NOT DISCOURAGED by H. A. St. John

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 13, 1876

NOT DISCOURAGED.

By H. A. St. John

To the Members of the T. & M. Society of Ohio.

I WANT to say to you that I am not discouraged. The first quarter is ended, the first campaign past, and the first quarterly meeting is also closed.

Dist. No. 1 was not reported, but I am not discouraged.

Dist. No. 5 had no living representative in our meeting (sickness detaining the director), yet I am not discouraged.

Not one-half the members in our Society in the State were represented in the meeting (not having reported), but I am not discouraged.

We hope to raise eight or ten hundred subscribers for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Perhaps not more than fifty of this number have yet been obtained. Nevertheless, I am not discouraged.

Twenty-two hundred almanacs have come into the hands of our Society, and the greater part of them are disposed of. If all would do something, perhaps not less than eight thousand more could be scattered. But I am not the least discouraged.

If we should go backward for six months, in order to get a good start, I should not be discouraged.

DIRECTORS OF DISTRICTS.

No. 1, J. W. Lucas, Bowersville, Green Co., Ohio; No. 2, A. M. Mann, Darlington, Richland Co.; No. 3, R. A. Underwood, Mesopotamia, Trumbull Co.; No. 4, O. F. Guilford, Castalia, Erie Co.; No. 5, J. J. Boardman, Bowling Green, Wood Co.; No. 6, C. G. Daniels, Defiance, Defiance Co.

Now, dear brethren, rally your forces for a noble strike this present quarter, the first three months of a new year. Have a list of all the members in your district. If any have moved from the State, strike their names from the list. If any have moved to some other district in our Society, send a certificate of their membership to the director of the district to which they belong, and they will be counted there. If any are deceased, of course their names should be dropped from the roll. Make out a list of the actual, living membership of your district immediately, and send a copy of the same to the State secretary, making sure of a list for your own use. Then so instruct and help and encourage each member, that when you call the roll at your next quarterly meeting (March 18, 19, perhaps), every soul will have a response. By this I mean, a report of labor. Let all the directors say, Amen. Let all the members say, Amen.

Let the young look after the interests of the YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR. Let our brethren and sisters, while giving attention to all kinds of tract and missionary work as they have opportunity, make a specialty of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Our next State quarterly meeting will be held in Clyde, April 1, 2. Let every director begin now to get ready for that meeting. We are greatly desirous of having an efficient, working Tract and Missionary Society in Ohio. I believe this is the Lord’s will. I close as I begin by saying that I am not discouraged.

Now, brethren, here’s my heart and here’s my hand, To scatter the light all over the land.

H. A. St. John.