There Shines A Light

Chapter 8—“The Pen of a Ready Writer”

The author of some seventy books published during her lifetime, and of about twenty posthumous works prepared from her manuscripts and letters, Ellen G. White presents the case of a writer whose hand was steadied and whose pen was inspired by a power beyond herself. As the aftermath of her childhood accident, she was unable, despite valiant attempts, to pursue her school studies; and for seven years, up to the time of her first vision, her trembling hand was unable to hold her pen steady. But while in vision, she was commanded by the angel to write what she had seen. She obeyed, and wrote with steady hand. ⁵⁵ Thereafter throughout her life, her penmanship was very legible and even, though not classic. In the early years of her career the typewriter had not been perfected and placed on the market, and correspondence and all manuscripts had to be written by hand. She had for the first score of years no secretary, and laboriously she wrote, often far into the night, sometimes more than one copy of her letters and manuscripts. And this in addition to her heavy public ministry and her personal labor for souls, her solicitous care for the church, and her management of her home and training of her children. Few authors, if any, can match her record. TSAL 67.1

This great accomplishment is not to be ascribed solely to the afflatus of the Holy Spirit in her life. It was indeed the inspiring influence, the enabling power, the constant prompter; but it was acting, not upon an inert object, a complaisant receptacle; it was the Life infusing a being wholly consecrated to service and eager to do the will of God. She studied, she sought improvement of body and mind, she superlatively exemplified in her own self the teaching she gave to others. And this dedication of her powers God honored, to His glory and the benefit of mankind, by a progressive strengthening and polishing of her spoken and written word. TSAL 68.1

There is a marked improvement, in concept and style, to be found in her later writings over her earlier. Her first literary product, reprinted in the book Early Writings, in its simplicity is delightful reading, and especially appealing, in parts, to children. It is studied with profit alike by the new convert and by the experienced theologian, for there is wisdom hidden in it; but the sophisticate will not fail to mark the naïveté and the relative circumscription with which its subject matter is unfolded. TSAL 68.2

The long series of “Testimonies,” stretching through half a century, and chiefly embodied in the nine-volume set of Testimonies for the Church, makes a study, apart from their spiritual and instructional purpose, of a steady progression in visualization and expression. There is also discernible, written between the lines, a history of the church’s necessities in its growth from a few members to a great body organized in various departments and with many interests. Her early “Testimonies,” counseling and correcting, were largely personal; and profit for the present must be picked out of them by inference and analogy. Midway, in volume five, a transition is apparent into the larger aspects of ecclesiastical conduct; and the succeeding volumes grow both in grandeur of concept and in force and felicity of expression. TSAL 68.3

Her historical writings, represented chiefly by the Conflict of the Ages series, beginning with creation and ending with a prophetic account of the second advent and the eternal home of the redeemed, are notable for their grasp and depiction of the great principle that God rules in all the affairs of men, and for the lessons drawn from the past to guide the present and point the future. These five books are, indeed, for the most part, revisions of her earlier writings upon the subjects, and bear testimony to the same progression in concept and expression. Midway in the series is her matchless life of Christ, The Desire of Ages, which in penetrating analysis, practical application, and beautiful narrative upon that ineffable subject stands unexcelled. TSAL 69.1

In her guidance of the church in its business—evangelism, publishing, production and distribution of literature, health and medical work, education, as well as the more personal yet contributory fields of marriage, parenthood, and homemaking—there is a wealth of counsel. It is scattered through her Testimonies, and appears also in no fewer than twenty-five books, large and small, dealing with departmental business and the ethics, morals, and spirituality of workers and policies. These books, naturally, are of chief interest to those engaged or studying to engage in the specific activities of which they treat; yet in their profound plumbing of Christian morality and their sound business sense—based, however, more upon faith and work than upon commercial acumen—there is much for the general reader. TSAL 69.2

In many an enterprise which affected the welfare and progress of the church she was the driving force, exercising and calling upon her brethren to exercise faith in the opening providence of God, and contributing not only her counsel but her means. Such, for example, were the Avondale School (Australasian Missionary College) in Australia, and the College of Medical Evangelists (the church’s one medical and dental school) in California, which but for her foresight, faith, influence, and labor would never have seen birth and growth. Out of such affairs came the experience that bore fruit in her counsel, and paved the way for great extension of the work in educational, medical, and evangelistic lines. TSAL 70.1

One can without difficulty set up any of her books as distinctively devotional; because all her work bore the stamp of piety, meditative or militant. But one stands out in the consciousness of a great audience as the rarest gem in the crown of Christian literature. That is Steps to Christ. Millions of copies of this book, in many languages, have been distributed to servicemen, students, and seekers after salvation throughout the world. Its simple, beautiful, convincing explanation of the plan of salvation and the means of partaking of its benefits here and in eternity have found a response in the souls of sinners and of saints, and great transformations of life have resulted from its study. TSAL 70.2

Of similar service, and marked with peculiar charm, are such works as Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, a study of the Sermon on the Mount; Christ’s Object Lessons, dwelling upon the parables of Jesus; The Ministry of Healing, dealing with health principles and laws of body and mind; and, crowning all, Education. TSAL 70.3

As it was said of Bunyan, that he was a man of one Book, so might it be said of her, that she was a woman of one Book. She was widely read in history and in the field of literature which bore chiefly upon religion and piety; but she studied them through the lenses of the Word of God. The Bible, chiefly in the Authorized Version, permeated and colored all her thought and speech. She developed, in her later writing particularly, a style peculiarly her own, modern, yet with the glow of the Muses, a style reminiscent but not imitative of the Bible writers. There are in it reverence, delicacy, a rolling melody, at times the incisiveness that cracks like a whip, again the calm music of the stars. One accustomed to its form and cadences can always distinguish it, even if not signed, from the writing of every other author, whether old or new. This style was not a consciously earned prize; it came out of the sincerity, the deep meditation, the unreserved dedication of her life to the purposes and cause of God. And in its clarity, force, and beauty it marks her writings as of the masters, literature that has merit more than literary. TSAL 71.1

Of like nature was her development in public address. The shrinking girl of thirteen, who agonized over duty’s call to pray aloud and to testify in meeting, the timid maiden of seventeen, awestruck at the vision of the Almighty and crushed beneath the commission to speak forth what she was shown, was to become the woman of resolution and power, whose voice, long before the invention of amplifying aids, carried to thousands in clear and syllabic: tones, in eloquent phrase, and with mighty power. TSAL 71.2

She seemed in her youth immoderately handicapped for public address. Not only was she unschooled, her spirit fearful, but physically she was unfit. Incipient tuberculosis took hold upon her, and her voice was husky. Even after her ministry had begun, her throat would at times become so constricted that she could scarcely speak in whispers. Thrilling is her simple recital of the miracle often wrought in her when, obeying the call of God, she stood before the people, beginning in a whisper which could be heard only a few feet away, but suddenly relieved of pain and pressure, her voice becoming clear and resonant to speak the word of God. TSAL 72.1

But she did not suddenly become the compelling speaker. Her public efforts began as a narrator and exhorter. Accompanying her husband, a powerful and eloquent preacher, she would come in as an addenda to a treatise, melting her way into the hearts of her hearers. The novelty of a woman speaker, then not so common as now, attracted some, and perhaps in indulgent humor they initially gave her audience; but they were held by an unexpected attraction. She had no impressive presence; she could have been stricken with fright, tongue-tied before the awesome public. It was through no natural gift that she commanded her congregations. But when the moment came, her sense of duty, her consciousness of having been and being in the presence of God, the conviction that she had a message which must be given, lifted her above her liabilities, made her oblivious to the bogey of a public, and transformed her into an oracle. TSAL 72.2

While the power of the Master Physician was evident in her frequent incidents of relief, she did not idly lean upon the miraculous to heal her. She studied the physiology of her own body and put into practice the art of improving her voice. She was given instruction concerning the use of the voice, the art of deep breathing, of breath control, of clear enunciation; and her respiratory and vocal tracts responded under the blessing of God. It was out of such enlightenment and experience that she later gave to her ministering brethren directions about public speaking that: voiced a practical science of elocution. And she was the exemplar of what she taught. No one who heard, in her later years, her musical, resonant voice, pealing out over a vast audience, chaining her listeners not only with the message she bore but with the manner in which she bore it, can ever forget. Through the dim reaches of half a century memory calls up the magic of that hour. TSAL 72.3

From her subsidiary position as an exhorter, supplying emotion to the logic of her husband, she developed into an independent speaker. Particularly was this need and opportunity thrust upon her in the long illness and convalescence of her husband in the late 1860’s. Then their roles were curiously reversed. James White, left to himself in his stricken condition, would have sunk beneath the burden, and would have forsaken the pulpit forever. But she determined, in her own words, that “that masterly mind must not be left to ruin.” While her powers as a public speaker had greatly improved, and while audiences small and large eagerly hung upon her words, she took him with her as soon as he was able to travel, and at the conclusion of her sermon he would speak a few words, as long before she had added to his address. Gradually, as his health and mental vigor returned, he resumed his aggressive public speaking; but she had emerged into the paragon who held spellbound great audiences, on one occasion as many as twenty thousand in the open air. TSAL 73.1

While her themes were chiefly religious, she was also a persuasive and eloquent speaker upon the subject of temperance and other phases of health. She was much sought after by the forces of reform, and her platform addresses were frequently featured in their rallies and campaigns. In those days she was more noted as a speaker than as a writer. TSAL 74.1

Yet, in the long and broad view, it is as an author that her influence has been and is most greatly exerted. Her voice charmed thousands; but through her writings, an imperishable record, she has reached and continues to reach millions, in many languages and many lands. From her who could not hold a pen, who in her misfortune despairingly forswore all hope of becoming a teacher, God in His mighty and gracious providence brought forth a ready writer, an oracle whose words shall echo through the final halls of time. TSAL 74.2