SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST WORKERS
WILL WELCOME THE APPEARANCE OF THIS FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION OF
A WORD TO THE "LITTLE FLOCK." THIS REMARKABLE DOCUMENT,
ISSUED DURING THE CRITICAL FOUR-YEAR PERIOD BETWEEN THE GREAT
DISAPPOINTMENT OF OCTOBER 22, 1844, AND THE MEMORABLE SABBATH
CONFERENCES OF 1848, GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO THE EXPERIENCE AND
THINKING OF OUR PIONEERS IN THEIR EARNEST EFFORTS TO DISCOVER
THEIR POSITION AND WORK AND TO ASCERTAIN WHAT THE FUTURE HELD
FOR THE BELIEVERS AND THE WORLD.
WHILE THIS PAMPHLET,
ISSUED IN MAY, 1847, CONTAINS STATEMENTS SIGNED BY THREE EARLY
WORKERS, JAMES WHITE, ELLEN G. WHITE, AND JOSEPH BATES, IT IS
PRIMARILY A JAMES WHITE PUBLICATION DEVOTED TO THE SETTING FORTH
OF HIS VIEWS OF UNFULFILLED PROPHECY. AT THAT TIME THERE WERE
PROBABLY NOT MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED SABBATHKEEPING ADVENTISTS IN
THE UNITED STATES. AS A YOUTHFUL MINISTER OF TWENTY-FIVE, HE WORKED
ALMOST ALONE IN SETTING FORTH THE VIEWS HE HAD, UP TO THAT TIME,
FORMULATED. THIS WAS NEARLY A YEAR BEFORE THE FIRST OF THE FIVE
SABBATH CONFERENCES CONVENED, AT WHICH TIME THOSE WHOM WE TODAY
REVERE AS OUR SPIRITUAL FOREFATHERS MET TOGETHER AND WITH OPEN
MINDS AND HEARTS SEARCHED THE WORD OF GOD TO BETTER UNDERSTAND
ITS TRUTHS.
WITH A FULL UNDERSTANDING
OF THE HISTORIC SETTING OF A WORD TO THE "LITTLE FLOCK,"
THE READER WILL NOT BE DISTURBED BY FINDING THAT IN A FEW INSTANCES
POSITIONS SET FORTH BY ELDER WHITE ON SOME POINTS WERE MODIFIED
BY HIM IN LATER YEARS, AS MORE MATURE AND JOINT STUDY REVEALED
CLEARER VIEWS. THIS DOCUMENT PRESENTS A PICTURE PRIMARILY OF ONE
WORKER'S ATTEMPT TO CHEER AND AID THOSE ABOUT HIM THROUGH A DISSEMINATION
OF LIGHT WHICH WAS BEGINNING TO UNFOLD. TO ONE FAMILIAR WITH THE
MANY CONTEMPORARY VOICES THAT WERE HEARD ADVOCATING DISCORDANT
VIEWS AND EXTREME POSITIONS, THE CLARITY OF REASONING AND THE
ESSENTIAL CORRECTNESS OF PERSPECTIVE AND PURITY OF TEACHING OF
THESE ARTICLES ARE REMARKABLE.
ALSO OF INTEREST IN THIS
EARLY PUBLICATION ARE THE THREE COMMUNICATIONS WRITTEN BY MRS.
E. G. WHITE, DEPICTING THE EXPERIENCES YET BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF
GOD. TWO OF THESE, BEING PRESENTATIONS OF IMPORTANT VISIONS, HAVE
BEEN LARGELY REPRINTED AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE E. G. WHITE BOOKS.
THAT SOME WORDS, PHRASES, AND SENTENCES WHICH APPEARED IN THESE
EARLY ACCOUNTS WERE LEFT OUT BY MRS. WHITE IN LATER PRINTINGS
HAS BEEN A SOURCE OF CONCERN TO SOME. FOR A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE
FIRST PRINTING OF THESE VISIONS AND A DISCUSSION OF THE OMISSIONS,
TOGETHER WITH MRS. WHITE'S EXPLANATION, THE READER IS DIRECTED
TO THE APPENDIX.
THAT THE REISSUANCE OF A
WORD TO THE "LITTLE FLOCK" IN THIS FORM, IDENTICAL WITH
ITS ORIGINAL PUBLICATION, MAY LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE MESSAGE, AND THAT IT MAY
SATISFY THE FREQUENTLY EXPRESSED DESIRE TO HAVE AT HAND FOR CAREFUL
STUDY, THE INITIAL E. G. WHITE VISIONS AS FIRST PRINTED, IS THE
SINCERE WISH OF THE PUBLISHERS AND THE