Testimonies for the Church Volume 1 -- Ellen G. White

<p>This is the first volume of a 9-book series by Ellen G. White entitled Testimonies for the Church which was started as instruction and guidance to the Seventh-day Adventist Church during its infancy (during the late 1840's and early 1850's). During that time, there were only four ministers serving the entire denomination. The ministers, who supported themselves through physical labor, were poor in this world's goods but rich in the gospel. By 1855, membership in the fledgling denomination had grown from less than a hundred to more than a thousand. During those years of growth, opposition by a group called the "Messenger Party" brought much sorrow and perplexity to the believers. Fanatical movements also divided and distracted from time to time. Discouraged by the fact that Jesus had not come in 1844, the church was in danger of losing its "first love."</p><p><br></p><p>With the Gold Rush and westward movement, those years were also a time of speculation in homesteads and land. As a result, these testimonies contain more than a few earnest warnings about the dangers of conformity to the world. Calls to deeper consecration on the part of church members were also frequent.</p><p><br></p><p>In late 1856, Advent believers began to recognize themselves as "lukewarm" and in need of heeding the counsel of the "True Witness" witness of Revelation 3. Mightily stirred by this message, the believers expected the loud cry of the third angel to take place very soon. The earnest message