FOREWORD
A DIFFERENT PLAN HAS BEEN ADOPTED
IN ASSEMBLING THE MATERIALS FOR THIS E. G. WHITE DEVOTIONAL BOOK. RATHER
THAN GATHERING SELECTIONS ON A CENTRAL THEME, WE HAVE CHOSEN, SOMEWHAT
AT RANDOM, APPROPRIATE INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGES WRITTEN OR PRESENTED ORALLY
BY ELLEN WHITE ON EVERY CALENDAR DAY OF THE YEAR. THE WRITINGS, USUALLY
AN UNBROKEN UNIT, HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FROM FORTY-SIX OF THE SEVENTY YEARS
OF ELLEN WHITE'S MINISTRY. SELECTING THE ITEMS FROM LETTERS OF COUNSEL
AND ENCOURAGEMENT AND SERMONS AND ARTICLES HAS AFFORDED AN OPPORTUNITY
FOR CHOICE PRESENTATIONS ON A WIDE RANGE OF HELPFUL TOPICS.
THIS PROCEDURE HAS OPENED UP
SOME INTERESTING AND OFTEN UNUSUAL INSIGHTS INTO THE MINISTRY OF GOD'S
SPECIAL MESSENGER. FOR EXAMPLE, WE NOTE HER FREQUENT HABIT OF WRITING IMPORTANT
COUNSEL EARLY IN THE MORNING WHILE THE REST OF THE HOUSEHOLD SLEPT. IT
WAS SO IN 1905. THE NEW YEAR WAS JUST ONE HOUR OLD WHEN ELLEN WHITE AROSE
THAT SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 1, AND MADE HER WAY TO HER WRITING ROOM TO
START THE DAY'S ACTIVITIES. OF THIS SHE WROTE:
IT IS A COOL MORNING. BUILT MY
FIRE. BOWED BEFORE THE LORD IN PRAYER. I HAVE SO MANY THINGS BURDENING
MY MIND. I ASKED THE
LORD JESUS TO DIRECT ME, TO
GUIDE ME. WHAT SHALL I TRACE WITH MY
PEN THIS MORNING. . . .
NEED THE GREAT GUIDE TO CONTROL MY MIND. WHAT SHALL ITRACE WITH THE PEN FIRST. . . . OH, HOW MUCH I FEEL THAT I NEED THEGUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.--MANUSCRIPT 173, 1905.
SHE WAS IN HER COMFORTABLE WRITING
ROOM ON THE EASTERN END OF THE SECOND FLOOR AT ELMSHAVEN, WELL KNOWN TO
MANY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS. THAT MORNING THE HOLY SPIRIT LED HER MIND
FIRST TO THE STUDENTS OF OAKWOOD COLLEGE, FOR WHOM SHE PENNED A FOUR-PAGE
MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT. IN THE YEARS BEFORE THIS HER WRITING HAD BEEN
DONE IN A VARIETY OF SETTINGS SUCH AS HER SUNNYSIDE HOME AT COORANBONG
IN AUSTRALIA; HER APARTMENT ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE CENTRAL PUBLISHING
HOUSE IN BASEL, SWITZERLAND; HER HEALDSBURG HOME CLOSE TO THE COLLEGE IN
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA; AND HER HOME AT BATTLE CREEK. IN EARLY YEARS AT BATTLE
CREEK WHEN HER HOME WAS SMALL AND OFTEN FILLED WITH CHILDREN AND VISITORS,
SHE WROTE IN THE CORNER OF THE LIBRARY AT THE REVIEW AND HERALD OFFICE.
TRAVEL BY TRAIN, BOAT, OR HORSE
AND BUGGY DID NOT PREVENT HER FROM WRITING. AT THE CLOSE OF THIS BOOK A
SHORT HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF HER ACTIVITIES AND TRAVELS WILL PROVIDE A GENERAL
SETTING FOR A NUMBER OF THE READINGS.
EARLY IN HER WORK ELLEN WHITE
CHOSE TO INCLUDE PERSONAL COUNSELS IN HER PUBLISHED BOOKS, BECAUSE THE
"WARNING AND INSTRUCTION" THAT APPLIED TO ONE PERSON OFTEN CONTAINED PRINCIPLES
AND ADVICE THAT MIGHT WELL APPLY TO ANOTHER (SEE TESTIMONIES, VOL. 5, PP.
658, 659). SHE WAS NOT GIVEN LIGHT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL WHO MIGHT BE IN
NEED OF COUNSEL.
IN 1905, AT THE AGE OF 77, AS
SHE WAS NEARING THE CLOSE OF HER LIFETIME OF HEAVY CORRESPONDENCE, SHE
WROTE, "I AM ENDEAVORING BY THE HELP OF GOD TO WRITE LETTERS THAT WILL
BE A HELP, NOT MERELY TO THOSE TO WHOM THEY ARE ADDRESSED, BUT TO MANY
OTHERS WHO NEED THEM."--LETTER 79, 1905.
SUCH LETTERS MIGHT BE DEVOTED
WHOLLY TO AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THE PERSON ADDRESSED, OR, IF TO AN ACQUAINTANCE,
MIGHT CONTAIN SOME NEWSY ITEMS, AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL TRUTHS BASED ON THE
MANY VISIONS GIVEN TO HER THROUGH THE YEARS. SELECTIONS FROM THE THOUSANDS
OF SUCH LETTERS IN THE ELLEN G. WHITE FILES MAKE UP MUCH OF THIS VOLUME
OF PRECIOUS READINGS. SOME ARE LETTERS TO PRESIDENTS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE,
SOME WERE WRITTEN TO LOCAL CONFERENCE EXECUTIVES. ONE IS A LETTER TO A
HARASSED MOTHER. THERE ARE LETTERS TO SANITARIUM MANAGERS, TO PHYSICIANS,
TO INDIVIDUALS UNDER HEAVY TEMPTATIONS, TO YOUNG PEOPLE, AND TO SAINTS
IN THEIR GOLDEN YEARS. THERE ARE LETTERS TO BUSINESSMEN AND TO EDITORS
OF THE REVIEW AND HERALD. SOME WERE EVEN WRITTEN TO HER OWN SONS, WHO,
LIKE ANY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST, STOOD IN NEED OF COUNSEL AND ENCOURAGEMENT.
A NUMBER OF LETTERS WERE TO WOMEN WORKERS AND WIVES OF WORKERS.
GENERAL MANUSCRIPTS, PENNED
TO MEET VARIOUS SITUATIONS, WERE DRAWN UPON IN THIS COLLECTION, AS WERE
HER EXTENSIVE DAILY WRITINGS AND DIARIES. THESE ABOUND IN SPIRITUAL LESSONS,
ENCOURAGEMENT, AND COUNSEL. HUNDREDS OF SERMONS WERE REPORTED STENOGRAPHICALLY
AND ARE ON FILE AS E. G. WHITE MANUSCRIPTS. ALL OF THESE MANUSCRIPTS PROVIDE
RICH SOURCES FOR THE READINGS IN
THIS VOLUME.
FOR VARIETY, A FEW EXCERPTS
ARE TAKEN FROM HER PERIODICAL ARTICLES THAT APPEARED IN THE WEEKLY ISSUES
OF THE REVIEW AND HERALD AND SIGNS OF THE TIMES OVER A PERIOD OF MORE THAN
SIXTY YEARS.
A SOURCE REFERENCE APPEARS WITH
EACH READING, GIVING ITS FILE REFERENCE AS WELL AS THE NAME, POSITION,
AND LOCATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL ADDRESSED. FOR SERMONS AND MANUSCRIPTS,
THE TITLE TOGETHER WITH THE YEAR AND DATE OF WRITING ARE PROVIDED. MANY
READERS WILL TURN FIRST TO THESE CREDIT LINES TO LEARN THE SETTING FOR
THE DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE. IF THE PERSON ADDRESSED HELD DIFFERENT POSITIONS
THROUGH THE YEARS, HE IS IDENTIFIED BY THE ONE HE HELD AT THE TIME ELLEN
WHITE WROTE TO HIM.
IF A PARTICULAR PERSONAL MESSAGE
CHOSEN BY ELLEN WHITE FOR PUBLICATION WAS HIGHLY PERSONAL OR CONFIDENTIAL,
SHE WAS CAREFUL TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF THE PERSON ADDRESSED. WITH HER
PRACTICE IN MIND, IN A FEW CASES WE HAVE NOT USED NAMES IN THIS BOOK. IN
ALL OTHER INSTANCES, HOWEVER, WE HAVE INCLUDED THE NAMES AND PLACES BECAUSE
THEY CONTRIBUTE TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE COUNSEL GIVEN. THIS INFORMATION
PROVIDES SIDELIGHTS OTHERWISE NOT KNOWN, AND HELPS TO MAKE THIS DEVOTIONAL
VOLUME A TREASURE OF COUNSEL FOR PERSONS OF ALL AGES.
CERTAIN NAMES APPEAR FREQUENTLY--DR.
J. H. KELLOGG, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM; ELDERS
G. I. BUTLER AND A. G. DANIELLS, PRESIDENTS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE;
G. B. STARR, EVANGELIST AND SANITARIUM CHAPLAIN; J. A. BURDEN, SANITARIUM
MANAGER IN AUSTRALIA AND CALIFORNIA; AND W. C. WHITE, WHO ASSISTED HIS
MOTHER AND FILLED A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN THE CHURCH.
SEVERAL LETTERS ARE ADDRESSED TO HER OTHER SON, EDSON WHITE, OR TO EDSON
AND EMMA WHITE AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE IN 1870. SOME VERY CHOICE MESSAGES
OF COUNSEL TO NEWLYWEDS WERE WRITTEN TO EDSON AND EMMA IN THEIR EARLY MARRIED
LIFE. EDSON'S CAREER TOOK HIM THROUGH PUBLISHING HOUSE MANAGEMENT, SONG
WRITING AND PUBLICATION, SABBATH SCHOOL LEADERSHIP, AND FINALLY PIONEER
MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE BLACKS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
IN THREE OR FOUR INSTANCES,
PARAGRAPHS HAVE BEEN REARRANGED SO THAT THE SELECTION ENDS ON A POSITIVE
TONE. OTHERWISE, THE PARAGRAPHS APPEAR AS THEY WERE FIRST WRITTEN BY ELLEN
WHITE.
IT IS OUR PRAYER THAT THIS DAY
WITH GOD WILL HELP YOU TO FACE EACH DAY WITH INCREASED GRATITUDE FOR GOD'S
GRACE AND WITH RENEWED DETERMINATION TO LIVE IN HARMONY WITH HIS WILL SO
THAT WE MAY ALL STAND WITH THE REDEEMED ON THE SEA OF GLASS IN HEAVEN.
THE TRUSTEES OF THE ELLEN G.
WHITE ESTATE
WASHINGTON, D.C.