of the thought, no credit has been given."-W.W. Prescott, The Doctrine of Christ (1920), page 3.

"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 for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject. 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."-Great Controversy, page 14.

(B) Did she not say in one passage that her words were her own? Yes, but in this statement, so often quoted today, she was speaking about her description of the length of ladies' dresses. (Quoted in Review, October 8, 1867, and reprinted in RS-5-8, "Modest and Healthful Clothing.") Also see 1 Testimonies, 461 and 521.

(C) Did she not, in one passage, say that her views were written "independent of books or of the opinions of others"? Yes, she did, but in this passage she was speaking in 1867 about three books: "Spiritual Gifts," Volumes 3 and 4, and "Appeal to Mothers." (See Review, October 8, 1867.) She was not here discussing her writings in general.

(6) Why did she borrow? Here are several reasons why she made use of source material:

(A) To help her express well what she had seen in vision. An example of this was her vision of Lake Zurich. Later in describing the lake, she used phraseology found in Wylie's "History of the Reformation," Book 1, pages 435- 436. (Compare Manuscript Release, Number 655; also "101 Questions on the Sanctuary and on Ellen White," page 71.)

(B) She borrowed historical and other materials that were not revealed in vision. (See "101 Questions," page 71.)

"She was told that in the reading of religious books and journals, she would find precious gems of truth expressed in acceptable language, and that she would be given help from heaven to recognize these and to separate them from the rubbish of error with which she would sometimes find them associated." Brief Statements, page 6; 101 Questions, page, 72.

(D) She used doctrinal statements by others that said that which she had in mind in a clear manner.

"When tracts and pamphlets were published, the expositions of truth therein presented the results of united, concerted study, and the forms of expression by the several writers were very similar and sometimes identical. All felt that the truths to be presented were common property and wherever one could help another or get help from another in the expression of Biblical truths, it was considered right to do so. Consequently there were many excellent statements of present truth copied by one writer from another. And no man said that aught which he wrote was exclusively his own.

"In the process of time many things which Sister White wrote and said were used by others without credit, and she in turn when dealing with prophetic exposition or doctrinal statements felt free to use without credit the statements and teachings of leading writers among the pioneers when she found in their writings the exact thought that she wished to present . .It is in the delineation in prophetic and doctrinal exposition that we find that she used the words of others or had closely paraphrased them." Brief Statements, pages 10, 19.

An acknowledgement of her borrowing, not only from the writings of historians, but from "those carrying forward the work of reform in our time" is to be found in her Introduction to "Great Controversy," page 14. She probably had in mind such writers as Uriah Smith, J.N. Andrews, and James White.

(7) The concept that she had in mind was that truth itself comes ultimately from God, rather than from men,--and that in presenting it, we should seek to lead people to God, not praise men.

‘ “An illustration was given me of a tree full of beautiful fruit. I was shown Fannie gathering the fruit, some ripe, the best, some unripe. She put it in her apron, and said, "This is mine. It is mine." I said, "Fannie, you are certainly claiming that which is not yours. That fruit belongs to that tree. Any one may pluck and enjoy it, but it belongs to that tree." ‘ --Letter 7, 1894, written to Fannie Bolton, one of her literary assistants. (paragraph corrected from original wording. TC)

"Christ was the originator of all the ancient gems of truth. Through the work of the enemy these truths had been displaced. They had been disconnected from their true position, and placed in the framework of error. Christ's work was to readjust and establish the precious gems in the framework of truth. The principles of truth which had been given by Himself to bless the world had, through Satan's agency, been buried and had apparently become extinct. Christ rescued them from the rubbish of error, gave them a new, vital force, and commanded them to shine as precious jewels, and stand fast forever.

"Christ Himself could use any of these old truths without borrowing the smallest particle, for He had originated them all. He had cast them into the minds and thoughts of each generation, and when He came to our world, he rearranged and vitalized the truths which had become dead, making them more forcible for the benefit of future generations . .

"As Christ presented these truths to minds, He broke up their accustomed train of thought as little as possible .."Manuscript 25, 1890 (compare also Desire of Ages, pages 464-465).

(8) She saw that the writer of truth is only the agent or instrumentality,- -but that the truth itself, which came from God, was the important thing.

"Let all be under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit of God. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, one may use the same expressions used by a fellow worker under the same guidance. He should not make an effort to do this or not to do it, but leave the mind to be acted upon by the Holy Spirit. There is one thing all should endeavor to do, endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, and the bonds of peace." Letter 53, 1900.

(9) In the final analysis, in view of her claims and what she wrote, we must accept the fact that her writings were either from God or from the devil:

"People often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and
call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."-Mere Christianity, page 56.

"This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work . . bears the stamp of God or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil."-4 Testimonies, page 230.

Ultimately then, we must go to the writings themselves. Read the Spirit of Prophecy for yourself. Do not merely go by what others tell you about it. For example, carefully read through the brief book, "Mount of Blessing." After you have completed it, you will have the answer. You will understand the origin of her writings -- and you will know what you should do with them.-Vance Ferrell

A BOOK NOT WORTH READING [PG-301

Just below will be found a reprint of our tract study, A Book Not Worth Reading LPG-30]. It is a brief analysis of the foolish logic found in the book, The White Lie.

A book trying to hurt my people, the Seventh-day Adventists. Written by Walter Rea, it is called "White Lie." And as you will see below, this is because he doesn't like Ellen White, the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and you and me--its members.

After you have read what is on this sheet you will understand for yourself the purpose of his book-why it isn't worth reading.

PROLOGUE (pp. 19-28)-Rea briefly describes some of the background of his pastoral life and research studies. For example, he tells us that he discovered that Edersheim's book on the life of Christ has definite similarities to that of "Desire of Ages" by Ellen G. White [EGW] (20:4). Here is some additional information on this: Alfred Edersheim wrote one of the largest and most complete of the many "life of Christ's." Entitled "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, this five-volume work was originally published in 1883 (15 years before "Desire of Ages" was printed in 1898). Edersheim was a converted Jew. I have had a large single-volume copy of this work for several years and have read widely in it--but have never found any passages that indicate clear-cut copying by "Desire of Ages." Although containing a great mass of material, it appears quite mundane in comparison with the depth of insight, spiritual beauty and doctrinal truth to be found in "Desire of Ages."

Elsewhere in this book, Walter Rea quotes a personal letter by Robert W. Olson of the E.G. White Estate in which Olson privately mentions how Rea told him that Ellen White relied heavily on Edersheim's book on the life of Christ in her preparation of "Desire of Ages." (p. 86:4). Of course, Olson assumed that Rea was correctly informing him since Rea had been researching on such topics for quite a number of years.

Fortunately, Mr. Rea supplies us in this book with the very best examples of his massive collection of Ellen White's "copying" from Edersheim's five volumes on the life of Christ. And so we are quoting all of them below--all three--so you can see them for yourself. As you read them you will learn the shocking truth about Walter Rea--for it is obvious that no copying is to be seen.

(DA 117) When Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon Him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing the full vigor of mind and body ... Christ took upon Him the infirmities of de- generate humanity .... He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation.

(DA 602) Jesus read their hearts as an open book, and

sounded their hypocrisy . . . [pointed] to the inscription on the coin . . He would be ... arrested for inciting to rebellion .... Christ's reply was no evasion .... He had rebuked their hypocrisy and presumption ....

(DA 50) The offerings pre- sented to the Lord were to be

without blemish. These offerings represented Christ, and from this it is evident that Jesus Himself was free from physical deformity. He was the 'lamb without blemish and without spot.' 1 Peter 1:19. His physical structure was not marred by any defect; His body as strong and healthy. And throughout His lifetime He lived in conformity to nature's laws. Physically as well as spiritually, He was an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws. - "White Lie," pp. 309, 314, 321.

[LT 298] Human nature, that of Adam before his fall, was creat- ed sinless and peccable ... Jesus voluntarily took upon Himself human nature with all its infirmities and weaknesses . . . It was human nature, in itself capable of sinning, but not having sinned ... The position of the first Adam was that of being capable of not sinning.

[LT 3861 Their knavery and hypocrisy he immediately perceived and exposed .... We disclaim the idea that Christ's was rather an evasion of the question . . . . It was a very real answer, when [he pointed] to the image and inscription on the coin .... It did far more than rebuke their hypocrisy and presumption.

[LT 194] The child must be free from all such bodily blemishes as would have disqualified him for the priesthood.

In this "Prologue," Rea tells us that it was unsympathetic and unhelpful church leaders that drove him to do his research. However, I am personally acquainted with several of Rea's close friends of many decades, who explain that he has been needling the leaders of our church for years without success. He confided in one friend that this time he would succeed in tearing the Adventist Church to pieces.

Rea's objective is to destroy the moral influence of EGW and her writings in the lives of the Advent people, to humiliate Adventist church leaders, and to help in the general "new theology" attack on our historic doctrinal positions. (Although the modernistic "gospel" is referred to several times in the book, in the last chapter, Chapter 14, he climaxes his message by telling us how Ford was martyred for this "gospel." We are then told that the value of what Rea is doing would greatly overshadow Ford in importance (p. 269-270).

The best way to provide an insight into the content, arguments and objectives of a book is to quote portions of it. For this reason we will frequently quote from this book by Walter Rea so that you will have an opportunity to see for yourself the pettiness of his points.

"Every institution, every corporate entity, every established system- whether political, economic, social, or religious-must have its patron saint . . Regardless of the category or the time period of existence, the patron [saint] is venerated even if he was a vampire; he is canonized [sainted] even if he was a con-artist [criminal] ; he is given sainthood even if he was a known sinner." - p. 23:2.

"In this odyssey that we take together [in your reading of this book] , the super-salesmen [trying to sell you on Ellen White] will be the clergymen, the preachers, the reverends, the divines, who more than any professionals have been granted license (both by the people themselves and by the state) to peddle their wares to the unwary, to project their fears on the fearful, and to sell their guilt to the unremorseful. The patron saint will be Ellen Gould White, the canonized leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church."-p. 25:6-26:0.

CHAPTER ONE

(Pp. 29:1-33:1)-A brief review of early 19th Century secular and religious history, the Millerite Movement, and the birth, injury and marriage of Ellen Harmon.

"In order for any group or organization to pull off the idea that they have been given the concessions to the hereafter, that they are indeed the ones God has chosen to sell the indulgences for this life and utopia to come, they must always tackle the job of rearranging or reassigning the facts of history and rewriting the Canon [of Scripture] . . With no thought of failure, the Adventists assigned this awesome task to [Ellen White] . . Here was a ready made-opportunity. [The fact that she only had three grades of education.] Religious history gives ample evidence that the 'true believer' is much more likely to accept the dictums of the simpleminded if these dictums can somehow be given a heavenly setting."-p. 31:2,3,5.

(Pp. 33:3-34:2)--First reason for rejecting the inspiration of Ellen G. White: Her description of the fall of Adam is similar to that of Milton's "Paradise Lost" in seven ways:

1. 2. 3- 4- 5- 6-

7- Adam and Eve both felt terribly when they had to leave the garden.

Now, for the first time we catch an insight into the nature of Walter Rea's attack. Repeatedly throughout his book we find that his arguments are based on trivia, much of which amounts to almost nothing. Rea's book, like his traveling lectures--is filled with terrible blasts and charges. But when he occasionally produces evidence in support of it--we frequently find that his "comparison charts" and other material amounts to very little. It is Rea that is the fake, not Ellen White.

Let us consider this supposed parallel between Milton and EGW:

1--Anyone writing a careful and detailed analysis of the fall of the angels and the fall of man would be likely to include most of the above seven points. Item 1: Would we not expect that the good angels would plead with the questioning ones before they had passed the brink of no return? 2: The serpent talked to Eve, not to Adam, so we know that she must have been separated from Adam at the time. Would we not expect the angels to warn her to stay with her husband during this testing time? --And on it goes through all of the seven points listed above. Rea quotes a PUC master's thesis as his source for these seven points that prove "correlation" (copying). Men try to be wise above wisdom. But their conclusions often are the conclusions of fools.

2--If you read a careful biography of John Milton you will learn that later in his life when he did most of this writing he was blind, had a fervent Christian experience, and dictated his materials in poetical form directly to his daughters who wrote his words down. It is very possible that Milton was quite close to God and thus was guided by Heaven in his lengthy account of the story of the Fall. "Paradise Lost" was first published in 1667. Over two hundred years later, guidance from the same Source was given to a prophet in the production of a more complete analysis of the fall of angels and man--and all that followed it.

3--Because two Christians both write similarly about the same Biblical events, does this make one a "copyest" of the other? And does it make one of the two a "wicked" person with "scheming purposes"-- because someone earlier had also written about the same Biblical events, but in different wording?

Loyal angels tried to win back the disaffected ones.

Eve warned to remain near Adam.

Satan's arguments to Eve are analyzed point by point.

The immediate effects of sin are varied.

Adam fell because of his love for Eve who had already sinned.

An intimation was given to Adam of the later terrible results of what he had done.

(Pp. 34:4)-The second reason why Ellen White was not an inspired prophet: As we compare her writings with those of Protestant and Catholic scholarship, we find that her Biblical interpretations are often theologically inaccurate.

"One by one, Ellen White began to accentuate in her writings (which she claimed came from 'visions') each and every point of Protestant and Catholic theological controversy. Starting with the beginning of all beginnings and proceeding through to the end of all ends, she gave a new and often startlingly inaccurate picture of the great controversy as it is portrayed in the Bible."-34:4.

Reply: Rea's word against hers. On what basis are we to assume that Walter Rea is more authoritative (accurate) in theological truth than Ellen White is?

(34:5)--The third reason: Modernistic Adventists would like to invent new theologies without any reference to the writings of Ellen White.

"At the same time, her account also closed the door that had been opened for Adventism to make a markedly different contribution to the world concept of religion. And the door remains closed to this day, because the church of the advent cannot get past the interpretations of the Canon according to Sister White."-34:5.

Although this charge tells us one of those things that is bothering Rea, it does not prove her writings to be inaccurate or uninspired.

(35:3)--This chapter concludes with a brief introduction by Rea to the viewpoint that you will find in the remainder of the book:

"The succeeding chapters seek to show the Adventist ghetto [imprisoning slum] and how it grew--not too much unlike the ghettos of other faiths, but with some interesting and devious twists."-35:3.

CHAPTER TWO

(37:1-39:0)--The fourth reason: James and Ellen White tried from the beginning to control the people and theology of the church. Proof: Nothing but bantering statements.

"It takes dexterous mind to work its way through two problems at the same time. Often such a mind comes up with worthless answers, but it's lots of fun. In theology it's downright enjoyable. To learn to say nothing well is the first rule. The second rule is to say it in such a way that no one can question your philosophical conclusions (if you arrive at any). It's like learning a little bit about everything, so that soon you know everything about nothing."-38:4.

(39:1-3)--The fifth reason: The Sanctuary Message was only the result of a ridiculous idea by Hiram Edson. Proof: Funny quips and comments.

"It was like a call to the colors. No matter that some have suggested that the poor man in the cornfield might have seen a scarecrow instead of a vision."-39:3.

(39:4)--The sixth reason: Paxton, Brinsmead and Ford were rejected by the Adventist Church.

"When these men went public, the system banned them like the bomb. When they went to tapes to advance their views, the leaders said that whoever listened had 'tape worms' . . It is well-known that churches sell more tapes than most, but it's the competition that hurts. Somebody is always trying to muscle in on that heavenly franchise."-40:1.

40:1-4--The seventh reason: The Glacier View Meeting made a wrong decision by firing Ford.

"So like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they all boarded their modern horses and headed for the Sanctuary Review Committee meeting at Glacier View Ranch in Colorado, August 10, 1980. The security there would have made the CIA proud and the presidential convention would look like a Boy Scout gathering . . If the meeting proved anything at all it was that shooting a man from a distance these days would be a whole lot cheaper than hanging him in public."-40:2-3.

(40:5-41:2)--The eighth reason: The beliefs of Adventism were defended at Glacier View.

"Events had to be shaped that way [in such a way as to defend the "heavenly franchise" of the leaders] , for part of the Adventist theology is that the redeemed (meaning them, the faithful Adventists, of course) will some day, during the golden age of the millennium, sit on those pearly white thrones in the Far Beyond and help to judge the wicked. There all the juicy morsels of others' acts and sins will be finally revealed to them. That thought alone has helped many faithful go on to the end [of their earthly pains and suffering] ."- 40:5-41:0.

First, we found that Walter Rea does not like Ellen White. Then we found that he dislikes our church leaders-past and present. And now we see what he thinks of the rest of us--just deluded fools,--willingly deluded because our minds are preoccupied with bitterness and the hope of revenge on everyone else.

By now you will recognize that Walter Rea is vindictive in the extreme. He portrays not only Adventist leaders--but the members as well as being nothing but shrewd, conniving opportunists, whose minds are tuned only to filth and vileness.

The more one writes the more his character is revealed in his writings. In this one book by Walter Rea we clearly see him for what he is. Ellen White wrote more than most people in modern times, yet in her books we consistently see the humility, kindliness and principles that marked her life.

Is Walter Rea's book, "White Lie," a book that you want to read and share with your friends? Is this a man that you want to support and encourage? Is he an individual that you want to listen to? Remembering that information can always be twisted in accordance with one's motives, now that we have seen Walter's motives, what confidence may we place in his evidence and conclusions?

Walter T. Rea has found it profitable to tour around the countryside and lecture against the Seventh-day Adventist Church, its leaders and members, and against Ellen White. After being fired from the Adventist ministry for his attacks on the church, he moved to central California and now supports himself by holding meetings. He is now charging admission fees to each of his weekend lectures, and is doing very well for himself. A close acquaintance of his says that he is now taking in between $7-10,000. per weekend.

But it is costly for the people of God. For, in spite of his dogmatic and offensive manner of speaking, many leave his meetings confused. It is always best not to go where error is going to be presented. But out of curiosity some go anyway. And they are injured for having gone. Listening for an hour or so to twisted statements, subtle innuendoes, mixed with violent charges and hateful words is not calculated to help anyone. And it doesn't.

You have Adventist friends who need this sheet you are now reading. [PG-301 Write for additional copies and share it with them. Also ask for PG-1- 5 in our "Prophetic Guidance Series." It is probably the most compact collection of materials available in reply to the Rea charges against Ellen G. White. Also write to the Ellen G. White Estate, Washington D.C. 20012, for additional information.

THE WALTER REA ATTACK [PG-311

Just below will be found a reprint of our tract study, The Walter Rea Attack (PG-31). It contains information on Walter Rea's money-producing lecture tours, and good reasons why you should not attend them.

What is this Walter Rea issue all about? Why is it being done? How should we respond to it?

Those who have read his book, "White Lie," or attended one of his meetings have found that either they must reject Walter Rea and his messages, or they must reject the Scriptures. And those who have attempted to keep to some "half-way point" between the two, report that they have seen their faith in the Bible and their interest in reading it gradually erode away,- until they have had to make their decision to cut loose from Bible study entirely, or cut loose from Walter Rea and the Rea Lie.

Here is the basic issue in the whole matter. If you grasp it and accept it you will be safe from the Rea Lie and enabled to keep your hold on the Inspired Word:

'Walter Rea inadvertently revealed the crux of the matter when he told his College Place audience on Saturday afternoon: 'Don't you do to the Bible what I am doing to the writings of Ellen White or you will destroy the Bible, too." -Alden Thompson, quoted in The North Pacific Union Gleaner, February 1, 1982, p. 10.

And that is the basic error in the Rea Doctrine: Anytime a human being uses phrases similar to any that another had in print before his time, he is a plagiarist and cannot at all be an inspired prophet of God. Many of those who listen to Rea's words or read his book are charmed by the devil to become fascinated with this subtle error. There is a bewitching power when we

willingly stop to listen to the agents of Satan. A darkness enters our lives. And many are leaving God and His Inspired revelations as a result. Or they are having to retrace their steps and cry to God for help. For they find that they have tarried too long in considering questions and cavil in regard to the Word of God.

It is more important that you and I cling to the Scriptures than that we help Walter Rea in his personal fight against Adventists. If Walter Rea wants to lose his own soul, that will have to be his decision. We dare not crowd around him with interested ears--or we may be lost too.

Walter Rea has now traveled for well over a year holding paid lectures all over North America and overseas as well. A close acquaintance of his, personally told me that Rea is now taking in between $7-10,000. per weekend. He is sponsored in this evil work of destroying men's confidence in Scripture, by the Association of Adventist Forums, publishers of "Spectrum" magazine. Without their help-and the fact that he is Seventh-day Adventist in good and regular standing (in the Central California Conference)-his lectures could not be widely presented to Adventist workers, laymen and students.*

*Adventist Forum meetings are frequently advertised as being officially sponsored by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. As one reads this on a sheet announcing a Forum meeting in his locality, he is more likely to attend because he thinks that historic Adventism will be upheld there. But that which he finds may implant a set of doubts that will eventually carry him away from the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy and the Third Angel's Message. "God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go; for unless He sends us to those meetings where error is forced home to the people by the power of the will, He will not keep us. The angels cease their watchful care over us, and we are left to the buffetings of the enemy, to be darkened and weakened by him and the power of his evil angels,- and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness. "- Early Writings, 125.

Here is another quotation about a Rea lecture, this one held next to Atlantic Union College so that the students there could listen to his atheistic sentiments:

"Sunday, January 24, many AUC students and faculty members left their TV sets and the Super Bowl to attend an event which promised to be nearly as exciting--John Wood, Assistant Professor of Religion, facing Walter Rea, former Adventist pastor, and author of the forthcoming book 'The White Lie.' The confrontation, held at Lancaster Town Hall, and sponsored by the Association of Adventist Forums, attracted a fairly large audience . . Rea spoke first, his talk being entitled 'The White Lie.' An Adventist minister for 35 years before his dismissal in 1980, he still considers himself an Adventist, and is still officially a member . . [After a devastating attack on the Spirit of Prophecy, Inspiration, and several historic Adventist beliefs, he says:] We should trust our theologians [instead of the Inspired Word]--if we can't, 'why did we educate them in the first place?'. . Remember that 'God is bigger than Adventism, and heaven is bigger than the Adventist ghetto.'

"Elder Wood spoke on 'Prophets and Plagiarists, 'centering his arguments on what he feels is the real issue-the nature of inspiration. He attacked the

'Fundamentalist heresy,'. . He gave numerous examples where the Bible 'plagiarizes' from apocryphal and even pagan sources. Psalm 29, he said, is a Canaanite psalm describing an appearance of Baal to his people . . The tabernacle and Solomon's temple were shown [by Wood] to be similar in design and decoration to pagan temples. .

"[After the lecture was concluded, some of the students and one faculty member were asked what it had done to their thinking:] A senior theology
major said, I was sitting there thinking, "This ought to be on 'Real People!' " I've never seen anybody get so many words into such a short time period! "I was impressed,' said another student. I thought Rea was going to be a bitter person. He seemed more rational, logical, and sincere than I expected.' One person
felt that 'Rea was impressed with Wood.' Dale Crandall commented, It was clear that if we were to reject Ellen White on the basis of Elder Rea's conclusions, we would also have to reject all the prophets of the Bible,
because they also borrowed from their contemporaries.' Alwyn Fraser, History Department Chairman, said, 'The spirit was good. Rea wasn't being vitriolic.' "- "Rea vs. Wood at Town Hall," in The Lancastrian, the official Atlantic Union College weekly newspaper, February 9, 1982, p. 1.

Do you want darkening doubts in your life? Do you want to be washed away from the Rock of Scripture to the sea where there is no help and no hope? Is this the kind of atheistic sentiments that you want your sons and daughters to listen to and imbibe?

If you want a daily walk with God and the angels, then stay away from Walter Rea and the Adventist Forum Meetings when they are held in your area. And share this sheet of paper with everyone else that you want to warn against men who are subtly trying to destroy the faith of Seventh-day Adventists. If you will not fight these errors, they will take over your soul and the souls of your loved ones. Then fight them. Don't attend these lectures yourself and encourage your friends to stay away from them also.

But now, let us give our attention for a few moments to the heart of what Walter Rea actually wants to say to our people. When we see exactly what his inner message is, we can see his real motives and real objectives:

Walter Rea likes comparisons. Here are a few that may help you see the truth about what we are dealing with here. First, here are some samplings from a mind that has become terribly twisted through imbibing for too many years the suggestions of Satan:

Here is what Walter Rea thinks about humble Adventists, such as yourself, who love God and want with all their hearts to go to heaven:

"Part of the Adventist theology is that the redeemed will some day, during the golden age of the millennium, sit on those pearly white thrones in the Far Beyond, and help to judge the wicked. There all the juicy morsels of other's acts and sins will be finally revealed to them. That thought alone has helped many faithful go on to the end."--"White Lie," page 40-41.

His moral nature has become so darkened by the years he has fed on doubt that he has no confidence in the motives of those who sincerely love Jesus and desire only to be in His presence. Do you want to feed on the errors and Satanic suggestions of such a shrunken soul?

Here is what he says about how our Sanctuary Message began, as Hiram Edson recognized, for the first time, on that October morn that Jesus had entered the Second Apartment of the Heavenly Sanctuary:

"The poor man in the cornfield might have seen a scarecrow instead of a vision."--"White Lie," page 39.

In a recent national television broadcast, Rea said that he is a minister and a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and this is why he can speak and be heard by the non-Adventist world. Here is what he says about the Seventh-day Adventist Church, itself, and about Ellen White:

"In this odyssey that we take together, the super-salesmen will be the clergymen, the preachers, the reverends, the divines-who more than any professionals have been granted license . . to peddle their wares to the unwary, to project their fears on the fearful, and to sell their guilt to the unremorseful. The patron saint will be Ellen Gould White, the canonized leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church."-- "White Lie," pages 25-26. Here is what he says about her writings:

"With no thought of failure, the Adventists assigned this awesome task [of inventing doctrinal error] to [Ellen White] . Here was a ready-made opportunity. Religious history gives ample evidence that the 'true believer' is much more likely to accept the dictums of the simpleminded if these dictums can somehow be given a heavenly setting."--"White Lie," page 31.

Shallow and simpleminded is what he calls the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. In contrast, he generously describes himself as a very capable individual that people should give attention to:

"If Ford's studies were disturbing, Rea's research was downright frightening. Word of it sent administrators racing to the computers with sweaty palms . . The true believer is being sold the interpretation of the truth of Scripture through the super-salesmen of his system . . Rea, on the other hand, was a guerilla fighter. He seemed to be aiming for the jugular. His studies
were meant to . . bypass the authority of the super-salesmen of the system."- "White Lie," pages 270-211.

How did Rea get into this frame of mind? What is the key to his motives for this violent attack on one who loved God with all her heart and who wrote so beautifully about Him? Walter does not leave us questioning as to the reasons. He tells us:

"Regardless of new evidence or lack of evidence, intelligent and reasonable people do not go along with Ellen .. that a woman is more spiritual if she doesn't wear a wedding ring; . . that in the matter of sex play by happily married couples (it having been pronounced a concession to the 'animal' nature, and perhaps a cause of disease), less is better; . . that flesh food has a tendency to animalize the nature and to rob man of the sympathy he should feel for everyone."-"White Lie," page 271.

Of course, we can see here a twisting of Spirit of Prophecy concepts in the way Rea rephrases them. But beneath it all, we can also see the real reason why Walter Rea began his "Source Research." Personal justification was needed for lowered standards.

At this point, having viewed the wreckage that once was a strong warrior for Christ, let us now consider the individual that Waiter Rea has dedicated so much of his time to speaking evil about.

One does not have to read very far into the writings of another before sensing the personality of the writer. What you say is as powerful a testimony to your personal characteristics as is the look on your face.

As you read a sampling of statements written by Ellen G. White, such as is given below, in thoughtful honesty ask yourself a few questions: Is this worth reading? Will it help me? Will it help my children and other of my loved ones? Should I share such as this with them? Will it bring souls to Christ? Does Satan want such statements shared with them? Does he want me to read them myself? Would he rather that I didn't read them?

What attitude should I take toward these writings? We know that Ellen White claimed to be guided by God in her selection of materials. Either she was a hardened liar, or hopelessly insane, or she was a kindly child of God and that which she claimed-she spoke truthfully.

You have just sampled Walter Rea--and Walter surely shone through his writings. Now sample writings that have helped hundreds of thousands to find God, to come back to Him, and to stay close by His side. Here is the Spirit of Prophecy:

'We are to look upon every duty, however humble, as sacred because it is a part of God's service. Our daily prayer should be, 'Lord, help me to do my best. Teach me how to do better work. Give me energy and cheerfulness. Help me to bring into my service the loving ministry of the Saviour."-The Ministry of Healing, page 474.

'When in faith we take hold of His strength, He will change, wonderfully change, the most hopeless discouraging outlook. He will do this for the glory of His name. "-Prophets and Kings, page 620.

"We must individually hear Him speaking to the heart. When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. He bids us, 'Be still and know that I am God. 'Psalm 46:10. Here alone can true rest be found. "-The Desire of Ages, page 363.

"Make every opportunity to keep open the communion between Jesus and your own soul. Seek every opportunity to go where prayer is wont to be made. "-Steps to Christ, page 98.

"Never a prayer is offered, however faltering, never a tear is shed, however secret, never a sincere desire after God is cherished, however feeble, but the Spirit of God goes forth to meet it. "-Christ's Object Lessons, page 206.

"Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies on the merits of the Saviour. By prayer, by the study of His Word, by faith in His abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that will never let go. "-The Ministry of Healing, page 182.

'We need to understand better than we do the mission of the angels. It would be well to remember that every true child of God has the co-operation

of heavenly beings. Invisible armies of light and power attend the meek and lowly ones who believe and claim the promises of God. "-The A cts of the Apostles, page 154.

"Let your heart break for the longing it has for God, for the living God. The life of Christ has shown what humanity can do b y being partaker of the divine nature. All that Christ received from God we too may have. Then ask and receive. With the persevering faith of Jacob, with the unyielding persistence of Elijah, claim for yourself all that God has promised. "-Christ's Object Lessons, page 149.

"Above all things, parents should surround their children with an atmosphere of cheerfulness, courtesy, and love. A home where love dwells and where it finds expression in looks, in words, in acts, is a place where angels delight to dwell. "--The Adventist Home, page 426.

"As a shield from temptation and an inspiration to purity and truth, no other influence can equal the sense of God's presence. "-Education, page 255.

"If you will seek the Lord and be converted every day; if you will of your own spiritual choice be free and joyous in God; if with gladsome consent of heart to His gracious call you come wearing the yoke of Christ,--the yoke of obedience and service, all your murmurings will be stilled, all your difficulties will be removed, all the perplexing problems that now confront you will be solved. "-The Mount of Blessing, page 101.

WM: 351-354 September 1991

- ANALYSIS OF THE VELTMAN STUDY - THE DESIRE OF AGES PROJECT

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

In January of 1980, Walter Rea, a pastor in the Southern California Conference, announced that large quantities of Ellen White's writings had been copied from outside sources, most of which had been written by non-Adventists.

This set off a furor within our ranks, the effects of which have been costly. Many pastors and church members left and the faith and courage of many others was greatly weakened.

But gradually with the passing of time, the untruths in Rea's charges began to surface, and the faith of those who refused to turn their backs on the Spirit of Prophecy has been vindicated. Rea had said that most of what Ellen White had written had been taken from the writings of others. When pressed, he seemed unable to come forward with any liftings or "borrowings" from the great majority of her books. Instead, he pointed to Great Controversy as the major culprit, and Desire of Ages and Life of Paul as the lesser ones.

Consistently, he maintained that Greet Controversy was the worst of all the books, and was filled with borrowings. When pressed for evidence, Rea turned to the historical quotations in the book, and said, "There they are!" Thus, the "great mass of plagiarism" in Great Controversy turned out to be those places where Ellen White had quoted from historians! He was next asked what was wrong with a historical book (which is what the first halt of Great Controversy essentially is) including quotations from historians? But Rea was intractable; he declared that those quotations from historians in that book were plagiarisms. When pressed for more examples of such problems, he said that there were more plagiarisms in that book than in all her other books--and the problem was that she had dared to Include quotations from other historians in the historical section of that book (Great Controversy, chapters 1-16).

Back in the 19th century, historians and other writers frequently did not provide references when quoting others. But, after the turn of the century, a new literary arrangement was clearly in place and the next edition of Great Controversy had references placed in it. So the references were there 70 years before Rea began griping about the matter.

(At this point, we might ask why Ellen White quoted from historical works at all, Here are the several reasons: (1) In "flashlight scenes" in vision she had been shown historical events, so she knew what was correct and what was not. But she did not always know the location of the events or the order of placement. (2) She had been told that she would be instructed by the Holy Spirit, as she searched through other books, and she did receive this guidance as she did so. (3) She found that certain historians were especially reliable (particularly D'Aubigne and Wiley) and referred to them more than the others. (4) Her concern was with the presentation of principles, not the lauding of men, so, until the change in literary practices changed, she focused on a clear presentation of facts and principles, not on providing references. (Keep in mind also that, prior to the time when her books were nearly completed, few people provided references.)

"In her writings regarding the events of ancient and modern history, and especially the history of the great reformation of the sixteenth century, she (Ellen White) made many quotations from historians. These were usually enclosed in quotation marks, but without giving specific credit to the historians from which they were taken. Where the historian stated what she desired to present, but in language too extended for her use, she would paraphrase the statement, using some of the words of the book and some of their own words. In this way she was able to present forceful and comprehensive statements in a brief way." W, C. White, Lecture given in Angwin, California, June 18, 1936.

According to Rea, the other problem, although not as bad was the amount of her plagiarisms in Desire of Ages.

As for Rea himself, the controversy, which he had started, turned to his profit. Liberal church members throughout North America contacted him and asked him to speak in their areas. So Walter made a grand tour of the nation, attacking the writings of Ellen White at $1000 a weekend.

At this juncture, the General Conference decided to appoint someone to do a research study into the matter. Great Controversy was simple enough; the "borrowings' were simply quotations from historians, which had later been placed within quote marks and appended by references.

But what about Desire of Ages? It was decided that a research study into that book could verity whether or not Rea was correct in his boastful assertions that "her books had all been copied from other people." There was another cause for distrust of Rea.

He spoke and wrote so viciously about Ellen White that it was easy to see he was on a vendetta. Since a number of his assertions had already been found to be untrue, what about all the others?

Then came the report of Vincent L. Ramik of the law firm of Diller, Ramlk and Wight, a Washington D.C. law firm. The General Conference asked him to see if legal copyright infringement had occurred. Ramik investigated the evidence for literary dependency in the books, Great Controversy, Desire of Ages, and Sketches from the Life of Paul. Ramik's conclusion, printed in the August 14, Issue of the Review (reprinted In PG-1 and now in our White Tract book) was that Ellen White was clearly "not a plagiarist and her works did not constitute copyright Infringement/privacy." (Ramik Report, pages 26.27).

The evidence was there and the conclusions clear-cut, yet the General Conference wanted yet another research study done; this one to be extremely in- depth. We will learn below that this exhaustive and lengthy research, which came to be known as the Desire of Ages Project, was to turn up exactly the same type of results: hardly any verbatim usage, and the possibility of only some paraphrases for the rest of the "borrowings."

Since Rea seemed too bent on exaggeration, it seemed well to appoint a church worker to research through Desire of Ages and actually see if it was filled with the verbatim (exact) quotations which Rea said were there. In this present analysis we will find that, as usual, Rea's charges were highly inaccurate.

Casting about to find a suitable person to lead out In this project, Fred Veltman, a Bible teacher at Pacific Union College, was approached after one or two others had already turned it down, Veltman's associates expected him to reject it also, and he was about to do so,--when, Instead, he accepted the job. Everyone was surprised. Veltman would have to leave his teaching position and focus on a difficult

task for several years, and it was an open question whether the results of the study would ever be published.

Of course, the more important question was Veltman's personal position In regard to Ellen White and the Spirit of Prophecy. It soon became apparent.

Veltman had bean counseled by Neal Wilson to keep his mouth shut, and not disclose his personal views in regard to the Spirit of Prophecy. This would help the study conclusions to later be more acceptable, since they were prepared by one who was neutral and unbiased.

But, unfortunately, Pacific Union College in 1980 was the last place to look for an impartial researcher. Desmond Ford had been on the staff of PUC throughout the latter part of the 1970s, and had succeeded in winning nearly the entire faculty and administration to his new theology views. Then, after delivering that blatant attack on historic Adventism In late 1979 In a PUC meeting open to visitors, Ford was sent on a six-month study leave to Washington D.C. Following the Glacier View meetings in July 1980, Ford was discharged from the ministry, But on the Sabbath immediately following the session, and prior to being ousted, by mutual consent the faculty and administration of Pacific Union College paid Western Union to send approximately a hundred telegrams to Neal Wilson at Glacier View, Colorado, pleading with him not to fire Ford because he was a good man and not incorrect in his theology. Wilson received the mass of telegrams that same afternoon and, to say the least, was stunned. Fearful that Ford had too large a following to resist, Wilson considered following W.D. Eva's urgent recommendation that he send Ford to England as a Bible teacher instead of sacking him, But in the following weeks, as the hue and cry by defenders of both sides waxed stronger, Wilson decided to tell the Australasian Division Committee to discharge Ford. They were all on Ford's side, and so spent an entire day discussing the matter before agreeing to obey the General Conference mandate.

Well, that provides us with an insight into which side Veltman and the faculty of PUC were on, in relation to Ford's new theology teaching. (To this day, Desmond Ford remains an honored member of the PUC College Church.) Now one of those faculty members had accepted the assignment to head up the research project into the reliability of Ellen White as an author.

As mentioned above, Veltman had been counseled to be closemouthed regarding the assignment and Ellen White, but he did not do this. Shortly after accepting it, he delivered an Adventist Forum speech in San Francisco to a liberal Adventist audience. The speech, delivered in the auditorium of a Catholic Jesuit university, disclosed that Veltman, in the, forthcoming research project on Desire of Ages, was planning to do something akin to form criticism on that book. Ever since its inception by German atheist Bible scholars, higher criticism had been effectively used for over a century to destroy faith in the Scriptures. Now it appeared that Veltman was planning something similar for the Spirit of Prophecy.

Pilgrim's Rest obtained a tape of that San Francisco lecture and published on it As a result, Wilson had another meeting with Veltman. Very irritated, he told him in no uncertain terms to give no more public talks on these matters.

Several months later, Veltman gave a lecture at a workshop at Pacific Union College for California pastors. A tape of that lecture was leaked to us and we published on it, quoting statements by Veltman, which clearly revealed his position about the Spirit of Prophecy. In brief, he made four points: (1) Prophets are only of value to us while they are alive; after death their counsels are of far less importance, (2) Ellen White died In 1915 and therefore was a dead prophet. (3) We today need living prophets, and they

are in the church. They are our "Bible scholars," meaning our Ph.D. College and university Bible teachers. (4) Past prophetic guidance is not adequate for today's needs and modern culture. We need to listen to our current prophets; the dead ones are far less important.

So that told us where Veltman stood in regard to the Spirit of Prophecy. You will find all this discussed in our earlier tracts, primarily the earliest Waymark tracts (presently reprinted in our New Theology Tractbook). You will find our tracts against Walter Rea's teachings in our White Tractbook.

After that second Pilgrims Rest expose, Veltman did become quiet and went to work on the assignment, which came to be known as the Desire of Ages Project.

HOW DESIRE OF AGES WAS WRITTEN

Before analyzing the Veltman Report, let us first overview how the book, Desire of Ages, was written. This will help us better understand the Report when we come to it.

We are told that God does not drop food into the bills of the birds. It is His plan that they work. If we would but consider the ramifications of that great plan for earth and heaven, we would better understand the great plan of life, and better appreciate the meaning and value of work. It is not demeaning; it is good for us.

And it applies to prophets also.

A prophet receives quick views of things in vision, described by Ellen White's son, W.C. White, as "flashlight views." But later, when out of vision, the prophet must still work. Nothing comes easy in this life; we must work for it. The very effort strengthens our character, deepens the value we place upon the goal, sharpens our resolve to courageously press forward, and keeps us closer in dependency upon Heaven. The prophet must think, plead with God for help, and try to improve on the blessings of insight already received.

"Ellen White's literary output reportedly approximated 25 million words during a writing career spanning nearly 70 years. A number of the 90-plus books, including compilations, from her pen in print today have been translated into all many as 100 languages."--Adventist Review, September 17, 1981, p. 3.

"During her lifetime Ellen White wrote en estimated 25,000,000 words in her letters, manuscripts, articles, and books. Often, in her most productive years, she would average about 4,500 words (18 pages) a day."-Robert Oison.

Ellen White's first book publications on the life of Christ were Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 2 (1877) and the first 18 chapters of Volume 3 (1878). As the years passed, she continued to write still more or Jesus' earthly life, After Great Controversy was completed in 1888, and Patriarchs and Prophets in 1890, she determined that, at last, she would write a full-size book on the life of Christ. Six years were dedicated to the task.

"When she went to Australia in the autumn of 1891, it was her expectation that the long-hoped-for life of Christ could soon be prepared. During the years 1892 to 1898, she spent much time in writing chapters for this book."--A.L. White, Ellen G. White; Messenger to the Remnant, pp. 58-59.

How was Desire of Ages written? Marian Davis was Ellen White's primary helper. Marian went through Ellen White's earlier writings and gathered out everything she had written about Christ's earthly life. This material she placed together in scrapbooks,
which were organized in chronological order from Christ's birth to His ascension.

Ellen White then took that material--and rewrote it all. She could merely have written bridgework connecting the manuscripts and articles that Marian had found, but, no, this was not good enough. The book had to be full, complete, and outstanding. So Ellen rewrote it. This included the original writing of a number of new sections. The last of use original, new "pre-DA" materials were completed In 1887.

(As a professional writer myself, I can witness to the fact that, If Ellen White had only written connecting bridgework, she could easily have completed the entire book within a fairly short lime. Instead, the book took six years of difficult, toilsome work on her part, because she rewrote it.

"Now after I have been in this country nearly three years, there is still much to be done before the book will be ready for publication."-Letter 89, 1894.

Veltman has consistently found that the finished product, Desire of Ages, except for grammatical improvements, is essentially identical to the life-of-Christ materials she had earlier written (which he calls the "Pre-DA" text). Veltman admits that the evidence points to Ellen White as the researcher and author of the materials, but he hints at the speculation that perhaps Ellen White's literary assistants wrote Desire of Ages, and that all she herself did was fill in a little bridgework between items in the scrapbooks. This is not true, Ellen White's helpers were only permitted to gather materials for her and, afterward, take that which she had newly written or revised and correct it. (Which, as we shall note later, Veltman elsewhere [on page 945] admits.)

How were the Pre-DA materials prepared? Ellen White would take e topic and write a manuscript or article on it. To jog her mind into action, she would on occasion open a book or the life of Christ, written by some other dedicated Christian, and use some of its points as a springboard for her own thoughts. There is nothing wrong with doing that. Writers frequently do this. Ellen White was a writer; she was not divine or a god. Just because she was divinely inspired did not remove her from being a living, working human being, it is God's plan that everyone work for a living, and that includes prophets. They may not have to work for pay, but they do have to work at accomplishing their tasks just as the rest of us have to. It would not be good for their characters if all they had to do was lazy-around, sip pink lemonade all day, and wait for the ideas to flow in from Heaven.

Yes, she received visions, but only a limited amount of information was received through them. There was far more that she had to write about than was received in vision.

What then IS the difference between genuinely dedicated Christian writers and Ellen White? A BIG difference She was a divinely-inspired prophet and none of the rest of us are!

The key factor here is the nature of the guidance she received. A Christian who daily rededicates his life to God, and acts in accordance with his prayers, is guided in what he does. He may not accept or grasp all the guidance, and he will inevitably make mistakes.

But a prophet is different. The guidance is far more complete and full. One result of this is that a prophet is able to differentiate between truth and error to a degree far beyond that of others. This greatly affects what he says, does, and writes. Because of this, Ellen White's writings reveal a consistency, certainty, and accuracy that is astounding.

Early on, Ellen White was instructed by Heaven, that she would be able to read in outside materials and find worthwhile materials which she could put into her articles and books. Again, we have here the principle that Heaven does not put the food into

the bird's bill; it must go out and search for it. Just as God does not want lazy birds, He does not want lazy Christians or prophets.

"The question may be asked, 'Can he descriptions of scenes and events copied from other writers find a proper place in the inspired writings of a messenger of God?’ We find that writers of the Bible not only copied from historical chronicles, but they sometimes used the exact language of other Bible writers, without giving credit. And, likewise, if in the writings of one today, who gives abundant evidence of being a chosen messenger of God, we find phrases or statements from other writers, why should this be an occasion for questions more than the same circumstances when found in Scripture?"-W.C. White, Advanced Bible School address, Angwin, California June 18,1935.

It is our misconception of the work of a prophet, and the means by which a prophet is to receive information that causes our misunderstanding of the life and work of Ellen White. Keep in mind that, prior to December 1844, we had not had a true prophet for nearly two millenniums. In the life and work of Ellen White we are given an unusual opportunity to understand how God works with and through one of His inspired messengers, intriguingly, we find that she wrote the same way the Bible writers wrote! There is clear-cut evidence regarding that. (See the initial tracts [tracts, The Plagiarism Charge PG-1.5, and especially, Use of Earlier Writings by Scriptural Authors PG--61 in White Tractbook.]

So, as Ellen White wrote those articles an the life of Christ, she would at times open a book written by a dedicated Christian and see what it had to say on the topic under consideration. She did this because she had been told she could safely do this. The idealistic theory that a prophet can only receive divine guidance through a vision or dream is incorrect. The messenger can also receive infallible guidance as he converses with another, or reads a book written by someone else!

"Many times in the reading of Hanna, Farrar or Fleetwood, she would run onto a description of a scene which had been vividly presented to her [In vision] but forgotten, and which she was able to describe more in detail than that which she had read."--W.C. White, Letter to L.E. Froom, January 8, 1928.

If it is wrong for prophets to obtain information from others, then why did Moses listen to and heed the advice of Jethro (Exodus 18)? Why did he not wait for a vision to instruct him? Why did God let Moses become dependent on a mere human being for advice, rather than giving him a vision from heaven? None other than an inspired prophet of God explains:

"When Zipporah rejoined her husband [Moses] in the wilderness, she saw that his burdens were wearing away his strength, and she made known her fears to Jethro, who suggested measures for his relief."

"This counsel was accepted, and it not only brought relief to Moses, but resulted in establishing more perfect order among the people. The Lord had greatly honored Moses, and had wrought wonders by his hand; but the fact that he had been chosen to instruct others did not lead him to conclude that he himself needed no instruction." "-Patriarchs and Prophets, 384,301.

Have you ever noticed how easily humanity falls Into a Catholic type thinking that certain people are saints and live on beautiful clouds set apart above the rest of us? The plagiarism crisis of the early 1980s arose because (1) we misunderstood how a prophet lives and works, and (2) because awesomely exaggerated stories were told about Ellen White's "massive copying" from other writers, a copying which, as we shall

learn below, hardly ever occurred. For the most part, she merely referred to them occasionally, and then primarily as a springboard for her own thoughts.

What if Ellen White had been assigned the task of writing a geography of Palestine (something she never did) Would she wait for visions and dreams to instruct her as to what to say? No, for that is not the Lord’s way of working with His creatures. All heaven is working, and God's prophets work too. After receiving the assignment, Ellen White's next task would be to get in and dig out the information from geography books. Would the completed book be a good one? It would be outstanding, for a divinely-inspired prophet would be guided to select out the truth from the surrounding error. Everything in that geography book would be corrects Many sites of Biblical and other ancient cities and events in the Near East remain clouded in mystery to this day, and such a book written by a prophet would have cleared up all the puzzles. Yet that volume would have been primarily based on books earlier printed and easily available.

"A second reason why Ellen White at times used the works of other writers is that she relied on these authorities for historical and geographical Information not revealed to her in vision, in her introduction to the book, The Great Controversy, she speaks about the 'facts' of history which she presented. She does not claim that these facts were all revealed to her in vision. Far example, she states, 'In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded.' (GC p. 287). There is no reason to believe that this fact
was revealed to her in vision." R W. Olson, Ellen G. White's Use of Uninspired Sources.

It is not God's plan to instruct His prophets solely through dreams and visions. Instead, while some data is imparted that way, the larger amount is given through ongoing guidance as the activities of the day are carried out.

"The great events occurring in the life of our Lord were presented to her in panoramic scenes as also were the other portions of The Great Controversy. In a few of these scenes, chronology and geography were clearly presented, but in the greater part of the revelation the flashlight scenes which were exceedingly vivid and the conversations and the controversies which she heard and was able to narrate, were not marked geographically or chronologically; and she was left to study the Bible and history and the writings of men who had presented the life of our Lord to got the chronological and geographical connection."-W.C. White, Letter to L.E. Froom, dated January 8, 1932.

Like every other true prophet who has ever written, Ellen White was dependent on the Lord for all her information. It came through dreams, visions, and divine guidance when she was not receiving a dream or vision. The result was written material with a truth-accuracy beyond that of anything possible to unaided mankind.

"Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own."--Review, October 8, 1867.

Ellen White was fully guided, but she was never a robot. God makes a robot of no man; only Satan does that, That is one reason why God's kingdom is so safe and Satan's so dangerous.

Fred Veltman clearly found that, when Ellen White used sources in preparing her earlier (Pre-DA) writings, she would either use no outside book at all, or only one at a time; rarely two. She would pick up a book written by a Christian writer, and use concepts and details found there which she knew to be correct. There is nothing wrong with her doing that. Keep in mind that she was as fully guided by God in the process as though she were in vision hearing words from an angel or Jesus. The information thus received would be just as accurate. None of the rest of us can do that; we too easily

confuse truth with error. But an inspired prophet is different; truth is identified and differentiated from error in every conversation, in every reading, and during every writing.

Not only did she find facts in those books, she also found phrasings, which she recognized to be worthwhile. Some of them she used. Veltman discovered, however, that the total amount of borrowed material only amounted to the equivalent of, what he several times called, "loose paraphrase," whereas the larger part of Desire of Ages consisted of totally Independent material. We shall consider those findings later in this analysis.

As she rewrote the earlier material for Inclusion In Desire of Ages, it would be given to her trusted helpers, who would check it over for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence and paragraph construction, Then they returned it to her for her careful checkover. In this examination, she was fully guided by Heaven just as in all her earlier work on the manuscripts and the book.

Let us now turn our attention to the Veltman Desire of Ages Project.

THE BASIS OF VELTMAN’S RESEARCH

The General Conference sponsored en In-depth study of outside literary sources used in the writing of the book, Desire of Ages. Fred Veltman accepted an appointment to head up this project which was rather expensive, even though most of his assistants were volunteers.

What began as a one-year project, was, by General Conference Committee vote, extended to two. It afterward continued for another four years--and perhaps two beyond that! Veltman says it involved the equivalent of five years of full-time work, and was completed in 1988, (On page 908 of his official concluding Report on the project, Veltman declares that, the project took six years, but in a later article in Ministry Magazine summarizing the project, he says it took almost eight years [Ministry, October 1990, p. 4].)

The original plan was to analyze all 87 chapters of the book totaling more than 800 pages, but it was quickly seen that this would be impossible. So 15 chapters were selected in this manner. 5 were selected from the 15 or 29 shortest chapters, 5 from all or 29 of the medium-sized ones, and 5 from the 18 or 29 longest. (The discrepancy here is that, on page 880 of his 958 page official report, Veltman said they were selected from 15 or all chapters; on page 907 of the official report, he said they were uniformly selected from 29 chapters.)

The text of those 15 chapters was then divided into short sections, most of which were sentences and e few were split-up compound sentences (compound sentences divided Into two Independent clauses). The 15 chapters contained 2,624 sentence units.

Then the pre-DA materials were located. This was the earlier E.G. White writings dealing in any way with the content of any of those 18 chapters. This pre-DA material, which included material in Volumes 2 and 3 of the earlier books, Spirit of Prophecy, were included in the "pre-DA" materials. All of these earlier writings totaled 1,180 sentence units.

At the outset of the project, it was thought that perhaps vast quantities of literary parallels would be found. Eager to find them, Veltman and his staff read "more than 500" (five hundred) books on the life of Christ, the majority of which had been published in the 19th century. But Veltman and his helpers only found a few books which had

been used, and primarily just one: a book by a very dedicated Christian writer, William Hanna.

In addition, Veltman and his staff tried to locate Desire of Ages parallels in books other than life-of-Christ biographies. Sermonic and inspirational books by such man as Andrew Murray were carefully examined, but in his Report Veltman tells us that this latter project was totally fruitless. They found not one literary parallel in such books. It became clear that Ellen White was primarily looking for additional geographical and historical background data.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE REPORT

With the completion of the project the final edition of a 958-page official Report was written.

Veltman says he was the sole author of the Report. This double-spaced typed report contained 18 chapters. All of the needful data was included in the final 101-page chapter, Summary and Conclusions, copies of which are still available from the E.G. White Estate. But I would not recommend that you obtain a copy, or if you do, that you leave it where others will find It. This Report contains the most subtly worded assumptions and doubtful suppositions and questions. Yes, the facts are there and these we are here reporting on, but the atmosphere of doubt and denial of Ellen White as a prophet is couched amid clear admissions that she was a remarkable person, writer, and that the content of her books was outstanding.

The 15 chapters analyzed during the lengthy Desire of Ages Project were as follows: 3,10,13,14, 24, 37, 39, 46, 63, 56, 72, 75, 75, 83, and 84.

For purposes of simplification, let us now turn our attention to the concluding chapter (chapter 18) of the Report. It is divided into three sections: Introduction (pages 858-884), Summary --Part A (pages 864-905), and Conclusions --Part 5 (pages 906-958).

THE FOURTEEN QUESTIONS

Following a brief Introduction, Veltman explains that at the outset of the project, 14 questions were prepared and the analysis of each chapter, its pre-DA material, and possible sources were directed to answering these 14 questions. Nearly all of the book deals with those 14 questions, and pages 864-905 extensively summarize the findings of those questions.

It is of interest that Veltman mentions that sources were examined for both independent and dependent materials for each of the 15 Desire of Ages chapters, but search was only made for dependency for all the pre-DA materials. Yet, elsewhere, Veltman explains that it was only in the pre-DA materials that they could clearly find the origin of the few dependencies. We will return to this point later.

We will now briefly review each of these 14 questions and the significant findings (answers) to them:

QUESTION 1--"Do we have primary source material for the Ellen White text?" (Desire of Ages Project Report, page 871) By this, Veltman meant the pre- DA writings on the life of Christ by Ellen White.

A variety of such materials were indeed found. In addition, handwritten and corrected copy portions were found for 10 of the 15 chapters, This material, of course, verifies that Ellen White wrote Desire of Ages, not her assistants.

QUESTION 2-- "Does the DA text represent an expansion or reduction in comparison with Ellen White's earlier published volumes on the life of Christ?"

(page 872) Veltman explains that the objective of this question was to ascertain whether, after the 1877-1878 Spirit of Prophecy life of Christ chapters had been published; the sources had increased the size of the Ellen White material on those same topics. "Is there an expansion of the same subject matter in these later treatments, and If so, Is It to be explained on the grounds of Ellen White's leaning more heavily on the writings of others?" (page 873)

If inflated by outside sources, there should be a uniform expansion of the material, but, Instead, Veltman found that no clear picture emerged. Some of the material was expanded, and some was reduced in size. "According to the summaries of the 15 chapters, 7 chapters involved an expansion, 4 a reduction, 2 were about the same length as the earlier publication, and 2 were of so different a content that a comparison was not possible." (page 873)

A little thought reveals that a trick question was involved here: A search was made to see if Ellen White had uniformly expanded on the earlier material, on the assumption that this would prove use of sources. If evidence supporting a consistent expansion from pre-DA to DA content, then Veltman was going to cite that fact as "evidence" of the use of outside sources. It is true, by his own admission, that he failed to find what he was after (there was no uniform expansion; In fact, much of required contraction), but even if he had, the fact is that expansion of the content would be no direct evidence of the use of sources! One would normally expect that Ellen White's extremely complete, full-length 863-page Desire of Ages, would in every instance contain more wording on any given sub-topic than what could possibly be found in her 1877-1878 books on the subject! If her later, finalized material for Desire of Ages had been bigger than the earlier, pre-DA materials, that would be no evidence that she had copied it from someone else.

QUESTION 3-"How does the content of the DA text compare in general with the content of Ellen White's earlier writings on the life of Christ?" (Page 874) "The question is primarily directed to the concern as to whether the use of more different sources influenced the direction of Ellen White's writings." (page 674) In other words, did the sources influence and change Ellen White's concepts? Another potential trap was located here. But, again, Veltman found no evidence to indicate a problem. The concepts in her earlier life of Christ books fully agreed with the concepts in Desire of Ages.

"There is strong agreement over the 15 chapters that the content of the DA text is basically the same as found In the SP text," (page 875)

But one difference was noted, and Veltman explains why: Desire of Ages was much more spiritual in content than any or all of the 500 other books on the life of Christ! In his opinion, this was because she was writing the book for the colporteur market and she wanted to help bring people to Christ. Intriguingly, Veltman found that the sources she did refer to as a springboard for her own writing, --consistently did not have the spiritual emphasis that Desire of Ages had!

"A consistent variation found in the DA text was the stronger spiritual appeals and lessons. It is difficult to explain this dissimilarity, by an appeal to the influence of sources. The spiritual stress is not characteristic of the sources. Rather it is likely that Ellen White emphasizes this aspect because the DA was designed to be a work for colporteurs. Ellen White was anxious that as a result of this study of the life of Christ, many would be led to the foot of the cross." (page 875)

QUESTION 4-- "Are there any significant differences in content between the DA text and the pre-DA writings?" (page 875) "[By this question] we are looking for major source influence on the material content of the chapter." (page 875)

Three types of differences were found: "Differences in the stories included in the Chapter, or in the arrangement of the chapter," and modification to bring "the text into greater harmony with Scripture." "It is not at all clear that the sources influenced all of these changes." (page 877) Sources at times may have influenced chapter arrangement, but what is this about "greater harmony with Scripture"? Veltman explains that it is referring to information given in earlier writings about the life of Christ, which is not found In the Bible. For example, John (the disciple, not the Baptist) went to the wilderness during the fast and found Jesus. But this is not mentioned in the Bible, so it was omitted from Desire of Ages. In summary, Veltman concludes this section with the following statement

"It seems fair to say, therefore, that the sources do not play a significant role in effecting the differences that we have noted between the DA and pre-DA (EGW] texts." (page 877)

QUESTION 5-- "What Is the nature of the dependency of the DA text on literary sources?" 'What proportion of the chapter contains sentences which in their composition reflect the Influence of sources?"

QUESTION 6-- “What is the nature of the independence of the DA text from the Influence of literary sources? What proportion of the chapter contains sentences which do not reflect the Influence of literary sources in their composition?"

QUESTION 7--"What is the degree of dependence for the dependent sentences when evaluated according to the rating scale? How do the dependent sentences rate when figured against all sentences in the chapter other than Bible quotations?" (pages 20,21)

These three questions are presented together, and charts and explanatory data covering all three are then given. We here have the heart of the lengthy 6- or 8- year research project: To what extent did Ellen White use sources? Keep in mind that, although the comparison of dependent and non-dependent material is compared for Desire of Ages, only evidence of dependency was considered for the pre-DA Ellen White materials.

We will attempt to summarize the significant elements in the quantity of statistics given in reply to the above three crucial questions.

Somewhere near this analysis we will reprint Veltman's one-page chart (from page 879 of the Report), which summarizes all the data in reply to questions 6-7. Let us first consider the vertical columns of that chart:

COLUMN 1: The first column of the chart identifies (by chapter number) each of the 15 chapters closely examined by the research group, The "A" chapters are the shortest In length, the “C" chapters the longest.

COLUMN 2: The number of sentence units in each chapter.

COLUMN 3: The number of Bible quotations in each chapter.

COLUMNS 4-6: These are the columns, which indicate no particular dependence on a source.

COLUMNS 7-11: These are the columns which show some utilization of a source. By comparing columns 4-6 with 7-11, Veltman seeks to arrive at percentages of dependence on sources for the 16 chapters, Keep in mind that columns 1-8 reveal relatively little connection with a source. We will discuss this further below but will here mention that, because of the nature of the material, it is very easy to "read into" comparisons a use of sources that is not actually there.

COLUMN 12. Based on Veltman’s method of calculation, this column
indicates the number of "dependent sentences." But he uses columns 5 to 11 to
arrive at the column 12 total, whereas he would do better to only add columns 7 to 11.

