The Summary by N. Z. TOWN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 14, 1915

The Summary

By N. Z. TOWN

“NOTHING succeeds like success.” This is illustrated in this month’s summary. Seven of the twelve unions in North America show a gain over the corresponding month last year. The six of these unions which report the number of hours worked show an average of over 102 hours for each colporteur for the month. The average sales amount to $1.08 an hour for each worker. Somehow the more time a worker puts in, the better success he has for each hour worked. Here is one conference with 37 agents who worked a total of 1,585 hours, or an average of about 43 hours for each worker, for the month. Their sales amount to $1,231.60, or 77 cents an hour for each. Here is an adjoining conference with conditions more or less the same, with 16 agents who worked 1,575 hours, an average of 98 hours each, and their sales amount to $1.36 each an hour. The consciousness of doing faithful work gives one confidence and success.

Notwithstanding some losses, we are glad to see a total gain in our book sales for the month both at home and abroad. It is especially encouraging to see the splendid gains in some of the foreign fields. The periodical reports from these fields are more than double those of the corresponding month last year, both in the number sold and in the value. In the fields that have suffered because of the war, nearly all our field men have faced the situation with strong faith and stout hearts, and these splendid reports show the results.

Let us not waver nor slacken our efforts. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. He delights in doing the seemingly impossible for us when we meet special difficulties. In Jacob’s prophecy concerning his sons, after mentioning the special difficulties that Joseph would have, he says of him, “But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” Commenting on this, one writer says: “It is a beautiful picture. There stands the weak child in whose slender arms are no muscles strong enough to draw the string or bend the bow, which he vainly tries to use. They resist his utmost endeavors. Evidently he has neither might nor strength.

“But now see! On his weak hands are laid other hands, mighty hands, that wove the tapestry of the heavens, and that hold in their hollows the depths of the seas. One of these is placed where the left hand holds the bow, the other where the right hand plucks the string. And now with what ease those thin hands wield the bow; it is a plaything in their grasp; and without apparent strain the arrow flies to its mark.”

An old legend tells us that Ulysses, returning home after long years, proved his identity by bending a bow which had defied the efforts of the stoutest heroes who had tried in his absence. There are a good many of these defiant bows lying all around us,—tasks that deride

our puny efforts, wicked neighborhoods that will not yield, hardened soils that will not admit the plowshare to cut into their crust. The one thing of which we need to assure ourselves is whether it is God’s will to take them in hand. If not, it is useless to attempt the task; we may well husband and reserve our strength. But if it is made clear to us that we are to take up the armor, let us not hesitate for a single moment, but let us put on the armor of defense and the weapons of attack; and as we do so, we shall become aware that strength is being infused into us—not ours, but his. The arms of our hands will be made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.

To the man who thus relates himself to God and his power, there is no such thing as defeat. Instead of allowing apparently unfavorable circumstances, such as floods, drought, depression in trade, and wars, to dishearten him, he will turn these things to his own advantage and to the advantage of the work. “Quit you like men, be strong.” “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.”

N. Z. TOWN.