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Will It Pay?

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 13, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 11.

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Will It Pay?

By Geo. O. States

THE article in the REVIEW of December 26, “More Workers to the Front,” called to mind the early days of the first school among our people. When the question of a church-school was first talked of, and Prof. G. H. Bell started a school in Battle Creek, I became interested, and felt that I should like to attend and fit myself to engage in the work. It was in the fall of 1872 that I entered school, putting in two years. A few years later I entered the ministry, and I have always appreciated the help I obtained in Battle Creek College. To look over the years I spent in active service and think of the many precious souls whom I helped in making a start in living this truth, has indeed been a comfort to me during the years that I have not been in active service.
A few years ago I spent a night with a family in which the woman was an earnest member of our church. During the evening I said, “Sister R., how did you happen to learn of this truth?” She smiled and said, “Brother States, don’t you remember me?” I certainly did not. She then told me that in the summer of 1889 I took her order for “Bible Readings” in Leadville, Colo., and that she accepted the truth through reading it. I then remembered how low the finances were in our conference at that time, and how I spent quite a little time selling our good books. It was a comfort to learn that one dear soul had accepted the last message of mercy as the result of that work, and to think that there may be others whom I may never know in this life.
While there is an inspiration in the ministry that is not in the canvassing work, yet the servant of the Lord told us years ago: “There are many, who, because of prejudice, will never know the truth unless it is brought to their homes. The canvasser may find these souls and minister to them. There is a line of work in house-to-house labor which he can accomplish more successfully than others. He can become acquainted with the people, and understand their true necessities; he can pray with them, and can point them to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Thus the way will be opened for the special message for this time to find access to their hearts.”
How encouraging it is to feel that those who carry the truth to the homes of the people through the printed page are reaching souls that can not be reached in any other way! While the canvasser may never know the results in this life, yet if he does faithful work, there will be stars in the crown of his rejoicing.
The present winter I have been a great sufferer, and when it seemed as if my affliction was more than I could bear, I received a letter from a brother whom I had entirely forgotten. He spoke of how Elder James Leland and I held tent-meetings in his home town seventeen years ago, and of how he became interested. He writes: “You remember how stubborn I was and how I talked to you, and you were so kind to me. It took me a long time to make up my mind. You brethren must have prayed much for me. The Spirit of God got hold of me and made an entirely different man of me. I should like to see you and tell you that that was a happy day when you led me into the water and I was buried with Christ and rose to a new life. It took tobacco, whisky, and swearing all out of me.”
He wrote that two of his children who made a start at the same time he did had been graduated from our institutions, and were soon to go to China or India to give their lives to the proclamation of this message among the needy ones. He says: “I am glad you asked me to study the Testimonies. We have the nine volumes, also all Sister White’s other works. We have a nice little company here of twenty-eight members, and a Sabbath-school of thirty-eight. I am superintendent, and my wife is church clerk.”
A few days after receiving this encouraging letter I received another one from a young man now living in California, telling that sixteen years ago, when he was twelve years old, I baptized him, and now he has entered the ministry and is so happy to be engaged in giving the message.
Does it pay to make sacrifices and to endure trials to carry this blessed truth? Does it pay to wear out in this work? If I had my life to live over again, I should do the same, only I should try to be more careful of my health. It is certainly a comfort to think that while I am not able to go to these needy fields, some to whom I carried the truth are in turn filling these imperative calls. There is a satisfaction in taking this blessed truth of the third angel’s message to those in darkness who can not be reached in any other way.
GEO. O. STATES.