Editions of Great Controversy--

THE WRITING OF THE BOOK

'THE GREAT CONTROVERSY'

 Vance Ferrell

  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 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." ­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 regarding 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, El­len 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 frequently 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 in­terest 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 revision 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 important 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 work­and 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 program 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 teenage 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 Controversy.

"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 explained 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 considered 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 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."—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?

CONTINUE                        TOP                INDEX