Review and Herald Constituency Meeting
The fourteenth annual meeting of the constituency of the Review and Herald Publishing Association was held in the Seventh-day Adventist church at South Lancaster, Mass. The first meeting was held at 7 P. M., January 8, and the closing meeting at 10 A. M., January 10. There were present the officers of the association and the presidents of the Columbia and Lake Union Conferences, besides members of the General and North American Divisions; the Atlantic Union Conference Committee, the tract society secretaries, and the field missionary secretaries of the Atlantic Union Conference. Thirty-nine delegates responded to the roll call. In the address of welcome given by the chairman, he spoke of the early history of our work and of the pleasure it was to the association to hold its annual meeting within the territory where our publishing work was born, and where it was nourished through the period of its early infancy. He said in part:— “As New England proved to be the cradle of Western civilization, so it proved to be the cradle of this world-wide gospel movement with which we are connected. We owe much to the earnest servants of God who have gone out from this Eastern field as pioneers in this work. . . .” “We have no evil report to bring of the last year’s experiences. Abundant blessings have attended the work of the association. Many and wide doors have been opened for the reception of the printed page. The events which are taking place in the world are making significant appeal to the hearts of men, and as never before in the history of our denominational work there is a spirit of inquiry as to the portent and meaning of the conditions which surround us.” “Well may we be thankful that God has provided us the facilities and the means whereby these anxious inquiries may be answered. In the splendid denominational literature which has been created through the years, we are supplied with munitions for the great spiritual warfare in which we are now engaged.” The manager, E. R. Palmer, made a very encouraging report of the work of the association during the year, showing an encouraging growth in every department of the institutional work. A Pioneer Evangelizing Agency
“The publishing work of this cause is as old as the movement itself, the very first efforts for the extension of this message having been exerted in the publication of literature. “Publishing gospel literature is both a pioneer work and a permanent evangelizing agency. Elder O. A. Olsen, a former president of the General Conference, and a man whose knowledge of our work extended over many years and over many countries, left on record the statement that, so far as he knew, every foreign mission work established by this people has been started by the influence of our literature. “In every department of our work, literature is becoming more and more a mighty agency in winning souls to the truth. This fact is being strongly emphasized in reports of progress from the great mission fields of the Far East. It is affirmed by those who have made a close study of this question, that literature is doing more to win souls to Christ in China and in other countries of the Asiatic Division than all other agencies combined.” “All who love this message feel a deep interest in the work in this populous section of our field. For a number of years the work was not so prosperous in this territory as in the West. The tide of emigration and wealth and enterprise was flowing westward. The unsettled frontier territories proved more fruitful than the East. But years ago the servant of the Lord said that the message would return to the East with power. For years God’s people have been looking with anticipation for that experience. They are longing and praying for the time when God’s name will be greatly glorified, and his cause advanced with power in the very places where the message began to be published in such a humble way.” “And now it seems that the time for the fulfillment of the promise has really come. During the recent past there have appeared omens that the work in the East is taking on new strength. Wonderful victories are being gained, our publishing work is advancing as never before in this territory, souls are being won for the kingdom, and the courage of all is being revived. These blessed experiences you are enjoying in the Atlantic Union, and these historic places where our publishing work was cradled in its infancy, form an interesting and proper setting for this report of the most successful year in the history of this association.” Seventy Years of Progress
“Without a reminder we may hardly realize how great is the progress of this department of our work. Sixty-five years ago this movement was represented by only one little printing house, the total investment in which was less than one thousand dollars. We now have thirty-eight publishing houses, printing literature in ninety-one different languages; and the sale of literature by the denomination in one year (now amounting to over two million dollars) is more than four times as great as it was during the first forty years of our history. In fact, the literature circulated by the Review and Herald office during the past year more than equals the total distribution by the denomination during those first forty years.”},{