Was The Desire of Ages Plagiarized? -- Part 5

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Color Key

Material that is an exact, word-for-word match of the alleged source.

Words that are a match of biblical material as well as of the source.

Material that is represented in Rea's comparison by an ellipsis.

Material dropped from the beginning or end of the paragraph of the alleged source by Rea.

Material clipped from the beginning or end of a sentence in Rea's comparison, without giving the reader any indication of such. (Either a capital letter or a period appears where it should not, hiding the fact that material is missing.)

An Analysis of the Literary Dependency of Desire of Ages, chapter 5

contributed by David J. Conklin

Paragraph 11 (analysis of p. 325 of White Lie)

We have removed the bold and italics found in Rea from five places below, two in White and three in Hanna, in order to bring the formatting back in line with the original. In this instance, Rea even bolded and italicized words that were not direct quotations from Scripture, which artificially enhanced the apparent similarity between White and Hanna.

The words from White that Rea bolded and italicized were " 'high priest over the house of God,' " and " 'an unchangeable priesthood,' the intercessor at 'the right hand of the Majesty on high.' " Words from Hanna likewise highlighted were " 'Before Abraham was, I am,' " "High priest over the house of God," and "unchangeable priesthood."

Desire of Ages (1898)
Ellen G. White, pp. 52-55 The Life of Christ, (1863)
William Hanna, pp. 34, 35 Scripture

The Shekinah had departed from the sanctuary, but in the Child of Bethlehem was veiled the glory before which angels bow. This unconscious babe was the promised seed, to whom the first altar at the gate of Eden pointed. This was Shiloh, the peace giver. It was He who declared Himself to Moses as the I AM.¹³ It was He who in the pillar of cloud and of fire had been the guide of Israel. This was He whom seers had long foretold. He was the Desire of all nations, the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star. The name of that helpless little babe, inscribed in the roll of Israel, declaring Him our brother, was the hope of fallen humanity. The child for whom the redemption money had been paid was He who was to pay the ransom for the sins of the whole world. He was the true "high priest over the house of God," the head of "an unchangeable priesthood," the intercessor
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at "the right hand of the Majesty on high."¹⁴ Heb. 10:21; 7:24; 1:3.

In the light of this explanation, let us look yet once again at our Lord's presentation in the temple as a first-born child, and see whether—as the eye of faith looks through the outward actions to that which the actions symbolize, looks through the outward form and discerns the spiritual significance—the whole scene does not become, as it were, transfigured before us. You mount the steps, and come up into this temple at Jerusalem. It is neither a feast-day nor a Sabbath-day, nor is it the fixed hour for prayer. A few priests, or Levites, or other hangers-on of the holy place are loitering in the outer courts. A man and a woman in Galilean dress, the woman bearing an infant in her arms, cross the court and go forward to where the priest is standing, whose duty it is to present whatever individual sacrifices or oblations may that day be offered. They tell the priest their errand, hand to him or to one of his attendants the two young

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turtle-doves and the five shekels of the sanctuary. He in his turn goes through with his part of the prescribed ceremonial, and gives the child back again to his parents as a first-born child that had been devoted to the Lord. The father, the mother, the priest, whatever onlookers there are, all imagine that nothing more has been done in all this than is so often done when first-born children are consecrated. But was it so? Who is this child that lies so passive on its mother's breast, and all unconscious of what is being done with him, is handled by the officiating priest? He is, as his birth had proclaimed him to be, one of the seed of Abraham, and yet he afterwards said of himself, "Before Abraham was I am."^13,
15 He is, as the angel had proclaimed him to be, David's son and David's heir; but as he said afterwards of himself, the root as well as the branch of David: David's Lord as well as David's son.¹⁶ He is the first-born of Mary, but he is also the first-born of every creature, the beginning of the creation of God. He is the infant of a few weeks old, but also the Ancient of Days, whose goings forth were from of old, from everlasting. Here then at last is the Lord, the Jehovah, whom so many of the Jews were seeking, brought suddenly, almost, as one might say, unconsciously into his own temple.¹⁶ Here is the Lamb of God, of old provided, now publicly designated and set apart—of which the paschal one, the sight of whose blood warded off the stroke of the destroying angel, was but the imperfect type.¹⁶ Here is the one and only true High Priest over the house of God, consecrated to his office, of whose all prevailing, everlasting, and unchangeable priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, the priesthood of the first-born, was but the dim shadow.¹⁵ Here is the Son presented to the Father, within the holy place on earth, as he enters upon that life of service, suffering, sacrifice, the glorious issue of which was to be his entering not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood, into that holy place not made with hands, having obtained eternal redemption for us, there for ever to present himself before the Father, as the living head of the great community of the redeemed, the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven.

And having an high priest over the house of God. (Heb. 10:21)

But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. (Heb. 7:24)

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (Rev. 22:16)

Observations: No comment.

Notes

By omitting so much material from Hanna, Rea was able to line up very closely the words "I AM" in his book, even though Hanna and White used these words to refer to totally different Bible passages.
The quote marks and textual citation suggests that Ellen White copied these words from the Bible rather than from Hanna.
Rea inserted an ellipsis here where there should not be one.
While Rea did insert an ellipsis here, the position of the preceding period hides the fact that the previous sentence is clipped.

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