Since Ellen G. White's death in 1915 twenty new E. G. White books have been published. Five of these are a republication of out-of-print books, with some rearrangement and amplification or reduction. Three are the English language edition of Testimony Treasures, the standard world edition of the Testimonies for the Church. Twelve of these books are new compilations. These serve to make currently available the detailed Spirit of prophecy counsels along certain specific lines.
The list of these posthumous books is as follows : 1920, Colporteur Evangelist; 1922, Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White; 1923, Fundamentals of Christian Education; 1923, Counsels on Health; 1923, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers; 1925, Christian Service; 1930, Messages to Young People; 1932, Medical Ministry; 1933, Life and Teachings of Ellen G. White; 1937, Sanctified Life; 1938, Counsels on Diet and Foods; 1938, Counsels on Sabbath School Work; 1940, Counsels on Stewardship; 1946, Evangelism; 1946, Counsels to Writers and Editors; 1947, Story of Redemption; 1949, Temperance; and 1949, Testimony Treasures.
Not a few of these volumes-have an annual distribution equal to many of the E. G. White books published prior to 1915. But some now are asking: Why, so many years after Mrs. White's death, are there new E. G. White books appearing? By what authority are these books published? Is it proper to publish in book form for general distribution excerpts from the E. G. White letters and manuscripts? What relationship do these books sustain to those published while Mrs. White was living? We shall endeavor to answer these questions.
i. WHY THERE ARE NEW E. G. WHITE BOOKS.—New E. G. White books have been published to furnish counsel and instruction which otherwise would not be available to Seventh-day Adventist workers and laymen. Through a period of many years Mrs. White supplied articles rich in counsel and instruction almost weekly to the Review and Herald, Youth's Instructor, Signs of the Times, and other denominational journals. Only a few of these articles could be used in the E. G. White books. Of this valuable material she admonished :
"The articles that from week to week are printed in our papers are soon forgotten. . . . These articles are to be gathered together, reprinted in book form, and placed before believers and unbelievers."—Letter 73, 1903.
There were hundreds of personal testimonies to various workers, and especially the leading men in the denomination, bearing messages of encouragement and counsel regarding the work of God and sounding warnings against dangers and pitfalls. In the hands of the recipients these unpublished testimonies elevated our standards and molded our work. The younger men who trained immediately under these men also benefited. But through the lapse of time and the great expansion of the work a break has come. Should the men now making the decisions, now laying the plans, and now meeting the crises of the rapidly enlarging work be deprived of the precious counsel which meant so much to the work and workers of earlier years?
The angel of the Lord answers this question, as reported by Mrs. White when writing of a vision in which she seemed to be in a council meeting where "one of authority stood up and said:
" 'Everything that has been given to ministers, to men in responsible positions, to teachers, to managers, to the different conferences is to be repeated and repeated. . . . We must work earnestly to bring this instruction before the people."—MS. 101, 1905.
This is why new E. G. White books have been published.
2. THE AUTHORITY BY WHICH NEW BOOKS ARE PRINTED.—Mrs. White herself authorized the posthumous issuance of new E. G. White books. This she did in her last will and testament dated February 9, 1912. This legal document created the Board of Trustees with whom Mrs. White left the responsibility of the care and publishing of her writings. Her instructions in this will are specific. To the five trustees of her choice and their successors she left in trust:
"All of my right, title, and interest in the copy rights and book plates in all languages of the following publications' [here follows a list of her current books]: also, my general manuscript file and all indexes pertaining thereto."—E. G. White Will, Clause numbered 5.
And this board was charged with the responsibility of "administering, preserving, and protecting the said . . . property, and publishing- and selling said books and manuscripts and con ducting the business thereof."—Ibid.
The .trustees were further charged in a more specific way with the responsibility of fostering "the improvement of the books and manuscripts held in trust by them," and "the securing and printing of new translations thereof," and "the printing of compilations from my manuscripts." —Ibid.
