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Organization

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 10, 1865

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 25, No. 7.

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Organization.

By R. F. Cottrell

I wish to record my hearty approval of our systems of organization for legal purposes, and of contribution for the cause of truth, as set forth in recent articles by Bro. White. I am perfectly satisfied that no reasonable objection can be raised against either. The plan for systematic contribution to the cause is calculated to produce an equality, so that all who desire to know about the amount they ought to contribute, can estimate it according to a general scale. Those who desire to know their duty in this respect, will feel thankful for a plan that will aid them in assessing themselves, and will cheerfully contribute according to their ability. Those who do not feel it a privilege to do their part in this work, will look upon the plan that is only intended as a help in ascertaining duty, as a compulsory system of taxation. It is not for these that the method is proposed; but for those who really desire to ascertain their duty.
As to legal organization of a publishing association, or societies to hold church property, no objection can be found, more than against holding private property by law. When, in either case---individual or collective, we are called upon to sacrifice our duty to God to obtain legal protection, it will be a sin; but as long as we make no compromise of principle, we only enjoy those benefits from civil law which God has designed for us to enjoy.
It is instructive to those who would take lessons in fallen, unconverted human nature, that those fault-finding persons who are now striving to impede the progress of the holy cause of present truth, by objecting to legal organization, are the very ones who were suspicious of Bro. White, and complained of the one-man power, while the publishing interest was in his individual hands. To satisfy their demands, the Review and our publications must not be published by an individual, nor by an association; that is, they must not be published at all. But we have reason to thank God that the cause in which we are engaged cannot be thus overthrown. The Lord will take care of his own cause. It is God that has in his providence set in motion the publication of the great truths which he has designed for this last generation by means of the press. He never abandons the means of his choice, till the mission is ended and the work accomplished.
The organization of societies for legal purposes, and the organization of the church according to revealed truth, are two things, separate and distinct. A man may be a member of the church without being a member of a legal organization. But when this fact is admitted, there remains no objection against the members of the church being united in legal organization, a privilege which all have, freely proffered by the government, and requiring no sacrifice of principle on our part.
R. F. COTTRELL.