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Preface to Third Edition
vii
As to the selection of material for this volume, drawn as it was
from the pamphlet testimonies, the publisher’s preface to the first
edition issued in 1923 informs us that:
“The committee having it in charge have been limited by the
size of the volume decided upon, and by the large number of these
tracts of small circulation. Therefore not all that was contained in
the eleven specials has been placed in this volume. The reasons are
that (1) some portions have been reprinted in volumes issued since
the specials were printed; (2) other portions pertained to matters that
were purely local, or that are past and gone; (3) still other things are
more fully and strongly covered in other documents reprinted in this
volume.”
The source of each article, with date of first publication, is in-
dicated in footnote references. Some “fillers” are credited at the
close. In this third edition the lists of items “for further study” Have
been somewhat expanded to include references to related material
appearing in E. G. White compilations published subsequent to
1923
.
Certain of the counsels and reproofs from the pen of Ellen G.
White can be better understood if the reader is in possession of a
knowledge of the circumstances which prevailed at the time of the
messages were written. Certain details of denominational history
which were familiar to the readers of the
Testimony
pamphlets and
[xi]
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.