Compilations—What They Are and What They Are Not

Chapter 3—Writing on the Life of Christ

In the 1870s Mrs. White wrote extensively on the life of Christ. When she went to Australia in 1891, she hoped she could devote much of her time to completing a book on this important subject. From 1892 until The Desire of Ages was published in 1898, she spent many hours each day preparing chapters for the book. CWAWAN 2.3

She did not just sit down and write the book straight through, chapter by chapter. She assigned her helpers to gather what she had written in past years on the subject. This matter was found in her published books, in articles that had appeared in periodicals, and in her letters and manuscripts. With all this material in hand she wrote many additional articles as the experiences of Christ were opened anew to her. Then these passages were put together in their natural order, and she wrote in the connecting history. CWAWAN 2.4

Her writings on the life and teachings of our Saviour were so great that they could not be contained in one volume. So Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, Christ’s Object Lessons, and a portion of The Ministry of Healing, were made up of the overflow. CWAWAN 2.5

“Compile: To compose (a book, etc.) of materials gathered from various sources.” CWAWAN 2.6

The White Estate office has letters and other documents telling of Mrs. White’s work on The Desire of Ages and the manner in which the book was prepared. She frequently mentioned the fact that she was writing on the life of Christ, and included definite statements regarding the part that Marian Davis acted. In a letter to Dr. J. H. Kellogg, October 25, 1895, she said: CWAWAN 2.7

“Marian is working at the greatest disadvantage. I find but little time in which to write on the life of Christ. I am continually receiving letters that demand an answer, and I dare not neglect important matters that are brought to my notice. Then there are churches to visit, private testimonies to write, and many other things to be attended to that tax me and consume my time. Marian greedily grasps every letter I write to others in order to find sentences that she can use in the life of Christ. She has been collecting everything that has a bearing on Christ’s lessons to His disciples, from all possible sources....

“You know that my whole theme both in the pulpit and in private, by voice and pen, is the life of Christ.”—Letter 41, 1895.

Speaking of the work of her helpers in 1900, Mrs. White made this statement about Miss Davis: CWAWAN 3.1

“She does her work in this way: She takes my articles which are published in the papers, and pastes them in blank books. She also has a copy of all the letters I write. In preparing a chapter for a book, Marian remembers that I have written something on that special point, which may make the matter more forcible. She begins to search for this, and if, when she finds it she sees that it will make the chapter more clear, she adds it.

“The books are not Marian’s productions, but my own, gathered from all my writings. Marian has a large field from which to draw, and her ability to arrange the matter is of great value to me. It saves my poring over a mass of matter, which I have no time to do.... Marian is a most valuable help to me in bringing out my books.”—Letter 61a, 1900. (SeeSelected Messages 3:91, 92.)

Marian Davis had a wonderfully organized mind and memory, thus she was able to remember and find items that Mrs. White had written on various topics. When enough material had been gathered for certain chapters, the manuscript would be read to Ellen White or given to her to read. This often revived her memory of certain scenes and she eagerly rewrote many passages, giving them greater vigor and freshness. To uplift Christ and present Him to others in all His beauty and holiness was always her main objective. CWAWAN 3.2

Soon after her arrival in Australia, Ellen White was stricken with malarial fever and inflammatory rheumatism. For eleven months she suffered greatly, and was confined to her bed for days at a time, unable to write but a little each day. And yet she persevered and God sustained her as she wrote on the life of Christ. Of this experience she wrote: CWAWAN 3.3

“I have been passing through great trial in pain and suffering and helplessness, but through it all I have obtained a precious experience more valuable to me than gold.”—Selected Messages 2:240.

She was disappointed that she was unable to visit among the churches, but God used her affliction to advance His purposes. By placing herself in a sitting/lying position she was able to use her crippled hands, and she began to write. In a few months she had written sixteen hundred pages on the life of Christ. She found that in the night when she could not sleep, Jesus was preciously near. She thought of Christ a great deal during this time and knew where her strength lay. CWAWAN 3.4

A letter written in 1892 to O. A. Olsen, president of the General Conference, reveals the intensity with which Mrs. White wrote while preparing this book: CWAWAN 3.5

“I walk with trembling before God. I know not how to speak or trace with pen the large subject of the atoning sacrifice. I know not how to present subjects in the living power in which they stand before me. I tremble for fear lest I shall belittle the great plan of salvation by cheap words. I bow my soul in awe and reverence before God and say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’”—Letter 40, 1892. (See Selected Messages 3:115.)

Some of the most beautiful passages in The Desire of Ages came from her pen when she was confined not only to her room, but to her bed. CWAWAN 3.6