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      Some critics have accused Ellen White of plagiarizing the contents of The Desire of Ages from the writings of various authors. But, did she really? Below is an analysis of one chapter of The Desire of Ages for which examples of alleged plagiarism are given. This particular one is from Walter Rea found online at http://www.ellenwhite.org/egw89.htm. In this case, Rea simply claims that Ellen G. White was "paraphrasing" pages 363-374 of Daniel March's Night Scenes in the Bible when she wrote this chapter. But, since the evidence was not actually presented, the claim could not be evaluated.

      Since Rea failed to actually present the evidence to support his claim it is now presented here. What we want to do here is to determine whether the critics did a fair analysis, or whether their comparisons actually distorted the real situation. Accordingly, we have color-coded the text and arranged similar sounding paragraphs opposite each other so that you, the reader, can easily come to your own conclusion.

      Typical author's caveat: all errors are, of course, mine. If you find any errors please let me know and I'll fix them.

March, Night Scenes in the Bible. (Zeigler, McCurdy & Co., 1868)

Desire of Ages. (1898)

Page 447 At the Feast of Tabernacles [This chapter is based on John 7:1-15, 37-39.]       Three times a year the Jews were required to assemble at Jerusalem for religious purposes. Enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, Israel's invisible Leader had given the directions in regard to these gatherings. During the captivity of the Jews, they could not be observed; but when the people were restored to their own land, the observance of these memorials was once more begun. It was God's design that these anniversaries should call Him to the minds of the people. But with few exceptions, the priests and leaders of the nation had lost sight of this purpose. He who had ordained these national assemblies and understood their significance witnessed their perversion.

Next to the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles was the most memorable and impressive of all the great national solemnities kept by the Hebrew people. For seven successive days Jerusalem was crowded by thousands of the faithful in Israel, gathered from all parts of Judea and from distant provinces of the Roman empire. The multitude seemed more immense because the resident population of the city, as well as strangers, turned out of their dwellings and spent the week in the open air. They lived in booths or tabernacles of green boughs built upon the housetops, in the streets and public squares, in the courts of the temple and of private houses, and all up and down the valleys and hill-sides beyond the walls of the city. The whole of Mount Zion, with its compact array of flat roofs and stone battlements, was so thickly shaded with green boughs as to seem in the distance like a forest of palm and of pine, of olive and of myrtle. Seven days were consecrated with offerings and libations, with feast and song, with the grand choral symphonies of the temple music, and the even- Page 364 ings were given to illuminations and torchlight dances. The whole week was one long pastime of exhilarating and, in the end, of exhausting joy. The time was autumn. The fruits of the earth had ripened and the harvests had been gathered in from all the fields. The whole nation was represented in the thanksgiving and festivities with which the capital celebrated the close of the year.

The Feast of Tabernacles was the closing gathering of the year. It was God's design that at this time the people should reflect on His goodness and mercy. The whole land had been under His guidance, receiving His blessing. Day and night His watchcare had continued. The sun and rain had caused the earth to produce her fruits. From the valleys and plains of Palestine the harvest had been gathered. The olive berries had been picked, and the precious oil stored in bottles. The palm had yielded her store. The purple clusters of the vine had been trodden in the wine press. Page 448       The feast continued for seven days, and for its celebration the inhabitants of Palestine, with many from other lands, left their homes, and came to Jerusalem. From far and near the people came, bringing in their hands a token of rejoicing. Old and young, rich and poor, all brought some gift as a tribute of thanksgiving to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness, and made His paths drop fatness. Everything that could please the eye, and give expression to the universal joy, was brought from the woods; the city bore the appearance of a beautiful forest.       This feast was not only the harvest thanksgiving, but the memorial of God's protecting care over Israel in the wilderness. In commemoration of their tent life, the Israelites during the feast dwelt in booths or tabernacles of green boughs. These were erected in the streets, in the courts of the temple, or on the housetops. The hills and valleys surrounding Jerusalem were also dotted with these leafy dwellings, and seemed to be alive with people.

