Earlier text: PERPETUITY OF SPIRITUAL GIFTSMissionary Workers.
By Nellie F. Heald
[A paper read before the New England T. & M. quarterly meeting, Nov 7, as introductory to their Society paper, entitled, The Missionary Worker.] To be a true missionary in the cause of Christ is the highest and noblest work in which mortals can engage. Nothing so elevates and adorns the character as the possession of that spirit that will enable us to be co-workers with Christ and angels in their mission of love to fallen man. None can successfully engage in this work until they have received the spirit of Christ into their hearts, and are willing to lay aside every selfish motive, and with ardent love for the precious truths of God's word, make his glory and the salvation of souls the great object of their labors. All who truly desire to serve God will esteem it a privilege to aid in the advancement of his cause, and they will wish to labor in such a manner that he can approve and bless their efforts. Before entering upon this sacred work, we should seek Jesus in our closets, and earnestly plead with him for the baptism of his Spirit, that we may be actuated by pure motives and unselfish love for his truth and precious souls. We need such love for Jesus, who has done so much for us, that we shall cheerfully make sacrifices and deny self for his dear sake. We need to contemplate his lovely character and unselfish life as he went about doing good, often meeting the scorn and derision of those whom he sought to bless, that we may become imbued with the same spirit. We need to plead for that moral courage that will enable us to encounter opposition and meet with disappointments and failures without becoming faint-hearted; for we must learn to endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We need that hopeful spirit that will not be disheartened in the midst of trials. If we are Christ's, and are striving to educate ourselves for his service, we shall find it sweet to work for him. But the heart that is wrapped up in selfishness and love of the world cannot appreciate the sweetness of such service. There is no responsive chord in the supremely selfish heart that is in unison with such service, nor with the motives that actuate it. We can but pity those persons who possess such an excess of self-love that they cannot enter upon this work; for they are strangers to the purest happiness mortals can ever know. And unless they are molded anew by the Holy Spirit, and made partakers of Christ's divine nature, they can never enter his heavenly kingdom; for no taint of selfishness can ever enter there. May He who sits as a refiner and purifier of his people enable us by his grace to attain pure, unselfish characters and become true missionaries in his cause. There are many ways in which we may become missionary workers. If we are imbued with the spirit of the third angel's message, and with love to God and for our neighbor, we shall not be at a loss for something to do. There are golden opportunities offered us on every hand. Shall we improve them, and gain the Master's sweet approval? Or shall we idly let them slip, and meet his frown at last? Let us awake! Let us take hold of present duty. The past we cannot change; nor must we deceive ourselves with visions of future good while we overlook the duties of to-day. Life is made up of small things, as drops make up the ocean. If we ignore the items, neglect the little opportunities of the present, we shall find in the end, to our sorrow and dismay, that we have wasted a life. There are suffering, perishing souls around us. Have we no words of warning, of love and sympathy, no prayers to offer for such as these? Shall we wrap our mantle of selfishness about us, and with folded hands sit idly at our ease, while they go down to ruin? We have but little time remaining in which to work. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” Earth is fast filling up its cup of sin and misery, and Satan is not idle. Oh! that we might more fully realize the fearful work he is doing, and the deceptive wiles by which he leads unwary souls astray. He watches every avenue to the human heart, that he may secure an entrance, and unless we have angels of God to guard us, and the strength of Christ in which to resist him, we shall be overcome; and unless we are engaged in the service of Christ, Satan will enlist us in his own cause. We either gather with Christ or scatter abroad. We must put on the whole armor of God if we would be able to stand against the wiles of the enemy. We must be whole-hearted in the service of our Master, if we would be accepted of him, and gain the overcomer's reward. There is no time for delay in this glorious work. “Behold, I come quickly,” says our Saviour, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” A Catholic's Opinion of Us.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