That Mrs. White had full expectation that the manuscripts and articles preserved in the manuscript vault would be used to serve the denomination after her death is made clear by a declaration which was published in a tract shortly before her death. She said:
"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." —The Writing and Sending Out of the Testimonies to the Church, pp. 13, 14. (Written Oct. 23, 1907.)
In the issuance of new books the trustees are but carrying out the instruction Mrs. White gave them when the board was appointed.
3. THE PROPRIETY OF PUBLISHING MANU SCRIPTS.—We now come to a crucial point in this discussion, that of the propriety of publishing excerpts from the E. G. White manuscripts and manuscript letters. While Mrs. White was living she published many personal testimonies for reasons which she clearly states:
"Since the warning and instruction given in testimony for individual cases applied with equal force to many others who had not been specially pointed _ out in this manner, it seemed to be my duty to publish the personal testimonies for the benefit of the church. . . . 'Perhaps there is' no more direct and forcible way of presenting what the Lord has shown me.' "—Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 658, 659.
As she prepared the copy for her later books she often drew from the personal testimonies written in former years. In 1912 she spoke of this:
"The many diaries and manuscript books which have been kept, containing the instruction which the Lord has given me, will lighten my labors in the work of preparing new books."—MS. 59, 1912.
She ever recognized that in the personal testimonies addressed to various individuals there was abundant counsel and instruction which would have a much wider service as time advanced. Note these words penned in 1905 :
"I am endeavoring by the help of God to write letters that will be a help, not merely to those to whom they are addressed, but to many others who need them."—Letter 79, 1905.
As she surveyed her work in 1910, one year after the publication of Testimonies, volume 9, she wrote her son, W. C. White:
"I have much written in the diary I have kept in all my journeys, that should come before the people if essential, even if I did not write another line. I want that which is deemed worthy to appear, for the Lord has given me much light that I want the people to have; for there is instruction that the Lord has given me for His people. It is light that they should have, line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. This is now to come before the people, because it has been given to correct specious errors and to specify what is truth. The Lord has revealed many things pointing out the truth, thus saying, This is the way, walk ye in it."—Letter 117, 1910. (Written Nov. 22, 1910.)
A few of our older workers will remember visiting Mrs. White in her home during the last few years of her life, and they will recall her pointing to her published works and manuscript books and declaring:
"Here are my writings, when I am gone they will testify for me." "In future years, these may be of service in time of need."—Reported by W. C. White, July 9, 1922.
And then, in 1912, in such a way as to avoid all misunderstanding, when, as already noted, Mrs. White placed her manuscript files in the hands of the trustees, she specifically authorized "the printing of compilations from my manuscripts." Surely this reflects Mrs. White's approval of a posthumous use of her letters and manuscripts.
But, someone may ask, Now that Mrs. White cannot supervise or approve the selection of matter made for publication, are we justified in drawing from these sources? Did not Mrs. White in her letters often write of ordinary matters? How can we know that selections from her letters convey to us an inspired message?
It is true that Mrs. White frequently con versed on ordinary topics and in her letters wrote concerning ordinary matters. However, if in connection with an ordinary letter she had a message from the Lord to convey, that fact was perfectly clear. Of course, what the Lord's messengers say, even about commonplace matters, may often be very revealing of the messengers' attitudes and methods of work, such for instance as the following excerpt from Paul's second letter to Timothy:
"The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments." 2 Tim. 4:13-
As a matter of practice by the E. G. White trustees, except in the use of purely, biographical material, excerpts are not taken from un published letters and manuscripts unless it is clear that they are based on messages given her by the Lord.
The following paragraph from a letter writ ten by Mrs. White to a leading church of earlier years is significant:
"You might say that this communication was only a letter. Yes, it was a letter, but prompted by the Spirit of God, to bring before your minds things that had been shown me. In these letters which I write, in the testimonies I bear, I am presenting to you that which the Lord has presented to me. I do not write one article in the paper expressing merely my own ideas. They are what God has opened before me in vision-—the precious rays of light shining from the throne."—Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 67.
