Ministers should have no separate interest aside from the great work of leading souls to the truth. Their energies are all needed here. They should not engage in merchandise, in peddling, or in any business aside from this one great work. The solemn charge given to Timothy rests with equal weight upon them, laying upon them the most solemn obligations and most fearful responsibilities. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1, 2, 5. (1T 470.1) MC VC

Wrong habits of life have lessened our mental and physical sensibilities, and all the strength we can acquire by right living and placing ourselves in the best relation to health and life should be devoted unreservedly to the work which God has assigned us. We cannot afford to use the few enfeebled, crippled energies which we possess to “serve tables” Acts 6:2. or to mingle merchandise with the work God has committed to us. Every faculty of mind and body is now needed. The work of God requires this, and no separate business can be engaged in aside from this great work without taking time and strength of mind and body, and thus lessening the vigor and force of our labor in the cause of God. Ministers who do this will not have all that time for meditation and prayer, and all that strength and clearness of mind that they should have to understand the cases of those who need help, and to be prepared to “be instant in season, out of season.” 2 Timothy 4:2. A word fitly spoken at the right time may save some poor, erring, doubting, fainting soul. Paul exhorted Timothy: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.” 1 Timothy 4:15. (1T 470.2) MC VC

In Christ’s commission to His disciples He tells them: “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 18:18. If this is the fearfully responsible work of God’s ministers, how important that they give themselves wholly to it and watch for souls as they that must give an account. Should any separate or selfish interest come in here and divide the heart from the work? Some ministers linger about their homes, and run out on the Sabbath, and then return and exhaust their energies in farming or in attending to home matters. They labor for themselves through the week, and then spend the remnant of their exhausted energies in laboring for God. But such feeble efforts are not acceptable to Him. They have no mental or physical strength to spare. At best their efforts are feeble enough. But after they have been engrossed and entangled all through the laboring days of the week with the cares and perplexities of this life, they are wholly unfitted for the high, the sacred, the important work of God. The destiny of souls hangs upon the course they pursue and the decisions they make. How important then that they should be temperate in all things, not only in their eating, but in their labor, that their strength may be unabated and devoted to their sacred calling. (1T 471.1) MC VC

A great mistake has been made by some who profess present truth, by introducing merchandise in the course of a series of meetings and by their traffic diverting minds from the object of the meetings. If Christ were now upon earth, He would drive out these peddlers and traffickers, whether they be ministers or people, with a scourge of small cords, as when He entered the temple anciently “and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Matthew 21:12, 13. These traffickers might have pleaded as an excuse that the articles they held for sale were for sacrificial offerings. But their object was to get gain, to obtain means, to accumulate. (1T 471.2) MC VC

Chapter 103—Laborers in the Office VC

Here I will give two testimonies, one of them written March, 1867, addressed to all engaged in the work at the Review office, the other addressed to the young who labor in the office. I am sorry to say that all those warned have more or less disregarded these testimonies and now have to confess that they pursued a course contrary to that pointed out by the testimonies. The first is as follows: (1T 585.1) MC VC

While in Rochester, New York, December 25, 1865, I was shown some things concerning those who are engaged in the work at the office, also in regard to ministers whom God has called to labor in word and doctrine. Neither of these should engage in merchandise or traffic. They are called to a more sacred, elevated work, and it would be impossible for them to do justice to the work and still carry on their traffic. Those engaged at the office should have no separate interest. When they have given to the work that attention and care which it demands, they have done all they are able to do, and should not be further taxed. If trafficking which has no connection with the work of God engages the mind and occupies time, the work will not be done thoroughly and well. At the best, those engaged in the work have no physical or mental energy to spare. All are to a greater or less degree enfeebled. Such a cause, such a sacred work, as that in which they are employed should engage the powers of the mind; they should not labor mechanically, but be sanctified to the work and act as though the cause was a part of them, as though they had invested something in this great and solemn work. Unless they thus take hold of this matter with interest, their efforts will not be acceptable to God. (1T 585.2) MC VC

“Mothers should take their daughters with them into the kitchen and patiently educate them. Their constitution will be better for such labor, their muscles will gain tone and strength, and their meditations will be more healthy and elevated at the close of the day. They may be weary, but how sweet is rest after a proper amount of labor. Sleep, nature’s sweet restorer, invigorates the weary body, and prepares it for the next day’s duties. Do not intimate to your children that it is no matter whether they labor or not. Teach them that their help is needed, that their time is of value, and that you depend on their labor.” (1T 687.1) MC VC

Chapter 116—Books and Tracts VC

The proper circulation and distribution of our publications is one of the most important branches of the present work. But little can be done without this. And our ministers can do more in this work than any other class of persons. It is true that a few years ago many of our preachers were carrying the matter of the sale of books too far. Some of them added to the stock which they held for sale, not only publications of little real value, but also articles of merchandise equally valueless. (1T 687.2) MC VC

But some of our ministers now take an extreme view of what I said in Testimony No. 11 upon the sale of our publications. One in the State of New York, upon whom the burdens of labor do not rest heavily, who had acted as agent, holding a good assortment of publications, decided to sell no more, and wrote to the office, stating that the publications were subject to their order. This is wrong. Here I will give an extract from Testimony for the church vol. 1, No. 11, page 472: (1T 687.3) MC VC