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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 60.

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Our Publishing Work

By W. W. Eastman

The publishing work of Seventh-day Adventists exists for the one purpose of proclaiming, or making known, the truth of the gospel as revealed in the Scriptures, and as understood by this people. We believe that to make known our message, whether in printed form or otherwise, is to bring salvation to the recipient of that knowledge.
To know God and Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures is to find eternal life, for it is written, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. Therefore said Jesus, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39.
The prophet, looking forward to the time when the saving truths of the gospel would be proclaimed even to the most remote sections of earth, gave utterance to these words: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.”
In the very earliest days of the third angel’s message the Lord through his servant urged upon his people the importance of putting the truth into printed form. Beginning small, and advancing under great difficulties, the publishing work developed, and a publishing house was erected, very properly and significantly the first institution of any kind to be established among us. Then as the truth was published, the message was made known, and believers were added to the church, thus creating a demand for sanitariums and schools.
Ministers and believers were very properly urged to circulate the publications, the number of which was continually increasing. But the ministers were occupied with preaching, raising up churches, and caring for believers, hence could distribute literature only in connection with their regular work. Believers likewise could devote but a small portion of their time to this work, as a support for themselves and families must be earned at their regular vocations. Consequently, the publications, not being circulated, were accumulating in the publishing houses. Then came the following instruction:— “Some things of grave importance have not been receiving due attention at our offices of publication. Men in responsible positions should have worked up plans whereby our books could be circulated, and not lie on the shelves, falling dead from the press. . . . Books that ought to be widely circulated are lying useless in our offices of publication, because there is not interest enough manifested to get them circulated. The press is a power, but if its products fall dead for want of men who will execute plans to circulate them widely, its power is lost. While there has been a quick foresight to discern the necessity of laying out means in facilities to multiply books and tracts, plans to bring back the means invested, so as to produce other publications, have been neglected. . . . By judicious calculation they can extend the light in the sale of books and pamphlets. They can send them into thousands of families that now sit in the darkness of error.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, pp. 388, 389.
Instruction was also given, urging that the message be prepared in subscription book form, and that a class of individuals be selected and trained to devote their time to selling these books in the homes of the people. This has resulted in the development of our colporteur work. Through this Heaven-sent agency the light has been extended into thousands of homes, and as a result many are rejoicing in the light.
Our subscription books have some advantages over other forms of literature as agencies for conveying the message. They give a fuller exposition of Bible truth, also a connected, continuous presentation of the system of reform truths, in permanent form. Illustrations that appeal to the eye, making the truth more attractive, are also an advantage. But best of all, in placing the publications in the homes, at least two visits of the human agent are necessary,—the first to secure the order, and the second to deliver the book. In soliciting the order, a brief but comprehensive heart-to-heart discourse is given on the message contained in the book, thus combining the living ministry with the printed page. Often these appeals reach the heart in a special way, and leave impressions upon the mind of the hearer that can never be effaced. None of us can doubt for a moment the presence and aid of the Holy Spirit and of holy angels as the colporteur lifts his heart to God, praying that he may be enabled so to speak to the heart of the individual as to arouse in him a willingness to buy the truth in printed form, and then lead him to search the Scriptures with the aid of the book, and to accept the truth of God for these last days.
Of the truth of the statement, “The same ministry of angels attends the books that contain the truth as attends the work of the minister,” the following affords a beautiful illustration:—
About twenty-seven years ago a group of canvassers was sent from the United States to England. A minister bought a book from one of them, and later moved to the United States. Twenty-five years swiftly passed, and in the meantime a baby boy was born into the home and grew to young manhood. One day while seeking something new to read from his father’s library, his eye was attracted to the title of a book, “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan,” and he took it down to read. Before finishing the first chapter, he was convinced that it was no uninteresting book he hadfound. He read on, with the result that other literature, including a copy of “Daniel and the Revelation,” was obtained through advertisements found in the book. Finally, while reading the chapter on the seventh seal (to use his own words), “The Holy Spirit gave me power to accept the truth,” and the next morning for the first time he sought the Seventh-day Adventist church, and has obeyed the truth ever since; and although persecuted by relatives and friends, scoffed at by his pastor, and forsaken by his fiancée, he could not give up; for, he says, “I had found something which gave me great peace.” He left a lucrative and prominent position, and today is engaged in evangelistic canvassing, and like hundreds of others in the same work, he hopes to see the fruits of his labor in the kingdom of heaven.
The work of the colporteur must, of necessity, be regarded largely as pioneer work. Like seed in soil unmoistened and unwarmed, the printed page may lie for a season with no apparent results, but the time comes when conditions change and the seed springs forth and ripens into fruit. We cannot, therefore, expect the same immediate results from this work as from the work of the minister and the Bible worker. Yet we believe there is a higher plane for the conduct of our colporteur work, not yet reached, which should bring greater and more immediate returns in believers than have yet been seen.
The Lord never intended that our publishing work should exist simply to furnish a job for the unemployed, nor as a money-making affair, either for our institutions or for the colporteur in the field, but rather as a ministry. It was to be used as an evangelizing agency. Concerning those who should engage in this work we have the following instruction:—
“As much care and wisdom must be used in selecting the workers as in selecting men for the ministry.” And of those who engage in it from the right motive it is said: “The intelligent, God-fearing, truth-loving canvasser should be respected; for he occupies a position equal to that of the gospel minister.” And again, “The work is a good one, the object high and elevating; and there should be a corresponding dignity of deportment.”
Thus the colporteur is, in God’s order, the connecting link between the publishing house and the people who read the product of the author’s pen. It has been said that the big end of our publishing work is the field end; and this end of our publishing work needs to be greatly strengthened and kept strong till our work is finished and probation closes.
May God give us a keener and clearer appreciation of the great good accomplished by our publishing work, and especially by the noble colporteur, who braves the heat of summer and the storms of winter to meet the people in every clime and of every nationality, to open to them around their firesides the truths of God’s Word as revealed in the printed page.
W. W. Eastman.