Indecision | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 28, 1877

Indecision.

ANY one who understands machinery knows what it is when an engine is on a “dead center.” Let us explain to those who do not understand. When the walking-beam of a steam-engine has lifted the crank to its highest point, or depressed it to its lowest, that point is called the “dead center.” If the crank swings over as it usually does, then the rod goes down from the highest point and up from the lowest; but, sometimes when an engine is going slowly, the crank does not swing past the center, and then, as the piston presses straight down or draws straight up, does not tend to turn the crank as it does when in any other position, the engine stops, and the crank has to be swung over the center by hand.

Now, this “dead center,” is in an engine just what indecision is in a boy or man. The crank moves slowly, and without force enough to carry it over that point; it is undecided which way to go, and it stops, and, till it can be started by extraneous force, the boat is at the mercy of the winds and waves. If a boy’s mind moves slowly and in an undecided manner, his moral force, his engine, gets on a “dead center,” and away he floats down stream.

Standing on the dock in one of our seaport towns, a large steamer getting under weigh could be seen. The current was running swiftly by the wharf and the river full of large shipping. The steamer cast off, and swung out into the stream, the engine made three or four revolutions, and then stopped. The pilot sounded the bell in the engine-room to go ahead, but it was not answered; the boat drifted swiftly, and in a moment crash it went against a ship, and carried away her rigging around her bowsprit; then smash into another steamboat, and made a wreck of her wheel-house, and very badly damaged herself.

The pilot was frantic with rage at what he deemed the stupidity of the engineer; the officers of the craft were loudly cursing the stupidity of the pilot, and there was a great running to and fro of all hands, when the pilot was told by the engineer that his engine was on a “dead center,” and till the crank was pushed over in some way he was powerless. By this time the boat had drifted a long way and was almost a wreck; indeed, so badly damaged that she could not go on her voyage, and in her drifting she

had crippled several other craft. The only remedy was to drop anchor, which the pilot did as soon as he saw that the engine was useless. But it was too late. The damage was done, and the boat was afterward hauled off for repairs.

A boy needs decision of character more than any other trait, and I can sympathize with a boy who is doing his best to cultivate this virtue. It is his sheet-anchor, which, by the help and grace of God, can hold him right when all else fails him. A boy should learn how to say “No,” and not only how to say it, but how to live up to it. “When sinners entice thee, consent thou not;” that means, say “No” with an emphasis, and, after saying No, leave the place at once. It is your only safety. If you say, “Get thee behind me Satan,” he won’t “get.” He never goes away politely and humbly when ordered—not he. He will face you, and the only way to get him behind you is to turn around and walk away, and then, of course, he is behind you. This requires decision.

If Tom and Harry tempt you to run away from school, or go where you ought not to go, and you reply in an undecided way, “I guess not, perhaps it is not best, I rather think I’d better not;” you are Tom and Harry’s boy. They have you sure. If a boy is undecided he is lost. But if, when they make such a proposition to you, you say “No,” and turn away, why, then you are safe, and neither Tom, Harry, nor Satan has the least hold upon you. A boy who is undecided in his moral character, in his sports, and, when he grows up, in his business, floats, drifts along to sure destruction; for every craft that drifts is doomed.

A phrenological “dead center” may arise from such an equal poise of all the faculties that no class or group gets the ascendency when propensity, sentiment, and intellect are balanced. In such a case, there is a safe appeal which must result in accordance with the highest good, namely, ask yourself what would the Saviour do under such circumstances; just what you suppose He would approve or advise, that you will be safe in doing. Do this, and there will be no “dead center,” no indecision, no yielding to temptations.

How important that all, especially the young, make the application; don’t wreck yourself and others by indecision; don’t drift and float down the swift stream of life with all your energies on a “dead center.” This is forcibly brought to mind when we see a man who might do a great deal of good in every way, loafing through life, a curse to himself and to all about him.