p. 148 | The One Great Cause by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 11, 1875

The One Great Cause.

By James White

WE SHOULD ALL LIFT TOGETHER.

It is a common maxim that in unity there is strength. And in no book is this sentiment more strongly expressed than in the Book of God. Thorough organization, order, and unity, strongly mark the movements of the people of God in the Jewish age. And there is not one word in all the New Testament to show that Christ changed the order of things in this respect. Our Lord prayed that his people might be one, as he was one with his Father. And Paul exhorts the church by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all “speak the same thing,” and be “perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.”

And there has been no time since the introduction of sin and disorder into our world when union of effort in the cause of God, on the part of the Lord’s people, was more necessary than at the present time. In fact, it must be evident to the candid reader that at the time of the general apostasy, confusion, and perils of the last days, union of effort becomes a duty in a stronger sense than at any previous time.

The cause in which Seventh-day Adventists are engaged, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in America, or in Europe, is the one great cause. The time has come for united, liberal and energetic action. Eld. Andrews must have a press at his command in Europe, and help to make it efficient. Our school at Battle Creek is worthy of the patronage and support of all our people. The several committees of our State Conferences should encourage those young men to attend school who should give themselves to the work of the ministry. Both young men and young women should be studying those languages necessary to make them helpers in the work among the people of different languages.

It is true that the times are hard, which makes greater economy necessary. But with an interest in the cause proportionate to the importance of this time, almost any obstacle can be overcome. Almost any sacrifice can be cheerfully made by those who are imbued with the spirit of the last message. Ample provisions should be made at Battle Creek for those whose means are limited to board themselves. And earnest effort should be made to induce promising young men to prepare for the ministry.

Those who have not paid their pledges to our school should redeem them as soon as possible; and those who have not taken stock in the school, who are able to do so, should come up to the help of the Lord in this duty. Eld. Canright, in a recent number of the REVIEW, made a statement of the work to be done among the churches in Michigan. We trust that he and other live ministers will not overlook the importance of our school. Here is also work for the Presidents of the several Tract and Missionary Societies, to collect pledges, and obtain new stock for our College.

The Pacific press must be sustained very much by eastern brethren until the patronage upon the Pacific Coast shall be sufficient to sustain it. The Tract and Missionary work must be prosecuted with greater earnestness than ever before. If money is scarce, labor is the more plenty. It is missionary work that is wanted from house to house, to hunt up and labor with those who should receive our paper. The REVIEW is our church paper, and as such it should go into every believing family. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES is our pioneer paper, adapted to the condition of the people who have yet to learn our faith. Let it be circulated in all the States. Let it go to other nations wherever the English language is read. Do our people wish to send a paper to their friends in America or elsewhere in the world, adapted to their condition and wants, which will set before them the reasons of our faith in the least objectionable manner possible? We say to them, By the grace of God, our paper shall be such a paper. We also urgently call the attention of the Tract and Missionary workers to the SIGNS OF THE TIMES as worthy of their most vigilant efforts to give it a wide circulation.

There is money in the missionary treasury at Battle Creek, which has been waiting there for five years to be called out to give the publishing work a good start in Europe. When more is needed, a thousand ready hands will cheerfully cast in more. And the Guiding Hand has seemed to be with the effort to establish the press in California. In the most beautiful and healthful city in the State, we have a commodious building nearly paid for, good printing material, excellent presses, and a car-load of paper upon which we do not owe one dollar. And we are within forty minutes’ ride of the great city of San Francisco, where supplies of printers’ material and stock can be obtained on short notice. Paper is cheap, and freights on it are low. And postage on the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is only two dollars per 100 pounds’ weight.

We cannot expect a more favorable time to send out the light than now, nor a more favorable point from which to let it shine out than Oakland, California. We have no extremes of cold and heat here. We have neither snows and ice of winter, nor prostrating heat of summer, to hinder the work of publishing here. And we feel confident that the kind hand of Providence has placed us here, under the most favorable circumstances, to let our light shine out to the world through the columns of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. And we ask of our people, both from individuals, and from the Tract and Missionary Societies, an extensive circulation. We have no doubt that it would please God that 20,000 copies of the SIGNS should go out from the California press each week. We appeal to our friends everywhere to help us to let our light shine out to the world.

Both Mrs. W. and the writer feel that we have an especial work to do at the present time. We have a testimony of truth from the word of God to bear to the world through the press, and we ask our people to help with their means, and with their efforts to extend the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Sketches of the life, and experience, and labors of Mrs. W. will be given in the SIGNS by the writer, beginning about the first of December. That will be the best time for new subscribers to commence.

There are so few full-paying subscribers for the SIGNS that it is absolutely necessary to put the price at $3.00 a year, in order to be able to send it out, postage paid, to many thousands at half price. Those who are poor can have our papers free. And those who are not poor should be willing to pay an extra dollar, and cheerfully take another paper, to help us in our work just now. Extra papers are excellent to hand to one’s neighbors and friends. In carrying forward that which the cause demands on the Pacific Coast in the year 1875, the writer expends of his own means the sum of $2,500. We do not ask for a corresponding sacrifice on the part of all who are able to give of their means, but we do appeal to all to act a liberal part. J. W.