ets and the first edition of this book are unknown to
most readers of today.
A historical foreword, which follows immediately, has therefore
been added to this third edition, to present those high points of
denominational development which furnish the background leading up
to the crucial 1890’s. The relevant historical events of that period have
been concisely recounted. Appendix notes have also been supplied,
keyed to the mention of certain places, situations, or events. These notes
will aid the reader in ascertaining correctly the intent of the author in the
messages here presented.
A survey of the materials comprising this volume will reveal that
in the main the content of a given section was drawn from a single
pamphlet. With these pamphlet materials there were placed a few
related items drawn from the Review and Herald articles and other E.
G. White sources of a general character. There are two articles from
Special Testimonies, Series B.
Special Testimonies, Series B, consisted of 19 pamphlets published
by Mrs. White or by denominational organizations between the years
1903 to 1913. The subject matter was varied, and most of it was of local
application. This can be seen from the titles.
1. Letters to Physicians and Ministers (1903)
2. Letters to Physicians and Ministers (late 1904 or 1905)
3. Letters to Sanitarium Workers in Southern California (1905)
4. The Spirit of Unity (1905)
5. An Earnest Appeal in Behalf of the Boulder, Colorado,
Sanitarium (1905)
6. Youth Going to Battle Creek to Obtain an Education (1905)
11
7. Messages of Warning and Instruction to Seventh-day Adventists
Regarding Dangers Connected With the Medical Missionary Work
(1906)
8. The Strengthening of our Institutions and Training Centers and a
Plea for Medical Missionary Evangelists (1907)
9. Individual Responsibility and Christian Unity (1907)
10. Jehovah is our King (1908)
11. The Madison School (1908)
12. The Oakwood Manual Training School (cir. 1908)
12X. The Huntsville School (cir. 1908)
13. The New England Sanitarium (1908)
14. The Paradise Valley Sanitarium (1909)
15. Sanitarium Workers (1911)
16. Selections from the Testimonies for Students
and Workers of our Sanitariums (1911)
17. The Unwise Use of Money and the Spirit of Speculation (1911)
18. The Nashville Sanitarium (1912)
19. The Spirit of Sacrifice (1913)
To this list are sometimes added two times which did not carry the
“Series B” identification:
20. Appeals for Unity (1912)
21. Recreation (cir. 1913)
With objectives quite different from the envelope-size Special
Testimony Pamphlets of the 1890’s, and appearing in a larger page size,
these were from the outset designated as Special Testimonies, Series
B. Their predecessors of the 1890’s, with messages for ministers and
workers, became known as “Series A,” Although not so designated at
the time of publication.
General matter of lasting usefulness to the church, as first published
in “Series B” articles, was
12
Subsequently embodied in volumes 8 and 9 of Testimonies for the
Church, and in Counsels on Health, Counsels on Stewardship, Medical
Ministry, and Selected Messages. Two articles from the “Series
B” Collection appear in this volume. They are: Jehovah Is Our
King, 477-484 and Testimonies to the Church Regarding Individual
Responsibility and Christian Unity, 485-505.
Working over a period of many years, Mrs. White often repeated
certain lines of counsel. To reprint all that had appeared in the earlier
pamphlets and writings would burden the reader with a repetition of
subject matter and also with the details of local or personal matters not
now of general significance. Concerning the material selected for this
volume, the preface to the first edition stated:
“The Committee have earnestly and prayerfully sought to present
in the one modest volume the best and strongest of the tract-printed
matter, and believe that the portions omitted are more than covered by
that which has been gathered from other tracts of limited circulation.”
Those responsible for this third edition of Testimonies to Ministers
say with the Publishers in 1923 that this convenient volume is sent
forth with the earnest prayer that it may be, to all to whom it may
come, a source of instruction in the deep things of God; that it may
revive the hopes and energies of God’s people; that it may help to bring
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reformation of life where needed, and in all of us the Christian graces
that will reveal Christ to the world; and that it may bring us all nearer
together by bringing us all closer to the heart of our blessed Lord.
The Board of Trustees of the Ellen G. White