Ellen G. White and Her Critics

The “Spirit of Prophecy” Volumes

But Mrs. White’s vision at Lovett’s Grove in 1858 was not the only vision she received concerning the great controversy between Christ and Satan. In the years that followed she received other visions that brought more sharply into focus further areas and aspects of the great subject and made more clear some parts of former visions. She therefore set out to enlarge and thus quite completely rewrite the material on the plan of God through the ages. This enlarged presentation was published in a series of four volumes bearing the general title, The Spirit of Prophecy. Volume 1, published in 1870, covers the period from the fall of Lucifer to Solomon’s reign. Volumes 2 and 3, published in 1877 and 1878, cover the life of Christ and the work of the apostles. In 1884 volume 4 was published (with the specific title The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the End of the Controversy). This covers the period from the early church to the inheritance of the saints upon the New Earth. In other words, it covers the period discussed in the current book, The Great Controversy. EGWC 412.3

This five-hundred-page work met with an immediate and favorable response. From its first publication in 1884 up until 1888, it went through ten editions, or rather printings, and until the 1888 revision the text of this work remained unchanged. ^* EGWC 413.1

In 1888 Mrs. White amplified and in part rewrote this 1884 volume, in order to present the subject in still greater detail and better to adapt the subject matter to the broadened reader audience. The text of this work continued unchanged from 1888 to 1911. ^† In 1911, when it became evident that the plates were worn out and the type would have to be reset for new plates, certain minor revisions were made, such as to free passages of ambiguity, to complete the work of placing within quotation marks all passages drawn from other writers, and to give the source of each quotation. EGWC 413.2