xlii
Counsels for the Church
The counsels should be studied to find the basic principles that
apply in our own lives today. The human heart is much the same the
world over; the problems of one are often the problems of another.
“In rebuking the wrongs of one,” Mrs. White wrote, God “designs to
correct many.” “He makes plain the wrongs of some that others may
thus be warned.”
Near the close of her life, Mrs. White gave the following counsel:
“Through His Holy Spirit the voice of God has come to us con-
tinually in warning and instruction.... Time and trial have not made
void the instruction given.... The instruction that was given in the early
days of the message is to be held as safe instruction to follow in these
its closing days.”
The counsels that follow are drawn from a number of the E. G.
White books—but mainly from the three volumes of Testimony Trea-
sures, the world edition of the Testimonies for the Church—and repre-
sent the lines of instruction thought to be most helpful to the church in
[32]
areas where the limitations of church membership make it impossible
to publish more than a single volume of moderate size. The work of
selecting and arranging these counsels was done by a large committee,
working under the authorization of the board of trustees of the Ellen
G. White Estate, to whom was assigned the responsibility of the care
of the spirit of prophecy counsels. The selections are often brief and
confined to a statement of practical basic principles, and thus a wide
range of subjects is included.
“Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe
his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”
2 Chronicles 20:20
.
The trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate
Washington, D.C.,
July 22, 1957
.
Revised, Silver Spring, MD
January 1, 1990
.
[33]