Ellen G. White: The Lonely Years: 1876-1891 (vol. 3)

Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4

Now she was deeply engrossed in writing and preparing manuscripts for two books, Spirit of Prophecy, volume 4, and Sketches From the Life of Paul. 3BIO 211.3

When plans were laid in the late 1860s for the Spirit of Prophecy series, it was at first envisioned as books of about 400 pages each. Volume 1, dealing with Old Testament history and published in 1870, made a book of 414 pages. When she wrote New Testament history, it was found that two volumes were needed, one with 396 pages depicting the life of Christ from His birth to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the other with the events of Christ's Passion Week to His ascension and then taking up briefly the work of the apostles. These were published in 1877 and 1878. James and Ellen White hoped that the closing book of the series would be in the field without too much delay, but through the last two years of his life she could do but little with it. This remained the situation for the first year after his death. 3BIO 211.4

In an endeavor to keep the volumes close to the 400-page mark, volume 3 was held to 392 pages. This cut the story off in the midst of Paul's ministry, leaving him in Thessalonica. It was her plan to begin volume 4 at this point, and she continued writing five more chapters on this basis. These books were planned for Seventh-day Adventist reading. A uniform size for the books was considered important, as was the $1-per-volume price. But God had other plans; Ellen White was instructed through vision to adopt the format now seen in The Great Controversy. The fourth volume was to begin with the account of the destruction of Jerusalem. She followed this instruction. The five unused chapters on New Testament history were included in the second printing of volume 3, even though it made a book of 442 pages. 3BIO 211.5