p. 18 | Canvassers' Institutes by HORACE MILLER

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 19, 1907

Canvassers' Institutes

By HORACE MILLER

The question is sometimes asked, What are canvassers' institutes, and why should they be held? Canvassers' institutes are for council in regard to best ways of conducting the Lord's work, also for united prayer and spiritual rest.

The faithful canvasser who lives in almost daily contact with evil and corrupt minds, and who meets error in its varied and subtle forms, surely needs retirement from these for a time, and the association and privileges which a canvassers' school affords. We find that Enoch sought periods of retirement from constant contact with the corrupt minds of his age. On pages 86, 87, of “Patriarchs and Prophets,” we read: “He continued to exclude himself, at certain periods, from all society. After remaining for a time among the people laboring to benefit them by instruction and example, he would withdraw, to spend a season in solitude, hungering and thirsting for that divine knowledge which God alone can impart.”

Christ said to his disciples, “Come ye yourselves apart . . . and rest awhile.” This was just after the return from their first missionary tour. In “Ministry of Healing,” page 56, we find stated the object Jesus had in calling his disciples apart. “Only a short time did Jesus have alone with his beloved ones, but how precious to them were those few moments! They talked together regarding the work of the gospel and the possibility of making their labor more effective in reaching the people. As Jesus opened to them the treasures of truth, they were vitalized by divine power, and inspired with hope and courage.” If these periods of special study, prayer, counsel, and exclusion were needed for the disciples in past ages, how much more do we need them to-day, when the Christian worker has to meet all the accumulated evil of the past ages and the almost infinite number of false and subtle doctrines that are extant to-day.

In unity there is power. In an institute we study together, counsel together, and pray together, and this binds our hearts together, and we become more like one family.

In gatherings of this kind is afforded a most excellent opportunity for the State agent to present to all the importance of the reporting system, of systematic effort in the field, and of concentration in our work; and the older workers then present will sanction and support the instruction given. So when differences and neglect have existed, the combined influence of experienced canvassers and the State agent will serve to eliminate the tendency to neglect, and will bring in unity.

Again the institutes afford an opportunity for those who wish to enter the work, to obtain a knowledge of the book which they wish to sell; to get instruction in methods of canvassing which have proved the most successful, and to learn of the sacredness and importance of the work. As a means of grace they are indispensable to the Christian worker, and I verily believe that many a one has dropped out of the work because he failed to attend the institute. I have attended ten such schools, and I have never regretted one moment thus spent.

Our canvassers' institute this year for North Carolina will be held at Hildebran, beginning December 17, and continuing three weeks. Some from other States have written me that they were coming to North Carolina to canvass. This is a needy field, but fruitful, and we shall surely welcome all who come with a burden for souls, a mind to work, and a real spirit of consecration. Come in time to attend this institute. Why put off a good purpose until the enemy steals it away? Do not persuade yourself that you do not need to attend, for it is often the case that the one who thinks he can get along all right without the institute is the one who needs it the most.

Come and help us form a large band of men and women to circulate the truth in this needy field. Address the writer at Gastonia, N. C.

HORACE MILLER, State agent.