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Early Writings
make the third American edition, which has had wide distribution,
meeting the ever-increasing demand. The paging of this edition
became the standard for all reference work and the subsequently
published indexes to the writings of Mrs. White
.
The fourth edition of
Early Writings
was published in 1945.
Forty years of printing and reprinting made necessary new printing
plates. As the type was reset the content was held page for page
with the edition it succeeded. Modern spelling and current forms of
punctuation were employed and a new preface reviewed briefly the
history of the book
.
This fifth edition is characterized by a historical prologue, added
to furnish the reader with a knowledge of the times and circum-
stances of the various portions of the book and by several appendix
notes provided to explain expressions and situations not so well
understood now as at the time of writing. There has been no change
of the E. G. White text nor change in the paging from the fourth
edition which this succeeds, consequently it harmonizes with the
Comprehensive Index to the Writings of Ellen G. White
.
In
Experience and Views
is presented Mrs. White’s first bio-
graphical sketch, briefly tracing her experience through the Advent
movement of 1840-44. Then follow a number of the earlier visions,
many of which had first appeared in print in broadside or periodical
article form
.
[v]
The
Supplement
Explains certain expressions of the earlier work
which had been misunderstood or misconstrued, and gives additional
counsel to the Church. Its publication preceded by one year the first
pamphlet bearing the title of
Testimony for the Church
.
Spiritual Gifts
, Volume I, being the first published account of the
long-extended conflict between Christ and his angels and Satan and
his angels, is cherished for its vivid descriptions and its compactness,
touching as it does only the more salient points. In succeeding years
this brief story of the conflict was greatly amplified in the four
volumes of
The Spirit of Prophecy
, Published 1870-84. After wide
distribution, this four-book set was replaced by the well-known and
widely read Conflict of the Ages series, presenting the account in
still more detailed form, as it had been presented to Mrs. White in
many revelations. Even though the fuller volumes—
Patriarchs and
Prophets, Prophets and Kings, The Desire of Ages, The Acts of the