Chapter 9—Counsel On How to Study and Use the Writings ^{*Note.—This chapter was prepared by T. H. Jemison, at the time associate secretary of the Ellen G. White Publications.}

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the messages given through Ellen G. White to the church are divinely inspired. Once we accept these messages as instruction from God to the church, we are faced with the question of what use should be made of them. How are we to study them? In what ways shall we apply them to today’s circumstances?EGWMR 88.1

For one to gain the most good from the testimonies he must approach them in a sympathetic and sane manner. They are balanced. They are rational. They are filled with clear, forceful, sensible counsel—never radical or extreme, but always combining common sense with a spiritual approach to each problem. The study of the writings themselves will do more than anything else to convince of their practical worth and inspiration.EGWMR 88.2