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

Sketches from the Life of Paul

There was one new E. G. White book that, in addition to the 244-page Testimony No. 31, was published in 1883. It was entitled Sketches From the Life of Paul. It had an interesting history. The Review and Herald, January 16, 1883, carried a note that the Sabbath school lessons beginning with the second quarter would be on the book of Acts of the Apostles. For collateral reading the two publishing houses offered copies of the popular standard work Life and Epistles of St. Paul, by the British clergymen W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, as premiums with their respective journals (Ibid., January 2, 1883; The Signs of the Times, January 11, 1883). Not carrying an American copyright, the book had been picked up by several American publishers and had been issued in inexpensive popular editions, some of which could be secured for $1 per copy. Several thousand copies were distributed among Adventist readers. Just at this time Ellen White was adding to what she had written on the apostle Paul in her six chapters at the close of Spirit of Prophecy, volume 3. She greatly valued the Conybeare and Howson book, and as a part of an advertisement for it, wrote this communication: 3BIO 215.3

The Life of St. Paul, by Conybeare and Howson, I regard as a book of great merit, and one of rare usefulness to the earnest student of the New Testament history.—Ibid., February 22, 1883 3BIO 215.4