Ellen G. White and Her Critics

The 1888-Edition Preface

And what of the preface of the 1888 edition in which she “admits that she had taken some of her information from other authors”? It would be superfluous for her to make an admission in the preface when this edition contains numerous quotation marks that make evident that “some” material is being “taken ... from other authors.” A few facts will suggest why she wrote that preface. The 1884 edition did not contain an author’s preface. Soon, however, colporteurs began to sell the book to the world at large. With that expanded non-Adventist audience before her mind’s eye she enlarged the work and wrote a preface. Naturally she might wish to make a statement as to the principle that governed her in using quotations from various historians. We say “naturally,” because the question had been raised as to how the words of a secular writer could be incorporated in a book and still the book be viewed as “all inspired by the Holy Spirit.” EGWC 416.4

In what appears to be Canright’s first major attack, in writing, on the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and on Mrs. White—a series of articles in the Michigan Christian Advocate in 1887 ^*—his only reference to her literary borrowings is this brief paragraph: EGWC 417.1

“She often copies, without credit or sign of quotation, whole sentences and even paragraphs, almost word for word, from other authors. (Compare The Great Controversy, 96, with ‘History of the reformation,’ by D’Aubigne, page 41.) This she does page after page. Was D’Aubigne also inspired?”—October 8, 1887, p. 2. EGWC 417.2

This statement concerning Mrs. White’s literary borrowings is significant, not only because of its brevity, but also because it does not use the word “plagiarize,” or raise the grave charge of theft. Canright here poses simply this question: “Was D’Aubigne also inspired?” and leaves the reader to conclude that neither D’Aubigne nor Mrs. White was inspired. That this kind of question had some currency is revealed by the fact that the Seventh-day Adventist Church paper, in discussing charges against Mrs. White, presents this as one of them: “She quotes sometimes from history; are all historians inspired?”—The Review and Herald, October 18, 1887, p. 649. ^† EGWC 417.3

Quite apart from critics, whom Mrs. White sometimes answered, this question of historians and inspiration might very understandably have perplexed some sincere church members. ^* And in the light of such a question, and of the fact that she was enlarging the book for wider circulation, how natural that she should provide a preface that would clarify the whole matter. Listen to her words, as we quote at length from her preface the part that is here relevant: ^† EGWC 418.1