WHILE in California, I became acquainted with an educated Catholic gentleman. This gentleman attended many of our meetings, subscribed for our paper, &c. He became much interested, and attended our late camp-meeting at Fairfax, California. Writing from the camp-ground to a friend of his, he gives his impression of our people. Being permitted to read his letter, I take the liberty to make the following extract from it:— “But here I wish to say a good word in respect to S. D. Adventism, having with an unprejudiced mind closely watched the workings of the faith of these religionists, at this camp-meeting and elsewhere. There are eighty-eight camp tents on the ground; nevertheless the attendance is not nearly so large as I expected it would be, but the lack in numbers is made up in quiet deportment and respectability. And what sermons! based as they are on the plain meaning of the Bible, and delivered in an earnest and clear manner, they are peculiarly impressive and instructive, and are listened to with profound attention by all hearers. The ministers, or rather, as they are called, the elders, of the church are affable, cheerful, earnest men, whose lives are entirely devoted to preaching the gospel as they find it, editing their denominational papers and tracts, and patiently promulgating the doctrines of their religion, little by little, throughout the world. Inasmuch as I fully believe in the sentiment, ‘Peace and good will toward all mankind,’ and as the ministrations of these elders and their co-laborers clearly point to a better understanding of the Scriptures, on which the Christian religion is founded, and as they perseveringly teach obedience to the ten commandments on all possible occasions, thereby fostering charity, harmony, propriety, uprightness, may God give them—these elders—I pray, all needful inspiration. “The aged and middle-aged ladies, permanently on the ground, outnumber the young ones. Of the latter, I have not seen a single ill-behaved girl; they are all as sober-minded as their mothers and grandmothers. S. D. Adventism seems to have the effect of rendering sober-minded, but withal cheerful and amiable, all women who embrace that faith. Neither is there an unruly boy on the ground. In short, this religion is a good religion for all classes of society, from the fact that it certainly does have a benign influence over the characters of men. It renders rough natures affable; begets a feeling of brotherly love among the male members; and, wonderful to behold! it casts away fashionable extravagance in apparel among the female members, and creates gentle kindness among them, one toward another. You see, my friend, that I had excellent reasons for coming here. Go and hear the elders whenever you can. You will never regret the time thus spent.” I hope we may ever so live as to be worthy of the good opinion our friend has formed of us. D. M. CANRIGHT. “THE GLOOM OF AUTUMN.”
By Sel.
Hail, ye sighing sons of sorrow,
View with me the autumnal gloom;
Learn from hence your fate to-morrow,
Dead—perhaps laid in the tomb!
See all nature fading—dying,
Silent all things seem to mourn;
Life from vegetation flying
Brings to mind the moldering urn. Oft the autumn tempest rising
Makes the lofty forests nod,
Scenes of nature, how surprising!
Read in nature, nature’s God.
See our Sovereign, sole Creator,
Lives eternal in the sky,
While we mortals yield to nature,
Bloom awhile, then fade and die. Death or war my mind depresses,
Autumn shows me my decay—
Calls to mind my past distresses—
Warns me of my dying day.
Autumn makes me melancholy,
Strikes dejection through my soul;
Oh! to see my former folly,
Waves of sorrow o’er me roll! Lo, I hear the air resounding
With expiring insect’s cries,
Oh! their moans to me how wounding—
Emblems of my wretched sighs!
Hollow winds about me roaring—
Noisy waters round me rise,
While I sit my fate deploring,
Tears fast streaming from my eyes. What to me are autumn’s treasures,
Since I know no earthly joy!
Long I’ve lost all youthful pleasures,
Time must youth and health destroy.
Pleasures once I fondly courted,
Shared each bliss that youth bestowed;
But to see where once I’ve sported,
Now embitters all my woes! Age and sorrow since have blasted
Every youthful, pleasing dream,
Quivering age with youth contrasted,
Oh! how short their glories seem
As the autumn frosts are cropping
Leaves and tendrils from the trees;
So my friends are yearly dropping
By old age and dire disease. Former friends, oh! how I’ve sought them
Just to cheer my drooping mind!
But they’ve gone like leaves of autumn
Driven before the dreary wind!
When a few more years are wasted,
When a few more springs are o’er,
When a few more griefs I’ve tasted,
I’ll greet them on the other shore. Fast my sun of life’s declining,
Soon would set in endless night,
But my hopes, pure and refining,
Rest in future life and light.
Cease, my soul, this mournful sighing;
Faith will break this sullen gloom;
And the resurrection morning,
Soon will burst upon the tomb.