COLUMNS 13-19. These right-hand columns are percentages and rates based on columns 1-12.

NOW FOR THE PUNCH LINE; Look at the bottom (horizontal) line of the chart. This is the "totals" line. THIS is what was essentially discovered in six years of rather exhaustive work. Here we find seven essential facts:

(1) There are 2,624 sentence units in the entire 15 chapters (col. 2 bottom). (We will at times refer to them as "sentences" since nearly all of them [2,615 of the

2,624 "sentence units"] are actual sentences. [Veltman says the remaining 9 are compound sentences which the research team split apart.])

(2) Of the 2, 824 sentences, zero of them are "strict verbatim”. (col. 11 bottom) That means NOT ONE of the 2,824 sentences was DIRECTLY COPIED FROM ANY SOURCE, other than earlier Spirit of Prophecy writings or the Bible! That is the conclusion of six years of Intensive research!

(3) Of the 2,624 sentences, only 29 were "verbatim" or partially quoted!

(4) Columns 7-9 indicate various degrees of paraphrase, and the total for them is 532. But keep in mind that, because of the nature of the material, it is easily possible for much of these 532 sentences to only appear as paraphrastic, when In fact they are not. More on this later. ("Paraphrase" means saying all or part of the idea of a sentence, but in different words.)

(5) Column 6 indicates that a Bible Quotation that a source quoted from differed from the Bible that Ellen White normally would be expected to use. Is using a different Bible, being dependent on a source? I think not. Wherever it may be found, it is still a Bible quotation and not the idea of an outside source. Yet Veltman used column 6 in preparing his column 12 total.

(6) Column 5 represents "partial independence," which refers to those sentences in which the slightest hint of possible use of a source might be present. This category sounds so loose that it probably means little. Veltman also used this column in arriving his column 12 total.

(7) Of the 2,824 sentences in the 15 chapters, none were actually verbatim (exact copies), only 29 were partially verbatim and only 532 might be paraphrases.

(8) The final total for column 12 is the totals of columns 5 through I0 added together, which Is really not fair, --yet that total is only 823. If columns 7-11 had been used, the column 12 total would only have been 561.

There you have it; Exhaustive 6-year research has produced twenty eight "verbatlms" out of more than twenty-six hundred sentences! Ramik said there simply was no case, and the date from Veltman's research indicates essentially the same conclusion.

Before concluding this section on questions 5 to 7, we should note that the basis of the "rates" Veltman assigned to columns 18-17 are based on zero for column 4 (strict independence), one for column 5, going on through a rating of seven for column 11 (strict verbatim). But you need not concern yourself with figuring out rates and percentages (which is the subject of columns 13-19); instead just think of the actual numbers discussed above.

QUESTION 8--"What were the major sources used by Ellen White in writing The Desire of Ages? By major sources we have in mind those literary works which provided more than 10 sentence parallels far any one chapter." (page 883) This question inquires as to which primary sources were used most frequently by Ellen White In those 15 chapters. Question 9 accompanies it.

QUESTION 9--"What were the minor sources . ." (page 885) This question inquires as to the lesser-used sources.

Three charts are given in answer to these two questions (pages 884, 888.887. We have reprinted them here. William Hanna's book, The Life of Christ, was very definitely referred to the most. None of the other books were used very much. Keep in mind that Veltman earlier admitted that none of them had that unusually deep

spirituality found Desire of Ages. They simply do not compare with it. Why then would Ellen White refer to them? Primarily for factual data which had not been revealed in vision. She knew that she would be guided to clearly discern truth when she road it. She had been told she would be able to do it, she was encouraged to do it, therefore she did do it.

"In her early experience when she was sorely distressed over the difficulty of putting into human language the revelations of truths that had been imparted to her, she was reminded of the fact than all wisdom and knowledge comes from God, and she was assured that God would bestow grace and guidance. She was told that in the reading of religious books and journals she would find precious gems of truth expressed in acceptable language and that she would be given help from heaven to recognize these and to separate then from the rubbish of error with which they were sometimes associated. "-William C. White, Letter dated 1933, written from Elmshaven, California.

Carefully looking through those three charts of "sources," we find that hardly any use was made of any of them! Here we see the "massive quantities" of "source dependencies" that Ellen White is accused of. What was each one like? Here are typical examples:

DA: "The greatest of Christ's miracles"-page 524. "The greatest of his miracles"-Hanna, page 462 / DA: "This crowning miracle"-page 529, "The great closing crowning miracle"-Hanna, page 450. /DA: "Lazarus was stricken with sudden

illness"-page 525. "Lazarus was stricken down with one of those sharp malignant favors of Palestine which break out suddenly"-MacMilian, page 146-147. / DA: "I have entered upon the last remnant of My day, but while any of this remains, I am safe"- page 527. "So long as I do what he desires, my life is safe"-Hanna, page 449. / DA: "Absorbed in her grief, Mary did not hear the words"-page 529. "Mary had not heard at first of the Lord's coming, or, if she had, was too absorbed In her sorrow to head It"-Hanna, page 458./ DA: "Jesus encouraged her faith" page 530 "Jesus, who was willing to encourage this imperfect faith"-Fleetwood, page 281.--The Use of Earlier Writings by ,Scriptural Writers [PG-61, page 2 (A compilation of materials presented by Several E.G. White Estate officers at the 1985 General Conference Pre-session Council.)

So that is supposed to be the "dependences" and "borrowings" that Ellen White is accused of! Seriously, now, does all that appear to be worth getting excited about? No, not at all. Yet this is the kind of "use of sources" we find in the book, Desire of Ages. Also, as you look at the paucity of material listed on the three charts, note that that was the BEST that Veltman's staff could come up with-after carefully reading, comparing, and searching for any kind of parallels to Desire of Ages In FIVE HUNDRED life-of-Christ books, and a sizable number of sermonic and inspirational books!

Veltman points out that, in most instances (with the exception of Hanna), a source--whether major or minor was generally used only in one chapter. This, of course, means that, in any given outside book, sup. posed parallels to Desire of Ages could usually be found once or twice. Very likely many of those "parallels" were Imaginary.

"In harmony with the general pattern of major source usage, generally the use of the minor source was concentrated in one chapter." (page 888)

QUESTION 10-"What Sources were used by Ellen White in the production of her articles, letters and manuscripts on the life of Christ?" (page 888) This question inquires as to which sources were used in the pro-DA materials.

The discovery here was that sources, when used at all, were used in preparing the pre-DA materials, not Desire of Aged itself.

"We would naturally expect that the source parallels found in the DA text are first to be found in the earlier writings. This is exactly what we find for most of the chapters." (page 890) "The overlapping of the DA with the previous writings results in the same source parallels being found in both the pre-DA and DA texts." (ibid.)

Thus the evidence indicates that Ellen White herself wrote her own materials, not someone else for her.

"The pre-DA documents clearly show that Ellen White herself was involved in copying from literary sources." (page 898)

QUESTION 11- "How does the DA text compare with the pre-DA text in the use of literary sources?" (page 886) Veltman remarks that his objective here was to "discover if Ellen White's handwritten texts or earlier writing methods used sources, and if so, was such usage different from her later writings," (page 896) Then Veltman explains that he and his staff dealt with the pre-DA text material differently than they did with text of Desire of Ages.

"As the research project developed it soon became apparent that we would not be able to give the pre-DA text the comprehensive review necessary for making a comparative evaluation between the various earlier documents and the DA text."

(page 896) "We usually omitted from the text presentation of each chapter those sentence units which duplicated the DA text and also those which our source studies indicated as being independent."(page 897)

This one-sided approach to the pro-DA, E.G. White writings tended to produce a more slanted picture of the pre-DA use of sources, favoring dependencies in its comparative totals, as Veltman comments on later:

"It would not have been a fair assessment had I limited the evaluation of Ellen White's use of sources to the analysis of the DA text. On the other hand the analysis of the earlier writings of Ellen White was only partial. We looked mainly at the dependent material but only recorded the sentences which showed greater dependence than the DA text. We gave scant attention to the independent sentences." (page 914)

QUESTION 12-"How does the content of the dependent sentences compare with the content of the independent sentences?" (page 899) "This question was set forth to direct our attention to the type of material taken from the sources. Did Ellen White mainly use sources to furnish historical and geographical background information, which she, having no formal education beyond the elementary level, would not have studied? (page 900)

In answer to this question, Veltman tells us that source data was more of. ten used for "background and descriptive material, than devotional and evangelical comment." "One is more apt to find Ellen White's Independent comment In the moralizing or theological commentary." (page 900)

At this point, we need to discuss two factors.

First, when writing a book, what is wrong with finding additional background material on geography, secular Roman history, and similar things from other books? Absolutely nothing is wrong with this! What if she had been copying Pentecostal or Dutch Reform theology? That would have been different, but she was not doing that; she only sought out suitable background data, plus a fuller variety in sentence wording than she herself would have come up with, There is nothing wrong with that unless we have our minds made up that God is only permitted to function through prophets by each moment punching into their brains every word they are to use! Yet our kind, heavenly Father does not treat any of us like robots. So why should we expect Him to do it to His prophets?

"Although I am as dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord in writing my views as I am in receiving them, yet the words I employ in describing what I have seen are my own,"- Review, October 8, 1887.

Second, It was not until the present writer was quite advanced into the study of Veltman's project-- that it dawned on him that Desire of Ages contains a very special class of material,--a type of content which would be far easier to interpret as "dependent on sources." than most other Spirit of Prophecy writings. Let me explain:

Why was not Testimony to Ministers, Testimonies for the Church, Steps to Christ Medical Ministry, Messages to Young People, --and the great majority of her other books--used for this research project? The answer is simple enough: Desire of Ages especially deals with a content, which heavily emphasizes geographical and historical data, local customs, and Biblical comment. The same could be said for Patriarchs and Prophets, Acts of the Apostles, and Great Controversy. Yet those four books are the very ones which Walter Rea and associates hold up before us as examples of "what all her books are like!"

But the fact is that (1) she would especially need to refer to geographical and historical sources for those particular books, and,(2) because of narrow narrative limitations, the very nature of the content lends itself to imagining literary dependency when none actually exists.

Take the story of Jesus walking on the water. A storm comes up and terror grips the disciples' hearts in the boats. There are only a few ways of describing that narrowly circumscribed scene. OUT OF 500 BOOKS it should be easy to find some author that had described that scene in a similar manner!

Jesus comes walking on the sea toward the boat. How would you describe that? There are only so many ways it can be said, for it is a vary specific short-term incident. Out of all those books, it should be relatively easy to find parallel phrases where others appeared to say about the some thing as Desire of Ages.

Veltman repeatedly admits that (on the page 879 chart), using his broad range of columns 5-11. Instead of only 7-11,--he still averages all the "dependent" sentences to a rate of "loose paraphrase" at best.

Let us face it: the entire case against Ellen White is weak and shallow.

To add to the humor of the situation, let us consider another discovery that Veltman made:

"We also noted greater agreement between the sources themselves on the level of content than in terms of literary expression." (page 920) "In the course of our research in the 'lives' of Jesus [books on the life of Christ] produced in the 19th century we often found similarities and even verbatim expressions among the sources used by Ellen White. There were times when we were uncertain as to which literary source the DA parallel was to be credited. The writers used by Ellen White often exhibited literary parallels between themselves equal to those found between the wrings of Ellen White and these same writers." (page 982)

Well, there you have it; what a situation! Using the methods that Veltman used to trace "literary dependency" and "use of sources,"---it appears that all the sources were copying one another! These accusations of Walter Rea and his fellow travelers are foolishness! Who is willing to throw over his faith in the solid, inspired statements of certainty found in the Spirit of Prophecy, so that he can wander out into wilderness camp of the frail, erring Spirit of Prophecy critics, such as Walter Rea and his friends? These men profess so much concern that you know the truth, while in reality their objective is solely to destroy your confidence in the pathway to heaven.

If you were to write a book on the life of Christ, that which you wrote would be very similar to that of other books on the life of Christ in both background and content. But if you were to write on most other subjects, that which you wrote would appear relatively unique. Is that the reason why Desire of Ages was selected as the one to apply destructive higher criticism to?

In order to help us better grasp a full realization of what is involved in the strict narrowness in life-of-Christ narration, let us look at the incident in which the nobleman comes to Christ with the request that his son be healed:

The man has left home and walks to where Christ is. As he nears Jesus, what does he do? How shall this dramatic moment be described as he is nearing the Master?

What If Desire of Ages had said, "As he walked toward Him, his head was lowered in discouragement." If that had been written, then the textual critics need find only one book In the 500 which said something similar like, "As he neared Jesus, the

nobleman looked down in discouragement,"--and they could then cite this as a "source" which Ellen White was "dependent upon!”

What other possible ways could we describe the nobleman in the those final seconds as he approached Christ? Really, not very many. Yet the 500 life-of-Christ writers would probably have exhausted them all in their efforts to be vivid and dramatic: "As he saw Christ in the distance, he determined to ask Him to accompany him to his house." "At last, Jesus came into view. Yet even now the Nobleman hesitated. Should he ask Him to make the long trip to his home?" "His eyes were
fixed on Christ, and, at first, his hopes were high that this celebrated Healer could
give him the help he sought." "Hesitantly, he approached, questioning at first whether this Man could provide the needed healing." "With anxious heart he came, realizing that the next few moments might mean life or death to his child. But would Jesus be willing to accompany him to his home?" "He was at last nearing Christ. At first he thought, 'Surely, this Man can heal my child as He has healed others.' " "The discouragement that gripped his heart vanished as he saw Christ In the distance." "There was Jesus, just ahead of him. Anxiety tore at his heart, yet he could not cease wondering whether healing was possible, even if he brought Je sue to his home." "For some strange reason, the discouragement in his thoughts deepened as he saw Christ, 'Can this Man really heal, as men claim he can?' "

Aside from oddities, such as that his wife had sent him, or that he was doing it on a dare, or that he had brought two servants with him,--the above variations would likely cover most of the expected possibilities, (In order to learn what actually transpired, read Desire of Ages, page 197:1-198:0 [cf. 196-200, 315:1], and note that Ellen White, with her usual certainty, adds one of those unique concepts which only a prophet could know; Jesus knew the nobleman's thoughts before he left home.)

Ellen White had to work within extremely narrowed limits In describing the geography, events, thoughts and words of the Gospel narratives. The basic story was recorded in the Bible, and 500 men had already told the story. The majority of what she told in regard to background and description would unknowingly duplicate that which someone else had earlier written on the same topic in their life of Christ. Yet, when she turned to theological, inspirational, and moralistic issues, she would be in an entirety different field. Here there would be no narrowed limitations. Such amplifications would not unknowingly repeat the phrases and word patterns of other writers.

And that is exactly what Veltman uncovered:

"The differences we noted were in proportion of sentences or emphasis. Sources seem to be employed more often to provide (historical, geographical) background and descriptive comment [of the Gospel narrative], than for devotional and evangelical comment." (page 900) "The resemblance between the DA text and the source texts is all the more striking when one looks at the content. Ellen White was often given credit for independent literary construction when the thoughts being expressed were basically the same as those of the authors she was obviously using. We also noted greater agreement between the sources themselves on the level of content than in terms of literary expression." (page 920) [AIl emphasis ours, unless otherwise noted.]

But what if, Instead, her textual critics had exhaustively analyzed a book such as Steps to Christ, Mount of Blessing, Testimonies to the Church, Fundamentals of Christian Education, Medical Ministry, Counsels to Parents and Teachers, Solemn Appeal, Counsels to Writers and Editors, Messages to Young People, or Sanctified Life--all of which were non-compiled books by Ellen White; what would be the result

of such a source analysis? Relatively few comparisons would be found. It is true that, in a few instances, Ellen White drew heavily on a single, outstanding, inspirational article written by someone else. But that was the exception rather than the rule.

On page 901, Veltman brings out another peculiarity of Ellen White's writings: She spoke with authority as though she absolutely knew that each detail was correct. There would be no way humanly possible for a life-of-Christ author to know which possibility was correct, and their books reflected this uncertainty, Yet with Ellen White it was different:

"We also found that where the source would be indefinite and suggestive, Ellen White would often be positive and definite. (Not "often," but "always” there are no uncertainty exceptions in her descriptions of historical incidents, whether they be in the Bible, church history, or recent--even secretive church meetings. There are no uncertainties in her statement of principles, standards, or beliefs either) Where the source might invoke the use of imagination and supposition or in other words make clear that it was not necessarily dealing with the real facts of the case, Ellen White's descriptive commentary reads like a work of history. The reader is left not to imagine what happened but to imagine what it must have been like to have lived back there and to have witnessed the events which happened as described. (Page 901)

Recall again the variant possibilities of the nobleman, as he was about to come into the presence of Christ. There is no way that, from the Bible text, you or I could have certainty as to which suggested possibilities were really correct. But Ellen White always knew, and, because of that fact, could write with absolute certainty.

QUESTION 13- "Is the literary or thematic structure of the chapters of the DA text dependent on the literary structures of the sources used in composing the DA text? What about the literary subunits of the chapters? Do they reflect the same thematic development as found in the subunits of the sources?" (page 901) VeItman explains that the concern here was that Ellen While may have borrowed "from another writer ideas of structure, thematic arrangement and development, [and] chapter titles" (page 901) "The question of dependency of the DA text is broadened in this question to include source influences on arrangement of the DA chapter, either in terms of the whole chapter or with reference to its subsections." pages 901-902)

Veltman's researched answer to these questions of in-chapter structural arrangement is this: "To the source influence on the chapters as a complete composition [a chapter as a whole] we would answer that in most cases the DA text is independent." (page 902) But in regard to small sub-units within a chapter, Veltman thought there might be some utilization of the arrangement, which a source had used.

First, it would to well to mention that this is surely not an important point. In fact, it seems somewhat picky. Second, with 500 books to select from, evidence of dependence on other writers' structural patterns would hardly be any proof at all. Especially, as mentioned below, since Veltman explains that the only evidence of "dependence" concerned small story sections, not entire chapters!

(1) If Ellen While did use another order of story arrangement; what would be wrong with doing it? (2) Veltman says they only found similarities in sub-unit structural narrative patterns. Even though there may be apparent similarities in structure, that does not indicate source dependency (borrowing). A subunit of a chapter would be a small story section. How many ways would there be to arrange the description of Jesus walking on water toward the boat, the disciples' sighting of Him, Peter walking on the water, and the entrance of both into the boat? Quite obviously, any way you arranged it would be remarkably similar to a number of the other 500 writers that Veltman's team carefully read through.

In the case of a book on the life of Christ, it is intriguing that the overall arrangement of Desire of Ages chapters are unique, whereas some of the substory unit structures, within them are said to be lifted from others. How could many of the sub-units be similar to those in other books, yet none of the whole chapter units be that way also? We know that, in the 1890s, she wrote a large amount of original material for the book, so there should be some evidence of whole structural copying but there is none. But even if she did use one ordered arrangement rather than another, there should be nothing wrong with that.

Are the writing of Ellen White so invulnerable to attack, that such hair-splitting arguments must be called forth to try to overthrow them?

QUESTION 14- "Are the Pre-DA texts dependent on sources for their thematic arrangement?" (page 903) "In this question we raise the content of the earlier writings." (page 903)

Altar considerable analysis of this item, Veltman's conclusion was that there simply was not enough evidence of borrowing of sub-unit structure to make a clear case.

"Ellen White's original writings as found in her diary or journal entries seem to follow no particular theme. Often her comments will open with a theme but soon will become rather 'free floating: " (page 904) "Apparently she often put down her impressions as they came to mind and/or used sources as she came across ideas she valued," (page 904) Which is only another way of saying that there is not much evidence of pre-DA use of source structures, although there may have been some.

This concludes Veltman's 14 questions.

CONCLUSIONS - PART B

"Conclusions - Part B" is the last section in chapter 18 of this 958 page Report on the desire of Ages Project. For practical purposes, it amounts to negative musings, wonderings, questionings, with a literal amount of baseless conjectures sprinkled in. But, intermingled are some paragraphs of high praise for Ellen White, some of which we will here quote. Yet there are other points, which will also merit our attention or reply. We will number the points as we come to them, although most of the items were not numbered in the Report.

1-- Veltman says that "Ellen White used literary sources in the Desire of Ages." (page 911) "She took literary expressions from the works of other authors without giving credit" (page 912)

(1) We have already observed the kind of "literary expressions" that Ellen White is supposed to have borrowed. They are Items which are generally of little importance: words, phrases, and very rarely (rarely! 29 instances out of 2,124 sentence-units) most of a sentence.

(2) It was normal living back in the 19th and earlier centuries to use material from others without mentioning sources. There was nothing strange or criminal about it. That was the normal writing style for nearly everyone. Read D'AbIgne and Wiley if you question this.

(3) Ellen White's consistent concern was to publish and promote principles, not the praise of men. Men today quote from this man and that man, but that is not the Scriptural pattern. God's method has always been to teach principles, not laud men.

(4) Bible writers also quoted from other sources, generally without giving source credit. For more on this, see our tracts on this subject (PR-1-8) In the White Tractbook

2 - The speculative charge has been that Ellen White's assistants brought material into her writings from outside sources.

They would not have done this, because they only made grammatical corrections; they did not write the material.

Veltman agreed: "There seems to be no compelling reason to lay the responsibility for the construction of the basic textual content and the use of literary sources involved In Its composition on the shoulders of Marian Davis or any other of Ellen White's literary assistants." (page 913)

3 - Veltman says that Desire of Ages was a derived book (page 916)

That does not sound too good, but then Veltman goes on in detail to say that she derived the book from her earlier manuscripts and books, she derived it from the Bible, and she also used some sources. --According to that definition, most books written are derived from some kind of facts somewhere!

In actuality, Ellen White obtained her original ideas from God through visions, and later obtained amplification from Him through divine guidance on her thoughts and concepts as she wrote, and as she checked through Information sources on history, geography, etc.

4 - "What is unique or different about the content of Ellen White's commentary from that of the sources to which she obviously referred?" (page 919) In those 500 books are to be found nearly all the words she used, and all the event and descriptive possibilities. So Veltman asks in what way was her life of Christ different than theirs?

One major difference is that the sources were guessing their way through their narratives; with the ring of certainty she gave exact truth all the way through hers. Apart from the Spirit of Prophecy, all that mankind can know with certainty about the life of Christ is what is stated in the Bible. To amplify upon those basic narratives in any way is to guess what should be added. Ellen White did not have to guess; she would always know as soon as she hit upon the right pattern. Yet, as with all of us, it was Heaven's plan that she do some digging to obtain the needed data. We will work in heaven and we have to work down here. We find our greatest happiness in loving God and serving Him by working. In this respect, prophets are no different than the rest of us.

Another major difference is that her book on the life of Christ draws men to Him as no other life-of-Christ book could ever do.

Instead of fault-finding the best book on the life of Jesus ever written, these quibblers need to use their time and efforts to write a better one.

And, last but not least, assuming that all the 500 books did Indeed contain every possible variation on the theme of Christ's life, that does not mean that she copied from them, any more than it means that they copied all their material from one another. Even if all her content could be found in their hesitantly suggested possible scenarios, that would not mean she got her ideas from them. And the finished product is uniquely hers. And what a product it is! It is Desire of Ages; the volume which even an expert at the Library of Congress said was the greatest book on the life of Christ among all those in the holdings of that, the largest library In the world.

5 - Veltman hints that Ellen White gave us nothing new or unique In her visions that others did not already have.

(1) She was shown a lot In vision which we have as a special Informative gift from Heaven, Someone needs to tell Veltman to read Early Writings, Spiritual Gifts, Testimonies, and the non-historical portions of Great Controversy. Those books are filled with information not found in other books.

(2) She was also shown much about medical, health, diet, education, and a variety of other facts, which was by others, but few could see in a clear pattern of truth. Yes, there were those who understood part of the dietetic principle found In Counsels on Diet and Foods, but Ellen White was one of the few who understood them all.

6-- Did a development or change of some kind occur between her earlier and later writings on the life of Christ? Veltman tried to find such a variation, but was not able to do so. There was a general expansion of comments, but no other change in her writings in concept or content. (page 925) That fact, coming from Veltman, is a rebuke to those people who would tell us that, after 1884, other people wrote Ellen White's books.

7 - Marian Davis could not be the author of Ellen White's later books. There are those who suggest that it was Marian Davis who wrote Desire of Ages (1898) and her books written in the early part of the next decade (Christ's Object Lessons (1900). Education (1903), and Ministry of Healing (1905).

But Veltman reveals that Marian Davis' efforts to help Ellen White in the bookwork stopped in 1899! After that date, she no longer had a part in the book or in preparing scrapbooks for her.

"Ellen White freely admits since you (Marian) have been severely taxed n preparing the work Desire of Ages, we would plan for you to let go of all this kind of work in preparation of books. I shall feel this laying down of the work more than any other one can possibly feel It.' " (E.G. White letter D-248, dated October 20, 1899. Quoted on page 945-946)

One page 945, Veltman explains what Davis' duties were:

"We found that Marian Davis rearranged paragraphs, modified sentence and chapter length, and generally followed through with the many details involved in getting a book to press. An overlap in responsibilities took place when Marian made suggestions to Ellen White on what was needed to round out a chapter or incident and when Ellen White checked the finished text once it had been edited by Marian Davis." (page 945)

8 - Veltman discusses some of the outstanding qualities of her writings. Scattered throughout his concluding section are a number of admissions by Veltman as to the remarkable character of Ellen White's writing. Here are several of them:

"The special character of Ellen White's commentary is to be found in its practical use of Scripture and in its stress on spiritual realities and personal devotion." (page 925)

"Anyone aware of Ellen White's limited formal education would be surprised at the high level of readability, the clarity, and the literary force her original writings exhibit." (page 927),

"Another quite distinct character of Ellen White's work on the life of Christ is in the stress given to what for lack of a better term I have labeled 'spiritual realities.' " (page 928)

"Ellen White seems to have had a great interest in the 'other world,' in the invisible and real world of spiritual beings of the universe. "(Page 928)

"Another way this interest of Ellen White's is revealed lies in the lack of supposition and probability in her writings, when in reference to the life of Christ, His viewpoint, or that of His disciples, the source uses such expressions as ‘we can well imagine,’ ‘it may be supposed,' or 'no doubt,' Ellen White will use a positive expression. Something did or did not happen. Somebody said or thought or did not say or think a given word or thought. Ellen White does not comment on every aspect of a given topic or event but what she does treat is handled with a reporter's style. That is to say her account reads as a factual record; nothing is supposed. Ellen White writes as if she is dealing with realities, whether on earth or beyond the world we see. The reader is not left to imagine anything except what it would have been like to have been in Palestine In the time of Jesus and to have faced the realities she is describing." (page 929)

Ellen White "stayed with the main storyline and with the essential elements of the background and characterizations. The reader of the DA is hardly ever conscious of the text itself or impressed with the literary skill of the author. One is caught up with the narrative and its meaning and appeal." (page 920)

"The fingerprint of Ellen White may be found in the devotional, moral, or Christian appeals or lessons which may be expected anywhere in the chapter, but are often placed at the end. We find such appeals and lessons in Hanna and in March, as well as in other sources reflected in the text of DA, but nowhere are they given the emphasis to be found in Ellen White's text." (page 030 031)

“What needs to be recognized in addition to her independent commentary is the selectivity represented in the many decisions she must have made NOT to use material from her sources." (page 937)

"This system of working for the most part with the revision of earlier texts evidently contributed to the enlarged DA text and to the necessity of bringing out two additional volumes, Christ’s Object Lessons and Mount of Blessing, to complete the commentary on the life of Christ. I found no evidence that the larger coverage was due to a greater use of the sources. The longer chapters and/or the additional chapters in the DA text may easily be accounted for on the basis of a greater treatment of the life of Christ. More incidents are included in the narrative and Ellen White has written on many of these topics in journal articles produced after Volumes 2 and 3 of The Spirit of Prophecy, the earlier work upon which the DA text is based. The net effect of using this compilation technique (of her earlier writings) often demanded that the resulting accumulation of material be reduced to manageable length for publication." (pages 940-941)

"This research project did not treat the question of plagiarism . . At this point my personal opinion is that such a study when concluded will show that Ellen White was not a plagiarist." (page 951)

"They [the E.G. White writings] must be approached in a similar fashion to our attempts to understand the prophetic experiences of others, Including the men and women spoken of in Scripture." (page 954)

"Inspiration, to my way of thinking, is not dependent upon originality. It is clear that much of the material content of Scripture makes no claim to being new and dif-

ferent from what anyone also was saying or from what had been said by someone in the past. In fact, Luke 1:13 clearly states that what followed in the record of Jesus' life was taken from the oral or written accounts of others. Why should we expect something more or different in the experience of Ellen White?" (page 955)

"In my judgment, the problems her interpreters face in giving the appropriate recognition to both the time-conditioned and timeless statement to be found in her writings, are no different from those the Jewish and Christian church have had to deal with throughout the history of God's revelatory activities " (page 956)

"I am under the strong conviction, now more than before I began this research project, that the issue is not one of deciding if Ellen White was a prophet or merely a religious leader. It is not a case of 'either/or.' Rather, it is an issue of 'both/and,' " (page 956)

"If there is one general conclusion generated from my countless hours spent in reading and studying her writings over the past six years it is this, Ellen White was above all a practical believing Christian, Her writings were written to inform and to build personal faith in and personal obedience to God's will as it comes to expression in His Word the Bible." (page 957)

"The question may be asked, 'Can the descriptions of scenes and events copied from other writers, find a proper place in the inspired writings of a messenger of God?'

'"We find that writers of the Bible not only copied from historical chronicles, but they sometimes used the exact language of other Bible writers, without giving credit. And, likewise, if in the writings of one today, who gives abundant evidence of being a chosen messenger of God, we find phrases or statements from other writers, why should this be an occasion to question more than the same circumstances when found in the Scriptures?"--W. C. White, Advanced Bible School address, June 18, 1935.

“It was a doubt to me to, some time, whether I should not subjoin to every note I received from them the name of the author from whom it was taken; especially considering I had transcribed some, and abridged many more, almost in the words of the author. But upon farther [sic,] consideration, I resolved to name none, that nothing might divert the mind of the reader from keeping close to the point of view, and receiving what was spoken only according to its own intrinsic value."- John Wesley, Preface to his Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament quoted in Review, November 27, 1980. p. 8.

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43 - THE SECRET WRITERS CHARGE THE SECRET WRITERS CHARGE [WM-337-3411

The "secret writers charge" has been one of Satan's most effective tools in destroying confidence in Great Controversy and other Spirit of Prophecy writings. The format of the charge is simple enough: We were not alive back then, and there is distrust of some of our leaders. Therefore, when it is suggested that they wrote portions of Ellen White's books after 1884, the accusation sounds possible and is accepted. As a result, doubt fills the mind in regard to the truthfulness of the vast majority of her writings.

But, of course, the charge requires that Ellen White meekly went along with the ghost writers. By accepting this accusation, not only are the books destroyed but she is also!

A few pages from here, you will find a reply to this charge, written by the present author. It examines the flimsy evidence cited in support of it, and refutes that evidence.

The remainder of this section is a reprint of our tract study, The Secret Writers Charge-Part 1-5 [WM-337341], which was prepared in 1991.

1 - INTRODUCTION AND BASIC PRINCIPLES THE CHARGE

The charge is never stated in much detail. The reason for that, as we will learn below, is simple enough: If the details were filled in, the whole thing would be so ludicrous the hearers would laugh at the allegation. It goes something like this:

"Did you know that church leaders changed Ellen White's writings? Somebody told men so. In fact, he says they wrote whole books and printed them under her name! He says he can prove it. "

We are going to learn in this study that we have here a masterpiece of deception. First, it has no factual basis. Second, it has only the shallowest of evidence in support of it. Third, it ignores a variety of powerful facts. Fourth, on the surface it can appear very believable to so many who see apostasy and compromise on every side. Fifth, accepting it as true can bring such terrible results.

THE PREDICTION

"Satan is constantly pressing in the spurious-to lead away from the truth. The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' (Proverbs 29:18). Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God's remnant people in the true testimony."-Letter 12, 1890; 1 Selected Messages, 48.

The speculations for this charge were developed by one man, and have been voiced by others who want to also appear brilliant. The fundamentals errors underlying the concept, and the reasons why it is so dangerous, should be carefully considered.

SHE MUST HAVE BEEN A GENUINE PROPHET

To begin with, what was Ellen White? She was either a deceived fool, an evil, crafty schemer, or an inspired prophet of God. There are no other alternatives.

The first cannot be true, for her writings reveal too much depth of intelligence. The present writer has never found any writing, outside of the Bible, which had the clear insights, overall accuracy, and broad, close-fitting principles that her writings have.

The second cannot be true, because pride, deception, and false teachings would have been blatantly revealed.

Was she a prophet of God? Her personal life and her writings perfectly match the description. She meets all the tests.

GOD PROTECTS THE WRITINGS OF HIS PROPHETS

If she was an inspired prophet, then we are faced with an entirely new aspect: The writings of God's prophets are guarded by Heaven, both in production and afterward. God would not allow other people to dilute her writings at the time of writing or afterward--with additions, subtractions, or changes. To say it could or would happen is to insult the Creator!

THE MOST ATTACKED WRITINGS IN THE LAST DAYS

You can know for a fact that no writings produced in the 1,900 years since John finished his last book, will be attacked as thoroughly as the writings of Ellen G. White. Her character will be assailed, her life smeared, her writings discredited. Every possible doubt and suggestion regarding the print on the pages of those books will be offered.

You can and should expect it to occur. It is certain to have happened in earlier decades, and is sure to happen even more in the future. When others come to you with a tale of why you should doubt the validity or genuiness of certain portions of Ellen White's writings, recognize that this is exactly the route of attack which Satan will bring to God's people in the last days.

He has something planned for everyone. To some, he whispers that her writings were too stilted, and they need to set them aside, relax their standards and enjoy life more. For others, he tells them that the writings are not reliable, for they were written by someone else.

IT WAS PREDICTED THAT THE GREATEST ATTACK WOULD COME AT THE END

Divine prophecy foretold that the writings of Ellen White would receive the special attack of Satan, that this attack would culminate at the very end, and that it would occur within our church. So the scurrulous statements and vicious thrusts to cause doubt in the integrity of her writings is totally to be expected.

A CHARGE AGAINST THE CHARACTER OF ELLEN WHITE

It is being said that Ellen White was a shallow, weak willed woman who let others do her writing for her. The implication of these charges is that Ellen White was such a wishy-washy person that anyone could influence her, write her letters, articles, and whole chapters in her books,-and she would quietly sit back and let them do it!

Such a thing would not have been allowed; she would not have permitted it, and it did not happen! The men and women that God appoints to

the prophetic role are not weak-kneed, lily-livered lackeys that can be bribed or compromised! Not one prophet in Bible times was that way, and neither was Ellen White.

A CHARGE AGAINST GOD

But what if she did not know that it was being done? According to this charge, others penned some of her writings, and she either permitted it to happen-or did not know that it was taking place. This is patently not true either! To say it is so is an insult to the God of heaven!

Ellen White, who was shown the smallest sins in the lives of others as well as larger apostasies that affected entire districts of the work, surely would have been told of such a terrible thing as this. If other people were writing, adding to, or changing her writings, then God would have told her this was happening, and she would immediately have put a stop to it!

A CHARGE AGAINST THE INSPIRATION PROCESS

To say that God would allow it to happen, is to utter a most terrible charge. It brings into question the entire matter of Inspiration. ALL the inspired writings thus come open to question. If the Spirit of Prophecy writings are in this way unreliable, then none of them can be considered as reliable. Any of them could thus have been partly written by uninspired men who had an axe to grind.

If God does not protect His Inspired Writings, then we have no hope of salvation! Our pathway to heaven traverses the bridge of Scripture. If the integrity of that bridge be questioned, then we are lost, hopelessly lost. We have nothing reliable to go by other than our own fickle, ever-changeable theories, feelings, and "experience." We surely cannot trust the words of the prophets, because God is supposed to have permitted men to change them radically.

"Scripture is our tried foundation, all else is but deceiving; we take our stand on the Word of God, nought else is worth believing. "

It is impossible to point to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy as the "Word of God," without also declaring that both have been especially protected by God at the time of writing and afterward. If they were not protected at the time of writing and afterward, then we cannot trust them and we need not obey them.

THIS IS A MOST SERIOUS CHARGE

Some may say I am speaking in the extreme. I am not! The charge is that ALL books written by Ellen White after 1885 may have, and probably were partly written, rewritten, or added to by "others."

The underlying reason offered as to why "it just had to happen," is the fact that "our leaders were so bad."

Well, Ahab, Jezebel, Saul, Jeroboam, and dozens of leaders in Bible times were even worse! If God cannot protect Ellen White's writings from Adventist church workers, what defense would the writings of Moses, Daniel, and John have had? None, absolutely none.

(Throughout this study, we will assume that our church leaders at that time were bad people. Of course, many of our leaders have been and continue to be good, conscientious people. But we will assume evil here for a special reason: Good leaders would not have tried to change her writings; only the other ones. So we will focus our attention on those who opposed her, and would like to have controlled Ellen White and her writings, and we will assume that they really wanted to change or add to her books.)

THE WORD OF GOD HAS BEEN PROTECTED

The Word of God HAS been protected! We know that such protection was given to the Bible, and we can know that it was given to the Spirit of Prophecy. An example

of this was the marvelous care the Bible manuscripts received down through the ages. Our present Bible is almost exactly the same as that which the prophets wrote down. The very earliest manuscripts we have, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, read almost exactly like our Bible today.

HOW COULD UNINSPIRED MEN WRITE INSPIRED WRITINGS?

The Word of God is accurate, just as it reads. That Word includes both the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. If it is accurate and thus reliable, then how could uninspired men have written part of it? It could be neither accurate nor reliable if they did so. Yet it IS accurate and reliable!

WE MUST TRUST GOD TO PROTECT IT

"Oh," someone says, "I don't think so. I think the critics must be right, and part of the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy is neither accurate nor reliable."

Well, that is your decision; you will have to live with it and it will affect your eternal future. As for the present writer-and many others with him,--they accept
the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy as fully accurate and reliable. Because it is accurate and reliable, we submit my lives to it and obey it, in the strength of Christ. If it were a matter of pitting our own uninspired, erring minds to the task of
deciding which parts of Scripture are inspired and which are not, we might as well give up, for we well know we am not qualified for the task. And if we cannot know which part is inspired, then we cannot know which part to trust and obey.

Instead, I must trust God to protect His sacred writings! He knows that we are but clay, and He does not ask that we go through the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and try to pick and choose which part we think we should obey. Instead, in His Word He always tells us that WE MUST TRUST AND OBEY IT ALL!

THERE ARE NO SIGNIFICANT ERRORS IN SCRIPTURE

But God did protect it--from Genesis to the Spirit of Prophecy. But does not Ellen White tell us that there is error in the Bible? No, she does not. She said there were some errors in transmission, but not in the writing of the books. The Bible writings were correctly written. However, small, insignificant typographical mistakes were later made as the copyists made copies. They tried to do the best they could, but inconsequential "typos" were made. Ellen White never says that there are errors in the Bible, but she does say that a few errors were later made in transmission down through the ages. Yet those alterations were insignificant enough that we essentially have the Bible today as it was written. God protected His Word, and He has protected the Spirit of Prophecy.

A good example of the kind of "errors" in the Bible would be this: When you read an article written by the editor of Pilgrims' Rest, you will read exactly what he wrote,--but with one exception: There will be typographical errors in it. The writer did not intend that they be there, but there they are anyway. They are not so much errors of thought nor of content, but of transmission. In the process of typing out the thoughts, the hands slipped sometimes on the keys and, not content errors, but typographical errors occurred. Do those errors affect the reading of the material? No. Can you still understand it? Yes. The errors are of the type taht you can still clearly grasp the meaning of the sentenses,--jusst as

the typographical errors in this snetence do not hinder yu from understanding its meening.

WE GO BY THE WHOLE, NOT THE PART

But what about those instances in which a word was inadvertently changed in transmission? Sometimes a word change occurred, but there were enough other passages of Scripture to clarify the meaning. The point here is that neither inspiration nor salvation is a matter of a word here and there; it is the whole broad message of Scripture. Here a little and there a little. We put it all together and the message is strong and clear. Even though a sentence here or there may not be clear (which may occasionally happen), the surrounding sentences and the many repetitions of that thought elsewhere in Scripture are decisive.

A change here or there in Scripture would not be enough to damage its meaning. This is because we go by all of Scripture, not a sentence or two here and there.

For example, what if we found one sentence in the Spirit of Prophecy that did not agree with the others? No problem; we would simply go by all of Scripture, and that would explain the less understood portion. What if one portion totally disagreed with all the rest? Then we would go by the whole and not the part.

Yes, there were small "typographical errors," and some small changes in words or phrases, but not one of them was of such importance as to interfere with any basic doctrinal belief. God protected His Word through all past ages, and He has protected the Spirit of Prophecy writings also.

If you doubt that, then you are questioning God. He can only save us through our acceptance and obedience to what Scripture tells us! If Scripture is unreliable, then we are without chart and compass. Without Scripture, there are no norms, no standards, no basic beliefs. Without the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, we know not the past, present, nor future. Without His Inspired Word, there is no origin, road, nor destination.

Over seven-eighths of all the Spirit of Prophecy was written after 1885, yet the charge is that all that material is unreliable because some men imagine it is so.

POWERFUL INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF INSPIRATION

Are there passages in the Spirit of Prophecy that do not agree with the rest? Hardly any are to be found. No one EVER writes with such perfect consistency as we find in the Spirit of Prophecy! This is actually another proof, not only of its inspiration, but also of the fact that it was not tampered with by anyone!

The Spirit of Prophecy writings wonderfully agree among themselves. How can this be? For one person to write over a period of 70 years (from 1845 to 1915), and all of it to agree with each other-is astounding. It is miraculous. It is more than humanly possible. It is Inspiration at work!

THE FACT AND NATURE OF PROGRESSIVE REVELATION

Are there exceptions to consistency, and where would they be found? They would primarily be in the very earliest writings, from 1845 to about 1852. During that time there was an ever-growing progressive revelation. Ellen White was not told everything all at once. It came little by little through visions and dreams, as the angel explained more and more to her. You will find that her

very first public lectures were descriptions of her experience and what she saw in heaven. Soon the errors of certain fanatics was shown her and she exposed them. Then she was shown the Sanctuary in heaven. Gradually, more and more was shown to her. For example, she never used the phrase "investigative judgment" in the 1840s, nor did she urge dietetic reform prior to about 1855. The full health reform vision did not come until 1863.

But notice two factors here. The first is this: That which was missing was just that: something missing that was filled in later. We see here a maturing of the understanding of the message from God, not changes in that message.

The second point is that, indeed, there was "new light," but it always came through Inspiration to the prophet, not through uninspired men. Or, to put it another way, there is such a thing as "progressive revelation" for our church, but it is revelation revealed to the prophet, not additional information needed for salvation given to men outside of the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. The pathway to heaven is written in the Word of God, and we need not go to any uninspired man into order to trace any part of that crucially important road map.

INCONSISTENT MEN DO NOT WRITE CONSISTENT WRITINGS

If all the Spirit of Prophecy agrees with itself, part of it could NOT have been written by uninspired men! I am repeating part of the above section, but it needs to be repeated. If the Spirit of Prophecy agrees with itself, part of it could not have been written by "other people"! Some may imagine that it could be, but their thinking is jumbled; they are not facing facts. It would not be possible for Ellen White's writings to be so exactly self-consistent, if more than one person wrote them. And the charge is that several people wrote, rewrote, and added to large portions of her writings! They snuck in, wrote a little when no one was looking, dodged out, and came back in and wrote some more. What a hodge- podge way to produce Desire of Ages, Ministry of Healing, Education, and a majority of those other wonderful books! Yet that is how we are told they were written. All the while, the prophet stood back and said and did nothing to stop it.

ON WHICH SIDE WILL YOU STAND?

Stop and think a minute. How should you relate yourself to this controversy? What would God have you decide about this matter? He would want you to implicitly trust your life to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy!

What would Satan want you to do about this matter? He would want you to distrust as many pages, books, and writings of the Inspired prophets as possible!

THE PURPOSE WOULD BE TO CHANGE

Why would you want to add to or rewrite anything that I have ever written? Why that would be simple enough: to change it! You would not want to tamper with my writings, merely to substitute one synonym for another. You would want to change some of my concepts which you consider to be erroneous.

Why would anyone want to add to or rewrite any part of the Spirit of Prophecy writings? Simple enough: to change some of her concepts to something else!

But it was never done! We know this to be a fact, because we have the books before us and they all agree with one another. The only exception would be a few of the earliest statements; the classic of which is her "pork" statement, given in 1 Testimonies, pages 206-207. When she wrote that, she did not yet

have the light that God's people should not eat swine's flesh. But that statement was never removed or changed. That in itself is most revealing. Her writings were not tampered with

Now back to the topic: Except for but a few early exceptions, her
writings fully agree. If they agree, how can anyone say that changes were made?

Come now! WHAT changes were made? There were no changes made! If changes were made, then we would have disagreements in the Spirit of Prophecy; it would be in conflict with itself. But such is not the case.

"Oh," but someone will reply, "the changes were very slight; that is why the Spirit of Prophecy still agrees with itself." Such an argument is begging the question. It is will-o-the-wisp thinking. "The writings were changed, but so little that we cannot hardly notice what the changes were; because almost nothing was really changed. Yet it is of vital importance that you know that changes were made, so you can search them out. Otherwise you may be deceived by all the errors and be lost!"

That is foolish thinking. If the changes are so small, how could small, hardly noticeable changes be of any vital consequence? If the changes are large, how could changes of vital importance have been made, when all the writings so wonderfully agree with one another? It just does not add up.

CHARGES OF CHANGES THAT ARE NO CHANGES

The critics say that major changes were made in her writings. What are these changes? "Oh, this word was changed, and that paragraph totally rewritten, and another chapter totally added; she never wrote many of those chapters at all!"

If that is so then why do all the writings mutually agree among themselves. Why are there no changed doctrines? Why are all the standards the same? What sense would there be to try to change the books, if the books were not changed? They all remain, uniformly, the same general Spirit of Prophecy concepts.

MYSTERIOUS ERRORS THAT CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED

The classic example is Great Controversy. We are told "The 1884 edition is safe and reliable, but that the 1888 and 1911 editions are dangerous, for they contain error. They are not good, for they have had many changes made in them, so are not safe to read or distribute to others."

WHAT is wrong with them? WHY are they not safe? The answer is simple: (1) They contain error. (2) The error they contain is not found in the 1884 edition.

Now that we have pinned down the attack, let us examine it: What are these great "errors" in the 1888/1911 editions of that book? No one knows; no one can tell you. It is all very mysterious. "They contain error, and you should take our word for it! You need to study for yourself and find it." That is how the attack goes. I must say: THAT is a sneaky attack, if I have ever seen one! (1) The error is there. (2) No one knows where. (3) You need to figure it out for yourself. And the obvious conclusion: "I give up; I just won't go near the book in the 1888 or 1911 edition. How am I supposed to be able to know what the error is, if no one else can tell me?"

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD

What is this great error in the 1888 and/or 1911 edition? There is no error in those books! There are as fully inspired as the 1884 edition and just as trustworthy.

I hereby offer $100 for each clear-cut doctrinal error that you show me in Great Controversy-any edition! Send it to me. Someone will reply, "But who decides whether it is a 'doctrinal error'?" I will! It does not require great brilliance to recognize doctrinal error.

IS GOD CONCERNED WITH "LITTLE THINGS"?

Would our heavenly Father warn Ellen White that others were adding to or changing her writings? Would He even care? Of course He would care! He who watches the sparrow is concerned with the smallest affairs of life, and changing and adding to the Spirit of Prophecy would be no little matter!

While living at Elmshaven, California, Ellen White received her shortest vision, and it was about a little thing. Ellen had inquired about a missing hair net, not knowing that one of her helpers had stolen it, thinking "Sr. White probably has lots of them." Then in an extremely brief vision one day, she was shown the incident, and how the girl had destroyed the evidence by burning it in a lamp flame. She afterward confronted the girl, who admitted the theft.

If God would tell the prophet about a theft of a hair net, would He not warn her of tampering with her writings? Of course He would. God would do more; He would tell her what to do to totally stop it! Our leaders feared Ellen White, for, if necessary, she would take the problems to the church members. On one occasion, she was told to go to the California Conference constituency meeting. Her helpers were surprised that she asked to be taken there. Arriving, she entered the auditorium, walked to the platform, and asked to speak. No one had expected her that day. The startled officer in charge said Yes. She then told the assembled conference leaders, workers, and membership delegates that the conference president needed to be replaced. They immediately did it.

Do not underrate Ellen White. In private life she was as gentle as a lamb. But when the Lord told her to do something she did it, regardless of the amount of pain or

STUDY IT ALL YOU WANT!
YOU WILL NEVER REACH THE BOTTOM OF ITS PERFECTION

The present writer has worked closely with Great Controversy for 45 years, and very closely for the past 30 years. He prepared an entire series of Great Controversy radio broadcasts on it in 1962-1964. He prepared written analyses of it over the years (studies we still have not found time to reprint). Another series of Great Controversy radio broadcasts was prepared in 1977- 1979. He typeset sections of the book and placed them in tract form (our GC tract series) in 1979-1980; then re-typeset part of that (our FC series) in 1980. In addition to supervising the later typesetting of three re-typings of that book (1884, 1888, and 1911), he then carefully went through the 1884 and 1888 editions, comparing them with one another; and a couple years later went through the 1888 and 1911 editions, closely comparing those two.

On the basis of all that, he stands ready to tell anyone: Great Controversy is a most wonderful book in each and every edition, 1884, 1888, and 1911!

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE THREE EDITIONS

Are all three editions uniformly good? No, the appendices in the back vary in quality. -But that is no reflection on Ellen White, because she did not write the appendices in the back! (The 1884 and 1888 appendices are far better than the 1911, and the 1888 the best of all.)

Are there any other major changes in the three books? There is only one which is of special interest: The 3-page "Satan monologue" at the beginning of the Snares of Satan chapter in the 1884 edition is not in the later editions. It is the longest direct quotation from Satan to be found anywhere in the Spirit of Prophecy. In it, he is telling his plans to destroy the Adventist church. But keep in mind that she wrote the 1884 edition for the church, not the world. She was then told to prepare a larger edition, which should go to the world. So she left out the Satan monologue when she prepared the 1888 edition. Keep in mind that the concept of widespread evangelism was one of those later concepts given to Ellen White. Still later, she was told that this evangelism must include the entire world-outside of North America. She just had not been giving her attention to that earlier-and no one else had either. But when she told them to start sending missionaries overseas, then they started doing it. The 1888 edition was written for a distinctly wider audience than the 1884. The two primary differences between the 1884 and 1888 editions are these: the second was written for those in and out of the church, and it was enlarged and more complete. The primary advantage of the 1884 edition is that it is terse and to the point, thus more easily read.

What about all the other "changes" in the changeover from one Great Controversy edition to another? There was nothing of importance; surely, no doctrinal changes. The above example involves no doctrinal change.

THE LAST PART OF THE BOOK

What are the most important parts of Great Controversy? It would be the last chapters, telling about the last day message and last-day events. Yet these chapters are nearly identical in all three editions! What are these great "changes" that "others" made in those chapters? They are not to be found. The critics tell us that the 1884 edition is "pure"-written by Ellen White,-and the later two editions are "corrupt"-because heavily written by others, who inserted their whims and notions.

Yet you can carefully read through the closing chapters in all three editions, and you will find that they are all very similar! Where are those marvelous changes? Where are the whims and notions? Where are the "dangerous doctrines?" They do not exist. They are not there.

THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK

What about the first part of the book: the historical sections? Those were the chapters that were sizably enlarged between the 1884 and 1888 edition. Probably the biggest, single change is this: the chapter on the Scandinavian Re- formation is not in the 1884 edition. What does that matter! Because it is in the 1888 and not in the 1884, therefore it constitutes "dangerous doctrine"?

There is no "error" or "dangerous doctrine" in the 1888 or 1911 editions. It never has been there; it continues not to be there. If you find any, let me know so I can send you that $100.

QUOTING HISTORIANS IS NOT PLAGIARISM

Walter Rae said that Ellen White's books were largely copied from other writers. Then, when you pinned him down, he said, "Well, the book of hers which she primarily copied from other authors was Great Controversy." Then when you pinned him down still more, he admitted that the main parts of that book "which were copied" were the historical quotations from historians! Quoting historians is not plagiarism!

May our heavenly Father have mercy on these critics who are trying to convince our people that the Spirit of Prophecy writings cannot be trusted.

"DOCUMENTS" AGAINST ELLEN WHITE'S VERACITY

Then there are the "documents."

First, there are written statements by Adventist leaders that they hoped to "influence Sister White," or feared that perhaps their opponents had "influenced her." Just as leaders do in every age, the men and their parties back at Battle Creek were continually struggling for the ascendancy, and, in the midst of it, Ellen White was consistently moving straight forward doing what principle and the voice of God told her she should do.

Second, some of the statements consist of complaints to her or others about her calls for higher standards, no meat eating, strict dietary, and her urging the people to look to God and His Word for guidance, rather than church leaders. Another source of strong dissatisfaction among a number of our leaders back then were her statements in support of Jones and Waggoner, rather than Smith, Butler and the Battle Creek leaders, at the Minneapolis General Conference Session and afterward. Later still, they expressed dislike for her many statements urging Kellogg and his associates--as well as his opponents, the General Conference leadership in Battle Creek,--to all repent! Her positive positions on a variety of issues aroused dissatisfaction and grumbling. The leaders wanted to lead and not have that woman around telling them what to do.

Third, a few statements indicate an interest in setting up a book committee to review book publications.

That is the background for most of the "document" statements attacking the veracity of Ellen White's writings. They consist of grumblings and ill-founded charges. A few indicate that book committees existed, which one would expect of a publishing house the size of the Review (at the time, the largest printing house in the State of Michigan).

WHAT SHE WOULD HAVE DONE

All those "documents" amount to are allusions, implications, and irrelevant gripes. Would Ellen White have permitted them to change her writings, add to them, or write entirely new paragraphs, sections, or volumes? No! She never would have allowed that to happen. She was gentle among friends and Christians, but tenacious in defense of the honor of God, and quick to do His will when He instructed her. THAT is why He called her to be a prophet, because she would do what He told her to do! Out of the millions of people on planet earth in the mid-1800s, God selected one person that would humbly do as He asked.

If they had dared to tamper with her writings: (1) She would have been told in a vision or dream that it was happening. (2) She would not have been left to herself to decide what action to take, but would have been told exactly what to do to solve the problem.

You can have no doubt that, if necessary, she would have pulled all her books out of the Review, published no more through them, and would have had an independent press set up to print them. (She did something close to that in the mid-1890s when the Battle Creek leaders were so disgusted with her continual advice and general obstructions to their plans,--that they threatened not to publish one of her latest books, Steps to Christ. That did not disturb her for a minute; she immediately had it printed by a non-Adventist publishing house (Fleming Revell, in New York City).

IT IS DANGEROUS TO DOUBT GOD'S WORD

Ellen White wrote strong statements about our leaders. For example, you will find many of them in the Testimonies. Those statements are still there! They have not been changed or erased. Open the Testimonies, some of the best books you can read,--and read them for yourself. They are full of such remarks. The books do not agree with the charge.

One set of books that the "they've been changed" charge has been leveled against is the nine volumes of the Testimonies. It has been said that Ellen White did not write the last several volumes (Volumes 7-9) of them. (The dates for these were 1902 for Volume 7, 1904 for Volume 8, and 1909 for Volume 9.) Whole books of hundreds of pages not written by Ellen White! That is the charge.

Who then wrote those books? "Oh, the leaders did," is the elusive reply. When did they do it? How did they do it? How could they have gotten away with it, without Ellen White stepping in and putting a stop to it? Have no fears that she would not have exposed the whole scandal to the entire church, if necessary, to stop it. She would have done so! Pacific Press was under the control of friends, and she could have appointed them her new publisher, sent out a testimony through them to all the church members exposing the faked books sent out in her name, and henceforth had Pacific Press print them. This would have been easy
to do.

All these charges underestimate the power and justice of God to defend His Inspired Writings, and the strength of will of Ellen White to hear and obey what He told her to do.

The truth is that when we listen to and entertain these doubts, we are headed down the wrong road. When we start accepting these charges against Ellen White, we are placing ourselves in a position of distrusting the power of God and the veracity of His Word. In doing so, we separate ourselves from God, and, separated from Him, fear grips our hearts instead of peace and assurance. Many of our people have had their confidence in the larger portion of the writings of Ellen White destroyed by stopping to consider these false charges that others wrote her writings.

"So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). Israel could not enter the promised land because of unbelief. There will be those today who will not enter the heavenly Canaan because they listened to the whispered doubts of others, until they made those doubts their own.

It is a serious matter to question the keeping power of God or His Word.

WHY DO THEY NOT WANT THE TESTIMONIES TRANSLATED?

If the leaders wrote much of the Testimonies, why do the Testimonies have such strong things to say against the men who wrote them?

If large portions of the Testimonies were written by the leaders, why then have the leaders consistently refused to permit the Testimonies to be printed in foreign language editions? The answer is simple enough: (1) The Testimonies never were changed by the leaders; they continue to tell too much. (2) The Testimonies were not written by the leaders, because if they were, those strong statements would not be scattered all through them.

In fact, the Testimonies are so powerful, so revealing, that our leaders have consistently refused to permit them to be translated into any other language! Back in 1985, the present writer spoke by telephone with the brother of a man who accepted $10,000 from the General Conference several years ago NOT to translate the Testimonies into Spanish! Believe it or not, it happened, and only within the last 15 years. That phone call verified that, indeed, the bribe had been given and accepted. As a result, he terminated his translation work, and moved out of Texas into another state.

If "the leaders" wrote large sections--indeed, whole books!--of the Testimonies, then why do they not want them translated so our people in overseas nations can read them?

THE FIGHT TO KEEP THE 1888 EDITION FROM BEING PUBLISHED

Then there is the charge that Ellen White did not write large sections of the 1888 edition of Great Controversy.

Who did it? The charge is stated in clear-cut terms: "Uriah Smith wrote it." If Uriah Smith, the recognized power at the Review in those days, wrote the 1888 edition of that book,--why then did he and his cronies at the General Conference in the late 1880s so vigorously try to keep the 1888 edition from being published? Why would he not want to print what he wrote?

We have an entire tract on this subject. Much of that tract, about the history of the writing of Great Controversy, is focused on the battle of the leaders not to print the 1888 edition. It was not the 1884 edition they tried to keep from the people, but the 1888 edition! First, they refused to print it unless Ellen White relinquished royalties on it. Then they stalled on it for months on end. Then they said they must get out Bible Readings first. Then they said that Patriarchs and Prophets was ready for the press and that should go ahead of Great Controversy. Then, when it was printed, they let it lay on the shelves and refused to advertise it or send it out to the people. All this is discussed in our full-length tract, The Circulation of Great Controversy [CE30]. (We will soon have a companion set of several tracts available on that topic; watch for it.) This fight against that edition started and was carried on for some time before Minneapolis, at which time the leaders were so humiliated by her refusal to back their preconceived opinions.

HINTS, ALLUSIONS, AND COMPLAINTS

Then there is the charge that church leaders not only wrote major sections of the 1888 edition of Great Controversy and also the Testimonies,-but also that most of her other writings after 1884 cannot be trusted. The implication here is that, because the leaders were busily writing sections to her various books all through those years from about 1885 onward, we really cannot trust any book authored by her after that time. -And this implication is frequently accepted by those who
accept the basic charge.

It is said that all these changes can be proven from "documents." So we investigate the "documents," and find they are just hints, allusions, and wishes. Little more. Much of it consists of statements by people who disliked Ellen White and wanted to vent their disgust a little. Other "documents" are just as weak, and

are just misinterpretations of statements made by people. I have just been reading through a quantity of it, and that is all it amounts to. All these "documents" are used as proof that "others" must have rewritten the Spirit of Prophecy.

THE DOCUMENTS

Now let us get to the heart of this matter of "documents." They are just vague statements that can be read one way or another.

One such statement was made by W.W. Prescott. It was made in one of his typical grumbling letters. The present writer has a number of statements made by Prescott. He characteristically saw the gloomy side of life, and questioned our historic teachings as well as Ellen White's inspiration. He was a Canright that never went into full-blown apostasy. Looking over his literary remarks, a faithful Adventist would hesitate to accept anything Prescott had to say in regard to our teachings or the Spirit of Prophecy.

