CHAS. P. WHITFORD by Chas. P. Whitford

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1875

CHAS. P. WHITFORD

By Chas. P. Whitford

To the Members of the Vt. T. & M. Society, Dist. No. 1.

According to appointment in REVIEW, No. 15, our next Tract and Missionary meeting will be held in Berkshire, Oct. 30, 31. I have a great anxiety for the success of this meeting.

We want to see all the friends out, and if there are any points on which we have not yet attained to the best system, we must come up. Our Tract and Missionary operations must, in all our minds, mean order and persevering labor. The trouble with too many of us is, we do not feel our individual responsibility in this great work. Our hearts must be wholly bound up in it. While it is true that the truth is rapidly going to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, it is equally true that there is a work for us to do if we would share in the everlasting inheritance.

In view of this fact, a spirit of self-denial and sacrifice is required of us. “This must exhibit itself in a willingness to contribute to the extent of our means for the support of the cause generally, and of bearing such daily burdens as lie in our pathway. We should not give the trifles which we do not feel, but offer to the Lord an oblation worthy of our gratitude as Christians waiting for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven.”

He is coming to reward every man according as his work shall be. But the question frequently arises in some minds, What can I do? The people around us all know, or have had a chance to know, the reasons of our faith, and it will be useless to spend our time with them. For the benefit of such, let me propose the following:—

1. Let every member of the Society mail a tract every week to somebody. There are 280 members in the State. If 280 members would send out weekly 280 tracts to distant places, and accompany the deed with the prayer of faith, what might we not expect within the next twelve months. The tidings which Bro. Andrews gives us in REVIEW No. 15, of the movings of God’s Spirit upon the hearts of the people in Germany, Eastern Prussia, and other distant lands should certainly stir our hearts to engage in the work here with more earnestness than ever before.

2. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES, published by Bro. White, at Oakland, Cal., is an excellent paper to scatter broadcast over the land. Thousands would read it who would not look at a tract. Let the members of our T. & M. Society first subscribe for this paper themselves—this will be missionary labor in one sense—then take your paper and go from house to house soliciting subscriptions. Many can be induced to subscribe; and there are many others who would gladly pay the postage, and would read with interest, who could not be prevailed upon to subscribe. Such should receive the paper free, and the expenses should be met by our T. & M. Society. In this way we can do much to scatter the seeds of truth, and be instrumental in the hands of God of saving some from the wrath which is to come.

CHAS. P. WHITFORD

Berkshire, Vt., Oct. 17, 1875.