General Conference Bulletin, vol. 4

THE WORK IN ENGLAND

E. J. Waggoner

April 17, A. M.

If you look at the map, and compare the extent of territory of the British Isles with the whole world, it does not make a very big showing. There is a popular idea among the people who live in the interior of this broad continent, where they have a long way to go before coming to the sea, and where many people live their whole lives without ever knowing the scent of salt water, that one can hardly move around in England without danger of stepping off. There are people who still have the idea that there is danger of a railway train running off into the sea because the territory is so small. But there is some room there, nevertheless,—room for a great number of people, and even for more than there are at present. There is one thing I think about when I hear people here telling about the vast area of their fields of labor, that it is not a territory we are evangelizing, but people. It is not acres to which we are to carry the gospel, but men. So the greatness of the work does not depend upon how many square miles you have to cover, but upon the number of people that there are there. The fact that Great Britain is compact, and that the people can be reached readily, is one of the greatest advantages that we have in presenting the gospel to the people. GCB April 21, 1901, page 364.5

There is a mistaken idea also that it is very difficult to work in England; that the English people are very difficult to reach and very conservative in their views; that they are reserved and slow to get hold of things; not easy to approach. That is altogether a mistaken idea. There is not a people in the world that I know of that are more receptive to the preaching of the gospel of Christ than the British people. There is no other country in the world where there is such absolute freedom. I know that the United States is sung of as the land of liberty, but remember that the liberty that is here was brought from England; and while a great deal of credit is given to the Pilgrim Fathers, who left the old country and settled here to establish freedom,—for themselves, at least,—people forget that they found virgin soil to work. It would have been strange if they could not have established some sort of liberty here, with full freedom to do as they pleased. When you give honor to these men,—and we will not detract anything from the credit due them,—remember that there were men who did not leave the battle field. That country had been under papal domination for centuries, and the pope had literally placed his foot upon the necks of kings, and the papacy had ruled for centuries; and the men who remained there in the midst of persecution, and wrought out liberty so that to-day there is actually greater personal freedom in England than in any other country on earth, have not lived in vain. The men who remained at home and proclaimed the principles of religious liberty with such power and effectiveness, that they broke the bands of the papacy and created freedom right in the midst of that old fossilized state of things, are entitled to wonderful credit. Do not think that the descendants of such people are slow to receive the truth. Do not think that the memory, the influence, of that work is lost. There are no people on earth that are so loyal, so jealous for liberty, for freedom, for fair play,—that everybody shall have the right to speak,—and that are so anxious to receive right principles, as the people in Great Britain. And this makes it wonderfully easy for us, because our work is carried on not by arbitrary force, but by the inherent power of the truth, and this is what appeals to the people. The truth that we have means freedom. It means freedom for every man before God, and that is something that appeals to a people who have had a long career fighting for liberty, who are very jealous of the privileges that they have obtained. GCB April 21, 1901, page 364.6

The English people are a reading people, and therefore it is that our greatest success hitherto has been in the line of getting reading-matter among the people. Unfortunately, that is at a very low ebb now, so far as the books are concerned. We are hoping to see this taken hold of and to see scores and hundreds of canvassers out among the people,—to see our books put into the trade where the people can get at them,—and we are sure that soon a great deal will be done in this line. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.1

I must say that the greatest portion of our work is done with the circulation of our paper, the Present Truth. Ten years ago the circulation of the paper was about twenty-five hundred, semi-monthly, from twenty-five hundred to three thousand. That would make twelve to fifteen hundred a week. Even with that small circulation, it accomplished a great deal of good. The Lord has blessed the efforts that we put forth, and there has been almost a steady increase from that time until the present. There was a little time three or four years ago when the paper lost to some extent in circulation, but for the last three or four years there has been a steady increase, almost a regular increase, week by week. The last letter I received from England said that the last number but one had a circulation of seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty, and there were orders for more. Of the last number of the paper over eighteen thousand were sold, and more were ordered. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.2

Perhaps some of you do not understand how the paper is circulated. We do not have pound rates for newspapers as in this country. Every paper sent through the post must have a stamp on it. That, of course, adds just fifty per cent to the cost of the paper. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.3

A Delegate: When you send several papers to one place, do you have to stamp each paper? GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.4

