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The Historian: Using Secular Sources, August 7
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a
declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also,
having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to
write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus.
Luke 1:1-3
.
As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His
Word, and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been bidden to make
known to others that which has thus been revealed—to trace the history of
the controversy in past ages, and especially so to present it as to shed a light
on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In pursuance of this purpose,
I have endeavored to select and group together events in the history of the
church in such a manner as to trace the unfolding of the great testing truths
that at different periods have been given to the world, that have excited the
wrath of Satan, and the enmity of a world-loving church, and that have been
maintained by the witness of those who “loved not their lives unto the death”
(
Revelation 12:11
)....
The great events which have marked the progress of reform in past ages
are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the
Protestant world; they are facts which none can gainsay. This history I have
presented briefly, in accordance with the scope of the book, and the brevity
which must necessarily be observed, the facts having been condensed into
as little space as seemed consistent with a proper understanding of their
application.
In some cases where a historian has so grouped together events as to
afford, in brief, a comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized
details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted; but in some
instances no specific credit has been given, since the quotations are not given
for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement
affords a ready and forcible presentation of the subject.
In narrating the experience and views of those carrying forward the work
of reform in our time, similar use has been made of their published works.—
The Great Controversy, xi, xii
.
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