Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 7 (1891-1892)

Lt 54, 1891

Jones, Charles

Petoskey, Michigan

July 7, 1891

Previously unpublished.

Dear Brother Charles Jones:

I received printed letter last evening which I read with much interest. I have felt very sad. Every time I have taken the Signs in my hands I have laid it down with disappointment, for it contained so little, and it seemed to me going backward in the place of going forward. I have not the assurance that the voice that was heard in the arrangement for the belittling of the Signs was the voice of God. By far better be cramped in your buildings and save expense in that line, but never, never lower your light, or let it shine more dimly, or not emit one-half of its illumination in the messages which come from the press which shall go to all parts of the world. “Ye are the light of the world.” [Matthew 5:14.] May the Lord help you to cut down in something else, rather than the paper He has established on the Pacific Coast. Let those working in the office each make some little sacrifice in point of wages. If necessary, let the cutting be in other lines rather than Signs of the Times. Bring it back again, brethren, with earnest zeal and heartiness, and never say ensmall the paper again when it shall bear its original size. 7LtMs, Lt 54, 1891, par. 1

It has seemed to me that the Spirit of the Lord was grieved at this movement made. I was shown that such a paper was needed on the Pacific Coast to give character to the work of God, establishing many souls in the truth. It must be kept in its true elevated character as the beacon light in the lighthouse to warn souls and to guide souls to the haven of truth. The contrast between the Signs and the Review and Herald is made decided and it ought not to be thus. The Signs has been belittled, its patronage lessened, when it ought to be constantly increasing and deepening in its influence. But I am not very well and must close. 7LtMs, Lt 54, 1891, par. 2