The night following the seventh day of the feast was the time when the interest of the great festival attained a pitch of the most wild and excited enthusiasm. Through the whole of that night four huge, golden candelabras, each sustaining four vast basins of oil, were kept burning in the principal court of the temple. The flame of these sixteen golden lamps illuminated the whole city. In the midst of the crowded court devout men danced with lighted torches in their hands, tossing them high in the air and catching them as they came down, at the same time shouting in unison with each other and singing psalms of praise. A vast orchestra of Levites was ranged up and down the fifteen stone steps of the temple, and they accompanied the dancing and the songs with harps, cymbals, psaltries, and all sorts of musical instruments. The vast mass of the people in front of the temple took up the chorus, at the same time waving branches of palm and myrtle, and the swell of song rolled over all the housetops, and through all the streets, and overpast the walls of the city, and it was taken up in the tents on the hill- Page 365 sides, until thousands upon thousands of voices joined in the strain, which was called the Great Hosanna: “Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.” The singing and the dancing and the instrumental music were kept up all night.

With sacred song and thanksgiving the worshipers celebrated this occasion. A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement, when, after confession of their sins, the people were declared to be at peace with Heaven. Thus the way was prepared for the rejoicing of the feast. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever" (Ps. 106:1) rose triumphantly, while all kinds of music, mingled with shouts of hosanna, accompanied the united singing. The temple was the center of the universal joy. Here was the pomp of the sacrificial ceremonies. Here, ranged on either side of the white marble steps of the sacred building, the choir of Levites led the service of song. The multitude of worshipers, waving their branches of palm and myrtle, took up the strain, and echoed the chorus; and again the melody was caught up by voices near and afar off, till the encircling hills were vocal with praise.

At night the temple and its court blazed with artificial light. The music, the waving of palm branches, the glad hosannas, the great concourse of people, over whom the light streamed from the hanging lamps, the array of the priests, and the majesty of the ceremonies, combined to make a scene that deeply impressed the beholders. But the most impressive ceremony of the feast, one that called forth greatest rejoicing, was one commemorating an event in the wilderness sojourn.

When the first streak of dawn appeared, shooting up the eastern sky over the ridge of Olivet, the priests sounded with silver trumpets three times, long and loud, and the answering shouts of the people welcomed the Great Hosanna day. A procession of priests started immediately to bring water from the fountain of Siloam, which flowed at the foot of Mount Moriah outside of the city walls. When the procession returned, the brief twilight had grown to the full day. Their appearance was greeted with a blast of silver trumpets. They ascended the steps of the temple, bearing the golden beaker full of water in their hands, chanting the Song of Degrees as they went slowly up, keeping time with their steps: “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!” Then, in the presence of all the people they poured out the consecrated water in commemoration of the fountain that flowed from the rock for the tribes in the wilderness, and again they sung and the people took up the chorus with thundering voices: “The Lord Jehovah is my strength and song; therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

At the first dawn of day, the priests sounded a long, shrill blast upon their silver trumpets, and the answering trumpets, and the glad shouts of the people from their booths, echoing over hill and valley, welcomed Page 449 the festal day. Then the priest dipped from the flowing waters of the Kedron a flagon of water, and, lifting it on high, while the trumpets were sounding, he ascended the broad steps of the temple, keeping time with the music with slow and measured tread, chanting meanwhile, "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." Ps. 122:2.       He bore the flagon to the altar, which occupied a central position in the court of the priests. Here were two silver basins, with a priest standing at each one. The flagon of water was poured into one, and a flagon of wine into the other; and the contents of both flowed into a pipe which communicated with the Kedron, and was conducted to the Dead Sea. This display of the consecrated water represented the fountain that at the command of God had gushed from the rock to quench the thirst of the children of Israel. Then the jubilant strains rang forth, "The Lord Jehovah is my strength and song;" "therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Isa. 12:2, 3.

