Needs of the Canvassing Work
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doing they can make higher wages are missing a precious opportunity
to do good. There are battles to be fought to arrest the attention of
men and women, and interest them in really valuable books that have
the Bible for their foundation; and it will be a still greater task to find
conscientious, God-fearing workers who will enter the field to canvass
for these books for the purpose of diffusing light.
Honesty and Integrity of Character
The worker who has the cause of God at heart will not insist on
receiving the highest wages. He will not plead, as some of our youth
have done, that unless he can make a stylish and elegant appearance,
and board at the best hotels, he will not be patronized. What the
canvasser needs is not the faultless apparel, or the address of the
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dandy or the clown, but that honesty and integrity of character which
is reflected in the countenance. Kindness and gentleness leave their
impress upon the face, and the practiced eye sees no deception, detects
no pomposity of manner.
A large number have entered the field as canvassers with whom
premiums are the only means of success. They have no real merit as
workers. They have no experience in practical religion; they have the
same faults, the same tastes and self-indulgences, that characterized
them before they claimed to be Christians. Of them it may be said that
God is not in their thoughts; He has no abiding place in their hearts.
There is a littleness, an earthliness, a debasement in their character
and deportment, that testifies against them that they are walking in the
way of their own hearts and in the sight of their own eyes. They will
not practice self-denial, but are determined to enjoy life. The heavenly
treasure has no attractions for them; all their tastes are downward, not
upward. Friends and relatives cannot elevate such persons, for they
have not a mind to despise the evil and choose the good.
Discretion in Selecting Workers
The less we trust these persons, who are not few but many, the
better will the work of present truth stand in the eyes of the world.
Our brethren should show discretion in selecting canvassers and col-
porteurs, unless they have made up their minds to have the truth mis-