SIGNING NOTES by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 14, 1879

SIGNING NOTES.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

AGAIN we feel constrained to call the attention of our brethren to the great risk which they run in signing notes with friends.

First, it is entirely unscriptural, as has been frequently shown through the REVIEW, the Lord strongly advising us not do it.

Secondly, in a large number of cases it proves the utter ruin of the brethren who thus sign for others. I think I can truthfully say that not a month passes but I learn of very sad cases of brethren who have lost from one hundred to a thousand dollars, and frequently all they have in the world, by thoughtlessly signing a note with some friend. Just now a good honest brother, with simply means enough to buy a little home, has involved all he possesses by signing for an unworthy brother. I know another case of a brother who has just lost six hundred dollars by signing a note. Indeed, we can scarcely go into a church where cases like this do not exist. Our brethren have been warned against this danger time and again. If a man comes to you to sign with him, no matter who it is, you should not do it. You have no right thus to hazard the property God has placed in your hands, and bring distress into your family. It very generally happens that it proves an injury to the man with whom you sign, as it enables him to take risks which he would not otherwise.

Some of our leading brethren say that they will never sign a note with any one, not even their own father or son, and we think this is the correct principle. If they are so needy as to require help, give it right out, or hire the money on your own responsibility, and lend it to them; but remember that if you put your name to another man's obligation, you will quite probably have to pay it. Of course you do not think so at the time, but it will turn out so, and then you will never recover from it while you live. The best way to avoid the difficulty is by attending to your own matters, and letting others do the same. D. M. CANRIGHT.