The counsels of the Spirit of prophecy have been inseparably linked with the inception and development of the work of the Seventh-day Adventists in America. This has been an expanding literature serving an expanding work, until today we have thirtyseven current volumes of general and specialized counsel available to readers of the English language. What a blessing these books are to the church!
In lands other than English-reading, as our work has sprung into being and has grown, it has been but natural that certain of the E. G. White books should form a part of the literature produced for the church and for general sale by our colporteurs. Quite naturally the selection of specific books for the Spirit of prophecy literature for a given area, has been left largely in the hands of the responsible leaders who were on the ground, working in counsel with the trustees of the Ellen G. White Publications.
Among the elements which have entered into the choice of the particular Spirit of prophecy books for a given field have been the following:
1. The message of the book itself. Would it serve our church members alone, or could we expect a wide distribution in the hands of our colporteurs?
2. In volumes for the church the lines of counsel thought to be most needed, considering the local conditions and the development of the work.
3. The cost of manufacturing and the anticipated distribution, considering both our own membership and the population of the country, and the facilities and resources at our disposal for printing, stocking, and distributing.
It is gratifying to mark the progress made as we look over the Spirit of prophecy literature read by the peoples of the principal lands of the world.
The little volume Steps to Christ, undenominational in its character, universal in its message, and small in size, predominates. It has been published in fifty-nine languages and has entered millions of homes.
In many countries Great Controversy, with its distinctive message, has been selected as a volume for wide distribution by our literature evangelists, and either whole or in part has appeared in nearly thirty of the leading languages of the world. We find it not alone in the principal languages of Europe and South America, but also in certain languages of Asia and Africa. Beyond these two volumes, however, we find a wide variation and lack of uniformity in the Spirit. of prophecy books selected both for church and subscription sale.
As we examine the picture we shall speak of Europe as an illustration. While Great Controversy has been issued in a number of the leading languages, Desire of Ages and Patriarchs and Prophets have been published in only four. Christ's Object Lessons and Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing have each been printed in a number of languages. They are books that could be sold by our colporteurs.
When we study the literature written more particularly for the edification and instruction of the church, we discover it to be very meager. Early Writings has appeared in a few of the languages. In some others a selection from the first par Early Writings has been published. We see but a small and miscellaneous grouping of selections from the Testimonies for the Church. While we do not anticipate that the day will ever come when the full nine volumes, written over a period of nearly six decades, with some of their messages local as to time and place, will ever be published in the various languages, yet it does seem that the believers of other lands should and must have more of the counsel addressed specifically to the church.
Testimonies and Selections in Europe
In Great Britain a little volume of 220 pages, selected from the five thousand pages of the nine volumes, supplementing the imported full set from America, was distributed quite widely. In Germany two small volumes of selections were published, but one has long been out of print. In France one book was printed many years ago, followed some years later by another volume of selections. The first book passed out of print, and in still later years a third volume was issued which overlapped somewhat the out-of-print volume, but does not take its place.
In other of the European countries, various modifications of the German and French selections from the Testimonies have been chosen, some articles dropped out and others added, and all this has created a grouping of Testimonies for the Church, usually in one small volume, which from one country to another varies widely in content.
Our workers in America have been favored with a fine library of Spirit of prophecy volumes of general and specialized counsel. What would we without Gospel Workers and the many companion volumes? Yet in Europe only the German workers have had Gospel Workers, while Education has appeared in four European languages. The small book on colporteur work and the one on Sabbath school work have been issued in a larger number of languages.
Of the books on health, only Ministry of Healing has been published generally. It has a record of wide use in eleven of Europe's languages. Counsels on Diet and Foods has appeared in but one language.
A forward step was taken just before World War II in the encouragement of the production of Messages to Young People in many of the leading languages. That which gave this impetus was the constructive planning of the Missionary Volunteer Department and the gifts of the young people of America to meet the initial expense of these several editions.
This was the picture in 1939 and 1940. Through the war years literature stocks have been largely exhausted or destroyed.
Swinging to the Orient, we see India with its many dialects and poverty-stricken populace, and find Steps to Christ, Life and Teachings, and a brief selection from the Testimonies, each in about eight dialects. The Asiatic picture is similar to that of Europe, the various language areas having the Spirit of prophecy literature varying from a volume or two to a well-developed library. The books for colporteur sale predominate, and there is but little of the counsels directed especially to the church.
China, with its one principal language, had at the beginning of the war a steadily developing Spirit of prophecy literature. But this, with most of the literature of the Far East, is now either sold out or destroyed.
Practically nothing has yet been done in providing any of the Spirit of prophecy books for the natives of the South Seas or Africa. Steps to Christ has been issued in a few dialects.
Turning to the southern part of the Western Hemisphere we find a very encouraging picture. A well-developed library of twenty-one of the E. G. White books is available to Spanish peoples of Inter-America and South America. The Portuguese readers have but a few less. This fine record has been made possible through a well-planned, consistent, steady publishing program.
This world picture of the Spirit of prophecy literature must include the record of the fine work done by the Pacific Press International Branch in the publication, primarily, of Steps to Christ and Great Controversy in many languages. While the distribution of these volumes is largely in North America, large shipments of certain of them have been sent to Europe in years gone by, to supply certain fields in which little publishing was done.
Many chapters from the various E. G. White books have also appeared in the church papers serving the various language areas. This has been eat help in lands with a small Spirit of prophecy literature.
Thus we have before us a picture of the Spirit of prophecy literature the world around at the outset of World War II. Time has not permitted the receiving of full reports from areas which were devastated by war, but we know that literature stocks in the lands involved have been largely destroyed or used up during these war years. And thus today there is not even available to our believers and our workers the limited Spirit of prophecy literature which was obtainable in 1939 or 1940. We are now faced with the task of publish-anew the Spirit of prophecy literature in many languages of the world.
After examining the world picture, and making a beginning in planning for the renewal of the Spirit of prophecy literature, we can see clearly that now is our opportune time to bring greater uniformity in this literature in the several divisions of the world field. How can we hope for the unity of the church and the strengthening of the believers, when some groups have certain Spirit of prophecy writings and others have practically none, and even in those groups which have Spirit of prophecy writings, there is a wide divergence of the content of counsels of divine origin? That it is not possible or necessary to furnish all fields with all the books we have in America, is clear ; but that in every field, however small, the constituency should have a uniform, basic Spirit of prophecy literature, is equally as clear.
There has never been such an opportune time to bring in a uniformity in this literature. Should we not then develop a program for printing the Spirit of prophecy books, embodying:
1. A uniform, basic Spirit of prophecy literature of several volumes for every Seventh-day Adventist home.
2. The production of certain Spirit of -prophecy books which could be used both by the church and for subscription sale, appearing either in their entirety or in abridged form, but only in standard, approved abridgements.
3. The addition of other of the Spirit of prophecy books as rapidly as the development of the cause in various areas makes possible.
This program, if carried out, should be initiated and fostered from the world headquarters. There must be careful planning, and some fields must have financial help. Such an endeavor will aid greatly in the spiritual rehabilitation of the church.
