Finance and the Budget
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bound about by a lack of means that he cannot accomplish the work
that should be done.—
Letter 49, 1902
.
Converted Souls to Provide Means—As men and women are
brought into the truth in the cities, the means will begin to come
in. As surely as honest souls will be converted, their means will be
consecrated to the Lord’s service, and we shall see an increase of our
resources.—
Manuscript 53, 1909
.
Build Up a Reserve Fund—Evangelistic work is not to be carried
on in the selfish, self-exalted manner in which Elder _____ has carried
it on. The means that come into the hands of the workers in the Lord’s
cause belong to God and are to be used in an economical manner.
When large sums of money are given to the work, let a portion of the
means be laid by; for there will be emergencies to meet in the Lord’s
great vineyard.—
Letter 149, 1901
.
Wise Management in New Fields—There is great importance
attached to the starting in right at the beginning of our work. I have
been shown that the work in _____ has been bound about without
making that decided advancement that it might have made if the work
had commenced right. Far more might have been done with different
[90]
modes of management, and there would have been less means actually
taken from the treasury. We have a great and sacred trust in the elevated
truths committed to us.—
Letter 14, 1887
.
Economy Not to Excess—While we are to be economical, we are
not to carry economy to excess. It is one of the sad, strange things in
life that great mistakes are sometimes made in carrying the virtue of
self-sacrifice to an extreme. It is possible for the Lord’s workers to
be presumptuous, and to carry too far the self-sacrifice that prompts
them to go without sufficient food and without sufficient clothing, in
order that they may make every dollar go as far as possible. Some
laborers overwork and do without things they ought to have, because
there is not enough money in the treasury to sustain the number of
workers that ought to be in the field. There would be more money if
all would work in accordance with Christ’s injunction: “Whosoever
will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me.”—
Letter 49, 1902
.
Avoid Petty Meanness—The one object to be kept before the
mind is that you are reformers and not bigots. In dealing with unbe-
lievers, do not show a contemptible spirit of littleness, for if you stop to