Times of Volume Four
ix
While through these years Elder and Mrs. White made their home
either in Michigan or in California, we find them for some months
in Texas. Later Mrs. White made an extended trip to the Pacific
Northwest. They were back again in Battle Creek, Michigan, at the
time of elder White’s death in 1881
.
Such are some of the happenings of the times of volume 4. All
through the book there are messages of counsel and instruction which
have a bearing on all these rapidly developing lines of endeavor. But
the emphasis of the instruction in this 657-page volume is on the
personal experience of the workers and the church members. True, the
expanding work of a rapidly growing denomination often needed and
received guidance and cautions. But the affairs of the administration
were secondary to the personal experience of the leaders and the church
members. The conduct of the enterprises of the church meant only
the running of machinery if the spiritual experience of Seventh-day
Adventists declined to the level of mere formalism. The church must
be kept pure, its standards high, its members alive in service and
enjoying daily a personal experience in the things of God
.
It is not strange, then, that the large part of volume 4 deals with such
practical topics as “Appetite,” “Family Discipline,” “Self-Control,”
“Uprightness in Deal,” “Sacredness of Vows,” “Unscriptural Mar-
riages,” “Simplicity in Dress,” “Love of the World,” “Preparation for
Christ’s Coming,” and a score of other vital subjects. These were
[8]
some of the messages which served to reform, correct, and purify
the church in these earlier years. Because Seventh-day Adventists
must wrestle with the same tempter and meet the same problems and
experiences today, these inspired articles should be earnestly read and
reread, and their counsels and warnings heeded, that God’s purpose in
sending this instruction to lift up and encourage the church may reach
its fulfillment
.
The Trustees of the
Ellen G. White Publications
.
[9]