Ellen White’s Last Four Books

Guidance and direction

As W. C. White, on January 1, 1913, wrote to Elder Haskell, conveying his mother’s greetings for the New Year, he commented: EWLFB 8.1

“It is ... perfectly plain that the Lord is working through her in a remarkable manner to give guidance and direction to the work that is being done now in the gathering of her writings and the preparation of them for publication.”—WCW to S. N. Haskell.

Ellen White celebrated the New Year by sending a sizable package of dried fruit to her old friends George and Martha Amadon in Battle Creek. Prunes, peaches, pears, figs, and raisins were included (WCW to George Amadon. Jan. 13, 1913). EWLFB 8.2

Writing of her situation, she stated: EWLFB 8.3

“During the past four years I have written comparatively few letters. What strength I have had has been given mostly to the completion of important book work.

“Occasionally I have attended meetings, and have visited institutions in California, but the greater portion of the time since the last General Conference has been spent in manuscript work at my country home, ‘Elmshaven,’ near St. Helena.

“I am thankful that the Lord is sparing my life to work a little longer on my books. O that I had strength to do all that I see ought to be done! I pray that He may impart to me wisdom, that the truths our people so much need may be presented clearly and acceptably. I am encouraged to believe that God will enable me to do this.”—Manuscript 4, 1913.

But for one who all through her life had been out among the churches, the literary work at Elmshaven did, at times, seem confining. She wrote: EWLFB 8.4

“I long to be personally engaged in earnest work in the field, and I should most assuredly be engaged in more public labor did I not believe that at my age it is not wise to presume on one’s physical strength. I have a work to do in communicating to the church and to the world the light that has been entrusted to me from time to time all through the years during which the third angel’s message has been proclaimed.”—Ibid.

So it was book preparation in earnest, Ellen White working closely with her trusted literary helpers. Work on the Old Testament history, pushed so hard in 1912, seems to have slowed down, awaiting Clarence Crisler’s attention. EWLFB 8.5