Compensation
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debt upon our institutions. Although much money may be received, it
will be lost in the little wastes of every branch of the work. Economy
is not stinginess.
Every man or woman employed in the publishing house should be
a faithful sentinel, watching that nothing be wasted. All should guard
against supposed wants that require an expenditure of means. Some
men live better on four hundred dollars a year than others do on eight
hundred. Just so it is with our institutions; some persons can manage
them with far less capital than others can. God desires all the workers
to practice economy, and especially to be faithful accountants.
Every worker in our institutions should receive fair compensation.
If the workers receive suitable wages, they have the gratification of
making donations to the cause. It is not right that some should receive
a large amount, and others, who are doing essential and faithful work,
very little.
Yet there are cases where a difference must be made. There are men
connected with the publishing houses who carry heavy responsibilities,
and whose work is of great value to the institution. In many other
positions they would have far less care, and, financially, much greater
profit. All can see the injustice of paying such men no higher wages
than are paid to mere mechanical workers.
If a woman is appointed by the Lord to do a certain work, her
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work should be estimated according to its value. Some may think it
good policy to allow persons to devote their time and labor to the work
without compensation. But God does not sanction such arrangements.
When self-denial is required because of a dearth of means, the burden
is not to rest wholly upon a few persons. Let all unite in the sacrifice.
The Lord desires those entrusted with His goods to show kindness
and liberality, not niggardliness. Let them not, in their deal, try to exact
every cent possible. God looks with contempt on such methods....
The Lord wants men who see the work in its greatness, and who
understand the principles that have been interwoven with it from its
rise. He will not have a worldly order of things come in to fashion the
work in altogether different lines from those He has marked out of His
people. The work must bear the character of its Originator.
In the sacrifice of Christ for fallen men, mercy and truth have
met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. When