The second, and primary "document," is found in two paragraphs printed in the Review in 1883. Here it is:

"Whereas, many of these testimonies were written under the most unfavorable circumstances, the writer being too heavily pressed with anxiety and labor to devote critical thought to the grammatical perfection of the writings, and they were printed in such haste as to allow these imperfections to pass uncorrected; and resolved such verbal changes be made as to remove the above-named imperfections as far as possible . .

Resolved, that this body appoint a committee of five to take charge of the republication of these volumes."

Statement, Review and Herald, November 27, 1883.

The above statement is one which you would normally expect of any publishing house. Yet in the earlier years of denominational publishing work, they only had a few employees and it was with difficulty that they could keep up with all that needed to be done. Publishing is not an easy task; it involves many and varied responsibilities. In the above statement, the Review was telling its readers that they were going to try to do better proofreading, as well as watch for grammatical problems.

There is nothing sinister in the above statement. (1) If a sinister motive had been involved, they would not have publicly declared their objective. (2) If their motive had been sinister, such a statement would only have made the readers more alert to what they were going to do. (3) The Spirit of Prophecy publications themselves belie the possibility of editorial change. This is because if sinister changes had been intended and then carried out, we could tell from Ellen White's published writings that this had occurred. More on this later in this study.

An example of a "typographical errors" occur when one letter of the alphabet is accidentally written for another. Suchh tings our tipegrafical errers! An example of a "grammatical error" would be when certain grammatical problems accidentally occur. Such things is typographical error.

(3) The actual meaning of the writer is unchanged by typographical and grammatical corrections; rather it is enhanced. Do you know of a viable publishing house that does NOT have such a manuscript correction depart- ment?

(4) No publishing house dares change the actual meaning of author's manuscripts, submitted for book or magazine article publication over their name. If this is done, the writers are in a position to publicly complain, and this will damage the reputation of the publishing house.

ACCEPTING THE DOUBTERS' CHARGES GRADUALLY TAKES US AWAY FROM GOD AND HIS WORD

God appointed Ellen White as His prophet for these last days. Her life, her physical manifestations while in vision (no breathing for an hour or so, etc.), and her writings prove that she was just that: an Inspired Prophet of God for
the end-time! Thank God for that fact!

But wait! In considering this matter, what we are actually doing is placing her life and her writings on one scale of the balances, and the vague statements of these men in the other. And then we are trying to "weigh" it and see which is more believable! Is God really true or those men!

Sorry, we are not interested in the vague mutterings of men. Others can place their trust in them. The writings of Ellen White far outweigh them. Her words, her life, her writings prove she was a fully-inspired prophet; as com- manding a figure in defending God and His Word as any prophet of earlier ages. On the other scale are assumed possibilities, half-quoted men, and allusions to statements not given. Such is the "evidence" offered us that she was a compromising woman who let others overpower her will, and corrupt her writings.

Accepting the charges of the doubters and thereby removing our confidence in God's sustaining, protecting power and our trust in His Word, is to start on a journey of leaving God and His Word and moving over to the doubters' camp of those who thoroughly distrust her books penned after 1885. And what is the result? men and women who either avoid most of the Spirit of Prophecy books, or search them for evidence that they are of human origin.

SHALL WE TAKE THEIR WORD AGAINST GOD'S WORD?

The heart of the matter is this: Shall we take the word of fallible, erring men as more valid than the Word of God? Ellen White was an inspired prophet of God, and her writings provide abundant evidence of the fact. Even if the charges were clear and to the point-which they are not, shall we take the grumblings of frail, erring human beings as evidence against her? Shall we take their word against God's Word?

Do not let uninspired men sit in judgment on the Words of God! This is wrong! Instead, we should throw away the writings of the critics-and go directly to the Spirit of Prophecy and read IT. THAT is where the evidence is to be found; she is to rise or fall on the basis of what she wrote, not on what her critics said.

If her writings agree with the prophets of God before her time, then we can know that they are of God. And as we read, we find that they do!

We all know that if you come to the Bible as a doubter, you are going to find much to cavil at. There are men trained in atheistic universities who have obtained Ph.D.s in the study of the Bible. They were atheists when they began and they remained so throughout their lives. How can this be? Easy; they came to the Word as doubters, determined to search in the Word for that which would feed their doubts.

Some of those who read this tract set are already in the doubters' camp. They have accepted the "secret writers" charge, and they have been looking for evidence in the 1888 and 1911 Great Controversy, and other of her later books, that the charge is indeed true. I am certain that those individuals have found what they are looking for. Because they are searching for it, Satan will whisper shallow arguments and inadequate evidence. Now they read this present tract set, and they think to themselves, "Ah, but I have seen the evidence with my own eyes!" Poor souls, they are being caught in the net, and only eternity will reveal what they have lost.

Come back to trust in God's caring power over His Word before it is too late! The present writer first found the following statement over 35 years ago, and was deeply impressed with it. Dear doubting friend, read this and consider where you are headed:

The fact is that God has given us abundant evidence that the Spirit of Prophecy is genuinely whole, genuinely sound, genuinely inspired! Those who have known this, and then have turned from it to feed on the husks of bitter men's skepticisms, are choosing a most terrible future. Unless they repent and return, they will be gradually led away from the path followed by the remnant. They will be attracted to sins they earlier spurned, and, gradually more and more captivated, will be led away by the evil one.

EXCHANGING THE BOOKS FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO FIGHT

A basic problem here is that it is easy to get into a dangerous rut. Our first work should be to uphold our teachings and standards, and, along with this, protesting when they are being lowered. These are God-given duties. But we dare not exchange defending God and His Word, for "fighting men for fighting's sake"! When we do this, we can be tempted by Satan to turn against God's Word in our attempt to find more ammunition with which to carry on our fight against those men!

When a person has come to that frame of mind, all it takes is for someone to come along and say, "Did you know that the church leaders changed Ellen White's books, and even wrote some of them?" Quickly comes the response, "Oh, I can believe that!" No evidence or only the shallowest of evidence, but the lie is accepted, because they are emotionally ready to receive it. But he does not realize what he is exchanging for it. He is selling the Word of God in a cheap market.

Seriously, now, isn't that a masterpiece of a deception?

While the new theology catches the liberals in the church, the secret writers charge is attractive to conservatives, who have had their share of woes at the hands of unfaithful church leaders.

There are those among us who, first and foremost, want to fight church leaders, and they will believe anything that is said against such men. But the issue in life and salvation is coming to God, trusting Him and His Word, obeying it by faith in Jesus Christ our Saviour, and winning souls to God and His Word. The issue is not a matter of just fighting men, whether they be Communists, Catholics, or Adventist church leaders.

CUTTING OUT THE PAGES

When I was a teenager, I first learned about the modernist churches, such as the Presbyterian, in which the pastors tell their parishioners they can cut a variety of pages out of their Bibles because they are not inspired. I also heard about the liberal theological seminaries, such as Princeton, where the students are told about the several writers of Moses writings, and the two Isaiahs, and the late date for Daniel.

At that time I determined that I was not going to cut pages out of the Bible to please any man! Years later, I was shocked to discover that men in our own church were telling us we should cut pages-and whole chapters and books-out of the Spirit of Prophecy!

We cannot do this! The writings are unified; the Spirit of Prophecy agrees fully with the Bible, and it stands as a whole. No one will begin cutting out part of the Spirit of Prophecy, without soon having little left but a lot of mournful blanks in his books and in his Christian experience.

If we did not need those books in these last days, God would not have given them to us. Ellen White went through a life of sadness and hardship so they could be made available to us-sadness and hardship because she refused to stop writing them!

I guarantee if you will remain faithful to the Inspired Books and let God work through you to fulfill their teachings, He will guard and care for you in the days ahead.

You and I know too much to be walking out on God's Word.

WOE BE TO THAT MAN

Woe be to that man who teaches others that portions of the Spirit of Prophecy have been written by others, are unreliable, and contain error.

That man will bear a responsibility for the souls that have been lost to the kingdom. He will have to answer for it in the Judgment.

Make sure you are not such an individual. If you have been, go alone, fall on your knees, plead for forgiveness, and settle it with your heavenly Father that you will never do it again, but rather that in every way that you can, you will go to those to whom you have spoken such words, and you will explain this matter from the correct standpoint.

Copies of this tract set are available, if you want to share them. Many need this warning-before that erroneous teaching reaches them.

SUMMING IT UP

It is all too easy for the following seemingly-convincing argument to be accepted by many:

"I think church leaders rewrote large sections of the Spirit of Prophecy. We know what church leaders are like, so it's probably so! They rewrote Ellen White's books!"

That is both the argument, its evidence, and its proof-all wrapped up together.

All in all, it is one of the most cunning deceptions of Satan for these last days! And it is being shared around among the nicest and most innocent Adventists.

For this deception, originated by Satan, is aimed, not at the liberals or the lukewarm in our church, but it is aimed at the conservatives, those who have stood stiffly for the truth for years and have been repeatedly shot at for doing so. As a result of witnessing one compromise and apostasy after another, they are quite willing to expect trouble when leaders are mentioned or discussed.

It comes down to this: Are we more for God's Word, or are we more against certain people? Anyone who dislikes certain individuals more than they love the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy is headed for trouble. Such people are open to deception.

What some of us are doing here is to take the weaknesses of men--and call it the weakness of God's Word! But this must not be done! Just because men are weak does not mean that God's prophets are! Just because men may be crooked and scheming, does not mean they were given permission by the God of heaven to overpower His writings and change them!

Friends, we dare not, we must not give up our faith in the integrity of the Spirit of Prophecy, for an opportunity to find fault with leadership!

We have seen that what this charge actually amounts to is that, because church leaders were corrupt, THEREFORE the Spirit of Prophecy was also! No, no! It cannot be true; it is not true!

If there is doctrinal error or lowered standards in the Spirit of Prophecy, then we should find it in the Spirit of Prophecy books themselves, not in the accusations and attacks of men against those books!

For over six months in the early 1980s, Walter Rea pocketed over a thousand dollars a weekend in lecture fees. He was traveling around America, telling eager Adventist audiences that Ellen White was a charlatan. He was well paid in blood money, and he will answer in the Judgment for it someday.

When Walter Rea completed a major lecture in the Walla Walla, Washington area, he started to leave the microphone, but then turned back and said, "Don't you do to the Bible what I have just done to the Spirit of Prophecy!"

It is as simple as that. Whatever charge, whatever condemnation you give to Ellen White's writings, you have to give it to the Bible also. They all equally fit both. Ellen White and the Bible writers are solidly tog- ether. They received visions and dreams in the same pattern, they put their books together in the same way. They stand or fall together. Let none imagine that he can pick off Ellen White, while leaving the Bible still standing on the field of battle.

Do you want to call her a plagiarist? No, she clearly was no plagiarist. (For more on that, see our very complete The Plagiarism Charge-Part 1-5 [PG- 1-5].) But, to whatever degree someone wishes to apply the term to her,

he will have to apply it to the Bible writers also. Inspiration operated in them the same as it did in her.

Is anyone suggesting that her writings were changed by her enemies? Then he will have to say it about the Bible writings also. "That cannot be!" you will reply, "there is no evidence that others changed the Bible writings!" That is true, but there is no evidence that others changed her writings either. So if you accept that "others" did it anyway to the Spirit of Prophecy, while God abandoned those writings and did not guard and protect them from their hands, then you have to accept that the writings of the ancient prophets must have all been changed also. The enemies of God and His Word were alive just as much back then as they have been in these last days.

WHAT THE JESUIT AGENT SAID

The following letter was sent to us from one of our readers several years ago. It is reprinted from our tract, More About Secret Agents FMB-52].

"Father was pastor of the Oakland, California, [Adventist] Church when the Pacific Press was located there. [The Pacific Press was located in Oakland from 1875 to 1904; following that date it was located in Mountain View, California, until the mid-1980s.] Father was a very friendly person and if possible made friends with all the clergy including the Catholic priests.

"One Catholic priest was also very friendly, and he had many talks with father.

"One day he came to father and said, 'Rev. Gardner, I've got something interesting to tell you!'

"Father replied, 'Tell me about it!'

"So he said, 'You know, we had rather a big meeting this week, and we discussed your church.'

"And then he continued: 'We discussed other denominations also. We discussed how we could infiltrate each of the denominations with the Jesuits--our priests.'

"And then he said: 'One of our priests arose and said, "There is no problem in infiltrating all the denominations except one. That's the Seventh- day Adventists. The reason we cannot do it, is that as long as their prophetess is alive--she will put her finger on our men, as soon as we make the first step in that direction.'

"Then he said, 'So we made no plans farther in that direction.'

"I thought you would be interested in this true story. Northeastern United States.

Looking down at the last days, when so many deceptions and apostasies would be rife, the God of the universe decided in His wisdom to send us a prophet. Particularly important would be the writings of that prophet, for they would have to guard His remnant all the way to the end of time. Without them, they would not survive to the end.

Now, seriously, how can anyone imagine that God would reveal the name and location of every Jesuit infiltrator in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to Ellen White,--and yet He did not tell her that men were changing her writings, and even writing whole chapters and books in her name!

CHANGING HER INTO AN EVIL PERSON

There is already enough evidence that many of our leaders in the 1880s and 1890s were disgruntled sourpusses, anxious to sidestep the Spirit of Prophecy and disgusted with her domination of the church in regard to religious principles, doctrines, and standards.

But, in a search for still more evidence against them, some of our people are willing to destroy the character of Ellen White to achieve their goal.

To understand this better, let us change the setting. Even if she had been an uninspired atheist working as a leading writer for General Motors Corporation, how could General Motors put out a raft of books under her name, without her finding out about it! The whole charge is ridiculous, when you stop to think of it!

Obviously, it could be done in only one way: she would have had to be in collusion with them. The charge is that she did not write Volume 7 of the Testimonies. Yet as soon as it came off the presses at Battle Creek, her friends at Elmshaven would come up to congratulate her. "Sister White, I have just purchased a copy of Volume 7, your latest book, and I appreciate it so much!"

It would be impossible for church leaders to write books in her name, as claimed, without her knowing about it.

So to accept the charge means to eventually depart from the Spirit of Prophecy entirely. For the charge is really saying that Ellen White was a bad person.

THE WRITINGS REVEAL THE CHARACTER

Anyone who has written a lot is revealed in his writings. His character, his life, his aspirations, his goals, his standards, his morals; it is all reflected there.

Ellen White is clearly portrayed in her books. Those books are also clearly revelations from God for our time in history. I will here say that anyone well acquainted with her books who dares to say that she was a bad person, is in very great danger of sinning against the Holy Ghost. That is a solemn statement, but I believe it to be true.

WHAT IS IN THE LAST THREE?

What is in Volumes 7, 8, and 9 of the Testimonies? Those are three of the books which, according to the charge, Ellen White definitely did not write. Well, if other people with sneaky, underhanded intentions stealthily wrote them, their content must be as unprincipled as the lives of those who wrote them. Let us consider Volume 7:

Testimonies, Volume 7 was published in 1902 and covered material written and events that occurred during 1900 to 1902. In that book, she urges the very things that the leaders were not interested in doing: The need for self- supporting workers to not wait for the pastors to lead out, but go themselves into rural areas and do missionary work. The importance of doing evangelistic work in the big cities, something else the leaders fought throughout that entire decade. The importance of family worship, and integrity in our sanitarium workers. The call to get out of the cities and Adventist centers and move out into the country. The need to start medical missionary treatment rooms and health restaurants in the cities, as well as the manufacture of health foods. The problems of our poorly-operated publishing houses, and how they should

be improved. The urgent need to produce more missionary literature and books, as well as translations for overseas. Our publishing houses were not to take commercial work. They were charging the wrong prices for their books. Our publishing houses should not consolidate, as leadership wanted them to. Canvassers were needed, and authors should be paid royalties (even though the publishing houses did not want to do so). The church members should avoid improper reading materials. The neglected work in the Southern States should be taken up, even though our leaders at Battle Creek were unitedly stonewalling it. The blacks needed to be helped and no longer ignored. Ministers should not run business meetings. Committee meetings were not being conducted right in several ways. Ministers should not be lazy, but should work more earnestly and draw closer to God. Those who attend board meetings were eating too much, and because of it they could not make wise decisions. Our church schools and teachers were being neglected; they needed more help from our leaders and members. Our young people should not wait to be called into the ministry, but should "gather a stock of knowledge" and go out and get started without the help of the leaders. Leadership ought to pay decent retirement to older workers, instead of ig- noring them. Our older workers should be cared for, instead of being left in poverty and sickness.

In 1900, 1901, and 1902, our leaders in Battle Creek were rapidly dividing into warring camps: the General Conference and publishing house on one side, and the Sanitarium and medical leaders on the other. Few were concerned about needs out in the field, and even less appreciated the kind of things penned in Volume 7. Three times in that volume, in three different chapters, she told them it was time to put away meat eating. The tip of the pantheism iceberg was about to show itself. Ellen White returned from Australia in April 1901. On February 18, 1902, the Battle Creek Sanitarium burned to the ground.

Really, now, WHO wrote Volume 7? It is laughable to imagine that Uriah Smith wrote it, or any of his associates in the Review or the General Conference Building. And Kellogg's crowd over in the Sanitarium surely did not produce it.

Please, do not let men sell you a bill of goods. GOD wrote Volume 7 through His servant, Ellen White! There was no person living that could have written such wise, earnest counsels. Read Volume 7 again. You will find, scattered all through it some of the sweetest, most precious messages about God's love and how to come to Him and remain by His side. Conniving men did not write such counsels as you find in that book. Thank God for the Spirit of Prophecy! All of it!

Go on and examine Volumes 8 and 9. We could have summarized its essential points as we did with Volume 7, and they would be just as striking. There you will find, among other things, the Review fire, the Pantheism crisis, and the Ballenger crisis. Throughout it all, it was Ellen White who led out in the reforms; not the officers of the church. Ellen White was indeed an individualist who stood alone among our leaders in regard to a variety of matters. This quality first revealed itself in 1848, and continued in a more and more pronounced manner throughout her life. Her writings are filled with it.

3 - AN ATTACK ON GREAT CONTROVERSY ANALYSIS OF SPECIAL CHARGES

A majority of the data for the charge that Ellen White did not author most of her own books comes from the speculations of one man. He spent years developing his theories, which we call the "secret writers" charge. In his writings, he frequently mentions that his special attention in his study has been directed at the flaws in the book, Great Controversy. He prides himself on his supposed ability to find flaws in that magnificent volume. Indeed, he says it is full of "thousands" of mistakes, and that these errors are in all three editions (the 1884, 1888, and 1911).

Yet Ellen White told us that that book was her most important book, and she commended all three of those editions to the reader. We will now examine several of these charges.

According to the "secret writers" charge, Testimonies, Volumes 7, 8, and 9 were definitely written by sneaky church leaders. We will consider the Testimonies later in this present study. But, far and away above all the other books, stands Great Controversy as the focus of attack. Every concerted attack on the Spirit of Prophecy, whether it be Spectrum's, Walter Rea's, Charles Wheeling's, or this "secret writer" charge,--is always focused on the "errors" of the book, Great Controversy. THAT is ALWAYS the subject of SPECIAL attack against Ellen White's writings!

Which is just as we would expect. Satan only tried to kill Ellen White when she initially prepared to write that book. He hates that book more than any book in modern history.

Great Controversy, like the rest of the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible, is like a great cube of granite. The critics cannot smash it; they cannot injure it. All they can do is huff and puff, and finally tip it over. But they have accom- plished nothing: it is still right-side up, just as solid and powerful as ever.

We will now examine each of Hoehn's charges against this book, as best we can. ("As best we can," for he writes in such a nebulous style that it is difficult to pin down what he is actually trying to say. He has a confusing style of writing.)

1 - It is said that Uriah Smith led out in the changes in the books, and was the principle author of most of the Great Controversy editions.

Where is his proof for that assertion? Only a vague committee statement in 1883 that there was need for better typographical and grammatical error correction in the books, magazines, and missionary papers published by the Review! There is nothing wrong in such a statement! You would expect a concern for printing excellence in any worthwhile printing house. Should not the typographical errors be removed? Of course they should. Such a statement is no evidence that an attempt was made to change her writings.

What evidence is there that Smith rewrote Great Controversy before the 1888 edition was published? Only one man's imagination, and little more. The truth is that Uriah Smith fought that edition! (See the A.L. White paper, The Circulation of Great Controversy, which is reprinted in chapter 56 of this book.) Uriah Smith tried to block the way so the 1888 edition would not be released to the people, and Ellen White opposed what he and the managers at the Review were doing. You will find it all detailed in chapter 56 of this present book.

2 - It is said that there are "unreliable historical records" in Great Controversy, because Smith put them there.

There are no "unreliable historical records" in Great Controversy! The president of Southwest Adventist College (Donald R. McAdams) was one of the first to claim that Ellen White's historical statements in Great Controversy were inaccurate. When challenged by Bill May (see our tract, Give the Trumpet a Certain Sound [FF-33]), he admitted that historians will frequently disagree among themselves as to how a given event occurred. Some his- torians will put it one way, and others another way. He also admitted that in each case of variation, some historians say it the same way Ellen White does in Great Controversy. But he had concluded that she was historically inaccurate because she did not give it the way that the conflicting historians thought it should be! That is begging the question. To use that definition of "historical accuracy" would rule out the work of every historian who has ever lived! Any historian who took a position on any controverted historical event would immediately be branded as producing "an unreliable historical record." The only safe rule would be to never write anything about past history! The fact is that some historians agreed with everything she wrote about past events in Great Controversy.

The only exception, of course, would be those instances in which she wrote about something that no historian had ever mentioned. There are historians in that category also. Our only detailed source for the A.D. 66-70 Jewish War is Josephus, who lived through it. Ellen White also writes about topics that no one else can, because she personally witnessed them. Among other events, this would include chapters 36-42 of Great Controversy. Our primary witnesses for those chapters are Daniel, John the Revelator, and Ellen White. No one else could correctly write about those events because they have not yet taken place.

3 - It is said that part of the doctrinal chapters of Great Controversy were very similar to earlier doctrinal studies by Smith, and therefore must have been copied from him.

(1) That does not prove they were copied from his writings. (2)
Smith's studies could indeed have been used as a convenient reference source in preparing her studies on the state of the dead, punishment of the wicked, etc. Ellen White was told by the angel that she would be able to read other writings, and be guided to select from them what was true. There
would be nothing wrong in her using doctrinal summaries earlier prepared by Smith. All the Bible texts would be there together. That would be very helpful, and such utilization would not be improper. The fact is that some people are trying to find something to doubt. They seem to obtain an emotional lift by so doing. (3) Keep in mind that most of our basic doctrinal positions were given us through Spirit of Prophecy visions during the Sabbath conferences of 1848. Other doctrines were later given through her or approved by her. If Smith wrote it all up in some studies, it would be quite convenient for her to use those studies as a basis. Her earlier approval or visions were the basis
of them anyway.

4 - It is said that Smith put so much error into Great Controversy that the General Conference Daniel and Revelation Committees had to meet in order to try to straighten out our doctrines!

It is marvelous how men can turn against our historic beliefs in order to vent their rage against the Spirit of Prophecy. Their consciences are kicking against the pricks. It is even charged that our Sanctuary Belief is wrong,

because one man has the idea that Uriah Smith invented it! All history is changed to agree with one man's treachery against God's Inspired Word.

You will find that Ellen White wrote about the Sanctuary Message all through her writings, not just in Great Controversy.

Regarding the D&R Committees, they have met on and off since the mid- 1960s. They were convened in an attempt to solve the "consensus problem,"- not any Great Controversy problem! Few of our college Bible teachers had doctorates back in the 1950s. But by the 1960s they were obtaining them, knowing that that was the fast doorway into a nice Bible teaching job. If they had a Ph.D., they could teach liberal theology with little fear of being fired, since their doctorates were needed to help our colleges and universities maintain approval by worldly accreditation associations. Having received their doctoral training from liberal and atheist professors in outside universities, by the mid-1960s a growing number of our Bible teachers no longer believed in our historic beliefs, especially those mentioned in the books of Daniel and Revelation. THAT is why the D&R Committees were convened, not because of "errors" in Great Controversy, as Hoehn charges.

What would these "changed beliefs" of our "Bible scholars" be that have occurred in the past couple decades? They would include five special areas discussed in Great Controversy: (1) The importance of obedience to the law of God was being underrated (Dan 2, 6, 8; Rev 11-14). (2) The prophecies pointing to the papacy were being denied (Dan 7, 8; Rev 12-18). (3) Our Sanctuary Message was being rejected (Daniel 8 and 9; Rev 4, 11). (4) The time periods were being changed (Dan 7-9; Rev 11-13). (5) Concern over eventual Sunday legislation was being toned down (Dan 7; Rev 13 and 14).

It is very significant that this individual blames Great Controversy for our "false doctrines," instead of the new theology and the doctoral religion graduates that brought it into our church. You would do well to avoid the writings and tapes of anyone who blames false doctrine on Spirit of Prophecy books, instead of where it belongs: the liberals in our church.

5 - It is said that others totally changed Great Controversy at the time of its 1911 revision.

That is not true. Take a standard copy of the 1911 edition of Great Controversy. This will be a book with standard paging, such as is found in the regular $9.95 red or black cloth edition. Then, take a copy of the original 1888 edition, or an 1888 reprint which has standardized paging in the margins to the 1911 edition. (Our publishing branch here has both the 1884 and 1888 editions in easy to-read medium type face, with the 1911 paging in the margins; see our Book Order Sheet. These are the only reprints of those editions with the 1911 pagination in the margin for ease in comparison.) Next, compare the two (the 1888 and 1911) on any given page.

You will find that they are nearly identical in every way-but five. In the 1911 edition: (1) words referring to the Godhead are placed in initial caps; (2) Bible references are placed in the text, instead of footnotes; (3) references to historical quotations have been added; (4) alternate historical quotations were at times used.

That fourth item is the only essential difference between the 1888 and 1911 editions. Obtain a copy of each and compare them-and see for yourself! In the 1884 and 1888 editions, Ellen White did not include source references in her quotations from historical writers. So in preparing the 1911 edition, they

wanted to include the references, but could not locate all the quotations. So they substituted other quotations that covered the point in about the same amount of space. But, aside from the quotations, that which she wrote in the 1888 edition is almost identical to what you will find in the 1911 edition. Hoehn is wrong; the 1911 edition was not a radical change.

(5) The appendix was changed, but that is not in the text and Ellen White did not write the appendices. The present writer considers the 1884 and 1888 appendices to be good; the 1888 somewhat more complete, however. (You will find it in the back of our 1888 reprint; our 1884 edition has the 1884 appendix, if you want to read that one.) The original 1911 appendix was fairly good also, but it was the last good one. When the appendix was revised in the 1940s, it was transformed into what we have in the Great Controversy obtainable in our ABCs: It is now primarily a bibliography to a lot of old books that no one could find, without going to Harvard Divinity School Library, or something similar. In contrast, the earlier appendices gave valuable historical information.

6 - These critics spend their time trying to convince readers that Great Controversy is full of errors.

The evidence they use against that sacred book comes from their imagination. Whenever they see something different in wording between either of the three editions, they try to see a sinister motive for the change. What a miserable way to read Great Controversy!

Instead of enlarging the 1884 edition by adding to it, Ellen White used an alternate method: she rewrote it. This is why the 1884 and 1888 editions are so different. This is an effective writing technique. If the present writer was faced with the same task-to produce a greatly enlarged edition of a book he had earlier written (for example, Beyond Pitcairn),-he probably would do the same thing. It will take more work to write it all out again in the process of expanding it, but the end result will be a far more satisfactory, more readable book. Ellen White went to the extra work to turn out a better book, and we should be thankful for it. The 1884 edition gives a good, compact coverage of the subject. The 1888 edition is a good book also, but gives a larger, more detailed coverage, primarily in the earlier (the historical) chapters. Both are excellent books, yet in both books the essential principles remain the same! Keep that in mind: the principles were not changed! The editions of Great Controversy may vary in arrangement and the amount of details, but that is all.

7 - In order to prove his position that Great Controversy is full of errors, one critic of Ellen White quotes from articles in liberal Adventist journals
which vigorously attack Ellen White's writings, impugn her motives, and call her historical research sloppy.

The very fact that the critics must use journals, such as Spectrum, to support their attacks, only shows the camp they are actually in. Once a man begins questioning God's Word, there is no length he will not finally go in his scepticism.

8 - The critic says that "Great Controversy" is the wrong name for the book, and that it should be "Spirit of Prophecy."

But "great controversy" is the key phrase found all the way through the book! The entire volume is about the great controversy between Christ and Satan,

as fought in the Christian church and the world about it from Christ's time on down to our own. Including chapter 29 (the Origin of Evil chapter).

9 - The critic says that he thinks some of the chapter titles may have been changed.

Is it safe to read with interest or sympathy the writings of such men, who attack both the veracity of the Spirit of Prophecy and those who defend that veracity? You do well to avoid the writings of such men. They will only destroy your confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy.

Hoehn is just like Rea. Walter Rea was a small-time, pastor who, by his own admission never gave up meat-eating, but who finally found fame in trying to show that Ellen White's writings were no good. Herman Hoehn was a woodcutter in Western Canada who has gained wide recognition as an authority on dozens of ways in which most of Ellen White's writings are worthless.

Some get their heaven now; others get it when Jesus returns. May God have mercy on the rejecters of the Spirit of Prophecy.

10 - The critic says that another "error" in the book is the fact that Ellen White omits "I saw" from the 1888 edition, and changes some passages from present to past tense. But, again, there is no problem here.

11 - Referring to the expansion of the French Reformation chapter from 3 pages in the 1884 edition to 25 pages in the 1888, the critic says that that should not have been done!

What right does he have to tell Ellen White how she should have written her books? What right does he have to tell God that He did wrong in impressing Ellen to put so much information in the 1888 revision of that chapter?

These critics of Great Controversy and the other Spirit of Prophecy writings can be so daring.

For your information, Ellen White rarely gave titles to her books, chapters, and articles. She also did not write the publisher's introductions, indexes, appendices, footnotes, boxes, or bracketed comments in her books. But she did name The Desire of Ages, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, and The Ministry of Healing. (In addition, when she sent out her first messages to the church, she standardly called them testimonies, and the name stuck through all nine volumes.)

These critics have the ability to make something evil and sinister out of the most innocent things in the Spirit of Prophecy. What is wrong with expanding a chapter in Great Controversy from 3 pages to 25? Nothing at all. I fervently wish Great Controversy had been ten volumes in length! You probably do also. Just think how much more information we would have about last-day events and eternity--if she had written two books, instead of one!

12 - The critic says that the three angels' messages are in the 1884 edition, but not in the later editions.

But that is not true either! Turn in the 1888 or 1911 edition to chapter 25 (pages 433-450) and read it carefully. Especially notice pages 435-438, 445-446, and 449-450. it is clear that the entire chapter constitutes a careful study of the messages of the three angels, as applied to the crisis revealed in Revelation 13 and 14.

Desmond Ford brings apostasy into the church through the front door; Robert Brinsmead brings it in through the side door; and these critics, who tell us

the Spirit of Prophecy is wrongly written, bring it in through the back door. The Fordites come in the clothing of suave scholarship, and the "secret writers" critics come pretending to be anxious to help us rediscover the "true Spirit of Prophecy." But Satan is leading both camps to perdition.

Stay away from both of them.

"I know that the sanctuary question stands in righteousness and truth, just as we have held it for so many years. It is the enemy that leads minds off on sidetracks. He is pleased when those who know the truth become engrossed in collecting scriptures to pile around erroneous theories, which have no foundation in truth."- Gospel Workers, 303.

WHAT ABOUT ADDITIONS OR SUBTRACTIONS?

We have spoken about the possibility of changes in these books, and have concluded that changes would have introduced strange, new doctrines,--but that did not happen. All of the Spirit of Prophecy books match one another. But what about the possibility that things were just added, merely words and phrases here and there. If that were to happen, it would only be done to change meanings! If meanings were changed, we would catch it immediately!

What about the possibility that words were dropped out here and there. Once again, it would only be done in order to change the meaning of the sentence. A non-Spirit of Prophecy concept would be the result, and it would be easily noted. But all these years, you and I have been reading in those books and we have never found such a passage.

Oh, yes, footnotes have been added to some books, but they only prove our point. (1) The footnotes in Spirit of Prophecy books were not penned by Ellen White. (2) Those footnotes at times teach non-Spirit of Prophecy concepts. This is obvious and we are quick to note it. In that is the proof that things inserted in the Spirit of Prophecy by others would be quickly noted.

For example, the following note introduces reprints of Ministry of Healing by two different publishers:

"Some of the references to dress and customs of that day are much different today. The 'drugs,' e.g., morphine, strychnine, calomel, arsenic, etc., used by the doctors at that time should not be confused with the beneficial medicines of today."

That is obviously a false statement. We immediately recognize it as such. (1) The Spirit of Prophecy definition of a "drug medication" is "a poisonous substance of a foreign nature" which has an immediate or eventual harmful effect on the body. According to that definition, all our modern medicinal drugs would fall under that category, for they all have damaging, and often very dangerous side effects. (2) It is a known fact, easily confirmed in drug directories (the present writer did it several years ago), that every single named drug in the Spirit of Prophecy is still being widely used today!

That is an example of how quickly you can recognize a non-Spirit of Prophecy concept. If there were errors in the Spirit of Prophecy, you would recognize them!

REVIVING THE 1881 ERROR

Prior to the summer of 1881, the brethren in Battle Creek were fuming in disgust because they could not control Ellen White. She seemed like such a gentle soul, and therefore they erroneously concluded that she was very

impressionable and could be manipulated by a strong-willed person. But, they decided, since they could not get her to do what they wanted, James White must be the problem! If James were just out of the way, they could get her to do whatever they wanted.

But not so. On August 6, 1881, James White died after a sudden, short illness. It was then that the brethren learned a lesson: The strength of character was within her, not in her close associates.

It was the same with Jesus as a youth. He was so kindly and helpful, yet obviously brilliant, and the youth around Him--and later the religious leaders--tried to influence him, but all without success.

ALL THAT IS SAFE TO READ

If you accept the "secret writers" charge of Hoehn and others, you can only safely read Ellen White's 1846-47 broadsides, "Signs ,""Review," and "Sabbath School Worker" articles up to 1883, Christian Experience and Views (1851), the 1854 supplement to it, Early Writings, Spiritual Gifts, Vols. 1-4, Spirit of Prophecy, Vols. 1-3, Testimonies, Vols. 1-3, articles in "Health Reformer" and "Good Health," and Appeal to Mothers (1869).

If you listen to those folk, you will have to do some housecleaning. Because it is so hard to figure out where the error is unless you have Hoehn there to point it out to you. He can find bad things in the finest passages in the Spirit of Prophecy. Personally, I think that devils help him locate all his picky little doubts in those precious books.

Listening to his suspicions and accusations, you will need to throw out the following: AA, AH 1 BC, CDF, CG, CH, ChS, CM COL, CS, CSW, CT, CWE, DA, Ed, Ev, FE, GC, GW, KH, most of LS, Mar, MB, MH, MLT, MM, MYP, PK, PP, RC, SC, SDG, SL, 1 SM, 2SM, 3SM, 4SP, 4-9T, Te, TD, TM, UL, WM, and Volume 7A.

A KEY TO UNRAVELING IT ALL

Admittedly, this is not an easy charge to refute. What if I told you that Abraham Lincoln was a secret Jesuit priest, before he became president. You would say, "Impossible! How could this be so!" And you would be right. So much was known about his pre-presidential life, his presidential years, his speeches, and his writings.

You would wonder. That was a hundred years ago. Maybe it was so. A good manipulator of words and facts, skilled at twisting one thing to look like another, could probably present a pretty good case that Lincoln was a secretly trained Jesuit agent, and the Catholics got him elected so he would start the Civil War and help Rome take over America!

That kind of "conspiracy analysis" accomplishes great things in newsletters. How can anyone answer such a charge? The answer is simple: If Lincoln was doing secret Jesuit-agent work, then he was a deceptive, evil man, and it would show in his talks, writings, and all he did.

How can we answer the "secret writers" charge against Ellen White? Those years were long before our time. The answer is equally simple: If Ellen White permitted others to write books in her name, then she would also have been a deceptive, evil person, and it would have shown itself in her talks, writings, and all she did.

In addition, those presumed changes, additions, and add-on chapters and books would have been written for a purpose: to change the thinking of Seventh-day

Adventists in regard to certain matters. Those concepts would be there to be seen today.

We can KNOW Ellen White is the author of her writings by the writings themselves!

How can anyone today actually know what went on back then? No one can; neither you nor I nor anyone else. That is what makes the charge so powerful. But we can KNOW what is in those writings! And we can know the purposes and objectives in those books. And we can know the principles stated in those books. Do not doubt your ability to understand these things; you can taste and see, and KNOW that the Spirit of Prophecy writings are safe. It is self-evident as you read them.

THE ISSUE IS NOT THE CHARGE BUT THE WRITINGS

The issue is not the charge, but the writings and what we do with them.

Were changes made? If changes were made, they were of no consequence. We can see that from the writings themselves.

God wants us to bring our reasoning powers to His Word. As we do so, we see clearly that we have here writings from God. The principles are astounding. So fresh, so clear; they breathe of heaven's air.

But then, along comes the charge, and we are tempted to wonder: Can we believe our own minds? All this time we had trusted those books, and no v others tell us they should be distrusted! Can you not see the terrible danger here? The Holy Spirit had convict id us that the writings were of God, and now someone comes along and tells us that they are not!

To accept the suggestion means to reject, not only the Holy Spirit's conviction, but also to question whether we have been thinking right! The result is confused minds. --And many have spoken with the present writer in just this fashion. They have accepted the doubt and now do not know what to think. They fear to read the books, lest they be caught up in error. Yet they have hardly any idea what error they are supposed to be looking for! This thing becomes a Satanic bewitchment! Always before they knew how to recognize truth from error, but after accepting the "secret writers" charge, they no longer seem to know how to.

This is because they are now looking for error in the Spirit of Prophecy writings and cannot find them, but since they have chosen to believe error is there,--they have come to doubt the ability of their own minds to recognize truth from error!

THE BEDROCK

The bedrock issue is that we must read the Spirit of Prophecy writings with CONFIDENCE, obey them, and seek to prepare our lives and the lives of our loved ones for heaven. NOT TO READ THEM WITH CONFIDENCE IS TO READ THEM WITH DISBELIEF! Accepting the charge, we have done something very dangerous, and are on a most terrible path. Our only safety is to return to God as soon as possible in repentance and pleading for help!

Reading the Spirit of Prophecy with disbelief is the most dangerous thing that someone-who earlier read it with confidence-can do! Read that sentence over several times!

DOUBTING GOD'S WORD

One of the most dangerous temptations that came to Ellen White was back in 1845, when she was told by others that her visions came from mesmerism. Shortly afterward, when she was about to be taken into vision, she began to resist,

thinking it might be some type of hypnotic spell. As a result, God rebuked her severely. What she had done was to doubt God's Holy Spirit!

When you and I, who have drunk deeply in the thirstquenching waters of the Spirit of Prophecy, are then willing to accept the charge that we should now read them with caution and disbelief,--we are treading on the same ground Ellen White trod on so many years before! We are questioning that which we have clearly known to be the writings of the Spirit of God,-and instead searching for evidence that they are the writings of men! That is very close to the pathway into the sin against the Holy Spirit!

Please! please! think about what I am saying!

Have alterations been made? Have some changes been made? Perhaps you suspect that some have. LEAVE THAT TO GOD to take care of! Your work is to trust and obey, not to proofread with doubt. To continue to do so will destroy you.

"Oh," someone will say, "one word here was changed to another word!" Leave it alone! You have a whole ocean of truth in the Spirit of Prophecy. You dare not let your mind dwell on the possible change of this word or that word. By doing so, you are exchanging one cupful of error for a whole ocean of truth.

GOD WILL GIVE US OPPORTUNITY TO DISBELIEVE

God will allow situations to exist so that all men will have hooks for doubt if that is what they want. If. you or I want to disbelieve, God will give us opportunity to do it. Character must be revealed in this life; decisions must be made for eternity. Those of us who are hankering to doubt God's Word will find abundant reason to do so. They wanted husks and that is what they got.

THE WORDING AND THE PRINCIPLES

The very wording of the Spirit of Prophecy is invaluable, and with them the principles. The words state the principles, and the principles are uniformly consistent! How can this be if a variety of authors wrote those books? How could it be if even one other author wrote them, such as a proud, sneaky man who secretly wrote entire books and then palmed them off as her writings?

The principles stated in the Spirit of Prophecy attest to and prove their genuineness. The principles prove that God produced those books through His prophet. His children hear the true Shepherd's voice in those books, and they follow Him. They go by the principles stated in His Word. They value His Word; they trust their lives to it.

Ellen White wrote articles and books, and later revised them into other articles and books. Rearrangements and word replacements occurred in the process, but the principles remained unchanged. The same principles are in the 1884 Great Controversy as are to be found in the 1888 and 1911 Great Controversys. Those principles are not hidden; they stand right out! They are there today as you open and read in her books! They are emblazoned on every page. Clear-cut principles,-principles of heaven to lead us to heaven.

The principles and the choice wording were always protected, and that is what counts. When you read in the Spirit of Prophecy, ask yourself, "What is the underlying principle?" Find the principle and obey it. Those principles are right. They run all through those books, and no counter or opposing principles are there.

The total wholeness of those writings rebukes all efforts to attribute their authorship to "secret writers."

REJECTING THE SEED

Forget not the forgetful hearers in the parable of the sower (Mark 4:3-20 and Luke 8:5-15). This parable is filled with deep meaning. Read it in the light of the insights given in Christ's Object Lessons (pages 33-61). Some hearers let themselves become hardened, others permit problems and cares choke out the precious seed. Still others let the birds come in and take the seed away. Do not let the birds take away the seed! Please! You dare not let that happen! Do not let others tell you that the seed of God's Word is corrupt. Let your roots go deep. Keep the ground moistened. Let confidence and obedience to the Inspired Writings mark your days. It is better to be a humble servant of God, than a wise scoffer of His Word.

WHAT ABOUT SUPPRESSIONS?

Have Spirit of Prophecy materials been kept back from us? Yes, they have. There is clear evidence of this. A classic example is the Watson letter, but there are also other examples. Yet they only prove our point: If leadership had changed Ellen White's writings, they would have done so in such a way to encourage or command submission and obedience to themselves as officers of the church. But such statements are not to be found in the Spirit of Prophecy. Yet, in contrast, some statements strongly opposed to leadership have been suppressed. Read Series A and B, much of which was finally reprinted in 1923 in Testimonies to Ministers. It was not until the Daniell's administration was out of office that that book was published.

Various Spirit of Prophecy materials have been kept back from God's people, and they have been actively engaged in trying to obtain it for years. But the materials themselves have not been changed or destroyed. If there had, I can assure you that there would be no Watson letter and no Testimonies to Ministers.

Yet there has not been as many suppressions as one might suppose. For example, there is the Z File in the E.G. White Estate office. It contains two primary types of material.

(1) Letters to ministers who were involved in moral sin. (2) Letters by Ellen White to her husband, in response to efforts to him to dominate her work. Under the circumstances, Sr. White was something of a perfect wife. She honored her husband, yet did not let him interfere with her work for God. In his later years, James became somewhat irascible. This was partly due to the pressure of the work; there were too many in the Review office who let him carry the heavier part of the load, while they sat back and complained that he and Ellen were running things. In reaction, James White became more and more irritated, and sometimes took it out on his wife.

The Z File is no problem to us.
LOOKING AT GREAT CONTROVERSY ITSELF

We can with certainty know that Great Controversy is not the product of the leaders at Battle Creek! We can know by the messages given in the book. They are not the messages those men would have given!

Leaders, whether church or governmental, tend to be political. They are tempted to be excessively more concerned with holding their jobs, advancing to higher positions, gaining more control over the workers, and maintaining subservience of the rank and file members. This problem, which we clearly observe in church leaders today, has been with us in the past. Only in the orig- inal purity of a movement does its leaders tend to have the right directions. But,

keep in mind that at the beginning of a movement there are few followers to superintend, cause trouble, or vote you out of office.

WHAT THEN would be the objectives of leaders, if they were permitted by God to rewrite or add sentences, paragraphs, chapters, or entire books to the Spirit of Prophecy? We would find the political element to be the principal concern.

Simply by reading in the Spirit of Prophecy books we have today, we can not only KNOW that alternate views are not to be found in those writings,- but we can KNOW what those alternate views would have been!

Now, let us open Great Controversy--any edition. The first half of that volume can be summarized in this triumphant statement of Peter before the crafty leaders of his time: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). That is the message of Great Controversy: obedience to God, and we only obey Him when we study and obey His Written Word.

You will find that as the theme all through the historical chapters of
Great Controversy. But that theme is also the basis of everything in the latter part of the book as well! (1) That theme would NOT be there if Uriah and his as- sociates had written any part of that book, or had changed any part of that book, or had added to any part of that book. (2) If only additions had been made by "secret writers" to Great Controversy, certain opposing concepts would also be in that book.

They would be these: It is important that we reverence our leaders. It is important that we submit to the better judgment of our leaders. They are wiser than the laymen are. We are far more likely to reach heaven by obeying their dictates, than in trying to decide for ourselves how we should serve God. Our leaders understand Scripture better than we do, for they have had far better training, as well as years of experience in managing the work. Only through counseling with them and submitting to their judgment will the people of God be saved from problems and errors.

Read again the chapters on Persecution in the First Centuries and The Apostasy. Scan through the chapters on the conflict of Bohemian, German, Swiss, French, and English Christians with religious authorities. Uriah and his friends would not have written that! If he had the power, he would gladly have omitted it. He was not able to do that, but he did the next "best" thing: he tried to keep it from being published (see our tract, The Circulation of Great Controversy [CE-30]). He tried to suppress the book, and keep it from the church members. Read again pages 42-43,45:2-46:1, 48:3, and the chapters that followed. Read again a section not found in the 1884 edition: pages 289- 290. Uriah did not write that!

Read again The Scriptures a Safeguard, a chapter which is indeed powerful! It was in the 1884 edition, and, like all the closing chapters of Great Controversy, is in all the later editions of that book. Church leaders did not write that chapter! They did not add to it, they did change it, they were not permitted to blot it out.

WHAT WERE THEIR OBJECTIVES?

There is an extremely reliable way we can know if the leaders changed the Spirit of Prophecy books, or added anything to them. (1) Only worldly-minded men would dare do such a thing. (2) They would not do it merely for the fun of writing. (Yet even if they did write without a purpose, that lack of purpose would reveal itself in the finished product, the "E.G. White books" they wrote.) But, no, they would only do it if they were desperate to place certain concepts in those

special books. They would have had a definite objective. (3) We can expect to find it in the books they wrote. They were worldlings and would have worldly objectives, and we can know what their objective was.

We can with certainty know that Great Controversy is not the product of the leaders at Battle Creek. We can know by the messages given in the book. They are not the messages those men would have given!

Leaders, whether church or governmental, tend to be political. They are tempted to be excessively more concerned with holding their jobs, advancing to higher positions, gaining more control over the workers, and maintaining the subservience of the rank and file members. This problem, which we clearly observe in church leaders today, has been with us in the past. Only in the original purity of a movement do its leaders tend to have the right directions. But, keep in mind that at the beginning of a movement there are also few followers to superintend, cause trouble, or vote you out of office.

Here is a statement by M.L. Andreasen to help you see the thinking- and worrying-of leadership back in those days. You will quickly note several facts: (1) The leaders wanted to control Ellen White. They thought she should be under their authority. (2) They simply could not get her to obey them. (3) At Minneapolis in 1888, they stood solidly in opposition to Jones and Waggoner-- especially because of the fact that she was on the other side. (4) They had hoped that Minneapolis would be the place where they would get her to yield to their authority. (5) Eight years later, in 1896, they were still disgusted because she resolutely was independent of their authority.

"Old Elder J. H. Morrison, father of Prof. H.A. Morrison, lived in Lincoln. He had taken a prominent role in the discussions at Minneapolis and had written a book on the subject. . It was largely through the kindness of old brother Morrison that I was permitted to attend the discussion. Of course, I was there to listen and not to talk. And I did not talk, But I learned much. In fact, it was wonderful school. I only wish I had notes.

" .. They paid little attention to me, but plunged right into a subject of which I knew nothing. But I soon caught on, and was astonished at the freedom with which they discussed personalities. Most of the older men who had known Elder [James] White were not endeared to him, it appeared. In their opinion, he was too strong-headed to work well with others.

"Sister White's situation was not an easy one. As the wife of the president of the denomination, she gave support to him in his work. But at times word would come from the Lord that made it necessary for her to bear messages of reproof to him. And Elder White sometimes questioned in his own mind if she spoke to him from the Lord. On some occasions this brought on tension.

"A few of the leaders were waiting for the day when there would be a change in the way the church was run. They thought at the Minneapolis meeting such a change might be made.

"I have heard many versions of what took place at Minneapolis. Someday, if I ever get time, I would like to tell the story as I heard it recounted at the meetings held in College View by the men who were the leaders in opposition to Sister White. They did not consider the message of Jones and Waggoner to be the real issue. The real issue, according to my informers, was whether Sister White was to be permitted to overrule the men who carried the responsibility of the work. It was an attempt to overthrow the position of the Spirit of Prophecy. And it seemed [at Minneapolis] the men in opposition carried the day. Eventually she left for Australia, where she stayed nine years. It was there that a plan of organization which called for union conferences was tried that received her blessing and that in 1901 was implemented on the General Conference level. As interpreted by some, the Minneapolis conference was a revolt against Sister White. If that is so, it throws some light on the omega apostasy."-Diary of M.L. Andreasen, quoted in Virginia Steinweg, Without Fear or Favor (1979), pp. 42-44. [Italics ours.]

Does that eye-witness report from 1896 give the impression that Ellen White was a person that people could step on? Were the leaders giving the orders and she was meekly following? There is no doubt that they wanted it to happen, but there is no doubt that it did not occur.

WHAT WOULD THEY HAVE PUT INTO ELLEN WHITE'S BOOKS?

Simply by reading in the Spirit of Prophecy books we have today, we can not only KNOW that alternate views are not to be found in those writings. But we can also know what those inserted teachings would have been!

Now, let us open Great Controversy, any edition. The first half of that volume can be summarized in this triumphant statement of Peter before the crafty leaders of his time: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). That is the message of Great Controversy, clear and simple: We must obey God, and we only obey Him when we study and obey His Written Word.

You will find that to be the theme all through the historical chapters of Great Controversy. Yet that theme is also the basis of everything in the latter part of the book as well! (1) That theme would NOT be there if Uriah and his associates had written, changed, or removed any part of that book. (2) A totally opposite theme would have been there if they had written, changed, or added any part of that book.

This totally opposite theme-a concept totally foreign to the Spirit of Prophecy writings-would be as follows:

It Is Important that we reverence our leaders. It Is Important that we submit to the better Judgment of church officers, especially high-placed ones. They are wiser than the laymen, and we are far more likely to help the church and reach heaven by obeying their dictates, than In trying to decide for ourselves how we should serve God. Our leaders understand Scripture better than we do, for they have had far better training, as well

as years of experience In managing the work. Only through counseling with them and submitting to their judgment will the people of God be saved from problems and errors. They have a depth of wisdom in regard to doctrine and standards that surpasses the rest of us, and, for the sake of peace, unity, and prosperity, we should yield to their better judgment on such matters.

Read again the chapters on Persecution in the First Centuries and The Apostasy in Great Controversy. Scan through the chapters on the conflict the Bohemian, German, Swiss, French, and English Christians had with religious authorities. Uriah and his friends would not have written that! If he had the power, he would gladly have omitted it. He was not able to do that, but he did the next "best" thing: he tried to keep it from being published (see our tract, The Circulation of Great Controversy [CE-30]). He and his associates tried to suppress the book, and keep it from the church members. That book is incendi- ary! It frees the human mind to obey God's Word!

The teaching of Great Controversy is the teaching of Acts: Resist and refuse to obey church and secular authorities in matters of principle, beliefs, conscience, and standards!

Read again pages 42-43, 45:2-46:1, 48:3, and the chapters that followed.

Read again a section not found in the 1884 edition: pages 289-290. Uriah did not write that!

Read again The Scriptures a Safeguard, a chapter which is indeed powerful! That chapter was in the 1884 edition, and is in the later editions of that book. Church leaders did not write that chapter! They did not add to it, they did change it, they were not permitted to blot it out.

Actually, all the closing chapters are to be found in all three editions of Great Controversy. But, just for a moment, PLEASE, read chapter 37 in that book in the 1884 edition, and in one or the other-or both-of the two later editions. In this way you can see for yourself the lack of significant changes in this crucial chapter, The Scriptures a Safeguard.

That chapter is a most powerful call to cast off all human authority when it conflicts with obedience to God and His Written Word. In the original 1884 paging, you will find it on pages 411-420. In our edition of the 1884, it is on pages 304-311.

In the original 1888 edition, it is on pages 593-602. In our medium-print edition of that book, it is on pages 568577.

In the 1911 edition, it is on pages 593-603.

As you go through chapter 37 (Scriptures Our Safeguard) you will discover that all three editions read almost the same, except that: (1) The phrasing has been improved in some sentences, but most of the time re- mains identical to the 1884 edition. (2) Certain paragraphs, not in the 1884 edition, were added. These are totally unproblematic additions, and are as follows:

[1] The first added paragraph is page 596:3 in the 1911 edition (the added part would come after page 415:0 in the original 1884 edition, and after 307:1 in our 1884 edition.

[2] The second added paragraph is page 597:2 in the 1911 edition (the added part would come after page 416:2, sentence 1 in the original 1884 edition, and after 308:1, sentence 1 in our 1884 edition.

[3] The third added paragraph is page 600:1 in the 1911 edition (the added part would come after page 418:1 in the original 1884 edition, and after 309:2 in our 1884 edition.

[4] The fourth and fifth added paragraphs (which consist of three Bible quotations) are pages 602:2-3 in the 1911 edition; these replace that which was in the 1884 edition (page 420:2 original; page 311:0 ours), which was a single paragraph comprised solely of Psalm 1:1-3.

If you do not have all three editions available to you, simply by reading in the 1911 edition, and noting the above five additions, you will be able to see that all of the chapter is essentially the same in all three editions. Even the chapter title is unchanged in all three editions.

Yet we saw from the Andreasen quotation that chapter 37 would have been radically changed if our leaders had had their way. But it was not changed in any manner in conformity with their ideas. Instead, it remained solidly Spirit of Prophecy concepts. If it was not changed to match their concepts, then it had to be only Ellen White that made the inconsequential changes to be found in it.

If you want another powerful chapter to ponder, read 5 Testimonies, 62-84. That chapter was written in the very midst of the time when the critics say that leading brethren were controlling her writings (about 18871888). Yet it constitutes a most powerful indictment of our leaders in Battle Creek! (We reprinted much of that powerful chapter in PG-101.)

THE PURPOSE WOULD BE TO CHANGE

Why would you want to add to or rewrite anything that someone had ever written? Why that would be simple enough: to change it! You would not want to tamper with his writings, merely to substitute one syn- onym for another. You would want to change some of his concepts which you consider to be erroneous.

Why would anyone want to add to or rewrite any part of the Spirit of Prophecy writings? Simple enough: to change some of her concepts to something else!

But it was never done! We know this to be a fact, because we have the books before us and they all agree with one another. Her books are not merely evidence, they are proof! The only exception would be a few of the earliest statements; the classic of which is her "pork" statement, given in 1 Testimonies, pages 206207. When she wrote that, she did not yet have the light that God's people should not eat swine's flesh. But that statement was never removed or changed. That in itself is most revealing. Her writings were not tampered with.

Now back to the topic: Except for but a few early exceptions, her writings fully agree. If they agree, how can anyone say that changes were made?

Come now! WHAT changes? There were no changes made! If changes were made, then we would have disagreements in the Spirit of Prophecy; it would be in conflict with itself. But such is not the case.

If changes were made, why do all her writings fully agree? Why are the doctrines and standards the same? Where are all these "dangerous changes" we are warned about? The truth is that there have been no changes.

WERE ALL THE EDITIONS VALUED BY ELLEN WHITE?

In the next section, we will give attention to the secret writers charge. This is the accusation that other people wrote all or most of Ellen White's books after 1885. The charge sounds ridiculous, and the evidence supporting the charge just is not there.

As usual, the book under special attack is Great Controversy. Satan wants to get rid of the earlier editions, he wants to get rid of the middle edition, and he wants to get rid of the last edition. If he cannot burn them all, then he settles for the next best thing: either get people to neglect them, or cast aspersions on them.

Of primary importance in the secret writers charge is the fact that, if Ellen White only authored part of her books-then she obviously was either a false prophet because she did not know what was going on, or she was a false prophet for knowing about it-and permitting it to take place. Either way, if the secret writers charge be true, the validity of all the Spirit of Prophecy writings is destroyed-earlier as well as later.

In the next section, we will reply in detail to the secret writer's charge. But, for a moment, let us review again Ellen White's statements about each of those four editions: the 1858, 1884, 1888, and 1911.

As we do so, it becomes clear that she fully endorsed each and every one of those four editions of Great Controversy!

THE 1858 EDITION

Ellen White spoke in the strongest terms about the vision she had in 1858, which led to the writing of the 1858 edition of Great Controversy:

The 1858 edition can today be found in the third section of Early Writings, pages 133-295. The 1858 edition was very small. Living and working conditions for Ellen were very primitive back then. She did the best she could, but it was not until the 1884 edition that we find ourselves with the first full length Great Controversy.

There can be no doubt that Ellen White's messages, recorded in the 1858 edition and later amplified in the later editions, were important:

"In this vision at Lovett's Grove, much of the material of the Great Controversy which I had seen ten years before was repeated, and I was shown that I must write it out; that I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong efforts to hinder me, but angels of God would not leave me in the conflict, that in God must I put my trust."-2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 270 (Life Sketches, p. 162 is almost identical. For the full story, read pp. 162-163).

"In the sudden attack at Jackson [Michigan], Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to raise me above the effect of Satan's attack."-2 Spiritual Gifts, p. 272 (Life Sketches, p. 163 is almost identical).

THE 1884 EDITION

The 1884 edition of Great Controversy was, at the time, called Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4. Consider these strong expressions of appreciation for this book:

"I was shown . . that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume Four [Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4 was the 1884 Edition of Great Controversy]; and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go; and that it would call the attention of many to the important

events to occur in the closing scenes of the world's history."-Letter 1, May 14, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, p. 128).

"The volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, and also the Testimonies, should be introduced into every Sabbathkeeping family, and the brethren should know their value and be urged to read them. It was not the wisest plan to place these books at a low figure and have only one set in a church. They should be in the library of every family and read again and again. Let them be kept where they can be read by many, and let them be worn out in being read by all the neighbors."-4 Testimonies, p. 390.

"I was glad to hear Elder Haskell present before the people the necessity of placing reading matter in private families, especially the three volumes of Spirit of Prophecy and the four volumes of Testimonies. These could be read aloud during the long winter evenings by some member of the family, so that all the family might be instructed. "4 Testimonies, p. 304.

"Let those who wish to make valuable presents to their children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces procure for them the children's books mentioned above. For young people the Life of Joseph Bates is a treasure; also the three volumes of The Spirit of Prophecy. These volumes should
be placed in every family in the land. God is giving light from heaven, and not a family should be without it." Review, December 11, 1879 (Adventist Home, p. 479.)

"We made it a practice to read instructive and interesting books, with the Bible, in the family circle, and our children were always happy as we thus entertained them. Thus we prevented a restless desire to be out in the street with young companions, and at the same time cultivated in them a taste for solid reading. The volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, should be in every family, and should be read aloud in the family circle."-Review, December 26, 1882 (Sons and Daughters of God, p. 178).

The 1888 stands as the edition much-maligned by two different classes of believers:

But all the editions were inspired of God when they were written, and they continue to be inspired of God today. Each one is excellent for personal study or widespread distribution.

The outstanding advantages of the 1888 edition are these:

(1) For the first time we had the complete book. Essentially everything in the 1911 edition (aside from some changed historical quotations) is in the 1888 edition.

(2) It was her original full size book, before the concern to insert references was carried out. Yet, frankly, for practical purposes there is no real difference between either edition! The teachings are the same; nearly every word in the text is the same. Only some quotations from historians are different, but is that important? No, it is not.

(3) The 1888 appendix is definitely more complete than the 1884. But the 1911 revision would result in a still more complete appendix; one enlarged by two thirds in the number of notes.

