Write, write, write, I feel that I must, and not delay," penned Ellen White in 1884. "Great things are before us, and we want to call the people from their indifference to get ready."—Letter II, 1884. In these words are summed up the objective of her most important work, and that by which she is best known today.
Her childhood experience and her education were not such as we would ordinarily think of as naturally fitting one to spend a lifetime in writing. Her schooling was limited. But when called of God in her girlhood, she was fitted by Him for the tasks entrusted to her. She graphically pictures to us her call to write:
"Early in my public labors I was bidden by the Lord, 'Write, write the things that are revealed to you.' At the time this message came to me, I could not hold my hand steady. My physical condition made it impossible for me to write.
"But again came the word, 'Write the things that are revealed to you.' I obeyed; and as the result it was not long before I could write page after page with comparative ease. Who told me what to write? Who steadied my right hand and made it possible for me to use a pen?—It was the Lord."—Review and Herald, June 14, 1906.
Had the Lord chosen as His messenger a brilliant student, or one of mature years with education, some might have said that the messages were not the product of the Spirit of God, but had their origin in the mind of the writer and were based on preconceived ideas and prejudices. The Lord chose a humble instrument for His work, that the messages might flow from Him to the church and to the world without danger of contamination, and in such a way that all could see that it was His work.
From the time that her hand was steadied, back in 1845, to the close of her lifework, Ellen G. White did all her writing by hand. Even when secretarial help was available, she chose to work undisturbed, penning the sentences thoughtfully and carefully. Sometimes the writing would be.done On ,note paper, sometimes on large sheets, and at other times in bound, ruled copybooks.
The circumstances, under which Mrs. White wrote varied, greatly. When she could do her work at home she was "pleased. For a time in early Battle Creek days she worked largely at home, but at times went to the Review office, where she shared a room with her husband. But much of the time the writing had to be sandwiched in as best she could while traveling, speaking, and visiting. The diary of 1859 gives us a glimpse of this :
"Awoke a little past two A.M. Take cars (traini at four. Feel very miserable. Write all day.... Our journey on the cars ended at six P.m."—Diary, Aug. 18, 1859.
A little later on this same journey, early one morning Elder and Mrs. White were taken to the home of one of our believers. So pressed was she with her work that although "the house is full of company" she recorded, she "had no time to visit. Shut myself in the chamber to write."—Diary, Oct. 10, 1859. In 1891 she notes in connection with a tour of three months in the Eastern States that she had "spoken fifty-five times, and have written three hundred pages. . . The Lord it is who has strengthened and blessed me and upheld me by His Spirit." —MS. 4, 1894.
It is related that at one conference Ellen White was so pressed with her writing that she found she must write in meeting through the week. One morning, seated at the table just in front of the pulpit, she wrote steadily while J. N. Andrews preached. At the noon intermission she was asked as to her opinion on Elder Andrews' qualifications as a preacher. She replied that it had been so long since she had heard Elder Andrews preach that she could not express an opinion. This indicates intensive concentration in her work.
In the Early Morning
Mrs. White often did her work in the early hours of the morning, retiring early in the evening, and resting some during the day. We will let her tell us of this. She wrote to one of our pioneer workers in the year 1906:
"The evening after the Sabbath I retired, and rested well without ache or pain until half past ten. I was unable to sleep. I had received instruction, and I seldom lie in bed after such instruction comes. There was a company assembled in ______________ , and instruction was given by One in our midst that I was to repeat and repeat with pen and voice. I left my bed, and wrote for five hours as fast as my pen could trace the lines. Then I rested on the bed for an hour, and slept part of the time.
"I placed the matter in the hands of my copyist, and on Monday morning it was waiting for me, placed inside my office door on Sunday evening. There were four articles ready for me to read over and make any corrections needed. The matter is now prepared, and some of it will go in the mail today.
"This is the line of work that I am carrying on. I do most of my writing while the other members of the family are asleep. I build my fire, and then write uninterruptedly, sometimes for hours. I write while others are asleep. Who then has told Sister White ? A messenger that is appointed."—Letter 28, 1906.
Other glimpses of this early morning work are seen in the following, written from Australia:
"I sit here on my bed, this cold July morning trying to write to you. I have woolen mitts on my hands, leaving my fingers free to write. I place my lamp on one side at my left hand, rather than behind me, and then the light shines on my paper in just the right way.. . . It is a little past two o'clock. I continue to be an early riser and I write every day."—Letter 105, 1900.
"I am obliged to continue my writing, and I praise the Lord for the strength that He gives me. I am carrying so heavy a burden that often I cannot sleep past twelve or one o'clock. When . my mind is so pressed, I can find relief only in prayer and writing. My workers tell me that since my return from the East Ca period of two months], I have written about six hundred pages of type-written matter."—Letter 54, 1902.
"I have much to write. For several nights scenes have been opening before me. Yesterday morning, with one eye bandaged, I sat writing page after page hours before the other members of my family were awake." —Letter 372, 1906.
Through Periods of Suffering
Much writing was done during periods of great physical suffering. Soon after she reached Australia, in the early nineties, she was ill for nearly a year with rheumatic fever. At times she could sleep but very little, yet she pushed forward with her writing. We get a picture of this in two statements penned in 1892:
"With the writings that shall go in this mail I have, since leaving America, written twenty-hundred pages of letter paper. I could not have done all this writing if the Lord had not strengthened and blessed me in large measure. Never once has that right hand failed me. My arm and shoulder have been full of suffering, hard to bear, but the hand has been able to hold the pen and trace words that have come to me from the Spirit of the Lord."—Letter, 1892.
