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- At the McDearmon Home
- The Plano Camp Meeting
- The Fluctuating Plans of James and Ellen White
- Working at Home in Denison, Texas
- Miss Marian Davis Joins the White Forces
- The Home Situation
- Outreach in Missionary Endeavor
- Evangelism in Nearby Communities
- Texas, a Needy Field of Labor
- Preparing for the Exodus from Texas
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- A New President for Battle Creek College
- The College Problems Enumerated
- New Schools in the East and the West
- The Healdsburg School
- Ellen White Finds a Home Base
- The Battle Creek Church, Uriah Smith, and the Testimonies
- The Fourth of July Picnic
- The E. G. White Home in the Town of Healdsburg
- Healed at the Camp Meeting
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- Early Writings of Ellen G. White
- New Year's Day, 1883
- Holiday Articles in the Review and Signs
- Practical Gift Suggestions
- Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 4
- Instructed to Trace the History of the Controversy
- Chapters Published in Signs of the Times
- The Relation of Ellen White's Articles to D'Aubigne
- Sketches from the Life of Paul
- The Call for an Ellen G. White Lesson Help
- Testimonies for the Church, Volumes 1 to 4
- The General Conference on Record Regarding Inspiration
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- The Meetings in Sweden
- The Conference Session
- The Two Weeks in Christiania
- Dealing Carefully and Firmly with the Church Situation
- The Week in Denmark
- The European Missionary Council
- The Week-Long Council Meeting
- Evangelistic Labor in Nimes, France
- The Visit to the Watch Factory
- The Third Visit to Italy
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- News of D. M. Canright's Final Defection
- Writing Letters and Preparing Book Manuscript
- Visit to Zurich
- Starting on the Long Journey Home
- Meetings at Vohwinkel
- The Meetings in Copenhagen
- First European Camp Meeting at Moss, Norway
- The Fifth Session of the European Council
- The Well-Attended Meetings in Sweden
- On to the British Mission
- The Illness of Mary K. White
- Across the Atlantic on the City of Rome
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- The Law in Galatians at Last Introduced
- Satan's Diverting Strategy
- The Landmarks and the Pillars
- Ellen White's Objective
- A Heart-Searching Appeal
- The Conference Session Closes on the Upbeat
- W. C. White's Appraisal
- W. C. White Acting General Conference President
- The Story that Contemporary Records Tell
- Righteousness by Faith Defined
- A Personal and Frail Experience
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- Her Resume of Labors Through 1889
- Michigan State Meeting at Potterville
- Ellen White's Sixty-First Birthday
- The Remarkable Revival in Battle Creek
- The Revival at South Lancaster
- Revivals Across the Land
- The Williamsport Camp Meeting
- The 1889 General Conference Session
- E. G. White Review Articles Tell The Story
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- Attention Turned to the Great Controversy
- An Enlightening Experience
- Experience in Europe Benefited the Book
- Enlargement of Chapter on Huss
- Deletion of Materials Especially Intended for Adventists
- The Great Controversy Finished at Healdsburg
- Materials Quoted from Historians
- Patriarchs and Prophets
- Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White
- Testimonies for the Church,
- Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
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- Consolidation of Denominational Interests
- Opening the Way for the Enemy to Control
- Reading and Working in Battle Creek
- Schools for Ministers
- Early-Morning Devotionals Drew Large Attendance
- Ellen White's Bold Testimony Bears Fruit
- The Backbone of Rebellion Broken
- The Spirit of Prophecy the Real Issue
- A Statement Clarifying Issues
- What is the Evidence?
