Unity of Effort
35
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.
While short subscriptions are accepted, some will not make the
necessary effort 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 workers, and the love of souls should lead
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 their very best. God does for them that which
they can not do for themselves; but no one need expect to succeed
independently and by his own exertions. There must be activity united
with firm trust in God.
Secular Books
In this age the trivial is praised and magnified. There is a call
for anything that will create a sensation. The country is flooded with
worthless publications, which were written for the sake of making
money, while really valuable books are unsold and unread. Those who
handle this sensational literature, because by so doing they can make
higher wages, are missing precious opportunities of obtaining disci-
pline and intelligence in doing good through cooperation with God. It
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will require earnest effort 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 canvass for these books of highest value
for the purpose of diffusing light and a correct knowledge of God.
* * * * *
My heart aches as I see those who profess to be looking for the
Saviour devoting their time and talents to circulating books that contain
nothing concerning the special truths for this time,—books of narrative,
books of biography, books of men’s theories and speculations. The
world is full of such books, they can be had anywhere; but how can
the followers of Christ engage in so common a work, when there is
crying need for God’s truth on every hand. It is not our mission to
circulate such works. There are thousands of others to do this, who