Ellen G. White — Messenger to the Remnant

4. Relationship to Books Issued by Mrs. E. G. White

The methods followed in compiling an E. G. White book today are not much unlike those used in the preparation of such of the later E. G. White books as Testimonies, volume 9, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, and Prophets and Kings. EGWMR 94.3

When she was living, she consulted with leading workers as to the best manner in which to get certain lines of instruction before the people. She enlisted the assistance of her office staff in gathering matter she had written through the years. She gave study to the selection of statements for publication, and joined in their preparation for the press. The principal difference in the preparation of a book today lies in the fact that she cannot now give study to the matter selected and cannot improve the text or write in connections uniting several excerpts in one blended statement. None of these can be done now that her pen has been laid aside. EGWMR 94.4

Since her death the books which have appeared have been drawn mostly from her periodical articles, and from manuscripts, early pamphlets, and in part from her current books. Meticulous care is exercised to insure a full and balanced coverage of the subject being treated. The work of compiling is done usually in our office by careful workers under the direction of the Board of Trustees. Before the manuscript is released for publication it is carefully examined by several responsible committees to insure the completeness of the coverage, the best arrangement, and the propriety of the use of the manuscript statements included. Except for the absence of the reading by Ellen G. White of the content in the particular order in which the statements are compiled, the book is just as much an E. G. White book as it would have been had it been issued prior to 1915. EGWMR 94.5

At times a compilation representing a special line of instruction may contain some statements which appeared first in current books. While there is an earnest desire to avoid as far as possible the republishing of the same counsel under various book titles, the advantage of having in a given compilation a complete coverage of the subject treated, outweighs the objection of a certain amount of inevitable repetition. EGWMR 94.6

In most cases the new E. G. White books which have appeared have been published in response to the earnest requests that the counsel in some specific line be made available to all who may wish it today. The Trustees, in their diligent efforts to fulfill their trust, have kept close to the field, and in a large degree the new E. G. White book titles only reflect most earnest appeals from Seventh-day Adventist workers and lay members. EGWMR 94.7

No one can see just what the future may hold, but it would seem that the E. G. White books we now have give the church the full body of counsel and instruction vital to its welfare. EGWMR 94.8

To those who have rightly understood Mrs. White’s arrangements for these compilations and the care of the Trustees in their preparation, the posthumous books have taken a position equal in importance in their libraries and in their work to the books issued before Mrs. White’s death. What young people’s leader would today part with Messages to Young People? What minister would do without Testimonies to Ministers? What medical worker would dispense with Counsels on Health and Medical Ministry? What evangelist would lay aside his copy of Evangelism? EGWMR 94.9

Truly we see fulfilled today the words quoted earlier: EGWMR 94.10

“Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak and their work will go forward as long as time shall last.” EGWMR 94.11