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- The 1891 General Conference Session
- Religious Interest at a High Point
- References to the Salamanca Vision
- Instructed to Tell what She Saw at Salamanca
- Ellen White's Report
- An Abundance of Testimony
- The Experience Brought Unity
- General Conference Business
- Uriah Smith's Spirit of Prophecy Sermon
- Ellen White Asks for Time
- The Question of Consolidation
- Cheering, Positive Attitudes
- Ellen G. White Following the Session
- Ellen White Shared in Carriage Accident
- To Go or Not To Go
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Sources for Her Writing on Christ's Life
The elements that entered into Ellen White's writing on Christ's life were (1) the reports of the four Gospel writers, (2) the visions given to her through the years, (3) the writing of reliable commentators, and (4) the illumination of her mind by the Spirit of God as she pressed on with her writing.3BIO 31.1
In her first writing on Christ's life in 1858 in Spiritual Gifts,, volume 1, she frequently intimates the vision source by the use of such expressions as:3BIO 31.2
“I saw that the Son of God was pale and emaciated.”—Page 31.3BIO 31.3
“I then viewed Jesus in the garden with His disciples.”—Page 46.3BIO 31.4
“I saw the Roman guard, as the angelic host passed back to heaven.”—Page 68.3BIO 31.5
In rewriting the story in 1876, she seldom referred to the visions as a source of her work. In one letter, as noted, she was writing out “the things which the Lord has shown me” (Letter 59, 1876). In 1889 she stated that “the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus” had passed before her point by point (Letter 14, 1889). It may be assumed that such would apply also to other features of Christ's life and work. It is also reasonable to assume that what she wrote concerning visions given to her while preparing the manuscript for The Great Controversy would also be true of her work on the life of Christ. Of the former she stated: “Many times the scenes about which I was writing were presented to me anew in visions of the night, so that they were fresh and vivid in my mind.”—Letter 56, 1911.3BIO 31.6
In 1900 she recalled: 3BIO 31.7
Heavenly scenes were presented to me in the life of Christ, pleasant to contemplate, and again painful scenes which were not always pleasant for Him to bear which pained my heart.—Manuscript 93, 1900.
Mention has been made of her reference to commentaries. These might well be thought of as an aid to her writing, rather than a basic source. She read quite extensively in some of the well-known and well-accepted commentaries, such as William Hanna's Life of Our Lord, Cunningham Geikie's Life and Words of Christ, Daniel March's Walks and Homes of Jesus, and his Night Scenes in the Bible. Geikie's Hours With the Bible and Edersheim's works on the Temple and its services and Jewish social life were known to her, as well as some others.3BIO 32.1
W. C. White, newly elected president of the Pacific Press, with his wife, Mary, was living in the White home in Oakland as his mother was writing on the life of Christ. On several occasions, at a later time, he spoke of the use she made of such authors and the reasons for so doing:3BIO 32.2
Notwithstanding all the power that God had given her to present scenes in the lives of Christ and His apostles and His prophets and His reformers in a stronger and more telling way than other historians, ...she always felt most keenly the results of her lack of school education. She admired the language in which other writers had presented to their readers the scenes which God had presented to her in vision, and she found it both a pleasure and a convenience and an economy of time to use their language fully or in part in presenting those things which she knew through revelation, and which she wished to pass on to her readers.—W.C.W. to L. E. Froom, January 8, 1928 (Selected Messages 3:460).3BIO 32.3
There may be other reasons as well that are worthy of thoughtful consideration. He mentions several:3BIO 32.4
The great events occurring in the life of our Lord were presented to her in panoramic scenes, as also were the other portions of the Great Controversy. In a few of these scenes, chronology and geography were clearly presented, but in the greater part of the revelation the flashlight scenes, which were exceedingly vivid, and the conversations and the controversies, which she heard and was able to narrate, were not marked geographically or chronologically, and she was left to study the Bible and history and the writings of men who had presented the life of our Lord to get the chronological and geographical connection.3BIO 32.5
Another purpose served by the reading of history and the Life of Our Lord (Hanna, 1863), and the Life of St. Paul, was that in so doing there was brought vividly to her mind scenes presented clearly in vision, but which were, through the lapse of years and her strenuous ministry, dimmed in her memory.—(Ibid., 3:459, 460).3BIO 33.1
The knowledge that Ellen White read from other authors, and at times employed some of their phraseology, has led some to lose sight of the fact that the many visions given to her by God through the years constituted the main source of her information and insights. Were it not for these visions, she would never have written on the life of Christ. Her reading was primarily an aid in presenting what she had seen.3BIO 33.2