—Sel. ELIZA H. MORTON
By Eliza H. Morton
PROPHECY tells us that the long history of this world is to be marked by two great events—the coming of Christ in human form as a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” and his second appearing in regal splendor as “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The first prediction was fulfilled long, long years ago in Bethlehem of Judea. The second points its warning finger into the now not distant future. The destiny of a world is involved in these two events, and the loftiest strains of human eloquence cannot do them justice; not even the tongue of an angel is powerful enough to portray before our minds the associations which cluster around the one, and the events which will precede and accompany the other. No sublimer themes can occupy the mind of man, and no more exhaustive subjects can come before his notice. In the one we see the “length, depth, breadth, and height, of a Saviour’s love;” in the other, the plan of salvation will be finished, the unsatisfied longings, dim hopes, and sad, bitter cry of the human heart after a life to come, will all be hushed, and the “mystery of redemption” solved. Nearly two thousand years have rolled away since the Son of God walked the plains of Galilee and stood upon the hills of Jerusalem; and those years have been fraught with deep interest to the human race. “Jacob’s promised star” has been shining, and the tiny flame, kindled so long ago, has spread its glorious light throughout the world. The time now draws near when He who was spit upon, reviled, and crucified, will once more visit this earth, not as a man, frail and mortal, but as a king, glorious and eternal. In contemplation of this event we become wrapt in “holy enthusiasm,” and long for the glad day to dawn when the last cry of human agony will be hushed, all nature breathe long and peacefully, and the smile of God rest upon a redeemed race. Whatever is deepest and most sublime in human nature is called out by these anticipations, and our aspirations are quickened for something purer, nobler, and more lofty, than this poor life affords. We know that the future holds hidden within its awful precincts that for which our restless hearts yearn. What matters it if the world is dark with tempests, and mists are on the hills, and the “blast of the north is on the plains!” Beyond, there is light and joy, and we have a promise yet to be fulfilled which is glorious—even the return of our Master and the setting up of his everlasting kingdom. The love of God is as vast as eternity and as wide as the world; and though finite mind cannot fathom the mystery of human life, yet we know that our Father is tender-hearted, kind, and forgiving. If we take fast hold of that divine arm which reaches to the lowest depth of human woe while it grasps the throne of the Eternal, we shall be strengthened with everlasting strength, and finally we shall become pillars in the temple of our God, to go no more out forever. Lasting Impressions of Character and Memory
By Dr. Hall
It is said that the tiniest quantity of musk will fill the room with its odor for many months, and so the impression which a lovely character leaves on the mind and memory lasts for a lifetime (yea, is not lost through eternity), but “the memory of the wicked shall rot”.—Dr. Hall. Responsibility of Liberty
WE cannot escape the responsibility of liberty. Oakland: Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing House
By James White
THE city of Oakland, the pride of California, has become a point of especial interest to our people, as the seat of the Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association. In the center of this beautiful city we have a Publishing House in the form of a Greek cross, 66x26, east and west, and 46x26, north and south. This building has two stories, a fine basement of great value for storing stock, and four finished rooms in the attic. On the lower floor of the building in the rear part we have two fine presses in use, driven by the New York Safety Engine which is located in a brick engine house eleven feet from the main building. The rooms in the two stories are large, and twelve feet from floor to ceiling. The indentations at the four corners of the building give the rooms better shape and more light, which is highly prized by editors, compositors, proof-readers, and pressmen. We are five blocks from the noise of Broadway, in a quiet part of the city. And as we do not covet common printing, our retired position is desirable for our own work and fine book and music printing from the outside, which is already pressing in upon us before we are fully ready for such work. In this city there is a church of S. D. Adventists of eighty members. The conversion of these resulted mainly from a course of lectures in the Big Tent sixteen months since. And there are no reasons why a similar effort should not result in doubling our numbers here. Our relation to the temperance cause at the time of the “Local Option” struggle, when the tent was first pitched in this city, brought us before the most valuable part of the public in our true character. And notwithstanding the unpopularity of our religious sentiments, we enjoy the confidence and friendly feeling of the people. The growth of Oakland is rapid. The School Census Marshal for the year 1875 reports that in June the population by actual count was 20,691, in 1873 the population was 15,387. This shows an increase of 5,304 in two years. Its increasing and ever-changing population will make this city one of the best fields of missionary labor in the world. The climate of Oakland is delightful. The water is good. The people attend to their own business, and respect those who in a proper manner mind theirs. Probably there is not a city on the globe where the rights of men are regarded more sacred, and where property and human life are safer than in Oakland. The cheap labor of the Chinamen brings the services of common working white men at a low figure. Rents and fuel are too high for such in this city. And those men of small means and large families who cannot get a good living in the East would do worse in Oakland. And California is overrun with mechanics. But the young cause in this city needs help from those who are able and willing to help. Men in advanced years, or in feeble health, who have made life a success, and have a liberal competency, live on the proceeds of property easier and happier in Oakland than in any other city of which we have knowledge. Having neither rents nor interests to pay we can print as cheaply in Oakland, Cal., as we do at Battle Creek, Mich. J. W. How to Work.
