EVERY MAN FINDS HIS LEVEL by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 1, 1868

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 32, No. 11.

EVERY MAN FINDS HIS LEVEL.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

I want to say a few words to that brother who thinks he is not duly appreciated, that he is slighted, that he is not put forward as fast as he ought to be. From what I have observed of life, I have concluded that all such feelings are entirely unfounded, except in your own pride and imagination. Every man, woman, and child, is weighed in the balances and marked at their proper value by all with whom they associate. This is generally true from the school-boy up to the statesman. Go into a school and ask the children what they think of a certain boy or girl, and the majority will agree in their estimate of him or her. Go into a society and ask a score of persons what they think of such a neighbor, and they will all mark him at about the same price. Go into a church and ask them what they think of such a brother or sister, and you will get a unanimous testimony about them. They are weighed and marked in every mind at just what they are worth. They are not only marked, but others stand back and make way for them to fill any place which they are qualified to fill. They need not push themselves forward. Only let them keep quiet and attend to their own business, and their merit will sooner or later be found out.

Nothing could keep a Washington in the ranks as a private soldier, nor Lincoln as a rail-splitter, nor Webster as a petty lawyer. Every one instinctively bows to their merits and opens a way for them. Every thing naturally and easily finds its level. A cork cannot sink in water, nor lead swim. So the person who has the natural abilities to teach, to lead, or to rule, will find others ready and willing to be taught, led, and ruled, by him. A ball of lead would have a hard time trying to swim. So the man who desires to teach or to rule others, but has not the ability to do it, has a hard time at it.

Now, my brother, if you are troubled in this way, just set it down as a settled fact that the trouble lies in yourself, your unfitness for what you desire. When you change, your friends will change their opinions of you. If you find it hard getting up higher than you are, set it down that you have found your level, and there rest contented. Remember Jesus' parable about taking seats at a feast, and go thou and do likewise. D. M. CANRIGHT.