101 Questions on the Sanctuary and on Ellen White

75. Was Ellen White Deceptive?

Some people have accused Ellen White of doing her writing at night and early in the morning “because she didn’t want anyone else to know that she was copying from other authors.” Is there anything to this accusation? QSEW 68.5

There is no truth whatsoever in this insinuation of deception. Ellen White tells us many times why she wrote when she did. The following statement is typical: QSEW 68.6

“Wednesday, I could not sleep after half past one a.m. My mind was burdened and in the visions of the night subjects were pressed upon my mind and I awoke. I could not find relief until I arose and commenced to trace upon paper that which burdened me, which in object lessons was presented before me. Thursday I slept until half past two o’clock and then I arose and again relieved my mind by writing.”—Manuscript 74, 1894. QSEW 68.7

It was Ellen White’s custom, especially in her later years, to retire early and rise early. She did her writing when her mind was fresh and clear, when the house was quiet and she was free from disturbance. QSEW 68.8

If, as alleged, Ellen White was anxious to hide the knowledge of her literary borrowing, why did she borrow from standard works which were in the libraries of many of her readers? D’Aubigne, Wylie, Conybeare and Howson, and Geikie were household words to many Adventists. If Ellen White wished to keep the knowledge of her borrowing a secret, why did she urge the prospective buyers of her Sketches From the Life of Paul also to acquire Conybeare and Howson’s work on Paul? Her book was published in June, 1883. In the The Signs of the Times, February 22, 1883, she highly recommended Conybeare and Howson’s volume to Signs readers as a “book of great merit.” In that year 2,000 copies of the Conybeare and Howson book were distributed free as premiums to all subscribers. Three thousand copies of Geikie were distributed on the same basis in 1881-82. (See Brief Statements, pages 14, 15.) QSEW 69.1

She also recommended d’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation, from which she borrowed extensively, as an ideal holiday gift. (See the The Review and Herald, December 26, 1882.) QSEW 69.2

When Ellen White drew from Uriah Smith’s publication on the sanctuary in 1884 and 1888 she was using a book that was well known to Adventists. She obviously did not mind if her readers noticed parallels between her works and the works of others. The accusations or inferences that Ellen White was deceptive in her literary borrowing cannot be supported. QSEW 69.3