128
The Publishing Ministry
work will be met in that great day when every work shall be brought
“into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil.”—
Letter 15, 1895
.
A Confederacy Over Royalties—The publishing office was
turned from its original design; men made terms with authors; coun-
cils were formed; schemes were entered into. While one author was
engaged in the services of a meeting at a distance, the expenses of one
man were paid to go and see this brother and induce him to put the
lowest figures on his books. They urged that they wished to get this
important matter before as many people as possible, and that the book
would have a very much larger sale if it were sold at cheap prices.
[150]
The royalty was placed at the lowest figure. Then this confederacy
held this example up as a rule for others. Warnings were given me that
all this was the working out of a system of oppression and robbery,
and that the whole institution was leavened throughout with corrupt
principles, that the light of God was fast departing from all who were
engaged in this confederacy. God sanctioned none of this spirit. He
could not place His signature upon this devising. He would forsake
these men, remove His Spirit from those who entered upon this course,
and the glory of His presence would depart from them.
The cause of God in any line is not to be advanced by such policy;
for it is born of Satan, and can only have his inspiration. All who do
not repent and seek to set things right, God will leave to stumble on in
darkness. They have not discerned unrighteousness in practice. They
have secured books, and diverted them from their original design to
make up the sum which they wished to secure. But every page of that
dark history is written in the books of heaven to react upon every soul
who has engaged in these schemes, unless they shall repent with that
repentance that needeth not to be repented of. The Lord cannot tolerate
any such transactions as those that have been professedly done in His
name. He abhors all such satanic principles.—
Manuscript 105, 1898
.
“Rings” of Men Encouraging Wrong Principles—There will
be in the office men who will lead into strange paths those whose
minds are not firmly established in the principles of present truth.
These unconsecrated men will set up false waymarks and will walk in
false paths, because they lack clear discernment. They will manifest
a burning desire to confederate; to form rings among themselves in