'You will excuse the poor writing, for I am obliged to change my position about every hour to be able to be made any way comfortable to write at all. I send in this mail sixty pages of letter paper written by my own hand. First my hair-cloth chair is bolstered up with pillows, then they have a frame, a box batted with pillows which I rest my limbs upon and a rubber pillow under them. My table is drawn up close to me, and I thus write with my paper on a cardboard in my lap. Yesterday I was enabled to sit two hours thus arranged. . . . Then I must change position. She [her nurse] then gets me on the spring bed and bolsters me up with pillows. I may be able to sit some over one hour and thus it is a change, but I ant thankful I can write at all."—Letter 16e, 1892. (Italics mine.)
Of course, her hand grew weary and her eyes heavy, but it was not the weariness of incessant labor that burdened her heart. Her great concern was that she might present aright the great truths opened to her mind. Thus she cried out :
"I know not how to speak or trace with pen the large subjects of the atoning sacrifice. I know not how to present subjects in the living power in which they stand before me. I tremble for fear, lest I shall belittle the great plan of salvation by cheap words."—Letter 40, 1892.
"Now I must leave this subject so imperfectly presented, that I fear you will misinterpret that which I feel so anxious to make plain. O that God would quicken the understanding, for I am but a poor writer, and cannot with pen or voice express the great and deep mysteries of God. 0 pray for yourselves, pray for me."—Letter 67, 1894.
Watched Choice of Words
Winning words were always sought for by Ellen White—words which would draw and convince and not repel, for she said: "Essential truths must be plainly told; but so far as possible they should be told in language that will win, rather than offend."—Quoted by W. C. White in letter to members of the Publication Committee, July 25, 1911.
At another time she wrote of the words used:
"In my letter to you I felt deeply. I was very cautious that not a word I should say should wound, but that the facts should be related as simply as possible." —Uncopied Letter 14, 1864.
As a writer she labored to increase the stock of words from which she might draw. She ever sought language which measured with her subject and adequately conveyed the ideas she was treating. Early Writings, written in the fifties, presents a very forceful, but simple, vocabulary and sentence structure. In later books, as The Desire of Ages and Education, we discover a richer and broader choice of words and more complex sentences. In reading, in traveling, and in conversing with others, she bettered her ability to express the truths which were revealed to her. She was, of course, aided by the Spirit of God in her writing, but not in a mechanical way. "The words I employ in describing what I have seen," she explained, "are my own unless they be those spoken to me by an angel, which I always enclose in marks of quotation."—Review and Herald, Oct. 8, 1867. In vision her mind was enlightened, then it became her task to present the truths to others.
She soon discovered that she must write very guardedly and explicitly. There were always some who would distort her meaning or misrepresent her teachings. Not long after the first copies of her first book, A Sketch of the Christian Experience and Views of Ellen G. White, were issued in 1851, she found it necessary to paste in a page of "Notes of Explanation," which in expanded form are now found in Early Writings, pages 85 to 96.
Mrs. White studied diligently to find a way of combining words in such a manner as to express the thought effectively and strikingly. One morning she came to breakfast at the newly opened Loma Linda Sanitarium, happy as a child with a new toy. "I've got it ! I've got it !" she exclaimed, "Medical-Missionary-Evangelists !" She had been reaching out for a combination of words that would tersely and fully describe the qualifications of those who would there receive their medical training. This led eventually to naming the medical school The College of Medical Evangelists.
Ellen White could also write in a lighter vein, and she sometimes did when communicating with members of her family or close friends. Thus, from Oakland, California, in a letter to her husband, who was in Battle Creek, Michigan, she quipped:
"Dear Husband:
"We received your few words last night on a postal card :
"'Battle Creek, April tr. No letters from you for two days. James White.'
"This lengthy letter was written by yourself. Thank you for we know you are living.
"No letter from James White previous to this since April 6. . . . I have been anxiously waiting for something to answer."—Letter 5, 1876.
A Broad Field of Writing
Not all the E. G. White writing was of the same character. There are the great books of description and exposition, setting forth the story of the age-long conflict from its beginning to its close. In these not only are the outstanding events in the great controversy pictured, but the reader is taken behind the scenes, as was the writer. Thus he is permitted to view the underlying objectives and motives and purposes in these happenings. Through all this we find a great deal of exposition of Scripture. We would place the Conflict of the Ages Series in this grouping.
Some of the books fall into the category of admonition, warning, and counsel. Closely associated with these are the writings of instruction, oiling explicit guidance to individuals and those responsible for the enterprises constituting the several branches of the work of God in the earth. We are speaking of the Testimonies, and of the "Counsel" books now.
Some of the writings present views of the future, with detail as to the relation of coming events, and counsel as to the proper attitude to take at the time. The views set forth in Early Writings and the last part of The Great Controversy from the larger part of this type of writing.
A fourth class might be said to be inspirational, leading to a deeper Christian experience and bringing messages of encouragement and guidance to the soul.
Then there is the biographical. These are accounts of Mrs. White's life, travels, and labors. Although the books fall into these several general classifications, each book may contain writing representing all five types.
When we sum up the story we find that Mrs. White was a voluminous writer. Today there are 18,000 pages in the current E. G. White books. Taking these with the earlier editions which are now out of print, we have a total of 22,000 pages. We may add to this the more than two thousand articles which have appeared in our various denominational journals. These reduced to book pages would give us another 12,000 pages. In addition to this there are many thousands of pages of manuscript matter which, because of its local or personal character, was not published. We point to these books as the fruit of a lifework, and' yet no great claims were made by the writer, for she says:
"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 servant 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."—Colporteur Evangelist, p. 36.
