Should Our Ministers Sell Books?
By Wm. Covert
Why should not Seventh-day Adventist ministers engage in the sale of our literature? They are especially selected and ordained for the purpose of laboring to extend the last phase of the gospel of Christ to all the world. They should be equally interested in all phases of this great work. Not one item that will help the cause forward should be regarded as outside the realm of their operations. The books which are published for the promulgation of the third angel's message have, for the most part, been written by our laborers, and they should certainly be as much interested in having the matter circulated as they are in producing it for the press. The excellent things which these publications contain are the same that should be proclaimed from the pulpit in sermons, or given to the people in pastoral work. These truths, when arranged and printed in the form of a book, are intended to abide in the homes of the people. The story they tell is ever the same. It matters not how often the book is read, its message never varies. In book form it is usually prepared with greater carefulness than when proclaimed from the pulpit. For all these reasons, and many more that might be cited, it does seem that our ministers should be greatly interested in placing these books among the people. In the early days of this message, every minister was supposed to carry a stock of our books for sale, and indeed most of them did this. Nearly every book, tract, or pamphlet among the whole list of our publications was borne by them to the people. When the minister visited our churches, he carried these books along. If he went into the field to give a course of lectures, the books were taken. Some box, trunk, or valise was set apart as a convenient receptacle for holding these volumes. Almost every subject which was presented by our preachers then was also represented by some publication which they had on hand for sale. Usually after the sermon was delivered, the publication representing the same theme was offered to the people for sale. The minister usually described its contents, and showed how the purchaser might be benefited by owning a copy of it; and, as a result, many of these good books were sold to anxious and interested purchasers.21Day and night as the meetings were in progress, the literature was circulated among the people who attended the meetings. The minister not only sold books from the desk, but in his pastoral work in the neighborhood where the meetings were being held, he carried them among the people, and so books were disposed of nearly every day during the whole period of a long course of lectures. The people who became interested in the preaching were also interested in studying the subject from the reading-matter which had in this manner been placed in their hands. Very frequently, in case of a tent meeting or a special course of lectures anywhere, our tracts were made up in bundles ranging in price from five cents up, and these were distributed in the congregation. While one laborer would describe the matter in the bundle of tracts, another would go among the congregation and sell them to the people. These efforts to distribute our tracts almost always met with encouraging success. Many times our pamphlets and bound books were offered in lots of two or more to one purchaser. Sometimes an interested person would buy a copy of every book in the whole catalogue of our publications. The writer has in several instances sold large bills of our books in this way. Even as many as fifty dollars' worth have been taken by some. Our preachers in those times urged the people to read upon these subjects, telling them that they could get a much better connection, and retain the thoughts in this way, while if they depended upon retaining what they heard from the pulpit, it was very apt to slip away from them. This method of presenting the truth certainly had many advantages connected with it. The person who became interested in the truth, who did not at the time accept it, had with him some of the truth to study after the meetings closed, and very often he would yield himself in obedience to the truth largely by studying the publications which he had purchased during a series of meetings. When he did accept the faith, he had a better understanding of it than he possibly could have had without the reading-matter to study. In the study of these books he was forced to study his Bible, because the books constantly referred him to the Scriptures as the basis of the propositions which they presented. He thus became a Bible student as well as a student of our literature. Persons who accepted the faith under these conditions usually were well informed in regard to the great principles of the truth, and therefore became pillars in the church. Not only did these members supply themselves with our books, tracts, and pamphlets, but they also became subscribers to our periodicals, especially readers of the REVIEW AND HERALD. We most certainly believe that our ministers should now be as faithful in the distribution of our literature as were the pioneers in early days. One thousand of our ministers, licentiates, and Bible workers, handling our literature at present as zealously as did the laborers who were in the field from twenty-five to forty years ago, would indeed give our presses some work to do which would be profitable to the cause. Brethren and sisters, shall we not see this work revived among us? With the conveniences for traveling now enjoyed by our laborers, can not they as consistently engage in this work as did those who labored in former times under many inconveniences in carting around our good books? Remember that our purses are better filled now than were the purses of the pioneers in this cause, and that the physical effort need not be as great as the older laborers were compelled to endure. Our publications are put up in better form, and are therefore more attractive, than they were when some of us carried them a quarter of a century ago. If the conference workers will lead out in this matter everywhere, it is believed that many of our people will take hold of the canvassing work with greater zeal and success than they have done during recent years. May the Lord restore to us the zeal in this matter which our fathers and mothers knew.