E. J. Waggoner: I will tell you. You see very readily that people will not pay a dollar and a half for what they can get for a dollar. The paper is a penny a copy, but if it is sent through the post, a half-penny stamp must be put on it, and that adds fifty per cent to the cost. The way people do, therefore, is to receive the paper delivered at their homes, or to buy it at the stationer’s. Everywhere you go, in every railway station, there is a stationer’s shop, where people buy all their papers. Unfortunately the truth is not sought after so much as newspapers, story papers, etc. They are not hungry after the truth, they do not demand it, and even when the people are looking for the truth, they do not know that they can find it at the stationer’s. Therefore, instead of their having to go for their Present Truth, we deliver it to the people themselves, and I think that is an advantage, because it gives the individual workers an opportunity of influencing the people. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.5

Now, as to the question raised about sending a large number of papers to one person. Our agents take fifty, one hundred, two, three, or four hundred copies, or more, and the papers are sent in parcels, not by mail, but by express, so the cost is much less than it would be in sending single copies. The carrying on of this work is purely one of faith. We do not have a list, as you have in the offices here. For instance, the Review and Herald will have a list of thirteen or fourteen thousand subscribers, and they know that that will be practically the same next week. Some will drop out, but new ones will come in. But we do not know from one week to another what the list is to be for the next week, except as we have confidence in God and in the canvassers, and in the work. As we receive orders, the papers are sent out. But we do not have any idea to-day, after the paper has been sent out, what we shall have next week. It might drop five thousand, or even ten thousand, copies for aught we know, if the canvassers did not do their work. But they send in their orders at the close of the week, and we print according to the orders received. And thus the work goes along from hand to mouth, as you may say. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.6

Now the advantage that perforce comes to us is this: the people who are doing the work come every week in contact with the Present Truth readers; and they have the chance of answering questions; they also have the chance of selling small books and larger books. I remember a few years ago there was a young lady, a Bible worker, who was canvassing at the same time, as all Bible workers do, using Present Truth as an opening; not going and asking the people if she might read the Bible with them, but going and selling the paper to them; and when they would ask questions about something she would answer it, and that would be an opening for Bible work. She was putting into the houses, for several weeks, more copies of “Great Controversy” and “Patriarchs and Prophets” than some of the men who were putting their whole time to the work of canvassing for these books. How did she do it?—She had a list of interested readers, and she would take the book, “Patriarchs and Prophets,” or “Great Controversy,” and show it to them, and tell them that this is written by the same one whose articles you see from week to week in the paper. Sometimes she would leave a copy with them, and they would give an order. She would take from six to eight orders a week, and deliver that many books, simply as an incidental thing in canvassing for the paper. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.7

Some of our people sell as many as 400 papers a week. There is one brother who has set his mark to sell 500 every week, and has nearly reached it. The only limit there is to the circulation of the paper is the number of people who are at work for it. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.8

You may think that 18,000 is a large list. When we look at what it was once, we feel very much encouraged as we see the progress that is made; but when we think of the millions who have never seen a copy, of the millions of people who are just as approachable as those who have already been reached, and then think of 18,000 among all these millions, it looks like a very insignificant thing to us; and we are not at all satisfied with it. Yet neither are we discouraged, because we expect, just as confidently as we expect that the Lord is going to come, and that everybody is going to be warned of the coming, that sometime—how soon it will be I do not know, but before very long—we are going to have not 18,000 but ten times 18,000 circulated. It is going to come. So that all the resources will be taxed to get it out among the people. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.9

The present circulation of the paper averages twenty copies for every Sabbath-keeper in the kingdom. That is to say: If all the Sabbath-keepers in the kingdom were engaged in selling the papers that are now being sold, each one would have twenty copies to dispose of; but of course there are a good many that do not do any selling, and this average is made up by those who are devoting their whole time to it. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.10

We are laboring to get our churches organized into canvassing centers. We are trying to get the idea into the minds of the people that the place for a canvasser is not where churches are established, but where there is nobody; and that the churches are the ones to do the canvassing in their neighborhood. And so we are trying to get every member of the church, as much as possible, to take from half a dozen to a dozen, fifteen, twenty, or fifty copies of the paper to sell in his neighborhood. GCB April 21, 1901, page 365.11

