Battle Creek | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 8, 1871

Battle Creek.

To THE Seventh-day Adventists, Battle Creek is a point of great importance. Here are all our publishing interests which do very much in molding the destiny of the cause, and which are rapidly growing to be matters of considerable magnitude. And here also is our Health Institute in a most prosperous and growing condition, with the prospect, judging from the past, not only of being a means of relieving the sick, but of spreading the truth, and bringing men and women to Christ.

Beside these, here is a large church. The Battle Creek church, from the nature of the case, must be a large church, and should be a very active and influential church. Those connected with our institutions alone as editors, mechanics, physicians, and helpers, with their families, would constitute a church of near one hundred members. And then it is important that there should also reside at Battle Creek others of the very best families among our people, from which suitable men may be selected as Trustees, Directors, counselors, and business men. The work suffers from want of good families that can board on liberal terms our young men and young women that work at our publishing house, and at the same time have a good influence over these young people. In short, we want at Battle Creek men and women who are able and willing to sacrifice for the good of our institutions.

Let this state of things be established at Battle Creek, and prosperity will attend the work in all its branches. Confidence in the management of affairs at head quarters will then be established in the minds of our people everywhere, and they will only need to be informed of the wants of the cause to lead them promptly and liberally to cash over at every call.

Our institutions are not the property of a few men. They are the property of all our people everywhere. And it is proper that the several conferences should send their best men to Battle Creek to represent, and care for, their interests in the cause at head quarters. In this they should, however, consult with the General Conference Committee.

Our ministers are not capable of financial engineering. God has called them to another work. They must not leave the word of God to serve tables. We want men of experience, who have made life a success, so that they have character and wealth, and who can afford to nourish our institutions, instead of looking to them for pecuniary benefit. We can spare twenty families in Battle Creek for ten such. At present there is a great want of efficiency in the Battle Creek church. And for several years, this church, instead of being a benefit to our publishing work, has called from it much of the labors of those of our ministers who were connected with our publishing house, and wished to devote their entire time and strength to writing and editing.

We have stood at this post as preacher, editor, business manager and general counselor, in the midst of a large, but very feeble church, that could not, or, at least, has not, given but little assistance, while, at the same time, it has frequently cast upon us burdens grievous to be borne. In our condition of comparative poverty, during the first ten years of our sojourn at Battle Creek, we served this church as preacher and pastor, for which services the church did not, directly, or indirectly, in any way whatever, make the least returns.

This church has been made up, to a very large extent, of widows, orphans, and the poor generally, many of whom have shared our scanty purse at a time when we received for our entire services in the several departments of the cause only the amount paid to an ordinary printer.

And what has added to the general discouragement, many that have composed the Battle Creek church have been, not only poor in this world's goods, but were of that almost valueless portion of community that are constantly shifting locality, who drifted into Battle Creek, not to help the cause, but were a burden to it. The result of all this has been, that at the very time we needed help in the work to which God had called us, we had our life well nigh pressed out of us from outside cares and troubles from an unworthy church. In view of these facts, sensible Christians will justify our efforts, in our worn condition, at the age of fifty, to either call around us suitable help, and those who will have a good influence, or to leave the work at Battle Creek to fresher and more able hands.