Editions of Great Controversy
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The Editions of Great Controversy by Vance Ferrell Pilgrims Books Beersbeba Springs, TN 57305 PB-2201 THE EDITIONS OF GREAT CONTROVERSY by Vance Ferrell Pilgrims Books Beersheba Springs, TN 37305 USA Printed in the United States of America Cover and Text Copyright © 1994 Research Institute for Better Reading, Inc. "Great Controversy should be very widely circulated. It contains the story of the past, the present, and the future. In its outline of the closing scenes of this earth's history, it bears a powerful testimony in behalf of the truth. I am more anxious to see a wide circulation for this book than for any others I have written; for in the Great Controversy, the last message of warning to the world is given more distinctly than in any of my other books." -Letter 281, 1905 (Colporteur Ministry, 127) 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface: The Great Controversy Theme was the first to be revealed to Ellen White in vision. Something to Think About: Urgent statements we should no ignore. Part One THE WRITING OF THE BOOK 1 – Introduction: The great controversy theme was the first to be revealed to Ellen White in vision 2 - The Most Important Book of Our Time: Great Controversy is the most important of all the Spirit of Prophecy books 3- The 1848-1849 Visions: The 1848-1849 cluster of visions, provided a basic overview of final great controversy truths. 4 - From 1848 to 1858: Why Heaven waited until 1858 to give Ellen the major great controversy vision 5 - The 1858 Vision: The story of this panoramic great controversy vision 6 - The Attempt on Ellen White's Life: Satan began his warfare against Great Controversy by trying to slay the author before it could be written. Why God permitted this 7 - The 1858 Edition: Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 1: The writing of the first edition of Great Controversy 8 - Preparation for the 1884 Edition: Work on the second edition, which began in January 1879 9 - The Death of James White: Why James White passed away in 1881 10 - Satan Changes the Method of Attack: Failing in the first two tactics, Satan switched to the primary method of attack he is still using 11 - The 1884 Edition: Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4: The writing of the second edition of Great Controversy 12 - The Trip to Europe (1885-1887) : Providence provided for this European writing tour, so Ellen would immediately begin work on a much larger edition of Great Controversy 13 - The 1888 Edition: "Volume Four": The writing of the third edition of Great Controversy 14 - The Attempt to Stop the 1888 Edition: Battle Creek decides to keep the 1888 edition from being circulated 15 - Post 1888: The Need for a Revision: Although the complete text had been written, a strong need existed for grammatical and typographical correction 16 - Preparation of the 1911 Edition: The many details of how this, mission was carried out 17 - Type of Changes Made In the 1911 Edition: Examples of word changes in the fourth edition 18 - Historical Research for the 1911 Edition: The extensive international search carried out 19 - The 1911 Edition: The Great Controversy: Ellen White's appreciation of the newly-published fourth edition 20 - Ellen White Speaks about all the Editions: Her statement about each of the four editions 21 - Books Written Before and After 1885: Almost none of her books Were written before 1885 22 - People Helped by Great Controversy: Over the years, she considered it one of the first books to be shared with those not of our faith 23 - The Purpose of the Book: Her own writings reveal seven objectives of the book 24 - The Most Valuable Book of All: More quotations about the importance of this book 2 25 - The 1907 Dream: The very important March 1907 dream 26 - Basic Sections and Principles In the Book: Searching for the divisions and principles in the book 27 - In Conclusion: Her attitude toward the book ought to be ours PART TWO COMPARISONS OF THE TEXT 28 - Comparing the 1884 and 1888 Editions: What is alike end what is different about them 29 - Comparing the 1888 and 1911 Editions: The method of research used 30 - 1888 to 1911: The Historical and Millerite Chapters: The change: made is chapter: 1 to 22 31 - 1888 to 1911: Comparing the Doctrinal and Closingevents Chapters: The changes made in chapters 23 to 42 32 - Other Changes Made In the 1911 Edition: References, brackets, paragraph breaks, the five "40-year" passages, and typos in the 1911 33 - The "Uniques" in the Editions: What is unique about each of the editions? 