As An Editor

In the previous section we have noted the place that literary helpers filled in the work of Ellen White. As with other areas, we note that they were aids, and not sources for her message. But we look at a final part of her work that is not often emphasized.WDEGWB 11.6

It has been suggested by some that Ellen White wrote only in rough form, and helpers did major rewriting of her messages for print. This is just not true. They certainly provided technical help, but even in this area she was a careful final editor of her own work all her life. W C White writes that “she was remarkably acute in detecting any error made by copyists or by copy editors” (Selected Messages 3:461). While preparing Testimonies for the Church, Volume 6, in 1901 she said of her editorial procedures:WDEGWB 11.7

I must select the most important matters for the “Testimony” and then look over everything prepared for it, and be my own critic; for I would not be willing to have some things which are all truth to be published; because I fear that some would take advantage of them to hurt others (Letter 32, 1901; Selected Messages 3:98).

This same concern for the reader is evident in her preparation of the 1911 edition of The Great Controversy:WDEGWB 12.1

When I heard that The Great Controversy must be reset, I determined that we would have everything closely examined, to see if the truths it contained were stated in the very best manner, to convince those not of our faith that the Lord had guided and sustained me in the writing of its pages (Letter 56, 1911; Selected Messages 3:123, 124).

She then refers to her editing:WDEGWB 12.2

As a result of the thorough examination by our most experienced workers, some changing in the wording has been proposed. These changes I have carefully examined and approved (Ibid).

Speaking of this same book, W C White tells how he personally observed inspiration working in Ellen White’s writing:WDEGWB 12.3

Mother has never laid claim to verbal inspiration.... If there were verbal inspiration in writing her manuscripts, why should there be on her part the work of addition or adaptation? It is a fact that Mother often takes one of her manuscripts, and goes over it thoughtfully, making additions that develop the thought still further (Selected Messages 3:437).

Dozens of her manuscripts so marked as she carefully edited them can be seen at the White Estate office. Some of them marked three times and more. In this area as in all others we have considered, Ellen White was the final authority and had the last word in regard to what appeared in print.WDEGWB 12.4