Chapter 21—The Workers in Our Institutions
Procuring the Very Best Talent
From time to time, I have felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord to bear
a testimony to our brethren in regard to the necessity of procuring the
very best talent to work in our various institutions and in the numerous
other departments of our cause. Those who are thus connected with the
work must be trained men, men whom God can teach and whom He can
honor as He did Daniel, with wisdom and understanding. They must
be thinking men, men who bear God’s impress, and who are steadily
progressing in holiness, in moral dignity, and in the excellence with
which they labor. If they are growing men, if they possess reasoning
minds and sanctified intelligence, if they listen to the voice of God,
and seek to catch every ray of light from heaven, and they will, like
the sun, pursue an undeviating course, and they will grow in wisdom
and in favor with God....
Those who are placed in leading positions in connection with our
institutions should be men who have sufficient breadth of mind to
respect those of cultivated intellect, and who will recompense them
proportionately to the responsibilities they bear. True, those who en-
gage in the work of the Lord should not do so merely for the wages
they receive, but to honor God, advance His cause, and to obtain im-
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perishable riches. At the same time we should not expect that those
who are capable of taking hold of a work that requires thought and
painstaking effort, and of doing it with exactitude and thoroughness
should receive no greater compensation than the less skillful work-
man. A true estimate must be placed upon talent. Those who cannot
appreciate true work and mental ability should not occupy the position
of managers in our institutions, for their influence will tend to bind
about the work, to erect barriers to its progress, and to bring it down
to a low level.
If our institutions are as prosperous as God designs they shall be,
there must be more thoughtfulness and earnest prayer, mingled with
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