As we review the work done in the canvassing field during the past year, we realize that God has wonderfully blessed in the circulation of our literature, and to him belongs the praise for the success that has attended the faithful efforts of our canvassers.
Throughout the field there has been a most hearty co-operation with the publishing house on the part of our tract societies and agents, enabling us to overcome difficulties that would otherwise have proved serious obstacles to our work.
From time to time we hear it said that our books have been sold so extensively that our canvassers will soon have to turn their energies to account in another direction; but it is an encouraging feature in our work that during the past year our best success has been attained in the parts of the field where the greatest number of our books were sold in former years. This demonstrates that our literature is as the rain that “cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth;” for it contains the truth of God, and the more books we sell, the greater will the demand for them become.
During the twelve months ending June 30, 1902, we have had an average of fifty-five agents in the field; and although many portions of our territory have suffered from the most severe drought known for years, our work has prospered, and the returns for the year’s sales show an increase in every line above the records of any previous year in the history of our canvassing work in this field, and a total increase of $17,333 above our sales last year.
Books sold during the twelve months ending June 30, 1902:—
But while we can estimate the financial success of our work, and those who have been actively engaged in circulating our literature know the precious experience that comes to every one who truly co-operates with God and labors for the salvation of souls, the ultimate results of this seed sowing will be known only at the great ingathering just before us. God poured out the wealth of the universe in the gift of his own Son, and every soul saved in the kingdom of heaven is as precious to him as the price paid. The promise that “he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing the seed basket [margin], shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him,” assures us that the publications thus distributed will exert their influence, and that just “as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.”