By Uriah Smith
A SKETCH of the conversion and early labors of D. L. Moody, by J. B. T. Marsh in The Christian at Work, states some facts touching the manner and methods of his labors, from which all who wish to work successfully for Christ may learn some profitable lessons. Passing over his conversion, we commence with him in the boot and shoe business in Chicago. Here he entered earnestly into Sunday-school work. His first act was to rent four pews in the church with which he was connected, and from Sunday to Sunday fill them with young men whom he picked up in the boarding-houses and in the streets. Each Sunday he would scour the streets and lanes, and by personal contact with individuals and labor for them, drum up recruits for the Sunday-school, not only for his own church but for others also. While engaged in this regular recruiting business for the established church Sunday-schools, he conceived the idea of starting a school of his own, where those who could not be persuaded to go into the fashionable and well-dressed schools of the church might feel free to come. Selecting as the field of his operation a locality called the “The Sands,” which rivaled in squalor and crime the celebrated “Five Points” of New York, he found an empty room which had been used as a saloon, hired it, and started out to drum up a school. He had to resort to all means to conquer an acquaintance with the urchins, and gain their confidence. During the day he sold boots and shoes, and by night he scouted through the alleys enlisting members for his Sunday-school, gaining access to the more shy and reserved by a free distribution of maple sugar. His school within a year reached an average attendance of six hundred and fifty, and soon swelled to a thousand. Great was the wrath of the Romanists against him, and many were the threats to take his life. On one occasion three enraged men cornered him in a room, closed the door, and notified him that his time had come. “Look here,” said Mr. M., “give a fellow a chance to say his prayers first, won’t you?” They could not well refuse that last request, whereupon he dropped upon his knees and prayed for them with such fervency that one by one they stole out of the room, leaving him to take off to his Sunday-school the children for whom he came. At length his work so grew upon his hands that he decided to leave his secular business and devote his time wholly to it. Investing what little money he had not given away, in a pony to bear him from place to place, he opened a new era in his work. On Sunday morning he would start out, and, on his pony, head back a procession of scholars whom he had secured for his school. Refusing to use any means given him for his work, to defray his own personal expenses, he slept on the benches of the Y. M. C. Association rooms rather than to pay for lodgings elsewhere. His Sunday-school at length grew into a church, of which he was the unordained pastor. But it was a busy hive of Bible readers, tract distributors, lay preachers, and missionary visitors. In his theory of the Christian life, the next thing for a man to do after he has turned to the Lord is to go to work for him. How does this compare with the way some work in the cause of present truth? Does it not shame the efforts of many a one who goes out with the profession that he has the last message of mercy to herald to a perishing world, and that even this is almost ended. It is this intensely earnest personal effort that will win every time. The results of his efforts prove this. And if he in his work feels impelled thus to labor, how ought that people to engage in their work who have the last warning to sound abroad, and who are acting under the commission, Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled? Why Delay?