If that be true, then why did Ellen White have to plead with our leaders in Battle Creek to circulate it? (See the quotations below.)

If that be true, then why did our leaders in Battle Creek refuse to let the colporteurs sell it?

If that be true, then why is it that the 1888 edition has all the same principles in it that the 1884 has?

It is clear that there are men who want a following, who are willing to even cast doubt upon the genuineness of the Spirit of Prophecy writings in order to gain that following.

THE 1911 EDITION

We find that Ellen White deeply appreciated the 1911 edition also:

"A few days ago, I received a copy of the new edition of the book, Great Controversy, recently printed at Mountain View, and also a similar copy printed at Washington. The book pleases me. I have spent many hours looking through its pages, and I see that the publishers have done good work.

"The book, Great Controversy, I appreciate above silver or gold, and I greatly desire that it shall come before the people. While writing the manuscript of Great Controversy, I was often conscious of the presence of the angels of God. And many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind." Manuscript W-56, 1911 (the second of the above two paragraphs is in Colporteur Ministry, p. 128).

How could we ask for a clearer statement of acceptance? After being given two copies of the book, fresh from both of our publishing houses, she examined them for hours. If tampering had been done with that sacred text, or if errors had been introduced, the Spirit of God would have led her to them!

And then, after reading in that book for hours, she exclaims that she is totally satisfied with the book, that she values it above any amount of wealth, and that she earnestly desires it to be given to the people! What a com- mendation! How dare anyone say that the book is worthless and riddled with error? Far from discussing errors in the book, she mentions how the angels of God were by her side when she placed in writing that information. All the 1911 edition revisers did was to update the historical quotations and make some typographical corrections (discussed elsewhere in this present volume). Even the pagination, from page to page throughout the two editions, is identical.

"Recently it was necessary for the book to be reset because the electrotype plates were badly worn. It has cost me much to have this done, but I do not complain, for whatever the cost may be, I regard the edition with great satisfaction."-Manuscript W-56, 1911.

Not only did she read the finished product and express her appreciation for it, but she also said she paid to have the 1911 edition printed! And that--after looking it over-- she was so very thankful that she did so!

Listen not to those who would disparage that, or any other, Spirit of Prophecy book. They are only hurting their own souls by what they are doing.

A careful study of the above quotations reveals that each of these editions of Great Controversy is equally valuable. The people need the message in that book. Give it to them. Use the 1884, the 1888, or the 1911 edition, whichever one you prefer. But give the people the message for this time! (The 1884 is lower in cost, shorter and therefore more acceptable by the people, and has larger print; the 1888 is expanded in size, and has the original historical quotations; the 1911 is essentially the same as the 1888, but includes historical quotations with references, and a larger appendix.)

Great Controversy is the most important book that has been written for many centuries. It contains a sweeping review of facts and principles gleaned from the past 2,000 years, and it provides the reader with the issues and warnings he needs just now. The deceptions and events of the future are unveiled; and, before he lays down the book at its last page, he is in a far better position to make his personal life decision.

Yes, know and believe that God is true-and that He has inspired every word on those sacred pages. Belief in the words written in that book will be as a shield to you in the days ahead.

"The results of the circulation of this book [Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now appears. By reading it, some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. But a much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it. The fulfillment of some of the predictions will inspire faith that others will also come to pass, and when the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency."- Manuscript 31, 1890 (Colporteur Ministry, pages 128-129).

44 - DOWNGRADING SCRIPTURE DOWNGRADING SCRIPTURE [PG-21-22]

In this section will be found a discussion of the cause, nature, and effect of the various attempts to discredit Ellen White and her writings. You will find it of special interest.

In this section will be found a reprint of our tract study, Downgrading Scripture-Part 1-2 [PG-21-22] You will here find quotations and comments regarding the terrible danger in doing this, what will result, and predictions that it would happen before the end.

"The very last great deception will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God."-Letter 12, 1890 (1 Selected Messages, page 48).

You have just read one of the most significant predictions in the Spirit of Prophecy. And yet it will be but a culmination of a work that has continued for centuries.

Thousands were imprisoned and slain, but in dying they were victors and, seeing their pure, Spirit-filled lives, thousands more united with the believers. "Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully."--Great Controversy, page 42. And then we are told how this would be done: "If the followers of Christ could be deceived."--page 42.

"The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force .. Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths."--page 42. That very work is going on today: Men and women in the Church, professing part of the faith, while rejecting other essential truths. Satan arranges it that the truths they reject are foundation stones upon which the entire edifice of Christian life and ultimate salvation is based.

"As the followers of Christ united with idolaters, the Christian religion became corrupted, and the church lost her purity and power. There were some, however, who were not misled by these delusions."-page 43.

But it is important that we understand a basic tactic in Satan's warfare against the people of God: It is the removal of the Scriptures from them.

"Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the Word that even the Saviour of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth."-Great Controversy, page 51.

Satan can only conquer by deftly taking away that shield.

"In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures."- page 51.

The Scriptures were forbidden to the people and "the detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will"-page 51.

It is important that we understand that before Satan took the entire Bible from the people,--he first removed portions from their confidence. That is a key to his working in all ages. By the Seventh Century, Rome was demanding that the people not have copies of the Scriptures in their homes for personal study. Yet this was preceded, centuries before, by careful instruction to Christians by educated researchers and religious leaders that certain portions of Scripture were unimportant and inaccurate. An outstanding example of this can be seen in the determined effort to eliminate the truth of the Fourth Commandment, and put Sunday sacredness in place of the Bible Sabbath.

Let us learn from the past: First, Satan removes portions of Scripture from our hearts and lives; later he removes the entire book. To say it again: First, he removes part of it from our confidence; then he can more easily take away the whole.

"The very last great deception will be to make of none effect the testimonies of the Spirit of God. " It has been going on for a long time, and it is culminating in these last days, just before the return of Christ.

And in every age of history, what is it that follows this "great deception"? It is darkness.

Only by the suppression of Scripture-first, of parts, and later of all,-is false religion able to gain control and carry on its work unhindered. And with the suppression comes darkness. With the passing of time that darkness deepens.

"The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened."-page 55.

"The darkness seemed to grow more dense. Image worship became more general. Candles were burned before images, and prayers were offered to them."-page 57.

"The advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of error" until "that most terrible of all the engines of the papacy" was introduced: the Inquisition (pages 58, 59).

All because the Scriptures were taken from men; first in part, later in whole. Cause had been followed by effect.

"But 'the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.'.. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown." And the chapter concludes with these words: "Such were the results of banishing the Word of God."-page 60.

In the epochs of time that have passed from that day to this, though men have died, the one that instigated them to those acts is still very much at work.

In the Nineteenth Century, our eyes are drawn to the rationalizing in Germany, by which thousands were deceptively led to perdition. It was not such men as Strauss, Feurerbach, Sterner, and Ruge that were the most dangerous. With subtle arguments these intellectuals tried to disprove the existence of God. Rather, it was the scholars of the Tubingen School that could work the most successfully to disorganize and crumble the faith of Christians. For these men were the "page cutters." Professing Christianity, these gentlemen were always busy with their researches; at first in this Biblical book and then that,--trying, ever trying, to remove those books from the hearts and lives of Christians.

And how was it that they sought to do this? By removing men's confidence in those Biblical books!

For that is all that is needed in order to achieve such a terrible goal. In the days ahead, keep that fact in mind.

F.C. Baur (1826-1860), a professor at the University of Tubingen, questioned the credibility of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). He called his idea the "tendency theory" and said that these four books were written later by different authors than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Since these books, according to Baur, had been written by someone else-who, we are not particularly told,-surely the inference was that none dare place much confidence in such books and what they might have to say.

"Those who look to the Scriptures to find discrepancies, have not spiritual insight. With distorted vision they will see many causes for doubt and unbelief in things that are really plain and simple."-Steps to Christ, page 110-111.

Then there was Julius Wellhousen (1844-1918), another distinguished scholar and researcher in the eyes of men. Also of the Tubingen School, he scratched around to find some original skepticism for which he might be more duly admired, and came up with ".l," "E," and "P"-the three imaginary men who authored the first six books of the Bible. No, not Moses, forget about him, Wellhousen said, when you read Genesis through Joshua, you are looking at the writings of three ancient unknown scribes who lived long after the time of Moses. And how can we know this to be true. Why, because I, Julius Wellhousen, thought it all up!

More devastators were to follow (such men as Kuenen in Holland, W. Robertson Smith in Scotland, Cheyne and Driver in England, and Briggs and Toy in the United States). And devastation they did bring! For they professed Christianity and devoted years in careful "research" (speculation would he the correct term) in the Bible. And their findings swept through the Protestant seminaries of Europe and America, there to be taught to the new generations of ministers.

"They read it [the Bible] according to their desire to pervert, to misapply, to willfully wrest the utterances from their true meaning."-1 Selected Messages, page 19.

And there are many ways in which this can be done.

"Men will arise with interpretations of Scripture which are to them truth, but which are not truth. The truth for this time, God has given us as a foundation for our faith. He Himself has taught us what is truth. One will arise, and still another, with new light which contradicts the light that God has given under the demonstration of His Holy Spirit."-Counsels to Writers and Editors, page 32 [written in 1905 about A.F. Ballenger] .

"The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers."-Great Controversy, page 598.

"Have you been doing the Master's business in listening to fanciful and spiritualistic interpretations of the Scriptures, interpretations which undermine the foundations of our faith,-and holding your peace? [And not speaking up against these errors!] God says 'Neither will I be with you any more, unless you awake, and vindicate your Redeemer.' My message to you is: No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of truth."-1 Selected Messages, 196.

So it is clear that not only should we refuse to consider these speculative errors when they come; we should speak up and protest against them as well.

We have seen that Satan can work through individuals outside of the church to dishearten, confuse, and mislead Christians. But we have observed that he is always more successful when he uses church members to instill Scriptural error and doctrinal confusion. And we have noted that a primary concern of the first great apostate is to cause Christians to lose confidence, first, in Scriptural concepts and passages supporting them,--and then in larger sections of the Word of God.

A friend recently told us of a number of earnest followers of Desmond Ford that he knew on the West Coast. Having been persuaded that the clear and simple Bible-Spirit of Prophecy teachings are not to be trusted, their lives become worldly and spiritually disoriented. First, their confidence was gained, then they were taught that the writings of Ellen White are not those of a genuine prophet. Abandoning that sure anchor, their future is hopeless, unless, through the fog of doubt, they retrace their steps to those precious books. Removing the Inspired Word from the lives of Christians is Satan's special goal. Once accomplished, he can lead them as through special agents down murky paths that appear bright with fascinating speculations.

"Many now despise the faithful reproof given of God in testimony. I have been shown that some in these days have even gone so far as to burn the written words of rebuke and warning, as did the wicked king of Israel. But opposition to God's threatenings will not hinder their execution. To defy the words of the Lord, spoken through His chosen instruments, will only provoke His anger and eventually bring certain ruin upon the offender."-4 Testimonies, page 678.

Another attacker of the Spirit of Prophecy was Walter Rea. Spewing out venom and hatred of those precious messages, Walter will have a record to meet in the Judgment that's fearful.

(It is of interest that at one of his meetings--this one in the Northwest,- Rea, after attacking the Spirit of Prophecy with involved reasoning for an hour

or so, concluded his lecture; then paused, and said, as in an important afterthought, "Now don't you do to the Bible, what I just did to the writings of Ellen White!" He well knew that the identical points of logic that he had been using to downgrade the Spirit of Prophecy in the minds of his hearers-could be used to throw out the Bible writings also!)

Another way to bring disrepute upon the Inspired Writings is to dream up fanciful interpretations, or doctrinal or predictive theories which, sooner or later, bring disgust to men and women of sound mind. If such ideas come from the Spirit of Prophecy, they reason, then surely we had better leave those books alone.

And yet, as if these ways to destroy confidence in the writings of Ellen G. White were not devastating enough,--an individual in Western Canada has come up with a theory that at once sweeps away most of her books! And he is succeeding in his nefarious work with far too many of our people.

That man is Herbert Hoen, and his theory is that the Spirit of Prophecy books written after c. 1885-are not safe to read because they were written "by other people," or were written by a weak-willed Ellen White who obediently jotted down what they told her to write. The "proof" of this can be found in the strange non-Spirit of Prophecy concepts that her post-1865 books are riddled with, and the fact that she never opposed the views of the brethren after the mid-1880s.

"Some express their views that the testimony of Sister White cannot be reliable. This is all that many unconsecrated ones want. The testimonies of reproof have checked their vanity and pride; but if they dared, they would go
to almost any length in fashion and pride. God will give all such an opportunity to prove themselves and to develop their true char. aster."-3 Testimonies, 313.

For centuries, men fought the Word of God, but Nineteenth Century Germany produced a group of men that produced a ruthless attack that tore the core of Christian experience out of the lives of many of God's people. These were the "form critics," some of whom we have already discussed. They professed to be Christian scholars who were only seeking to find greater truth and meaning in the Word of God. But the very nature of their insidious attack was such that it had the effect of gutting the Bible in the minds of the people. This is the very work that Hoen is doing to the Spirit of Prophecy. The enemies of the testimonies rejoice when such a man appears on the scene of action.

In the Nineteenth Century it was called "Formgeschichte" (form-geh- shick-tuh) , or the "history of forms." Bible scholars today refer to it as "form criticism." This was the effort to analyze the original text and determine who wrote it and when. As men carry on their textual criticism, they are led by Satan to conclude that the original Scripture writers were not the authors. Hoen uses similar methods. In addition, he tries to read into the written comments of Ellen White's contemporaries that she was just a dupe that various church leaders used to do their writing for them--but under her name.

Were there charges in her day that she was only a weak-willed cat's paw of the church leaders? Oh, yes, such comments were made verbally and in writing to one another. This was but one of a number of ways in which she was disparaged by men and women who were affronted at the personal reproofs they received from her.

Quite frankly, if she had been a pawn in leadership hands, there would have been no opposition to her! Read again the chapter, "Moses and Aaron" in 3 Testimonies, pages 293-304. Lilly-livered Aaron had no problems with the people or with the leaders down on the plain at the foot of Sinai. They all loved him, for he was so totally agreeable with all their suggestions. "Make us gods to go before us," and so he did. Aaron WAS manipulated by the people, and not a word of murmuring was to be heard by those who were so prone to complain about Moses and criticize him.

Oh, how the people down on the plain would loved to have known about "form criticism" and its first cousin, "redaction criticism" (Redaktionsgeschichte)! Such tools are well calculated to tear apart the writings of any prophet.

But do not think that only Hoen is spreading these stories. One individual, for example, that many of you know well, in his itinerant meetings, explains how terrible the leadership of the Church is, and, to emphasize his point, adds: "Did you know that volumes 7, 8, and 9 of the Testimonies were not written by Ellen White? The leaders wrote those books!" So he got his point across: the leaders are bad people, and he did it by explaining that Ellen White's books are not to be trusted.

Read again 1 Selected Messages, 196, quoted earlier in this study. "No longer consent to listen without protest to the perversion of the truth." Let no man teach you or your children (at home, church, or in school) that the Bible or Ellen White is not to be trusted. If you permit them to do THAT, Satan will be well on the way toward winning a powerful victory in your life or in the lives of your young ones. I have listened on the telephone to weeping mothers who expressed the deepest sorrow that they ever sent their dedicated children to "new theology" Adventist colleges, where in a few brief years the tithe-and- tuition supported teachers taught their young people that Ellen White was neither inspired, reliable, nor trustworthy.

On one hand we have the worldly Adventists who ignore the Inspired Writings or try to new-model it to fit their lifestyle. On the other, we have the Adventist forum critics who see the charge that Ellen White was "manipulated" by leadership an exciting new detective story that they can while away the hours in discussing at length.

For who is so seemingly wise as the poor foolish man who thinks he is capable of sitting in judgment on the written words of God?

Hoen maintains in print-and others appear quite willing to reprint his articles,--that the 1884 "Great Controversy" was the last worthwhile edition of that book-and that all that followed it (the 1888 and 1911) are suspect and dangerous to read. The truth is that you are a lot safer reading "Great Con- troversy" than Hoen!.

Take down from the shelf your copy of the 1911 edition of "Great Controversy" (the edition sold in the ABCs), or open up a copy of the 1888 edition--and turn to the chapter, entitled, "Persecution in the First Centuries," and read it through. Note page 45, paragraph 3. Does that sound like the words of an apostate leadership, bent on controlling the people? You will find pages upon pages of similar concepts throughout the 1888 and 1911 editions of that book. Turn to the chapter, "The Scriptures a Safeguard" (593-603) and thoughtfully read it from beginning to end, and be honest with yourself as you read. No, that chapter was not written by any church leadership in the land; it was written by a prophet of God who earnestly pled with men and women to

put the Word of God FIRST in their lives, and far above that of the opinions of pastors or the pronouncements of church organizations.

Hoen will tell you that there are errors in the 1888 and 1911 editions of that precious book. But he can produce not one. "Great Controversy"-in all of its editions or any one of them-is the most important book in these last days.

In this study we will reprint a full pageful of material about the several editions of "Great Controversy." Carefully observe what she had to say about the importance of each of its editions. All are of great value, although the later ones are more complete.

And notice the terrific fight she had with the brethren in 1888-1890 over that book! The leaders in the "Review" publishing house were determined that the 1888 edition of "Great Controversy" not be published! And yet Hoen will tell you that they wrote it--and weak-willed Ellen let them do it because she was not able to successfully oppose their will, and therefore did whatever they told her to do.

Ellen White was not "manipulated" then or later! She fought battles with leadership--harder battles than any today have fought--and for a longer period of time. As but one example, consider the battle over our colleges. She wrote what the blueprint was to be, and far too consistently it was not followed. Finally, at the turn of the century, she was guided by the Lord to call the two leading men who stood with her in the battle to Madison to start a new college that would have no organizational strings attached to the denomination. This fact is deeply significant in the thinking of this writer. It was obedience to the blueprint that counted; not organizational control.

In view of such events, how can anyone imagine that Ellen White was nothing more than a wishy-washy, spineless puppet of the church leaders of her time?

I told that to someone recently, and he asked, 'Well, why did she go to Australia?" The Lord has a thousand ways of working out events. It is generally conceded by knowledgeable Adventists that the brethren in Battle Creek felt that by sending her to Australia, they would get her out of the way. So they asked her to go there. She laid their request before the Lord and He gave no definite indication of His will. It continued on for awhile in this fashion, so she agreed to go, not certain what else to do. Not until she was on the steamship in the Pacific did the Lord show her that He had a special work for her in Australia and that was where he wanted her to be. During her several years there, model blueprint institutions were started-far enough from Battle Creek that the plans could not be overridden.

But there was another reason why the Lord had her go to Australia. Back in the 1890s, a strong battle was being waged as to who would direct the Church, Ellen White or the leaders in Battle Creek. As far as Sister White, there was no battle; she was merely giving the counsels that the Lord gave through her. But there were strong-willed administrators at the head of the work who considered it beneath their dignity to take her advice. Read again "Early Writings," page 270, paragraph 1 and 2 in the chapter entitled "The Shaking." It is the opposition to standards upheld and warnings and reproofs given that creates the stir; it is the opponents of the prophet that are the "troublemakers," not the defenders of the historic beliefs. Read again "Prophets and Kings," pages 139-140. It is the disobedient Ahabs that are troubling our people today, not the faithful followers of God's Holy Word.

In Battle Creek, even while some wished longingly to get her out of the way, yet the disparagements were still made that she was but a dupe of certain leaders. (Do not forget that Battle Creek was an armed camp of two sets of leaders, so often opposed to one another, as well as to Sister White: those at the Sanitarium and those at the General Conference and Review offices). If, in any way it appeared that she favored one set of leaders over the other ones,-the ones seemingly less in favor openly called her a cat's paw of the other side.

So the Lord let her go to Australia, there to work away from the intense criticism, and there to write letters,-letters that would arrive on exactly the right day to meet pressing needs or urgent crises. And this went on for years (and after her return to America, it continued with letters traveling across the continent from Elmshaven in California). Who could call her a dupe of the leaders when there was no possible way in which her letters of counsel and warning could have been influenced? God guided in this.

I solemnly warn every reader: The theory of Hoen is a most dangerous one, for it can sweep most of the Spirit of Prophecy books off your shelves, and place within you a distrust of those precious books,--a distrust that can lead to your eternal ruin.

Do you know how many books you will have to get rid of in order to come into agreement with Hoen's theory? Here are some of them--all written after 1885: "Great Controversy" (1888 and 1911), "Patriarchs and Prophets" (1890), "Steps to Christ" (1892), "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing" (1896), "The Desire of Ages" (1898).

Do you feel it safe to trust the keeping of your soul to Hoen? Will you discard all those precious books I have just named? Here are some more you will distrust as unsafe to read if you remain with Hoen:

"Christ's Object Lessons" (1900), "Testimonies on Sabbath School Work" (1900), "Education" (1903), "Manual for Canvassers" (1902), "The Ministry of Healing" (1905), "The Acts of the Apostles" (1911), "Counsels to Parents and Teachers" (1913), "Gospel Workers" (1915), "Prophets and Kings" (1915).

Hoen really has a plan for our lives: sweep out all the good books. What is in those books, named above, that he is afraid of? And what are the errors they contain that we are to avoid? (He carefully warns us against reading the books, but he is just as careful not to name their errors. For they contain none.)

You will also have to throw volumes 5 through 9 of the Testimonies into the garbage. Are you prepared to do that?

And you will also need to get rid of "Loma Linda Messages," "The Unpublished Testimonies" (Spaulding-Magan Collection), "Special Testimonies, Series A and B," and over half of the "Review," and "Signs" articles, and the majority of the other magazine articles ("Youth's Instructor," etc.) penned by her.

Some people tend to defend leadership when a problem or situation arises; others tend to blame leadership. The ideal is to see it straight and face facts as they really are. --But do not degrade the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy or our historic standards or beliefs, no matter what may happen, or what people may do. Let us learn a lesson from Walter Rea: He was so determined to needle leadership that he turned against the Spirit of Prophecy as a foil to do it more effectively. Close friends of his have told us this. Hoen is on the same track; tearing down Sister White as a means of attacking leadership.

"Some who are not willing to receive the light, but who prefer to walk in ways of their own choosing, will search the testimonies to find something in them to encourage the spirit of unbelief and disobedience."-1 Selected Messages, page 48.

Volume 5 of the "Testimonies for the Church" was first published in 1889. It includes testimonies 31 to 33, which were written between 1882 and 1889. Individually, testimony 31 was published in 1882; testimony 32 in 1885, and testimony 33 in 1889. In testimony 33 is to be found a strong response by Ellen White to the rumors that her writings were unimportant. (See 5 Testimonies, pages 654-691.) In order to better understand these rumors, we need to study the life of John Harvey Kellogg M.D. (A biographical statement, relevant to this problem, will be published soon by Pilgrims' Rest.) It is of interest to note that Ellen White was in Europe from 1885 to 1887.

Here are some of the passages you will find in this 1889 release by Ellen White, as found in 5 Testimonies, pages 654-691. Many more passages can be found within that important chapter:

"Some express their views that the testimony of Sister White cannot be reliable. This is off that many unconsecrated ones want. The testimonies of reproof have checked their vanity and pride; but if they dared, they would go to almost any length in fashion and pride. God will give all such an opportunity to prove themselves and to develop their true characters. " 5 Testimonies, 673.

"In other instances sinful indulgences are cherished, the Testimonies are rejected, and many excuses which are untrue are offered to others as the reason for refusing to receive them. The true reason is not given. " 5 Testimonies, 675.

"Some of our brethren had had long experience in the truth and for years had been acquainted with me and my work. They had proved the truthfulness of the Testimonies and had asserted their belief in them. They had felt the powerful influence of the Spirit of God resting upon them to witness to their truthfulness. I was shown that if such, when reproved through the Testimonies, should rise up against them and work secretly to lessen their influence, they should be faithfully dealt with; for their course would endanger those who were lacking in experience. "-5 Testimonies, 669. 1

"Let the Testimonies be judged by their fruits. What it the spirit of their teaching? What has been the result of their influence? 'All who desire to do so can acquaint themselves with the fruits of these visions. For seventeen years God has seen fit to let them survive and strengthen against the opposi- tion of Satan's forces and the influence of human agencies that have aided Satan in his work.' "-5 Testimonies, 671.

"God is either teaching His church, reproving their wrongs and strengthening their faith, or He is not. This work is of God, or it is not. God does nothing in partnership with Satan. My work .. bears the stamp of God or the stamp of the enemy. There is no halfway work in the matter. The Testimonies are of the Spirit of God, or of the devil."-5 Testimonies, 671.

"It is Satan's plan to weaken the faith of God's people in the Testimonies." "Satan knows how to make his attacks. He works upon minds to excite jealousy and dissatisfaction toward those at the head of the work. The gifts are next questioned; then, of course, they have but little weight, and instruction given through vision is disregarded." "Next follows skepticism in regard to the vital points of our faith, the pillars of our position, then doubt

as to the Holy Scriptures, and then the downward march to perdition. When the Testimonies, which were once believed, are doubted and given up, Satan knows the deceived ones will not stop at this; and he redoubles his efforts till he launches them into open rebellion, which becomes incurable and ends in destruction." "By giving place to doubts and unbelief in regard to the work of God, and by cherishing feelings of distrust and cruel jealousies, they are preparing themselves for complete deception. They rise up with bitter feelings against the ones who dare to speak of their errors and reprove the sins."-5 Testimonies, 672.

"I was shown that many had so little spirituality that they did not understand the value of he Testimonies or their real object. They talked flippantly of the Testimonies given by God for the benefit of His people, and passed judgment upon them, giving their opinion and criticizing this and that, when they would better have placed their hands upon their lips, and prostrated themselves in the dust; for they could not appreciate the spirit of the Testimonies, because they knew so little of the Spirit of God."-5 Testimonies, 672, 673.

"There are some in --- who have never fully submitted to reproof. They have taken a course of their own choosing. They have ever, to a greater or less degree, exerted an influence against those who have stood up to defend the right and reprove the wrong. The influence of these persons upon individuals who come here and who are brought in 'intact with them . . is very bad. They fill the minds of these newcomers with questionings and doubts in regard to the Testimonies of the Spirit of God. They put false constructions upon the Testi- monies; and instead of leading persons to become consecrated to God and to listen to the voice of the church, they teach them to be independent and not to mind the opinions and judgment of others. The influence of this class has been secretly at work. Some are unconscious of the harm they are doing; but, unconsecrated, proud, and rebellious themselves, they lead others in the wrong track."-5 Testimonies, 673.

"As you now hold the Testimonies, should one be given crossing your track, correcting your errors, would you feel at perfect liberty to accept or reject any part or the whole? That which you will be least inclined to receive is the very part most needed. "-5 Testimonies, 674.

"To defy the words of the Lord, spoken through His chosen instruments, will only provoke His anger and eventually bring certain ruin upon the offender. "-5 Testimonies, 678.

"There have been those who claimed that testimonies purporting to be given by the Spirit of God were merely the expression of my own judgment, based upon information gathered from human sources. This statement is utterly false."-5 Testimonies, 683.

"[The Lord said to me:] 'In slighting and rejecting the testimony that I have given you to bear, it is not you, but Me, your Lord, that they have slighted.' "-5 Testimonies, 688.

"If you feel just as safe in following your own impulses as in following the light given by God's delegated servant, the peril is your own; you will be condemned because you rejected the light which heaven sent you."-5 Testimonies, 688.

Some of you will recall Jim in the "Jim and Vance" conversation about Hebrews Nine [see "Hebrews Nine and the Sanctuary Message" (FF-1)]. This

conversation took place in the late spring of 1980 on the front step of a small cabin over two miles into the woods in Southern Illinois. Only a few years earlier, Jim had been a dedicated Adventist. Entering the canvassing work, he did well at it. The girl that he married loved the Lord and, like him, was an earnest believer in the Spirit of Prophecy. But then someone handed him some copies of "Verdict" magazine, Robert Brinsmead's anti-Adventist monthly publication. Jim became fascinated with the involved reasoning and began studying Brinsmead and Desmond Ford writings. During that conversation, with the prayerful help of God, question after question that Jim (not his real name) asked was answered. In fact, by the end of the conversation it appeared that it had pretty much been won back to our precious Advent Message. There was a changed look on his face. His countenance showed relief and peace of heart as if a great weight had been lifted. After prayer, I gathered my family (who had been visiting with his family) and we walked out of the woods and back to our automobile.

That evening and the next morning I wrote out that thrilling conversation of discovery that Jim and I had together [read F F-1 ] .

But later I learned that Jim had began puzzling with the labyrinth of Brinsmead's reasonings again. I heard that he was back at work on "the blood of bulls and goats."

That summer he was busy handing out "Verdict" magazines at a nearby Adventist campmeeting. By that fall, he and his devoted wife had slipped away from many of our beliefs. Later his home burned down and he moved away. Later still, through friends, we learned that his wife had left him. Since that time I have heard no more of him or his family.

But there is more: His wife's sister also loved the Lord and the Advent Message. Then she married a faithful young Adventist, and both camped that summer out at Jim's country home, intending to go tree-planting that fall and winter. Jim carefully instructed them in the Brinsmead vagaries, and by the end of the summer they stopped by our home one Friday to make a telephone call, during which they discussed over the phone some Sabbath buying and selling that they would be doing the next day.

Then they moved away and within a year were divorced. The tragedy was that each homes were initially so very happy in the Adventist faith, and also, before separation, children were in each home.

Stay with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Forsake not those wonderful books, lest you go down to ruin as so many others have. Do not imagine that you are bigger than the Word of God. Do not think that you can tinker with it, question and mistrust it. Without constant communion with God through that Word you are lost! Study it, obey it, as though your life depended on it. For it does.

Associate not with the Bible and/or Spirit of Prophecy scoffers. Read not their books. For if you do, they will bring you very, very low. And there is the very real possibility that you may never be able to recover. Many, once having entered the dark cave of doubt and despair, never find their way back out into the bright sunlight of God's presence. The joy of the Lord is your strength, but that joy will be found in connection with His Inspired Word, in careful obedience to it, and in sharing it with others.

Accept it, confess it, cling to it: your hope for this life and the life to come is within the pages of those books. They are your link to Christ. For believing comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

45 - SHOULD WE CIRCULATE GREAT CONTROVERSY? SHOULD WE CIRCULATE GREAT CONTROVERSY [WM-293]

It is of special interest that the book, which Satan sought to prevent from being written by slaying its author, has, after being written, been subject to a wide variety of attacks--in fact, more attacks than any other books in the Spirit of Prophecy!

In this section you will find a tract reprint, written by the present author, which presents a strong defense of the book and gives an urgent call to circulate it widely. This tract, entitled Should We Circulate Great Controversy? [WM-293], is presently available in the bound tractbook, White Tractbook. It may also still be available from us in single-tract format.

The book that should go to everyone is not being distributed as it ought to be- because there are those among us who are circulating untruths about the book, instead of circulating the book itself.

Of all the Spirit of Prophecy books, this is the special book that should receive the widest distribution. There is no book that is more important In these last days of human history. Ellen White tells us so; Satan tells us so.

Of all the Spirit of Prophecy books, this was the one that Satan tried to especially prevent from being written. When he knew that she was going to begin writing it, he tried to kill her. The incident occurred in Jackson, Michigan.

Of all those books, this is the one that our church leaders tried the hardest to keep from being printed, back in 1888-1890.

- The entire story of each of the above three points, plus an abundance of Spirit of Prophecy quotations on the history of the writing of that book, and its immense importance, is given in our tract, The Circulation of Great Controversy. It was written by Ellen White's grandson, and it contains Important information you should know. In addition, we would refer you to our audiotape set, The Story of the Writing of Great Controversy.

Over the years since then, we as a people have greatly neglected our duty in regard to the circulation of that book. But in the years since 1965, there has been a definite trend by General Conference leadership to downplay the importance of distributing it. This has grown to the point where, today, it is with great difficulty that our people can obtain low-cost copies of that book for distribution--anywhere in the world!

At the present time, we here at Pilgrims Rest have the lowest-cost English edition of Great Controversy, and the only low-cost one in an easy-to-read medium- print size.

But should you only buy your books from us? No, we have neither right nor authority to seek such control; no one else should seek it either. It is satanic to push the people of God into corners and seek to control them--and the books they are impressed to circulate.

There are other small groups who have low-cost paperback editions of Great Controversy also. That is great) IT MATTERS NOT who you get the copies from: CIRCULATE Great Controversy as widely as possible! Get them from us; get them from others. Let there be no forbiddings. All that matters is that you get them out.

Recently, a group in Florida decided to place an ad in Time magazine, in the hope that it would bring this important book into the homes of still more people. Was it wrong that they decided to do that? No, It was not wrong. It is not wrong to circulate Great Controversy. Never before, never now, never in the future. When we reach

heaven, we will probably find that, if beings have been reading books on other planets.- they have been especially reading that one!

Aside from the Bible, what other single book in the history of the world tells so much that mankind so much needs to know?

There are different ways to circulate that book. Some are more efficient than others. Some methods are more inexpensive, and some are far more costly. Some methods get more copies to the people; some result in a smaller distribution for the same amount of money; some result in distribution to people one would not ordinarily meet on the streets or middle or low-class residences.

There are issues in regard to ads: it is well-known among ad men that a low- cost item will sell far better than a high-priced item. There can be problems of book returns in ad sales, if the people do not immediately think that they received all they were supposed to get for their money, they may send the book back (for most ads include a return money-back clause). All these are factors to be considered, but they are mechanical factors. They have nothing to do with whether Great Controversy itself should be circulated. There should be no doubt about that.

The basic issue being controverted by our church leaders in regard to this Time magazine ad project is (1) whether that book should be distributed, and (2) if so, whether it should not be kept back and distributed at some later time.

Regarding the first point: Great Controversy should be widely circulated! Let that fact ring out. It should receive the very widest circulation.

Regarding the second: It Is being said that Great Controversy is not the book that should be distributed; some other book should be given out first. My friend, they have been saying that for years! As far as some people are concerned, Great Controversy is the great manana book; it is always for tomorrow's distribution, never today's. Every January we are told that the book for this time is 'the book of the year," a 100-page non-Spirit of Prophecy book with little or no message in it.

Souls are out there dying for a lack of the final messages contained in that book. But there are men who would presume to tell our people, "No, not that book; some other book. Some day later on we'll give it out." This recalls to mind the great error of the papacy: little men think they are God and when He says Sabbath is sacred, they say, "No, that's not right; its Sunday now." Little men today can turn from the inspired pages which declare God's decision that Great Controversy is the book for
our time, the book which should receive the widest circulation; and they say, "No,
that's not right; its some other book now.'

If one group wants to advertise it in Time magazine, then let them do It! If another group wants to hand them out free in major cities in America, then let them do it! Say to them, "How can I help?," not "Don't do this--at least not now." I can assure you: Satan is not urging them to do what they are doing! It is the work of Satan to STOP any and all projects that might result In sharing that blessed book with those that so much need It. Let us get our thinking straight on this.

There are many, many laymen, pastors, and workers in our church who would be happy to assist in any and every opportunity to circulate Great Controversy. Why then must the General Conference try to stop those activities? Are they working on God's side or Satan's side in this matter?

Why are we here? What are we doing? Where are we headed?

If you are not sure, let me tell you; this is to be our work: We are to live by Bible-Spirit of Prophecy standards, and do the work outlined in those books. We are to bring people to Christ and a knowledge of last-day issues. We are to prepare

ourselves and others for the Final Crisis, the Close of Probation, and the Second Advent of Christ. We must warn of the Sunday law issue, explain the historic background of the problem, explain the issues In Daniel 7, and Revelation 12-14. We must alert people to the underlying issue of Spiritualism that the teaching of natural immortality provides an open door to.

All this and much, much more is graphically described In careful detail In the book, Great Controversy. How long are we to wait to do the work God has told us to do?

In regard to the Time magazine project, the General Conference maintains that the Florida group is not telling the truth: (1) Pacific Press is not going to print the book. --Well, they were going to print it, until the General Conference sent down an order for them to cancel the job order. (2) Time magazine turned down the ad. --Time fully intended to print the ad, and then the General Conference went out of its way to make sure they would not do so. A top-level General Conference leader went to the offices of Time and asked them not to print the ad that would bring Great Controversy to the attention of many people. Confused as to what was going on, some expression of assuring hesitancy may have been given to the officer, who went back and had a letter sent out to every union and conference that Time had refused to print the ad. But calls to Time by other individuals--including we ourselves--confirms that they are still very willing to print that Great Controversy ad.

The only two hurdles standing in the way are these: (1) the last page looks too much like a Time editorial page and needs to be re-typeset in an advertisement format, and (2) Time is waiting for full payment for the ad. When these two conditions are met, Time will print the Great Controversy ad.

Little groups here and there are trying to distribute the most important book in the world, and our denominational headquarters denounces those doing it as dishon- est charlatans. How does Heaven view this standoff? Is it right to oppose the very work that should be done?

When a group in Europe in the early 1920s tried to circulate that book, our General Conference took them to court to stop them from doing it--and lost the case in the process.

When a group in the United States tried to distribute that book in the early 1960s, the General Conference sent someone to their publisher in Chicago, falsified that the book was under current copyright, and got them to destroy the plates.

When a group in Europe tried to give Great Controversy wide circulation in German early in the 1980s, the General Conference sent orders to our leaders in Europe to fight it. They did, and as a result the paperback distribution project finally caved in. Wrongs are being done that someone will have to answer for someday.

There are fine folk in our church on all levels. But when certain men in the General Conference decide to oppose something, they telephone leaders, workers, laymen here and there, and, in no uncertain terms, tell them what they are to do to oppose the project.

When the news of the proposed Time magazine project was disclosed to our people in a large U.S. mailing, immediately the phones began ringing. As a result, church officers and lay leaders in the denomination sent out contradictory statements.

We have nothing to say against the good men who were subjected to that intense pressure till they broke under It. Our words are spoken in reference to men who applied the pressure,--men determined to stop the circulation of Great Controversy. There are men whose motto is: "If we cannot rule, then we will ruin." (See Testimonies to Ministers, pages 280, 360.)

It is bad enough that there are men on the wrong side who are in our work. But when those men become so powerful that they force good men in our work to say bad things about a good project, then we say it is time for a change in the officership at headquarters) The heart of our work is sick. Key men in the General Conference need to be replaced. Within a short time, our church will have the opportunity to do this--at the General Conference Session at Indianapolis.

But whether or not changes are made in leadership, the key issue is whether your and my heart is right with the Lord. Will we read the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy?

Will we obey it? Will we do what God has told us to do? All the world may do the wrong, but let the faithful few who are determined to stand by the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy do the right.

Then all will be well. The work will be finished in God's time and in His way. For He will have a core group as the Final Crisis begins. From that point onward, others will come in from within the church and from outside of it--and will swell the last call to a Loud Cry. The message will go everywhere and then probation will have closed for the last soul.

If we do the work that God said to do, we are helping to finish the work.

A key concern of certain men in the General Conference is pacifying governments, Catholics, and other denominations. For this reason, they make certain that nothing printed on denominational presses for widespread general circulation will give the kind of facts we find in Great Controversy about governments or other churches. With this in mind, N.C. Wilson announced several years ago, that in every country on the globe the Seventh day Adventist Church only recognizes as genuine those Adventists which are approved by their government) This means that if any nation in the world refuses to accept a group of Adventist believers (because they keep the Sabbath, read and obey the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, or some other reason), then that group will not be recognized by our General Conference as genuine Seventh-day Adventists)

It has been predicted in the special book for these last days that, when the Final Crisis comes, our own government will lead out in condemning those who would keep the Seventh-day Sabbath. At that time, unless a radical change occurs, our General Conference will yield to the powers that be, rather than stand for the right,--and will join in denouncing faithful Sabbathkeepers as not genuine Seventh- day Adventists. It is the concern of many that at that time they will then declare of the Sabbathkeepers. "We know them not; they are not of us. We obey the laws of the land, and we alone authorize and trademark control who is entitled to call themselves by that name. We will stand with you in eradicating them."

- PART FIVE - ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE BOOK

The next eleven sections (46-56) of this book will contain eleven documents. You will find them all to be of special interest. Here is a brief preview of what they contain:

46 – SATAN’S INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS ANGELS

Written c. 1883, this is the first four pages (pp. 337340) in the Snares of Satan chapter of the 1884 edition. We have re-typeset it. This is the longest single quotation from Satan to be found in the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. Because Satan, in this statement, reveals his methods for destroying Advent believers, Ellen White did not consider It wise to publish that information in a book to be widely distributed to the world. It is currently available in Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 472-475.

What would it be like to understand, ahead of time, Satan's plans to destroy the people of God? The information that follows was in the second (1884) edition of Great Controversy.

The following monologue was originally in the first four pages of the chapter, The Snares of Satan, in the 1884 edition. Because it is information specifically written for the people of God, it was not included in the 1888 edition which was designed for wide circulation in the world. It is obvious that a prophet wrote the following words, yet the adulteries and murders of Joseph Smith and the activities of Mary Baker Eddy rendered it unwise for such a statement to be placed in the revised edition of Great Controversy. At a later time, this material was reprinted in Testimonies to Ministers (pages 472-475).

"As the people of God approach the perils of the last days, Satan holds earnest consultation with his angels as to the most successful plan of overthrowing their faith. He sees that the popular churches are already lulled to sleep by his deceptive power. By pleasing sophistry and lying wonders, he can continue to hold them under his control. Therefore he directs his angels to lay their snares especially for those who are looking for the second advent of Christ, and endeavoring to keep all the commandments of God.

"Says the great deceiver: 'We must watch those who are calling the attention of the people to the Sabbath of Jehovah; they will lead many to see the claims of the law of God; and the same light which reveals the true Sabbath also reveals the ministration of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, and shows that the last work for man's salvation is now going forward. Hold the minds of the people in darkness till that work is ended, and we shall secure the world and the church also.

" 'The Sabbath is the great question which is to decide the destiny of souls. We must exalt the sabbath of our creating. We have caused it to be accepted by both worldings and church members; now the church must be led to unite with the world in its support. We must work by signs and wonders to blind their eyes to the truth, lead them to lay aside reason and the fear of God, and follow custom and tradition.

“ 'I will influence popular ministers to turn the attention of their hearers from the commandments of God. That which the Scriptures declare to be a perfect law of liberty shall be represented as a yoke of bondage. The people

accept their ministers' explanations of Scripture, and do not investigate for themselves. Therefore, by working through the ministers, I can control the people according to my will.

“ 'But our principal concern is to silence this sect of Sabbath-keepers. We must excite popular indignation against them. We will enlist great men and worldly-wise men upon our side, and induce those in authority to carry out our purposes. Then the sabbath which I have set up shall be enforced by the most severe and exacting laws. Those who disregard them shall be driven out from the cities and villages, and made to suffer hunger and privation. When once
we have the power, we will show what we can do with those who will not swerve from their allegiance to God. We led the Romish Church to inflict im- prisonment, torture, and death upon those who refused to yield to her decrees; and, now that we are bringing the Protestant churches and the world into harmony with this right arm of our strength, we will finally have a law to ex- terminate all who will not submit to our authority. When death shall be made the penalty of violating our sabbath, then many who are now ranked with commandment-keepers will come over to our side.

" 'But before proceeding to these extreme measures, we must exert all our wisdom and subtlety to deceive and ensnare those who honor the true Sabbath. We can separate many from Christ by worldiness, lust, and pride. They may think themselves safe because they believe the truth, but indulgence of appetite or the lower passions, which will confuse judgment and destroy discrimination, will cause their fall.

"'Go, make the possessors of lands and money drunk with the cares of this life. Present the world before them in its most attractive light, that they may lay up their treasure here, and fix their affections upon earthly things. We must do our utmost to prevent those who labor in God's cause from obtaining means to use against us. Keep the money in our own ranks. The more means they obtain, the more they will injure our kingdom by taking from us our subjects. Make them care more for money than for the upbuilding of Christ's kingdom and the spread of the truths we hate, and we need not fear their influence; for we know that every selfish, covetous person will fall under our power, and will finally be separated from God's people.

"'Through those that have a form of godliness but know not the power, we can gain many who would otherwise do us great harm. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God will be our most effective helpers. Those of this class who are apt and intelligent will serve as decoys to draw others into our snares. Many will not fear their influence because they profess the same faith. We will thus lead them to conclude that the requirements of Christ are less strict than they once believed; and that, by conformity to the world, they would exert a greater influence with worldings. Thus they will separate from Christ; then
they will have no strength to resist our power, and erelong they will be ready to ridicule their former zeal and devotion.

" 'Until the great decisive blow shall be struck, our efforts against commandment-keepers must be untiring. We must be present at all their gatherings. In their large meetings especially, our cause will suffer much. We must exercise great vigilance, and employ all our seductive arts to prevent souls from hearing the truth and becoming impressed by it.

" ' I will have upon the ground, as my agents, men holding false doctrines mingled with just enough truth to deceive souls. I will also have unbelieving ones present, who will express doubts in regard to the Lord's

messages of warning to His church. Should the people read and believe these admonitions, we could have little hope of overcoming them. But, if we can divert their attention from these warnings, they will remain ignorant of our power and cunning, and we shall secure them in our ranks at last. God will not permit His words to be slighted with impunity. If we can keep souls deceived for a time, God's mercy will be withdrawn, and He will give them up to our full control.

"'We must cause distraction and division. We must destroy their anxiety for their own souls, and lead them to criticise, to judge, to accuse and condemn one another, and to cherish selfishness and enmity. For these sins, God banished us from His presence, and all who follow our example will meet a similar fate.' "

47 - 1884 APPENDIX

This is the complete, original 1884 appendix. Because it is photocopied from an original 1884 edition, the browning on the pages has produced a darkening on the copy. In order to eliminate that darkening, the print would have been too light to easily read. The same applies to the 1888 appendix and biographical appendix, below. All three appendices are here reprinted in their original size.

APPENDIX.

Note 1. PAGE 206.-William Miller's views as to the exact time of the second advent were based on the prophecy of Dan. 8 : 14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." That a day in symbolic prophecy represents a year, see Num. 14: 34; Eze. 4:6. As the period of 2300 prophetic days, or literal years, extended far beyond 'he close of the Jewish dispensation, it could not refer to the sanct- uary of that dispensation. Mr. Miller held the generally received view that in the Christian age the earth is the sanctuary. and hence concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary brought to view in Dan. 8 :14 represented the purification of the earth by fire at the second coming of Christ. The point
from which to reckon the 2300 days is found in Dan. 9 : 24-7, which is an explanation of the vision of chapter S. It is stated that 70 weeks, or 490 years, are determined, literally, cut off, as specially pertaining to the Jews. The only period from which the 70 weeks could be cut off is the 2300 days, that being the only period of time mentioned in the vision of chapter 8. The 70 weeks mast therefore be a part of the 2300 days, and the two periods must begin together. The 70 weeks are declared by the angel to date from the .going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. If, then, we can correctly locate this commandment, we have the starting-point for the great period of the 2300 days. The Bible furnishes us with four tests by which we may determine when the true date is found:

1. From the time the commandment was liven, 49 years were to witness the completion of the street and wall of Jerusalem. Dan. 9:25.

2. Threescore and two weeks from this time, or, in all, 69 weeks, 483 years, were to extend to Messiah the Prince, or to (493) the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit at his baptism, the word Messiah signifying anointed.

3. Sixty-nine and a half weeks were to extend to the cruci- fixion,-the cessation of sacrifice and oblation in the midst of the week. Verse 27.

4. The full period of 70 weeks was to witness the complete confirmation of the covenant with Daniel's people. At the termination of this period, the Jews having ceased to be God's chosen people, the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles.

In the seventh of Ezra we find the decree winch we seek. It was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, B. c. 457. In Ezra 6 :14 the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is slid to have been built " according to the commandment [margin, decree] of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." The three kings did the one work; it was begun by Cyrus, carried forward by Darius, and completed by Artaxerxes. The scripture counts this action one decree. That the later decrees were a continuation or completion of that of Cyrus, see Ezra 6 : 1-14. Taking B. C. 457 as the date of the commandment, every specification of the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks is fulfilled. That the reader may see the reasonableness of Mr. \filler's position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which was published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1850, in answer to a correspondent:

" It is by the Canon of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period of the seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year n. c. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. The seventy weeks date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Artaxerxes. Four hundred and ninety years, beginning with the seventh, must commence in B. c. 457, and end in A. D. 34. Commencing in the twentieth, they must commence in B. C. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event occurred in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes. This date we cannot change from B. c. 457 without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chronological date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of eras entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no more value than mere guess-work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence marked that termination? The time when the apostles turned to the Gentiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named And the crucifixion, in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated."

As the 70 weeks and the 2300 days have a common starting point, the calculation of Mr. Miller is verified at a glance by subtracting the 457 years e. c. from the 2300. Thus,

2300
457
1843 A. D.

But it requires 457 full years before Christ, and 1843 full years after Christ, to make the 2300. Now the decree of Artaxerxes did not go into

effect at the beginning of the year 457 n. c., but in the autumn of that year; it follows that the 2300 days would not terminate in 1843, but would extend to the autumn of 1844. This is plainly seen by the following simple diagram:

457. 2300. End of 1843.
I ____________________________l
l ___________________ _________I Decree given. 2300. Days end in 1844.

This fact not being at first perceived by Mr. Miller and his associates, they looked for the coming of Christ in 1843; hence the first disappointment and the seeming delay. It was the discovery of the correct time, in connection with other Scripture testimony, that led to the movement known as the midnight cry of 1844. And to this day the computation of the prophetic periods placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment.

Then the question arises, If Wm. Miller's calculation of time was correct, whence his disappointment? This was due to his mistake as to the event. The prophecy says, " Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Mr. Miller and his associates failed to understand the subject of the sanctuary and its cleansing. Here was the secret of their disappointment. For a brief explanation of this important point, showing what is the sanctuary, and how its cleansing-beginning at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844-fulfills the prophecy of Dan. 8:14, see chapter XVIIL, entitled "The Sanctuary.'

Another question then arises: "If he was mistaken in the event, was not his whole work an error?" That does not follow. The disciples of Christ were utterly mistaken when he rode into Jerusalem, and they hailed him as a king with tokens of victory. They thought he was then to be crowned a king on David's throne. But it was not an error in them to act according to their belief; in so doing they fulfilled the prophecy of Zech. 9 : ;I, which they would not have done if they had realized that he was going to judgment and to death. But that scripture must be fulfilled, if it were necessary to make the stones cry out. Luke 19: 37-10. In like manner it appears that Mr. Miller and his associates fulfilled prophecy, and gave a proclamation (see Rev. 14 :1i, 7) which they would not have given had they understood that yet other proclamations were to be made before the Lord should come. Rev. 14:8-14.

Note 2. PAGE 225.-That a wrong use is often made of the text Matt. 24 :36), is evident from the context. One question of the disciples was concerning the sign of Christ's coming and of the
end of the world. This question Jesus answered In verse 29 he gave signs, and said, " When ye shall see air these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Verse 33. One saying of the Saviour must not be made to destroy another. Though no man knoweth the day nor the hour, we are instructed and required (for
it is in the imperative) to know when it is near, even at the doors. And we are further taught that it will be as fatal to us to disregard his warning, and refuse or neglect to know, as it was for those
who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the flood was coming. Verses 37-39. And verses 44-51 show in what light Christ, when he comes, will regard and reward those whom he finds watching and teaching his coming, and those denying it. " Blessed

are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." Luke 12 :37.

Note 3. PAGE 228.-The story that the Adventists made robes with which to ascend "to meet the Lord in the air," was invented by those who wished to reproach the cause. It was circulated so industriously that many believed it; but careful inquiry proved its falsity. For many years a large reward has been offered for proof that one such instance ever occurred; but the proof has not been produced. None who loved the appearing of the Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the Scriptures as to suppose that robes which they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only robe which the saints will need to meet the Lord will be that of the righteousness of Christ. See Rev. 19 : 8.

Note 4. PAGE 241.-The year 1843, during which Adventists at first expected the coming of Christ, was regarded as extending to the spring of 1844. The reason for this, briefly stated, is as follows: Anciently the year did not commence in mid-winter, as now, but at the first new moon after the vernal equinox. Therefore, as the period of 2300 days was begun in a year reckoned by the ancient method, it was considered necessary to conform to that method to its close. Hence, 1843 was counted as ending in the spring, and not in the winter.

NOTE 5. PAGE 260.-That the earth is the sanctuary was inferred from those scriptures which teach that the earth will be purified and fitted up for the eternal dwelling-place of the saints, according to the original design of the Creator. Adventists understood this just as it was taught by Wesley and others. And their minds did not rest on any other dwelling-place or any other thing which needed cleansing. The only scriptures which we ever knew to be offered in favor of the earth or any dwellingplace of man being called the sanctuary, fairly disprove the position. They are only three in number, as follows:

Ex. 15: 17: "Thou shalt bring them [the people] in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, 0 Lord, which thou halt made for thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, 0 Lord, which thy hands have established-"

Without taking time or space to give an exposition of the text, it is sufficient for the present purpose to remark that it disproves the idea of the earth being the sanctuary. Whatever construction may be placed upon the text, it teaches that the people were not then in the sanctuary; but they were in the earth. Then it is claimed that it referred to that part of the earth into which they were to he brought, namely Palestine. This is disproved by the second text.

Josh. 24 : 26: "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. "

The stone and the oak were in Palestine, but they were by the sanctuary of the Lord--not in it. And the other text is more restrictive still, and equally conclusive against the inference to which reference is herein made.

Ps. 78:54: "And he brought them [his people] to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased."

The mountain was Mount Moriah, on which the temple of Solomon was built; yet being brought unto it is called being brought "to the border of his sanctuary." Thus these texts do not prove that the earth is the sanctuary, but rather the reverse.

Jehoshaphat's prayer gives the true idea of the relation of that land to the sanctuary: "Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gayest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever ? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name." 2 Chron. 20 :7, 8. This corresponds to the order in l.x. 25 : S: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. " In this same book is given a minute description of the sanctuary, its erection, and approval by the Lord. The process of cleansing the sanctuary is described in Lev. 16. When the children of Israel possessed Canaan, Solomon built a temple, in which was a holy and a most holy place, and the vessels of the movable sanctuary, which was made in the desert of Arabia, were transferred to the temple. This was then the sanctuary,--the dwelling-place of God's glory upon the earth. Even a partial knowledge of the teachings of the Scriptures on this subject will justify all that the author has said in reference to it in pages 260-267.

NOTE 6. PAGE 268.--Almost all Adventists, including Mr. Miller, did, for a short time after their disappointment in 1844, believe that the world had received its last warning. They could hardly think otherwise, with their faith in the message which they had given,-"the hour of his Judgment is come." Rev. 14:6, 7. They naturally thought that this proclamation must close the dispensation. They were as unable to find their bearings at once as were the disciples when their Lord, whom they had hailed as their king coming to his throne, was crucified and buried. In both cases they were unable to comprehend their terrible disappointment.

But the idea that the work of the gospel was finished was soon renounced, except by some fanatical ones who would neither be counseled nor receive instruction. But most of those who renounced it, and yet retained their faith in the work, continued to believe that they who clearly saw the light of the Heaven-sent warning and persistently rejected it, were rejected of the Lord. There is no more fanaticism in that than there is in the common belief that those obdurate Jews who continued to reject the light of the advanced truth sent to that generation, were rejected of God.

There was one class who soon renounced the idea that "the door of mercy was shut," because they discovered that other messages were to be proclaimed after that declaring, The hour of Judgment is come; and that that of the third angel, the last one, was to go to "many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." They learned that the Judgment sits in Heaven before the coming of the Lord; that the judgment of the righteous is fully accomplished while Jesus is yet their Advocate before the Father's throne; that eternal life is instantly given to the saints when their Saviour comes, which is proof that they have been judged and acquitted. As the hopes of the disciples revived, and they were "glad wheel they saw the Lord," and declared his Messiahship with yet greater confidence, so did these rejoice when they discovered the truth of the third angel's message, which, to them, was like life from the dead. With renewed zeal and strengthened confidence they began again to proclaim the soon coming of the Lord.

With the light on the third message they also received light on the sanctuary and its cleansing, by which they understood that the antitypical work of the day of atonement, which was accomplished in the most holy place, was that which was pointed out by the message which they had given. They saw that there were two wails or doors in the temple of God; Heb. 9: 3; and that at that time one was shut and the other was opened. With earnest zeal and new hope they preached these truths, and urged their fellowmen to seek an entrance by faith into the most holy place within the second vail, where our great High Priest is gone to blot out the sins of all his faithful ones, from Abel to the present time. Their faith was in an open door which no man can shut until the work therein is fully done. In the work of inviting sinners to come to this open door, they continue until the present time; and this will be their work until Jesus himself shall pro. claim, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; " Rev. 22: 11; that is, until probation is closed and the ministry of the gospel is ended.

Among the first who taught the third message and the open door, was the author of this book. By her untiring zeal, her earnest appeals, and the clear light of the testimony which she bore, she did much to advance the cause, to correct the errors of fanaticism, to renew the hopes of the desponding, and to cheer the hearts of the " little flock " who loved the appearing of their soon-coming Saviour.

NOTE 7. PAGE 275.-For a brief examination of important points in the third angel's message of Rev. 14 : 9-12, see Note 8. This message contains the last warning that men on probation will ever receive, as it is followed by the coming of the Son of man to reap the harvest of the earth,-to "gather the wheat into his garner," and to cast the clusters of the vine of the earth into the winepress of the wrath of God. See verses 14-20. It is for this reason that it is given in such strong, such terrible language of threatening. The wrath which it denounces upon the worshipers of the beast and his image is contained in "the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of. God." Rev. 15: 1. Compare chap. 16:1, 2. That wrath "is poured out without mixture;" for then judgment falls upon the incorrigible without mercy, because our Saviour will then have finished his priestly work, and he will come, not to offer salvation, but to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel. 2 These. 1: 6-9.

But the throne of God will be clear, and sinners will be without excuse; for the warnings of the Scriptures arc given in no uncertain language. To the impious the Lord says: "Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirl- wind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me." Prow. 1 : 31-28. And the warning of the last message is going to all the world. It also is clear and decisive in its utterance. "The commandments of God," which it enforces, are not obscure or hard to be understood. The fourth says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." This was the Lord's day--his holy day--from the creation of the world. If e claims no other as his; he sanctified no other; he never commanded any other to be observed. They who turn away from a truth so plain, who reject a warning so solemn, will have no answer to slake when the Lord commands them to depart.

But terrible as these words of threatening arc, the message is given in mercy. It is a last effort on the part of the Lord to arouse men to a sense of their danger; to induce them to turn from their evil ways--from their transgressions of his holy law -that they may have eternal life. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Eze. 33. 11. But if they will not come unto him that they may have life; if they choose to follow the multitude to do evil, rather than to walk in the way of God's commandments, then they must bear their iniquity. Their blood will be upon their own heads. God gives them the power to choose, and warns them against the evil which lies before them. Against all his entreaties, they do despite to the Spirit of grace, and trample on the precious blood of Christ which was shed for their redemption.

NOTE 8. PACE 396.-These words are based upon the prophecy of Rev. 13 and 14. The people with whom the author stands connected have taught for years that all classes except " the little flock " will unite to exalt the Sunday ana enforce it upon all by stringent laws. It may assist the reader in understanding the points in the latter part of Chapter XXX. to notice the facts of the prophecy oil which this idea is based.

1. The beast of Rev. 13:1-10 is, understood to refer to the papal power. This has been the general opinion of Protestants.

2. "The sea" out of which this beast arose is the same as the “waters" of Rev. 17:15, explained to be "peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues." The papacy was upheld by many nations.

3. This beast has the characteristics of the four beasts of Dan. 7, which represent the four empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. It is the inheritor of the power held by these four empires successively.

4. The beast with two horns, Rev. 13: 11-17, is in a different locality, "coming up out of the earth; " not by the conquest of nations and peoples, but growing as a plant, out of the earth. ']'his represents the United States, a locality outside of the dominion of "all the world," as known to the ancients.

5. This beast has two horns, the civil and the ecclesiastical. That a church is represented by a horn is proved in Dan. 7, the "little horn" representing the Roman Church, even before it was possessed of civil power. So also in Rev. 13. The dragon (pagan Rome) gave the beast (the church) his power (civil power), amid seat (city of Rome), and great authority.

6. The two-horned beast appears in two phases,--with the gentleness of a lamb and the fierceness of the dragon. This has, to some extant, already been shown, in the inconsistency of sending forth to the world the doctrine of the equality of all men in respect to natural rights,--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,--and upholding by law all the evils of American slavery. Also, by professing to grant the privilege to all to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and then persecuting the Baptists and Quakers for following their conscientious convictions. But this will be shown more fully in the future, when Congress shall be called upon to make laws concerning religion.

