MATERIAL FUND FOR “CHRIST’S OBJECT LESSONS.”
By S. H. Lane
We are glad that money on the Material Fund is coming in so well. The Lord has certainly blessed in the raising of this fund. The appeal which has been sent out, and that which has been written in the REVIEW, has touched the hearts of our people, and hundreds have responded. Many have not, but we trust they will do so soon. We have all been rejoiced to see the long list of names printed in the REVIEW from time to time. We called for fifty thousand dollars to buy the material for the books. About twenty-seven thousand dollars has already been paid, and several thousand pledged. The fifty thousand dollars will provide material for nearly three hundred thousand volumes, printed in the English, but we are printing in the Swedish, the Danish-Norwegian, and the German. There should be enough raised, aside from the fifty thousand dollars, to pay for the type-setting, the plate-making, and the material used in these languages. We hope every German, Swede, Dane, and Norwegian who loves the truth will send in something to pay for editions in these languages. Sets of plates for these books will be furnished to our German and Scandinavian brethren in Europe, from which books will be printed in the languages I have mentioned, to be sold extensively in Central and Northern Europe, and the proceeds from these books will go to help the schools in those countries. Many who have been able to give but little have donated toward this fund. Some of the letters that have been received are soul touching. A letter just received, which was signed “A Friend,” reads as follows:— “Dear Brother: I send all I have,—twenty-five cents,—to the Relief of the Schools, and may the Lord bless it, and give me an opportunity to earn more for His cause.” Surely, whoever sent this will be richly blessed; for he sent his all. Reader, have you done that much? If not, have you sent any? If you say “No,” will you not send in a donation immediately for the Relief of the Schools? We know the calls are many, but that is only an evidence that the cause is growing, and it will be a sad day when there is no opportunity to help the cause of God in the earth. The books are selling well, and wherever they are sold, people are highly pleased with them. Brother W. C. Sisley, superintendent of the Review and Herald Pub. Co., has sold as many as two hundred books to persons who have come to sell him material for our printing work. These men have carried the books from Boston to Chicago, and even farther west. The following is a copy of a letter received a few days ago from a wholesale man in regard to the “Object Lessons:”— “Our Mr. —— bought from you, when last in your city, a nicely written book on the life of Christ. We have given it to a friend, who pronounced it the best thing ever written. Under these circumstances, I would request that you favor us with two more copies, and oblige.” Thus the sale of that one book secured the sale of two others. These books can be sold, and if we all take hold and sell them by the thousand, many of those to whom we sell will give them away, and call for others. It is a book that is highly prized by the poor and appreciated by the wealthy. We have reached the busy time of year, but cannot many even now sell a few copies? If you cannot for lack of time, can you not, through a disposition to work, be saving up money with which to buy from five to one hundred copies, so that when the busy season is over, you can go out and sell them to your friends and neighbors? Let us begin to plan for the fall and winter even now, for we want to see hundreds and thousands of these books placed in the hands of the people. About thirty thousand dollars has already been paid on the school debts throughout the country. This begins to decrease the amount of interest money, and every dollar paid in is a help. A battle well planned is a battle well begun, so let us begin our warfare by vigorously planning for the future of this work. While times are prosperous, let us roll back the reproach of debt. S. H. LANE.