General Conference Bulletin, vol. 4

AN EFFECTIVE LITERATURE AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT

(Extracts from paper by A. T. Jones.)

Effective is producing an effect, and if we had the whole body of Seventh-day Adventists here, and I should ask them the question, How many were made what they are by the literature? is it too much to say that the majority of them would say they were? GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.3

But the literature must be kept efficient, and this requires attention. A literature, to be efficient, must always be up-to-date. Therefore it is necessary that we watch our literature, keeping it fresh as it continually grows in the progress of the message. As fast as it is read, new books will have to be written touching the issues that are before us. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.4

In every age those men who were a power in gospel work were the men who studied the Bible, and applied it to the issues of their time. They studied the Bible from Daniel to Revelation. Wycliffe of course put the whole Bible before the people; but between him and Luther, the Reformers were students of Daniel and the Revelation, particularly of Daniel. And the man to-day who studies Daniel and the Revelation, and gives his knowledge to the world, stands out just as clearly as a Reformer, and his work will stand forever. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.5

But there is another thing that we must watch. When literature is produced that is efficient, all must work, body, soul, and spirit, to give it a chance to deliver its message to the world. However efficient, however valuable, however full of present truth a piece of literature may be; and however well printed and gotten up,—on the shelf it is not good. Every minister in the field, all presidents of Conferences, the president of the General Conference, the tract society secretaries, the managers of our publishing houses, each one of them, ought to be a professional reader of our literature. How can the literature be gotten out if the people are not told about it? and what better work, if I am in the field, can I do than to read every book, or tract, or pamphlet, or whatever it may be that is printed, and thus become acquainted with its efficiency, tell it to others, and get them to spread it still farther? GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.6

Of all things the tract society secretary should have that for his special work. What is he appointed for? Isn’t it to get our literature before the people? It is not enough for the tract society secretary to sit down and wait for somebody to order a tract or a pamphlet, but his duty is to let the people know that the tracts and books are ready, and to call their attention to them. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.7

I am not objecting to tract societies. I believe there is a place for them, but I want them to work. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.8

Therefore these three things—the efficient literature, how to keep it efficient by keeping it up-to-date, and then the machinery with which we put it in circulation—are needed to make our literature efficient. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.9

Our schools also have a part to act in disposing of our literature. Teachers in our schools have put their classes on heathen literature instead of our own. “Great Controversy” is one of the greatest histories in the world. Our schools must use our literature, and must let the students have it; not only must they let them have it, but they must bring it before them. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.10

The best moral philosophy in the world, outside the Bible, has been left out of our schools, and heathen philosophy brought in and made the study. This is one of the secrets of the dearth of young men in the ministry. There is no dearth of young men among us, but we in the ministry have not cultivated them. Let us use the literature that God has given us, because it is the truth, and the truth is efficient. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.11

To-day is, for all that we know, the opportunity and occasion of our lives. On what we do or say to-day may depend the success and completeness of our entire life-struggle. It is for us therefore to use every moment of to-day as if our very eternity were dependent on its words and deeds.—Trumbull. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.12

Present opportunities, if rightly used, are as great as the soul need ask.—Anna Robertson Brown. GCB April 2, 1901, page 5.13