On this occasion the music and the shouting, the glare of lamps and torches, the waving of palms and Page 366 the blast of trumpets, the festive garlands and the excitement of the multitude produced so deep an impression upon all present that the Jewish people were accustomed to say, “He who has never seen the rejoicing at the pouring out of the water of Siloam has never seen rejoicing in his life.”

Page 450       As the sons of Joseph made preparation to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, they saw that Christ made no movement signifying His intention of attending. They watched Him with anxiety. Since the healing at Bethesda He had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict with the leaders at Jerusalem, He had restricted His labors to Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies, and the enmity manifested toward Him by the priests and rabbis, were a cause of perplexity to the people about Him, and even to His own disciples and His kindred. In His teachings He had dwelt upon the blessings of obedience to the law of God, and yet He Himself seemed to be indifferent to the service which had been divinely established. His mingling with publicans and others of ill repute, His disregard of the rabbinical observances, and the freedom with which He set aside the traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath, all seeming to place Him in antagonism to the religious authorities, excited much questioning. His brothers thought it a mistake for Him to alienate the great and learned men of the nation. They felt that these men must be in the right, and that Jesus was at fault in placing Himself in antagonism to them. But they had witnessed His blameless life, and though they did not rank themselves with His disciples, they had been deeply impressed by His works. His popularity in Galilee was gratifying to their ambition; they still hoped that He would give an evidence of His power which would lead the Pharisees to see that He was what He claimed to be. What if He were the Messiah, the Prince of Israel! They cherished this thought with proud satisfaction.

So anxious were they about this that they urged Christ to go to Jerusalem. "Depart hence," they said, "and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world." The "if" expressed doubt and unbelief. They attributed cowardice and weakness to Him. If He knew that He was the Messiah, why this strange reserve and inaction? If He really possessed such power, why not go boldly to Jerusalem, and assert His claims? Why not perform in Jerusalem the wonderful works reported of Him in Galilee? Do not hide in secluded provinces, they said, and perform your mighty works for the benefit of ignorant peasants and fishermen. Present yourself at the capital, win the support of the priests and rulers, and unite the nation in establishing the new kingdom.

Page 451       These brothers of Jesus reasoned from the selfish motive so often found in the hearts of those ambitious for display. This spirit was the ruling spirit of the world. They were offended because, instead of seeking a temporal throne, Christ had declared Himself to be the bread of life. They were greatly disappointed when so many of His disciples forsook Him. They themselves turned from Him to escape the cross of acknowledging what His works revealed--that He was the Sent of God.

"Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for My time is not yet full come. When He had said these words unto them, He abode still in Galilee." His brothers had spoken to Him in a tone of authority, prescribing the course He should pursue. He cast their rebuke back to them, classing them not with His self-denying disciples, but with the world. "The world cannot hate you," He said, "but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." The world does not hate those who are like it in spirit; it loves them as its own.

The world for Christ was not a place of ease and self-aggrandizement. He was not watching for an opportunity to seize its power and its glory. It held out no such prize for Him. It was the place into which His Father had sent Him. He had been given for the life of the world, to work out the great plan of redemption. He was accomplishing His work for the fallen race. But He was not to be presumptuous, not to rush into danger, not to hasten a crisis. Each event in His work had its appointed hour. He must wait patiently. He knew that He was to receive the world's hatred; He knew that His work would result in His death; but to prematurely expose Himself would not be the will of His Father.

From Jerusalem the report of Christ's miracles had spread wherever the Jews were dispersed; and although for many months He had been absent from the feasts, the interest in Him had not abated. Many from all parts of the world had come up to the Feast of Tabernacles in the hope of seeing Him. At the beginning of the feast many inquiries were made for Him. The Pharisees and rulers looked for Him to come, hoping for an opportunity to condemn Him. They anxiously inquired, "Where is He?" but no one knew. The thought of Him was uppermost in all minds. Through fear of the priests and rulers, none dared ac- Page 452 knowledge Him as the Messiah, but everywhere there was quiet yet earnest discussion concerning Him. Many defended Him as one sent from God, while others denounced Him as a deceiver of the people.