7. The identity of the "two-horned beast" is further shown by its wonder working; by its deceiving "them that dwell on the earth by those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast."' Rev. 13: 14. Spiritualism arose in

the United States, and has gone to all the world by means of American mediums.

8. This beast causes both "the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast." This can be easily referred to laws compelling the observance of the Sunday instead of the Sabbath of the Lord,--the seventh day. The Sunday-Sabbath institution is traced directly to the Romish Church, which, indeed, claims the honor of originating it ; and no one has been able to dispute this claim. The Sabbath of Jehovah commemorates the creation of the
heavens and the earth, and the commandment for its observance was given that the earth and its inhabitants might glorify the Creator. The law which compels the observance of the Sunday-Sabbath annuls the commandment of God, and the earth and them that dwell therein are caused to do homage to
the power -which originated it, by resting thereon. Protestants have ascribed various institutions to the papacy, and applied this prophecy to them; but in none is the earth, in distinction from those who dwell upon the earth, caused to worship that power, except in the Sunday rest enforced upon all the land.

9. And this sufficiently shows that it is no mere assumption to say that Catholics and Protestants will unite in enforcing the Sunday. Catholics honor it as the evidence of their authority to "institute festivals of precept, and to command them under sin," and Protestants are making most strenuous efforts for its universal enforcement. It is a well-known fact that most of the Protestant denominations are greatly modifying their opposition to the Catholic Church, and united action of the two bodies in favor of the Sunday is by no means improbable. But a few years ago this view was taught oil the strength of the prophecy alone. Now we see in passing events strong indications of its fulfillment. The special object of the "National Reform Association " is to procure a Religious Amendment to the National Constitution that the Sunday may be rescued from desecration and universally enforced.

10. This beast not only compels the earth and its inhabitants to worship the first beast, as above noticed, but it causes them that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the first beast. This can be done only by a union of Church and State, or by so subordinating the civil to the ecclesiastical power that the State will be compelled to enforce the tenets and requirements of the Church. A Religious Amendment to the Constitution of the United States would speedily insure this result.

11. This exposition of the prophecy is confirmed by the message from the Lord found in Rev. 14:9-12, which is based altogether on the facts of Rev. 13:11-17, and which condemns in the very strongest terms the action of this beast and the worship which it enforces; it also calls to keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and one of these commandments enforces the Sabbath of the Lord,-the seventh day. Therefore the contrast in the facts and in the message which refers to the facts, is be- tween the Sabbath of the Lord and an opposing Sabbath, namely, the Sunday.

This is a very brief statement of the facts which justify the expressions of the author on pages 396, 397.

NOTE 9. PAGE 431.-The word "seal" is used in the Scriptures in
various senses, even as in common life. The definition given by Webster, the most comprehensive, is as follows: "That which confirms, ratifies, or makes stable; assurance; that which authenticates; that which secures, makes reliable, or stable." The terms " mark " and " sign," also given by him, are used in the Scriptures as synonymous with seal, as in Rom. 4 : 11.

In the covenant with Noah it is used in the sense of assurance, or evidence of stability. The bow in the cloud was given as a sign or token that God would not again destroy the earth by a flood. Gen. 9:13. In the covenant with Abraham, circumcision was the token or sign. This ratified, or made sure; for they who had not this token were cut off. Gen. 17:11,14. This sign or token was an institution, a rite. Gesenius gives " a memorial " as one definition of the word found in the original of these texts. But a memorial, in the sense of a reminder, or a remembrancer, is a token or sign.

In Ex. 31:17 and Eze. 20:12,20, the Sabbath of the Lord is called a sign. It is a memorial of the Creator's work, and so a sign of his power and Godhead. Rom. 1 :20. This is also an institution as was circumcision; but there was this distinction: circumcision was a sign in the flesh, while the Sabbath was a sign as the mind. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know: that I am the Lord your God. " Eze. 20:20.

In Eze. 9 : 4 the word used in the original is translated mark. Gesenius says, "a mark, sign." The Septuagint gives the same word in this text that is given in the Greek of Rom. 4:11, rendered "sign." Thus the words token, sign, mark, and seal are applied to the same things, or used as of like signification, in the Scriptures.

In Eze. 9 : 4 and Rev. 7:2, 3, the mark or sign is said to be placed in the foreheads of the servants of God. Both these scriptures refer to a time when utter destruction is coining on the ungodly. The seal is placed upon God's people as a safeguard to preserve them from the evil impending. But "the forehead" is evidently used as a figure, to denote the intellect or mind, as "the heart" is used to denote the disposition or affections. To mark or seal in the forehead is the same as to " write in the mind." Heb. 10:16.

The Sabbath is the sign of God; it is the seal of his law. Isa. 3:16. It is
the token of his authority and power. It is a sign whereby the may know that he is God, and therefore it is appropriately said to be placed in the forehead. The worshipers of the beast (Rev. 13) are said to receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands. As the forehead represents the intellect, the hand represents power, as Ps. 89:48, "shall he deliver his soul froth the hand of the grave?" Compulsory worship is not acceptable to God; his servants are sealed only in their foreheads. But it is acceptable to wicked powers; it has always been craved by the Romish hierarchy. See Note 8 for proof on the nature of this mark. The sign or seal of God is his Sabbath, and the seal or mark of the beast is in direct opposition to it; it is a counterfeit Sabbath on the " day of the sun." In the message of the third angel (Rev. 14:9-12) they who do not receive the mark of the beast keep the commandments of God, and the Sabbath is in the fourth precept; they keep the Sabbath of the Lord; they have his sign or seal. The importance of this sign is shown in this, that the fourth commandment is the
only one in the law which distinguishes the Creator from false gods. Compare Jer. 10:10-12; Acts 17:23, 24; Rev. 14:6,7; etc. And it is that part of his law for keeping which his people will suffer persecution. But when the wrath of God comes upon the persecutors who are found enforcing the sign or mark of the beast, then they will realize the importance of the Sabbath,--the seal of the
living God. They who turn away from that which the Lord spoke when his voice shook the earth, will confess their fatal error when his voice shall shake the heavens and the earth. Heb. 12:25, 26; Joel 3:9-16, and others. See also page 457 of this book.

48 - 1888 APPENDIX

This is the complete, original 1888 appendix.

GENERAL NOTES.

NOTE I. PAGE 53.--Constantine's Sunday law, issued A. D. 321, was as follows:

"Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest, the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by Heaven."

Of this law, so high an authority as the "Encyclopedia Brittannica" plainly says: "It was Constantine the Great who first made a law for the proper observance of Sunday; and who, according to Eusebius, appointed that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman Empire. Before him, and even in his time, they observed the Jewish Sabbath, as well as Sunday." As to the degree of reverence with which Sunday was regarded, and the manner of its observance, Mosheim says that in consequence of the law enacted by Constantine, the first day of the week was " observed with greater solemnity than it had formerly been." 1 Yet Constantine permitted all kinds of agricultural labor to be performed on Sunday! Bishop Taylor declares that "the primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day." 2 The same statement is made by Morer: "The day [Sunday] was not wholly kept in abstaining from common business; nor did they [Christians] any longer rest from their ordinary affairs (such was the necessity of those times) than during the divine service."3 Says Cox: "There is no evidence that either at this [the time of Constantine], or at a period much later, the observance was viewed as deriving any obligation from the fourth commandment; it seems to have been regarded as an institution corresponding in nature with Christmas, Good Friday, and other festivals of the church." 4

NOTE 2. PAGE 54.-In the twelfth chapter of Revelation we have as a symbol a great red dragon. In the ninth verse of that chapter this symbol is explained as follows: " And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; ho was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Undoubtedly the dragon primarily represents Satan. But Satan does not appear upon the earth in person; he works through agents. It was in the person of wicked men that he sought to destroy Jesus as soon as he was born. Wherever Satan has been able to control a government so fully that it would carry out his designs, that nation became, for the time, Satan's representative. This was the case with all the great heathen nations. For instance, see Ezekiel 28, where Satan is represented as actual king of Tyre. This was because he fully controlled that government. In the first centuries of the Christian era, Rome, of all the pagan nations, was Satan's chief agent in opposing the gospel, and was therefore represented by the dragon.

1. Eccl. list., cent. 4, part 2, chap. 4, sec. 5.
2. Duct, Dubitant., part 1, book 2, chap. 2, rule 6. sec. 59. 3. Dialogues on the Lord's Day, p.233.

4 Cox's Sabbath Laws, p. 281.

But there came a time when paganism in the Roman Empire fell before the advancing form of Christianity. Then, as is stated on page 54, " Paganism bad given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority."' That is, Satan then began to work through the papacy, just as he had formerly worked through paganism. But the papacy is not represented by the dragon, because it is necessary to introduce another symbol in order to show the change in the form of the opposition to God. Previous to the rise of the papacy, all opposition to the law of God had been in the form of paganism,-God bad been openly defied; but from that time the opposition was carried on under the guise of professed allegiance to him. The papacy, however, was no less the instrument of Satan than was pagan Rome; for all the power, the seat, and the great authority of the papacy, were given it by the dragon. And so, although the pope professes to be the vicegerent of Christ, he is, in reality, the vicegerent of Satan --he is antichrist.

The beast which is a symbol of the papacy is introduced in Revelation 13; and following it, in the sane line of prophecy, " another beast " is seen "coming up," 1 which exorcises "all the power of the first beast before him," that is, in his sight. This other beast must therefore be a persecuting power also; and this is shown in that "it spake as a dragon." The papacy received all its power from Satan, and the two-horned beast exercises the same power; it also becomes the direct agent of Satan. And its Satanic character is further shown in that it enforces the worship of the image of the beast, by means of false miracles. "He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth, them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do."

The first persecuting power is represented by the dragon itself; in heathenism there was open alliance with Satan, and open defiance of God. In the second persecuting power, tie dragon is masked; but the spirit of Satan actuates it,-the dragon supplies the motive power. In the third persecuting power, all traces of the dragon are absent, and a lamb-like beast appears; but when it speaks, its dragon voice betrays the Satanic power concealed under a fair exterior, and shows it to be of the same family as the two preceding powers. In all the opposition to Christ and his pure religion, " that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan,"-"the god of this world,"-is the moving power; earthly persecuting powers are simply instruments in his hands.

1Rev. 13 ;11-14.

NOTE 3. PAGE 328.-That the reader may see the reasonableness of Mr. Miller's position on the prophetic periods, we copy the following, which was published in the Advent Herald, Boston, in March, 1830, in answer to a correspondent:

" It is by the Cation of Ptolemy that the great prophetical period of the seventy weeks is fixed. This Canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes in the year a. c. 457; and the accuracy of the Canon is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of more than twenty eclipses. The seventy weeks date from the going forth of a decree respecting the restoration of Jerusalem. There were no decrees between the seventh and twentieth years of Artaxerxes. Four hundred and ninety years,

beginning with the seventh, must commence in B. e. 457, and end in A. D. 31. Commencing in the twentieth, they must commence in B. a. 444, and end in A. D. 47. As no event occurred in A. D. 47 to mark their termination, we cannot reckon from the twentieth; we must therefore look to the seventh of Artaxerxes. This date we cannot change from B. a. 457

without first demonstrating the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's Canon. To do this, it would be necessary to show that the large number of eclipses by which its accuracy has been repeatedly demonstrated, have not been correctly computed; and such a result would unsettle every chrono. logical date, and leave the settlement of epochs and the adjustment of era3 entirely at the mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would be of no more value than mere guess-work. As the seventy weeks must terminate in A. D. 34, unless the seventh of Artaxerxes is wrongly fixed, and as that cannot be changed without some evidence to that effect, we inquire, What evidence marked that termination? The time when the apostles turned to the Gentiles harmonizes with that date better than any other which has been named. And the crucifixion, in A. D. 31, in the midst of the last week, is sustained by a mass of testimony which cannot be easily invalidated."

As the 70 weeks and the 200 days have a common starting-point, the calculation of Mr. Miller is verified at a glance by subtracting the 457 years B. C. from the 2300. Thus,

2300
457
1843 A.D.

The year 1843 was, however, regarded as extending to the spring of 1844. The reason for this, briefly stated, is as follows: Anciently the year did not commence in midwinter, as now, but at the first now moon after the vernal equinox. Therefore, as the period of 2300 days was begun in a year reckoned by the ancient method, it was considered necessary to conform to that method to its close. Hence, 1843 was counted as ending in the spring, and not in the winter.

But the 2300 days cannot be reckoned frein the beginning of the year 457 B. a.; for the decree of Artaxerxes-which is the starting-point-.lid not go into effect until the autumn of that year. Consequently the 2300 days, be. ginning in the autumn of 457 B. C., must extend to the autumn of 18.44 A. D. (See small diagram on plate opposite page 328.)

This fact not being at first perceived by Mr. Miller and his associates, they looked for the coming of Christ in 1843, or in the spring of 1844; hence the first disappointment and the seeming delay. It was the discovery of the correct time, in connection with other Scripture testimony, that led to the movement known as the "midnight cry " of 18.44. And to this day the computation of the prophetic periods placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of 1844, stands without impeachment.

NOTE 4. PAGE 373.-The story that the Adventists made robes with which to ascend "to meet the Lord in the air," was invented by those who wished to reproach the cause. It was circulated so industriously that many believed it; but careful inquiry proved its falsity. For many years a large reward has been offered for proof that one such instance ever occurred; but the proof has not been produced. None who loved the appearing of the Saviour were so ignorant of the teachings of the

Scriptures as to suppose that robes which they could make would be necessary for that occasion. The only robe which the saints will need to meet the Lord will be that of the righteousness of Christ. See Rev. 19:8.

NOTE 5. PAGE 374.-Dr. Gco. Bush, Professo;of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the New York City University, in s letter addressed to Mr. Miller, and published in the Advent Herald for -larch, 1844, made some very important admissions relative to his calculations of the prophetic times. Mr. Bush says:-

"Neither is it to be objected, as I conceive, to yourself or your friends, that you have devoted much time and attention to the study of the chronology of prophecy, and have labored much to determine the commencing and closing dates of its great periods. If these periods are actually given by the Holy Ghost in the prophetic books, it was doubtless with the design that they should be studied, and probably, in the end, fully understood; and no man is to be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently makes the attempt to do this. . . . In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year, I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith, and a host of others, who have long since come to substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John do actually expire about this age of the world, and it would be a strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominently in the notices of these eminent divines." " Your results in this field of inquiry do not strike me as so tar out of the way as to affect any of the great interests of truth and duty." " Your error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than your chronology." "You have entirely mistaken the nature of the events which are to occur when those periods have expired. This is the head and front of your expository offending. . . . The great event before the world is not its physical conflagration, but its moral regeneration. Although there is doubtless a sense in which Christ may be said to come in connection with the passing away of the fourth empire and of the Ottoman power, and his kingdom to be illustriously established, yet that will be found to be a spiritual coming in the power of his gospel, in the ample outpouring of his Spirit, and the glorious administration of his providence." Evidently, Mr. Bush looked for the conversion of the world as the event to mark the termination of the 2300 days. Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Bush were right on the time question, and both were mistaken in the event to occur at the close of the great periods.

The doctrines taught by Mr. Miller did not originate with him; every point advanced in his expositions of prophecy, taken separately, was admitted by some among his opponents. Hence there were none who condemned all his views, and those who attempted to refute him found that there was as great diversity among themselves as between him and them. They had not only to overthrow Mr. Miller a theory, but each had to correct those of the others. This being the case, their arguments could, of course, have little weight with those who had received his views.

To oppose Miller, men who had been regarded as leaders of religious thought were ready to abandon long-established principles of Protestant interpretation. The Boston Recorder (Orthodox Cong.) said: "It must needs be acknowledged that our faith is greatly shaken in the interpretations on which, in common with most of our own brethren, we

have heretofore relied, and which form the foundation of the baseless theories of Miller " 1

In their determination to disprove Mr. Miller's positions, some were ready even to join with Universalists, adopting indefinite and spiritualizing methods of exposition, in place of those principles of literal interpretation which are an essential feature of the Protestant faith. Of the arguments brought forward by Professors Stuart and Bush the New York Evangelist spoke as follows: "The tendency of these views is to destroy the Scripture evidence of the doctrine of any real end of the world, any day of final judgment, or general resurrection of the body. The style of interpretation, we assert, tends fearfully to Universalism. This tendency we are prepared to prove." So also the Hartford Universalist said of Professor Stuart: "He puts an uncompromising veto upon the popular interpretations of Daniel and Revelation, and unites with Universalists in contending that most of their contents had special reference to, and their fulfillment in, scenes and events which transpired but a few years after those books were written." It was thus that popular ministers prepared the minds of thousands to lightly regard the testimony of the Scriptures.

NOTE 6. PAGE 411.-That the earth is the sanctuary was inferred from those scriptures which teach that the earth will be purified and fitted up for the eternal dwelling-place of the saints, according to the original design of the Creator. Adventists understood this just as it was taught by Wesley and others. And their minds did not rest on any other dwelling- place or any other thing which needed cleansing. The only scriptures which we ever knew to be offered in favor of the earth or any dwelling- place of man being called the sanctuary, fairly disprove the position. They are only three in number, as follows;

Ex. 15 :17: "Thou shalt bring them [the people] in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, tl Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established." Without taking time or space to give an exposition of the text, it is sufficient for the present purpose to remark that it disproves the idea of the earth being the sanctuary. Whatever construction may be placed upon the text, it teaches that the people were not then in the sanctuary; but they were in the earth. Then it is claimed that it referred to that part of the earth into which they were to be brought, namely, Palestine. This is disproved by the second text.

Josh. 24:26: "And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord." The stone and the oak were in Palestine, but they were by the sanctuary of the Lord-not in it. And the other text is more restrictive still, and equally conclusive against the inference to which reference is herein made.

Ps. 78 :54: "And be brought them [his people] to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased." The mountain was Mount Moriah, on which the temple of Solomon was built; yet being brought unto it is called being brought "to the border of his sanctuary." Thus these texts do not prove that the earth is the sanctuary, but rather the reverse.

of Abraham thy friend forever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name." 2 Chron. 20: 7, 8. This corresponds to the command in Ex. 25 :8: "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." In this saine book is given a minute description of the sanctuary, its erection, and approval by the Lord. The process of cleansing the sanctuary is described in Leviticus 16. While the children of Israel possessed Canaan, Solomon built a temple, in which was a holy and a most holy place; and the vessels of the movable sanctuary, which was made in the desert of Sinai, were transferred to the temple. This was then the sanctuary, the dwelling-place of God's glory upon the earth.

Some have inferred that the earthly sanctuary was a symbol of the church, reasoning from those scriptures in which the church is called the temple of God. But it is not infrequently the case in Scripture that in different connections the sanie figure is employed to represent different objects. The Bible plainly teaches that the holy places of the earthly sanctuary were " patterns of things in the heavens." lieu. 9 :2:1. The expression, "temple of God," is sometimes employed to designate the sanctuary in Heaven, and sometimes the church. Its significance, in each ease, must be determined by the context.

NOTE 7. PAGE: 429.-Almost all Adventists, including Mr. Miller, did, for a short time after their disappointment in 1S14, believe that the world had received its last warning. They could hardly think otherwise, with their faith in the message which they had given,-" The hour of his Judgment is come." Rev. 14 :6, 7. They naturally thought that this proclamation must close the dispensation.

But the idea that the work of the gospel was finished was soon renounced, except by some fanatical ones who would neither be counseled nor receive instruction. One class who relinquished the view that "the door of mercy was shut," were led to do this because they discovered that other messages were to be proclaimed after that declaring, The hour of Judgment is come; and that that of the third angel, the last one, was to go to "many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." They learned that the Judgment sits in Heaven before the coming of the Lord; that the judgment of the righteous is fully accomplished while Jesus is yet their Advocate before the Father's throne; that eternal life is instantly given to the saints when their Saviour comes, which is proof that they have been judged and acquitted.

With the light on the third message they also received light on the Sanctuary and its cleansing, by which they understood that the antitypical work of the day of atonement, which was accomplished in the most holy place, was that which was pointed out by the message which they had given. They saw that there were two veils or doors in the temple of God (Heb. 9 : 3), and that at that time one was shut and the other was opened. With earnest zeal and new hope they preached these truths, and urged their fellow-men to seek an entrance by faith into the most holy place within the second veil, where our great High Priest is gone to blot out the sine of all his faithful ones, from Abel to the present time.

NOTE 8. PAGE 435. -Rev.14:6, 7, foretells the proclamation of the first angel's message. Then the prophet continues: "There followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, . . . and the third angel followed them." The word here rendered "followed," means, in constructions like that in this text, "to go with." Liddell and Scott render the word thus: "To follow one, go after or with him." Robinson says: " To

follow, to go with, to accompany anyone." It is the same word that is used in Mark 5:24: "And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him." It is also used of the redeemed one hundred and forty-four thousand, where it is said: " These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Rev. 14 :4. In both these places it is evident that the idea intended to be conveyed is that of going together, in company with. So in 1 Cor. 10 :4, where we read of the children of Israel that "they drank of that spiritual Rock. that followed them," the word "followed" is translated from the sauce Greek word, and the margin has it, " went with them." From this we learn that the idea in lieu. 14 :8, 9, is not simply that the second and third angels followed the first in point of time, but that they went with it. The three messages are but one threefold message. They are three only in the order of their rise. But having risen, they go oil together, and are inseparable.

NOTE 9, PAGE 447.-The bishops of Rome began, very early, to demand obedience from all the churches. Of this the dispute between the Eastern and the Western churches respecting Easter is a striking illustration.

This dispute arose in the second century. Says Mosheim: "The Christians of this century celebrated anniversary festivals in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ. . . . The day which was observed as the anniversary of Christ's death was called the paschal day, or Passover." Like the Jews, Christians celebrated "a sacred feast, at which they distributed a paschal lamb in memory of the holy supper." The Christians of Asia Minor kept this feast on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, when the Jews celebrated their Passover, and when Christ is said to have eaten the paschal lamb with his disciples. Three days thereafter, a festival was observed in honor of the resurrection. The Western churches, on the other hand, celebrated the resurrection of Christ on the Sunday following the Jewish Passover, and observed the paschal feast on the night preceding Sunday, thus connecting the commemoration of Christ's death with that of his resurrection.

"Toward the conclusion of this [the second] century, Victor, bishop of Rome, endeavored to force the Asiatic Christians, by the pretended authority of his laws and decrees, to follow the rule which was observed by the Western churches in this point. Accordingly . . . he wrote an imperious letter to the Asiatic prelates, commanding them to imitate the example of the Western Christians with respect to the time of celebrating the festival of Easter. The Asiatics answered this lordly requisition . . . with great spirit and resolution, that they would by no means depart, in this manner, from the custom handed down to them by their ancestors. Upon this the thunder of excommunication began to roar. Victor, exasperated by this resolute answer of the Asiatic bishops, broke communion with them, pronounced them unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded them from all fellowship with the Church of Rome.1 This, says Bower, was "the first essay of papal usurpation."

For a time, however, Victor's efforts availed little. No regard was paid to his letters, and the Asiatics continued to follow their ancient practice. But by enlisting the support; of the imperial power, which the church for so many centuries controlled to serve her purposes, Rome finally conquered. The Council of Nice, "out of complaisance to Constantine the Great, ordered the solemnity of Easter to be kept

everywhere on the same day, after the custom of Rome. 2 This decree, "backed by the authority of so great an emperor," was decisive; "none but some scattered schismatics, now and then appearing, that durst oppose the resolution of that famous synod."3

NOTE 10. PAGE 565.-There is no more remarkable movement of the present day, and no one fraught with more vital consequences to men and nations, than the rapidly reviving influence of the papacy in national affairs. The papacy is fast moving into the place of the greatest influence of any earthly organization. In Europe, to say nothing of Catholic countries, which, as a matter of course, are subject to the pope, Chancellor Bismarck has made Germany virtually subject to the dictation of the papacy England has invited the interference of the pope in her political affairs in the contest with Ireland; and even the Czar of Russia has shown himself willing to make overtures to the papacy. On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the priesthood of Leo XIII, it is well known that, except the kingdom of Italy and the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, every nation, Protestant as well as Catholic, paid grateful respect to Rome.

1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4., T 9, 11
2 Bower's History of the Popes, vol. 1, pp. IS, 19.
3 Heylyn, History of the Sabbath, part 2, chap. 2, secs. 4, 5,

If any nation might justly be expected to keep clear of Romish influences, the United States of America should be the one above all others, as it is constitutionally pledged to have nothing at all to do toward "an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Yet this nation is in nowise behind the others in paying assiduous court to Rome. When the papal delegates came to America bearing to Cardinal Gibbons the trappings of his Romish dignity, a government vessel was dispatched down New York harbor to meet them, with the papal flag, instead of the stars and stripes, flying from the place of honor. And at the investiture of Cardinal Gibbons with the purple of a papal prince, President Cleveland sent him a letter of congratulation. The Converted Catholic says that a larger number of senators and representatives send their sons to the Jesuit College at Georgetown--one of the suburbs of the national capital--than to all the other institutions of learning at Washington, which proves either that the larger number of senators and representatives are Catholics, or that Rome has more influence with senators and representatives than have all the educational institutions in Washington put together. In view of this fact, it is not to be wondered at that Rome decided to build her national university at the national capital

Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under President Cleveland, was charged with giving to Catholics more positions in his department than to other denominations. His reply was that "if Roman Catholics have been recognized to a greater extent than other denominations, it is only because they have asked more largely; " and explained this by saying that the Romish Church has at Washington " an energetic and tireless director, who is active to seize opportunities for extending missionary and educational work among the Indians." The Christian Union says that four-fifths of the government Indian schools, under religious control, have been given to Roman Catholics. The Assistant Attorney- General, of the Department of the Interior, under President Cleveland's administration,--Mr. Zach. Montgomery, is a Roman Catholic, with all the Roman Catholic enmity to the public schools, and hesitates not to use his official position and influence to show it. During his term of office, in an address at Carroll

Institute, he openly denounced the public-school system as godless, anti- parental, and destructive of happiness.

And the United States Senate fully knew his enmity to the public schools when it confirmed his appointment as Assistant Attorney-General. The New York Observer says that the only public hospital that receives any government aid is a Roman Catholic one.

In a published letter to Hon. Warner Miller, one of the delegates at large from New York to the National Republican Convention, 1888, Hon. John Jay, late Minister to Austria, says that the Roman Catholics even now "coolly discuss the disposition they will make of the United States, as a people already subject to the Vatican by the Irish votes. Archbishop Lynch, of Canada, wrote to Lord Randolph Churchill (the Churchman, New York, April 2, 1887): 'The Irish vote is a great factor in America.' 'The power of their organizations is increasing every day.' ' They hold already the balance of power in the presidential and other elections."' Further Mr. Jay says: "The announcement of Mr. Chamberlain's appointment as Fishery Commissioner was promptly followed by a reminder that no treaty he might make would stand a chance of ratification. The suggestion that Mr. Phelps, our Minister to England, might be nominated as Chief Justice, brought a quick announcement that the nomination would be defeated. . . . It was recently stated in the United States Senate (February 16, 1888), in a debate on the bill for 'national aid in the establishment and temporary support of common schools,' . . . that a senator has showed to the speaker, who had read it with his own eyes, the original letter of a Jesuit priest. In this letter he begged a member of Congress to oppose the bill and kill it, saying that they had organized all over the country for its destruction, that they had succeeded in the Committee of the House, and that they would destroy the bill inevitably; and it is a fact that the bill, having three times passed the Senate in three different Congresses, each time with a larger vote in its favor, has been repeatedly smothered in the Committee of the House, by those who knew that there was a majority in the House in favor of the bill; and for six years the legislation of Congress has been [thus] arrested."

The Roman Church largely controls the secular press of the country; and the leading "Protestant" religious papers, such as the New York Evangelist, the Christian at Work, the Christian Union, and the Independent, all pay flattering tribute to the papacy. The Evangelist, of 'March 29, 1888, acknowl- edges Cardinal Gibbons as its "only cardinal;" the Independent wishes Pope Leo XIII "a long reign and Godspeed in his liberalizing policy; " Christian at Work salutes him as "Holy Father," and in the name of "the whole Christian world " glorifies him as "this venerable man whose loyalty to God and zeal for the welfare of humanity are as conspicuous as his freedom from many errors and bigotries of his predecessors is remarkable;" and the Christian Union, January 26, 1888, acknowledges him as "a temporal prince" and "supreme pontiff."

NOTE 11. PAGE 573.-These movements are apparent under diverse forms and in different ways, but the organization which embodies almost every form, and works in every way to gain its end, is the National Reform Association. It originated in a conference representing "eleven different denominations of Christians from seven of the States of the Union." It now has the support of prominent men from "all branches of the church," of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Prohibition party. It proposes to have our national Constitution amended, "in order to constitute a Christian government," "acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler among the nations, his revealed

will as the supreme law of the land;" and so placing "all Christian laws, institutions, and usages of our government on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the la ml." One of its propositions, announced by David Gregg, D. D., pastor Park Street Church, Boston, is that the State has " the right to command the consciences of men." Another, announced by the Christian Statesman, is that government must "enforce upon all that come among us the laws of Christian morality." Another, announced by the Rev. E. B. Graham, is that " if the opponents of the Bible do not like our government and its Christian features, let them go to some wild, desolate land; and, in the name of the devil, and for the sake of the devil, subdue it, and set up a government of their own on infidel and atheistic ideas, and then, if they can stand it, stay there till they die." Another, announced by Jonathan Edwards, D. D., is that Jews, and all Christians who keep the seventh day, are to be classed as atheists, and " must be treated, as for this [National Reform] question, one party " with atheists, who "cannot dwell together on the same continent" with the National Reform Christianity.

Anybody can see at a glance that the establishment of the National Re- form theory of government would be but the establishment of a theocracy. And this is, in fact, what they propose to establish. They say that "a republic thus governed is of Him, through the people, and is as really and truly a theocracy as the government of Israel." A monthly reading of the National W. C. T. U., written by Miss Willard, on God in government, says: " A true theocracy is yet to come, [and] the enthronement of Christ in law and law-makers, hence I pray devoutly, as a Christian patriot, for the ballot in the hands of women." And in her annual address to the National W. C. T. U. Convention, of 1887, Miss Willard said: "The kingdom of Christ `must enter the realm of law through the gateway of politics. . . . There are enough temperance men in both [the Democratic and Republican parties] to take possession of the government and give us national prohibition in the party of the near future, which is to be the party of God. . . . We pray Heaven to give them no rest . . . until they shall . . swear an oath of allegiance to Christ in politics, and march in one great army `up to the polls to worship God.' . . . I firmly believe that the patient, steadfast work of Christian women will so react on politics within the next generation that the party of God will be at the front." Now a man-made theocracy is only a scheme of government which puts man in the place of God. That is precisely the theory upon which the papacy was built, and that is just what the papacy is. The National Reform theory is identical with that of the papacy: therefore the establishment of the National Reform theory in this government will be but the setting up of a living image of the papacy. Advocating, as these parties are, the papal theory, it is not to be wondered at that they are anxious to secure the co- operation of the papacy in carrying their scheme to success. The Christian Statesman is the official organ of the National Reform Association, and in an editorial, December 11,1884, that paper said: " We cordially, gladly, recognize the fact that in the South American republics, and in France and other European countries, the Roman Catholics are the recognized advocates of national Christianity, and stand opposed to all the proposals of secularism. . . . whenever they are willing to co-operate in resisting the progress of political atheism, we will gladly join hands with them. In a World's Conference for the promotion of national Christianity--which ought to be held at no distant day-- many countries could be represented only by Roman Catholics." And in that same paper, August 31, 1881, Rev. Sylvester Scovil said: "This common interest ["of all religious people in the Sabbath "-Sunday] ought both to strengthen our determination to work, and our readiness to co-operate in every way with our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens. We may be subjected to some rebuffs in our first proffers, and the time is not yet come when the Roman

Church will consent to strike hands with other churches-as such; but the time has come to make repeated advances, and gladly to accept cooperation in any form in which they may be willing to exhibit it. It is one of the necessities of the situation. The nexus between the two great divisions of Christianity on questions of moral legislation is a thing worthy the consideration of our best minds and our men of largest experience in such affairs." In perfect accord with this is the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII., 1885, which directs that "all Catholics should do all in their power to cause the constitutions of States, and legislation, to be modeled on the principles of the true church, and all Catholic writers and journalists should never lose eight, for an instant, from the view of the above prescriptions," Therefore as the purpose of the National Reform Association is identical with that of Rome, it is only to be expected that they should show a readiness to "gladly join hands." And whenever Protestantism gains control of the civil power, whether with or without the aid of Rome, that will be but to erect an image of the papacy.

NOTE 12. PAGE 578.-There are still observers of the Bible Sabbath in Abyssinia. Joseph Wolff, in his journal for 1836, giving au account of his visit to that country, says that " the Sabbath of the Jews, i. e., Saturday, is kept strictly among the Abyssinians in the province of Hamazien."

NOTE 13. PAGES 603, 613.-The word "seal" is used in the Scriptures in various senses, even as in common life. The definition given by Webster, the moist comprehensive, is as follows: "That which confirms, ratifies, or makes stable; assurance; that which authenticates; that which secures, makes reliable, or stable." The ternis "mark" and "sign," also given by him, are used in the Scriptures as synonymous with seal, as in Rum. 4 : 11.

In the covenant with Noah it is used in the sense of assurance, or evi- dence of stability. The how in the cloud was given as a sign or token that God would not again destroy the earth by a flood. Gen. 9:13. In the covenant with Abraham, circumcision was the token or sign. This ratified, or made sure; for they who had not this token were cut off. Gen. 17 : 11, 14. This sign or token was an institution, a rite. Gesenius gives "a memorial" as one definition of the word found in the original of these texts. But a memorial, in the sense of a reminder, or a remembrancer, is a token or sign.

In Ex. 31 :17 and Eze. 20:12, 20, the Sabbath of the Lord is called a sign. It is a memorial of the Creator's work, and so a sign of his power and Godhead. Rom. 1:20. This is also an institution, as was circumcision; but there is this distinction: circumcision was a sign in the flesh, while the Sabbath is a sign in the mind. "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.' Eze. 20:20.

In Eze. 9:4 the word used in the original is translated mark. Gesenius says, "a mark, sign." The Septuagint gives the same word in this text that is given in the Greek of Rom. 4 : 11, rendered " sign." Thus the words sign, mark, and seal are applied to the same things, or used as of like signification, in the Scriptures.

In Eze. 9:4 and Rev. 7:2, 3, the mark or sign is said to be placed in the foreheads of the servants of God. Both these scriptures refer to a time when utter destruction is coming on the ungodly. The seal is placed upon God's people as a safeguard to preserve them from the evil impending. But "the forehead" is evidently used as a figure, to denote the intellect or mind, as "the heart" is used to denote the disposition or affections. To mark or seal in the forehead is the same as to "write in the mind." Heb. 10 :16.

The Sabbath is the sign of God; it is the seal of his law. Isa. 8:16. It is the token of his authority and power. It is a sign whereby we may know that he is God, and therefore it is appropriately said to be placed in the forehead. The worshipers of the beast (Revelation 13) are said to receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands. As the forehead represents the intellect, the hand represents power, as Ps. 89 :48, "Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave' " Compulsory worship is not acceptable to God; his servants are sealed only in their foreheads. But it is acceptable to wicked powers; it has always been craved by the Romish hierarchy. See chapter 25 for proof on the nature of this mark. The sign or seal of God is his Sabbath, and the seal or mark of the beast is in direct opposition to it; it is a counterfeit sabbath on the "day of the sun." According to Rev. 14: 9-12, they who do not receive the mark of the beast keep the commandments of God; and the Sabbath is in the fourth precept; they keep the Sabbath of the Lord; they have his sign or seal. The importance of this Sign is shown in this, that the fourth commandment is the only one in the law which distinguishes the Creator from false gods. Compare Jer. 10: 10-12; Acts 17 :23, 24; Rev. 14 :6, 7, etc. And it is that part of his law for keeping which his people will suffer persecution. But when the wrath of (sod comes upon the persecutors who are found enforcing the sign or mark of the beast, then they will realize the importance of the Sabbath,--the seal of the living God. They who turn away from that which the Lord spoke when his voice shook the earth, will confess their fatal error when his voice shall shake the heavens and the earth. Heb. 12 :25, 26; Joel 3:9, and others. See also pages 639, 640, of this book.

49 - 1888 BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX
This is the complete, original 1888 biographical appendix.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

COLUMBA.-The gospel was first carried to Great Britain in the second century; and thence, through the labors of Succat, or St. Patrick, in the fourth century, it spread to Ireland. The invasion of Britain by the pagan Saxons, A. D. 449, resulted in very nearly uprooting the Christian faith in England and Scotland. But it was revived, a hundred years later, through the labors of Columba, a native of Ireland, from one of the churches that had grown up under Succat's labors. Columba was very active in spreading the gospel in his own country, when, his attention being called to the condition of the heathen Picts, he determined to undertake their conversion. With a few companions he established himself on the little island of Iona, or Icolmkill, off the west coast of Scotland. A church and college grew up here; and through the evangelists sent out from thence, the gospel was disseminated through a considerable part of Europe.

Columba was of princely birth, "of lofty stature, and noble bearing. He was s man of quick perception, and great force of character; one of those masterful minds that mould and sway others." "He had an intense love for the Word of God, and spent much time in reading, studying, and copying it. He gave much time also to prayer and to the guiding of the communities which put themselves under his care, endeavoring to train. them in useful arts as well as in Christian knowledge."

Columba labored personally, and with great success, in Scotland and England, and several times visited Ireland. His last days were spent at Iona, "the isle of his heart," as he usually called it. The closing scene was most touching. The day before his death, being taken to the hill which overlooked the mission house and its little farm, he stood surveying it for some time, and, lifting up both his hands, he invoked upon it the divine blessing. "Returning to his hut, he resumed his daily task in transcribing the Psalter, and proceeded to the place

where it is written, 'They that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.' ' Here,' he said, at the close of the page, ' I must stop.' When the bell for matins rang, he hastened to the church, and, ere the brethren could join him, he had fainted before the altar. Unable to speak, he made a feeble effort once more to raise his right hand to bless them, and, with joy beaming in his face, passed to his rest."

Columba was born at Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland, A. D. 521; died at Iona, Scotland, 597.

THE WALDENSES.--The name Waldenses is said to have been derived from Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, France, who lived about 1150 A. D. Finding opportunity, in the midst of a life of business activity, for the study of letters, he was led to the Bible, and, receiving the truths of the gospel, he devoted his life to the work of an evangelist. He rendered an important service to the cause of reform, by procuring, at his own expense and under his supervision, a translation of the New Testament into the Romaunt tongue, then the vernacular of Southern France. This was the first complete translation of the Scriptures into any of the languages of medieval Europe, and was the only one available for popular use.

But the primitive Christians known as Waldenses, or Vaudois, existed before the days of Waldo. From the earliest times there have been Christians holding the faith of the apostolic- church, and bearing testimony against Romish tyranny and corruption. The diocese of Milan--which included the plains of Lombardy, the Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of France-exceeded in extent the temporal dominions of the Roman see; and it was not until the middle of the eleventh century that Milan acknowledged the supremacy of the pope. Even then many of the people repudiated the action of their prelates, and in the mountains of Piedmont maintained their independence of Rome. In the south of France the Albigenses offered a similar resistance to the popish usurpations.

The persecution which began under Innocent III., in the thirteenth century, resulted in the extinction of the Albigenses, and it continued, with murderous violence, against the Vaudois for hundreds of years. For the sake of peace, many at last resorted to an outward conformity to Rome. But with the Reformation, a new life animated the dwellers in the Piedmont valleys. Again they witnessed for their faith, and the fires of persecution were rekindled. Again and again bodies of soldiers were dispatched against them. Massacre succeeded massacre. Tortures the most horrible that were ever perpetrated by fiends in human form, were visited upon aged men, helpless women, and little children. In 1685 the conquest was completed. All the surviving inhabitants of the valleys were dragged away to fill the prisons of their conquerors. Neglect, barbarity, pestilence wrought their dreadful work; and in less than one year, out of fourteen thousand who had entered, only three thousand came forth when the prison doors were opened. These were sentenced to exile, and in the dead of winter a large number made their way across the Alps, to a place of refuge. Hundreds perished, and after terrible suffering, the survivors reached the gates of Geneva. A few years later, part of this company returned to their mountains, and recovered possession of their deserted homes.

In the eighteenth century, religious persecution generally subsided. Yet in 1799 the Waldenses were still subjected to many civil restrictions; their children were often stolen, or taken from them by force, in order to be educated in the Catholic faith, and they had to pay tithes to the Romish clergy. It was not until 1848 that they were admitted, by the rulers of Piedmont, to equal enjoyment with others of all social and political rights. Within the States of the church, however, the pope

still reigned supreme, and his power was a standing menace to religious freedom. But in 1870 the stronghold of popery fell Soon the New Testament was printed in Rome, by the hand of a young Waldensian, under the very windows of the Vatican. And one of the prisons was converted into a publishing house, and in the torture chamber that once echoed the cries of the martyrs of Jesus, the press was set up, from which the gospel of peace was sent out to all the land.

JOHN WYCLIFFE, or John of Wycliffe, the greatest of "the reformers before the Reformation," was born about 1324, in the village of the same name, in Yorkshire, England. His death occurred in 1384. Of his early life, little is known. He received his education at the University of Oxford, which even at that early date numbered not less than thirty thousand students. Until near the otiose of his life he continued to reside and to teach here. By his defense of the action of Edward III. in refusing the pope's demand for tribute, and his advocacy of popular rights when delegated to treat with the papal nuncios in the Netherlands, Wycliffe won the confidence and approval of the king and the people. Though pursued by the relentless enmity of the pope and his supporters, and at last driven from the university, he was appointed by the king to the rectory of Lutterworth, where he devoted himself to the translation of the Bible into the mother-tongue. "Wycliffe was eminent as a scholar, a diplomatist, and a preacher." " His wonderful learning and intellectual ability gave him a commanding influence in the university. But the Bible was his standard and staple; his sermons are really saturated with it. His object is always to defend the truth of Christ."

JOHN HUSS, of Husainetz, Bohemia, born in 1378, was chief among those by whom the torch of truth was handed down from Wycliffe to the reformers of the sixteenth century. He was educated at the University of Prague, and in 1402 became rector of the university, and preacher of Beth- lehem Chapel. He did not apprehend the truth so clearly as did Wycliffe, he held to papal doctrines which the English reformer had renounced; but he maintained the great fundamental truth of the infallibility of the Scriptures, and faithfully rebuked the vices of the church; and he laid down his life as a witness to his fidelity. He was burned at Constance, in 1415.

"Huss was much less remarkable for the amount of his mental endowments and acquirements than for the candor with which he formed his convictions, the tenacity with which he held them, the unselfish enthusiasm with which he spoke them. He cannot be said to have added to the intellectual wealth of the world; but his contribution to its moral capital was immense." He has been justly pronounced "one of the bravest of the martyrs who have died in the cause of honesty and freedom, of progress and of growth toward the light."

JEROME OF PRAGUE, the devoted friend of Huss, was a descendant of a noble Bohemian family. After spending several years at the University of Prague, he continued his studies at the leading universities of France, Germany, and England, at each receiving the degree of doctor of divinity. At Oxford he became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe, and studied them with great enthusiasm. “Until now," he said, "we had nothing but the shell of science; Wycliffe first laid open the kernel." He engaged in translating Wycliffe's writings into the Bohemian language, and, on returning to Bohemia, joined Huss in promulgating the reformed doctrines. Jerome was born about 1365, and was burned at the stake in Constance, in 1416.

MARTIN LUTHER.-Eisleben, a little town in the Thuringian forest, Saxony, was the birthplace of Luther, the greatest of the reformers. Born in 1483, when the revival of letters had already begun, and the minds of men

were awakening from the stupor of medievalism, Luther was, under God, to lead them from the bondage of superstition. In his boyhood he was sent to school at Mansfeld, at Magdeburg, and at Eisenach, and even then manifested a keen power of intellect. At Eisenach, as he sang before the houses, and asked for bread for Christ's sake, he attracted the notice of the kindly Ursula Cotta, who received him into her home, and gave a mother's care to the poor young scholar. In 1501 Luther entered the University of Erfurt; four years later he abandoned his studies, for the monastery. He was ordained priest in 1507, and the following year was ogled to a chair in the University at Wittenberg. The famous theses against indulgences were posted in 1517; and in 1521 he appeared at the Diet of Worms. For twenty- five years the decree of outlawry here pronounced hung over him; yet, like Wycliffe, he was to die in peace. Though nearly the whole of his active life was spent at Wittenberg, his death occurred at Eisleben, his native place, where, worn out with his mighty labors, he expired February 18, 1546.

"Luther's physical life was largely one of suffering. His form, in early life, was spare, though in after-years approaching to corpulence. The fullness of face given him in his later pictures, however, is said to have been the result, not of robustness, but of a dropsical tendency resulting from his early austerities. His habits were abstemious. His voice was not loud nor strong; it was their lightning, not their thunder, by which the mighty effects of his words were produced.

"The character of Luther lies so open in his life that it is hardly neces- sary to trace its lines. He was so ingenuous that if all the world had conspired to cover up his faults, his own hand would have uncovered them. His violence was that of a mighty nature, strong in conviction, waging the battle of truth against implacable foes. That he was unselfish, earnest, honest, inflexibly brave in danger, full of tenderness and humanity; that he was one of the great creative spirits of the race, mighty in word and deed, matchless ..as a popular orator, one of the very people, yet a prince among princes, a child of faith, a child of God,--this is admitted by all."

PHILIP MELANCTHON, the friend of Luther, and his co-laborer in the German Reformation, was born in 1497. He was the son of a master-armorer of Bretten, in the duchy of Baden, and was a relative and pupil of the celebrated Reuchlin, who did so much to introduce the study of Greek and Hebrew into Germany. The strength and clearness of Melancthon's under- standing made the acquisition of knowledge a delight. At the age of twelve years, he entered the University of Heidelberg, and at seventeen took his doctor's degree. It was about this time that he changed his name from Schwartzerd ("black earth") to the Greek Melancthon, which signifies the
same thing. In those times it was not unusual for learned men to translate their names from German to Latin or Greek. At twenty-one, Melancthon was called to the Greek professorship at Wittenberg, and then began the friendship with Luther which continued till the great reformer's death. Melanethon compares Luther to Elijah, and calla him "the man full of the Holy Ghost." And Luther, contrasting himself with Melancthon, wrote: "I was bound to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very belligerent. I am the rough pioneer, who must break road; but Master Philip comes along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God lath richly endowed him with gifts." It was Melancthon's logical mind and polished pen that wrote the confession of Augsburg, whose clearness, strength, simplicity, and elegance were acknowledged even by its foes. He died at Wittenberg, in 1560, and was buried beside Luther in the castle church.

ULRIC ZWINGLE was born New Year's day, 1484, in the little village of Wildhaus, in a narrow valley of southeastern Switzerland. He was the first of Swiss reformers, and his work exerted a widespread influence. Zurich was the scene of his most important labors; he was called to this city in 1[19, and in 1525 the Reformation had become established here without violence, and almost without disturbances. As other cities and entire districts accepted the reformed faith, the popish cantons took up arms to oppose the right of religious liberty. In the struggle that followed, Zwingle, who acted as chaplain for the reformed forces, fell on the field of Cappel, October 11, 1531.

"Zwingle was a bold reformer, an able scholar, an eloquent preacher, a patriotic republican, and far-sighted statesman. He lacked the genius and depth of Luther and Calvin, the learning of Melancthon and Œcolampadius; but he was their equal in honesty of purpose, integrity of character, heroic courage, and devotion to the cause of reformation, and he surpassed them in liberality."

JOHN ŒCOLAMPADIUS.-- Œcolampadius is called "the reformer of Basel," but the wide extent of his influence entitles him to a more comprehensive appellation. In his intellectual and moral qualities he bore a striking resemblance to Melancthon. "There are several illustrations in the period of the Reformation, that the Lord delights to send out his disciples in pairs when he has a great work to accomplish. Luther stood side by side with Melancthon, Calvin with Beza, and Œcolampadius with Zwingle."

Œcolampadius was born in 1482, in the present kingdom of Wurttemberg. He early regarded Luther's teaching with favor, and, in 1522, upon being invited to Basel, he entered upon his work as a reformer. The city was at this time the most important intellectual center in Switzerland, the seat of its only university, and the residence of its most extensive printers. Œcolampadius was soon appointed to a chair in the university, and in 1529 the Reformation was established in Basel. Here Œcolampadius died, in 1531.

JACQUES LEFEVRE, an eminent scholar, and one of the earliest of French reformers, was born about 1450, and died in 1536. Lefevre was a professor in the University of Paris, when, about 1507, he began to study the Bible. He published commentaries on different portions of the Scriptures, and in 1521 one of his works was condemned as heretical But by the favor of Francis I. and the princess Margaret, the proceedings against him were stopped. In 1523 his French version of the New Testament was issued. After the battle of Pavia, however, and the imprisonment of Francis in Madrid, the papist party resorted to the most vigorous measures against the reformers, and Lefevre, then seventy- five years of age, fled to Strasburg. Soon after the king's release he was recalled, and, after publishing his translation of the Old Testament, he retired to Nerac,
the residence of Margaret of Navarre, where he died. Lefevre had accepted the fundamental principles of the Reformation, and maintained them in his writings; yet he retained his connection with the Romish Church, hoping that a reform might take place in the church itself. Studious and peace-loving, he shrank from open conflict. But his lack of boldness to confess the truth caused him bitter remorse in his last hours. With tears and heart-rending anguish he exclaimed, "I am condemned. I have concealed the truth which I ought to have professed and openly borne witness to." Day and night he continued to utter this cry, but was at last enabled to cast his burden upon Christ, and he died trusting in the mercy of God.

WILLIAM FAREL, one of the boldest pioneers of the Reformation in Switzerland and France, was born in Dauphiny, a province of Eastern France, in 1489. He was a zealous and successful student, and became professor in one of the colleges of Paris. Receiving the principles of the reformed faith, he threw

himself, with all the strength of his ardent nature, into the work of the gospel. Being forced to flee from France, he repaired to Basel, and formed a warm friendship with Zwingle and Œcolampadius, who could not but be attracted by his energy and self-sacrifice, while they perceived his lack of discretion, which sometimes led him to imprudence and even rashness. But Erasmus, the politic and conservative scholar, could not tolerate the uncompromising reformer, and, through his influence, Farel was forced to leave Basel. A large part of his long and active life was, however, spent in Switzerland, in labors that were at once vast and perilous; and they resulted in establishing the reformed faith in a considerable part of that country.

In 1532, Farel went as deputy from the reformers to the Waldensian Synod in the valley of Angrogna. He was ever after held in high esteem by the Vaudois, and exerted a strong influence over them. Through many vicissi- tudes, dangers, and sufferings, he continued laboring for the Reformation until the very day of his death, which occurred at Neuchâtel, in 1565: Farel was an ardent, impulsive man; a missionary rather titan an organizer:, an iconoclast rather than a theologian." Beza says that in his preaching he excelled in a certain sublimity, so that none could hear his thunders without trembling."

JOHN CALVIN.--At Noyon, in Picardy, about seventy moles northeast of Paris, Calvin was born in 1509; he died at Geneva in 1564. Calvin early renounced Romanism, and in 1534 was forced to flee from France. In 1536 he published at Basel the most celebrated of all his works, "The Institutes of the Christian Religion." The same year he entered upon his labors at Geneva, where nearly all his subsequent life was spent. Here his methods of govern- ment and reform were strictly observed, this being the condition upon which alone he would consent to remain. Under his rule, immorality f every sort was sternly suppressed. Besides the refugees that flocked to Geneva from nearly all parts of Europe, thousands of students resorted thither, drawn by the fame of his lectures and those of Beza.

"Calvin's habits were frugal and unostentatious. He had a clear under- standing, an extraordinary memory, and a firmness and inflexibility of purpose which no opposition could overcome, no variety of objects defeat, no vicissi- tude shake. In his principles he was devout and sincere." Some acts of intolerance have cast a shadow upon his public career, but his character in private life was without a stain. As preacher, author, pastor, and leader of the Reformation throughout Europe, the extent of his labors is almost incredible. His health was feeble, yet he continued his work almost to the day of his death. He chose to be poor, refusing additions to his moderate salary, and declining presents, except for the purpose of giving them to the poor. Though often accused of amassing wealth, he left at his death little more than two hundred dollars. At his own request, he was buried without pomp, and no monument marks his grave.

MENNO SIMONS, "a reformer whose apostolic spirit and labors have thus far failed to receive the recognition they deserve." He was born about 1492, in Northern Holland. He died in Holstein in 1559.

In 1536, Menno withdrew from the Romish Church. His opposition to the doctrine of infant baptism separated him from the Lutheran and Reformed churches. It was his earnest effort, while firmly opposing fanaticism, to restore in the church the purity and simplicity of apostolic days; a personal profession of faith in Christ was required as a prerequisite to baptism, and purity of life was a condition of church-membership.

HANS TAUSEN, born in Denmark, in 1494; died in 1561. In 1324 he began to preach the reformed doctrines. He was the first preacher of the Reformation in Denmark, and, with Bugenhagen, was the chief agent in its establishment in that country.

OLAF AND LAURENTIUS PETRI were born at Orebro, Sweden, the former in 1497, the latter in 1499. Olaf died at Stockholm in 1552. Laurentius at Upsala in 1573. They were chiefly instrumental in the establishment of the Reformation in Sweden, under the protection of the king, Gustavus Vasa.

WILLIAM TYNDALE, one of the most eminent English reformers of the sixteenth century, was born about 1484. Soon after accepting the reformed faith he formed the design of translating, the Scriptures into the English language, and was forced to flee to the Continent to escape persecution. The New Testament was printed at Cologne and Worms, in 1525. His subsequent history is involved in obscurity. He was, engaged in the translation and printing of the Old Testament, and the publication of various works setting forth the doctrines of the Reformation. To elude the emissaries of the English king and prelates, he pursued his work in secret, and so carefully did he conceal his places of retreat that they are even yet unknown. In 1534 He ventured to settle at Antwerp, where he was arrested. At the castle of Vilvorden, a few miles from Brussels, he was strangled and burned, October 6, 1536. It cannot be proved that Henry VIII had any direct agency in his execution, but he made no effort to save him. The martyr's last prayer was, " Lord, open the eyes of the king of England."

The value of Tyndale's labors as a translator of the Scriptures and a promoter of the Reformation in England, has never been adequately appreciated. The millions who in all quarters of the earth enjoy the blessings of the English Bible, owe him a debt of gratitude; for the authorized version has his for its basis. In his own time his teachings shaped the views of many of the leaders in the English Reformation, who also sealed their testimony with their blood.

HUGH LATIMER, sometimes called "the John Knox of England," was born about 1470. His father was a plain yeoman, "who," says Latimer, "brought up his children in godliness and the fear of God." Latimer was educated at Cambridge, and was a zealous papist, but, through the efforts of the martyr Bilney, he accepted the doctrines of the Reformation. His fearless presentation of the truth won the favor of Henry VIII., who appointed him bishop of Worcester, but upon the passage of "the bloody act of the six articles," enforcing a belief in transubstantiation, with other popish errors, Latimer promptly resigned his position. He was afterward arrested, and was for six years held a prisoner in the Tower. Released on the accession of Edward VI., he was offered his bishopric, but he firmly declined the honor, and continued faithfully to rebuke the vices of the times. When Mary came to the throne he was again committed to the Tower. Though he was now eighty years old, no respect was shown for his great age. He steadfastly maintained his faith, and was burned at Oxford in 1555. Latimer was not a man of great learning; he was plain in speech; but he was brave, honest, and devoted, a reprover of sin both in high places and in low.

NICHOLAS RIDLEY, an English bishop and martyr, eminent for his learning and piety, was born about 1500. He studied at Cambridge, also at the most celebrated universities of France and the Netherlands. Through the favor of Cranmer he was appointed chaplain to King Henry, and, in the reign of Edward, he became bishop of London. After Mary's accession he was, with Latimner, burned at the stake in 1555. Being denied permission to speak

unless he recanted, he said, " So long as the breath is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ and his known truth. God's will be done in me."

In his private life, Bishop Ridley was pronounced "a pattern of piety, humility, temperance, and regularity." Fox speaks of him as "a man beautified with excellent qualities, . . , godly learned, and now written, doubtless, in the book of life."

JOHN KNOX, the reformer of Scotland, was born in 1505. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and was ordained a Catholic priest. The writings of Jerome and Augustine, and the influence of the martyr Wishart, set him free from
the fetters of Rome, and he became a preacher of the gospel. When the castle of St. Andrews was taken by the French, Knox was made prisoner, and being carried to Rouen he served for nineteen months as a galley slave. Upon his release the state of affairs in Scotland forbade his return, and he spent sometime in England, acting as chaplain to Edward VI. When Mary came to the throne, he went to Frankfort and Geneva, in each place becoming pastor of the English exiles. Ho was much esteemed by Calvin, whose doctrines he advocated. Returning to Scotland in 1559, he was, through the influence of the Romanists, proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel, but, nothing daunted, he pursued his labors, taking an active part in the estab- lishment of the Reformation in that country until his death, in 1572.

JOHN BUNYAN, so widely known as the author of " Pilgrim's Progress," was born in England, in 1628. He was the son of a tinker of Elstow, and was himself bred to the same trade. He, however, acquired some of the rudiments of education, and, though little inclined to religion, was far superior in morals to most of his class. He served for a time in the parliamentary army, and here one of his comrades, while filling his post, was killed. Bunyan felt that a divine hand had interposed to save his life, and he was thus led to give his attention to religious things. After long and severe conflicts he found peace in Christ. He joined the Baptists, and became an exhorter, and, after a time, one of their most distinguished preachers.

In 1660, under the oppressive measures enforced at the Restoration, Bunyan was thrown into Bedford jail, where he remained for twelve years. For the support of his family he took up the making of tagged thread bootlaces, but he firmly refused either to sacrifice his faith or to escape from his prison by strategem, as he might easily have done. He was offered his freedom if he would give up preaching, and was told that if he persisted in defying the law, he would be sentenced to banishment, and to death should he return to England. His answer was, "If you let me out to-day, I will preach again to-morrow." But his persecutors were thwarted; for the "Pilgrim's Progress," which he wrote in his dungeon, has taught the truths of salvation wherever the English language is spoken, and it has been translated into every tongue of Christendom. It is one of the favorite books that, after Holy Scripture, the missionary to the heathen translates for his converts.

After his release, Bunyan preached with great zeal and success, gaining the appellation of "Bishop Bunyan." The Bible was his constant companion, the source of his wisdom, and the inspiration of his genius. Self-sacrifice for the truth's sake and for the good of others was the rule of his life. He died at the age of sixty, from exposure in a storm while returning from a successful effort to reconcile a father to his son. There are few more striking examples of the educating, transforming power of the holy Scriptures upon both the intellect and the heart, than is presented in the history of John Bunyan.

JOHN WESLEY, the founder of Methodism, was born at Epworth, England, in 1703. His father was a minister of the Church of England. His

mother, from whom he received his early training and education, was a woman of great intelligence and deep piety, firm yet wise in discipline, and a skillful teacher. He studied at Oxford, and won a high reputation for scholarship. It was here that the famous "Holy Club" was formed, John and Charles Wesley, Whitefield, and others uniting together for devotional exercises, ministering to the sick and the poor, visiting prisons, etc.

In 1725, Wesley received ordination to the ministry. When a mission to Georgia for the conversion of the Indians was projected, and a call was made for a clergyman inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of life, to bodily austerities, and to serious thoughts," Wesley responded. He remained two years in the colony, but without opportunity to accomplish the object of his mission. He returned to England in 1738, and the same year fully received the doctrine of justification by faith, and began to preach it. he especially devoted himself to the work of carrying the gospel to the poor and neglected classes. Finding the churches closed against him, he finally resorted to open-air preaching. "I could hardly reconcile myself," he says, "to this strange way of preaching in the fields, . . . having been all my life (till very lately) so very tenacious of every point relating to decency and order that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church." Until his death, in 1791, he continued his labors in England, Scotland, and Ireland. During his life he traveled upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand miles, and preached forty thousand sermons, besides the oversight of all his churches and congregations, an immense correspondence, and the preparation of his voluminous writings.