By Roswell F. Cottrell
Why delay what you intend to do? We are nearing the end of another year. And still perhaps you intend to do the work that is yours to do, and that no one can do for you. You mean well, and make good resolves; but they never will be carried out, until you begin to do. And the time to do is now. Dreams of future doing amount to nothing. The work that is never begun will certainly never be finished. Delay is stealing away your time. You must come to the decision to begin now, and to persevere to the last. This is the only way to be prepared to hear the well done at the last. There are two important things for you to attend to. One is the preparation, the thorough conversion of your own heart; the other is your duty to labor for the good of others. These can be, and should be, attended to at the same time. We should not put off doing for others till we are satisfied that our hearts are all consecrated and all right—that the work for ourselves is all done. Doing for others will help in the work for ourselves. To engage in spreading the light of truth by distributing tracts or getting subscribers for the papers that contain the truth for the present time, will help in the work of overcoming selfishness in your own hearts and becoming wholly consecrated to God. But your work for others must be attended by earnest and constant prayer for the blessing of God on you and your efforts for them. In this way, you will help others in the way to life, and you will make progress yourself. Now, why delay? Why let all your time slip away unimproved? Awake to duty and your own interest and that of others. The time is now, and until you come to this decision, your work will never be begun, and consequently never done. How to Spoil a Meeting.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
This is very easily done, as many can testify. Still it is done a great many times ignorantly, when persons are very anxious to make the meeting a success. Having observed some upon this point, I may be allowed to make some suggestions. 1. Commencing meeting. Very much depends upon commencing the meeting promptly. I have been at churches where it was impossible to commence a meeting within half an hour of the time appointed. Many will be sure to be late, and some will come when the sermon is half or two-thirds through. There is no excuse for such miserable slackness as this, and it is nothing but slackness. I have carefully studied this difficulty till I am satisfied that the elder or leader is the one who is largely responsible for it. If you have a prompt leader, he is always on time himself and will commence the meeting on time, and you will always find the church prompt also. But if the elder or leader is behind, and is slack about commencing on time when he is there, you may be sure that the church will always be behind time. Some good-natured elders, who would naturally be prompt themselves, fall into a habit of waiting for others rather than to commence without them. But this is just the thing that never ought to be done. Let the elder wait for these tardy members ten minutes one Sabbath, and they will be sure to be ten minutes late next Sabbath; for they will reason thus: “Meeting did not commence till ten minutes after time last Sabbath; so I need not hurry this time.” And those who were on time will reason that they got there too early last Sabbath. They do not wish to do it again, and so they will be late next Sabbath; and so it will go on, the meetings commencing a little later every Sabbath. Finally a meeting appointed at half-past ten will commence about half-past eleven. This will ruin any meeting in a few months. Now there is one sovereign remedy for this, and only one, viz.: Let the leader himself be sure to be in his place, ready to commence meeting promptly upon time. Having selected a proper hour, upon which the church are all agreed, let it be distinctly understood that services will commence at the time appointed, whether there are few or many present. If there are but one or two present, or no one but himself, let the elder open the meeting with singing, prayer, and testimony, as usual; and when all have done, dismiss the meeting. Let the tardy ones have the pleasure of coming after the meeting is out. A few Sabbaths of this experience will cure them. Few persons are willing to be always tardy. But if they find you will wait for them they will be sure to wait as long as you will; whereas if they find the meeting always commences on time, they will finally form a habit of hurrying around in time to be there. 2. Continuing the meetings too long, Sabbath after Sabbath is a fruitful source of evil. We frequently hear persons complain that the Sabbath meetings are so long and tedious that they become a dread to them. No time is left them for rest or home reading. The Sabbath meetings should be a pleasure and not a dread. From an hour to an hour and a quarter is as long as a meeting should last ordinarily. Then if there is a Sabbath-school, another hour for that is all that should be taken. If it is carried beyond this, the interest cannot be long maintained. 3. A good many churches are greatly burdened with one or more persons who are wonderfully endowed with the gift of continuance in speaking or praying. You may exhort them to be short; but it avails nothing. You may remind them that there are others to speak, but it is vain. You may tell them that long speaking is ruinous to a meeting, but they never seem to think that this means them. It is all for somebody else. I have tried most every way to cure such persons, but confess that I have utterly failed so far. Probably such persons have no idea what is meant by a long speech. But let us suppose a case. Here is a church of thirty or forty members. Ordinarily there will be twenty or thirty out at a meeting. The meeting should last one hour—sixty minutes. The meeting should be opened with singing and several prayers. Then there should be occasional165 singing between the testimonies. All this will consume at least one-half the time, so that we only have about thirty minutes left for speaking. This will give a minute to a minute and a quarter to each one, provided every moment is improved, but less if it is not. Hence ordinarily a testimony of a minute and a half in length is a long testimony. One two and a half long would be very long; and one three to three and a half minutes is tediously long and unbearable, unless the person has something extraordinary to say. Then he should be enough shorter for three or four weeks to make it up. Now, brother or sister Talkative, if you want to know whether you are accustomed to talk too long or not, just take your watch and time yourself and you will no doubt be astonished to find that you are accustomed to talk tediously every Sabbath. Other points might be readily named, but we forbear lest by too long a lesson we should discourage those who need to reform upon these points. D. M. CANRIGHT. The Sea and the Waves Roaring.