Meanwhile Jesus had quietly arrived at Jerusalem. He had chosen an unfrequented route by which to go, in order to avoid the travelers who were making their way to the city from all quarters. Had He joined any of the caravans that went up to the feast, public attention would have been attracted to Him on His entrance into the city, and a popular demonstration in His favor would have aroused the authorities against Him. It was to avoid this that He chose to make the journey alone.

In the midst of the feast, when the excitement concerning Him was at its height, He entered the court of the temple in the presence of the multitude. Because of His absence from the feast, it had been urged that He dared not place Himself in the power of the priests and rulers. All were surprised at His presence. Every voice was hushed. All wondered at the dignity and courage of His bearing in the midst of powerful enemies who were thirsting for His life.

Standing thus, the center of attraction to that vast throng, Jesus addressed them as no man had ever done. His words showed a knowl- Page 453 edge of the laws and institutions of Israel, of the sacrificial service and the teachings of the prophets, far exceeding that of the priests and rabbis. He broke through the barriers of formalism and tradition. The scenes of the future life seemed outspread before Him. As one who beheld the Unseen, He spoke of the earthly and the heavenly, the human and the divine, with positive authority. His words were most clear and convincing; and again, as at Capernaum, the people were astonished at His teaching; "for His word was with power." Luke 4:32. Under a variety of representations He warned His hearers of the calamity that would follow all who rejected the blessings He came to bring them. He had given them every possible proof that He came forth from God, and made every possible effort to bring them to repentance. He would not be rejected and murdered by His own nation if He could save them from the guilt of such a deed.

All wondered at His knowledge of the law and the prophecies; and the question passed from one to another, "How knoweth this Man letters, having never learned?" No one was regarded as qualified to be a religious teacher unless he had studied in the rabbinical schools, and both Jesus and John the Baptist had been represented as ignorant because they had not received this training. Those who heard them were astonished at their knowledge of the Scriptures, "having never learned." Of men they had not, truly; but the God of heaven was their teacher, and from Him they had received the highest kind of wisdom.

As Jesus spoke in the temple court, the people were held spellbound. The very men who were the most violent against Him felt themselves powerless to do Him harm. For the time, all other interests were forgotten.

Now, we have strong reason for believing that it was at this joyous climax in the great national festivity, when the people had exhausted themselves with singing and shouting all night, and the morning found them weary, hungry and thirsty, that Jesus stood forth and cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink!” The long holiday was just closing. The supply of water had been greatly reduced by the unusual multitude gathered in the city. Joy itself had at last become wearisome. There was nothing more to excite or to interest the multitude that had been standing and walking and shouting and singing all night. The reaction of faintness and of exhaustion was beginning to overpower the people. Just then, the clear, calm voice of Jesus is heard in all the crowded court of the temple, speaking as never man spake, ringing out upon the fresh air of the morning like the blast of silver trumpets, and saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water which I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” [John 7:37; 4:14]

Day after day He taught the people, until the last, "that great day of the feast." The morning of this day found the people wearied from the long season of festivity. Suddenly Jesus lifted up His voice, in tones that rang through the courts of the temple:       "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." [John 7:37-8] The condition of the people made this appeal very forcible. They had been engaged in a continued scene of pomp and festivity, their eyes had been dazzled with light and color, and their ears regaled with the richest music; but there had been nothing in all this round of ceremonies to meet the wants of the spirit, nothing to Page 454 satisfy the thirst of the soul for that which perishes not. Jesus invited them to come and drink of the fountain of life, of that which would be in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.

