Building the chapters
"It may be interesting to you to know that Mother's corps of workers has changed very little since the communication that I have just read to you was written, nearly six years ago [a statement in which Ellen White named her helpers and spoke of their work]. The same ones are with her now with a broadened experience; for we are learning better every day what our duty is in connection with this work. And God has blessed in the preparation of books. You have seen some of the more recent ones, The Acts of the Apostles, and possibly the book just from the press, Counsels to [Parents and] Teachers. The latter is made up of a portion of two volumes out of print, the old Christian Education, and the smaller volume entitled Special Testimonies on Education, together with considerable new matter; and it has been prepared with reference to the needs of parents and students, as well as of teachers. We trust it will be a steadying influence, and an encouragement, in our schoolwork, as long as we shall have to conduct schools and colleges in this world.
"Our workers are now gathering together material for a new edition of Gospel Workers. We are also gathering into chapters what Mother has written on Old Testament history [Prophets and Kings]. Probably nine tenths of this work is already done, and we hope that the book may be published before Christmas. Some of the matter was about ready, we thought, to place in the printers' hands, when Mother, upon going over some of the chapters, expressed herself as not fully satisfied. She thought there were other things she had written that we had not yet found, and she desired that these be searched out, if possible, and included. So we laid the manuscript away in our fireproof vault, and after this conference probably four different persons will spend six or eight weeks in reading through the thousands of pages in the file to see if we can find the additional matter that she thinks is in existence.
"It would be comparatively easy to hasten along the preparation of these manuscripts for publication in book form, if we were to write in a little here and there where she has written only a portion of the story on certain topics and has left a portion incomplete. I say, if her secretaries were authorized by God to do that work, and could write in the connections, the book could be prepared for the printer much faster. But this cannot be done; we can deal only with the matter we have on hand.
"For this reason, when you get the book on Old Testament history, you will find that there are some stories partly told, and not fully completed. You will find that there are many things you hoped to read about that are not mentioned. Mother has written quite fully on Solomon, something on the divided monarchy, a little about Elijah and Elisha, quite fully about Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah; and we are gathering this and other matter and grouping it into chapters.
Letters helped
"You may say, What do you mean by this 'gathering'? Did not Sister White sit down and write out quite fully and connectedly that which she had to say about the controversy, about Jeroboam and Rehoboam, about Jeremiah and Isaiah and other Old Testament characters? No; not on all the principal characters. Her life has been a busy one. She has been kept constantly to the front, speaking to the people, meeting emergencies. Some of the most precious things she has written about the Old Testament and New Testament characters were written first in letters to individuals. Some of the most precious paragraphs in The Desire of Ages, pas sages describing Christ's controversies with the Pharisees and the Herodians, were written under circumstances like these.
"At Ashfield, New South Wales, Elder [J. O.] Corliss and some faithful helpers had been presenting the truth until there was a group of about thirty people keeping the Sabbath, ready to be baptized and organized into a church. The Campbellites could not bear to see that done. A bitter opponent came and challenged our brethren personally and through the papers. This was ignored as long as it could be. Finally, our friends, those in the truth, demanded that there be a discussion. So a discussion was arranged for.
"In the night season this matter was laid before Mother. She had never seen the Campbellite champion; but the man was shown to her—his spirit, his methods, his tactics. He had nothing to lose in that community; and it was presented to Mother that his plan would be to endeavor to irritate Elder Corliss, and get him to say things that would discredit him before the people who were em bracing the truth.
"During the progress of that discussion, Mother wrote to Elder Corliss, stating that it had been presented to her that his opponent in the discussion would work on certain lines, and that he must take such a course as to disappoint his enemy. As she wrote these cautions, her memory would be revived as to what had been presented to her about the work of Christ, and how the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians had followed Him with accusations and questions, endeavoring to discredit Him before the people.
"When we came to make up the chapters for The Desire of Ages, we found in these letters the most vivid description of those experiences that she had written anywhere. And we found other most precious passages that had been written first in letters to members of the General Conference Committee, and to conference presidents, regarding situations which were illustrated by the experiences of these Old and New Testament characters.
"Being written in this way, it takes much time to search through the writings and find these passages, and bring them together into manuscripts. After these are gathered, and grouped into chapter form, the manuscript is always submit ted to Mother. She reads it over care fully. Up to the present time every chapter of every book, and all the articles for our periodicals—unless they happen to be reprints—have passed through her hands, and have been read over by her. Sometimes she interlines; sometimes she adds much matter; some times she says, 'Can you not find more on this subject?' And then, when more has been found, and added, the manuscript is recopied, and handed back to her again for examination. And when she finally signs it and returns it to us we are permitted to send it out.
"Some criticism has been made be cause letters are sent out with a rubberstamp signature. We feel that it is not necessary to ask Mother to sign several copies. It is her custom to sign the original copy, and our workers claim that it is their right to keep this signed copy on file in our office, so that if anybody should challenge its authenticity, we have on file the copy signed with her own hand. The other copies are usually stamped with a rubber stamp. I merely mention this in passing, that all may know how much reason there is in any criticisms that are made about 'rubberstamp testimonies.'
Enriching the chapters
"While gathering the matter for The Acts of the Apostles, day after day, Brother Crisler and his associates in the work would pass in to Mother the chapters as they were prepared, and she would read them. Sometimes she would pass them back without comment. Perhaps for three days in succession they would be passed back without a word of comment; and then she would say, What about such a subject? Where is the description of this? or of that? and she would name the different matters she had in mind. In his explanation Brother Crisler might say, 'The first matter you mentioned is dealt with fully in a chapter you read some time ago; the second you inquire about is to be dealt with in a chapter to be prepared later; and as to the other matter that you wish to have incorporated, we had not thought of that. We will search the file, and see if we can find anything that has been writ ten on that point.'
"At one time she said to him: 'This book will be read by the same classes of people that the apostles were trying to reach in Paul's day. Take great pains to gather just as fully as you can what I have written regarding Paul's appeals to the heathen. The arguments that led the heathen to a knowledge of the true God in the days of the apostles will appeal to the heathen in many lands in our day. These arguments were inspired of God, and in them there is convincing power. We must make the most of them in telling the story of the labors of the apostles.
' "At another time she said, 'Have you made a careful study of what I have written about the Jews? The gospel must be preached to the Jews today. The appeals that were made to them by the apostles will have great weight now. This book should be of value to the Jews, and to those who are working for the Jews, and also to those who ought to be working for the Jews. Take pains to gather carefully what I have written about Paul's work in appealing to the Jews.'
"These directions that she gives us have largely to do with the value of our work in the preparation of matter for the press. Of course at the beginning of the work on each book, we talk over the plan, and she gives general directions; and then she gives counsel as the work goes forward. Although Mother is doing only a little writing now, and although she attends only a few public meetings, yet her counsels, and her directions to her workers, are of great value to the people, as found in the completeness of her published works."—General Conference Bulletin, June 1, 1913.
(To be continued.)