But we want help. Now I am not here to-day, nor at this Conference, to beg for anybody to go to England to work. I do not want anybody to go there. But whoever the Lord wants to go there are the ones we want to see there. Wherever the Lord sends a person, that is where he ought to be. And if the Lord has called anybody to go to England that person will know it, and we shall know it, and we shall be glad of that help. Neither are we asking you specially to subscribe for the paper. If anybody wants it, we are glad to send it; but you have papers here, and we are not trying to work this field. We have field enough over there We are perfectly satisfied with the field we have. We have people enough to send the paper to; but you can very readily see that a paper of this kind, that sells for two cents, can not give much profit to the publisher or the canvasser. There is not very much room for profit. The fact is, the publishers get no profit at all, but a loss. There is a loss on every copy of the paper that the canvasser sells. It is sold to the agents for less than the actual cost of producing it. Well, that very thing tends to limit the circulation. You can see that. We have no gold mine in England. There is no supply of money coming from the soil into the office, so that the office can continually be putting out the paper at a loss, and yet increasing. You can see that. There has got to be something coming into the office to make up that lack. Then even though the paper be sold to the agent for less than the actual cost of production, his profit after he has paid his carriage, and losses, and has in the kindness of his heart given copies to some who are too poor to pay even a penny, is not very large. Therefore the Conference subsidizes these faithful persons, and makes them a small weekly allowance; and we regard this as legitimate a use of the Conference means as paying a preacher, because it is doing the work of several preachers. GCB April 21, 1901, page 366.1

I was making a few figures the other day, and I found that with our present circulation, the actual loss to the office on the production of the paper, the expense to the Conference, in the money that is paid out to the canvassers, and the loss by bad debts amounts to the pay and expenses of two first-class preachers, at the ordinary rate that preachers are paid. That is to say, if we had money sufficient to keep two preachers in the field, it would make up the deficit on the paper, according to the present circulation. But that would not be sufficient for us, because we want a much larger circulation. GCB April 21, 1901, page 366.2

Now anybody who wants to do some good missionary work, and wants to put money where it will count, should give what he can, and encourage others also to help us: First, to improve the quality of the paper, and then to assist worthy people in giving their whole time to carrying it to the people. There is no other journal published by Seventh-day Adventists, unless it be the Oriental Watchman, that is printed on such poor quality of paper as the Present Truth; and if we could improve it, so as to give better effect to the illustrations, it would help the circulation. There is no other effort, no other thing that has been so directly efficient in bringing people into the truth in Great Britain as Present Truth. Let me tell you one instance. A few years ago we had but one small church in London. A brother was canvassing in East London. He called at a house and introduced the paper, and the lady said she did not care to buy, because they had all the papers they could read. “But,” he said, “this is a special religious paper.” And she said they had quite a number of religious papers; they had all they could read, and they did not care for any more. “But this has some special truth in it about the Sabbath.” “Oh, we keep the Sabbath.” They were Scotch Presbyterians, and were very strict in their observance of Sunday. “Yes,” he said, “but this is about the seventh-day Sabbath.” And so she was persuaded to take a copy. When her husband came home at night, he said, “Yes, I know that paper; I have seen it at the vegetarian restaurant where I take my lunch.” The brother came again, and from week to week they took the paper. Pretty soon a sister in that neighborhood became acquainted with them, and held a few Bible readings; and in the course of a few months they both began to keep the Sabbath; and then they opened their house for meetings. At the same time, a few hundred yards away, was another family that had just begun to keep the Sabbath through the efforts of a canvasser. The two families were not acquainted with each other, but this brought them together; and so there was himself, wife, and servant, and this other brother and his wife and mother; and they met there for meetings; and they invited somebody else in, and the result was that in short time a church was established there. So we had another church. GCB April 21, 1901, page 366.3

Soon some offshoots from that church went into another section of the city, and then Brother Champness started meetings in that same place, and now we have another church there. In West London some canvassing was done by a Bible worker, Bible readings were given, the paper was read, and another company was formed there. And so I know of several companies of people that have been raised up as the result of canvassing for Present Truth. GCB April 21, 1901, page 366.4

