p. 28 | HEAR, YE! HEAR, YE! by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 23, 1879

HEAR, YE! HEAR, YE!

By Dudley Marvin Canright

TOO BAD!!

Yes, it is too bad, altogether too bad; so I keep saying to myself as I visit among our Sabbath-keepers, and find how sadly they are dropping off their subscriptions for the REVIEW, the Instructor, and Good Health. Indeed, I think I am speaking safely when I say that at least one-third of our brethren do not see the REVIEW at all. I visited a church in Ohio where not a copy of the REVIEW, the Instructor, or Good Health was taken in the whole church, either by the elder, deacon, librarian, or anybody else. The Lord pity us when it comes to this. I wanted to make a strong appeal to our brethren in Ohio; but I met this difficulty on the start,—I could not reach them through any of our periodicals. The very ones I most wished to reach, never see them at all. Hence I have had to work every way to obtain the names of the Sabbath-keepers in the State, and then mail them this appeal directly.

This sad state of things is not confined to Ohio. It is just so in every State where I have been; and what is worse, it is growing more so every year. And this is becoming the greatest cause of our weakness in the work. I can readily see some causes tending to produce this state of things. Special efforts have been made to circulate the Signs as a missionary paper. Its price has been put down below that of the REVIEW. Brethren have taken the Signs, single copies and in clubs, and have read the paper themselves and sent it to their friends. They have thought they were not able to take the other periodicals and so have dropped them; and finally a great many of them have dropped the Signs, and they are without a paper. If they take any paper at all, it is the Signs, because it is cheaper.

I know of librarians and tract workers who are sending reading matter to others, who do not take the REVIEW themselves. There must be a reformation on this point. The very constitution of the tract society requires that all tract workers shall see that every Sabbath-keeper has our periodicals first. The directors and librarians are not doing their duty in this matter, and I am afraid that many of our ministers fail here. As we have so little preaching, all the instruction that many of our brethren have is received through our papers. If they drop these off, they begin to backslide, and, finally, if they do not entirely give up the truth, they become so lukewarm that they are of no service in the cause.

What shall we do? We must not slacken our efforts in outside missionary work, but I am thoroughly impressed with the fact that there is a wonderful field for missionary labor among our own people, and that this is being sadly neglected. Brethren, this is too bad, too bad!

LOOK AFTER THE MONEY!

We feel like saying with a voice of thunder that will reach the ears of all the officers in our Conferences, Look after the money that is contributed in the various churches for the support of the cause. If there is anything sacred, that ought to be guarded in the fear of God, it is the small contributions made by his people for the support of the various branches of the work. During the year of 1878 there has been not less than one hundred thousand dollars paid in on

the S. B. and T. and M. fund and in special donations to help the work. Nearly all this money goes through the hands of the S. B. treasurers and the librarians, and thence through the hands of the different secretaries to the offices. There are more than five hundred librarians and seven hundred S. B. treasurers who handle this money, besides many scores of secretaries. Many of these persons are not accustomed to keeping books, or to adding up long columns of figures; and it is very easy for the most honest man to make a mistake in adding up a column of figures.

As I have gone from Conference to Conference, and from church to church, I have looked over the books of these officers, and in almost every case I have found mistakes ranging from twenty-five cents up to twenty dollars. This is no small affair, hence every one of these books should be carefully examined and audited, and every figure looked over again. But whose duty is it to look after these books? It is the duty of the president of the Conference; and the man who does not do this is not fit to be a president. That is just what he is put in office for—to look after these things. If he does not know how to instruct these officers in keeping their books, then let him learn immediately.

I know of cases where the president has visited a church year after year, and never even looked into the S. B. books, or librarian’s book, or even a clerk’s book. He does not know whether they are kept correctly or incorrectly. It is also the duty of each director to be familiar with all the books in his district, to look them all over, add up every column of figures, and see that they are kept correctly. The cause is growing larger, and this matter is becoming of more importance every year. Come, brethren, let us wake up and attend to our Master’s business.

HOLDING CHURCH PROPERTY.

Once more I am constrained to call the attention of our brethren to this subject. Be it known, brethren, that our simple church organization is not a legal organization, one which can hold property; and yet in every Conference I find that our brethren who have built meeting-houses simply elect trustees from among the church members, and deed the property to them and their successors; but there is nothing lawful about this. Brethren holding their houses in this manner have no lawful title to them, and are liable to lose them at any time. The law requires that a legal society shall be lawfully organized, and trustees elected from among these members. This society is entirely independent of the church. It should have a clerk, and separate records of its own.

Brethren, look after these matters. Once more we say, The church has a record and clerk of its own. The tract and missionary society has a librarian and record of its own. The S. B. fund has a treasurer and record of its own. The Sabbath-school has a secretary and record of its own. And the legal society which holds property has a record and clerk of its own. This should be kept entirely distinct, in separate books from those containing the church records. In some places these things are properly attended to; yet I think that I speak the truth when I say that one-half of our meeting-houses are not held lawfully, nor is there any record of the transactions of the societies. It is the duty of the presidents of the different Conferences to look after these matters. D. M. CANRIGHT.