Never did the Divine Teacher himself preach his Page 367 own Gospel in more vivid and expressive terms. Never did he make a more touching appeal to the sense of need, to the deep feeling of want in the human soul. The time, the place, all the attendant circumstances conspired to give meaning and power to the words spoken. The people knew the voice, and they understood the figurative dress in which Jesus expressed the offer of salvation. To them the water of Siloam was the sign of the rock smitten by Moses in the wilderness, and the rock of Moses was the sign of their own Messiah. They felt the strange power, the sacred fascination of the voice which rung out clear and loud on that memorable morning in the crowded court of the temple. And some were ready to say, with the woman of Samaria, “Give me of this water, that I thirst not.”

The priest had that morning performed the ceremony which commemorated the smiting of the rock in the wilderness. That rock was a symbol of Him who by His death would cause living streams of salvation to flow to all who are athirst. Christ's words were the water of life. There in the presence of the assembled multitude He set Himself apart to be smitten, that the water of life might flow to the world. In smiting Christ, Satan thought to destroy the Prince of life; but from the smitten rock there flowed living water. As Jesus thus spoke to the people, their hearts thrilled with a strange awe, and many were ready to exclaim, with the woman of Samaria, "Give me of this water, that I thirst not." John 4:15.

Eighteen hundred years have passed away since this cry went forth from the lips of Jesus in the hearing of weary, thirsty, exhausted men, but his words are more full of meaning and power to us to-day than they were to those who heard him speak. This is still the cry that goes forth from the Fountain of life to a lost world, "Come unto me and drink." This one invitation contains the ruling thought, the substance and meaning of the whole Gospel--the weary, the thristy, the perishing invited to One who can relieve all their wants, now and for ever. If "any" man thirst--the poorest, the lowest, the worst; the richest, the highest, the best--let him come to Christ. If any man "thirst"-- Page 368 if he finds in his soul necessities that the world has never answered; if he bears on his heart burdens which no human hand can remove; if he has sought for years and the earth over for peace and satisfaction, and found it not; if he has passed through all the extremes of poverty and riches, excitement and repose, and never found anything worth living for--let him come to Christ. The fact that one feels himself in need is sufficient evidence that Christ calls him, and that in obeying that call he shall find eternal life. If the Divine Redeemer should leave the throne of heaven and come back to earth to preach his own Gospel in such a way as to satisfy some poor, doubting troubled soul, he could say no more than he has said: "If any man thirst--if any man desires peace and pardon, the highest good of life while living and the hope of heaven in death--let him come unto me." So does the Saviour of the world commit himself by a solemn engagement to save all who come to him with an everlasting salvation. So does he send forth the continual cry to the needy, the guilty and the unhappy: "Come unto me, for I know that you are lost and undone, and my heart is poured out with the desire to help you."

There is nothing which men need so much as that water of life which Christ offers to give when he says, "Come unto Me." The world has greatly changed in many respects, and in most for the better in two thou- Page 369 sand years. In lands where the Gospel has been preached bodily comforts have been greatly multiplied; the means of instruction made common to the mass of the people; the oppresions of power have been abated; the spectres of fear and superstition have been driven away; intelligence flies with lighting speed; the ships of commerce encompass that globe; the poor can command comforts and convenience now which princes could not buy when the incarnate Son of God dwelt among men. But still the essential nature of man remains unchanged. The great want of the human soul is the same now that it was when Jesus stood and cried to the thirsty, "Come unto me." No language can describe, no imagination can conceive, the destitution of man without a Saviour--man without forgiveness of sin, man without peace with God, man without the hope of eternal life. The awful sense of responsibility to the infinite God hangs heavy upon his soul, and he has no way to answer its demands, no way to silence its dreaded voice. In the most solemn and thoughtful moments of life he sees most reason to be dissatisfied with himself. At such times he hears most distinctly the bitter cry of want, of danger, of guilt in the depths of his soul. He may not be disposed to confess his sense of need. He may never be heard to aks with becoming earnestness, "What shall I do to be saved?" But if he should speak out the thoughts that haunt him in his most serious and tender moments, he would say, "Oh for some way to end this wearisome conflict with my own heart! Oh what would I give to hear some voice from heaven saying to me, Thy sins are forgiven thee! How easy would it be for me to bear all the troubles and afflictions of earth, could I know assuredly that my name is written in God's book of life."