Well, there is a great deal more that we might say; but I want to tell you we are of the very best courage in the world over there. We know that God has given us a truth that is bound to go. And we are content to bury ourselves there, and let the truth work its way. When I went to London ten years ago, and became connected with the paper, I saw that whoever worked there must be content to work under the surface, to bury himself, doing the work of a sapper and miner. Thousands and millions of these papers must be scattered, and the truth will be brought into the houses of the people. And yet there will be but little apparent result. In fact, as I have thought of that vast mass of people in London, I have wondered, How in the world can this great mass be moved? How can we penetrate this mass of indifference? There are souls in the midst of it that are going to hear the truth; but how can you get at them? We hold a meeting in London, and nobody knows anything of it, only in a little section. There may be a dozen meetings in London at one time, and it would not make any real impression upon the city at all. It has seemed to me that the only way out that I could see is that when laws get a little stricter and prejudice arises, some of us would get into prison, and when the truth is preached from the prisoners’ dock, everybody is sure to hear of it, because they read the police reports. And when they find that this truth is being persecuted—I mean the truth persecuted, not persons,—then all through the land people will say, “That is the very same truth I have been reading in that paper. That is the paper that did me good. That is the truth that these people are proclaiming.” And we shall see the results of the work done now, that do not show so much at the present time. GCB April 21, 1901, page 366.5

I have been encouraged in the last year. I have received letters saying, “At such a time I was in great distress, and the paper came, and on such and such a page there was an article that helped me very much.” “We were in great distress in our family; I was in darkness; I was almost in despair; and then there was a paper come with just the thing I was troubled over, and it helped me.” And so from one place to another we get reports, saying that the people are being helped. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.1

Those people have not all begun to keep the Sabbath; but when they find that there is something that satisfies the desires of their hearts, something that brings them into touch with the Lord, I will risk the Lord to bring them out into the fullness of the truth by and by. So we are content to sow our seed in the morning, and in the evening, being sure that some of it will prosper, and may be that all of it will be a success. And I hope that some of you, when the work is done, and when the account is settled, and to every man shall be given as his work shall be, will find that you have been instrumental in carrying the truth to people of whom you have never heard. Those people will find you out the very first thing they think of in the kingdom of God. They will be drawn to you by the influence and the attraction which you have had in sending the truth to them. I hope that many here will have the satisfaction of rejoicing when the sheaves are brought in at the final harvest. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.2

Voice: What has been done for the Welsh? GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.3

E. J. Waggoner: There has been some work in Wales. There have been a few tracts, and “Steps to Christ.” translated into the Welsh; but of course we all know there are more than half of the people of Wales who speak and read English, and Present Truth has been circulated there, and has met with good acceptance. I have had the privilege of speaking to congregations of most interesting people in Wales, who have been brought out simply by announcements that they were circulated that the editor of Present Truth would be present. They did not know me, nor my name, but they were interested in Present Truth, and the name alone was sufficient to bring out the people, and now we have two churches in Wales. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.4

Voice: What about Scotland? GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.5

E. J. Waggoner: There has been some canvassing done in Scotland. There are a number of Sabbath-keepers in various parts of the country. There is a little company in Glasgow, but there has been no public effort in Scotland. There is one family, a man and his wife, who have gone from this country, as self-supporting missionaries. The man works in the mines, and the woman does nursing, and thus while supporting themselves by daily labor, they are circulating the paper, and are carrying the gospel of life and health, and peace to the people, and they are having good success; but what are they among so many? They ought to be multiplied a thousand times, and it is going to be done. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.6

Now, as I said, we are not asking people to go there and work; for there are lots of people n Great Britain who are going to be brought out from the work that is being done, and who are going to assist in carrying the truth. People are now doing that. In fact, most of our workers are English. Our churches are doing that thing. There are some who are working all day. I know of people who work in the office all day, who, during the course of the week have sold forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, or one hundred copies of Present Truth by working evenings. A young man will go out on the streets Saturday evening and sell fifty copies sometimes, especially if the paper is particularly attractive, having a good picture printed on the front. And there are young girls in our churches who are taking one hundred copies and disposing of them in their neighborhood. Thus, by a person here, another there, and a few in this church and a few in that church, the work is carried on. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.7

