Importance of the Canvassing Work
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Few renew their subscriptions for a longer period, and thus there is a
large outlay of time that brings small returns, when, with a little more
tact and perseverance, yearly subscriptions might have been obtained.
You strike too low, brethren; you are too narrow in your plans. You do
not put into your work all the tact and perseverance that it deserves.
There are more difficulties in this work than in some other branches of
business; but the lessons that will be learned, the tact and discipline
that will be acquired, will fit you for other fields of usefulness, where
you may minister to souls. Those who poorly learn their lesson, and
are careless and abrupt in approaching persons, would show the same
defects of manner, the same want of tact and skill in dealing with
minds, should they enter the ministry.
While short subscriptions are accepted, some will not make the
effort necessary to obtain them for a longer time. Canvassers should
not go over the ground in a careless, unconcerned manner. They should
feel that they are God’s workmen, and the love of souls should lead
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them to make every effort to enlighten men and women in regard to the
truth. Providence and grace, means and ends, are closely connected.
When His laborers do the very best they can, God does for them that
which they cannot do themselves; but no one need expect to succeed
independently and by his own exertions. There must be activity united
with firm trust in God.
Economy is needed in every department of the Lord’s work. The
natural turn of youth in this age is to neglect and despise economy,
and to confound it with stinginess and narrowness. But economy is
consistent with the most broad and liberal views and feelings; there
can be no true generosity where it is not practiced. No one should
think it beneath him to study economy and the best means of taking
care of the fragments. Said Christ, after He had performed a notable
miracle: “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”
Quite a sum may be expended in hotel bills that are not at all
necessary. The cause of God lay so near the heart of the pioneers in
this message that they seldom took a meal at a hotel, even though
the cost was but twenty-five cents each. But young men and women
generally are not educated to economize, and waste follows waste
everywhere. In some families there is a wicked waste of enough to
support another family if reasonable economy were used. If, while
traveling, our youth will keep an exact account of the money they