To the Brethren in New York.
By John Nevins Andrews
At the General Conference this spring, a copy of the list of the subscribers for the Review, for New York and Pennsylvania, was placed in my hands. This list shows the state of each person's account at the time when the list was placed in my hands. It was given me for the purpose of enabling me to settle with each subscriber, and thus to aid the Publishing Association in the collection of its dues. In looking over this list, I regret to find quite a number who are owing for several volumes of the Review, some for not less than ten. Quite a number of these delinquents I have every reason to believe are abundantly able to pay up their indebtedness whenever they choose so to do. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. You make loud professions of love for the truth, and of consecration to the cause of God. You testify to your fellow men that the great time of trouble when men shall cast their silver and gold into the mire of the streets is at hand. Yet by your acts you show that you love the truth in words and not in deeds. Brethren, do not misunderstand me. I write this for your sakes. The Review can get along without you. But how do you expect the blessing of God upon yourselves in following this course? Some that are indebted for the Review are doubtless struggling with poverty and sickness, and have done, and are doing, what they can to pay their way. No word of this reproof belongs to them. Yet, so far as my knowledge extends, this very class of persons have the fewest delinquents, nearly all of them being now in advance in their subscriptions. Shall I speak the truth with plainness? Some of you are so far backslidden that you have no interest in the great truths which the Review sets forth. Alas for you! The god of this world has blinded your eyes, in all probability, to your eternal ruin. The searching testimonies and stirring appeals of the Review, are not merely disregarded by you—some of you45do not even read them. Yet these very persons suppose themselves competent to pronounce judgment upon every effort put forth for the advancement of the cause, while yet entirely ignorant of the reasons that have been offered for such steps. My heart has been pained while I have witnessed the forwardness and self-sufficiency of some to whom nearly every word written above will apply. Some who read this will be ready to ask, Do you mean me? I answer, In all probability you are one of the persons intended. A few words relative to the Publishing Association. I am pained—not to say ashamed—to see that this, the south-west part of our conference, has done nothing, or next to nothing, by way of aiding the Association. The same is true of many individuals in other parts of the State, who are nevertheless abundantly able to do, if only the spirit of sacrifice was in their hearts, and they themselves, and all that they possess, consecrated to God and to his cause. Perhaps some may be ignorant of the reasons why they should take hold to help the Association. Let me say then first that you are not, in doing this, aiding any individual, or giving that which is to become the private property of any person. But in taking shares in the Association, or in making donations to it, you do so much toward furnishing it with capital to carry on the great work in which it is engaged. The Association employs capable business men, men who fear God and hate covetousness, to carry on the publishing work, and all their business transactions are subject to the close scrutiny of the Association. Not one of these agents is enriched one shilling by your donations to the Office. In order to furnish our publications at their present cheap rate, it is necessary to publish them in editions of several thousand of each kind. And to do this, and thus keep them on hand, necessarily requires a cash capital of several thousand dollars. Besides this, the purchase of paper alone for Review, Instructor, and books, if made to advantage, necessarily calls for a considerable sum, which must be kept all the time invested in this stock or material. Now there is an object to be effected that my heart is very much set upon. The General Conference, by a unanimous vote, requested the Association to publish a new Prophetical Chart and a Chart of the Ten Commandments. If published, it is designed that they shall be better adapted to use before large congregations, than the ones which we now have. I should add, by the way, that we have none of the old on hand to supply the present and future demands of the cause. Now if these charts are published, a considerable sum of money is needed at once. If only a small edition of these charts is to be published, the price of each must be put very high, thus limiting them to a very small number of persons, and in fact rendering it doubtful whether they be published at all. If a large edition of each is published, they can be furnished at a price that will bring them within the reach of all. Now can the necessary means be raised to secure the publication of these Charts? Most certainly it can be done, and that without difficulty. In my judgment it should be done mainly by those who have hitherto borne very little of the pecuniary burdens of the cause. There are many such who could take a single share in the Association ($10); especially is this the case with young men who have none to care for but themselves, and who, if they have not much property, have at least health, and, if Christians, industrious habits. Besides this, there are many families that consider themselves comparatively poor, who, by laying aside tea, coffee, and tobacco, have lessened their yearly expenses nearly or quite the price of a share, who, if they had as much love for the truth as they used to have for these bad habits, could find means to take a share in the Association. And those who cannot do so much as to take a share, can donate to the Association according to their ability. But there are brethren in this State who have done nothing in this thing, and some of them have been long in the cause too, who might without distressing themselves take shares in the Association to the amount of $50, $100, or even $300. What shall I say to such? My dear brethren, awake from your stupor. You well understand how to manage with prudence and sagacity in order to acquire a treasure here. But is this all the sagacity that you possess? You know that the time must come when all these earthly possessions are to be left behind, and we see plainly that that time is at hand. Now were it possible that you could be saved in that day, though you had made no sacrifice, do you not see that you would reach the kingdom of God with all your treasures left behind to be destroyed? Would it be no source of regret to you in that day that you had no treasure laid up in the kingdom of God? But you need have no fears of this kind. No such soul will ever enter heaven. Where the treasure is, there the heart will be; and where the heart is, there the man will be at last. Let me point out to you the more excellent way. When men invest their means in the cause of God, they transfer it to the bank of heaven. And there it will draw compound interest to all eternity. The widow's mite has been on compound interest for more than eighteen hundred years, and it has a long period yet to run. She cast in her all, and that with a trembling heart, as though it were not worthy of the great Master's acceptance. How many of you will cast in a small part of your abundance? How many will transfer their treasures before them to that land which they design to make their eternal abode? I know of some in this State who in the early days of this cause invested nearly all of their earthly possessions in sustaining the work. I know of others who, possessing quite as much, have done comparatively nothing, to aid the cause of God, but have devoted all their energies to amassing wealth. The day is coming which will show which pursued the wiser course. Wellsville, N. Y., June 26, 1863. P. S. I ought to say a few words relative to myself. I have had, since the commencement of our tent-meeting, a severe attack of lung fever, or something of that kind, caused probably by the state of extreme exhaustion under which I began to labor here. I am now entirely delivered from the disease, but have only regained a small part of my strength. Bro. Fuller has had to labor with the tent alone. But God has greatly blessed his labors, and quite a number have already decided to keep the Sabbath. I design to try my strength in the tent soon. If it does not prove adequate to the work, I shall try to labor in some other sphere, and, if possible, get some one to aid Bro. Fuller.