There is no work that can be done that is so economical as this very work in England, and at the same time so effective for the amount of money spent as the circulation of Present Truth; and whoever has any amount, from five cents to five hundred dollars, that he wants to invest where it will tell the most, can not do better than to assist us to that extent in our efforts to get the truth into the homes of the people. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.8

Voice: What has been done in Cornwall? GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.9

E. J. Waggoner: I don’t know of any work that has been done there. There has been a little canvassing, but not very much. But what is a canvasser or two in a county? What would you think if you had one canvasser at work in the State of New York? Now if you take a radius of thirty miles from the center of Manchester, you have more people there than there are in the whole of New York State: and there has been a little canvassing work done there. What does it amount to? It is good as far as it goes; but you see it does not get hold of anything. So if we had had a canvasser in Cornwall, or any particular county in England, it is only the beginning of the work. It has begun, and it is going to go on, and meet with success, and we are sure of that, and we are content to work there alone, and we are happy in the work, because we know that success is sure in the end, and we are going to stay there and see the end of it. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.10

Voice: Tell us something about Ireland. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.11

E. J. Waggoner: The story is just about the same for Ireland as for England, only shorter. We have one preacher in Ireland, and then there are some canvassers; some good people have taken hold of the truth, and they are giving their work to canvassing. All the work that has been done there has been in the north of Ireland. Nothing has been done in the south. A few companies have been raised up in the north of Ireland; but it is the same story! We have made a little effort—just a little—and have but touched the vast mass of the people. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.12

Voice: Do you not believe that the way in which you are circulating the Present Truth is more effective: that is, that it is better for the churches than if you had a list of different addresses to which the paper would be sent? Do you think they would be so apt to do so much work by having a list, and working with tracts? GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.13

E. J. Waggoner: It has this effect; it keeps the people at work. It provides the means whereby every person in the church can do something, and that every week. It is not simply to go out and get subscriptions, and that be the end of it; but if one goes and gets a person interested, he must keep that up week after week. So it is good for the individual himself, and it is good for the churches. It brings the people in contact, from week to week, with some person who knows the truth, and gives him a chance to ask any questions and have them answered; and if the person who is doing the work can not answer the question, he can carry in something that will answer the questions. GCB April 21, 1901, page 367.14

Voice: Do you print your paper or hire it printed? GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.1

E. J. Waggoner: We print it ourselves. We have a very small plant. We do not have any such offices as you have here, just a very small institution. Let me tell you, not to complain, for we are perfectly happy and satisfied, that we do not have any extravagant furniture in the place. I remember before Brother Spicer went to India, when he was there on the paper, his desk was a board. If you go over to the Review Office, you will see bales of paper. You will see on each side of the flat bale of paper, four little strips of boards nailed together. Well, the cover of one of those bales of paper is what he got and was put up against the wall, with a stick put under each of the two corners. This was the desk that he used for two years before he went to India. When we get together for a board meeting, with five members, we have to skirmish around through the different rooms to find chairs enough to sit upon. We do not want money to put into office furnishings. We don’t want money to put into buildings: we want money to put into men. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.2

Voice: What is the subscription price of the paper a year for this country? GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.3

E. J. Waggoner: It is six shillings and sixpence. If you figure it out at the rate of $4.8668 to the pound, it amounts to exactly $1.58. If anybody wants to subscribe for it, I would advise you not to figure so closely on two cents, but call it $1.60. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.4

R. C. Porter: The plan of holding public meetings in large cities was operating some time ago. Are you still continuing that plan,—of hiring a large hall and advertising largely, and getting a large attendance in some of those large cities? GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.5

E. J. Waggoner: Not so much. We are doing tent work now. There was a time when we thought tent work could not be done in England; that all the work must be done in the winter when there were long evenings. Now while that work is carried on in winter to some extent, we do nearly all our work in tents. This last year we had two tents pitched in London. We wish we could have twenty at one time. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.6

Harry Champness: I thought it might be interesting, in the short time we have left, to tell you a little of what has been done in Great Britain. In London itself we have four companies,—one in North London, Holloway; one in South London, at Balham; one in east London, at Leytonstone; and a small company in west London, at Westborne Park. The total number of Sabbath-keepers in London amounts to about two hundred. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.7

