Personal Experiences Enriched Her Writing

Creative preachers have a “homiletical bias,” that is, in whatever they read, in whatever their personal experiences, they “pick up” information for sermons to come. Such experiences enrich their sacred subjects, enhancing the interest for their hearers. No one at any time begins to think with a blank mind. On the minds of creative thinkers is the sum total of all that they have ever read, all that they have ever experienced.MOL 113.5

In addition to all that Ellen White was reading, her many travel experiences added to the wealth of her thought. For instance, after spending a day on a sailboat in San Francisco Bay (1876), she was writing on the life of Christ. Her subject that day was Christ walking on the Sea of Galilee, and in her mind she saw the disciples toiling through the stormy night. She continued in her letter to her husband: “Can you wonder that I was silent and happy with these grand themes of contemplation? I am glad I went upon the water. I can write better than before.” ^{35Letter 5, 1876, cited in Bio., vol. 3, p. 27.}MOL 113.6

In 1886 while holding meetings in Valence, France, she visited the Cathedral of Saint Apollinaire where she observed the impressiveness of a Catholic worship service. The priests officiated with their white robes, overlaid with a black velvet surplice trimmed with gold braid. This kind of experience helped her when later, in The Great Controversy, she described the grandeur of Catholic worship. ^{36The Great Controversy, 566, 567.}MOL 113.7

While in Zurich, Switzerland, she visited the Gross Munster, the church where Zwingli preached during the Protestant Reformation. She was intensely interested in viewing Zwingli’s Bible, and his life-size statue where “one hand rests upon the handle of his sword, while in the other hand he clasps a Bible.” ^{37Manuscript 29, 1887, cited in Delafield, Ellen G. White in Europe, p. 273.}MOL 113.8

In view of the fact that she was then enlarging The Great Controversy, especially the part dealing with the Protestant Reformation era, Ellen White’s comments on this city tour are understandable: “We gathered many items of interest which we will use.” ^{38Manuscript 29, 1887, cited in Bio., vol. 3, p. 363. Note W. C. White’s comment regarding his mother’s Basel visit: “During her two years’ residence in Basel, she visited many places where events of special importance occurred in the Reformation days. This refreshed her memory as to what she had been shown and this led to important enlargement in those portions of the book dealing with Reformation days.” Selected Messages 3:465.}MOL 113.9