Tract and Missionary Labor.
By John Harvey Waggoner
As I have traveled considerable of late I have been led to observe and reflect on this subject, and I have great fears that in many places there will be nearly an entire failure unless great changes can be made. I am told by most of those with whom I converse that they can not find time to attend to it. And this leads me to notice the fact that our brethren, in common with the rest of the world, are working harder than usual the present year. In every place where I have been I am told the same story by almost every one—they were never before so driven with work as now. There are several causes for this. The earth does not yield her increase as formerly. Of this there can be no doubt. And insects of various kinds are increasing to render the crops more uncertain. The seasons are more variable, with greater extremes of heat and cold—of wet and dry. These are causes in nature. Besides these there is an alarming spirit of speculation, which has taken hold of some Sabbath-keepers, as is manifest by their leaving the fields of honest toil, and taking hold of patent rights, or peddling, sometimes things of little or no real value. This spirit is mostly shown by thousands crowding into the cities, leaving the farming country destitute of sufficient help. All must perceive that such influences are working powerfully; for, with a wonderful increase of labor-saving machines, the farmers have difficulty in getting their work done. It is almost impossible to get farm hands. And, while the cities are doubling their population, some of them in a few years, the population of the country around them is not greatly increasing. I lately saw some statistics which showed that the counties wherein several cities were located, had not increased their population by as much as it had increased in the cities; that is, outside the cities the population of the counties had decreased. And the increase of the population in the States generally bears no proportion to the increase of their cities. Now it must be evident to every one that if these several influences continue, and increase, as they are likely to, work will press more and more, and each year will find us more hurried than the one preceding. What is the remedy for this? There is but one: make our calculations so as not to get so large an amount of work on our hands. I know some brethren who this year had more than twice the amount of work on hand that they could possibly do, and they had deliberately laid their plans to have it on hand, knowing that a few days of sickness, an accident to a team, or difficulty of getting help at the proper time, would so disarrange their plans and work as to cause them to suffer loss, or lead them to do about three times the amount of labor they ought to do. Some of these brethren look old, haggard, and careworn. They are not able to attend the evening prayer-meeting, nor do they enjoy or profit by the meeting on the Sabbath. It seems to me that this is a snare of the enemy’s setting. Our tract societies were designed to divert the minds of the brethren from their worldliness and lead them to work for God—to become a missionary people. If we wait till we get time, according to the way we are calculating and moving, we shall get farther and farther from the work. Of course our interest in the truth and zeal for the cause will abate, our love grow cold, and the time when we can “neither buy nor sell” will find us destitute of faith and strength to endure. Having only trusted in the world and in our own efforts, we will not know how to cast ourselves on God. Not only do our brethren need this kind of labor for their own spiritual advancement, but the work must be done. Our ministers are few; some of them overworked and failing. And the prevailing spirit of worldliness makes public labor more difficult. People will hardly take time to hear a full and complete course of lectures on the Bible. And, consequently, where a church is established by tent or otherwise, it is frequently the case that the vicinity is not half canvassed. Judicious tract labor and visiting would increase the number of believers in almost every place. It is possible to be “increased in goods,” and yet be “miserable and poor.” It is now time to calculate for the future, and to try to avoid the errors and mistakes of the past.