Basic HTML Version
Conference Officials
263
your own; ... ye are bought with a price,” even the precious blood of
the Son of God. The Lord alone is to be exalted. Let every human
agent keep in his place and not seek to get into the place where God
should be. There has been altogether too much trusting in men.
In Battle Creek you have evidence that men who have had the
most to say are not walking with God. There is abundant activity,
but not many are working in partnership with Christ; and those who
walk and work apart from Him have been the most active in planning
and inaugurating their methods. If they had that wisdom that cometh
from the Source of all wisdom, they would move considerately, and
would study more earnestly the relation of cause to effect. They
would discern that a few minds in Battle Creek are not to be the
power to manage everything in connection with our work.
The state conferences must have men at their head who love and
fear God—capable men, who will learn in the school of Christ to be
laborers with Him, to wear His yoke and lift His burdens. They are
to be partners with Christ in the sacred service of soulsaving. All
the members of the church are to labor interestedly, zealously, not
striving, as many have done, to see who shall be the greatest, and
how to secure the highest wages, but striving to win souls for Christ,
which means being a part of the firm, in partnership with Christ. Let
all try to do their best.
The matter was laid before me, which I was trying to present
before the brethren. There is altogether too much responsibility
imparted to a few men in Battle Creek, and these men need the
[321]
transforming power of the Holy Spirit, else they will lead God’s
heritage in false paths. The conferences are watching every move
made at the center of the work. The different conferences have
been led to look to the leading men at Battle Creek, feeling that no
important move can be made without their approval. This tendency
has been growing stronger, until it is a serious hindrance to the
advancement of the work. This arrangement should never have been.
The Lord would have His people under His jurisdiction. They should
look to God, inquiring of Him in faith, and follow on to know the
working of His providence.
The arrangement that all moneys must go through Battle Creek
and under the control of the few men in that place is a wrong way of
managing. There are altogether too many weighty responsibilities