A Justification For Plagiarism as Practiced by the World’s Greatest Literary Minds, Prophets, and the World’s Redeemer

Here is a great link that mentions some of the teachings of Jesus. It proves that the Savior of the world wasn’t completely original (critics could say).

All should read Emerson’s essay on plagiarism. In it he declares that “Chaucer is a huge borrower.” After numerating the many sources of Chaucer’s indebtedness, Emerson adds:

Gower he uses as if he were only a brick-kiln or stone-quarry out of which to build his house. He steals by this apology—that what he takes has no worth where he finds it, and the greatest where he leaves it.

As concerning Shakespeare, Emerson says: “In point of fact, it appears that Shakespeare did owe debts in all directions and was able to use whatever he found.” Regarding the first, second and third parts of Henry VI, Emerson asserts: “Out of 6,043 lines, 1,771 were written by some author preceding Shakespeare; 2,373 by him, on the foundation laid by his own predecessors; and 1,899 were entirely his own.” Emerson then asserts:

It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature that a man having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thence forth to steal from the writings of others at discretion. All the debts which such a man would contract to another wit, would never disturb his consciousness of originality; for the administration of books, and of other minds, are a whiff of smoke to that most private reality with which he has conversed.

Johannes Brahms was frequently accused of plagiarism, but he always remained totally unmoved by the accusation because he felt that those who accused him completely misunderstood the spirit of his work. In our day, his work is held with great appreciation in every place where he was once held to be an abstruse re-creator. According to some, he is now recognized as the master craftsman of his time. When it was pointed out to Brahms that his sonata in A major, piano and violin, was being called the “Meistersinger” Sonata, because its first few notes were identical in interval, though not in pitch, with the first notes of the “Prize Song” from Wagner’s opera “Die Meistersinger,” his reply was, “Every donkey can see that.”

A few years ago, I came across the following excellent statement from the Preston and Hanson commentary on Revelation. I felt it so pertinent that I forwarded it to the Ellen White Estate. Here it is:

In fact, of course, every great writer has materials and sources which he uses (Aeschylus and Shakespeare are admirable examples). The important question is not, what sources does he use? but what uses does he make of them? Indeed, if we once get some idea of John’s technique, the masterly way in which he adapts and combines his various sources makes us pay more, and not less, attention to what he is using in those sources to express.

That’s the end to Ford’s best stuff. Here is Ellen G. White’s contribution to my great facts on plagiarism.

The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials p. 523-525
Christ’s Manner of Instruction, 01-09-90.

Christ’s teaching was simplicity itself. He taught as one having authority. The Jews looked for and claimed that the first advent of Christ should be with all the representations of glory which should attend His second advent. The great Teacher proclaimed the truth to humanity, many of whom could not be educated in the schools of the rabbis, neither in Greek philosophy. Jesus uttered truth in a plain, direct manner, giving vital force and impressiveness to all His utterances. Had He raised His voice to an unnatural key, as is customary with many preachers in this day, the pathos and melody of the human voice would have been lost, and much of the force of the truth destroyed.

The key of knowledge in Christ’s day had been taken away by those who should have held it to unlock the treasure house of wisdom in the Old Testament Scriptures. The rabbis and teachers had virtually shut up the kingdom of heaven from the poor and the afflicted, and left them to perish. In His discourses Christ did not bring many things before them at once, lest He might confuse their minds. He made every point clear and distinct. He did not disdain the repetition of old and familiar truths in prophecies if they would serve His purpose to inculcate ideas.

Christ was the originator of all the ancient gems of truth. Through the work of the enemy these truths had been displaced. They had been disconnected from their true position, and placed in the framework of error. Christ’s work was to readjust and establish the previous gems in the framework of truth. The principles of truth which had been given by Himself to bless the world had, through Satan’s agency, been buried and had apparently become extinct. Christ rescued them from the rubbish of error, gave them a new, vital force, and commanded them to shine as previous jewels, and stand fast forever.

Christ Himself could use any of these old truths without borrowing the smallest particle, for He had originated them all. He had cast them into the minds and thoughts of each generation, and when He came to our world He rearranged and vitalized the truths which had become dead, making them more forcible for the benefit of future generations. It was Jesus Christ who had the power of rescuing the truths from the rubbish, and again giving them to the world with more than their original freshness and power.

Truth to Be Rescued From Error
Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 10-23-94.

The fact that times of trouble and persecution are before the people of God must not deter them in the least from proclaiming the truth. They are to proclaim the truth because it is truth. Gems of thought are to be gathered up and redeemed from their companionship with error; for by their misplacement in the association of error, the Author of truth has been dishonored. The precious gems of the righteousness of Christ, and truths of divine origin, are to be carefully searched out and placed in their proper setting, to shine with heavenly brilliancy amid the moral darkness of the world. Let the bright jewels of truth which God gave to man, to adorn and exalt his name, be carefully rescued from the rubbish of error, where they have been claimed by those who have been transgressors of the law, and have served the purposes of the great deceiver on account of their connection with error. Let the gems of divine light be reset in the framework of the gospel. Let nothing be lost of the precious light that comes from the throne of God. It has been misapplied, and cast aside as worthless; but it is heaven-sent, and each gem is to become the property of God’s people and find its true position in the framework of truth. Precious jewels of light are to be collected, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit they are to be fitted into the gospel system. God has poured his Spirit upon his servants, and qualified them to use their ability and talent in revealing truth to those who sit in darkness; but the very ability God has given by which to reveal truth to others, men, perverting their talents, employ to deceive; for they use their gifts as did Satan when he deceived the angels of heaven, and exalt self, causing their God-given abilities to administer to their own glory. These become confused by error, their minds are darkened by the enemy, and the truths which God imparted to them are buried by them in a mass of error, or basely perverted to serve the cause of evil. But these heaven given rays of light are not to be lost to the world. These truths are to be as a lamp unto our feet, and as a light unto our path. It is these gems that will give attractiveness to the gospel plan, and they are to shine as stars amid the moral darkness of the world.

Collecting Precious Jewels of Light

Great truths, when collected and elegantly arranged, sometimes strengthen a great thesis. The Great Controversy is a Seventh-day Adventist classic. In the introduction, Ellen White states that she has taken the records of uncontested historical events, condensed them, and arranged them in a way that sheds light on future events (GC pp. xi-xii). The entire book is, in essence, just a great compilation.

I quote:

“I have endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing truths that at different periods have been given to the world, that have excited the wrath of Satan, and the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been maintained by the witness of those who ‘loved not their lives unto the death’.”

“In these records we may see a foreshadowing of the conflict before us.”

“The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past ages are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant world; they are facts which none can gainsay. This history I have presented briefly...the facts having been condensed”...

“It is not so much the object of this book to present new truths concerning the struggles of former times, as to bring out facts and principles which have a bearing on coming events. Yet viewed as a part of the controversy between the forces of light and darkness, all these records of the past are seen to have a new significance; and through them a light is cast upon the future.”