GENERAL TRACT AND MISSIONARY SOCIETY, ITS NATURE AND OBJECT.
By Stephen N. Haskell
Pope once said, “Order is Heaven’s first law.” Everything in nature which bears the impress of Deity is stamped with the divine mark of order. A well-directed effort will accomplish a hundredfold more than the same effort where no definite object is before the mind, or where there is no plan to accomplish that object. Nineteen-twentieths of our efforts are fruitless unless well directed. S. D. Adventists are a power in the land, and dreaded by their opponents everywhere, because they are united in their efforts. Every blow they strike is not the blow of one man, but of a thousand; and in the ranks of their enemies it brings confusion. Some restless spirits, from time to time, get tired of waiting for the united judgment of the body, and the folly of their moves is manifest in the results. We might spend $100,000 in missions without accomplishing anything. But with system, which concentrates, gathers the forces, directs the strength, a few hundred dollars will accomplish a work, with God’s blessing, that defies all the artillery of the devil. At times the work seems to move slowly, but the apparent tardiness is made up in the maturing of plans which gives efficiency to the moves. That the labor of our brethren might be more efficient in the advancement of the truth, and that there might be no confusion, a system has been devised called the Tract and Missionary Society, the object of which is a judicious distribution of our publications among the millions of people inhabiting about 40,000,000 square miles of territory. This is a work of no small moment, and successfully to accomplish it the different Tract Societies have been organized. Each Conference Tract Society is molded after the same system, adopting the same constitution. This is as it should be. These Conference organizations are becoming large and numerous. More fully to consolidate the strength of our missionary effort, and to make it available in all parts of the world at the same time, a general organization has been effected, which takes a general oversight of all the Tract Societies, and makes such suggestions, and imparts such counsel as the varied circumstances may require. This organization renders harmonious the workings of this important branch of our cause, the influence of which is being felt in every portion of the civilized world. Through the State secretaries of the different Tract Societies, its officers will acquaint themselves with the circumstances and wants of each Society. This is one object of the General Tract and Missionary Society. The General Conference Committee has the supervision of this work in common with every other branch of this cause, and this Committee, among S. D. Adventists, is the highest authority under God upon earth. There are individuals and small companies of Adventists in every Southern State, and in the Territories of this country, also in the different countries of Europe, and in Asia and Africa. These should be looked after, and should be instructed to co-operate with us in the spread of those truths that apply to the time in which we live. Then there are sea-ports trading with every nation bordering on the sea, and with numerous islands, in many of which places our publications would be gladly received. These should all be supplied. We have hitherto lacked a method whereby this could be done, and the means with which to do it. The burden of this should not come upon one society, but the expense of entering these unexplored fields, outside the limits of any Conference tract organization, should be supported by the various Tract Societies in the same manner that the General Conference is sustained by the various State Conferences. To illustrate more fully what we have said in the preceding paragraph, and that our brethren may more fully understand, some of the ways that the funds of this society will be used, we mention the necessity of putting our publications into more than one thousand reading rooms in foreign countries and islands of the sea. There are one hundred and sixty-three whaling vessels in the United States, having only eleven ports. All of these ships have their regular points which they make. We are in possession of weekly news, giving the name of each vessel, the date of its sailing, where bound, and the points it designs to make, with the names of masters and agents. Now, through proper brethren to act as agents to visit these different vessels at the time of sailing, and make arrangements with the proper officers, packages of our publications can, without any expense of transportation, be sent to all of these different places. The general secretary can notify the agents when these vessels sail, and give the names of their officers. Each vessel should also be furnished with a small library for its own use. The utility of this work’s being done under the direction of one general head cannot fail to be seen; for what is everybody’s business is nobody’s, and many vessels would receive no publications whatever. The advantage of sending by ships to these points, instead of by mail, is very great. We have furnished very many vessels, and have found, thus far, that the officers have taken an interest to assist us. The cost of mailing a single letter to some of these places is twenty-six cents. What is true of these whaling ships is also true of the merchant vessels, and in this manner every sea-port in the world may be furnished with reading matter on present truth, with only the cost of the publications. Thousands of copies of our periodicals could thus be used weekly, to say nothing of other publications. This will be thought by some to be a wild statement; but I know whereof I speak, and what I am talking about in this matter. Imagine my feelings when I have seen old REVIEWS, REFORMERS, INSTRUCTORS, and SIGNS cast aside as waste paper. We appeal to our brethren and sisters everywhere; save all your old periodicals on present truth, box them, place them in the hands of your State secretary or president (if you have no use for them yourselves); and in due time we will find a place for every one of them, where they will be read and re-read. Our soul is stirred while we write, as the magnitude of the work comes up before our mind, and we see the different means for accomplishing it which the providence of God has made available to us. We are pained at the lack of a realizing sense of these things by our brethren and sisters. Then, where are the means to accomplish this work. We appeal, in behalf of the cause of present truth, to those who have an abundance of this world’s goods for one-hundred-dollar men, five-hundred-dollar men, and even one-thousand-dollar men. Such can here make an investment that will place stars in their crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord, representing souls saved from many nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples. S. N. HASKELL.