Foreword
Our Pioneers Facing the Light
Seventh-day Adventist workers will welcome the appearance of
this facsimile reproduction of A Word to the “Little Flock.” This re-
markable document, issued during the critical four-year period between
the great disappointment of October 22, 1844, and the memorable Sab-
bath conferences of 1848, gives an insight into the experience and
thinking of our pioneers in their earnest efforts to discover their posi-
tion and work and to ascertain what the future held for the believers
and the world
.
While this pamphlet, issued in May, 1847, contains statements
signed by three early workers, James White, Ellen G. White, and
Joseph Bates, it is primarily a James White publication devoted to the
setting forth of his views of unfulfilled prophecy. At that time there
were probably not more than one hundred Sabbathkeeping Adventists
in the United States. As a youthful minister of twenty-five, he worked
almost alone in setting forth the views he had, up to that time, for-
mulated. This was nearly a year before the first of the five Sabbath
conferences convened, at which time those whom we today revere as
our spiritual forefathers met together and with open minds and hearts
searched the word of God to better understand its truths
.
With a full understanding of the historic setting of A Word to the
“Little Flock”, the reader will not be disturbed by finding that in a
few instances positions set forth by Elder White on some points were
modified by him in later years, as more mature and joint study re-
vealed clearer views. This document presents a picture primarily of
one worker’s attempt to cheer and aid those about him through a dis-
semination of light which was beginning to unfold. To one familiar
with the many contemporary voices that were heard advocating dis-
cordant views and extreme positions, the clarity of reasoning and the
essential correctness of perspective and purity of teaching of these
articles are remarkable
.
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