How could it happen that Mrs. White, in describing what she was shown in a vision, employs the words of other authors? ^{37The White Lie, pp. 53, 391.}

Most likely there were times when Mrs. White read an impressive passage in a book and later the Lord called her attention to the same truth while in vision, applying that truth to a specific need in her own life or the life of the church. In such cases, she could easily express a part of what she was shown in language paraphrased from another author. We know of a half dozen or so cases where this appears to have happened. ^{38Ron Graybill, “The ‘I Saw’ Parallels in Ellen White’s Writings,” Adventist Review, July 29, 1982, pp. 4-6.}TAWL 4.14

A similar experience occurred in connection with the “Iceberg” vision. Mrs. White read an incident about a ship meeting an iceberg. Then, several days later, during a vision, a ship became a symbol of the church, and the iceberg became the symbol of the opposition and heresies of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his faction. ^{39Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1981), p. 301.} Just as in the cases where Mrs. White used the words of other authors to describe, in part, what she had seen in vision, here a dramatic event about which she had read offered the Lord a symbolic vehicle in which to convey truth to her.TAWL 4.15