While volume 1 of the Testimonies focused mainly on counsel for the fledgling Seventh-day Adventist church, volume 2 was devoted almost entirely to the personal piety of its members. In the words of Ellen White, these testimonies "all contain more or less reproof and instruction which apply to hundreds or thousands of others in similar condition."
The instruction, which was forthright and practical, dealt with many aspects of Christian living including (but not limited to) gossip, indulgence of appetite, marriage, greed, and fanaticism. During the times of volume 2, the Health Institute at Battle Creek was beginning to prosper. With companies established on the West coast and in Europe, the church had grown geographically as well as in membership.
Despite the growth, members in the young movement still struggled with worldliness, lack of spirituality, and a spirit of criticism. Against these dangerous trends Ellen White continued to lift her voice and pen. Counsels in this volume also related to the growing publishing work of the Review and Herald in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The numerous visions which Ellen White had during this time kept her busy nearly constantly, to the point where her husband once wrote: "Mrs. White is writing. Poor woman! This almost eternal writing for this one and that one, when she should rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the pleasant society, seems too bad, but God blesses and sustains, and we must be reconciled."
In the years since, the many testimonies Mrs. White wrote personally to various individuals have been a great blessing to untold numbers of church members. Many who have read these earnest counsels and warnings have discovered that the problems, temptations, and privileges of believers of earlier years were the same they themselves were facing at the time. Thus these messages of more than a century ago continue to bear powerful fruit today.