Jesus knew the wants of the soul. Pomp, riches, and honor cannot satisfy the heart. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me." The rich, the poor, the high, the low, are alike welcome. He promises to relieve the burdened mind, to comfort the sorrowing, and to give hope to the despondent. Many of those who heard Jesus were mourners over disappointed hopes, many were nourishing a secret grief, many were seeking to satisfy their restless longing with the things of the world and the praise of men; but when all was gained, they found that they had toiled only to reach a broken cistern, from which they could not quench their thirst. Amid the glitter of the joyous scene they stood, dissatisfied and sad. That sudden cry, "If any man thirst," startled them from their sorrowful meditation, and as they listened to the words that followed, their minds kindled with a new hope. The Holy Spirit presented the symbol before them until they saw in it the offer of the priceless gift of salvation.

The cry of Christ to the thirsty soul is still going forth, and it appeals to us with even greater power than to those who heard it in the temple on that last day of the feast. The fountain is open for all. The weary and exhausted ones are offered the refreshing draught of eternal life. Jesus is still crying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." [John 7:37] "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Rev. 22:17; John 4:14.

That cry of weariness and of woe is stifled in many a heart, while the voice speaks in a tone of thoughtlessness and gayety and the countenance wears a cheerful look. And that deep and dreadful want of the soul is the one fact which demands most serious attention of the part of all who would do anything to bring peace and contentment into the hearts and homes of men. All false religions, all efforts to seek satisfaction in a worldly life, all devices for pleasure, excitement, and dissipation, all longings and struggles of weary hearts for rest, prove that there is some one great want in the very depths of man’s soul, and that want must be answered first by Him who would be the world’s Saviour. The burdens of life can be borne with patience, the sorrows of life can be sweetened and changed to joy, the pleasures of life can be made foretastes of heaven, when we have found a Saviour who can give us rest in our souls.

The thirst of the body is a fit and fearful sign of the great want of the soul without a Saviour. When extreme, thirst aggravates every other cause of suffering and it is itself most intolerable. The cry of soldiers dying upon the battle-field is not so much for relief Page 371 from the pain of their wounds as for water, water. The exposures of wretched mariners on the deep, the tortures of martyrs on the rack, the consuming fire of fever burning in every vein and nerve, can bring forth no cry more agonizing than the cry for water. The only expression of bodily suffering which the cross extorted from the lips of Jesus was this, “I thirst.” The cry of the lost soul when he lifted up his eyes in torments was for a drop of water to cool his parched tongue.

And if we fully appreciated the necessity of man in his sinful and hopeless state without a Saviour, we should feel that the terrible suffering of bodily thirst could only imperfectly indicate the greater necessity of the soul. Jesus uses that word to show that our desire for the water of life should be an intense and an irrepressible longing. It were a thousand times better to suffer the horrors of exposure day and night upon a single plank in the open ocean than to suffer the wreck of the soul, to live and die without a hope of entering into God’s blessed and endless rest. It were a thousand times better to be left alone in the midst of the pathless desert, weary, fainting, afar from friends and fountains of water, than not obey that blessed voice of Jesus which sounds through all the waste places of sin and sorrow, saying, “Come unto me, come unto me.”