Elder Washburn, from this country, together with Brother Meredith, has been laboring in South London, in Balham, since the last General Conference. He has had good success with a tent, and quite a number of Sabbath-keepers have been brought out. Work had previously been done there, but is is considerably strengthened and enlarged since he has been in that place. I myself have been working in east London, in Leytonstone, with a tent, and we have a company raised up there. We have just erected in East London a church. It is an iron building, dimensions sixty by thirty feet, and it is the only church building in London that we own. We believe this is but the beginning of better things. If we only have a room to cover our heads, we are glad to get it, so we are very thankful for this iron building. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.8

The work in the provinces has grown since the last General Conference. Elder Andross, from this country, with Elder Haughey, have been working in Birmingham. They have had good success. We had our last general meeting in Birmingham last August. These two brethren had been there previously to this, and have continued and developed the work since that meeting. Quite a large company of Sabbath-keepers has been gathered out as the result of that work last summer. They also are about to erect a church in Birmingham. They expect to have this erected by next September. We shall be glad to have in the city of Birmingham a place of our own. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.9

Also, we have had a tent effort in Liverpool since the last General Conference. Elder Altman and Elder Armstrong, an English worker, have been laboring there, and a company has been gathered out. Then, besides, we have companies in other places. I will just read a list of them: Manchester, Kettering, Wellingborough, in the north: Bath, Bristol, Plymouth, in the west; Southampton, in the south; and Hull in the east; besides smaller companies, little groups, in different places, which I will not take the time to mention now. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.10

Then in Wales we have had work done, as already has been mentioned, in Cardiff and Swansea. There Sabbath-keepers have been gathered out, and canvassing work, to a small extent, has been done in South Wales, but very little has been done in the northern part. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.11

In Ireland Elder Hutchins has been laboring mostly in the northern part. His work has been confined almost exclusively to that part of Ireland. At Belfast and places round about, small companies have been raised up. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.12

In Scotland no aggressive ministerial work has been done yet, but canvassing has been done to prepare the way. We hope to enter Scotland just as soon as possible. We are praying the Lord that he will raise up something who will go to that country to take this message. We believe that there is a fruitful field, and that the time has come when we should enter it. But we must have means by which to do it. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.13

I want to tell you that we have quite a number of young workers in England who are growing up, besides several who came into the truth this last summer, and what we especially want is means to develop these. We are so thankful that we have had help from America in the past, but we believe that the time has come when we should develop native laborers; and what we want especially at this time is that you should see if you can not do something to help us in this respect. You will probably hear more later on about our school project, and this ought to have been started a long time ago. We are very much behind in the work there. We have heard from this platform the Testimonies of the Spirit of God that much more ought to be done in developing workers in England. The time has come, it is here now, when it should be done, and I pray God that your hearts may be moved here to do what you can to develop workers in England. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.14

And let me tell you that I can fully endorse Brother Waggoner’s appeal for Present Truth. If ever there was a need for a paper in England that would carry the message, that need is very apparent at the present time. The English people are a reading people; and if we can only get some reading matter to precede us in our work, we find that half the battle has been fought. The people of England, like the Americans, are a business people, especially in London, and they read a paper more readily than they do books. They will take up a paper and read it, and the thing will stick to them, and they can not get away from it, they will inquire about it. GCB April 21, 1901, page 368.15

I want to tell you how I first came in contact with this message of present truth. I was employed in an office in the city of London. One day I was sitting down to my meal in a restaurant, and saw a paper on the table. I took it up and noticed the title. It was called Present Truth. I thought that was quite a strange title. I did not know so much about the Bible then as I do now, and turning the leaves of that paper, I began to read, and I read things that startled me; and as I read on, I found out that there were some things there I had never thought about. This interested me. Soon afterward I came in contact with the people that published that paper, and I was glad to know that they had the very thing I had been seeking for years,—the gospel of salvation from sin. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.1

I believe that paper ought to be in every restaurant in London. It ought to be put right there, where the city men get their meals, so that while they eat, they will be able to read that paper. You can do a great deal to help forward this matter, if you will be liberal in giving your means to forward it. I pray God that you may do this. If we can only get the paper into the restaurants, not only in London but in other places, we shall see a great advancement in the work in that country. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.2

