Ellen G. White and Her Critics

Mrs. White Describes Prophet’s Work

“Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-continued conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to behold the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God’s holy law. Satan’s enmity against Christ has been manifested against his followers. The same hatred of the principles of God’s law, the same policy of deception, by which error is made to appear as truth, by which human laws are substituted for the law of God, and men are led to worship the creature rather than the Creator, may be traced in all the history of the past.... EGWC 418.2

“As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of his Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make known to others what has thus been revealed,—to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially to so present it as to shed a light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this purpose, I have endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at different periods have been given to the world, that have excited the wrath of Satan, and the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained by the witness of those who ‘loved not their lives unto the death.’ EGWC 418.3

“In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us. Regarding them in the light of God’s Word, and by the illumination of his Spirit, we may see unveiled the devices of the wicked one, and the dangers which they must shun who would be found ‘without fault’ before the Lord at his coming. EGWC 418.4

“The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past ages, are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant world; they are facts which none can gainsay. This history I have presented briefly, in accordance with the scope of the book, and the brevity which must necessarily be observed, the facts having been condensed into as little space as seemed consistent with a proper understanding of their application. In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but except in a few instances no specific credit has been given, since they are not quoted for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject. In narrating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of reform in our own time, similar use has occasionally been made of their published works.”—Author’s Preface, pp. (g), (h). (Preface dated “Healdsburg, Cal., May, 1888.”) EGWC 418.5

Thus since 1888 Mrs. White has been on record, not simply as declaring openly that she borrowed from other works—though that fact is generally revealed by quotation marks—but more particularly as explaining why she thus borrowed, and the relation of such borrowing to her revelations from God. The very principle that she set forth in the preface to The Great Controversy as to the use of historical descriptions, can apply equally to other descriptions, or even to comments on a point at issue, provided those comments simply present, in the most succinct form, a statement of a truth already divinely presented to her. The very fact that The Great Controversy has had such wide and continuing sale to the world has made rather unnecessary a further statement in any later work which might have incorporated matter from other writers. ^* EGWC 419.1