Imagine yourself to perish in the midst of the great African Sahara. The rays of the sun burn with pitiless fervor into your throbbing brain. The hot Page 372 air seems like a blast from the furnace’s mouth. The immeasurable waste of sand glows and quivers around you as if it rested upon an ocean of flame. There is no living thing in sight, no way of escape from that fiery sea of desolation. You have given up all hope. Maddened with thirst and pain, you are ready to choose death rather than life, and you are impatient that death is so slow in coming. Suddenly there appears before you a being of radiant and celestial beauty. He looks upon you with such tenderness and compassion as a mother feels for her dying child. He touches the desert with his finger, and a living fountain breaks forth at his feet. With a voice that thrills through the depths of your soul, he says, “Come and drink.” You think it is a dream at first-you wonder, if it be a reality, why he does not himself press the cooling draught to your lips, without requiring effort on your part. At last you bow to taste the gushing spring, and in a moment your strength is revived, your waning reason is restored. Your last hope returns. Again you hear the voice of your Deliverer saying, “Rise up and follow me, and I will give you to drink of the river of the water of life; I will lead you forth from this burning and cheerless waste; I will bring you to a home where you shall neither hunger nor thirst any more, where all pain and sorrow and death shall cease, and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes.” Revived, strengthened, you stand on your feet. You look the way your Deliverer points. Through the quiver- Page 373 ing haze and the illusive mirage of the desert you see the faint outlines of a glorious city afar. The shining domes and sapphire walls are built of light. The golden gates are open. Pilgrims from earth, in long and bright procession, are going up and entering in, while a wave of song floats down the ranks and angel heralds stand by the open gates, continually proclaiming with silvery voices, “Whosoever will, let him come.” Would you hesitate to follow the Guide that had found you in the desert, revived your strength, shown you the way of escape and offered to lead you all the way from that wilderness of death to the gates of Paradise?

The picture is something more than fancy. The world is all a waste to him who feels the need of salvation, and has found no Saviour. The pleasures and occupations of the world have little charm for him whose soul is athirst, and he knows not where to find the Fountain of life. He feels that no language can be too strong in describing his need. The first and only ray of light that can break upon the darkness of the soul in its alienation from God must shine from the face of Jesus Christ. That light is a beacon to guide all wanderers to the port of peace. It is a star of hope that can never be covered with clouds. It is a sun of righteousness whose glory fills the earth and heavens. This is the message which Christ is sending forth through all this darkened and sin-stricken world. He searches out the poor, the Page 374 guilty, the suffering in all the waste places of sin and misery, and he offers them infinite riches and eternal blessing. By the ministration of his own gospel he stands and cries as he did on the last great day of the feast at Jerusalem: “Come unto me and I will give thee of the fountain of life. Come unto me and I will take away all thy sins, I will bear all thy burdens, I will heal all thy sorrows, I will take from thee the fear of death, I will be thine advocate in the day of judgment, I will open for thee the doors of the heavenly kingdom, and thou shalt live an reign with me for ever.” Let the world receive this one word of Christ, “Come unto me,” and thanksgiving will become the song of nations, and every land will rejoice in the promised reign of peace on earth.

      The Feast of Tabernacles was the, page 447
      of the year., page 447
      the harvest had been gathered, page 447
      booths or tabernacles of green boughs, page 447
      in the streets, page 447
      in the courts of the temple, page 447
      steps of the, page 448
      branches of palm and myrtle,, page 448
      shouts of the people, page 448
      steps of the temple,, page 449
      keeping time with, page 449
      the consecrated water, page 449
      the fountain that, page 449
      from the rock, page 449
      smiting of the rock, page 454
      in the wilderness, page 454
      with the woman of Samaria,, page 454

      In this chapter March has 13 long paragraphs. Ellen G. White has 24 much shorter paragraphs. Of these, based on some verbal similarity (mostly factual material), 6 paragraphs can be placed parallel to each other. However, given the far greater amount of dissimilarity in thought and the very little similarity of thought in those paragraphs it is highly unlikely that Ellen G. White paraphrased any of the above material from Daniel March in the writing of this chapter to constitute plagiarism.