By Uriah Smith
So marked and unusual is the disturbance in the elements at the present time, that the papers just now are full of the records of devastating storms on the land, and shipwrecks, with unequaled loss of life, at sea. England and France are visited with incessant rains causing disastrous floods over large sections of territory. One paper in a short paragraph enumerated about 400 lives lost by shipwrecks, the news of which had just been received. Another paper says:— “The daily press seems to have almost been wholly given up to the description of disasters at sea, so numerous are they and so fast they follow one another. The latest of these is an account of the wreck of the bark Toronto, from Glasgow for the West Indies, all the crew being lost save Antonio Maximo, a native of Manilla, who was picked up by a passing vessel and brought to New York after being in an open boat for twenty-five days. He managed to exist on such fish and birds as he could catch, and when found was insensible. Of the remainder of the crew, seven were drowned on first taking to the boat, and six starved to death afterward.” The following will serve as specimens of the daily record:— “Late news received at Boston is to the effect that two brigs and four schooners were lost with all on board during the terrible hurricane which recently caused so much damage at Jacmel, Navassa, Jamaica, and St. Iago.” “It is now rendered probable that not a soul was saved from the steamer City of Waco, burned off Galveston.” “Knoxville, Tenn., one morning last week, experienced the heaviest shock of earthquake ever felt in that section of country. It lasted ten seconds, causing buildings to sway.” At the same time numerous and extensive fires are reported; but fire is not estimated of much account now unless it wipes out a whole city. Can we not read in these things a fulfillment of Luke 21:25? U. S. Battle Creek.
By James White
BATTLE CREEK, Michigan, has been a very important point for the Seventh-day Adventists during the past twenty years. In the autumn of 1855 our Office of publication was removed to that place from Rochester, N. Y. Many and hard have been the battles for truth and the right on that old battle-ground, and it is encouraging beyond expression to know that victories turn gloriously on the right side. There our first College, our Health Institute, and our main Printing House are located. There is a church of more than two hundred members who regard us as their pastor, though we are from them six months at a time, and are with them only a few Sabbaths in a year. We can never have as much interest at any other point as at Battle Creek. In building up our fine and prosperous institutions located there, we have spent twenty years of the very best of our life. And now good news from that locality wakes up emotions of love and regard for the great work well founded and begun there, which have inspired our efforts during twenty years of labor and care. An excellent letter from Bro. Wm. Ings, of Battle Creek, speaks of our labors with that church just before we left in September as follows: “There has been a great improvement since your labors here. Among the young a great degree of good is manifested. It can be seen in the deportment, and in the very countenance. There is more freedom in the social meetings, and the attendance is larger. The school, from what I hear, is doing much better than at any previous term. We have a good class of students, and there seems to be an effort on their part to make the most of their time. We may hope, I think, that many of them will make efficient laborers in the cause.” Eld. Smith has the work of two or three men on his hands. In his position, we know from experience that no man can do justice to himself or his work. We shall help him on the REVIEW all we can. And while there are many interests of our great work located in that city which have a strong hold upon our sympathies, it gives encouragement to know that our feelings of regard, and care, and love for our people, and for the work there, are reciprocated by those on whose friendship we can rely. The condition of our Pacific Association, and to avoid the eastern cold winter, make it necessary for us to remain in Oakland until early spring when we shall return, and make timely arrangements for the round of camp-meetings for 1876. Mrs. W. and the writer think we shall fill up the entire warm part of the season with meetings, one each week, and that we shall be able with the help of Elders Smith and Canright to attend all the Eastern Camp-meetings. These are meetings of the greatest importance to our people, and each should be held at the proper time, and should have a full force of laborers. Ten Thousand Subscribers Wanted for the Signs
By S. N. Haskell
Ten Thousand Subscribers Wanted for the Signs! Shall we Have Them?
