This book is a reproduction of my 1983 dissertation. I have not revised or updated it. It is published as an historic documentin order to represent what I said in the dissertation in 1983. The only changes I have made is to correct typographical andother technical errors. These changes in no way alter the meaning of the original text, although they do make this text appear to be more carefully copy-edited. I have also inserted, in several places, bracketed notes to update or correct certain passages. Each of these is identified as a "2019 note." These notes are preceded by the exact 1983 text. My views on most of the topics covered in this dissertation have not changed much over the past 36 years. But they can be seen, alongwith more recent research, in my newly published book, Visions and Revisions: A Textual History of the Ellen G. White Writings (Westlake Village, CA: Oak & Acorn Publishing, 2019). The publisher of this copy of my dissertation, "Eastvale Press" is simply a name I've chosen to list, a "virtual press" if you please.-Ronald D. Graybill