GEORGE WHITEFIELD, one of the most celebrated evangelists of modern times, was a native of Gloucester, England. Educated at Oxford, and a member of the Methodist Club, he was the first of their number who professed conversion. He was ordained in 1736, and labored especially to benefit the multitudes -Who were not reached by the ordinary ministrations of the church. He seven times visited America, preaching in all the large cities. He also labored extensively in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and made a visit to Holland. Whitefield differed from Mr. Wesley in regard to the doctrine of predestination, and the separation which resulted gave rise to the two branches, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists. He died in 1770, at the age of fifty-six, as he was preparing for a seventh missionary tour through the United States.

The power of Whitefield's preaching was acknowledged by all classes; multitudes flocked to hear him, and extensive revivals followed his labors. Not infrequently he preached three or four times a day. The day before his death he spoke at Exeter, Mass., holding a large audience spell-bound for two hours. He went to Newburyport, intending to preach next day. As he was retiring to his chamber at night, seeing the people gathered in the hall below, he stopped, and spoke to them from the staircase until his candle burned out in the socket. The next morning he was dead.

JOHN ROBINSON, the Pilgrim pastor, was born in England, in 1575. He was educated at Cambridge, and became a minister of the Established Church; but feeling that the ecclesiastical supremacy accorded to the king was contrary to the teachings of Christ, he resolved upon separation. The decision was a painful one, and in referring to it he says, " Had not the truth been in my heart 'as a burning fire shut up in my bones,' I lied never broken those bonds, . . . but had suffered the light of God. to have been put out in mine own unthankful heart by other men's darkness." Robinson was among the exiles who found refuge in Holland, and he became pastor of the Pilgrim church at Leyden, where he was highly esteemed both for piety and scholarship. When the Pilgrims decided to

seek a home in America, it was found necessary to divide the company, and as the majority remained at Leyden, to follow their brethren at a later period, they claimed the ministry of their pastor. But Robinson was not to accompany his flock to the New World. He died at Leyden, in 1625. His family afterward joined the exiles, and his descendants were among the colonists of New England.

Robinson's character may be read in his farewell address to the Pilgrims. He was one of the few men that, in every age, have been the hope of reform, - men who, instead of resting their faith upon the creed or teaching of the church, will build only upon the eternal foundation of the Word of God.

ROGER WILLIAMS, pre-eminently the advocate of religious freedom, was a native of Wales, born about 1600. He died in Rhode Island, in 1683. Williams took orders in the Church of England; but soon, he says, his "conscience was persuaded against the national church and ceremonies and bishops." He went to America in 1631, but being too radical and outspoken even for the Puritan colonies, he was sentenced to banishment. One of the regulations enacted by those law-makers was: "If any person or persons within this jurisdiction . . . shall deny their [the magistrates'] lawful right or authority . . . to punish the outward breaches of the first table [of the Decalogue], . . . every such person or persons shall be sentenced to banishment." As Williams stoutly denied the jurisdiction of the magistrates in religious matters, he stood condemned.

He had been accused of advancing opinions that were dangerous to the peace and order of the commonwealth; but upon proceeding to Rhode Island he founded a community in which perfect religions liberty prevailed, and where these very teachings were freely permitted; yet life, property, and civil government were as secure here as in Massachusetts. Thus it was demon- strated that Williams' teachings were not dangerous to the peace and order of the State, that the charges against him were unsustained, and that his banishment from Massachusetts was unjust.

"Williams' character as a man and a Christian was above reproach. Even his bitterest opponents spoke of him personally in terms of high respect. He was an especial friend of the Indians. He studied their language, respected and defended their title to their lands, and when the Massachusetts Colony and other white settlements were threatened with Indian hostilities, he was able, by his acquaintance and friendship with leading chiefs, to avert the impending dangers." It was thus that Williams requited the injustice which he had suffered.

WILLIAM MILLER, the well-known prophetic expositor, was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1782. During the greater part of his life, however, his home was at Low Hampton, New York, where he died in 1849. The son of an officer in the army of the Revolution, Mr. Miller himself served in the war of 1812, holding a captain's commission in the regular army. he had imbibed deistical sentiments before entering the army, but his integrity of character rendered the profligacy of the camp so distasteful to him that upon the expiration of the war he gladly abandoned a military life.

The fact that deism denies a future existence prevented him from giving a cordial assent to the doctrine, though he did not accept the Scriptures as inspired. When, however, he came to look upon the Bible as its own interpreter, instead of accepting the current theological teaching as the exponent of revelation, all his difficulties were swept away. From the year 1818, when he reached the conclusion that the personal coming of Christ was near, he continued for thirteen years prayerfully investigating the subject, but

mentioning his views only in private. He entered upon their public presentation in 1831, and, between this time and 1844, delivered four thousand lectures in five hundred different towns. About two hundred ministers accepted his views, and five hundred public lecturers engaged in their promulgation. In nearly a thousand places, congregations of believers were raised up, comprising about fifty thousand persons. Under Mr. Miller's labors alone, not less than six thousand souls were converted to Christ, and the number was probably much greater. Of the converts, fully seven hundred were avowed infidels before attending his lectures.

Though mistaken in regard to the exact tune of the second advent, his belief was unchanged as to the manner and nearness of the Saviour's coming. In 1845 he wrote: "I have candidly weighed the objections advanced against these views; but I have seen no arguments that were sustained by the Scriptures, that, in my opinion, invalidated my position. I cannot, therefore, conscientiously refrain from looking for my Lord, or from exhorting my fellow-men, as I have opportunity, to be in readiness for that great event." Yet he felt that his own work was nearly ended. " I shall leave to my younger brethren," he said, "the task of contending for the truth. Many years I toiled on alone; God has now raised up those who will fill my place." He continued, however, to preach from time to time, as the increasing infirmities of age would permit; and he died in full faith of the doctrines which he had proclaimed.

JOSEPH WOLFF, the famous Hebrew missionary and traveler, was born in 1795, in Bavaria. "Endowed with almost unprecedented linguistic talent, a quick power of perception, lively temperament, and great prudence, he became acquainted, at a very early age, with the most prominent men in different countries of Europe. In 1812 he was baptized at Prague by a Benedictine monk. At home, where he went to be educated as a missionary, he devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages, intending to carry the gospel to both Jews and Mohammedans. He enjoyed the favor of the most prominent men, including that of Pope Pius VII; but the liberal views which he expressed on various occasions made him suspected in the eyes of the Inquisition, and he had to leave the college and the eternal city. In England, he speedily found friends. The founders of the London Society for the Jews, perceiving his special fitness for missionary work, effected his entrance to Cambridge University, where he continued his Oriental studies.

" During his adventurous life as a traveler,--in Europe, Asia, America, and a part of Africa,--he became acquainted with kings and princes, as well as with the most learned men of all ecclesiastical relations. In the greatest perils he showed an undaunted courage, and great presence of mind. He preached everywhere,--at one time in this language, at another in a different one; and wherever ho went, he understood how to interest the most prominent men and women in behalf of his mission." Worn with the labors and exposures of his long journeyings, he spent his last years as the rector of an English country parish, where he died, in 1862.

JOHN ALBERT BENGEL was born in Wurttemberg, in 1687; died in 1751. He is universally regarded as a man of critical judgment, of extensive learning, and solid piety. He was the author of several Biblical works of great value, both critical and exegetical, which still form a part of the treasures of the Bible student. Bengel's rule of interpretation was " to put nothing into the Scriptures, but to draw everything from them, and suffer nothing to remain hidden that is really in them.

LOUIS GAUSSEN, born in 1790, was a native of Geneva, and a clergy- man of the Reformed Church. He was known throughout Switzerland as an

earnest upholder of evangelical Christianity, and was associated with Dr. Merle d'Aubigne and others, in seeking to substitute a scriptural faith for the rationalistic philosophy which pervaded Geneva. He encountered determined opposition, and was at last suspended by the consistory. In 1834 he took the chair of theology in the newly-founded evangelical school of Geneva, and became the author of various works upon the Scriptures. His death occurred in 1863.

PIUS IX. AND THE DECREE OF INFALLIBILITY.-From Mr. Gladstone's tract, "The Vatican Decrees," we condense the following brief account of the promulgation of the decree of infallibility under Pope Pius IX.: The Vatican Council was solemnly opened, amid the sound of innumerable bells and the cannon of St. Angelo, December 8, 1869, in the Basilica of the Vatican. At the fourth public session, July 18, 1870, the decree of papal infallibility was proclaimed. This decree not only asserts the power of the Roman pontiff over all other churches, but attributes to him "an immediate jurisdiction, to which all Catholics, both pastors and people, are bound to submit in matters not only of faith and morals, but even of discipline and government." It declares that the pope, when speaking "in his official capacity, to the Christian world on subjects relating to faith and morals, is infallible," and that his decisions are final and irreversible.

This crowning act of papal blasphemy was speedily followed by the fall of the pope's temporal sovereignty. Oil the second of September, 1870, six weeks from the time when the decree of infallibility was proclaimed, "the French Empire, which had been the main support of the temporal power of the pope, collapsed with the surrender of Napoleon III., at the old Huguenot stronghold of Sedan, to the Protestant King William of Prussia; and on the twentieth of September the Italian troops, in the name of King Victor Emanuel, took possession of Route, as the future capital of united Italy." From the day when Pins IX. appeared before the people of Rome, at the announcement of his infallibility, he was never again seen in public. Shorn of his temporal power, and disdaining to own himself subject to the national authority, the proud pontiff of Route continued, until his death, in 1878, a self-constituted prisoner in the palace of the Vatican.

50 - W.C. WHITE STATEMENT, OCTOBER 30, 1911

This statement was made to the 1911 General Conference Council.

The following statement was presented by Elder W. C. White to the 1911 General Conference Council, on October 30, 1911:

"It is with pleasure that I present to you a statement regarding the latest English edition of Great Controversy.

"About two years ago, we were told that the electrotype plates for this book, in use at the Pacific Press, the Review and Herald, and the International Tract Society (London), were so worn that the book must be reset and new plates made. This work has been done at the Pacific Press. Four Bets of plates were made-one for each of our offices in Washington, Mountain View, Nashville, and Watford.

"In a letter sent to the managers of our publishing houses, I wrote, as follows, on July 24, 1911:

" 'After taking counsel with ministers, canvassers, and other friends of the book, we thought best to reset the text so that the new edition would correspond as nearly as possible with the old. And, although we could not use exactly the same type, the matter runs nearly page for page. Every chapter in the new edition begins and ends on the same pages as does the corresponding chapter in the old edition.

"'The most noticeable change in the new edition is the improvement in the illustrations. Each of the forty-two chapters, together with the Preface, Introduction, Contents, and list of Illustrations, has a beautiful pictorial heading; and ten new full-page illustrations have been introduced to take the place of those which were least attractive.

“ 'The thirteen Appendix notes of the old edition, occupying thirteen pages, have been replaced by thirty-one notes, occupying twelve pages. These are nearly all reference notes, intended to help the studious reader in finding historical proofs of the statements made in the book.

“ 'The Biographical Notes have been omitted and the general Index has been enlarged from twelve to twenty-two pages, thus greatly facilitating the finding of desired passages.

"'In the body of the book, the most noticeable improvement is the introduction of historical references. In the old edition, over seven hundred biblical references were given, but in only a few instances were there any historical references to the authorities quoted or referred to. In the new edition, the reader will find more than four hundred references to eighty- eight authors and authorities.

" 'When we presented to Mother the request of some of our canvassers, that there should be given in the new edition not only
scripture references but also references to the historians quoted, she instructed us to hunt up and insert the historical references. She also instructed us to verify the quotations and to correct any inaccuracies found; and, where quotations were made from passages that were rendered differently by different translators, to use that translation which was found to be most correct and authentic.

"'The finding of the various passages quoted from historians has been a laborious task, and the verification of the passages quoted has led to some changes in the wording of the text. This is especially noticeable in the quotations from the History of the Reformation, by J. Merle D'Aubigne. It was found that there were six or more English translations, American and British, which varied much in wording, although almost identical in thought; and, in the old edition of Great Controversy, three of these had been used according to the clearness and beauty of the language. But we learned that only one of the many translators had the approval of the author, the one used by the American Tract Society in its later editions. Therefore the quotations from D'Aubigne in this edition of Great Controversy have been made to conform in the main to this approved translation.

" 'In a few instances, new quotations from historians, preachers, and present-day writers have been used in the place of the old because they are more forceful or we have been unable to find the old ones. In each case where there has been such a change, Mother has given faithful attention to the proposed substitution and has approved of the change.

"'You will find that changes of this character have been made on pages 273, 277, 306-308, 334-335, 387, 547, 580-581.

" 'There are still some score or more quotations in the book whose authority we have so far been unable to trace. Fortunately, these relate to matters regarding which there is not a probability of there being any serious contention.

"' In spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, changes have been made to bring this book into uniformity of style with the other volumes of this series.

" 'In eight or ten places, time references have been changed because of the lapse of time since the book was first published.

" 'In several places, forms of expression have been changed to avoid giving unnecessary offense. An example of this will be found in the change of the word 'Romish' to 'Roman' or 'Roman Catholic.' In two places, the phrase 'divinity of Christ' is changed to 'deity of Christ.' And the words, 'religious toleration,' have been changed to 'religious liberty.'

" 'The statements made on pages 285-287, regarding the action of the assembly, in its blasphemous decrees against religion and the Bible, have been so worded as to show that the assembly set aside and afterward restored not only the Bible but also God and His worship.

" 'In the new edition, the rise of the papacy in 538 and its fall in 1798 are spoken of as its 'supremacy' and 'downfall' instead of its 'establishment' and 'abolition,' as in the old edition.

" 'In each of these places, the more accurate form of expression has been duly considered and approved by the author of the book.

" 'On pages 50, 563-564, 580-581 and in a few other places where there were statements regarding the papacy which are strongly disputed by Roman Catholics and which are difficult to prove from accessible histories, the wording in the new edition has been so changed that the statement falls easily within the range of evidence that is readily obtainable.

"'Regarding these and similar passages, which might stir up bitter and unprofitable controversies, Mother has often said: 'What I have written regarding the arrogance and the assumptions of the papacy is true. Much historical evidence regarding these matters has been designedly destroyed; nevertheless, that the book may be of the greatest benefit to Catholics and others, and that needless controversies may be avoided, it is better to have all statements regarding the assumptions of the pope and the claims of the papacy stated so moderately as to be easily and clearly proved from accepted histories that are within the reach of our ministers and students.

" 'If you hear reports that some of the work done on this latest edition was done contrary to Mother's wish or without her knowledge, you can be sure that such reports are false and unworthy of consideration.

"Passages from the old and the new editions were read and compared, to illustrate the statement read from the speaker's letter of July 24. Then Brother White said:

"Since the printing of this new edition, Mother has taken great pleasure in looking over and rereading the book. Day after day, as I visited her in the morning, she spoke of it, saying that she enjoyed reading it again and that she was glad that the work we have done to make this edition as perfect as possible was completed while she was living and could direct in what was done.

"Mother has never claimed to be an authority on history. The things which she has written out are descriptions of flashlight pictures and other representations given her regarding the actions of men and the influences of these actions upon the work of God for the salvation of men, with views of past, present, and future history in its relation to this work. In connection with

the writing out of these views, she has made use of good and clear historical statements to help make plain to the reader the things which she is endeavoring to present. When I was a mere boy, I heard her read D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation to my father. She read to him a large part, if not the whole, of the five volumes. She has read other histories of the Reformation. This has helped her to locate and describe many of the events and the movements presented to her in vision. This is somewhat similar to the way in which the study of the Bible helps her to locate and describe the many figurative representations given to her regarding the development of the great controversy in our day between truth and error.

"Mother has never laid claim to verbal inspiration, and I do not find that my father, Elder Bates, Andrews, Smith, or Waggoner put forth this claim. If there was verbal inspiration in writing her manuscripts, why should there be, on her part, the work of addition or adaption? It is a fact that Mother often takes one of her manuscripts and goes over it thoughtfully, making additions that develop the thought still further.

"The first edition of this book was published in California in 1884. When the Spirit of Prophecy, Volume Ill, was printed, there was some matter left over. A portion of this was printed in pamphlet form and circulated, and it was expected that Mother would proceed immediately to add to this matter and bring out Volume IV. Before Father's death, he had advertised the book, Spirit of Prophecy, Volume IV.

"When Mother brought out Volume IV, she and those who had to do with its publication had in mind the fulfillment of Father's plan. We also had in mind that it was written for the Adventist people of the United States. Therefore, with much difficulty, the matter was compressed so as to bring this volume into about the same size as the other volumes of the series.

"Later on, when it was found that the book could be sold to all people, the publishers took the plates and printed an edition on larger paper. Illustrations were inserted, and an experiment was made in selling it as a sub- scription book at $1.50.

"In 1885, Mother and I were sent to Europe, and there the question came up regarding its translation into German, French, Danish, and Swedish. As Mother considered this proposition, she decided to make additions to the matter.

"Mother's contact with European people brought to her mind scores of things that had been presented to her in vision during past years, some of them two or three times, and other scenes, many times. Her seeing historic places and her contact with the people refreshed her memory with reference to these things, and so she desired to add much material to the book. This was done, and the manuscripts were prepared for translation.

"After our return to America, a new edition was brought out much enlarged. In this edition, some of the matter used in the first English edition was left out. The reason for these changes was found in the fact that the new edition was intended for worldwide circulation.

"In her public ministry, Mother has shown an ability to select from the storehouse of with, 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.

"Much of the research for historical statements used in the new European and American editions of Great Controversy was done in Basel, where we had access to Elder Andrews' large library, and where the translators had access to the university libraries.

"When we came to go over this matter for the purpose of giving historical references, there were some quotations which we could not find. In some cases, there were found other statements making the same point from other historians. These were in books accessible in many public libraries. When we brought to Mother's attention a quotation that we could not find and showed her that there was another quotation that we had found, which made the same point, she said, 'Use the one you can give reference to, so that the reader of the books, if he wishes to go to the source and find it, can do so.' In that way, some historical data have been substituted.

"Now, with reference to the statement that the people at Washington (the General Conference Committee men) have been doing this or that, right or wrong, in connection with this book, it is important that you should have a clear statement of facts regarding the matter.

"Our brethren at Washington and at Mountain View have done only that which we requested them to do. As stated in the beginning, we took counsel with the men of the publishing department, with State canvassing agents, and with members of the publishing committees (not only in Washington but in California), and I asked them to kindly call our attention to any passages that needed to be considered in connection with the resetting of the book.

"When it was pointed out that some of the historical data were questioned and challenged, we asked them to give us a written statement that would help us in our research. They did as we requested and nothing more. All decisions as to what should be changed and what should be printed word for word as in the old edition were made in Mother's office, by persons in her employ and working under her direction. Therefore there is no occasion for any one to say a word against the General Conference Committee men or the literary men at Washington or against the book because of anything done by the brethren in Washington or elsewhere in connection with this work.

"We are very thankful to our brethren in Washington and to many others for kind and faithful painstaking labor in looking up those passages that were likely to be challenged by the Catholics and other critics. We were also profoundly thankful to our brethren in England, on the continent, in Boston, New York, and Chicago for helping to find quotations in the great libraries and verify those that were difficult to locate. They have done this work at our request, and helped us in what we thought ought to be done. The uses made of the results of this research are seen in the historical references at the foot of the page and in the Appendix.

"The Appendix in the old book, as you remember, was partly explanatory, partly argumentative, and partly apologetic; but such notes seemed to us to be no longer necessary, and the thirty-one notes in the new edition are chiefly references to historical statements showing the correctness of the statements made in the book. We felt that it would be of value to the studious reader to have these definite references to the statements of well-known historians."

51 - W. C. WHITE LETTER, JULY 25, 1911

This letter, written from Elmshaven, was sent to the General Conference Publication Committee.

The following statement was written by Elder W. C. White to the General Conference Publication Committee on July 25, 1911:

"To the Members of the "Publication Committee "Dear Brethren:

"In the accompanying letter to our State Missionary Agents, I have made a brief statement about the changes that appear in the new edition of Great Controversy

"A study of these changes may lead some to ask the question, 'Has Sister White the authority and right to make changes in her published writings, either by addition, or by omission, or by any change whatever in the forms of expression, the manner of description, or the plan of the argument?'

"The simple statement of some facts regarding the writing of her books, and the enlargement and development of the story of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, may of itself constitute an answer to this question.

"It is generally admitted that in Sister White's discourses, spoken to the people, she uses great freedom and wisdom in the selection of proofs and illustrations, to make plain and forcible her presentation of the truths revealed to her in vision. Also, that she selects such facts and arguments as are adapted to the audience to whom she is speaking. This is essential to the attainment of the best results from her discourses.

"And she has always felt and taught that it was her duty to use the same wisdom in the selection of matter for her books, that she does in the selection of matter for her discourses.

"When Mother was writing Great Controversy, Volume IV, in 1882-1884, she was instructed regarding the general plan of the book. It was revealed to her that she should present an outline of the controversy between Christ and Satan as it developed in the first centuries of the Christian era, and in the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, in such a way as to prepare the mind of the reader to understand clearly the controversy as it is going on in our day.

"While Mother was writing this book, many of the scenes were presented to her over and over again in visions of the night. The vision of the deliverance of God's people, as given in Chapter XL, was repeated three times; and on two occasions, once at her home in Healdsburg and once at the St. Helena Sanitarium, members of her family, sleeping in nearby rooms, were awakened from sleep by her clear, musical cry, 'They come! They come!'

"Several times we thought that the manuscript of the book was all ready for the printer, and then a vision of some important feature of the controversy would be repeated, and Mother would again write upon the subject, bringing out the description more fully and clearly. Thus the publishing was delayed, and the book grew in size.

"Mother regarded this new book as an expansion of the subject as first published in Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1 (1858), and now found in Early Writings, pages 210-295.

"And notwithstanding the divine instruction regarding the plan of the book, which has made it so useful to the general public, Mother felt that it was

addressed chiefly to the Adventist people of the United States. Later, in pre- paring it for a wider circulation, she omitted a few portions that had appeared in the earlier edition. Examples of these may be found in the chapter entitled, 'The Snares of Satan,' pages 518-530.

"In her first visions of the lives of the patriarchs, the mission and teachings of Christ and His apostles, and the controversy as carried forward by the church of Christ from the ascension to our day were at first presented to her in outline and were written out in brief, comprehensive articles as we find them in Early Writings.

"In later years, one group of subjects after another was shown her in vision repeatedly, and each time the revelation brought out more clearly the details of the whole or of some features of the subject.

"Consequently Mother has written and published her views on the various phrases of the great controversy several times, and each time more fully.

"That which was published regarding the fall of Satan, the fall of man, and the plan of Salvation, in Early Writings, occupied eight pages. The same subjects as published in Patriarchs and Prophets occupied thirty larger pages.

"That which was published in 1858 about the life of Christ, as found in Early Writings, occupied forty pages. The same as published in 1878 fills over six hundred pages of Spirit of Prophecy, Volumes II and III. And as now published in Desire of Ages, and in Christ's Object Lessons, it fills more than a thousand pages.

"In Great Controversy, Volume IV, published in 1885, in the chapter 'Snares of Satan,' there are three pages or more of matter that was not used in the later editions, which were prepared to be sold to the multitudes by our canvassers. It is most excellent and interesting reading for Sabbathkeepers, as it points out the work that Satan will do in persuading popular ministers and church members to elevate the Sunday Sabbath, and to persecute Sabbathkeepers. [Currently found in Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 472-475.]

"It was not left out because it was less true in 1888 than in 1885, but because Mother thought it was not wisdom to say these things to the multitudes to whom the book would be sold in future years.

"With reference to this, and to other passages in her writings which have been omitted in later editions, she has often said: 'These statements are true, and they are useful to our people; but to the general public, for whom this book is now being prepared, they are out of place. Christ said, even to His disciples, I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. And Christ taught His disciples to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Therefore, as it is probable that more souls will be won to Christ by the book without this passage than with it, let it be omitted.'

"Regarding changes in forms of expression, Mother has often said: 'Essential truths must be plainly told; but so far as possible they should be told in language that will win, rather than offend.'-W.C. White letter, July 25,1911.

52 - W.C. WHITE STATEMENT, NOVEMBER 4, 1912

This written statement was sent to a union publishing department secretary.

The following statement was written to a union publishing department secretary, on November 4, 1912:

"Regarding Mother's writings and their use as authority on points of history and chronology, Mother has never wished our brethren to treat them as authority regarding the details of history or historical dates. The great truths revealed to Mother regarding the controversy between good and evil, light and darkness, have been given to her in various ways, but chiefly as flashlight view of great events in the lives of individuals and in the experiences of churches, of bands of reformers, and of nations. What has thus been revealed to her she has written out first briefly in the Early Writings, then more fully as in Spiritual Gifts and in Spirit of Prophecy, and finally in the Great Controversy series.

"When writing out the experiences of Reformers in the time of the Reformation and in the great Advent Movement of 1844, Mother often gave at first a partial description of some scene presented to her. Later on she would write it out more fully, and again still more fully. I have known her to write upon one subject four or five times, and then mourn because she could not command language to describe the matter more perfectly.

"When writing out the chapters for Great Controversy, she sometimes gave a partial description of an important historical event, and when her copyist who was preparing the manuscripts for the printer, made inquiry regarding time and place, Mother would say that those things are recorded by conscientious historians. Let the dates used by those historians be inserted. At other times in writing out what has been presented to her, Mother found such perfect descriptions of events and presentations of facts and of doctrines written out in our denominational books, that she copied the words of these authorities.

"When Great Controversy was written, Mother never thought that the readers would take it as authority on historical dates or use it to settle controversy regarding details of history, and she does not now feel that it should be used in that way. Mother regards with great respect the work of those faithful historians who devoted years of time to the study of God's great plan as presented in the prophecy, and the outworking of that plan as recorded in history."

53 - W.C. WHITE LETTER, JANUARY 8, 1928
This letter was sent to a General Conference Ministerial Department

associate secretary.

The following statement was written to Leroy Edwin Froom, a General Conference Ministerial Department associate secretary, on January 8, 1928:

"Sister White not only had good judgment based upon a clear and comprehensive understanding of conditions and of the natural consequences of publishing what she wrote, but she had many times direct instruction from the angel of the Lord regarding what should be omitted and what should be added in new editions.

"Consider for a few moments the chapter in the first edition of Great Controversy, Volume IV, published by Pacific Press in 1884. In Chapter XXVII, "The Snares of Satan," you find that about four pages in the latter part of the chapter were omitted from the later editions of Great Controversy.

These four pages are to be found in Testimonies to Ministers, pages 472 to 475. The information contained in these four pages is very valuable to Seventh day Adventists and was very appropriately included in the first edition of Great Controversy, Volume IV, which when it was published was like the other volumes considered to be a message especially to Seventh- day Adventists, and to [all] Christian people sympathizing with them in beliefs and aims.

"But, when it was decided that Great Controversy, Volume IV,
should be republished for general circulation by subscription agents, Ellen G. White suggested that the pages be left out because of the likelihood that ministers of popular churches reading those statements would become angered and array themselves against the circulation of the book.

"Why will not our brethren study God's merciful dealings to us by imparting information to us by the Spirit of Prophecy in its beautiful, harminious, and helpful features, instead of picking and criticizing and dissecting, trying to cut it up into little mechanical concrete blocks such as we buy for our children to play with and then ask somebody else to fit it together so that it will make a pattern that pleases them and leave out the particular parts of the pattern that they do not like? I pray the Lord to give us patience and guidance in doing what we can to help such ones to see the beauty of God's work."

54 - W.C. WHITE LETTER, JANUARY 8, 1928

This second letter was sent to the same individual.

The following letter was written by Elder W.C. White to L.E. Froom, and on the same date (January 8, 1928):

"Referring to the statements that have been published by Elder Loughborough, you speak of the stress placed upon him by the physical manifestations and intimate that these do not appeal to you.

"I fully agree with you that the great proof of the divine hand in the gift to the remnant church is in the internal evidence of the writings themselves. Neverthless, I must believe that in the physical manifestations which have accompanied the bestowal of light and revelation, there is some real value; otherwise God would not have given them. Furthermore I am brought in contact with a great many people, earnest, sincere, and precious in the sight of the Lord, who do regard these physical manifestations as a matter of serious importance, and they testify that their faith has been greatly strengthened by a clear knowledge of the methods adopted by our heavenly Father for the confirmation of the receivers in the light He has given them.

"You refer to the little statement which I sent you regarding verbal inspiration. This statement made by the General Conference of 1883 was in perfect harmony with the beliefs and position of the pioneers in this cause, and it was, I think, the only position taken by any of our ministers and teachers until Prof. [W. W.] Prescott, president of Battle Creek College, presented in a very forceful way another view-the view held and presented by Professor Gausen. The acceptance of the view by the students in the Battle Creek College and many others, including Elder Haskell, has resulted in bringing into our work questions and perplexities without end, and always increasing.

"Sister White never accepted the Gausen theory regarding verbal inspiration, either as applied to her own work or as applied to the Bible.

"You say that in your endeavor to have a loyal and rational understanding of the background of this marvelous gift, you have been seeking to gain information concerning the various persons who helped Sister White in the literary phase of the work.

"It is my conviction, Brother Froom, that you will never get light regarding the background of the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy by studying the characteristics and qualifications of the faithful copyists and the copy editors, whom Sister White called to her assistance in preparing for publication articles for our periodicals and chapters for her books.

"The foundation by which to fix faith in the messages which God has sent to His people, will be more readily found in the study of His dealings with His prophets in past ages. It seems to me that the study of the life and labors and writings of Saint Paul are more helpful and illuminating than any other line of study we might suggest, and I do not think we shall be greatly helped in establishing confidence in the writings of Paul by searching to make a list of his helpers and by study into their history and their experience. It is easy for me to believe that Jeremiah was directed of God in his selection of Baruch as a copyist; also that Paul had heavenly wisdom in selecting those who should act as his amanuensis from time to time according to his needs.

"It is my belief that Sister Ellen G. White had heavenly guidance in choosing the persons who should act as copyists and those who should help to prepare articles for our periodicals and chapters for our books

"I am well acquainted with the circumstances which led her to select some of these workers and of the direct encouragements given her regarding their qualifications and trustworthiness for the work. I also know of instances where she was directed to instruct, to caution, and sometimes to dismiss from her employ those whose lack of spirituality disqualified them for satisfactory service.

Regarding this, Elder Starr could give you an interesting chapter regarding Sister White's experience with Miss Fannie Bolton, and I could tell you of a circumstance under which she was separated from her own niece, Mary Clough, whom she greatly loved.

"In the early '60's, Sister White was unaided, except by her husband, who would listen to her as she read chapters of manuscript and would suggest grammatical corrections as they occurred to his mind. As a little boy I remember witnessing circumstances like this--Elder White in his weariness would be lying on the sofa and Sister White would bring in a chapter written for Spiritual Gifts and would read to him and he would suggest, as stated above, grammatical corrections. Articles for the Testimonies were treated in a similar way.

"Beside the few testimonies which were printed, many personal testimonies were sent to individuals and oftentimes Sister White would write saying, 'I have no one to copy this Testimony. Please make a copy for yourself and send the original back to me.' As a result of this method of work, we have in our manuscript vault many of the early testimonies in Sister White's handwriting.

"In the earlier '60's, Sister Lucinda M. Hall acted as Sister White's housekeeper, secretary, and sometimes traveling companion. She was both timid and conscientious, and only the plainest grammatical errors were corrected by her. About 1862, Sister Adelia Patten connected with the White family and

did some copying for Sister White. Later on she connected with the Review and Herald.

"In the autumn of 1872 Sister White visited Colorado and became acquainted with her niece Mary C. Clough, and in '74,'75, and '76 Miss Clough assisted in preparing copy for "Spirit of Prophecy, Volumes II and III. She also accompanied Elder and Mrs. White in their campmeeting labors and acted as reporter for the public press. In so doing, she was the first public agent regularly employed by the denomination and may be looked up to as the grandmother of our publicity department.

"Her experience as a newspaper reporter, the confidence that she thus gained and the praise that was heaped upon her work, unfitted her for the delicate and sacred work of being copy editor for Review articles and the chapters for the Great Controversy. In a vision it was presented to Sister White that she and Mary were looking at some wondrous developments in the sky. They meant much to Sister White, but to Mary they seemed to mean nothing; and the angel said, 'Spiritual things are spiritually discerned,' and then instructed Sister White that she should no longer employ her niece as her book editor.

"During '68,'69, and '70, various ones were imployed by Sister White to copy her testimonies. Among them were Miss Emma Sturgess, afterward the wife of Amos Prescott; Miss Anna Hale, afterward the wife of Irwin Royce; and others, whose names I do not now remember.

"After the death of Elder (James] White in 1881, Sister White employed Sister Marian Davis. She had been for some years a proofreader in the Review and Herald, and Sister White received assurance through revelation that Sister Davis would be a conscientious and faithful helper. Later on Sister Eliza Burnham was employed by Sister White, and at one time Mrs. Whitney and Fannie Bolton were employed at Battle Creek as helpers when there was much work to do. Sister Davis was with Sister White in Europe in 1886 and 1887. She was also Sister White's principal helper in Australia.

"As the work in Australia grew, Sister Burnham was called to assist in the book editing, and Maggie Hare and Minnie Hawkins were employed as copyists.

"I had forgotten to mention that during the years when Sister White was in Healdsburg, Sister J. I. Ings did much copying of testimonies and of manuscripts.

"At one time, while we were in Australia, it was proposed that the Special Testimonies to Ministers (i.e., Special Testimonies, Series A) published and sent out by Elder [O. A.] Olson in the early '90's should be reprinted--the matter to be grouped according to subjects. While this was under consideration, it happened that Elder W. A. Colcord, who had once been secretary of the General Con- ference and for many years a leading writer on religious liberty topics, was out of employment, and at my solicitations Sister White employed him to take the special testimonies and group the matter according to subjects for republication. He spent several weeks on this work and was paid by Sister White; but the work was never used. If I remember correctly, this was the extent of his connection with her literary work.

"The last work done by Sister Davis was the selection and arrangement of the matter used in Ministry of Healing.

"Elder C. C. Crisler assisted Sister White in selecting and arranging the matter appearing in Acts of the Apostles and Prophets and Kings.

"This sketch of the work and the workers does not claim to be complete. It was never considered by me or by any of Sister White's helpers that the

personnel of her working force was of any primary interest to the readers of her books. She wrote the matter. She wrote very fully. There was always a controversy between her and the publishers regarding the quantity of matter that should be used. Sister White was best pleased when a subject was presented very fully, and the publishers were always bringing pressure to bear to have the matter condensed or abbreviated so that the book would not be too large. Consequently, after important chapters were prepared for the printer, and sometimes after they were sent to the printer, a new presentation of the subject would be given Sister White, and she would write additional matter and insist upon its being incorporated. This experience applied chiefly to the Great Controversy, Volume IV.

"A corresponding difficulty regarding the amount of matter prepared for Desire of Ages was overcome in part by the setting apart of portions which were used in Christ's Object Lessons and Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

"Regarding the reading of works of contemporary authors during the time of the preparation of these books, there is very little to be said, because, when Sister White was busily engaged in writing she had very little time to read. Previous to her work of writing on the life of Christ and during the time of her writing, to some extent, she read from the works of Hanna, Fleetwood, Farrar, and Geikie. I never knew of her reading Edersheim. She occasionally referred to Andrews, particularly with reference to chronology.

"Why did she read any of these books? The great events of the conflict of the ages as brought out in the Great Controversy [i.e., Conflict] Series, were presented to her in part at many different times. In the first presentation a brief outline was given her as represented in the third section of the book now called Early Writings.

"Later on the great events of the patriarchal age and the experience of the prophets were presented to her as brought out in her articles in Testimonies for the Church, and in her series of articles published in later years in the Review, The Signs of the times, and the Southern Watchman. These series, you will remember, deal quite fully with the work of Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, and other of the prophets.

"The great events occurring in the life of our Lord were presented to her in panoramic scenes as also were the other portions of the Great Controversy. In a few of these scenes chronology and geography were clearly presented, but in the greater part of the revelation the flashlight scenes, which were exceedingly vivid, and the conversation and the controversies, which she heard and was able to narrate, were not marked geographically or chronologically, and she was left to study the Bible and history, and the writings of men who had presented the life of our Lord to get the chronological and geographical connection.

"Another purpose served by the reading of history and the Life of Our Lord and the Life of St. Paul, was that in so doing there was brought vividly to her mind scenes presented clearly in vision, but which were through the lapse of years and her strenuous ministry, dimmed in her memory.

"Many times in the reading of Hanna, Farrar, or Fleetwood, she would run on to a description of a scene which had been vividly presented to her, but forgotten, and which she was able to describe more in detail than that which she had read.

"Notwithstanding all the power that God had given her to present scenes in the lives of Christ and His apostles and His prophets and His

reformers in a stronger and more telling way than other historians, yet she always felt most keenly the results of her lack of school education. She admired the language in which other writers had presented to their readers the scenes which God had presented to her in vision, and she found it both a pleasure, and a convenience and an economy of time to use their language fully or in part in presenting those things which she knew through revelation, and which she wished to pass on to her readers.

"In many of her manuscripts as they come from her hand quotation marks are used. In other cases they were not used; and her habit of using parts of sentences found in the writings of others and filling in a part of her own composition, was not based upon any definite plan nor was it questioned by her copyists and copy writers until about 1885 and onward.

"When critics pointed out this feature of her work as a reason for questioning the gift which had enabled her to write, she paid little attention to it. Later on, when complaint was made that this was an injustice to other pub- lishers and writers, she made a decided change--a change which you are familiar with.

"It is my belief, Brother Froom, that I cannot too frequently restate the fact that Sister White's mind was keenly active with reference to the contents of the articles published in our periodicals, and the chapters composing her books, and that she had help from Heaven and was remarkably acute in detecting any error made by copyists or by copy editors. This condition prevailed during all her busy years before the death of her husband and after the death of her husband, during her ministry in Europe and Australia and in the greater part of the years spent in America after her return from Australia.

"In her very last years her supervision was not so comprehensive, but she was marvelously blessed in her intelligence in directing regarding the matter previously written which was being used in her last years and in point- ing out those subjects which needed to be exercised and those subjects which could be spared as we proceeded with the work of abridgment of the larger books in preparing copy for translation into foreign tongues.

"Please read this statement to Elder Daniells, and if you observe that in my haste I have left matter so that it can be easily misunderstood, please point this out to me and give me an opportunity to strengthen the matter before it is placed by you before others of your brethren.

"Yours truly, "W. C. White,"

55 - W. C. WHITE LETTER, DECEMBER 13, 1934

This third letter was sent to the same individual.

The following letter was written by Elder W. C. White to L E. Froom, on December 13, 1934:

"Dear Brother Froom:

"I hold in my hand your letter of December 3. The questions you ask are very comprehensive and rather difficult to answer.

"It is a fact that during my thirty or more years of association with Ellen White I had the utmost confidence in her ministry. I know that she received revelations from God which were of untold value to the church and to the

world. I did not enter as fully as some of our brethren wish to do in an analysis of the sources of information which enabled her to write her books.

"The framework of the great temple of truth sustained by her writings was presented to her clearly in vision. In some features of this work, information was given in detail. Regarding some features of the revelation, such as the features of prophetic chronology, as regards the ministration in the sanctuary and the changes that took place in 1844, the matter was presented to her many times and in detail many times, and this enabled her to speak very clearly and very positively regarding the foundation pillars of our faith.

"In some of the historical matters such as are brought out in Patriarchs and Prophets and in Acts of the Apostles, and in Great Controversy, the main outlines were made very clear and plain to her, and when she came to write up these topics, she was left to study the Bible and history to get dates and geographical relations and to perfect her description of details.

"Ellen White was a rapid reader and had a very retentive memory. The revelations which she had received enabled her to grip subjects regarding which she read in a vigorous way. This enabled her to select and appropriate that which was true and to discard that which was erroneous or doubtful.

"She read diligently the History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Much of D'Aubigne's history she read aloud to my father. She was an interested reader of religious journals, and during the many years that Uriah Smith was editor of the Review, it was her custom to request him after having made use of the religious exchanges, to pass them over to her and she would spend a portion of her time in scanning them in selecting precious things which sometimes appeared in the-Review. In these she also gathered information regarding what was going on in the religious world.

"Regarding the study of bocks, there came a time shortly after the erection of the brick edifice which housed the Review and Herald plant that the large room facing the north end on the second floor was assigned to Elder and Mrs. White as their editorial and writing room. In this was located the Review and Herald library. To this Elder White made reference in his writings, and from the library Ellen White made selection of books which she considered profitable to read.

"It was remarkable that in her reading and scanning of books that her mind was directed to the most helpful books and to the most helpful passages contained in those books. Occasionally she would mention to Father, and in my presence, her experience in being led to examine a book which she had never looked into before, and her experience in opening it to certain passages that helped her in describing that which she had seen and wished to present.

"I am supposing that Bliss's Memoirs was in this library, but I have no knowledge as to whether she read it or not. I never heard her mention that book in connection with her work.

"The explanatory notes found in her large subscription books were, some of them, written by herself, but most of them were written by J. H. Waggoner, Uriah Smith, and M. C. Wilcox in conjunction with Marian Davis.

"You ask if James White brought to Ellen White books, the reading of which would help her in her writing. I do not remember of any such occurrence. I do remember that she occasionally brought interesting passages which she had been reading to the attention of her husband.

"You ask if her helpers brought statements to her attention which they thought would help her in her writings. Nothing of this kind occurred previous
to the writing of Great Controversy, Volume IV, at Healdsburg, in 1883 or 1884. Then it was seldom and related to minor details.

"When we were in Basel, in 1886, we had a very interesting experience with a group of translators. We found that our brethren in Europe were very desirous of having Great Controversy, Volume IV, translated in the French and German languages.

"To provide this book for the French people, Elder Au Franc had been employed as translator and had put twenty or more chapters into what he considered his first class French. Not everyone was satisfied with his trans- lation and Elder Jean Vuilleumier had been employed to make a translation and had gotten through with a half dozen more chapters.

"Regarding the German, there were three attempts at translation. Professor Kuhns, Madam Bach, and Henry Fry were the translators.

"What should we do? Several persons were united in condemning each of these translations and it was difficult to find more than two persons who would speak a good word for either one.

"Elder Whitney, manager of the Basel office, recognized the fact that Sister White's writing was difficult. The figures of speech were in some cases imperfectly understood by the translators, and in some cases where they understood the translators did not know the religious phraseology of their own language well enough to give a correct translation.

"Finally a way was arranged. Each morning at nine o'clock, two of the German translators, two of the French translators, Elder Whitney, Sister Davis, and myself met in the editorial room and chapter by chapter of the English book was read and commented upon. The translators recognizing a difficult passage, would stop the reading and discuss between themselves what the wording should be in French and in German. Frequently Elder Whitney would stop the reading and say, 'John, how would you translate that?' Then he would appeal to Elder Au Franc saying, 'Do you agree with that?' Discerning that
they did not understand in completeness the English text, Sister Davis and Brother Whitney would discuss its meaning and then the translators would again propose translation.

"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.

"With very kind regards, I remain, "Sincerely your brother,

"W.C. White"

56 - A.L. WHITE RESEARCH PAPER

This research paper, The Circulation of Great Controversy, was presented to the Field Missionary Secretaries' Council, meeting at St. Helena Sanitarium, in California, on September 30, 1938.

The study, "The Circulation of Great Controversy, " was prepared in the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate (at that time located in Elmshaven, California, prior to its later removal to Washington, D.C.) by its director, Arthur L. White, grandson of Ellen White. It was presented by him at the Field Missionary Secretaries' Council at Sanitarium, California (today called Deer Park, California) on September 30, 1938. All of the following material is as originally given with the following exceptions: bracketed references. Only Spirit of Prophecy statements will be placed within quo- tations marks; not A. L. White's comments. The subheads are his. Here now is this compilation:

Foremost among the reasons for the wide circulation of Great Controversy is the fact that the book is of more than human origin. The author in the introduction points to the Source of her information. She says:

"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 workings, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the author of salvation; and Satan, the author of evil, the first transgressor of God's holy law." -[Great Controversy, 13].

"As the spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others that which has thus been revealed-to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future."-Great Controversy, 10-11.

Speaking of the Source of the information which was presented in 1888 in a little volume touching the high points of the conflict story, the last part of which was enlarged and became the Great Controversy:

"In this vision at Lovett's Grove, much of the material of the Great Controversy which I had seen ten years before was repeated, and I was shown that I must write it out; that I should have to contend with the powers of darkness, for Satan would make strong efforts to hinder me, but angels of God would not leave me in the conflict, that in God must I put my trust."-2 Spiritual Gifts, 270. [Life Sketches, 162, is almost identical. For the full story, read 162-163, 1880].

This statement brings to view that, with the revelation of scenes of the great controversy, Mrs. White was shown that in writing these out she was to be opposed by Satan. This is readily understood; for, if the Lord's humble servant could be hindered from exposing his work and methods of attack, there would be less interference with his work.

The great adversary was not slow in bringing his attacks. Before Mrs. White reached her home a few days after the vision at Lovett's Grove, she was stricken with paralysis and despaired even of her life. Healed through prayer, but not completely restored at first, Mrs. White wrote out the story in a very brief form as now found in the last pages of Early Writings. [1 Spiritual Gifts, 1858, now in Early Writings, 133-295]. When the work was about completed she was shown, "that in the sudden attack at Jackson, Satan designed to take my life to hinder the work I was about to write; but angels of God were sent to raise me above the effect of Satan's attack.--2 Spiritual Gifts, 272. [Life Sketches, 163, is almost identical, 1880].

In 1884 there came from the press the first edition of our present Great Controversy [Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4, Fall, 1884]. It was popular from the first, and ten editions were printed and sold within the first four years of the life of the book. It was enlarged in 1888. Mrs. White frequently spoke of the especial value of this book and of the Source of its inspiration. A few brief quotations follow:

"I was moved by the Spirit of God to write that book, and while working upon it I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly, as represented in the words of Scripture: 'The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. -[Colporteur Ministry, 127; Letter 1, 1890].

"The Lord has set before me matters which are of urgent importance for the present time, and which reach into the future. These words have been spoken in a charge to me, 'Write in a book the things thou hast seen and heard, and let it go to all people for the time is at hand when past history will be repeated.' I have been aroused at one, two, or three O'clock in the morning, with some point forcibly impressed upon my mind as if spoken by the voice of God." [Colporteur Ministry, 128; Letter 1, 1890].

"I was shown . . that I should devote myself to writing out the important matters for Volume four (Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4, later became the present Great Controversy); and that the warning must go where the living messenger could not go, and that it would call the attention of many to the important events to occur in the closing scenes of the world's history."-BL. [Colporteur Ministry, 128; Letter 1, 1890].

"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. [Colporteur Ministry, 129].

WITHHOLDING LIGHT

When the new, enlarged edition of Great Controversy came from the press in 1888, there was every hope that the book would have a wide sale and accomplish much good. Certain conditions in our publishing work, however, thwarted these hopes, for the management of the Review and Herald had passed from the hands of men who had long experience in the work, to the hands of businessmen-a banker, a title lawyer, and later a sea captain.

A strong effort was made to have Mrs. White release all royalties on Great Controversy. The banker-manager, being a good financier, rejected to paying royalties on books that he supposed would have only limited circulation.

Mrs. White stated positively that she had been instructed otherwise and could not relinquish the royalty.

When she returned from Europe, it was found that the manager and some of his associates were determined to bring out books that were free from royalty. Bible Readings was brought out by a variety of authors who donated their work so the book could be put on the market without royalty. This book was a great success.

When the enlarged editions of Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets came out, the canvassing business was in the hands of the men who were advocating, "One book; everybody on one book; all agents on one book." Bible Readings was pushed to the front and Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets lay idle on the shelves and had only a limited sale.

When Mrs. White protested against this, she was promised that, after running Bible Readings a year, they would take up Great Controversy and concentrate on it. When the year was done, those in charge of the publishing and-canvassing work did not fufill their promise and Bible Readings was majored for several years, to the neglect of other books. Then in later years, when the book passed to other hands in the canvassing work, Great Con- troversy and Patriarchs and Prophets were brought to the front and had a good sale.

With this brief recital of the circumstances surrounding the neglect of Great Controversy, the following extracts will be understood and appreciated:

"About this time, when the new edition of Volume Four (Great Controversy) came from the press, the new book, Bible Readings, was introduced. This book had a great sale and has been permitted to swallow up every other interest. Canvassers found it an easy book to handle, and Volume Four was kept out of the field. I felt that this was not right. I knew that it was not right because it was not in harmony with the light which God had given me." BL, 1899.

"As soon as Great Controversy came from the press, it should have been pushed forward above every other book. I have been shown this. Had it been circulated at the time it was lying idle, there would have been a very different order of things among our workers. The impressions made would have brought decided changes. But instead of this the book was suppressed, although the promise was made me that it should go forward if I would take the lowest royalty. The book that should have gone did not go; and the men who should have worked to carry it forward, discouraged the canvassers from handling it. Thus saith the Lord, 'I will judge for this false, dishonest work.' "-BL, 1899.

"This book has to a great degree been misplaced by another book, which has kept from the world the light God has given."-Manuscript 24, 1891.

"For nearly two years the book containing warnings and instructions from the Lord, given especially for this time, has been lying in our publishing houses, and no one feels the necessity or importance of bringing it before
the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden? Now Volume one, or Patriarchs and Prophets, is ready for circulation; but, even
for this book, I would not allow Volume Four to remain longer as a light under a bushel. I am in sore distress of mind, but who of my brethren cares for this?

"It is now urged that only one book at a time shall have a place in the field-that all the canvassers shall work for the same book. I do not see the force or propriety of this. If the Lord has light for His people, who shall venture to put up barriers so that the light shall not reach them? One book is published at little expense, and it is therefore sold cheaply; other books that present truths essential at this time have involved greater expense. Shall they therefore be kept from the people? Bible Readings is a good book to occupy its own place, but should not be permitted to crowd out other important works which the people need. The presidents of our conferences have a duty to do, our board of directors should have something to say in this matter, that the different branches of God's work may receive equal attention.

"The work of the intelligent, God-fearing canvasser has been represented as equal to that of the Gospel ministry. Then should the canvasser, any more than the minister, feel at liberty to act from selfish motives? Should he turn his back on

all the principles of missionary work, and handle the books-placed before him, shall I say, as a temptation-on which he can make the most money? Should he have no interest to circulate any book but that which brings him the greatest financial gain? How is the missionary spirit revealed here? Has not the canvassing work ceased to be what it ought to be? How is it that no voice is raised to correct this state of things?

When there came a change of attitude toward her books, Mrs. White recognized it and rejoiced over their wide circulation, for thus the words of truth which had been given her were passed on to the people. A recognition of this change is noted in the two following extracts, written in 1894 and 1907 respectively.

"Light was in that book which came from Heaven; but what account will these men have to give to God for the little faith and confidence manifested in that book that the warnings should not come to the people when they should have had them. I am so glad the people can have them now. The delay was Satan's devising. He was working diligently and had brought about a condition of things that the work cannot go as it would have gone."-0-55, 1894.

"Years ago when I was in Battle Creek I was much distressed that Great Controversy should lie idle on the shelf. For two years it was held back that Bible Readings might have more attention. All that I could say did not change the course of those who had control of the canvassing work... There is not now a studied, determined effort to hold back those books that are of the most importance. We are planning to bring out many books."-H-70, 1907.

In 1899 Mrs. White was led to speak of the experience in which Great Controversy was neglected, giving as a reason the danger of a repetition of that experience. She said:

"The rights of brethren are to be respected; there should not be a multiplication of books, when it is well understood that one will interfere with the sale of the one just preceding it. This was the way with Great Controversy. This book was not left to have a fair chance in being handled with Bible Readings. The Bible Readings was brought in before the books of great importance, Great Controversy and Daniel and Revelation which relate to the vital interests before us. Through the instruction to the canvassing agents, Great Controversy had little opportunity to be circulated, and was nearly eclipsed. There is danger that the same course will be followed, therefore it is necessary to refer to the light given on this subject. It was presented to me that one book was crossing the track of another. This is not righteous judgment. I have now to say, that selfishness be uprooted. Let the precious plants of God's own garden of the heart live and flourish."-1-91, 1899.

REASONS FOR WIDE CIRCULATION

The reasons for Mrs. White's burden for the wide circulation of Great Controversy have been set forth many times, and they should constitute a sound basis for a continued impetus:

"Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and the future. In its outline of the closing scenes of this earth's history, it bears a powerful testimony in behalf of the truth. I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written; for, in the Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books." - K-281. [Colporteur Ministry, 127; Letter 281, 1905].

"Let there be an interest aroused in the sale of these books. Their sale is essential, for they contain timely instruction from the Lord. They should be appreciated as books that bring to the people light that is especially needed just now. Therefore these books should be widely distributed. Those who make a careful study of the instruction contained in them, and will receive it as from the Lord, will be kept from receiving many of the errors that are being introduced. Those who accept the truth contained in these books will not be led into false paths. "-[Colporteur Ministry, 130].

"Many will depart from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits. Patriarchs and Prophets and Great Controversy are books that are especially adapted to those who have newly come to the faith, that they many be es- tablished in the truth. The dangers are pointed out that should be avoided by the church. Those who become thoroughly acquainted with the lessons in these books will see the dangers before them, and will be able to discern the plain, straight path marked out for them. They will be kept from strange paths. They will make straight paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way."-[Colporteur Ministry, 129-130; Evangelism, 366].

"We are warned to avoid the mistakes the Israelites made in stubbornly refusing to receive the warnings that came to them from God."-W- 229. [Letter 229, 1903].

GREATEST RESULTS IN THE FUTURE

"The results of the circulation of this book [Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now appears. By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. But a much larger number of those who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it. The fulfillment of some of the predictions will inspire faith that others will also come to pass; and, when the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency."-Manuscript 31, 1890. [Col- porteur Ministry, 128-129].

LET NOTHING HINDER THEIR SALE; OUR DUTY IS TO SPREAD THE LIGHT THESE BOOKS CONTAIN

"The larger books, Patriarchs and Prophets, Great Controversy, and Desire of Ages should be sold everywhere. These books contain truth for this time-truth that is to be proclaimed in all parts of the world. Nothing is to hinder their sale."-Colporteur Evangelist, 35. [Colporteur Ministry, 124; Review, January 20, 1903].

"It is a duty we owe to our people and to God, to send every ray of light given me of God, demanded at this time for every tongue and nation. -E- 25-a, 1889.

"The light was that Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, Great Controversy, and Patriarchs and Prophets would make their way. They contain the very message the people must have, the special light God has given His people. The angels of God would prepare the way for these books in the hearts of the people."-[Colporteur Ministry, 123-124].

CIRCULATION OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY

"Instruction has been given me that the important books containing the light that God has given regarding Satan's apostasy in heaven should be given a wide circulation just now; for through them the truth will reach many minds. Patriarchs and Prophets, Daniel and Revelation, and the Great Controversy are needed now as never before; they should be widely circulated because the truths they emphasize will open many blind eyes... Many of our people have been blind to the importance of the very books that were most needed. Had tact and skill then been shown in the sale of these books, the Sunday-law movement would not be where it is today."-Colporteur Evangelist, 21. [Colporteur Ministry, 123; Review, February 16, 1905].

BOOKS SILENT WITNESSES

"Sister White is not the originator of these books. They contain the instruction that during her lifework God has given her. They contain the precious, comforting light that God has graciously given His servants to be given to the world. From their pages this light is to shine into the hearts of men and women, leading them to the Saviour. The Lord has declared that these books are to be scattered throughout the world. There is in them truth which to the receiver is a savor of life unto life. They are silent witnesses for God. In the past they have been the means in His hands of convicting and converting many souls. Many have read them with eager expectation, and by reading them, have been led to see the efficacy of Christ's atonement, and to trust in its power. They have been led to commit the keeping of their souls to their Creator, waiting and hoping for the coming of the Saviour to take His loved ones to their eternal home. In the future these books are to make the Gospel plain to many others, revealing to them the way of salvation. "-[Colporteur Ministry, 125; Review, January 20, 1903].

"The Lord has sent His people much instruction, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. Little heed has been given to the Bible, and the Lord has given a lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light. Oh, now much good would be accomplished if the books containing this light were read with a determination to carry out the principles they contain! There would be a thousandfold greater vigilance, a thousandfold more self- denial and resolute effort. And many more would now be rejoicing in the light of present truth."[Colporteur Ministry, 125-226; Review, January 20, 19031.

"My brethren and sisters, work earnestly to circulate these books. Put your heart into this work, and the blessing of God will be with you. Go forth in faith, as you go praying that God will prepare hearts to receive the light. "-

Colporteur Evangelist, 36-37. [Colporteur Ministry 126; Review, January 20, 1903].

Mrs. White's last recorded statement relative to the Book, Great Controversy, was made after a careful study of the revised edition published in 1911. She wrote as follows:

"A few days ago I received a copy of the new edition of the book, Great Controversy, recently printed at Mountain View, and also a similar copy printed at Washington. The book pleases me. I have spent Many hours looking through its pages, and I see that the publishers have done good work.

The objective of the author in presenting Great Controversy to the world might well be taken as the objective of those who take part in its circulation:

"To unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error; to reveal the wiles of Satan and the means by which he may be successfully resisted; to present a satisfactory solution of the great problem of evil, shedding such light on origin and the final disposition of sin as to make fully manifest the justice and benevolence of God on all His dealing with His creatures; and to show the holy, unchanging nature of the law; is the object of the book. That, through its influence, souls may be delivered from the powers of darkness, and become "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" is the earnest prayer of the writer."-Great Controversy, 12, 1888].

- PART SIX -

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK

- PART ONE -
THE WRITING OF THE BOOK

57 - DATES, PEOPLE, AND PLACES IN GREAT CONTROVERSY

The following data was compiled by the present writer, from history books on each person and place mentioned in the historical (first 16) chapters of Great Controversy. The completed study was placed as "Appendix B" in the back of our medium-print, paperback 1888 edition of the book.

That same study is reprinted below. The page notations are to our medium-print 1888 paperback reprint edition.

HOW TO USE THIS INFORMATION

The material for this Appendix was gathered over a period of about seven years. The purpose is to help you better understand the historical background of the first sixteen chapters of the book, Great Controversy, by providing additional information on the dates, people, and places that are part of its story.

You can read it with the book or afterward. Either way, it will help you to better see the historical background of what took place. Rather than to duplicate information in chapters 1 through 16, we have here provided additional facts to fill out the picture.

ABOUT THE DATES

At the heart of this Appendix are dates. When did it happen? Relatively few dates are given in Great Controversy, and these we try to supply. But do remember that dates are not always accurate.

No one still knows the date of the Council of Laodicea, and yet it was the first Catholic council to legislate on Sunday observance. (Before that, Sundaykeeping had only been urged by bishops, theologians, and some pastors.) But a majority of historians have assigned the date A.D. 337 to this council, with the thought in mind that it took place just before Constantine's death in 337.

There are uncertainties. Some historians declare that John Huss was thrown into prison on November 28, 1414, while others firmly maintain that it was December 6 of that year. And yet dates can tell us a lot. They add a depth to history. Reading these dates will greatly broaden your understanding of the historical chapters in Great Controversy. You will discover that the Temple at Jerusalem was besieged only two years after Herod's remodeling project was finished. Four years later, it was destroyed by Titus. You will learn that Tetzel died two years after Luther's theses were posted on the church door because of Tetzel's indulgence mongering [129:2], and that the youthful monarch [145:21, Charles V, was youthful

indeed: He convened the very important Diet (Council) of Worms when he was only 20 years old.

All dates given in this Appendix are A.D. dates, unless otherwise stated. All page references to the book are placed within brackets, and refer to the standard paging used in all editions of the fourth (1911) edition of Great Controversy. You will find these standard page numbers on the inside top of each page of the book you now have in hand and also, vertically, along the inside margin of each page. (The last number in the paragraph just above [145:21 means that the phrase, youthful monarch, will be found on page 145, paragraph 2, in the standard paging of the 1911 edition.) If you do not wish to refer to these bracketed page numbers, just skip them. They are only there in those instances in which you might desire to locate that information in this book.

ABOUT THE MAPS

Two important two-page maps (Where It Happened) will be found in our printed editions of Great Controversy (1884: pp. 63-64; 1888: pp. 111- 112). They will help you locate places mentioned in this book and in this appendix.

MAP 1 (the two-page map just after page 63 or 111) is a historical map of the western civilized world from A.D. 70 to 1500, and thus specifically covers the places men-tioned in chapters 1 through 6.