The following illustrates her carefulness in refusing to give advice when she had no light from the Lord:
"Please tell my brethren that I have nothing presented before me regarding the circumstances concerning which they write, and I can set before them only that which has been presented to me."—Quotedin a Letter from C. C. Crisler to E. E. Andross, Dec.8. 1914.
When these unpublished materials are used great care is taken to use the excerpt in its proper setting and to give proper credit to the source from which it has been drawn. In order that we may be doubly careful regarding the use of unpublished letters and manuscripts, the policy was adopted in 1934 whereby the release of any such material is subject to the joint action of the E. G. White trustees and the executive officers of the General Conference.
It should be said in this connection that the unpublished writings of Mrs. White only supplement and expand upon what was formerly published. There are no pronouncements that would in any way alter what was published from her pen before her death regarding doctrinal teaching's or denominational policies. All will agree, however, that what has been published since 1915 has amplified and strengthened our standards, doctrines, and policies. A judicious and proper use of manuscript statements has greatly enriched many of the E. G. White books of posthumous issuance beginning with Testimonies to Ministers in 1923 and continuing to Evangelism and Temperance of more recent printing.
4. RELATIONSHIP TO BOOKS ISSUED BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.—The methods followed in compiling an E. G. White book today are not much un like those used in the preparation of such of the later E. G. White books as Testimonies, volume9. Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, and Prophets and Kings. The principal difference is that Mrs. White cannot now give study to the selection of matter and cannot improve the text and write in connections uniting several excerpts in one blended statement. While she was living she enlisted the assistance of her office staff in gathering the matter to appear in the later books. At times she consulted with leading workers as to the best manner in which to get certain lines of instruction before the people. When the manuscript was ready for the printer she was personally responsible for its content.
Since her death the books that have appeared have been drawn mostly from her periodical articles, from manuscripts, from early pamphlets, and in part from her current books. No editing is done. No connections are written in. Meticulous care is exercised to ensure a full and balanced coverage of the subject being treated. The work of compiling is done usually in the office of the trustees by careful workers under the direction of the Board of Trustees. Before the manuscript is released for publication it is carefully examined by several responsible committees to ensure the completeness of the coverage, the best arrangement, and the propriety of the use of the manuscript statements included. Except for the absence of the reading by Ellen G. White of the content in the particular order in which the statements are compiled, the book is just as much an E.G. White book as it would have been had it been issued prior to 1915.
At times a compilation representing a special line of instruction may contain some statements that appeared first in current books. Although there is an earnest desire to avoid as far as possible the republishing of the same counsel under various book titles, the advantage of having in a given compilation a complete coverage of the subject treated outweighs the objection of a certain amount of inevitable repetition.
In most cases the new E. G. White books have been published in response to the earnest requests that the counsel in some specific line be made available to all who may wish it today. The trustees, in their diligent efforts to fulfill their trust, have kept close to the field, and in a large degree the new E. G. White book titles, but reflect most earnest appeals from Seventh- day Adventist workers and lay members.
No one can see just what the future may- hold, but it would seem that with but few exceptions, the E. G. White books we now have give the church the full body of counsel and instruction vital to its welfare. Two compilations are in preparation, one dealing with the Christian home and child training and discipline, and the other devoted to Dorcas and welfare work. In due time these works, which have been authorized, will be ready to serve the church.
To those who have rightly understood Mrs, White's arrangements for these compilations, and the care of the trustees in their preparation, the posthumous books have taken a position of equal importance, in their libraries and in their work, with the books issued before Mrs. White's death. What young people's leader would today part with Messages to Young People? What minister would do without Testimonies to Ministers? What medical worker would dispense with Counsels on Health and Medical Ministry? What evangelist would lay aside his copy of Evangelism?
Truly we see fulfilled today the words quoted earlier:
"Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak, and their work will go forward as long as time shall last."