There is a great future for the work in England. We are going to attempt something this next summer that we have never attempted before, that is to have our annual and general meeting in London. But as Brother Waggoner has said, when we talk like that, it is almost misleading; for all that we can do is to go to some suburb on the outskirts of London, and get the truth before the people in that little suburb. But we believe this is the beginning of good things. We believe we shall see London moved, and we are going to move just as quickly as we can in the matter. So far we have had three general meetings. We hold these in August, which is the best month for our people. The first was held at Bath, the second at Bristol, and the third, last year, was held at Birmingham. We ask you to pray for the work there, and do what you can to help it forward, that we may see many precious souls gathered into the kingdom from Great Britain. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.3

J. O. Corliss: Without a word of explanation, you may not appreciate the appeal of Brother Champness about putting the papers into the restaurants. Americans go into a restaurant, and ten or fifteen minutes suffice for them to eat, when they are up and gone. But it is not so in England. An Englishman takes time to eat. They sit long enough at the table to enjoy their meals. They do not bolt their meals like Americans, but take time to masticate all their food, and that is why an Englishman looks so full of health. In the meantime, if they have reading before them, they will get their fill of reading matter while they are filling up on the food of the restaurant. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.4

E. J. Waggoner: This has been only a partial and rambling presentation of things, but I feel bold to beg in behalf of the truth. I have been praying for the last year that the Lord would send means. I have felt as if we were bound, as I have seen that great mass of people, and thought that we are not getting hold of them, and I have been praying that God would put it into the hearts of some people to send us some money, so that we might enlarge our work. There is nothing in the world to hinder the rapid increase of the circulation of the paper, except the limited number of people that can be employed in the work, and the limited facilities. But I am sure that with the force that we have already in the Kingdom, if we can have a few hundred dollars extra for this year, it would be an easy thing to double the circulation before the first of January, 1902. I believe that could be done; that instead of having 18,000 as we have now, we could have 35,000 by Jan. 1, 1902, if we could only use some means in improving the paper by using a better quality of paper, and thus be able to have better illustration, so that it will be more attractive to the people, and more easily sold by the agents, who certainly need all the encouragement they can get. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.5

H. S. Shaw: If you had a circulation of 35,000 copies a week, would the paper be self-supporting? GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.6

E. J. Waggoner: Yes, if we had somebody to contribute the means to help support it. Do you not see this, when the paper is published at a loss—that is, when the paper is furnished to the canvassers for less money than it costs to produce it, you can readily see that the more you sell, the more you loss. So it is a fact that the more copies sold, the larger circulation it has, the worse it is financially. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.7

H. S. Shaw: I thought that perhaps when you had more printed each week, the average cost per paper would be decreased. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.8

E. J. Waggoner: It would, to some extent, although the margin is very small. Possibly it would be nearly self-supporting, if we had that large a circulation. But although it is published at a loss, there is no missionary work that can be done that brings greater returns for the amount of investment. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.9

M. C. Wilcox: One thing has struck me this morning as Brother Waggoner and Brother Champness have been speaking, is that the appeal is so modest, when the need is so great. I do not believe that we can over-invest in the great missionary field of England. I have thought, as Brother Waggoner has been talking, and in all the years of the past, ever since I was there, that if from one to two thousand dollars could be given to the Present Truth every year as missionary work, it could not be better invested in this great field than there. Brethren, we need to have some faith. The Doctor said. The more you furnish, the greater loss it would be; and yet there is another side to that,—the more gain there would be after all, because you would reach a great many more people by the additional papers that were furnished. You would be developing a great many more missionary workers whom you would be bringing into constant contact with souls who do not yet know the truth. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.10

O, the fields over there are so great! I have thought and prayed and longed that the time would come when the great university towns should be entered, and that more missionary work should be done among the class there that are in a formative state of mind, those who, like Brother Champness and others, have not seen, but long to receive, the truth of God. I do not know how words can be said adequate to the great demand of the field that lies beyond us on the other side of the seas. I hope that the Spirit of God may take hold of our hearts as never before, and draw them out beyond our home field and the invisible walls that we have erected, to the great mission fields beyond. GCB April 21, 1901, page 369.11

At the close of the talk on the work in England, the people flocked to the stand, and in a few minutes about one hundred dollars was contributed, and more was promised, to assist in the circulation of the missionary paper, Present Truth. GCB April 21, 1901, page 370.1