MAP 2 (the two-page map just before page 64 or 112) covers the years from A.D. 1500 through 1800, and thus applies to chapters 7-16 of the book and onward. Especially note the inset map in the center of the right- hand side of this two-page map. It has an enlargement of a portion of Germany on it. You will find this inset map especially helpful as you read chapters 7, 8, 10, 11.

Every place name in Europe, North Africa, or the Near East that is mentioned in Great Controversy or in this Appendix will be found on one or both of those two maps. But about eighteen places outside of that area (certain places in North America, South America, and Asia) will not, of course, be found on those two maps. Pages 342-344 of this book [360-363] contain most of those eighteen locations.

Maps 1 and 2 also include several important place names in church history that are not mentioned anywhere in this book.

Herod began reconstruction of it in 20/19 B.C., but the work went slowly and was not completed until A.D. 64, two years before it was besieged by the Romans under Cestius [26:0, 28:11.

The Jewish revolt began in the spring of A.D. 66 and the siege under Cestius started in the autumn of that year. Shortly after laying siege, Cestius withdrew, and the defending Jews rushed out and attacked his retreating army so fiercely that they routed it. This gave the Christians an opportunity to flee to Perea, on the other side of the Jordan River [30:2 - 31:0]. Vespasian resumed the warfare in Palestine in A.D. 67, but left for Rome in 69 when he was proclaimed emperor. Titus, his son, began the second siege of Jerusalem in April, A.D. 70 [31:2]. The Temple was taken and destroyed four months later, in August of A.D. 70 [32-35]. Over 100,000 Jews died in the city between early May and late July. More than a million perished during the siege, and an additional 100,000 were made prisoners and carried captive to foreign lands.

CHAPTER TWO PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES

The persecutions against Christians began under the Roman emperor, Nero, about July of A.D. 64 [40:0], and continued intermittently for centuries.
It was the Christian writer, Tertullian (197-227), who wrote to the emperor, Septimius Severus, that "the blood of Christians is seed." The letter was sent about the year A.D. 206 [41:3-42:0].

In April 311, the Roman persecutions against the Christians suddenly ceased [42:3], as Constantine I, together with Galerius and Licinius, issued an Edict of Toleration in that month. Following this, unscriptural errors from paganism crowded into the Christian church as, during Constantine's reign which lasted from 311 to 337, the church became the official religion of the Roman Empire. [42:3].

Amid the compromises and persecutions that followed, the apostasy gradually widened to the borders of the Roman Empire and the genuine followers of Jesus separated from the corrupt church [41-45]. The doctrinal stranglehold on the empire, by Rome, was completed by the mid-7th century.

CHAPTER THREE THE APOSTASY

From A.D. 311, onward, following the Edict of Toleration, the Christian church rapidly became popular and doctrinally corrupt [49:2]. This corruption eventually led to such statements, as the proclamation by the Vatican Council of 1870-1871, that the Vicar of Rome is Lord God the pope [50:3].

The Second Council of Nicea, in 787, made final the establishment of image worship as a necessary part of Catholic worship [52:0]. But it was Constantine's earlier decree, of March 321, making Sunday a public festival, that laid the foundation for the entire apostasy [52:1 ]. This first Sunday law was enacted on A. D. March 7, 321 [53:1 ]. The Council of Laodicea (c. 337) gave it official church

endorsement [53:2].

By the sixth century, the papacy was firmly established in power [54:2]; and, in A.D. 538, the 1260 years of papal oppression predicted in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13:57 began [54:2].

More and more, error took control of the church, as candles were burned before images (about A.D. 320) and prayers were offered to them. Gregory VII (1073-1085), in his haughty effort to dominate even the kings of Europe, is a striking example of this [57:2]. Henry IV, emperor of Germany, was excommunicated on February 22, 1076, by Gregory. By October, his own princes had deserted him; and, on January 28, 1077, we find him forgiven by the pope on the third day he stood barefoot in the snow [57:3 - 58:0].

The error of purgatory was commanded by an earlier pope, Gregory (Gregory the Great) who reigned from 590 to 604 [58:3]. Prayers to Mary and dead saints began about A.D. 375 [58:2], and the doctrine of Indulgences began in 1095 [59:1]. The idolatrous sacrifice of the Mass was conducted daily by 394 [59:2]; and the terrible Inquisition, on an official basis, began in the thirteenth century, specifically in 1229 [59:3]. Millions were to die under its stroke.

CHAPTER FOUR THE WALDENSES

Very early (before A.D. 300), Christian missionaries came to Britain with pure Bible truths. But upon being persecuted, they fled in the 300s northward to Scotland [62:2]. In the mid-400s, the heathen Germanic tribe of Saxons invaded Britain and persecuted the Christians even more [62:3]. A hundred years later, Columba (521-597), from Ireland, went to Scotland and founded an island missionary station in 563. From there, missionaries were sent out to many European countries and finally, in 614, to Italy [62:3].

But Rome determined to take over Britain; and, in the sixth century (A.D. 596), her missionaries went to the Saxons who looked with favor upon this worldly religion [62:4 - 63:0].

For more than a thousand years, heavy persecution of Christians was inflicted; but, throughout this time, believers in the Bible Sabbath continued to live and share their faith in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa [63:1].

The most striking example of Christianity in the Dark Ages were the Waldenses, who lived hidden away in the mountainous Alps, just north of Italy where the seat of the papacy was located. Persecution of the Waldenses continued for centuries, even down to the nineteenth century [64:178].

One pope that issued a bull against them is mentioned in this chapter. This was Innocent VIII (1484-1492), who, in 1487, ordered them to be "crushed as venomous serpents" [77:1 ].

CHAPTER FIVE JOHN WYCLIFFE

John Wycliffe was born in 1328 180:11. Not only did he give a powerful witness for God and Bible truth but he also authored the first translation of the Bible into the English language. He was speaking of Pope Gregory XI (13701378) when he told about the man who had the "hill of gold" [85:1 ].

He became pastor of Lutterworth, England, in 1374; and, in 1377, papal bulls (decrees) were hurled against him [85:2]. He underwent two trials (1377 and 1378); but, in the year 1377, King Edward III (1327-1377) died, and the pope, Gregory VI, died the next year. Their deaths effectively quashed the power of the two bulls.

Two rival popes were elected in 1378, and the great schism began. Now there were two popes instead of one! Their intense fighting with one another lasted for decades and greatly weakened the power of the papacy during the schism (from 1378 to 1415) [86:2-87:0].

Between 1382 and 1384, Wycliffe translated the Bible into English [88:1-89:0]. He was called to a third trial in 1382, but God protected him until his Bible translation was completed [90:1-91:0]. On December 31, 1384, he died while pastoring his church [92:4].

On May 4, 1415, the Council of Constance decreed that the remains of Wycliffe be burned and thrown into the sea. This was done in the year 1428, forty-four years after the death of John Wycliffe [95:2-96:0].

CHAPTER SIX HUSS AND JEROME

Gregory VII (Hildebrand, 1073-1080, or as some say, 1085) was one of the most insolent popes of the Dark Ages. He dominated Rome for years before he became pope in 1073 197:1].

Between the 1360s and the 1390s, over a half-dozen men spoke out against the prevailing religious corruption in Bohemia [97:2]. John Huss, himself, was born in 1367 or 1373198:1 ], and completed his college studies in 1396 [98:2]. Ordained to the priesthood in 1450, he was made rector of the university many of her manuscripts church at Prague in 1402 [98:299:0], the same year he became pastor of the chapel at Bethlehem in Prague 199:1].

The Queen of England that was a convert to Wycliff's teachings was Anna, who married King Richard II in 1383. When he came to Prague, Jerome brought Wycliffe's writings to Huss [99:2].

The denunciations, by John Huss, of the clerical corruptions began in 1405, with the firm support of King Waclav. In 1409, the message of truth went from Bohemia into Germany, as German students left the University of Prague for their homeland because of a political problem [100:2].

In 1412, the pope condemned Huss and placed the city of Prague under interdict [100:3-101:0]. Late that same year, Huss withdrew to his native village of Husinecz to temporarily avoid further problems for the

oppressed city of Prague [101:2]. And, in 1413, Huss again withdrew from Prague to Husinecz [104:1].

The Council of Constance was called at the request of the emperor, Sigismund (1410-1437), by Pope John XXIII (1410-1415). It should be noted that John XXIII was the immediate successor of the three rival
popes who were claiming to be the infallible Vicar of Christ.

The Council of Constance met from November 1, 1414, to April 1418 [104:2]. Huss left his native village in October 1414 and arrived November 3 at Constance [104:4]. In spite of the safe-conduct issued him by Sigismund, the papists had Huss arrested and thrown into prison on November 28 or December 6, 1414. Later he was moved to a dungeon in the castle of Gottlebin.

The three rival popes were deposed on May 29, 1415; and a new one was elected, thus ending the all-too-revealing papal schism which had continued 37 years since 1378 [106:2]. John Huss was brought before the council on June 5, 7, and 8 [107:2]. Apparently it was foredoomed to be an unfair hearing; for, one month earlier, on May 14, the council had already officially condemned the teachings of Wycliffe (who had died 31 years previously, 1384) and ordered his body exhumed, burned, and thrown into the sea. This was done forty-four years after Wycliffe's death in 1428 [95:2-96:0].

On July 6, 1415, John Huss was condemned and burned at the stake [108:2-110:1 ]. Thus died another noble hero at the hands of the enemies of God and man.

Jerome was captured and imprisoned shortly after Huss was. On September 10 or 11, and again on the 23rd, recanted. He spent the autumn and winter of 1415-1416 in prison; and, then, after formally denying his recantation, he was burned at the stake on May 30, 1416 [111:1-115:2].

The Hussite wars lasted for many years. John Ziska (or Zizka), the blind leader of the Hussites, died in 1424. Procopius (or Prokop) took his place and continued the fighting [115:4-116:11.

The Council of Basil, convened in 1433, was the means of splitting the Bohemians; for some made peace with Rome while others, correctly recognizing what would happen if they did, refused to do so. This split that destroyed the nation took place 18 years after the death of John Huss. In the Battle of Lipan in 1434, the faithful Taborites under Procopius were conquered by the compromisers (who were known as the Ultraquists). At a second ses- sion of the Council of Basil in 1436, the victorious compromisers made full peace with Rome [118:1-2]. There are too many victorious compromisers in our own day.

The Emperor Sigismund had worked closely with Rome in slaying Huss and Jerome and in presenting the deceptive Four Points to the Bohemians, by which they were overthrown. He died in 1437, after finally achieving a one year rule over Bohemia [118:3].

The remnant of the faithful "Taborites of old" banded together under the name of "Brethren" (Unitas Fratum) [119:1].

CHAPTER SEVEN

LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME

Nine years before Columbus discovered the islands of the American continents, Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany [120:1 ]. He entered the University of Erfurt in 1501 [121:4], and received a Bachelor's degree in 1502 and a Master's in 1505. The summer of that same year (on July 17) he took monastic vows and entered an Augustinian convent in Erfurt [123:1 ].

Johann von Staupitz (1469-1524) was the supervisor of all of the Augustinian convents in Germany. He helped Luther in many ways [123:3).

After being ordained to the priesthood in 1507, Luther began advance studies at the University of Wittenberg in 1508, and the next year received a Bachelor of Theology degree and became a professor at the university.

He journeyed to Rome in 1510. Departing from Wittenburg in November, he did not arrive back until the following April [124:2-125:1].

He received the Doctor of Theology degree in 1512. Following his entrance upon professorship at the university, he began class lectures based on various books of the Bible. From 1513 to 1515, he lectured on the Psalms, and then on Romans till 1516. This was followed by lectures on Galatians, Hebrews, and Titus [125:2-127:0].

Pope Leo X (1513-1522) made a decision to appoint Albrecht of Brandenburg to the archbishopric of Mainz and Madeburg, with management over the bishopric of Haberstadt. But this apparently unimportant event was the means of getting the great Reformation started. Pope Leo's sale of the archbishopric cost Albrecht much money.

As a result, it was agreed that a Dominican monk, named Johann Tetzel (1470-1519), would travel throughout Germany and collect money by the sale of Indulgences. The money was to be divided 50-50 between Albrecht and the building of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome [127:1129:1 ].

In angry response to this sin of merchandising, Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the Castle Church at Wittenberg. The date was October 31, 1517 [129:2]. The sixteenth century Reformation had begun.

Replies and countercharges came from Tetzel, Wimpina, and others, but mostly from Johann Maier Eck (14861543) [130:3]. Johann Eck had earlier been on friendly acquaintance with Luther, but that was to be no more. Eck knew how to draw out of Luther the basics of his thinking, and those replies quickly caused an uproar. By January 1518, Rome had received complaints against Luther, but Pope Leo X, the great enjoyer of luxury and vice, did nothing till June when he sent Luther a summons (which reached him in August) to meet with the leadership in Rome [133:2-134:1].

Philipp Melanchton (1497-1560) arrived in Wittenberg in the summer of 1518 to take up duties as a Greek teacher. Till the day of Luther's death, Melanchton was to be his best friend and primary research scholar [134:2].

The trial of Luther, at Augsburg, took place in October 1518. On the 20th of the month, Luther left Augsburg to journey home [134:3-138:1]. Pope Leo X's bull condemning Luther and his doctrines was issued on June 15,1520 1141:1- 142:11, and Luther burned a copy of it (and the Roman Catholic canon law) at

Wittenberg on December 10, 15201142:21. A final bull of condemnation against Luther was issued on January 2, 1521 [143:2].

CHAPTER EIGHT LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET

Charles V (1500-1558) succeeded Maximilian, and became the new emperor of "the Holy Roman Empire" [145:1]. A mere youth, he convened the Diet [Council] of Worms to meet in November 1520 in order to solve a number of problems. One was Martin Luther; and, for this pur- pose, Luther was given a safe-conduct by him and commanded to appear at the Diet [145:1].

Shortly after Luther's arrival in Worms, the Reformer appeared before the Diet on April 17,15211154:3-156:01, and then gave his defense the following day [158:1-162:0]. After leaving Worms, he was secretly taken to the Wartburg Castle, where he soon began translating the New Testament in December of that year [169:0]. It was published in September 1522.

CHAPTER NINE THE SWISS REFORMER

Ulric (Huldrych) Zwingli was born on January 1, 1484, in Wildhaus, Switzerland, a few weeks after Luther was born (November 10, 1483) [71:2]. From 1498 to 1500, he studied in Bern under Heinrich Wolfflin; at which time, his father called him home [172:1]. Following two years of study in the University of Vienna (1500-1502), he did advanced work at the University of Basel for four more years (1502-1506) [173:1 ]. It was there that he gratefully learned about salvation in Christ from Thomas Wittenbach (Wyttenbach)(1472-1526) [173:1].

From 1506 to 1516, he was pastor of the little Alpine Church of Glarus. Studying deeply into the Bible, he began working in New Testament Greek in 1513 [173:2].

From early 1516 to the summer of 1519, he was pastor at Einsiedeln [174:3]. In the fall of 1519, he became pastor of the Cathedral of Zurich [176:2]. In 1520, the monks accused Zwingli of being a follower of Luther [177:2]. It was at this time that he preached so successfully against Bernard Samson, who was peddling Indulgences in Switzerland, that the pope told Samson to leave the country [178:4-179:1].

In 1519 came the Great Death, one of several bubonic plagues [179:2]. After it was over, Zwingli preached still more fervently; and, as a result, made himself a mark for papist efforts to discredit or slay him. The bishop of Constance accused him of heresy in a public meeting that took place in May 1522 [180:3]. It was six years later that the debate at Bern was held, in which Zwingli helped Oecolampadius [182:1-184:2].

CHAPTER TEN PROGRESS OF REFORM IN GERMANY

After giving his famous, "Here I Stand," defense at Worms on April 18, 1521 [154:3-156:0], Martin Luther left town and, without prior warning, was captured by friends and taken secretly to the Wartburg Castle [169:0; 185].

Immediately he began writing tracts against the Romish apostasy; and, although his hiding place was not known, it was obvious that he was very much alive and well. In December 1521, he began translating the New Testament from the Greek into German. It was published in September of the next year.

But elsewhere in Germany, fanatical teachers arose. This included Gabriel Zwilling (1487?-1558) of Wittenberg, who was powerfully preaching by October 1521 [186:2]. Then a delegation of three radicals of Zwickau came to Wittenberg on December 27, 1521 [187:1-2]. Chief among them were Storch and Stubner who, claiming to be prophets of God, declared that the end of the world was at hand.

This dangerous radicalism caused such concern that the local town officials of Wittenberg sent letters pleading with Luther to return at once. On March 6, 1522, he arrived [188:3], even though the Elector Fredrick had warned him not to so endanger himself [188:4-189:1].

Thomas Munzer (1490?-1525) first went to Zwickau in 1520, and soon became the leader of the fanatics. In April 1521, he left Zwickau and went to Prague where he proclaimed himself to be a prophet of God [192:0; 193:3]. The result was the peasant's rebellion that first began in 1524, and then climaxed in 1525 when the Swabian League crushed it [192:0-1].

Luther's German New Testament was published in September 1522 [193:4194:0].

CHAPTER ELEVEN PROTEST OF THE PRINCES

The Second Diet [Council] of Spires (or Reichstag at Speier) met in February 1529, (The modern name for this city is Speyer.) The majority of German princes in attendance were Roman Catholic, so they made use of this opportunity to issue an ultimatum to the German princes that were Protestant [197:11.

Following the Diet of Worms (1520-1521), Emperor Charles V had little time for several years to oppose the Lutherans, for the Turks, under Suleiman 1(1495-1566), began a powerful series of conquests into eastern Europe. In 1526, he took Hungary and Bohemia; and, by September 1528, his army was standing before the walls of Vienna, Austria [197:2].

As if that were not enough to distract him, Charles V was also busy fighting a war with the pope (Clement VII, 1523-1534). The pope had instigated this war because he was jealous of the power of Charles. And yet Charles had so far proven to be his best defender! The imperial army captured Rome on May 6, 1527 [197:2], ending the conflict.

The First Diet of Spires met in the summer of 1526. Although also dominated by a Catholic majority, it dared not effectively oppose the Lutherans because of the Turkish menace [197:3].

Throughout the early years of the Reformation, Fredrick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony (and thus the German prince in charge of the territory that Luther lived in) had consistently been a steadfast protector of Luther and his associates. Born in 1486, Frederick died in 1525 [198:3]. Duke John of Saxony, his brother, now became Elector and continued to provide the same protection, but now more openly.

The famous "Protest" ("Protestatio") of the German Lutheran princes was presented to the Second Diet of Spires on April 19, 1529 [202:4-204:0].

The next year (1530), the Diet of Augsburg convened. About to be crowned by the pope as "Holy Roman Emperor," Charles V announced the forthcoming council in January of that year [206:0]. When it met in the early summer, Melanchton wrote the first part of the confession; and Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, and Bugenhagen wrote the second part. The Augsburg Confession was signed by a number of the Protestant princes, and then read in German to the emperor as he sat on his throne at the Diet, on June 25, 1530 [206:2-207:2].

CHAPTER TWELVE THE FRENCH REFORMATION

The Protest by the Protestant princes at the Diet of Spires, given on April 19, 1529, and the Protestant Confession of faith, given at the Diet of Augsburg on June 25, 1530 [211:1 ], were followed by years of fighting and bloodshed. Finally, in 1554, Charles V, worn out by the continual warfare, gave his brother, Ferdinand, the emperorship and told him to work out a settlement of temporary peace. He had spent his lifetime fighting Bible religion; and, now, having abdicated the throne, he went to a Catholic monastery and spent his final years [211:1 ]. He died four years later (1558).

Warfare came to the Swiss Reformers also, for Rome was determined to exterminate them as well. The first Cappel War took place in 1529, and the second in 1531. On October 9, 1531, Zwingli led some of the most faithful defenders of the Swiss Reform faith into battle at Cappel. Most of them were annihilated by a much larger Swiss Catholic army. A few weeks later, Oecolampadius died also. The peace of Cappel, signed on November 20,1531, heavily favored Catholic objectives and destroyed Protestant evangelism in that country [211:2-212:11.

(But we might mention here that, in the providence of God, within five years the city of Geneva was to become a stronghold of Swiss Protestantism [236:1-2]).

Lefevre was a leading French scholar. After becoming a close friend of the youthful Farel, the two gradually, through careful Bible study, came to a knowledge of the true faith. (And yet even earlier-by 1512-Lefevre had already grasped many of the underlying principles of salvation through Christ.) [212:1- 213:2].

William Farel was born in Dauphine, France, in 1489, received his Master's degree at the University of Paris in 1517, and by 1520 was zealously carrying on active Protestant evangelism [213:2-214:1].

From 1521 to 1523, he conducted his work under the protection of Briconnet, the bishop of Meux. But, ultimately, Briconnet submitted to the Catholics and renounced his Protestant faith in order to save his position and possibly his life. This recantation took place in or near the year 1523 [214:2- 215:2].

Louis de Berquin (1489-1529), although a wealthy French knight, was led to Christ through faithful Bible study. (It is only the Bible, and obedience to it, that can change lives. Read it, dear reader. Read it every day.) When arrested

by the Sorbonne in 1523, Berquin was immediately freed by Margaret's intercession with the king. (Margaret, Queen of Navarre, was a devoted Protestant and the sister of King Francis 1 (1515-1547) [214:2].) After the beheading of a statue of Mary and the Child on May 31, 1528, Francis withdrew from Paris to the town of Blois so the Catholics could take vengeance, which they quickly did. Berquin was burned at the stake on April 17, 1529 1215:3- 219:11. (It is believed that papists were responsible for the damage to the statue, in order to provide an excuse to slay Berquin.)

With the intensification of persecution of Christians in the region of Meux in 1523, Lefevre departed for Germany and Farel went to his hometown of Dauphine [219:1].

John Calvin was greatly influenced by his cousin, Robert Olivetan, who, prior to his departure from France in 1533, laid the groundwork for Calvin's conversion. (Olivetan was an important French Protestant, in his own right, for he prepared and published a French translation of the Bible in 1535.) [220:1-2] While under heavy conviction by the Spirit of God, Calvin witnessed the burning of a Protestant, probably early in 1534. This marked his decision to become a Protestant 1220:3-221:1].

In May 1534, Calvin went to Noyon and resigned his ecclesiastical benefices (church income). For doing this, he was thrown into prison as a heretic. Freed, he went to Angouleme, which was under the direct rule of Mar- garet of Navarre [221:2-222:0]. Then, later that year (1534), he was back in Paris; then to Poitiers; back again to Paris, and then he departed from France just before a terrible massacre of Protestants took place [222:1224:2].

Feret was an overzealous Protestant. It was at his instigation that placards were posted, late in 1534, all over France. They were titled, "The Horrible, Great, Intolerable Abuses of the Popish Mass" [224:3-225:1 ]. As a re- sult, many Protestants were imprisoned, tortured, and burned on January 21, 1535. This terrible work of slaughter, carried on by the Catholic Church (working closely with French Government officers) continued on for nearly four months, till May 5 and beyond! [225:2-230:11. two hundred and fifty-eight years later, to the day, on January 21, 1793, the French king, Louis XVI (1754-1793) was beheaded [230:2-3].

William Farel began evangelistic work in French Switzerland in 1528. By the summer and fall of 1530, he had won much of Neuchatel to the Protestant faith. In 1532, he visited the Waldensian valleys, and strongly influenced the Vaudois to unite with the other Swiss Protestant Christians. In October of 1532, Farel first came to Geneva, and it was finally won to Protestantism in 1536 [231:1-233:0].

John Calvin (1509-1564) was in Basel, Switzerland, from January 1535 to about March 1536, working on a first edition of his doctrinal books known as the "Institutes." Therefore it is likely that he arrived in Geneva shortly after that. He was planning to go on to Germany, but Farel persuaded him to remain. Calvin soon became the Protestant leader of Geneva and spent the remainder of his life continually expanding his doctrinal series (the "Institutes") [233:1-234:1, 236:1-2].

John Knox (1505-1572), of Scotland, freed his country from the darkness of the Dark Ages. Converted to Protestantism about the year 1542,

he preached boldly after the death of Wishart. Captured by French Catholics in 1547, he was a galley slave for nineteen months. This experience removed the fear of death from him, and thus strengthened his later work. Released from the galleys in 1549, he eventually made his way to Geneva, where he remained for several months in 1554. In 1557-1558, he helped in preparing the Genevan Version of the English Bible. His most powerful preaching in Scotland began in 1559. It led to civil war between the Protestants and Catholics. The Protestants won. After the arrival of Catholic Queen Mary Stuart, in Scotland (1561), Knox had many visits with her and boldly preached Christ. [236:2].

Knox was not the only one helped by visiting Geneva. Many protestants, such as the English, Puritans, Dutch, Spanish, and French Huguenots also received encouragement there [236:2].

A leading Roman Catholic agency in the destruction of Protestantism in many areas of Europe was the so-called "Society of Jesus," the infamous Jesuits [234:2-235:2]. We do not have space here to detail the origin and activities of this most fanatical papist organization, but here are a few facts:

Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was born about the year 1491 in northern Spain. A lover of warfare, he was injured in a battle at Pampeluna in 1521. In 1528, at the age of 37, he went to the University of Paris and attracted a number of zealous young followers. At this time he named his organization. Under its more familiar name, the Jesuits, it would bring fear and death to millions.

Jesuitism is based on the careful training of secret agents that, upon completion of their studies, penetrate civil governments and Protestant denominations as well as the schools of both, and work to gain control of them. This clandestine operation has been going on for more than 450 years. Although in charge of a majority of Roman Catholic high schools, colleges, and universities around the world, where they educate Catholics and Protestants, their own spy training school is the Gregoriana (the Pontifical Gregorian University) in Rome, near the Vatican.

Undercover operations bore into the organizational structure of national governments, Protestant denominations, and educational institutions; and, through their Jesuit-operated Roman Catholic schools, the Jesuits have done much to win back large areas to Rome. A special area of penetration, in the centuries just after the Reformation began, was the planting of Jesuit confessors to the kings and queens of Europe. Terrorizing them with hellfire if they did not cooperate, they used the royalty of Europe to crush out Protestantism whenever possible. The almost total eradication of Biblical Christianity in Poland, much of Eastern Europe, and large areas in France, Switzerland, and Germany was due to their work.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN NETHERLANDS AND SCANDINAVIA

Following earlier Dutch protests against papal tyranny [237:1-238:1] and the translation of the Bible into Dutch by the end of the twelfth century [238:11, terrible persecutions, by Rome, of Netherlandic Christians began [238:2].

Menno Simmons (1469-1561) was a Catholic priest who converted to Protestantism in 1531. By 1536, he had a number of Mennoite churches established [238:3-239:2].

Because Charles V had direct (hereditary) control over Holland, terrible persecutions of Protestants took place there. The first martyrs died in 1523 [239:3-240:3]. Eventually a full scale war to exterminate Dutch Protestants began under Spanish Catholic leadership. But help finally came through the efforts of William, Prince of Orange, and Nassau,
William of Orange (1533-1584). A man of wealth and nobility, he led the Protestant forces for years [240:3]. On July 10, 1584, he was assassinated, as a result of a carefully worked out Catholic plot by a young man who had been promised a large reward for murdering William. He pretended to be a friend, and then shot him to death.

Hans Tausen (1494-1561) brought the gospel to Denmark. Frederick I, king of Denmark, appointed Tausen as his personal chaplain in 1526. Tausen had earlier left his Danish convent, studied under Luther at Wittenberg, and then married. His appointment as personal chaplain to the king greatly favored Protestantism in Denmark [241:1242:2].

In 1524, a Danish translation of the New Testament was published and, in 1529, a better translation was printed. In 1530, a public debate between Protestantism and Catholicism took place at the Diet of Copenhagen. To conclude it, King Frederick declared that the Protestants had won. The Confession of Faith presented to that Diet by Tausen was to become a landmark of Danish Lutheranism [242:1 ].

Olaf (Olaus) (1493-1552) and Laurentius Petri (14991573) were two primary leaders in the Swedish Reformation. Olaf concluded several years of study under Luther at Wittenberg in 1519. He then quietly began working in Sweden. Later, he and his brother were appointed by King Gustavus I Vasa, also known as Gustavus Eriksson (1523-1560), to important church positions [242:2243:1 ]. Olaf's defense of Protestantism, in debate against Peter Galle, took place on December 27, 1524 [243:2- 244:0]. At the Diet of Vesteres, in 1527, King Gustavus openly approved of the Reformation. This national council meeting at Vesteres wanted Sweden to remain with the papacy. A crisis had come, but the king firmly declared that, if they did, he would resign. After a three-day discussion, the assembly voted to stand with the king. Sweden was thus won for Protestantism [244:1].

A century later, the most destructive war in history [before the twentieth century], the Thirty Years War, was nearly won by the Catholics. Then suddenly, from Sweden, came the armies of King Gustavus II, Adolphus, (1611-1632). Marching southward, he fought from 1630 to 1632, and was aided in achieving victory after victory in Europe. The result was the Peace of Westphalia (October 24, 1648) which brought religious liberty to millions of Protestants in northern Europe [244:2].

CHAPTER FOURTEEN LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS

William Tyndale (1492? -1536) was the first to translate the Bible into English from the Greek (instead of the inferior Latin), and his was also the first printed English Bible. After beginning the New Testament in

London, he went to Wittenberg to continue it (with Luther's help). It was finally printed in Worms, Germany in 1525-1526. This was about 143 years after Wycliffe translated the Bible into English in 1382-1384 [245:1- 247:0].

Copies of his New Testament were smuggled into England and were readily bought by the people. But Henry VIII (1491-1547) denounced this as terrible; and the Catholic authorities persuaded Henry, in 1530, to forbid the sale or possession of the Bible in the English language. Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of London, was one of those who tried to suppress Tyndale's New Testament by buying the copies [247:11.

At Marburg, Germany, Tyndale began work on the first part of the Old Testament in 1530, and the translation continued over several years. Most of it had been completed when he was trapped by Charles V's men, imprisoned for sixteen months at Vilvoorde (near Brussels, Belgium), and then burned at the stake in 1536 [247:2-248:0].

When the King James Version was published in 1611, 90 percent of it was the unaltered Tyndale translation.

Hugh Latimer (1485? -1555) was one of the most powerful of the sixteenth-century English Reformers. Together with Barnes, John Frith (1503- 1533), Nicholas Ridley (1500? -1555), and Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), he preached Christ to England and died at the stake for doing it [248:1-249:1].

John Frith, after fleeing to Marburg, returned to England and was arrested and burned at the stake in 1533. In September 1555, Cranmer (66 years old), Ridley (65), and Latimer (80) were brought from the prison Tower of London, where they had been incarcerated for two years, to stand trial at Oxford University. On October 1, Ridley and Latimer, two former bishops, were condemned; and, on October 6, they were burned. Kneeling, they prayed together before being tied to the stakes.

The next year, Cranmer repudiated several recantations and was burned on March 21, 1556. He held his right hand (which had earlier signed the retractions) steadily into the fire so it would be burned first. Thus died the first archbishop of Canterbury. Three hundred more Christians were to die by order of the queen (known as Mary I, Mary Tutor, and Bloody Mary), who ruled England from 1553 to 1558. Most of England hated her for these Catholic atrocities, and so were willing to accept Protestantism when Elizabeth I took the throne [249:1 ]. She ruled from 1558 to 1603.

Columba (A.D. 521-597), from Ireland, had evangelized Scotland with Bible beliefs 1000 years earlier; and the true faith still survived there in spite of Ireland's defection to Catholicism in the seventh century and her own in the twelfth [249:2]. Late in the fourteenth century, the Lollards, instructed by Wycliffe, came to Scotland preaching the gospel [249:2]. Later still, Luther's writings (especially those written between 1519 and 1535), and Tyndale's English New Testament (first published in 1525-1526) greatly helped also [249:3]. Then the Catholic persecutions began in earnest throughout Scotland [249:4-250:0].

Patrick Hamilton (1504?-1528), having visited Wittenberg and then studying in Marburg, was burned on February 29, 1528, for preaching

Protestantism in Scotland [250:11. George Wishart (1513? -1546) was burned by Cardinal Beaton on March 2, 1546, for the same offense [250:1).

But a close friend of Wishart, John Knox (1513-1572), was the one to be used of God to overthrow Catholicism in Scotland. He was with Wishart when that marytr was arrested; and, he was deeply moved by his death [250:12]. We have already mentioned Knox's 19 months as a galley slave in French ships, as well as his visit to Geneva and aid in the preparation of the Genevan Version of the English Bible [250:3]. Returning to Scotland in 1555, he preached for six months. On May 2, 1559, he returned to Scotland the second time from Geneva and began preaching boldly by day, and by night pleading with God to "give me Scotland or I die." On August 17 of that year, a Calvinistic confession of faith, largely prepared by Knox, became the creed of Scotland. A week later, papal authority and the Mass were abolished.

But with the death of King Francis II of France (15591560) on December 5, 1560, it appeared that Protestantism might be conquered in Scotland. Francis' widow, Mary, Queen of Scots (ruled 1561-1567), returned to Scotland and began winning friends.

Now began Knox's famous series of conversations with Mary in her palace. She would frequently call for him, in order to win him to Catholicism. But He resolutely preached Christianity to her. Increasingly, the Mass was again being used in Scotland; but, ultimately, Protestantism was to win out (in December 1567) in that land, so long troubled by superstition and error [250:4- 251:3].

England became Protestant politically more than spiritually when Henry VIII (1509-1547), in his concern to remarry, repudiated papal supremacy in January 1531. Parliament passed the Supremacy Act on November 3, 1534. Between February 1536 and June 1539, all of the Catholic monasteries in England were taken over by the king.

Henry's view was that the Catholic religion--without obedience to the pope--should be the religious law of the land. And this is what we find in his Six Articles Act of June 1539. After his death on January 28, 1547, nominal Pro- testant rulers maintained a worldly Protestantism as the required State church [251:4-252:0]. There were occasional exceptions to this, as when Mary I, known as Bloody Mary, (1553-1558) tried to bring Catholicism back into power.

All this was to yield an English legacy of persecuting dissenters in the seventeenth century [252:11. Those were times that brought imprisonment and death to any who would preach Bible truth instead of the mingled Protestant- Catholic teachings of the established religion.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was put in the local jail in Bedford for preaching Christ. He wrote several books during most of the twelve years he was imprisoned there (16001672). Jailed again in 1675, he wrote Pilgrims' Progress [252:2].

Richard Baxter and others (such as Alleine and Flavel) were men of God who stood for truth and wrote earnestly in its defense [252:3-253:0].

But it was left to George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, to bring a major revival of faith to England [253:1-2]. George Whitfield (1714-1770) and John (1703-1791) and Charles (1707-1788) Wesley were

students together at Oxford University in the early 1730s. George was converted in 1735, and John (at a Moravian meeting in London) on May 24, 1738. Three days earlier, on May 21, Charles experienced a second birth.

All three spent the rest of their lives preaching Christ: George and John, by wide-ranging preaching throughout England and Colonial America, and Charles, especially through his powerful song writing.

George was the first to try outdoor preaching, and soon John began it also. Whitefield visited America seven times between 1738 and 1770. Charles authored 6,000 hymns (the first one on the day he was converted). He traveled and preached for 17 years. But John was the most famous and influential of the three.

From 1735 to 1738, John Wesley worked among the Indians of Georgia in the American colonies. After this, he had a deeper conversion in the Moravian meeting, in London, in 1738. Between 1739 and 1744, he traveled and organized local Methodist societies. He continued to travel, preach, and write until his death in 1791. He journeyed about 250,000 miles on horseback during his lifetime [253:3-264:2].

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE BIBLE AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

France was unique among the nations of western Europe. At first, Protestantism had been tolerated; but later it was crushed out. To extinguish a bright light makes the darkness even blacker. The results were terrible.

By 1559, there were 400,000 Huguenots (French Protestants) in France. Then, three savage Huguenot wars took place (1562-1563, 1567-1568, and 1568-1570). In each of them, the Catholics tried without success to totally exterminate the Protestants.

As with most Roman Catholic attacks on the Protestants of Europe from 1560 and onward, the Jesuits generally led out in prompting rulers to destroy Protestant believers in their territories.

Catherine de' Medici of France, under Jesuit influence, finally decided to surprise the Protestants throughout the nation of France, and kill them all at once. The result is one of the most fantastic spectacles of Roman Catholic savagery to be seen anywhere in history. Here is the story:

Deeply concerned about the sins of her life, Catherine's Jesuit confessors convinced her that if she would do as they asked, she would be assured of forgiveness. The deed was planned for St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1572. On that day the horrible work began, and it was to continue for two months. Known in history as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, it brought violent death to seventy thousand Protestants throughout France.

The epic event, later to thrill the heart of the pope with infallible joy, began with the tolling of a bell at 3 a.m. on the morning of the 24th. The murders went on for weeks. When news of the innocent Protestant bloodshed reached Rome, the pope (Gregory XIII, 1572-1585) was utterly delighted. Bells tolled the happy news; cannons thundered; and the pope, in solemn procession went with the laughing throngs to the Church of St. Louis, where a holy Mass was held in honor

of the event, and Latin hymns in praise to God were intoned by the clergy. A small fortune of a thousand gold crowns was given to the French messenger boy who first brought the news to Rome, and a gold medal was commissioned by the pope to celebrate the holy event in France. Yet this was not all, for the pope made an infallible decision to send King Charles IX (1560-1574) of France an expensive golden rose as an expression of papal approval for the countless murders of innocent men, women, and children. But the slaughter continued, week after week; so additional rejoicing took place in Rome in the subsequent four months, and additional presents were sent. Cling to the Bible and never forget the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. [272:1-273:01.

This massacre only brought on more, for it assured Phillip II (1556-1598) of Spain that there would be no French interference with his plans to kill the Protestants in the Netherlands. Years of Dutch persecution and warfare resulted. And in France more wars against the Huguenots took place (in 1573, 1574-1575, 1577, and 1580).

And what happened to King Charles IX (1560-1574), of France, the 23-year-old youth who had been persuaded by the Catholics to initially consent to the order to begin the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day? He heard the cries of innocent French Protestants as they were hunted to death for weeks throughout Paris and beyond. Those cries could not be erased from his mind. They followed him everywhere, day and night. He could not sleep and became somber, pale, and thin. His resistance weakened, he contracted tuberculosis, and died before his 24th birthday on May 30, 1574, only twenty-one months after the massacre began [265:1-273:0].

In 1789, Louis XVI (1754-1793), of France, in desperation at the terrible condition of things in the nation, called the Estates-General to meet for the purpose of obtaining money from the people of France to keep the country from bankruptcy. The French Revolution resulted.

The Estates-General made itself the National Constituent Assembly, and riots began all over France in July 1789. The storming of the Bastille (a hated political prison) then took place; and, within the next few months, the people arose and slew landowners, royalty, and every vestige of governmental authority. Church lands and buildings were confiscated and their priests slain. Everything had by now gotten out of control, and blood was being shed everywhere. It was harvest time in France.

Thus began the Reign of Terror, which reached its depths in July 1793. And the terror continued on through July of the next year as over 300,000 citizens were slain. From 1793 to 1915, war between France and other nations of Europe was almost continuous. Between the atheistic excesses at home and the wars abroad, the nation was reduced to bankruptcy.

The Festival of Reason took place in Paris in November 1793, at which time a dance hall prostitute (wife of a minor leader in the Revolution) was crowned as Goddess of Reason, and then given reverent worship as the new god of the people [273:1-288:3].

The Frenchman, Voltaire (1694-1778), had been taught atheism as a child by his mother. After growing to manhood, he became a prolific writer, and declared that he would destroy Christianity so fully that it would be gone within fifty years [288:2]. He said the Bible was an exploded book. But it was his theory

that was exploded. The printing press which had printed his attacks on the Bible was later used to print copies of the Bible. His house was later purchased by the Geneva Bible Society and is today used to store French Bibles.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN THE PILGRIM FATHERS

Elizabeth 1 (1533-1603) began her reign in a Catholic nation and ended it in a Protestant one. But her successor was James I (1566-1625), son of the notorious Catholic, Mary, Queen of Scots. He was willing to be Protestant if only the State church (Anglican) was permitted in the land. Heavy persecution began. This is ironic, since we all know that it was during his reign that the King James Version of the Bible was translated and published (1611). James was determined to get rid of every Christian who refused to yield to the beliefs of the State religion. And this persecution continued from April 1604 till his death, twenty-one years later. Many Christians fled to the Netherlands during the early years of James' reign [290:2].

His son, Charles I (1600-1649), also had a Catholic background (both his mother and wife were of that faith), and so he continued the same persecuting policies.

Then came the Puritans and the Separatists. The Puritans tried to purify the Church of England while the Separatists left it entirely, believing it impossible to do so.

John Smyth and William Brewster went with a group of Separatists from Scrooby, England, to Amsterdam, Holland, in 1608. John Robinson followed soon after. Smyth then left the group and joined the Mennoites while Robinson's congregation settled at Leyden in the Netherlands. In 1618, they decided that part of their group (as many as they could finance) should sail westward to a part of the American colonies, known as New England. After being counseled by their pastor, John Robinson, to be faithful to the Word of God, they all prayed together and the group heading to New England departed. This group is known in history as the Pilgrim Fathers.

Under Brewster's leadership, they went back to England in July 1620; and, in September, they set sail for America in the Mayflower. On November 21, 1620, they dropped anchor in Provincetown Harbor, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They founded Plymouth colony on Cape Cod Bay. But soon they were
religiously intolerant themselves. [290:3-293:0].

Roger Williams (1603? -1683) arrived at Boston, from England, on February 5, 1631. Educated at Cambridge, he now became pastor of the Salem, Massachusetts, Church. But, because of his strong objections to governmental religious persecution, he fled into the wilderness in January 1636 to avoid arrest. Williams recognized that all people of all religions were entitled to liberty of conscience and freedom to worship as they saw best.

Founding the community of Providence, he began the Rhode Island colony and was its president from 1654 to 1657. He carried on extensive missionary work among the Indians [293:1-298:0].

58-THE HISTORICAL SOURCES IN THE 1911 EDITION

Almost no books were quoted by name in the 1884 and 1888 editions, but they were in the 1911 edition. Does a list exist—anywhere--of the historical and reference books which were quoted in the 1911 edition? It would require several hours to compile such a list, sit ce the quotations are scattered throughout the 1911 Great Controversy. To compound the problem, many Ibids. are to be found.

For example, what was the name of D'Aubigne's book? Where would you find it? Chapters 7 to 10 are examples of the problem; scan through them and you will repeatedly find these (bids. But where is the first reference? After a half-hour of searching, you might discover that it is on page 63.

To complicate the task, you will find a different set of D'Aubigne lbids, intermingled with the first set, in chapters 11 through 14.

No such list of references (a bibliography, it is called) was ever placed in any English-language edition of the book.

Several years ago, the present author obtained a copy of every foreign- language Great Controversy obtainable. Then he searched through each one to learn whether all the chapters were present (sometimes they were not), and what additional materials might have been included. In the back of the Finnish edition of Great Controversy, he was surprised to find a complete list of the 63 historical sources which are quoted or referred to in the fourth (1911) edition of Great Controversy. Unlike everything else in that book, those three pages were in English!

Here is a photographically reduced reprint of this list: KIRJALLISUUSLUETTELO

Adams, W. H. D. In Perils Oft.
Alison, Sir Archibald, History of Europe From the Commencement of the

French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons.

Anderson, Annals of the English Bible, rev. ed., 1862.

Andrews, J. N. History of the Sabbath and the First Day of the Week, 2nd ed., Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, Battle Creek, Michigan, 1873.

Bancroft, George, History of the United States of America.

Baxter, Richard, Practical Works, 1830.

Bliss, S. Memoirs of Wm. Miller.

Bonnechose, Francois Paul Emile Boianormand De, The Reformers Before the Reformation, 1844.

Brandt, Gerard, History of the Reformation in and About the Low Countries. British Reformers-Tindal, Firth, Barnes, 1830.
Brown, J. The Pilgrim Fathers.
Buchez-Roux, Collection of Parliamentary History.

Challoner, Richard Bishop, The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifice, and Ceremonies of the Church, 1897.

Clarke, Adam, Commentary, The Methodist Book Concern, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago.

Cox, Robert, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, MacLachlan and Stewart, Edinburgh, 1853.

Crosby, Howard, The Healthy Christian; An Appeal to the Church, 1871.

D'Aublgne, J. H. Merle, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, 8 vols., Longman, London 1863-1878. . History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, 5 vols., D. Walther, London, 1841; Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1846, 1853.

Devens, R. M. American Progress; or, The Great Events of the Greatest Century. Our First Century, C. A. Nichols, Springfield. Massachusetts, 1881.

Dowling, John, The History of Romania-, Edward Walker, New York, 1871. Elliot. George, The Abiding Sabbath.

Encyclopedia Americana, 1831.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed., 1888.

The Essex Antiquarian, Salem, Massachusetts.

Felice, G. de, History of the Protestants of France.

Foxe, John, Acts and Monuments (ed. by J. Pratt), Seeley and Burnside, London, 1837.

Fuller, T. Church History of Britain.

Gaussen, L. Daniel the Prophet.

Gavazzi, Alessandro, Lectures in New York, 1854.

Geddes, Michael, Church History of Ethiopia, R. Chiswell, London, 1696.

Gieseler, John C. L. A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History, tr. by John Winstanley Hull, 5 vols., 2d ed., T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1848-1855.

Gillett, Ezra Hall, Life and Times of John Huss, 3d ed.
Gordon, William, The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of

the Independence of the United States of America, New York, 1789.

Guthrie, Thomas, The Gospel in Ezekiel, Edinburgh, 1857.

Hagenbach, K. R. History of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland Chiefly tr. by Evelina Moore, 2 vole., T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1878, 1879.

Heylyn, Peter, The History of the Sabbath, Henry Seile, London, 1636. Hopkins, Samuel, Works, 1854.
Hoveden, Roger de, Annals, Bohn.
Lacretelle, Jean Charles de, History.

Laing, David, The Collected Works of John Knox, 1895.
Latimer, Hugh, Sermons, Parker Society ed. ---- Works of Hugh Latimer,

Parker Society ed.
Lenfant, Jacques, History of the Council of Constance, 1728.

Lewis, John, History of the Life and Sufferings of J. Wiclif, 1820.

Litch Josiah, in Signs of the Times, and Expositor of Prophecy, Aug. 1, 1940.

Luther, Martin, Exposition of Solomon's Booke Called Ecclesiastes, London, 1573.

Lyell, Sir Charles, Principles of Geology, New York, 1858.
McClintock, John, and Strong, James, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological,

and Ecclesiastical Literature, Harper and Brothers New York, 1896.
Martyn, William Carlos, The Life and Times of Luther. Massachusetts

Historical Society Collections, 1792.
Milman, Henry Hart. The History of the Jews, 3 vols, 4th ed., John Murray,

London, 1866.
Morer, Tho. Discourse in Six Dialogues on the Name, Notion, and

Observation of the Lord's Day, 1701.
Moshelm, John L. von. Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, tr. by James

Murdock, 3 vols., Robert Carter and Brothers, New York.

Neal, D. History of the Puritans, 2 vols., 1848.

Neander, Augustus, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, tr. By Joseph Torrey, Henry G. Bohn, London, 1853-1858.

Palf many of her manuscripts rey, J. G. History of New England. Petavel, E. The Problem of Immortality, 1892.

Reed, F. In Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13,1833.

Robinson. Robert, Ecclesiastical Researches, 1792.

Scott. Sir Walter, Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, 1854.

Sears, Barnas, The Life of Luther, American Sunday School Union, Philadelphia, New York City, 1850.

Second Advent Library, Boston, 1842.
Segur, Mgr, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, Thomas B.

Noonan and Company. Boston, 1868.

Strong, Josiah, Our Country; Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, The American Home Missionary Society, New York, 1885.

Taylor, Daniel T. The Reign of Christ on Earth: or, the Voice of the Church in All Ages, Scriptural Tract Repository, Boston, 1882.

Tertullian, Apalogy, in Antc-Nurse ('hristias Library, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1869.

Thiers, M. A. History of the French Revolution.
Thomas, Isaiah Massachusetts Spy; or, American Oracle of Liberty.

Townsend, C. A. The New World Compared With the Old, 1869.
Tuberville, Henry, An Abridgement of the Christian Doctrine (composed in

1649: P. J. Kenedy, New York.
Vaughan, R. Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, 1831.

Waffle, A. E. The Lord's Day, The American Sunday School Union, Philadelphia, 1885.

Wesley, John, Works, 1831.

West, Francis, Historical and Practical Discourse on the Lord's Day. White, Henry, The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1871.

White, J. Life of Wm. Miller.

Whitehead, John, Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, 2d American ed., 1845.

Wiseman, Nicholas P. Cardinal, The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eucharist, Proved From Scripture (In eight lectures).

Wolff, Joseph, Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, 1839.-. Researches and Missionary Labors, 1835. Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff, 1860.

Wylie, J. A. The History of Protestantism, 3 vols., Cassell, Petter and Calpin, London, 1874-1877.

59 - CURRENT FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDITIONS

Over the years, Great Controversy has been translated into more languages than any other of our books, with the exception of Steps to Christ. Denominational advertisements frequently claim it has been translated into "over forty" languages. That may be true, but on the back of our own editions of that book, we only say over 20 languages.

Several years ago (1985), the present writer tried to obtain every foreign language edition of that book which is available. It was a difficult task, since the overseas publishing houses were so slow to respond to the initial query letters. Eventually we amassed a sizable collection of over 20 books, plus original editions of the French, German, and Icelandic (the last of which is now out of print).

Was Great Controversy ever translated into over 40 languages? If so, where are they today? If not, why is it advertised as having been translated into that many languages?

Perhaps, earlier in the century, this book was translated
into and distributed in that many tongues. But if so, then half of them have since been permitted to go out of print!

In case you or a friend would like to obtain a foreign language edition of this important book, the following list will provide you with that information: name of the book, what is in it, number of pages, size of the book (in inches), price of the book about the year 1985, unusual features, name and address of the publishing house, telephone and fax numbers.

In preparing the following list, these abbreviations were used: pp = pages, intro = author's introduction, cp = chapters, app = appendix, find = index, find's = indexes, in = inches, TOC = table of contents, standardized paging = paging notations at top or bottom of page, indicating paging in the standard edition. (Book dimensions are length x width x depth.) Pperback = paperback, hrdbk = hardback, ref's = references, ftnts = footnotes.

Prices listed below are probably already out-of-date. We ordered our copies about 1984.

How would you go about ordering a copy of one of the following
foreign published books? (1) Write and ask for the current price of the book in US dollars (single copy or boxful price, as you wish), plus shipping costs. (2) When you receive their reply, then order the book. During the time we were ordering the books, one denominational published house went out of business, and many denominational publishing houses around the world do not print Great Controversy.

Would you like to see foreign editions of this most important book reprinted for widespread circulation? We are able to do this, if we can make contact with those willing to finance print runs of the book. At the present time, we have copies of Great Controversy in 23 languages, including English. Chapter tracts, closing-chapters booklets, and full-length books can be printed. Are you interested? If so, contact us. --Or, if you wish, reprint the book yourself! Let's get to work; we can rest in heaven.

Please tell us if you know where we can obtain other foreign-language editions of Great Controversy!

AFRIKAANS

Die Groot Stryd - intro, TOC, 42 cp, no index, 643 pp, 7 x 4-3/8 x 1-1/4 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in text) Southern Publishing Association, 67 Rosmead Avenue, Kenilworth 7700, Cape Town, South Africa. Telephone: 021-61-9060, Fax: 027-021-61-9064.

CEBUAN (PHILIPPINE DIALECT)

Ang Kadaugan Sa Gugma - intro, TOC, 40 cp, no index, 583 pp, 7-1/4 x 4-1/2 x 1 1/4 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in footnotes, Missing: 1 Millerite cp and cp 27, Modern Revivals) Philippine Publishing House, 1401 Baesa, Caloocan City, Philippines. Telephone: 35-54-85, 35-52-05, and 34-42-44.

CHINESE

Great Controversy - intro, 42 cp, no index, 738 pp, 7-1/4 x 5 x 1-3/8 in, pprbk, (Special features: starts back to front, ref's at the end of each chapter, TOC at front) Shih Ch-ao Ch-u Pan Che (Signs of the Times Publishing Association), 424 Pa Te Road, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan 10558, Republic of China. Telephone: 752-1322, 7520387, 772-6420.

CZECH

Drama Veku - intro, 42 cp, app, 2 find's, 558 pp, 8-1/2 x 6-1/2 x 1- 1/2 in, hrdbk. (Special feature: TOC at back, standardized paging)

Znameni Doby - Redalece: administrace, Lendynska 30, 120 - 00 Praha 2, Vinohrady, Czechoslovakia (address of the publisher before Communism fell).

DANISH

Konfrontation - TOC, illustration, 42 cp, no index, 574 pp, 8-1/4 x 5- 3/8 x 1/2 in, pprbk. (Special feature: intro at back, ref's in back)

Dansk Bogforlag (Danish Publishing House), Borstenbindervej 4,5230 Odense M, Denmark (mailing address) PO Box 770, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark. Telephone: (66) 158843, Fax: (66) 155743.

DUTCH

De Grote Strijd - TOC, intro, 42 cp, app, no index, 655 pp, 8-1/2 x 6 x 1-1/2 in, hrdbk (Special feature: ref's at the end of each chapter, list of illustrations)

Uitgeverij "Veritas" (Netherlands Publishing House) [Publishing House for the Netherlands Union], Biltsweg 14, 3735 ME Bosch en Duin, Netherlands (mailing address) Postbus 29, 3720 AA Bilthoven, Netherlands. Telephone: (030) 783214.

FINNISH

Suuri Taistelu - TOC, list of illustrations, intro, cp 1-19, 692 pp, 9 x 6-1/4 x 1-1/2 in, hrdbk, $15.00. (Special feature: TOC (middle of the book) for cp 20-42 p. 357 and illustration, standardized paging, (at back) short 3 page appendix, 3 page list of historical sources, 2 find's) Kirjatoimi (Finland Publishing House) Ketarantie 4, 33680 Tampere, Finland. Telephone: National, (931) 600 000; International, + 358-31-600000, Fax: + 358-31-600454.

FRENCH

La Tragedie Des Siecles - intro, 42 cp, app, no index, 771 pp, 6 x 4 1/2 x 1 in, pprbk, $4.20. (Special features: TOC at back, ref's in footnotes)

Advent-Verlag (Advent Publishers), Wylerhalde, 3704 Krattigen, Switzerland. Telephone: (033)54-10-65, Fax: (033) 54-10-65.

FRENCH

Le grand conflit - intro, TOC, 42 cp, app, no index, 710 pp 7-1/8 x 4-1/2 x 1 in (Special feature: ref's in footnotes). Publications Inter-Euro, PO Box 176, 7102 CS Winterswijk, Hollande, Pays Bas.

GERMAN

Der Grosse Kampf - intro, 42 cp, app, find, 618 pp, 7-3/4 x 4-3/4 x 1 1/2 in, pprbk, $10.00. (Special feature: TOC at back, standardized paging) East German Publishing House before the fall of Communism.

GERMAN

Der Grosse Konflikt-TOC, intro, 42 cp, app, no index, 656 pp, 7 x 4-1/2 x 1 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in text, standardized paging)

Inter-Euro Publishing, PO Box 176, 7102 CS Winterswijk, Holland.

HUNGARIAN

Korszakok nyomaban - TOC, intro, 42 cp, no index, 605 pp, 7 x 41/2 x 3/4 in, pprbk, (Special feature: ref's in footnotes, list of source names) Inter-Euro Publishing, PO Box 176, 7102 CS Winterswijk, Holland.

ILACANO (PHILIPPINE DIALECT)

Bal-Ligi Ni Ayat - intro, TOC, 40 cp, no index, 579 pp, 71/4 x 4-1/2 x 1 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in footnotes, Missing: 1 Millerite cp and cp 27, Modern Revivals) Philippine Publishing House, 1401 Baesa, Caloocan City, Philippines. Telephone: 35-54-85, 35-52-05, and 34-42-44.

ITALIAN

Il Gran Conflitto [" II" is spelled: eye ell] - intro, 42 cp, app, 2 find's, 542 pp, 8-1/4 x 6 x 1-3/8 in, pprbk, $7.80. (Special features: TOC at back, standardized paging, illustration)

Advent-Verlag (Advent Publishers), Wylerhalde, 3704 Krattigen, Switzerland. Telephone: (033) 54-10-65, Fax: (033) 54-44-31.

ITALIAN

Il Gran Conflitto ["II" is spelled: eye ell] - intro, 42 cp, app, 2 find's, 544 pp, 8 1/2 x 6-1/4 x 1-1/2 in, hrdbk. (Special feature: TOC at back, standardized paging, illustration) Edizioni A.D.V. "L' Araldo delta Verita" (Italian Publishing House), Via Chiantigiana 30, Falciani 50023, Impruneta, Florence, Italy. Telephone: (055) 2020291 and 2020292, Fax: (055) 2022640.

JAPANESE

Great Controversy - intro, TOC, 42 cp, no index, 8-1/2 x 6 x 1-1/2 in, hrdbk, $55.15. (Special features: starts back to front, ref's at the end of
each chapter, 2 volumes - Vol. 1: intro, TOC, 1-17 cp, 423 pp, Vol. 2: TOC, 18-42 cp, 472 pp)

Fukuinsha (Japan Publishing House), 1966 Kamikawaicho, Asahi- ku, Yokohama 241, Japan. Telephone: (045) 921-1414, Fax: (045) 921- 4349.

KOREAN
Great Controversy - intro, TOC, 42 cp, app, no index, 506 pp, 7-1/4

x 4-3/4 x 1-3/8 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's at the end of each chapter) Korean Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4323 W. Pico Blvd, Los

Angeles, CA 90019.

KOREAN

Great Controversy - intro, TOC, 42 cp, app, no index, 506 pp, 7-1/4 x 4-3/4 x 1-3/8 in, pprbk. Low prices in quantity; write for prices. (Special feature: ref's at the end of each chapter; several pages of additional charts and notes) Truth for Today, Route 1, Box 176-A, Bowersville, GA 30516.

NORWEGIAN

Mot Historiens Klimaks - TOC, 42 cp, index, 404 pp, 10 x 6-1/2 x 1- 1/2 in, hrdbk, $26.00. (Special feature: ref's in footnotes)

Norsk Bokorlag (Norwegian Publishing House) Olaf Helsets vei 8,0694 Oslo 6, Norway. Telephone: (02) 285220, Fax: (02) 298511.

PANAYAN (PHILIPPINE DIALECT)

Ang Pagdaug Sang Gugma - intro, TOC, 40 cp, no index, 608 pp, 7-1/4 x 4-1/2 x 1 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in footnotes, Missing: 1 Millerite cp and cp 27, Modern Revivals)

Philippine Publishing House, 1401 Baesa, Caloocan City, Philippines. Telephone: 35-54-85,35-52-05, and 34-43-44.

PORTUGUESE

0 Grande Conflito - TOC, intro, 42 cp, app, find, 571 pp, 8-1/2 x 6 x 1 1/2in, hrdbk, $15.00. (Special features: standardized paging)

Publicadora Atlantico, S.A. (Portuguese Publishing House), Rua Salvador Allende, Lote 18-1 and 2, 2686 Sacavem Codex, Portugal. Telephone: 251-08-44 and 25259-10, Fax (11) 252-59-10.

PORTUGUESE

0 Conflito Dos Seculos - TOC, intro, 42 cp, app, ind, 704 pp, 7 x 4-3/8 x 1 in, pprbk. Casa Publicadora Brasileira (Brazil Publishing House) Rodovia SP- 127, KM 106, 18270 Tatui, SP, Brazil. Telephone: (0152) 51-2710/ mailing address: Caixa Postal 34, 18270 Tatui, SP, Brazil.

ROMANIAN

Tragedia Veacurilor - intro, 42 cp, app, 640 pp, 8-1/2 x 6 x 1-1/8 in, hrdbk. (Special feature: TOC at back) Produced by Traducere de Nelu Dumitrescu, Bucuresti.

SPANISH

America en Profecia - TOC, 42 cp, 686 pp, 7 x 4 1⁄2 x 11⁄2 in, pprbk, low cost by the boxful; write for current prices. IBE, Box 352, Jemison, AL 35085. Telephone: 205-6462941.

SPANISH

ElGranConflicto-TOC,43cp(42+Spancp),657pp,7x41⁄2x11⁄2 in, pprbk, low cost by the boxful; write for current prices.

Inspiration Books, Phoenix AZ. Telephone: 602-276-4271.

