Men who will not talk about the work, but who will go into the work,—plain, hard-working, practical men who will go into the field and say, “Come boys,” instead of, “Go, boys,”—men who know God and a few things about their books, and know them well. We do not need State agents who are great talkers. They may forever keep off the rostrum, and still make a success of their work.
Planning duties in a critical way for the conference president is no part of the State agent’s work. The biggest criticism a State agent can bring upon himself is to find fault with the president.
Holding institutes is not his primary work. During the best six years of my work as a State agent, I never held a general public institute. They are right in their place, but they are not often essential.
An Ideal Plan
The experience of — is to my mind an ideal one. At the time to which I wish to refer he was the only canvasser in —. The conference had about eight hundred Sabbath-keepers. The records had been destroyed. The debt upon the tract society was three thousand five hundred dollars. He selected four boys, and went out with them. He received no salary. He began at the south end of his field, and worked thoroughly toward the other. He got his men together Sabbath and Sunday, and filled them with enthusiasm. He would not leave them, even when solicited to do so by the president, until after their first delivery; then they were ready for him to leave. Then he chose four more men. Within fourteen months he had fourteen men in the field, and had not lost a single one. During the first three years of his work he kept his number good, and at the same time twenty agents were developed and sent to another field; the debt at the tract society was paid, and they had seven hundred and fifty dollars on hand. He taught his men to discard the idea that they could not sell a book in territory where it had been sold before. “Great Controversy” and “Bible Readings” were their chief books.
Principles
Take first for your motto, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Take an unconquerable attitude toward God’s work. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If you think that you can, you can, particularly if you know you can. There are no deserts, no Jordans, no Alps to a man when God is going before him. Do you think for a moment that the fact that a man takes up self-supporting work deprives him of the power of the gospel? Did the fact that Stephen engaged in attending to the business of the church deprive him of power? See Acts 6: 5-8.
Success in Hard Times
It does not make so much difference what is on the outside if the inside is all right. “Let not your heart be troubled.” Keep the citadel strong. “The gold and silver is mine,” and the Lord says, “Ask, and ye shall receive.”
An Experience
I had worked four days in a town called Sodom, and in some way the name of the town seemed to have got on the inside, and I was obtaining no orders. Friday morning I went to a little brook in a secluded spot, and there on my face before God I took the orders for the day. After that I went back to town, worked all day, and obtained an order in every house but one. During that hour I succeeded in getting Sodom on the outside.
Territory Is Never Worked Out
Territory that is worked six or eight times is really better than ever before. The records of our best agents are that the sixth or seventh book used sells in the largest quantities. The following is the official record of a little town in Australia, Bendago, by name: First canvass, 250 copies; second, 350; third, 500; fourth, 600; fifth, 850; sixth, 1,000. And yet, after that sixth canvass, agents said the field was no longer good. By what process of reasoning do you suppose they arrived at that conclusion?
Prejudice Will Not Hinder
Don’t believe the things people tell you that are not so. Don’t believe anything that is told you, and only half that you see. The Bible says, “Who is so blind as my servant?” Prejudice is not to be feared. The men who have triumphed in the ages past have been men who were not afraid of all the powers in heaven or hell.
Brethren, help us in every way you can. Talk courage. Books can be sold to-day just as well as at any time in the past. Let us do it.