Type: Hardcover
Foreword
The possession of the Spirit of Prophecy is one of the two distinguishing marks of the last Church, as foretold in the book of Revelation. From the very beginning this gift has played an important part in the experience of Seventh-day Adventists and in the development of the Church. Through it the Church has been admonished, guided, encouraged, but also rebuked and pointed out to its faults.
As the Testimonies came from time to time off the press, they were eagerly received, prayerfully studied, and the instruction followed. Over the years, some of these testimonies have been translated for believers who do not know English. To these messages, in large part, the strength, unity, and high standards of the Church today can be attributed.
Now, through this world edition of the Testimony Treasures, these counsels which have exercised such great influence are brought within the reach of Seventh-day Adventists throughout the world. Only by taking a selection from them is it possible to bring them before the reader's eyes.
These articles have been selected by qualified committees of experienced ministers, under the direction and in cooperation of the Board of Trustees of the Ellen G. White Publications, the body established by Mrs. E. G. White to bear the responsibility for the constant publication of her writings. They form an integral part of the Introductory Spirit of Prophecy Library—twelve volumes of the Spirit of Prophecy, intended for publication in the principal languages of the world.
The entire nine volumes of the "Testimonies for the Church" are composed of series of unconnected articles and letters, often on subjects that have nothing in common. The first collection, in pamphlet form, was issued late in 1855. Others soon followed, until there were thirty-seven consecutively numbered pamphlets and books, covering a period of fifty-five years. The messages were general in character, as well as specific, interspersed with personal testimonies dealing with problems that others might encounter.
Written over such a long period of time, to meet the changing needs of the Church, the material of the subjects treated was naturally somewhat repetitive. Moreover, many of the counsels referred to local and sometimes isolated conditions existing at the time of writing. Such repetition in counsels and messages of local interest, though of great value, is not of immediate present importance to the Church outside North America. A selection of articles of general and universal import is therefore possible and advisable, as the counsel testimony is then brought within the reach of the Church throughout the world. The compilation of such an anthology is in full harmony with the views developed by Mrs. White herself, in 1864, when the first ten numbers of the Testimonies were reprinted. To make this clear, we quote from her introduction:
