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The Publishing Ministry
sacrifice must be maintained. Those in positions of trust are in all
things to act as faithful stewards, conscientiously guarding the funds
that have been created by the people. There must be care to prevent all
needless outlay. In erecting buildings and providing facilities for the
work, we should be careful not to make our preparation so elaborate as
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to consume money unnecessarily; for this means in every case inability
to provide for the extension of the work in other fields, especially in
foreign lands. Means are not to be drawn from the treasury to establish
institutions in the home field, at a risk of crippling the advancement of
truth in regions beyond.
God’s money is to be used not only in your immediate vicinity,
but in distant countries, in the islands of the sea. If His people do
not engage in this work, God will surely remove the power that is not
rightly appropriated.
Many among believers have scarcely food enough to eat, yet in
their deep poverty they bring their tithes and offerings to the Lord’s
treasury. Many who know what it is to sustain the cause of God in
hard and trying circumstances have invested means in the publishing
houses. They have willingly endured hardship and privation, and
have watched and prayed for the success of the work. Their gifts and
sacrifices express the fervent gratitude of their hearts to Him who has
called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Their prayers
and their alms come up as a memorial before God. No incense more
fragrant can ascend to heaven.
But the work of God in its wide extent is one, and the same prin-
ciples should control in all its branches. It must bear the stamp of
missionary work. Every department of the cause is related to all parts
of the gospel field, and the spirit that controls one department will be
felt throughout the entire field. If a portion of the workers receive large
wages, there are others, in different branches of the work, who also
will call for high wages, and the spirit of self-sacrifice will become
feeble. Other institutions will catch the same spirit, and the Lord’s
favor will be removed from them; for He can never sanction selfish-
ness. Thus our aggressive work would come to an end. It is impossible
to carry it forward except by constant sacrifice.—
Testimonies for the
Church 7:215, 216
.
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