Times of Volume Six
xi
attack in carrying the message to new and distant lands. Volume 6 sets
forth the dignity and importance of the colporteur ministry
.
This eleven-year period between the publication of volumes 5
and 6 of the Testimonies marked the issuance of several important
E. G. White books. In 1890 Patriarchs and Prophets came from
the press. Steps to Christ was published in 1892, and what is today
known as “the old edition” of Gospel Workers Was also printed that
year. Christian Education, the forerunner of Education, was issued in
1894, and two years later Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing and
Christ Our Saviour were printed. Work on the manuscript for The
[8]
Desire of Ages was completed and the book printed in 1898, and in
1900 Christ’s Object Lessons was published
.
In an effort to relieve our institutions of the heavy indebtedness
which they were carrying, Mrs. White donated the manuscript for
Christ’s Object Lessons and urged our church members and workers
to join in its wide sale to their neighbors and friends. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars were thus brought into the cause through this
relief book campaign, and thousands of copies of this truth-filled book
were distributed
.
A type of work was in this way initiated which led large numbers
of lay members to call from house to house in behalf of the work of
the church. Thus the way was paved for the “ingathering” campaigns
which were to develop a few years later into a source of revenue to the
work of God, yielding millions of dollars
.
Of course, all through this eleven-year period, scores and hundreds
of communications bearing warnings, counsels, and encouragement
were penned by the messenger of the Lord and were sent into the field
in letters and in articles in the journals of the denomination. While
many of these dealt with subjects already presented less comprehen-
sively in the earlier Testimonies, some new phases of counsel were
set forth and former counsels emphasized. These are found in such
general sections as “Cautions and Counsels” and “Calls to Service.”
among the important articles comprising these sections are such as
deal with “The Observance of the Sabbath,” “A Revival in Health
Reform,” “Our Attitude toward the Civil Authorities,” “Preparation
for the Final Crisis,” and “The Relief of Our Schools.” The adding of
this new volume to the growing series of Testimonies for the Church