Editions of Great Controversy--

THE WRITING OF THE BOOK

'THE GREAT CONTROVERSY'

 Vance Ferrell

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

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 Water­ville, 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 carne 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. 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 book work 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 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. However, 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 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 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."—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 protected, 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.

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

Satan was jubilant. Now Ellen White's book work 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 

 "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 corrupted 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.

 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.

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