Relationship Between the Publishing House and the Church
103
in your voice, if you are in the habit of speaking unkindly, you must
have, before you can enter the kingdom of glory, an education in the
grace and gentleness of Christ.
There is a great work to be done in the publishing of Seventh-day
Adventist literature. It would not be well pleasing to the Lord for
us to plan that the work of publishing our books and periodicals, for
which we have well-trained workers, should be placed in the hands of
unbelievers. If our offices depend upon unbelievers to do their binding,
they will often be disappointed in the quality of the work. God desires
that all the work we do for Him shall be well done. All the work done
in our offices of publication should be so perfect that we may know
that the Lord is glorified by its perfection. Let us do our best, and then
we can say, “Lord, I have done the best I can; now I ask thee to bless
the efforts put forth.” Then we may expect large results.—
Manuscript
71, 1906
.
Not to Discredit SDA Publishing Houses—I have received your
letter in which you speak of a plan for you to print and sell a large
number of my book Early Writings, brought out in a new style of
binding.
In the past I have given my consent to your suggestions regarding
this matter, [
Stephen Haskell on several occasions urged Ellen White
to place certain of her book manuscripts in the hands of non-SDA
publishers to be produced at less cost and sold in larger quantities.
Steps to Christ, when first printed in 1892, was handled in this way,
but later it was withdrawn and placed in the hands of SDA publishing
houses. The instruction Ellen White received from the Lord ran counter
to Haskell’s proposals, though his suggestions were prompted by
unselfish missionary objectives.
] but recently I have received such
positive instruction regarding the necessity of unity that I dare not give
my consent to your proposition....
I would not wish to handle my books, nor to see you handle your
books, in a manner that would seem to throw discredit upon the pub-
lishing houses. We must manifest wisdom in this matter. To carry
out the plans you suggest would, to many, seem that we were taking
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advantage of circumstances to benefit ourselves.
In your office as president of this conference, the Lord would have
you do everything possible to bring about a spirit of unity. Let the idea
of unity be the keynote of all your actions. This instruction has been