SPANISH

El Gran Conflicto - TOC, intro, 43 cp (42 + Span cp), app, index, 674 pp, 7 x 4 3/8 x 1 1⁄2 in, pprbk, low cost by the boxful; write for current prices (Special features: 10 pp. quotations about change of Sabbath). Harvestime Books, Box 300, Altamont, TN 37301. Telephone: 615-692-2777, Fax: 615-692-3013.

SPANISH

El Conflicto de los Signos - TOC, intro, 43 cp (42 + Span cp), app, 2 indexes, 784 pp, 6-3/4 x 4 1⁄2 x 1 1⁄2 in, hrdbk, c. $10.

Adventist Book Centers, throughout America and Hispanic-speaking countries.

SPANISH

Armagedon: El Conflicto Final - TOC, 19 cp, 264 pp, 7 x 4 1⁄2 x 1 1⁄2 in, pprbk, currently out of print.

IBE, Box 352, Jemison, AL 35085. Telephone: 205-646 2941.

SPANISH

El Conflicto Inminente - TOC, 20 cp, 256 pp, 7 x 4 1⁄2 x1 1⁄2 in, pprbk. (Special feature: 10 pp. quotations about change of Sabbath).

Harvestime Books, Box 300, Altamont, TN 37301. Telephone: 615-692- 2777, Fax: 615-692-3013.

SWEDISH

Konfrontationen - intro, TOC, 42 cp, app, no index, 668 pp, 7-1/4 x 4 1/2 x 3/4 in, pprbk, $10.00. (Special features: ref's in text, standardized paging)

Skandinaviska Bokforlaget AB (Swedish Publishing House), PO Box 10036, S-80010 Gavle, Sweden. Telephone: 46 (26) 187298, Fax: 46 (26) 141978.

TAGALOG (PHILIPPINE DIALECT)

Ang Tagumpay Ng Pag-Ibig - intro, TOC, 40 cp, no index, 608 pp, 7-1/4 x 4-1/2 x 1 in, pprbk. (Special feature: ref's in footnotes, Missing: 1 Millerite cp and cp 27, Modern Revivals)

Philippine Publishing House, 1401 Baesa, Caloocan City, Philippines. Telephone: 35-54-85,355-52-05, and 34-42-44.

60 - ENGLISH EDITIONS: ADDITIONAL FEATURES

The following listing of English editions of Great Controversy includes both complete books, as well as closing chapter editions.

This listing is reprinted from our 1989 book, The Colporteur Handbook.

Within a few months (sometime in 1992-1993) our own web press will begin printing low-cost missionary paperbacks. Whether or not they will be multifeatured, will depend on the cost per copy.

Keep in contact with us, and we will mail you book updates, announcing when new releases come off the press.

For a list of our missionary paperbacks, ask for a copy of our Missionary Book Order Sheet.

Here is this list of partial and complete Great Controversy editions, as reprinted from our Colporteur Handbook, pages 494-499. Keep in mind that it is a 1989 list and is out-of-date in regard to prices. For example, our 1884 Great Controversy is now only 55 cents a copy, in boxful purchases, whereas most paperbacks of this book are much higher. So, before ordering books from anyone, write for current prices.

CORROLATIVE GUIDE
TO MISSIONARY PAPERBACKS IN PRINT

There are a number of missionary paperback publishers printing books at this time. You will want to carefully consider what is available and then use the books that you believe will best help your customers in the day ahead. It is not just a matter of which ones will sell the easiest,-but also which ones will they

return to again and again to read and reread. Soul-winning books have to be read in order for souls to be won.

Although in this book we have primarily focused on Pilgrims' Books, yet you should have a comparative listing of books, contents, prices, and features so that you can prayerfully select those that you know will best bring the message to the people you are daily trying to reach. Paperback canvassing is a self-sacrificing work. You could be out selling worldly merchandise. Instead you are seeking to bring the last-day truths into the homes and hearts of a world perishing for lack of them. For this purpose you will want to give them the best you can.

May our heavenly Father guide you as you consider which books to take to the people. In the case of Pilgrims' books, we invite you to write for a current Book Data Sheet and Book Order Sheet, and tell us you are interested in canvassing. We will place your name on our Colporteur Mailing List-so that you will receive new order sheets and publication release information as they become available. On the Book Data Sheet, look for the Book Pack that lists those books you do not have copies of-and then write for them. For example, just now for $27 you can obtain one copy each, postpaid, of each of the 20 books currently in stock (not counting the 1888 Great Controversy, medium print, which is temporarily out of stock). Receiving these, you will be able to carefully examine them for yourself. (For a quick review of some of the outstanding features in Pilgrims' Books, turn again and read the first chapter in this book, entitled, As We Go to Press.

And, of course, carefully consider the missionary books by other publishers. Fairly complete descriptions of those books are given below, and here are the addresses where you can write to them:

ADVENTIST BOOK CENTERS

[One or several are located in each local conference. Contact your conference office for addresses]

INSPIRATION BOOKS Box 8249

Phoenix, AZ 85066

AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTIONS Box 352

Jemison, AL 35085

PILGRIMS' BOOKS Beersheba Springs, TN 37305

IMPORTANT-PLEASE TAKE NOTE! Do not order books from this listing! Costs of paper and books keep changing. Postage and book handling fees must frequently be added. (For example, in the case of Pilgrims' Books, we have a postage and handling fee that pays the cost of shipping the books from the printing house to us, and from us to you.) Last but not least, if you are an in-state resident, you must pay state sales tax. None of this can be cared for if you attempt to order books from these

publisher directly from this Corrolative Guide to Paperbacks in Print. Thank you for your help in this matter. Please do WRITE for order sheets-and help us help you better.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-SPECIAL CHAPTERS

ADVENTIST BOOK CENTERS

1-THE IMPENDING CONFLICT. Contents: portion of Great Controversy (see chart below). Cover: 3-color-yellow flames on red background. Print size: very small print. Page count: 128 pages. Boxful price: $95 (95 cents each in boxful quantities x 100 books per box). Cover price: none. Single copy price: $1.25. Book size: 4 3⁄4 x 4 1⁄4 x 1⁄4 inches. Indexes: none. Front features: title page, copyright page, publishing forward, TOC (table of contents). Text features: Bible references in the text (rather than footnotes). Back features: none. Follow-up in back: none.

INSPIRATION BOOKS

1-FINAL WAR. Contents: portion of Great Controversy (see chart below). Cover: 4-color-big eye with planet in it, above a nuclear bomb explosion in city. Print size: small print. Page count: 224 pages. Boxful price: $20 (42 cents each x 48 books per box). Cover price: $2.00. Book size: 4- 118 x 6718 x 5116 inches. Indexes: none. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC, publisher's forward. Text features: Bible references in text. Back features: none. Follow-up in back: ad for their own books.

AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTIONS

1-ALMOST ARMAGEDDON. Contents: portion of Great Controversy (see chart below). Cover: 4-color-people in wildest terror amid lightning and distant light flash; red background. Print size: small print. Page count: 224 pages. Boxful price: $20 (42 cents per book x 48 in a box). Cover price: $2.95. Book size: 4-3116 x 7 x 112 inches. Indexes: none. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC. Text features: Bible references in text. Back features: none. Follow-up in back: ad for their own book.

PILGRIMS' BOOKS

1-MARK OF THE BEAST. Contents: Portion of Great Controversy (60 pages from the book), plus an in-depth analysis of Daniel 7 and Revelation 12, 13, 14. Cover: title in simulated metal plate, on transitional red-black background with the same title. Print size: Part 1 (about Dan 7; Rev 12.14) is in medium and small print; Part 2 (portion of Great Controversy) is in large print. Page count: 208 pages. Boxful price: $30, plus postage (37.5 cents each x 80 books per box). Cover price: $3.95. Book size: 4 1⁄2 x 7 x 1⁄2 inches. Indexes: 4-topical, scripture, date, source. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC, publisher's introduction. Text features: Bible quotations within text, Bible chapter outlines at end of Part 1 chapters, 4 charts (1260 Days, Law of God in New Testament, Law of God, Law of God as Changed by Man), 2 pages of Protestant and Catholic quotations, 4 Bible quote sections, 2 Bible study sections. Back features: topical index, scripture index, date index, source index. Follow-up in back: 4 pages (correspondence courses, broadcasts, telecasts, books, etc.)

2-SHELTER IN THE STORM. Contents: portion of Great Controversy (60 pages from the book), plus Steps to Christ--both in large print. Cover 4-color John Steel painting of ship in storm. Available in two paperback editions: with or without gold on book title. Print size: large print throughout. Page count: 272 pages. Boxful price: Title in white: $30 (50 cents per book x 60 books per box),-- title in gold, $32, plus postage (53.3 cents per book x 60 books per box). Cover price: $4.95. Book size: 4 1⁄2 x 7 x 9/16 inches. Indexes: 3-topical, Scripture, Bible promise. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC. Text features: Bible quotations within text, 2-page story introduces each chapter, 200 Bible promises quoted at end of chapters. Back features: topical index, Scripture index, Bible promise index, study guide to book. Follow-up in back: 10 pages (correspondence courses, books, broadcasts, etc.) This book also available in case bound edition (full-color solid, overlapping hardback cover) for $ I more per copy (in
boxful amounts) Cover price: $8.95.

3-ENTERING ARMAGEDDON. Contents: Portion of Great Controversy (see chart, below). Cover: 4-cola-Photos of UN Building, Vatican Square, U.S. Capital Building, Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, French Cathedral with French flag in front, all on light blue background, providing a matching cover to their Ministry of Healing. Print size: medium print, regular with bold for emphasis. Page count: 304 pages. Boxful price: $22 (45.8 cents per book x 48 books per box). Cover price: $4.95. Book size: 4 1/2 x 7 x 9/16 inches. Indexes: 1-Scripture. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC (20 chapters divided into five sections), chart TOC. Text features: Bible references within text, full 20 chapters (more chapters than any other closing-chapters GC), the only special-chapters GC with ALL of the final chapters (25.42, including the very important chapters 25 and 35) plus chapters 2 and 3, and the only one with the chapters in their original order. Boxed introductions to arouse reader's interest to begin reading each chapter, medium print with key points in bold face to help reader, 16 charts and tables, standardized paging notations, added relevant Bible verses at end of chapters. Back features: Special 17-page Bible study on the Sabbath, Scripture index. Follow-up at back: 1 page (correspondence course, book).

CORRELATIVE CHART OF GREAT CONTROVERSY FINAL- CHAPTERS BOOKS

ABC book entitled, THE IMPENDING CONFLICT:

Has 10 chapters.

Final chapters included are chapters 29, 32-37, 39-40, 42

Final chapters omitted are chapters 25-28, 30-31, 38,41

The chapters included are in the original order

(29,32,33,34,35,36,37,39,40,42)

IB book entitled, THE FINAL WAR:
Has 16 chapters
Final chapters included are chapters 29-42 Final chapters omitted are chapters 25-28 Also included are chapters 3, 7, 23

The chapters included are not in the original order

(29,30,31,3,7,32,33,23,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42)

AVP book entitled, ALMOST ARMAGEDDON: Has 18 chapters

Final chapters included are chapters 25, 29-34, 36-42

Final chapters omitted are chapters 26-28, 35

Also included are chapters 1-3, 7

The chapters included are not in the original order

(1,2,3,7,29,30,31,32,33,34,25,36,37,38,39,40,41,42)

PB book entitled, ENTERING ARMAGEDDON: Has 20 chapters
Final chapters included are chapters 25-42 No final chapters are omitted

Also included are chapters 2-3
The chapters included are in their original order

(2,3,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42)

GREAT CONTROVERSY

ADVENTIST BOOK CENTER

1-COSMIC CONFLICT. Contents- 1911 Great Controversy. 4-color sun rays over earth, desolate moon below, Saturn nearby, title in "stainless steel." Print size: small print. Page count: 640 pages. Boxful price: $97.50 ($1.95 x 50 books per box). Cover price: none given. Single price: $2.95. Book size: 4 1⁄2 x 7 x 5/16 inches. Indexes: 2-Scripture, general. Front features: brief introduction, title page, copyright page, publisher's preface, authors introduction, TOC. Text features: Bible and other references within the text itself, standardized paging notation. Back features: appendix (1911, revised 1956). scripture index, general index. Follow-up at back: correspondence course, 800 number.

INSPIRATION BOOKS

1-THE GREAT CONTROVERSY. Contents: 1888 Great Controversy. Cover. 3color-Colliding arrows. Print size: small print. Page count: 576 pages. Boxful price: $30 (75 cents a book x 40 books). Cover price: $3.00. Book size: 4-1/8 x 7 x 15/16 inches. Indexes: none. Front features: brief introduction, publishers preface, title page, copyright page, author's preface, annotated TOC. Text features: Bible references in footnotes. Back features: none. Follow-up in back: ad for their own books.

2-UNIVERSE IN CONFLICT. Contents: 1888 Great Controversy. Cover. 4-colorspray painting of four planets, four moons, sun, and comet. All other features: identical to above paragraph.

AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTIONS

1-AMERICA IN PROPHECY. Contents: 1888 Great Controversy. Cover. 4-color Indian, pilgrims, bison, North American outline. Print size: small print. Page count. 576 pages. Boxful price: $30 (75 cents per book x 40 books). Cover price: $4.95. Book size: 4-1/8 x 7 x 13116. Indexes: none. Front features: brief introduction, title page, copyright page, TOC, author's preface. Text features: Bible references in footnotes. Back features: none. Follow-up in back: ad for their own books.

PILGRIMS' BOOKS

1-THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN 11884 GC REGULAR) [This was the original title of the 1884, 1888, and 1911 editions of this book]. Contents: 1884 Great Controversy. Cover. Photograph of planet earth from outer space, on dark blue-to-light blue background (providing a matching cover to their Ministry of Healing); book title in gold. Print size: medium print, with bold for emphasis. Page count: 448 pages. Boxful price: $25 (62.5 cents per book x 40 books per box). Cover price: $6.95. Book size: 4 1/2 x 7 x 7/8 inches. Indexes: 4-2 topical and 2 Scripture. Front features: title page, copyright page, brief introduction, TOC, chart and map TOC, no author's preface [because none in the 1884 edition]. Text features: Bible references have been placed within the text. medium print,
with key points in bold print to help reader, 32 pages of maps and charts, standardized paging notations, added pertinent Bible verses at end of chapters. Back features: appendix [the original 1884 appendix], special 17- page Bible study on the Bible. Daniel 2,7, and the Sabbath, 2 topical indexes, 2 Scripture indexes. Follow-up in back: 1 page (radio, correspondence course). This book also available in casebound [4 color solid overlapping hardback with gold title for $1 more per copy(in boxful quantities). Cover price. $10.95

2-ARMAGEDDON AND THE COMING CRISIS. Contents: 1884 Great Controversy. Cover 4 color Harry Anderson painting of Christ before United Nations Building. AlI other features: identical to above paragraph, except that cover title not in gold, and casebound not available.

3-THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN [1888 GC Medium] Contents: 1888 Great Controversy. Cover: 4-color- photograph of planet earth on blue background. Print size: medium print, with bold for emphasis (the only full-text 1888 or 1911 edition in easy-to-read print). Page count: 752 pages. Boxful price: $21 ($1.05 cents per book x 20 books per box). Cover price: $9.95. Book size: 4 1⁄2 x 7 x 1 1⁄2 inches. Indexes: 4-2 topical, 2 Scripture. Front features: brief introduction, title page, copyright page, TOC, chart and map TOC, author's preface. Text features: Bible references have been placed within text, boxed introductions to arouse readers interest in each chapter, medium print with key points in bold face to help reader, 33 pages of maps and charts, standardized paging notations, added Bible verses at end of chapters. Back features: Appendix A-original 1888 appendix, Appendix B-dates, people and places in chapters 1 to 18, Appendix C-The Secret Instructions (Satan's instructions to his angels, which is the first three pages of the 1884 chapter on "Snares of Satan"), 2 topical indexes, 2 Scripture indexes. Follow-up at back: 12 pages of follow-up (correspondence courses, radio, TV, books, magazines, 800 number, etc.).

4-THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN CHRIST AND SATAN (1884 GC ORIGINAL). Contents: a photographic reprint of the original typeset 1884 Edition of Great Controversy. Cover: 3-color: line print of destruction of Jerusalem, Print size: small print. Page count: 512 pages. Boxful price: $28 (70 cents per book x 40 books per box). Cover price: $6.95. Book size: 4 1⁄2 x 7 x 1 inch. Indexes: none. Front features: new title page and copyright page followed by original title page and copyright page, original publisher's introduction, original TOC. Text features: original text in original typesetting, Bible references in footnotes. Back features: appendix in original typesetting. Back features: 2 explanatory pages. Follow-up in back: 2 pages. Please note: This is a photographic reproduction of the original 1884 Edition of Great Controversy. For this reason, there are almost no additional features. The print size is smaller than our regular 1884 Edition (described above), but the space between lines is greater, hence this book with smaller print has more pages and therefore a higher price than our regular 1884 Great Controversy. When writing about this book, refer to it as the "1884 GC ORIGINAL"; otherwise we will think that you have our other 1884 Great Controversy in mind (our "1884 GC REGULAR') with its planet-on-blue background cover.

PILGRIMS' BOOKS

1-SHELTER IN THE STORM. Contents: Part 1-Steps to Christ in large print, Part 2-60 pages from Great Controversy describing the heart of the final crisis and the issues leading up to it, also in large print. Cover: 4- color-John Steel painting of ship in storm. Available either in white or gold on cover title. Print size: Large print throughout. Page count: 272 pages. Boxful price: white cover title-$30 (50 cents per book x 60 books per box); gold cover title-$32 (53.3 cents per book x 60 books per box). Cover price: $4.95. Book size: 4% x 7 x 518 inches. Indexes: 3-topical, Scripture, Bible promise. Front features: title page, copyright page, TOC. Text features: Bible references within the text, large print throughout, 2 page very interesting story to introduce each chapter, complete Steps to Christ, plus 60 pages from Great Controversy, over 200 additional Bible promises Quoted at end of chapters. Back features: 3 indexes-topical, Scripture, Bible promise, study guide to book. Follow-up at back: 12 pages of follow-up (correspondence courses, books, magazines, 800 number, etc.) This book also availablein casebound (4-color solid, overlapping hard cover with gold title) for $1 more per copy in boxful amounts). Cover price: $8.95.

2- Another Steps to Christ will be released very soon by this publisher. It we contain the entire book, p/us pages about the Bible Sabbath truth, plus follow-up. A full color nature scene cover and a 14-cent price (!) will help it receive the wide distribution its message deserves. 96 pages, wire bound. Watch for announcement of publication date.

61 - COLPORTEUR HELPS FOR GREAT CONTROVERSY

Colporteurs will want to know where they can obtain helpful material which can enable them to more easily sell the book. Here is that information:

Several years ago, we printed a tract with canvasses for Great Controversy (CE-701: Great Controversy Canvasses). That tract, later included in our full-size paperback book, The Colporteur Handbook, is filled-literally filled-with worthwhile helps of every possible kind, to help a canvasser place this most important book in

the hands of the public. In addition, that book provides canvasses on about a dozen other Spirit of Prophecy books, including Bible Readings.

In order to obtain a copy of this book, write and ask for our Missionary Book Order Sheet, then find Colporteur Handbook on it. (On the Missionary Book Order Sheet, you will also find Spirit of Prophecy books which you can obtain at low cost in case lots.)

Here is the table of contents of our 594-page book, The Colporteur Handbook:

As We Go to Press ......................................2

PART ONE - BASICS
1 - How to Use This Book ....................... 14

2 - How It All Began ................................... 30 3 - A Call to Action ..................................... 37 4 - Canvassing Background ........................ 56 5 - Nonresidential Canvassing .................... 77 6 - The Blood Pressure Approach ............ 100 7 - The Warner Canvass ........................... 114 8 - The Cowen Canvass ........................... 135 9 - The Barbin Canvass ............................ 160 10 - Some Basic Replies ............................ 185

PART TWO - IN DEPTH

11 - Fifteen Door Approaches ................... 199 12 - Twenty-Four Door Replies ...............207 13 - Eighteen Early Objections ...................218

14 - Book Canvasses ........................................................226 25 - Additional Helps ....................................249

16 - Going a Little Deeper ............................266 Closes 1
27 - Forty Basic Types of Closes .......... 282 Closes 2

18 - Sixty Benefit Closes ....................... 296 Closes 3
29 - Five Story Closes .......................... 310 Closes 4

20 - Sixty Additional Closes ................. 316

Replies 1
21- Six Basic Types of Replies ............ 327 Replies 2

22 - Seventy-Five Money and Cost Replies. .341 Replies 3

23 - Fifty-Four Wait-and-Ask Husband Re plies 363

Replies 4
24 - Fifty-Four Uncertain and Disinterested Replies 383

PART THREE -MORE HELP

25 - More Great Controversy .................... 403 26 - The Importance of Great Controversy 415

27 -The Four Editions of Great Controversy 431
28 - Additional Book Canvasses .............. 436
29 - Additional Selling Principles ............. 466
30 - Encouragement When You Need It. . 480
31 - Correlative Guide to Missionary Paperbacks 493 32 - More Special Helps for Colporteurs .. 508

33 - Colporteur Checklist ......................... 519 34 - Spirit of Prophecy Sources ............... 515 35 - What about the Larger Books? ... 528

36 - Your Help Is Needed .....................532

PART FOUR - INDEX INFORMATION

37 - Annotated Table of Contents .... 537
38 - Where to Find It (classified indexes) 544 39 - Index to Objections ........................ 551 40 - Index to Spirit of Prophecy

Quotations .........................................559

PART FIVE - BIBLE PROMISES

A Month of Bible Promises ..................... 563

All kinds of approaches, objections, canvasses, and closes are included in it, as you will find when you begin listening. The material is keyed, not only to Great Controversy but also to Desire of Ages, Patriarchs and Prophets, Christ's Object Lessons, Steps to Christ, Bible Readings, and Ministry of Healing.

About seven years later, this audiotape material, plus more, was put into the book described above: The Colporteur Handbook.

Another help is our tract, Where the Bible Ends, an Amazing Story Began [CE-40]. That tract was prepared for a two-fold purpose. Based on advertisement written for our earlier Great Controversy radio broadcasts, it interestingly describes each chapter in the book. In this way, the tract can be used in two different ways:

(1) It will provide you, the canvasser, with a wealth of canvass material. Having read it over a few times, you will never be at a loss for words when you open to any chapter in the book and wish to say something about it to the prospect.

(2) The tract itself can be handed to those who obtain the book (either by purchase or as a free gift). It will tell them so many interesting things about the book that they will want to open and read it for themselves!

62 - WHERE THE BIBLE ENDS . AN AMAZING STORY BEGAN

What happened when the Bible ended? What happened to the people of God? and to the Bible? What were the forces at work that tried to destroy both?

In the book, GREAT CONTROVERSY, this story is told. Four thousand years of history are given us in the Bible. But a powerful story began when the Bible ended. A story that would affect the people of God to the end of time. Paul had been beheaded in 64 A.D. by Nero. and Peter was crucified soon after. Only the aged John was left to pen his books on the isle of Patmos.

Violent forces were gathering that would soon seek to sweep away Christianity altogether. What happened then is of deepest importance to us today as we face what is ahead.

In the last week before His death. Jesus predicted the holocaust that was coming: and, in urgent words He foretold the massive destruction of Jerusalem, the ages of persecution that were to follow, and the crises of our own time.

The powers of earth and hell arrayed themselves against Christ in the person of His followers. And a systematic effort to blot out the church began. But in vain were Satan's efforts to destroy it by violence. For by death they conquered. Their wonderful message penetrated even into regions inaccessible by the eagles of Rome.

"You may kill us, torture us, condemn us . . Your injustice is the proof that we are innocent . . Nor does your cruelty avail you . . The oftener we are mowed down by you, the more in number we grow,-the blood of Christians is seed!"-Tertulltan, to the Emperor Septimius Severus, c. 206 A.D., quoted in chapter two of Great Controversy.

But a century later, Satan introduced a new tactic to devastate the church of God--and though rarely mentioned, it is still destroying churches and Christian families today.

But just now-come, view the powerful coverage of this unusual book - THE GREAT CONTROVERSY:

Chapter 1-DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM-One of the most magnificent temples in the entire world, one of the most beautiful cities-the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, by the Romans under Titus. It was an appalling spectacle to the Roman, what was it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which commanded the city blazed like a volcano.

Jerusalem, the city that a Roman general tried to save,-but was burned to the ground anyway.-in spite of anything men could do to save it.-Because of a prophecy Jesus gave-thirty-nine years before.

Chapter 2-PERSECUTION IN THE FIRST CENTURIES Seated on the Mount of Olives. Jesus foretold to His disciples years to come. He beheld the storms about to fall upon the young church; and, looking into the future, His eyes could see the fierce, wasting tempests that were to beat upon His followers in the ages of darkness that were ahead.

You will want to read Persecution in the First Centuries-the story of the whirlwind that came, the story of why it came: the story of men and women who lived through it-and died in it.

Chapter 3-THE APOSTASY-For three hundred years fierce persecution lashed at the early Christian church, and, then, in 311 A.D. peace came and gradually things changed. Constantine. the emperor of the Roman Empire, decided for political reasons to become friends with the church-and what it brought changed all history for all time to come.

Compromise, conformity, and persecution of former brethren began. Gradually the church took all the steps down. Read what they were.

Chapter 4-THE WALDENSES-Many years ago there were a group of people who lived in the mountains of south-central Europe. They loved God and their Bibles; and as a result they were persecuted and hunted for their faith. What caused it all? How did they survive? DID they survive?

How much the world owes these men, and posterity will never know. You will want to read the story of the people that history tried to blot out-the story of the Waldenses.

Chapter 5-JOHN WYCLIFF-Once there was a time when the common people didn't have Bibles. They weren't allowed to have Bibles. Think of it! No Bibles in the homes anywhere. They weren't allowed to have them. Then came a man who determined to give the Bible to his people.

Read what happened when he did it This is the story of a man of God- the story of John Wycliff.

Chapter 6-JOHN HUSS-John Huss, the man who would not turn back, though empires toppled and nations warred. John Huss--the man who would not give in. though prison doors beckoned and death awaited him.

John Huss-the man who shook kingdoms and brought the gospel to Europe one hundred years before Martin Luther-and laid the foundation for the great Reformation.

Chapter 7-LUTHER'S SEPARATION FROM ROME-Foremost among those who were called to lead the church into the great Reformation was the humble, but unshakable man. Martin Luther.

What kind of a man was he? Where did lie come front? And why did he do what he did? Martin Luther-the man who opened the Bible-to a world.

Chapter 8-LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET-Charles the fifth seemed to be the man for his time--the newly crowned Emperor of Europe. And then he met Martin Luther--and his troubles began. For it led to a battle that would last the rest of his lifetime, a battle that he would ultimately lose.

Hear Martin Luther defend the Word of God before the great men of earth- though he knew it meant his death. This is a story that you will want to read for yourself.

Chapter 9-THE SWISS REFORMER-The great German Reformation began in the sixteenth century under Martin Luther. The equally important Swiss Reformation began at the same time under Ulric Zwingll.

Ulric Zwingli was a man for his time. Born a few weeks after Luther, he grew up to stand as a rock for the Bible, under a fury of opposition. The story of a man who would not compromise--and what happened as a result.

Chapter 10-PROGRESS OF REFORM ON GERMANY-The Emperor Charles the Fifth of Europe had decreed that Martin Luther must die. And then Luther disappeared, as it were from the face of the earth. Who had taken him? His friends, or his enemies? Had the great Reformation, which he had begun, come to a sudden stop?

Chapter 11 PROTEST OF THE PRINCES-One of the noblest testimonies ever uttered for the Reformation was the protest submitted by the Christian princes at the Diet [Council] of Spires in 1529. The entire future course of the Reformation depended on the decisions they there made. The combined forces of Europe were gathered to crush out the newly begun Reformation. And Christian men protested-and refused to deny their faith-or yours.

Their protest at the Diet of Spires that year has given us the name "Protestant." Here you will learn of your spiritual forefathers, the first Protestants- and of the fundamental principles of Protestantism that they have given you.

Chapter 12-THE FRENCH REFORMATION-Louis de Berquin ranked among the highest nobility of France- and then he found Christ, and what he found was so precious that he was willing to die for his faith--and he did.

Read the story of Berqun’s struggle to maintain the right when the majority around him desired only that which might protect themselves. And the men and women who, with him, refused to compromise their faith-the story of the French Reformation.

Chapter 13-SCANDINAVIA-While Martin Luther was working in Germany. lights were springing up elsewhere-all over Europe. The great Reformation had begun. Menno Simons who found God when a man was martyred, and who himself was used by Heaven to bring thousands in the Netherlands to Christ. William of Orange, who finally won freedom to worship God in Holland.

You will read of Tausen, the "Reformer of Denmark," who came close to death in his efforts to help his people. Olaf and Laurentius Petri, who boldly preached the gospel to the king of Sweden himself,--and won both him and the entire nation for God.

Chapter 14-LATER ENGLISH REFORMERS-One day William Tyndale said to a learned clergyman, "If God spare my life, ere many years. I will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know more of Scripture than you do."--And he did--for he gave the first printed English Bible to the world--and was betrayed by a friend for doing it. Tyndale--the man who died that you might have the Bible.

And read of John Knox-the man who feared no one; who repeatedly faced-fearlessly-the Queen of Scotland, the woman who had murdered countless Christians before him-until he had won Scotland for God. The story of John and Charles Wesley who brought Christ to two continents, and the burning energy of George Whitefield who could speak to a 100,000 people in a field as if they were but two--and brought millions to their knees in repentance.

Chapter 15-THE FRENCH REVOLUTION-The terrible French Revolution of 1790 is long since gone, but it is the direct result of a two hundred year struggle over the Bible. History has many lessons. If we will not learn them, we may have to repeat them.

It took place nearly two centuries ago.--but it is full of meaning to us today. The story behind the story of the burning of the Albigenses. the flight of the Huguenots, the event of Bartholomew's Day that brought rejoicing to some--and death to seventy thousand. Countless massacres of Christians led to the deadly harvest of a nation without God-that finally turned of itself. View the terrible experiment of a nation that tried religious persecution, but which turned into atheism-and the startling results.

Chapter 16-THE PILGRIM FATHERS-Many years ago there were men who found that they could not worship God as they wished-because the laws of the land forbade it. Because of this, they left their homes and journeyed to find a shelter--and freedom of worship--in a new land.

What was the first modern government in history to recognize in the fullest sense, the right of religious freedom? It was little Rhode Island, founded by Roger Williams-the first person in modern times to establish a civil government on the basis of complete liberty of conscience.

Chapter 17-22-THE ADVENT AWAKENING-One of the most surprising and far-ranging religious movements of our time developed over a century ago, when men and women all over the world rediscovered the great truth of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and its nearness. You will want to read of the impact that this made, as, on the wings of the wind, it went from state to state, and from nation to nation.

It is amazing what can happen as men open the Word of God with heart-searching prayer and humility of heart. Some of the most intense revivals of mankind have begun from this simple beginning. And one of the most powerful of our time began in just this way--and spread like wildfire from land to land.

Chapter 23-WHAT IS THE SANCTUARY?-The sanctuary built at the command of God was a marvelous structure. Every detail of it has special meaning to us today. But, in a special sense, the way in which its services foretold future events in God's great plan for mankind are especially striking. Here is shown the purpose of the great heavenly sanctuary and what it means in your life today.

Come view the sanctuary of prophecy--the most magnificent structure in all the universe--and the ministry of Christ on your behalf within it. A door opened for you--to the throne of God.

Chapter 24-IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES-The subject of the sanctuary is the key which unlocks many truths long buried and lost to us-truths that are to be found in the Bible.

The study of the Biblical sanctuary opens to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, as it reveals the work that Christ is now carrying on for us in heaven.

Chapter 25-GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE-One of the most solemn warnings ever given in Scripture is to be found in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the book. Revelation. What IS the Mark of the Beast? When will it be given? Who will receive it? And most important, can you and I avoid receiving it.

This is something you will not want to miss. It contains facts you should know. We are living very near the end and thinking men recognize that we are nearing an immense crisis.

Chapter 26-A WORK OF REFORM-Here is part of God's beautiful plan to restore to His people truths long forgotten that they need today.

Our God is a great God-and as we study His Word and trust Him to lead. He will open up to us pathways that will bring us all the way-to the City of the great King-to that wonderful home He is preparing for us.

Chapter 27-MODERN REVIVALS-What has happened to our time? Ministries that don't minister, revivals that don't revive. Revivals of yesteryear brought deep heart-searching humility, wrestling for souls, conversions that shrank not at self-denial and sacrifice.

But times have changed. The world is literally coming into the church. What has happened? And why has it happened?

Chapter 28-THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT-"I beheld." says the prophet Daniel,"till thrones were cast down, and One that was Ancient of Days did sit. A fiery stream came forth from before Him. The judgment was set and the books were opened."

What subject is more important than that of the judgment? How urgent it is that we learn all that we can about this great day that is so soon to come upon us all. The Bible tells us so much about it: when it will conducted, who will take part, the books of record, the Statute Book, our Advocate. The investigative judgment-- one of the most solemn events on all history--a matter that affects every one of us.

Chapter 29-THE ORIGIN OF EVIL-How DID it all begin? Why IS there sin anyway? Here is one of the most sweeping chapters in this entire study of ages. Read that most amazing of stories-how sin began.

Although surrounded by continual selflessness, something happened. What could turn an angel of light into a devil-and do it right in the middle of heaven? This is something you will want to read. It will tell you why God had to wait-and the wonderful future in store for His children-because He did.

Chapter 30-ENMITY BETWEEN MAN AMD SATAN-Satan does everything He can to cast his hellish shadow over us, that we shall not see the

glorious beauty of God's love and mercy. But, Jesus by His wondrous grace implants a renewed nature in the hearts of all who cry unto Him for strength and help.

To the humble, repentant, believing soul-nothing is withheld that he needs-that he may keep close to his precious Jesus. Here is a chapter with a beautiful promise.

Chapter 31 AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS-If Satan could, he would blot out every Christian from the face of the earth. If he could-he could blot everyone else, too. With countless evil angels to do his bidding, and with a mind far in advance of own, we are no match for his power and cunning.

But in Christ there is the needed power. Our danger is in not recognizing the strength and number of Satan's host- and thus thinking ourselves safe. We do not flee to Christ, moment by moment, for the help we need.

Chapter 32-SNARES OF SATAN-Satan is determined to entrap everyone who would seek to become a Christian. And he wants there children as well. Many are caught every day, not realizing how he operates.

This chapter tells about Satan's tool box, for he has scores of devices to destroy souls-and generally they don't even know what happened to them. Here are Satan's sixty- five snares.

Chapter 33-THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION-One of the most fantastic deceptions of all time actually began with Satan. And few today recognize it for what it really is. Yet, with it. he catches souls and holds them fast. In this chapter you will find the heart of the spider-web-how Satan uses the dead-to catch the living.

Chapter 34-SPIRITUALISM-There is a channel that is regarded as sacred by many-through which Satan binds souls. Voices speak, appearances are made,-and a bewitching power enters another life. Many consider it but fakery, but then they see a more than human power revealed, and they are led on-to their death.

It can begin so simply, but later there seems no escape. Learn now, so you can protect your loved ones-from the lure of the spirit world.

Chapter 35-AIMS OF BABYLON-Quietly, forces are at work in our land, to undermine our Christian faith. And yet but few are aware of these developments. Liberties that so many take for granted were not won in a day. They took centuries to gain-and they can go very quickly.

A danger is impending. God's Word reveals it-the deadly nature of which-will soon come with devastating power.

Chapter 36-THE IMPENDING CONFLICT-God never forces the will or the conscience, but in both Satan delights. And in the near future a renewal of this is to be seen, according to Scripture. Errors that strike insolently against the authority of heaven will soon be brought boldly to the front-and given legal backing.

Will you and I be ready for the final conflict described in Revelation? Here you will learn for yourself the issues of Satan's master plan.

Chapter 37-SCRIPTURES A SAFEGUARD-The last great delusion is soon to open before us. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true, that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Bible.

And yet but few value the Bible with all their heart, study it with all their might, in preparation for what is soon to come on all the earth. Few are prepared to resist Satan's special device-to attract attention to man in place of God and His Word.

Chapter 38-FINAL WARNING-Satan's power to deceive can be very great-when men are ignorant. In every age there has been a decided struggle of truth against error. But the greatest one is just ahead. One of the most massive crises of the ages is just before mankind. Of Babylon at this time, it is declared in Scripture, "Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."

Revelation 13 predicts that a time is just before us when those who honor fundamental Bible truths, will be denounced as enemies of law and order. We must individually know the Word of God for ourselves-that we may stand on the right side in that day.

Chapter 39-THE TIME OF TROUBLE-The time is coming--is just ahead-when mercy will no longer plead for earth's guilty inhabitants. Every case will have been decided-for life or for death. Some will be ready, others will not-but for all probation will have closed, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man." And now, again, we are living in the days of Noah and Sodom. A time of feasting and reverie and wickness. But soon-probation is to close. Men today fear in their hearts that perhaps soon it may indeed end. --What will happen when it does end?

Chapter 40-GOD'S PEOPLE DELIVERED-The eyes of heaven are fixed on the crisis just ahead, and at its height-God will step in. Revelation has ominous prophecies-that apply to our time and beyond. Learn of that time when the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the Word of God, and there is a simultaneous movement for their destruction.

And, just beyond, when the firmament seems filled with radiant forms as Jesus returns for His own, His countenance outshining the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun,-as the king of Kings descends upon a cloud, wrapped in flaming fire.

Chapter 41-DESOLATION OF THE EARTH-This world is tottering, ready to fall.-and what will come after? This chapter is a penetrating analysis of the millennium-that time not far off when time shall stand still,-when Satan will be bound and there will be a time of reckoning.

View that time of a controversy nearing its end. A time to think and recall it in detail. Something you won't want to miss--the story of the millenium.

Chapter 42-THE CONTROVERSY ENDED-Here's the story of a battle that never takes place, after a preparation that involves whole nations. The story of Satan's last fight for supremacy-and then a view of the great white Throne and the final judgment.--And the awesomely beautiful heaven that follows for God's people. The story of the end of sin.--and of life in the new earth. A story that helps us want to be there.

All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's redeemed at that time. Unfettered by mortality, they will wing their tireless flight to worlds afar. With unutterable delight, the children of earth will enter into the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings. Here is the story of life in the New Earth-a story we want a part in.

GREAT CONTROVERSY IS A BOOK THAT EXPLAINS THE PAST, A BOOK THAT UNVEILS THE FUTURE. Great Controversy is a book for our time.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-the classic of church history. from Christ's time down to our own,-and beyond. A careful selection of significant events that show what really happened back then-and why-and what it means to us today. Using the past to explain the present,-it then goes into detail about what is just ahead.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-the most penetrating analysis of the past and the future in relation to our time now available.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-the story of God's people and how they lived and suffered for their faith, and were willing to die for it-so we today could have the Bible.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-the story of what they died to give us-and how we today are losing it.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-the book that explains our time. In the great prophecy of Jesus, in Matthew 24, He foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem. in A.D. 70, the end of the world,-and the ages of suffering for God's people between the two. Here you will see the panoramic sweep of that powerful prophecy spread out before you.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-one of the most significant books of our time-as it step by step explains the crisis that is developing-why it is developing-and what must be done to meet It.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-A book that will deepen your experience on the Lord-as you see His care for His children and His Word-over the past 2.000 years. A book that tells why the martyrs died-and what they were trying to give back to us. A book that tells what we lost.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-A sweeping look at history-with staggering implications for our time. From the beginning Satan has tried to destroy the Bible and the people of God-and this work Is going on today.

GREAT CONTROVERSY-This book is unique in its field. It is to be used along with your Bible-and where your Bible ends, there, as far as a point of time in history,-there the Great Controversy begins-giving the last 2.000 years of what really happened.

It tells the story of God's people during that time, and shows how He led them. It's like a history book-and yet it is far more interesting and inspirational. It only selects out the most unusual events of those 2.000 years-that clearly show what took place and why. And how those events then-have affected our world to- day. This well-known classic on church history has gone through millions of copies. and has been translated into over twenty different languages.

It starts out where the Bible ends--and takes us right through the Dark Ages. It tells why the early Christians were persecuted and why they choose to die rather

than deny Christ. It also shows how the Bible truths they were willing to die for were gradually being taken away. It tells how the Catholic Church started and where the various other churches came from.

This book tells why the great Reformation was needed, and why it was halted-and what that means to us today. In our time the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis- and many thinking people believe it may be the last in history.

Here at last is a clear understanding of what we face today, how it has been building up for generations now- and what is just ahead.

In this book you will see the issues made very, very clear. From the beginning, Satan has been trying destroy the Bible and the people of God, and this work is going on today. The author traces the story so vividly, so clearly, that this book has become one of the most controversial, most talked about best sellers of modern times,-with editions currently on sale in a score of languages.

The issues in the controversy are so great, the stakes are so high.-that someone had to utter these words of warning and enlightenment. Thank God, someone did.

No reader who turns the pages of Great Controversy will put it down. without wondering whether it was more than chance that led him to discover it.

Large, illustrated editions of this full-length book are currently available from other sources for $9.50 and $52.00. But it is now available in a very attractive, inexpensive edition. Here is the price and where to write for your copy:

63 - A WONDERFUL HERITAGE

You have just finished reading what is probably the most detailed analysis of the book, Great Controversy, that has ever been written. Yet, throughout it all, we have found only evidence of its divine origin.

We have discovered that this book holds a unique position in the Spirit of Prophecy writings. Indeed, we have learned that it was so important that the Lord guided His servant, Ellen, to rewrite and amplify the book more than once. All this required much effort on her part, but she was faithful to the assigned task.

It is easy to be a lazy quibbler, sitting on the sidelines, always searching for questions and dreaming up doubts. But we are the ones being judged; not the book.

We have also discovered that, although this book exists in several editions, there is no doctrinal error anywhere in it. It is a magnificent work of God.

The question now is what shall we do with it? Great Controversy was not given to be doubted and rejected. Nor was it given to be kept on a shelf and revered as a glorious object. It was given to be carefully studied, and shared widely with others.

Not only should the book be shared, but also the concepts within it. Open and read it again for yourself, and then tell others what you have learned. Great Controversy opens a door to end time. There is no other volume in the world which can do that. Yet everyone is fascinated with coming events. Each person you meet would like to know what is going to happen in the future.

Yet here is the book they have been wanting, for Great Controversy is the book of tomorrow. It pierces the cloudy veil in front of us, and opens to our gaze the vast, turbulent panorama of events soon to begin.

Do not underestimate that revelation. Consider it not merely a sketchy outline. We are only told that which we need to know. But we are told that-and in abundance. The book is remarkably complete in its scope and coverage.

Recall again in the Bible the experiences of ancient Israel, as they journeyed through the wilderness. What happened to them parallels what is happening to us. We find there the same cheap quibbling, the same doubt and rebellion that we observe today in the camp of professed believers. But we also find triumphant, overcoming faith, on the part of many stalwart heroes who have determined to trust God and His prophet.

On one occasion, the people were grumbling about trivia as they journeyed to the Promised Land,-and the Lord permitted the venomous serpents to come in among them and bite them.

Some repented of their sin, returned to God, and in faith gazed upon the appointed means of healing. Others, refusing the look of faith, perished in their sins.

How is it with you and I today? When it comes to the special book, are we giving our affectionate attention to questions and doubts? Are we listening to the devastators, when they try to instill in us their poisonous doubts. Do we presumptuously accept their dare to let them lead us into their cherished mazes of skepticism in regard to one or more of the editions of God's sacred book for these last days? They love to do it, because they imagine that it gives them a sense of power over the Word of God. But their expressions of doubt carry a deadly taint, which erelong blights and destroys the faith of those of God's children willing to listen to them.

The secret of success is not to listen to them! Keep busy reading God's Word, trusting God's Word, obeying God's Word, and sharing God's Word. And when the doubters and skeptics come,-tell them to leave as soon as you learn what their objective is. You dare not remain in the withering atmosphere which surrounds them. It will destroy you.

If you and I will be faithful to the end, we will soon stand with the angels on the sea of glass. Do not trade that for doubter's castle.

serve Him-lies at the heart of the age-long great controversy. Along these lines is fought the conflict of the ages. The book, Great Controversy, provides a historical view of the past and a prophetic view of the future of this entire conflict.

4 - As soon as the young organization was on its feet which did not occur until 1858,-God gave the great controversy vision to Ellen White at Lovett's Grove, Ohio. (Chapter 4). As soon as that vision was given to her, she was commanded to begin writing it out-and, within a very short time, Satan attacked her with paralysis. We know of no other instance in her life in which the devil was permitted to harm her so severely.

Why was this permitted to happen? The answer is quite obvious. God was showing her the importance of that information-and He was showing us too! Did she learn the lesson? Yes, she did. As we will see below, she later spent more time on that volume than any other of her books. Did we learn our lesson? No, we have not. Even many of the most faithful of God's people today have been far too willing to grumble, dissect, and attack that book more than any other she has written. It has been a tragedy, and one that some of us will have to answer for in the Judgment.

5 - In later years, God greatly amplified that which He told Ellen in the 1858 vision. This fact is quite obvious. That which he gave her in the Lovett's Grove vision, she wrote down. But more information was flashed to her in brief visions as she wrote the 1884 (second) edition. That is why it is larger than the 1858 (first) edition. But still more data was given to her as she prepared the still larger 1888 (third) edition. That is why it is still larger. Each book was fully inspired of God, but each successive volume (up to 1888) contained more information. An excellent comparison is the four gospels. Each one has unique facts and truths the others lack, but we do not belittle or toss out any of them for that reason. Mark is like the 1884 edition concise, with the basic facts; while Matthew (which was written later) has nearly everything that is in Mark, plus much more. But we do not castigate Mark as worthless, or decide that Matthew is not safe to read or share with others because it is larger and written later. It is all equally inspired of God, and equally valuable.

However, although the 1888 (and with it the 1911) has more material than the 1884, it is also true that most of the information in the concluding chapters (chapters 23-42) of the 1888/1911 editions, are also to be found in the 1884 concluding chapters. The major 1888 enlargement came in the earlier, historical chapters. Yet the 1888 and 1911 editions were still significant in their addition or amplification in certain areas. We will briefly note some of these additions, later in this section.

6 - When Ellen White wrote the 1884 edition, she had written very few other books, all of them small. (Chapter 21). In fact, the 1884 Great- Controversy was her first larger book. It was her plan to go on and write other books and never again rewrite that first large book.

But God knew how important that subject matter was. She was providentially sent to Europe for two years (August 1885 - August 1887), and, upon arriving, she was shown that she must gather more information and im- mediately set to work to revise the 1884 edition-and make it even larger. She spent the remainder of that decade either writing that revision-or fighting with the leaders to put it into print. (Chapter 12).

Thus we find that, when the so-called "1888 edition" came off the presses, it was her second large book-and both the first and second large books were Great Controversys!

7 - We learned that, just as Satan tried to slay her when she was going to begin writing the first edition of that book, he instigated men to attack her writings-and selected that book as the one to attack! (Chapter 10). That attack, begun in 1883, has continued on down to the present day. Liberal members say she never was inspired, or that she "plagiarized" Great Controversy; conservative ones will tell you she only wrote the 1884, and that "other people" wrote the 1888. What is this great madness that men must continually search for reasons to reject the Word of God? Can they not grasp that they will have to answer for it in the Judgment? These men had the Spirit of Prophecy books, yet, instead of sharing them with the world, they spent their time caviling and criticizing those books.

8 - We discovered that even our church leadership decided to help Satan and stop publication of that book. By the year 1888, the 1884 edition was out-of-print. Yet leadership in Battle Creek were determined to keep the third (1888) edition of Great Controversy from being published.

This ongoing battle continued for quite some time. (Chapter 14). In fact, the "1888 edition" was not printed by Pacific Press until 1889, and not by the Review until 1890. We have a lengthy collection of statements by El- len White describing this ongoing crisis and the agony she suffered over it (see chapter 14).

9 - The plates for the 1888 edition were nearly worn out, and there was a need to include references for quotations by historians. So close, trusted associates of Ellen White carried out that task. That they accomplished such a difficult task in so short a time, while keeping the pagination the same, was indeed remarkable. The resulting fourth (1911) edition is an excellent one. (Chapters 15-19). Take an 1888 edition and compare it with the 1911, and you will find no problems of any kind.

10 - In fact, take any of the controverted three editions (1884, 1888, or 1911) and carefully read it-and you will find no problems in any of them! Every page is all doctrinally correct in regard to our historic beliefs and stan- dards. The same concepts run through them all. Every word, every phrase is solid. Ellen White, herself, wrote recommendations for each of those three editions. (Chapter 20). Her attitude toward each of those editions should be ours.

In the present volume, we spent many pages detailing every difference between the various editions-and found they amounted to nothing of significance. (Chapters 17, 28-33). We examined the chapter titles, appendices, and quotations. (Chapters 35-40, 47-49). Every detail was analyzed, yet we found nothing of significance which would indicate tampering by other hands.

11 - We analyzed the ten charges leveled against that book, and found that none of them hold water. (Chapters 41-43).

12 - We learned that those why spend their time attacking her writings and that book will have a most terrible account to answer for later. (Chapter 44).

13 - We read the statements declaring the utter urgency of widely circulating these special messages by every means possible, and in every language possible. (Chapters 2 and 45).

14 - We examined the A.L. White biographical statement of the crisis that occurred from 1887 to 1890, as men in Battle Creek stubbornly set their wills to oppose publication of that book. (Chapter 56). -Yet men today dare to suggest the lying claim that we should not read or distribute the 1888 edition "because Uriah Smith wrote it." -Yet it was Uriah Smith who led out in defying her demand to put that book into print!

There is more, much more in this present volume. But in this section we have overviewed some of the most important facts and issues.

In conclusion, we might ask ourselves this question: In view of all we have learned in the course of this investigation, which Great Controversy is the best?

That is a fair question and deserves an answer:

1 - As mentioned earlier, each edition was an enlargement of the preceding one. In a sense, the 1911 was not an enlargement, since the primary difference was the addition of historical quotation references. But, in fact, even that would constitute an enlargement, even though small.

Here are some additions in the 1888 edition, which were not in the 1884:

o Additional details and helpful lessons from the lives of Huss, Jerome, and Wycliffe. (1884: chapter 5; 1888/1911: chapters 5-6)

o ThevaluableinformationtobefoundintheSwiss,French,and Scandinavian Reformation chapters. (1884: not included; 1888/1911: chapters 9, 12, and 13)

o ThechapterontheEnglishReformationwassizeablyenlargedwith further invaluable information on the importance of the law of God, and its relation to Christian experience. (1884: chapter 10; 1888/1911: chapter 14)

o ThegreatlyenlargedmaterialontheFrenchrevolutioniscrucialtoa proper understanding of what the papal apostasy inevitably leads to. Modern Protestantism is following in the track of Rome. Moral dissolution and governmental ruin always result from adherance to strict papal policies. (1884: chapter 11; 1888/1911: chapter 15).

o Thechapteronthepilgrimsprovidesuswithinformationonhow Catholicism begins gaining control over the mind, and how we must remain free from church and governmental control over our religious beliefs and practices. (1884: not included; 1888/1911: chapter 16).

o ThechaptersontheMilleritemovementwereamplifiedandenlarged. The 2300-year prophecy explanation is only found in an appendix footnote to the 1884 Miller biography (because only believers were expected to read the 1884 edition). Chapter 19 (in the 1888/1911), with its discussion of the importance of grounding our beliefs in Scripture, is not even found in the 1884 edition. (1884: chapters 13- 17; 1888/1911: chapters 18-22).

o Thetwosanctuarychaptersweredecidedlyimproved,andthe second summary of the 2300-year prophecy was added. In addition, important material in the last two-thirds of the second of these two chapters was added. Read it in both editions and see for yourself. (1884: chapters 18-19; 1888/1911: chapters 23-24).

o ThechapterdealingwithRevelation13-14,thebeast,image,and mark, was significantly enlarged. (1884: chapter 20; 1888/1911: chapter 25).

o The"OriginofEvil"chapter,whichinsomerespectsisthemost important chapter in the book, had a vital addition in the 1888 edition: the relationship of the law of God to the overall great controversy between Christ and Satan. (1884: chapter 24; 1888/1911: chapter 29).

o The"SnaresofSatan"chapterhadwhatsomeofusconsidertobea drawback: Satan's monologue to his angels (pp. 337-340 in the 1884)

was not included in the preparation of the 1888 edition. (1884: chapter 27; 1888/1911: chapter 32).

Whywasthatdone?The1884editionwaswrittenforchurch members to read, and the 1888 for the world. Keep in mind that, in order to destroy confidence in God's prophet, Satan had sent some of his own to America. Stories about Joseph Smith's adulteries and murders were notorious at the time, even most people today may
not know about them. Mary Baker Eddy was also highly con- troversial, and presented strange concepts, such as the idea that angels are only "good thoughts." So Ellen White was instructed not
to make an issue of her status as a prophet; this instruction she followed. (She later said that she never claimed to be a prophet, but that her work included that of a prophet and much more. Well stated!) But that extended statement by the devil was obviously penned by a prophet; who else could eavesdrop on a council meeting of Satan and his angels? That omitted section was later placed in
Testimonies to Ministers so God's people can continue to read it (pp. 472-475).

Chapter titles were also changed so they would be more interesting and understandable to non-believers. An example of this is one chapter, which in the 1884 bore the title, "The Third Angel's Message"; but, in the 1888, "God's Law Immutable. " Both titles correctly describe the content, but each title fits the audience that
the edition was written for. (1884: chapter 20; 1888/1911: chapter 25)

2 - We have seen that each of the editions is inspired of God, and, like all Scripture, is profitable for doctrine and instruction in righteousness. Each edition contains truth and nothing but the truth. Each edition is equally invaluable for personal reading or sharing with others.

Well, then, which edition is the best of the three? That would depend on what your purpose was. In the opinion of the present writer, it would be this:

First, if I wanted to share 200, 1,000, or 20,000 copies of this book with others, I would obtain the low-cost 1884 edition; not the 1888 or 1911 edition. I would select that edition for widespread distribution for the following reasons:

[1] The 1884 edition (as published by Harvestime Books, Altamont, TN 30501) is the lowest-cost Great Controversy obtainable anywhere in the English language. By sharing that edition, I will be able to distribute more books for the same amount of money. It is as simple as that.

[2] By distributing an 1884 edition, I have placed in their hands a book which (in the Harvestime Books edition) has larger print than the other paperback editions, which are 1888 or 1911. It is a well-known fact that people are far more likely to read an easy-to-read book than one which has small print.

[3] Even though the 1884 edition is not as large as the 1888 and 1911 and, therefore, cannot contain as much information, the fact remains that all the essential facts are in the 1884 edition. True, it tells nothing about the reformation in Scandinavia or Switzerland, but that is not essential information. The very important closing chapters of the 1884, 1888, and 1911 are remarkably similar, and that is what counts.

Second, if I wanted to read the book myself for in-depth study of what my heavenly Father has to say on these historical and prophetic subjects, I would want to read in all of the editions. Every one is outstanding! But I would find the 1888 or 1911 edition especially useful, for there is more detailed information in those books.

Lastly, we might ask, Which is the best of two later editions: the 1888 or the 1911 ? The following is the studied opinion of the present writer:

In earlier years, I assumed that the 1888 was probably the best. But after completing this present book, I have decided that the 1911 edition is the best for text, and the 1956 appendix revision is the best for appendix. My reasons would be these:

Regarding the text of the book, the 1884 was excellent in all that it presented, but the 1888 provided us with a more complete book. The 1911 is essentially identical to the 1888, with the exception of some changed historical quotations, and many added quotation references. Comparing the quotations, we find that the ones in the 1888 edition are good, and those in the 1911 have essentially the same information. (Ellen White personally examined and approved every change that was made in the process of producing the 1911 edition.) But the 1911 edition is also different in that it corrected a number of typographical and related items which were in the 1888. (We discussed what they were in chapters 28-32.) The result is that the 1911 edition turns out to be a slightly better one; not dramatically better, only slightly better.

Regarding the appendices, we carefully analyzed the four of them (none of which Ellen White wrote, by the way)-and learned that the later ones were better and more complete than the earlier ones. We also discovered that the 1956 revision was the best. It is better than the current (1979) one, in that it does not have several typographical/layout problems which were carelessly included in the present appendix.

So which edition of Great Controversy is the best one to read and share with others? Not including the appendices, they are all Scripture, all equally inspired of God, without doctrinal or historical error, and all profitable for the highest level of instruction. So whichever one you wish to use is the best one for you.

But, please, do not condemn the other editions! When you do so, you subtly downgrade that holy book in the eyes of others. You dare not do that! Read the editions, share the editions, talk and preach to others what is in the editions; but do not join those who are determined to defend one edition by attacking another! Let no man steal your crown by getting you to join Satan's side of the warfare over the book, Great Controversy.

Is Christ divided? (1 Corinthians 1:13). Is His Word divided? Is part of Inspiration useless? Do we dare suggest that any of it is? To do so is to insult its Author, to tell Him that He did not do right when He gave us so many editions of that precious book. "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." Matthew 12:25. There are men who would give us the impression that the 1884 edition was written by Heaven, and the later two editions were penned by men moved by Beelzebub. But read Matthew 12:22-37 carefully;

ponder well its words, and stay your hand from any effort to disparage sacred things.

Great Controversy, in all its editions, was produced by the Spirit of God, and, according to Matthew 12, it is a very dangerous thing to attribute part of the Holy Spirit's work to nothing more than a product of evil, scheming, deceptive men. All the messages in all the editions fully agree; who then dares call part of the editions the work of God and the other part the work of the devil?

A BOOK WORTH READING

What happened when the Bible ended? What happened to the people of God and to the Bible? What were the forces at work that tried to destroy both?

In the book, GREAT CONTROVERSY, by Ellen White, this story is told For, you see, although four thousand years of history are given to us in the Bible,-a powerful story began when the Bible ended. A story that would affect the people of God down to the end of time.

In the last week before His death, Jesus predicted the holocaust that was coming, and in urgent words He foretold the massive destruction of Jerusalem, the ages of persecution that were to follow, and the crisis of our own time.

And then, in the centuries that followed, the powers of earth and hell arrayed themselves against Christ in the person of His followers. A systematic effort to blot out Bible truthand the true church along with it-began. But in vain were Satan's efforts to destroy God's people by violence. For even in death they conquered.

You may kill us, torture us, condemn us .. Your injustice is the proof that we are innocent .. Nor does your cruelty avail you.. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow, the blood of Christians is seed!" -Tertullian, to the emperor Semtimius Severus, c. A.D. 206, Quoted in chapter two of "Great Controversy."

But a century later, Satan introduced a new tactic to devastate the church of God. And it is still destroying churches and Christian families today.

Read what happened when the churches united with the world Read it in GREAT CONTROVERSY.

Read about the Waldenses, who loved God and their Bibles, and as a result were persecuted and hunted for their faith. What caused it all? How did they survive? DID they survive?

Read about John Wycliff- who determined to give the Bible back to the people. Read about John Huss - who revealed Christ to an entire nation - even though it meant imprisonment and death.

Read about the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth Century -and what it means to you today. Martin Luther, Ulric Zwingli, John Calvin, and others. Read about men and women who dared to take the Bible as it reads - no matter what the cost.

Read about the English Reformation: William Tyndale who gave the first printed Bible to England; John and Charles Wesley who brought Christ to two continents; George Whitfield who could speak to 100, 000 people in a field as if they were but two.

Read about the crisis in our own day - and what is ahead. We who live at the end-time of history need to know what is coming.

In this book, the issues are made very, very clear. The story is traced so vividly that this book has become one of the most widely- distributed best-sellers of modern times - with editions currently on sale in a score of languages.

GREAT CONTROVERSY - A panorama of men and women who determined to cling to Christ, no matter what the outcome. Powerful encouragement is to be found here - to help you weather the storms in your own life.

GREAT CONTROVERSY -A gripping drama of 2, 000 years of time - as it selects out fascinating stories and incidents that explain why we are on the edge of a holocaust today.

GREAT CONTROVERSY - The book that explains the crisis we are rapidly headed toward in our time - and the reasons behind it.

Yes, Great Controversy is a book well worth reading. It will give you a better understanding of the past, and a better preparation for the future. Few realize the nature of the crisis that is ready to burst upon us. For your copy write to the publisher at the address given at the top of the second page in this book (the copyright page). You will be thankful that you did.

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The Editions of Great Controversy