articles, and in her voluminous manuscript and correspondence files
housed in the White Estate vault.
A large portion of Mind, Character, and Personality presents gen-
eral guiding principles. This is interspersed and supplemented with
materials setting forth practical admonitions and counsels in the setting
of the relationship of the teacher and the student, the minister and the
parishioner, the physician and the patient, or the parent and the child.
The counsels in scores of instances addressed to an executive,
minister, physician, teacher, editor, husband, housewife, or youth,
may in their revelation of circumstances and advice given, partake
somewhat of the form of case histories. Attention should be directed
to the principle involved.
Obviously Ellen White did not write as a psychologist. She did
not employ terminology in common usage in the field of psychology
today. In fact, the reader must even approach her uses of the terms
“psychology”, “phrenology,” etc., with understanding. The knowledge-
able reader, however, will be deeply impressed by her unusual insight
into basic principles of psychology, which these writings evince. The
Ellen G. White statements on the various aspects of the mind, its vital
place in the human experience, its potentials, and the factors that lead
to its optimum functioning as drawn together in a logical sequence
yield a choice addition to the Ellen G. White books issued posthu-
mously. These help us to comprehend what man is and to understand
his relationship to his earthly environment, to God, and to the universe.
Ten years ago, when work was begun on this compilation, it was
thought that it would have its widest appeal to those studying partic-
ularly in the field of mental health. Hence, an arrangement has been
followed that would make statements readily available to those consid-
ering classified areas. The researcher should understand that while an
attempt has been made to avoid redundancy as much as possible, a few
key statements are repeated in different chapters because the student
would expect to find them under different appropriate headings. It is
now clear that this compilation is of vital interest to all Adventists and
to their friends as well, for all of us are involved in the battle for the
mind.
The work of the compilers has been confined to the selection of
the materials, placing these in what seemed to be a logical sequence,
and supplying the headings, including the side headings that introduce