34 - We are Being Tested on This Book: You and I know too much; we are accountable for what we do with that book PART THREE COMPARISONS OF OTHER PARTS OF THE BOOK 35 - The Book Titles: The various titles which the book has had over the yearn 36 - The Introductions: Comparing the two editions of the author's Introduction 37 - The Chapter Titles: Changes in the chapter titles over the years 38 - Inclusive Dates of Each Chapter: Historical dates for most chapters in the book 39 - The Historical References: Locating every added sod/or changed quotation in the 1911 edition 40 - The Appendices: Carefully comparing the 1884, 1888, 1911, 1956, and 1979 appendices PART FOUR THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE BOOK 41 - The Ten Charges: Replies to ten excuses for rejecting Great Controversy 42 - The Plagiarism Charge: A wealth of Information In reply to this charge 43 - The Secret Writers Charge: An analysis of this peculiar charge 44 - Downgrading Scripture: Quotations and comments showing the terrible danger in doing this 45 - Should We Circulate Great Controversy? The book, which Satin sought to prevent from being written by slaying its nether, has, after being written, received more attack than any other of her books! Yes, we, should circulate it! PART FIVE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE BOOK 46 - Satan's Instructions to his Angels, c. 1883: The first three pages in the Snares of Satan chapter of the 1884 edition 47 - 1884 Appendix, c. 1883: The complete, original 1884 appendix 48 - 1888 Appendix, c. 1887: The complete, original 1888 appendix 49 .1888 Biographical Appendix, c. 1887: The complete, original 1888 biographical appendix 50 - W.C. White Statement, October 30, 1911: Statement made to the 1911 General Conference Council 3 51 - W.C. White Letter, July 25, 1911: Letter from Elmshaven to the General Conference Publication Committee 52 - W.C. White Statement, November 4, 1912: Written statement to a union publishing department secretary 53 - W.C. White Letter, January 8, 1928: Letter to a General Conference Ministerial Department associate secretary 54 - W.C. White Letter, January 8, 1928: Second letter to the same individual 55 - W.C. White Letter, December 13, 1934: Third letter to the same individual 56 - A.L. White Research Paper: The Circulation of Great Controversy: Paper presented to the Field Missionary Secretaries' Council, Sanitarium, California, September 30, 1938 PART SIX FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK 57 - Dates, People, and Places In the Book: Additional information on the dates, people, and places mentiond in the historical chapters (chapters 1 through 16) 58 - The Historical Sources In the 1911 Edition: The 63 historical sources quoted or referred to in the fourth edition of Great Controversy 59 - Current Foreign Language Editions: The 21 languages in which all or part of Great Controversy is currently available - and where to obtain copies 60 - English Editions: Additional Features: Features in various currently available editions of Great Controversy 61 - Colporteur Helps: How to obtain additional materials to help you sell this most important of books 62 - Where the Bible Ends: An Amazing Story Began: A study filled with canvass material on each individual chapter. It can also be handed to those whom you wish to interest in reading the book 63 - A Wonderful Heritage:A resource too valuable to set aside. A responsibility too great to ignore. "I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write that book, and while working upon it I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly."-1890. “No one feels the necessity or the importance of bringing It before the people. Brethren, how long am I to wait for you to get the burden?"-1890. THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK! THE EDITIONS OF GREAT CONTROVERSY Vance Ferrell PREFACE There have been four editions of the book, Great Controversy, six later “1911” issues, plus three other Great Controversys in the 1870s. Six of these editions involved changes in the text or appendix. These six are as follows: 1858 — First writing of the text 1884 — Text revision and first appendix 1888 — Text and appendix revision 1911 — Text and appendix revision 4 1957 — 1956 appendix revision 1980 — 1979 appendix revision We will discuss the changes in the above six editions elsewhere in this present volume. Keep in mind that Ellen White did not write any of the appendixes. Other editions also appeared which involved no changes in the text or appendix (1926, 1927, 1950, 1954, and 1958). Because they only had cover and illustration changes, they will not be analyzed in this present volume. In addition, in the 1870s, three other Great Controversys were also printed. Here is a complete listing of all the editions and issues of Great Controversy and the year each was printed ("Text" in the following discussion means all the chapters in the book.): 1858 — Spiritual Gifts, Volume 1, also titled The Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels.