MATTERS IN OHIO by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 31, 1879

MATTERS IN OHIO.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

As the time of our annual Conference draws near, we wish to call the attention of our brethren and sisters to a few facts which we think will interest them.

During this Conference year we have made a special effort to advance the cause in Ohio, and by the blessing of God and the hearty co-operation of most of our brethren, considerable has been accomplished. Ten new churches have been organized, raising the number from fourteen to twenty-four, and raising our membership from 396 to 687. A good many have embraced the Sabbath who have not yet united with the churches. With perhaps two exceptions, additions have been made to every church in the Conference, and the membership of some of them has been more than doubled. Nearly all the trials throughout the churches have been peacefully and happily settled. We know of but little murmuring or fault-finding throughout the State.

There is no faction or division among us. The Sabbath-schools have been brought up from almost nothing, in a majority of the churches, until now most of them are in good working condition. I have personally visited every church in the State except one, and the rest of our ministers have spent a large amount of time with the different churches, so that none can complain of being neglected.

We have made a special effort to supply every church with all our blank books for the church, S. B., missionary work, and the Sabbath-school, and to instruct the officers how to use them. This we think is now quite thoroughly accomplished. In nearly every church we have raised from $15 to $25 to pay for these blank books, a set of Sr. White’s books, a club of Instructors, and other necessary outfits for the Sabbath-school. This alone, in twenty-four churches, is no small sum. The Review has now been placed in almost every Sabbath-keeping family in the State. In the missionary work only six of our churches owe anything, and these less than $300 altogether, and they have stock on hand to balance this. In a large number of these churches pledges have been made of from $50 to $200 to raise a fund for their own missionary work, to be paid by the first of January. This will place our missionary work on a solid foundation, out of debt and much ahead. We have promptly paid the Signs Office all we owed them, and owe the Review Office only $165; while we have $50, and $440 worth of stock on hand. Last year the Conference raised only $1400 S. B. Thus far this year they have already paid $2400, and we expect this will be raised to $2800 before Conference. Three times as many will pay tithes next year as in the past. We think these are encouraging facts.

Last spring we purchased two new tents, one fifty feet, the other forty, and have refitted two old ones at a cost of about a hundred dollars. We have bought two family tents for the use of the Conference at the camp-meeting, and two more for our preachers in the field. We have assisted our brethren in building their meeting-houses where they were very much in need of help. Several hundred dollars have been contributed to the foreign missions, the Tabernacle, the Oakland church, and other worthy objects. For all these sacrifices we pray the blessing of God upon our brethren and sisters who have cheerfully made them.

Last year only two tents were run in Ohio, and these but a part of the season. Some five or six ministers were all that were at work, I believe; but this year we ventured to start out six tents. Fifteen men are employed with these constantly, besides Bro. Reavis and myself who have traveled among the churches, making in all seventeen men constantly at work in the field.

We did not expect that our tithing money would be sufficient to meet all this expense, and it has not been. Counting at the lowest wages at which our preachers can possibly make a living, we should not have enough into $200 or $300 to pay them up to date; and by the time of camp-meeting, Aug. 21, we shall probably come out $500 behind, while each week will throw us more and more behind unless our tithing fund is greatly increased. Then there are several more promising brethren preparing to go out into the field after their summer’s work is over; and this will produce additional expense.

We lay these facts before the brethren, and ask them, What shall we do? You see what a rich field Ohio is, how successful your laborers have been, and how ready God is to bless the work in this Conference. Now we ask you, Must we say to those who are willing to go out as laborers that we cannot possibly support

them? and must we dismiss one-third or more of those already laboring successfully? Of course something must be done. We do not propose to ask our brethren to do anything unreasonable. Perhaps three-fourths of our brethren and sisters in the State have promptly and honestly paid a tithe of all their income into the treasury. We shall not ask them to do any more in that direction. They have done their duty, and we will dismiss some of our preachers before we will press them to do any more.

But there is another quarter of our brethren and sisters who have not done their duty. They have paid in very little on the tithing principle, and some of them have paid nothing at all. I am sorry to say that some of our wealthiest brethren in Ohio, those worth from three to fifteen thousand dollars, have stood back and scarcely lifted with their little finger, while others were doing so much. Some of the able brethren have paid from two to five dollars during the last year, while poor widows and day laborers have paid this, and some of them three times as much. Indeed, I can name half a dozen of our able brethren who have not paid a dollar into the S. B. fund during the last six months, and as many more who have paid but two or three dollars, while I know they are having a good income.

Brethren and sisters, what do you mean by such a course? Do you believe there is a God in Heaven, or do you not? Do you think you can get on in this way, and prosper spiritually and save your souls? If you do, selfishness must have blinded you terribly.

Now, we ask you, brethren, to respond to our appeal, and send in your means before or at our Conference. Here we must determine our fall and winter’s work, and the extent of this work will depend on the way our finances stand at this meeting. Let every Sabbath-keeper in the State make a special effort to pay up the tithes and send them in to our Conference. There are scores of scattered ones from whom we do not hear a word, nor receive a dollar. I have just received from our treasurers a list of every name, with every cent paid by them during the last quarter, so I know to a cent what every one has paid. At the last camp-meeting over $3,000 were pledged, to be used mostly in Ohio. Only about $1,000 of this has been paid in. The hundreds thus pledged were to be used to buy our tents, to pay up our tract and missionary debts, and to help wherever it was needed most. We shall have to use this to help us out. We therefore request all who have made these pledges to do the best they can consistently to pay something on them, and have it sent in at the time of our Conference, Aug. 21.

In conclusion we will say that we are anxious to have pledges on Sabbath-school work and general work paid up, and out of the way, so that early this fall we can turn our attention more especially to the missionary cause. We are preparing to do extensive work in this direction this fall and winter. We wish to start out canvassers, and to circulate our papers, tracts, and books by thousands in every direction throughout Ohio. We think the spring and summer are long enough to get everything else straightened up and out of the way, so as to start in with a clean record and make a grand effort in the missionary work this fall; and by the help of God we expect to do this.

D. M. CANRIGHT.