HOW TO LABOR PROFITABLY by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 25, 1867

HOW TO LABOR PROFITABLY.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

It is not altogether the amount of labor performed, long hours and days of hard toil, rising up early and sitting up late, it is not this alone that will accomplish the most. I have frequently known men who are always at work and yet are always poor as poverty. Others with half the labor fare much better than they. Now what is the matter? Manifestly it is a lack of wisdom in rightly applying their labor. I was brought up a farmer, and have carefully noticed the effect of different modes of farming. One man, for instance, having a large amount of means to raise in a short time, resolves to do a big year's work on his farm. He lays out to put in a large field of corn, a large field of wheat, several acres of potatoes, cut many tons of hay, &c., &c. In the spring he is in a hurry to get in the first crop as early as possible. He cannot spare time to pick up the stones, pull the stumps, nor dress his grounds. Being in a hurry his ground is not ploughed any better than it ought to be. The seed is hastily sowed. Then he hurries to another field and puts in another crop, in the same manner. When the corn is up and needs cultivating, he is so driven with other duties that he puts it off as long as he can. At length when the weeds are about getting the mastery of the corn, he goes at it and dresses it as well as his limited time will permit. Perhaps he does not stop to hoe it at all. In short it is not half cultivated as it should be, neither are any of his crops. Before he gets ready to cut his hay, it is ripe and thus much is lost in its quality. He cuts down a large amount before gathering it in, perhaps. This gets wet from one to three times and thus is nearly spoiled. His excuse is, that he had not time to attend to it. Hence he has to feed poor, musty hay for a year to come. Whether his excuse is good or not, his stock feel it very materially.

His wheat is dead ripe before he can harvest it, hence much is lost in gathering. Perhaps it is left to grow in the shock. When he takes it to market he has to sell it for the lowest price. His corn for a lack of proper cultivation looks small, and yellow. When he comes to harvest it, instead of large, full ears of sound corn, he gets only a small amount and poor quality. A good share of it is soft, frost bitten nubbins. From twenty acres he receives no more than he ought to have obtained from five. So it is with his wheat, his potatoes, his hay, and everything he has. It is all the poorest quality, and he has to sell it for the lowest price in the market. This is one mode of farming. From observation I see that it does not pay very well.

There is another mode which is more profitable. The farmer undertakes no more than he can readily do and do it well. If he has to plant a field of corn, he first calculates how many acres he can cultivate well. This ground he prepares well, ploughs it deep and good, and then plants it with the choicest seed. As soon as it is up, he begins to cultivate it, and hoe it, the weeds are all kept down and every hill receives special care. His fields look beautiful and all admire it. When he comes to harvest it he has a bountiful crop and that which is of the best quality of corn. It is ripe and sound and commands the highest price in the market. From five acres he actually receives as much grain as his slack neighbor does from twenty. So it is with his wheat, his potatoes, his stock and every thing else. His motto is, “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”

Now who has not seen both of these classes of farmers. In fact it is true of every trade. The wise man has well said, “That he becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” We all admire and praise the latter, but despise or pity the former. Now the Lord has a field and has sent laborers into it. Is not the same principle as good in doing the Lord's work as in doing our own? Should we not use as much prudence and wisdom in this work as in any other? I think we should, and that the effect would be the same. Paul says to Timothy, “Study to show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” Many farmers ought to be ashamed of their work, and so had many ministers. To illustrate: A Seventh-day Advent minister goes into a new place to present the truth. He labors perhaps from three to six weeks—succeeds in convincing many of the truth, gets from fifteen to sixty keeping the Sabbath, to see the truth on the life and death question, the soon coming of Christ and a few prominent points. Perhaps many of them are unconverted and none of them have much experience. The polishing and refining part of the message, that which reaches the heart and reforms the whole life, true practical Christianity, they are almost entirely ignorant of, and they are left to hear it from some other source as best they may. Many who are interested and who are convinced of the truth, and who might be brought in by a little more labor, are left with the hope that they will soon embrace the truth. Right here, when all is in an unsettled condition, when the battle is but half fought, and the cause is in the greatest need of help to establish it firmly, at this critical point the minister must leave. The little flock beg and pray for him to stay. They plead their inexperience, their ignorance of many points of truth, the strong opposition which is coming against them, and their great need of help generally; but it avails nothing; the minister must go. He pleads that the field is large, that there are but few laborers in it, and that there are calls for help in every direction. He must go to other places where they are starving for the truth. So he leaves them, perhaps not to be visited again for weeks, for months, or even years. He goes to other places, and repeats the same work. Now after the lapse of six months or a year, go back to that place and see what you will find. It would be fitly represented by a field of corn planted in the spring, and never visited again till fall. Probably from a quarter to two-thirds of those who began to keep the Sabbath have given it up. Those who still remain, are not more than half in the truth. They have partially the theory of the truth but lack the spirit of it. Many know just about enough to fight with it. They are few, weak, and perhaps divided. Instead of being any honor to the cause, they bring reproach upon it. The neighbors conclude that if this is Adventism they do not want it, and who can blame them for this?

Now this is no imaginary picture, but just such work may be found all through the field. It does not need much argument to convince us that this is not as it should be. It is similar to the slack mode of farming mentioned above. This work is too important to be carried on in this way. Much labor, and toil, and time, and much of the Lord's money is squandered by such labor. When a work is begun it should be thoroughly followed up. Without this we can no more expect good fruit than the farmer can without diligently cultivating his field. A crop left to itself is soon choked with weeds and briers. So a church left to itself without proper care is soon filled with trials and difficulties. Nothing is gained by this hasty way of working. One good, sound, spiritual church is worth a dozen poor ones. More souls at the last day will be saved from this one church than from all the others put together.

If these are the facts, and none can doubt that they are, we need to reform somewhat in our manner of raising up churches.

We must not be in such a hurry to go from one place to another before our work is done. In many instances half the labor wisely applied would accomplish much more than is now accomplished with all our haste. “Haste makes waste” in the cause of God as well as in any thing else. If we would always stay in a place till our work was thoroughly done, how many church trials, and long investigations would be saved. It is those that endure to the end that are to be saved, not those who begin. It is that which we finish, and not that which we commence that is profitable. I am satisfied that in many places where we now have weak, sickly churches there might have been, with a little additional labor, large and flourishing societies. We need to use wisdom in preaching the gospel as well as in cultivating a farm. A house half built is worse than none at all. So a church half built is a curse to the cause. We have a very solemn and comprehensive message for the people. It is not simply a theory, but it is a preparatory work. Until this message has had a sanctifying influence upon the people to whom we preach, no good has been accomplished. Simply to get people into the Sabbath amounts to nothing. They must be converted, soundly converted to all the truth. When this is done we shall not have so much to do over again. May the Lord help us not only to work hard but to work well, not only to have a zeal but to have a zeal which is according to knowledge. Amen.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Portland, Me.