Ellen G. White: The Later Elmshaven Years: 1905-1915 (vol. 6)

Compared with Sketches from the Life of Paul

Clarence Crisler occasionally referred to the former book, Sketches From the Life of Paul, in selecting materials for The Acts of the Apostles. There had been some talk a few years earlier, particularly in and around Battle Creek, that Ellen White, in the preparation of her book, had plagiarized somewhat from The Life and Epistles of St. Paul. This was a book that had been jointly authored by British clergymen W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson and that several publishers in the United States had issued without copyright. While Ellen White had used some of the phraseology of the Conybeare and Howson book, particularly in historical description, there is no evidence that this was a matter of consideration in the work on the new book. W. C. White noted: 6BIO 343.5

If you compare those chapters relating to the work of Paul with the old book, Sketches From the Life of Paul, you will observe that less room has been given to detailed descriptions of places and journeyings and that more room has been given to his teaching and the lessons to be drawn therefrom.— Ibid. 6BIO 344.1