Two years ago, before the Tract Societies were hardly organized, a call was made for ten thousand subscribers for a trial volume of the REVIEW for six months. It was met with a ready response of fifteen thousand. Last year a call was made for thirty thousand subscribers for the VOICE and Reformer. Each Conference Tract Society marshaled its army, entered the field, and not only procured the subscribers, but also put into circulation fifty thousand Hygienic Almanacs. This was done in addition to their general labor with our health tracts and denominational publications. Whatever mistakes may have been made in accomplishing the above work, the strength of systematic effort has been clearly demonstrated. And had not the grasshoppers given battle to some of our western Conferences just as every nerve was being strained, every Conference would have come out of the conflict stronger than it was before. There are scores to-day rejoicing in the truth as the result of that effort. For this much, we will thank God and take courage. Now another effort is to be made, and with the experience of the past two years, we can take hold of the work with a greater assurance of success than ever before. God’s hand is still in the work, and now when hard times are upon us, with other obstacles before us, it is just the time to manifest the true missionary spirit by putting forth a greater effort than ever before. A battle and a march is the Christian’s watchword. There are many reasons why we should make the SIGNS a specialty this fall and winter, though not to the exclusion of other branches of the work. But as this new paper enters the field, heralding the third angel’s message from the shores of the Pacific, it would be cowardly indeed to let it struggle alone. Now is the time for the Tract Societies to lend a helping hand and raise its circulation to ten thousand. The financial condition of the young institution, and the object of the paper, have been clearly stated in the REVIEW, and special reasons have been given why it should find its way into ten thousand homes this present season, in Vol. 2, No. 2 of the SIGNS. Already the long evenings are upon us, and we should immediately enter upon this work. We expect there will be a general falling into line in all the Conferences from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific. New England makes a noble strike for one-tenth of the entire number. They will obtain one thousand names, not carelessly gathered up, but those of interested readers. New York will follow with twenty-five hundred. And if other Conferences will also fall into line and do their respective proportions, the work will be equalized from Maine to California. This work can easily be done without neglecting other branches. We ask for a united effort on the part of the Tract Societies—president, directors, and members—and in a few weeks a victory will be gained that will give joy throughout eternity to every participant in it who perseveres so as to be saved in the kingdom of God. Let the canvassing commence at once. God is in this work or he is not. If he is, then now is the time to show that we are on the Lord’s side. Let all judicious canvassers at once enter the field, those whose deportment is such that they can win their way to the hearts of those with whom they associate. Any practical canvasser can use any of our dollar books to advantage in offering it as a premium to the individual who pays the subscription price. There are hundreds of men and women among us who would be successful canvassers for our periodicals if they would give their attention to it. And there are scores who have made canvassing a success in the past. Some have canvassed for pictures, picture-frames, and many other articles, even patent rights, and this, too, with marked success. Now we ask for this same talent and energy to be brought into use where it will yield fruit unto eternal life. Let such an army of canvassers enter the field—not for sordid gain—but let them be persons whose hearts are fired with a zeal for God and his truth, and fifty thousand new subscribers for our denominational paper, and fifty thousand for the Health Reformer, would not be an extravagant number to be obtained. There are periodicals of a denominational cast, and journals that within the short space of two or three years have reached a list of subscribers far beyond even a hundred thousand. Now while just in sight of the immortal prize, with that truth upon which the destiny of the world rests, shall we show less zeal and devotion? We have not half comprehended what might be done if we as a people could unitedly be moved to action with as much understanding zeal in spiritual things as the children of this world have in their efforts to gain the mammon of unrighteousness. The cause of God is of far more importance than any worldly scheme. The reward is as much higher as the heavens are higher than the earth. We want permanent canvassers—disciplined colporteurs—in the cause of Christ. We want men and women who feel the burden of the work upon them. There should be not less than a thousand such men and women visiting from house to house, and having such an influence that the families where they once call will welcome them again—those who will go feeling the responsibility of souls upon them. Go from your closets to visit your neighbors, and wet your efforts with tears from a tender heart, full of the love of God. Like will beget like. Let your own heart be tender and others will be affected. Draw from Christ the needed help, but be in earnest. Don’t be lukewarm and half-hearted. No one will believe that you have any faith in your own calling if you are. There are souls everywhere whose hearts are all prepared for impressions to be made upon them favorable to the truth of God. Now is the time to enter the harvest field and labor for God. Much has been said in reference to the manner of obtaining names. We want interested readers, and they are to be found everywhere. The manner in which we approach people has very much influence in deciding whether they will be interested to read or not. Let our brethren who enter the canvassing field study to know what extracts to read from the SIGNS or Reformer, and what words to say that will arrest the attention and interest. With a little effort and careful thought any person of common ability can so adapt himself to the work that he can awaken an interest to read with almost every one. What we have said in reference to the SIGNS is not designed to give the impression that that paper is to take the place of the REVIEW. That list should be increased thousands. But the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is a pioneer paper, one for the Tract Societies and individuals to send into new fields; and one for which a special effort should be made at the present time.