Perhaps the central and most comprehensive theme in the writings of Ellen
White is that of the love of God. The phrase "God is love" provides
the beginning and ending words in her five-volume treatment of the Conflict of
the Ages, with more than 3,500 pages in between. It is the theme that undergirds
and provides the context for all other themes in her writings. "Such love
is without a parallel," she wrote in the first chapter of her classic book
Steps to Christ. "The matchless love of God for a world that did
not love Him! The thought has a subduing power upon the soul and brings the mind
into captivity to the will of God. The more we study the divine character in the
light of the cross, the more we see mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness blended
with equity and justice, and the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences
of a love that is infinite and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning
sympathy for her wayward child" (Steps to Christ, p. 15).