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Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
October 28, 1885
Dear Brethren-----and-----,
My prayer is that the Lord may be with you in great power during
the coming conference. Some may be absent that you might wish
were present; but Jesus is your helper. I sincerely hope and pray that
those who bear responsibilities in Michigan, New England, Ohio,
Indiana, and other states will take broader views of the work than
they have done. I hope Michigan will take a step in advance. I feel
to regret the fact that there is such a dearth of breadth of mind and
of far-seeing ability. Workers should be educated and trained for the
fields of labor. We need missionaries everywhere. We need men
and women who will give themselves without reserve to the work of
God, bringing many sons and daughters to God.
Individual Judgment to be Exercised
I have been shown that there is one practice which those in
responsible places should avoid; for it is detrimental to the work
of God. Men in position should not Lord it over God’s heritage,
and command everything around them. Too many have marked
out a prescribed line which they wish others to follow in the work.
Workers have tried to do this with blind faith, without exercising
their own judgment upon the matter which they had in hand. If those
who were placed as directors were not present, they have followed
their implicit directions just the same. But in the name of Christ, I
would entreat you to stop this work. Give men a chance to exercise
their individual judgment. Men who follow the leading of another,
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and are willing that another should think for them, are unfit to be
entrusted with responsibility. Our leading men are remiss in this
matter. God has not given to special ones all the brain power there
is in the world.
Men in responsible positions should credit others with some
sense, with some ability of judgment and foresight, and look upon
them as capable of doing the work committed to their hands. Our
leading brethren have made a great mistake in marking out all the
directions that the workers should follow, and this has resulted in
deficiency, in a lack of a caretaking spirit in the worker, because
they have relied upon others to do all their planning, and have them-