As implied in the title, the nine-volume set constitutes a grouping of "Testimonies" of instruction, counsel, caution, and encouragement "for the church." Some of the messages are addressed primarily to the individual members, setting forth guiding principles in the Christian life, service to others, and preparation for the coming of the Lord. Other messages appeal for and encourage great advance moves in various branches of church work, and are of special value to workers occupying leading positions in the cause of God. Among these are many articles giving instruction regarding the conduct of various branches of denominational work.
These messages were published during a period of more than fifty years. Many of them were given to meet specific issues as they arose in the lives of individual members, or in the experiences of the church, and are, as to time or place, largely local in application.
This composite group of articles as they appeared from time to time in pamphlet or book form during the fifty-five-year period of 18551909, constitutes the present nine-volume set entitled "Testimonies for the Church." They will always be of inestimable value to both workers and laymen among Seventh-day Adventists. They constitute the "blue print" not only of the individual Christian life, and of the past growth and development, but also of the future work of the church.
From these nine volumes there have been chosen a group of articles bound in three volumes containing more than eighteen hundred pages, bearing the title, "Selections From the Testimonies." The aim of this set, which contains about one third of the matter in the nine volumes, is to make available in less-expensive form those articles from the full set especially fitted to make plain the Christian pathway to those who are striving to perfect character and to render acceptable service to others.
Besides the counsel to individual members, they include sufficient of the general counsel regarding denominational lines of endeavor to give the reader a balanced idea of the proper place of each of these various activities in the work of the church.
There is a definite and wide field of usefulness for the "Selections," but they will never supplant the full nine volumes. There is ample assurance of this, because the "Selections" do not contain those articles of instruction addressed specifically to ministers, physicians, teachers, colporteurs, and other workers engaged in the various departments of denominational work. Moreover, among the lay members, there are many who will wish to have access to all the instruction for the church that is available, and such will naturally choose the nine-volume set.
We repeat that the "Testimonies for the Church" will never be superseded. The "Selections" are not designed as a substitute for them. There has been no design on the part of those responsible for the "Selections" to in any wise revise, suppress, or replace matter in the full set of the "Testimonies." Their continued publication is assured. The "Selections" do, however, furnish in brief and less costly form, precious instruction of primary importance to each church member, and they will be welcomed by thousands who feel that they cannot afford either the necessary time to read, or the money to purchase, the larger and consequently more expensive set.
Arthur L. White,
Asst. Sec., Ellen G. White Estate.
