A PLAIN TALK TO THE MURMURERS by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 15, 1877

A PLAIN TALK TO THE MURMURERS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Some Facts for Those Who Are not in Harmony with the Body.

Dear Brethren and Sisters: It is a sad, but well-known fact, that during the whole history of this message from the first to the last, there have arisen here and there, now and then, among our own brethren and sisters, those who have taken occasion to murmur and complain, and find fault with various things in the work. Quite generally this murmuring has centered upon Bro. and Sr. White, or their labors in some way. Several times even little parties of these disaffected ones have been formed in opposition to the body, and have drawn off by themselves. Others have not dared to go quite so far as that, but still they have not really felt satisfied, and now and then they show their dissatisfaction, though nominally remaining in harmony with the body. With such persons particularly, I now wish to have this plain talk. Come, let us now reason together.

As you know, for the past dozen years or more, I have had an extensive acquaintance with every part of this work. I have traveled and labored in every State where we have churches, from Maine to California, from Texas to Minnesota. Have visited a large share of our churches, and known the most of our brethren personally. Especially have I been very familiarly acquainted with Bro. and Sr. White, both at home and in their labors. Furthermore, I am well acquainted with the most of those who have drawn off from us; have heard over and over, a thousand times, all the difficulties and objections and grievances which trouble these brethren so greatly.

Now I do not propose to start out by saying that there is no possible chance for such difficulties or objections to be raised. No; if this were so, it would be a new thing in the work of God. The Lord has never had a special work to do upon the earth, but that there was plenty of chance for men to doubt, and get into trial, and lose their faith in the work. Was it not so in the case of Moses? of Nehemiah? of Christ himself? of Martin Luther? If men are disposed to give more weight to a grain of sand than they are to a mountain, then they will always have plenty of things about which to get into trouble. This has always been so. What reason have we to expect that it will be different now?

We are willing to assume, then, for the present, that the objections and difficulties which trouble you so greatly are real to you, and that you hold them honestly. Sometimes in the past, I myself have been troubled with these same things, and I have come near stumbling over them; but I am thankful to say, that after years of careful investigation, and a more thorough acquaintance with the work, these things are now all very clear and satisfactory to my own mind, so much so, that it seems to me that, with a fair chance, I can make any believer in the message see it.

Come, now, let us reason together. Certainly there are many great and fundamental pillars of our faith upon which we all agree. Let us name some of them.

1. We do all firmly believe, that we are now in the last days, even in the last generation. The fulfillment of numerous lines of prophecy and special signs of the second advent are so clear that we are compelled to believe this.

2. The Lord designs that the world shall have a solemn warning with regard to the second advent, the same as he has sent to the world on other and similar occasions, such as the flood, the fall of Sodom, the overthrow of Nineveh, and the first advent of our Saviour. Then, as Seventh-day Adventists, we all believe, and have good reasons for believing, that the time has come for the third angel’s message to be given to the world. Rev. 14: 9-16. This is the most awfully solemn message in the Bible. It is to be the last to a fallen world. It is to ripen the harvest of the earth. It is to prepare a people for translation. It is to prepare the wicked for the seven last plagues. It calls for a reformation. God’s people are now scattered hither and thither through a multitude of different sects, bred in error and breaking the commandments of God. 2 Tim. 3: 1-5; Rev. 18: 1-4. Just before the burning day of wrath, there will be a solemn message to gather God’s scattered people, unite them in one faith, that they may be hid in the time of trouble. Zeph. 2: 1-3. This last message is to be sounded to every nation, and even before kings. Rev. 10: 11.

Now I call your special attention to the following propositions:—

Whenever God has had a special work to do in the earth, he has always selected some one to begin that work, carry it on, and bring it to a successful termination. This proposition is based upon a well known and universally acknowledged fact; viz., that any important work, to be successful, must have a leader with recognized authority and proper ability. Even in the smallest affairs of life, where many persons are interested in the same thing, we all find it necessary to have some recognized authority and head, so that all may act in union. Even in so small an affair as a district school, it has everywhere been found absolutely necessary to elect proper officers with authority to say what shall be done and how. Without this, our schools would be in utter confusion—would be a failure. Take the government of a city like Chicago. It would not be possible for it to exist without a head, a mayor, or some chief officer. The order and peace of the city absolutely demand this.

What would our nation do without a president, without some head? Were all men left every one to do what was right in his own eyes, confusion and anarchy would soon be the result. So generally is this fact felt that all nations without an exception, appoint themselves some head, either a king, emperor, president, or the like. What could we do in a war without a commander-in-chief, a general who should have absolute command over all the army? If every soldier were allowed to go by himself, to fight as he pleased and when he pleased, any army would soon be defeated.

Now if order, union, and government, are so very necessary in human affairs, why not in the work of God? We believe that they are, and that the Lord has always recognized this fact in every great work he has done on earth. Was the world to be warned of the deluge? God chose a fit man to give that warning, to prosecute the work. Evidently this was a greater work than it now appears to us at this great distance of time. The ark was an immense building. Dr. Horne says it would carry 42,413 tons burden, or 20,000 men with food for six months. It was as big as eighteen large men-of-war. It must have taken great skill to construct it, an immense amount of material and labor to build it. Without doubt it cost Noah a great deal. No ordinary man would have been capable of such a work. It required a man of unswerving integrity, of great mental strength, as well as financial ability. Noah was the proper man. God raised him up, and sustained him till his work was done.

Take another familiar case, the exodus of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. This also required a leader peculiarly adapted to the circumstances. God was not only to deliver a nation from bondage under another powerful nation, but a whole code of laws was to be minutely written out and carefully systematized. For all this great and varied work, it would need a masterly mind and a sharp thinker; a good general and critical scholar. Did the Lord wait till the emergency came, and then select this man or that man at hazard? No, indeed. Evidently he raised up Moses, even from his birth, especially for this work. Notice how in the providence of God he was left in the bulrushes, where Pharaoh’s daughter saw him; how she was moved upon to adopt him as her son; how his life was thus specially guarded; how he thus became educated thoroughly in all the learning and wisdom of those days; how he learned to be a leader and commander of men.

Thus the circumstances show that God raised up Moses and prepared him for his special work. Moses was not an ordinary man; but he had a commanding mind and a powerful influence. No other man could have done the work he did. Aaron and Miriam thought they were qualified for the work, but the Lord soon showed them their folly. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, thought they knew how to do it. But the Lord’s hand soon overthrew them. Through all the struggles and overwhelming labors of those forty years, God sustained Moses till he brought his people to the borders of the promised land.

Just so again when the Jews were to be delivered from their Babylonish captivity, and Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, some man must be raised up who had influence with the Persian king, some one who had authority with the Jews. Ezra was the man qualified for this great work, a strong, energetic, benevolent, large-minded man. Evidently God had thrown him into the court of the king, in order that he might obtain favor there, and so he did. Out of special favor to him, great privileges and vast treasures were granted him for the work. And then his unconquerable energy and perseverance for many years overcame the great obstacles in the way, and Jerusalem arose again from the dust.

So at the first advent, when a message was to be sent before the Messiah. The Lord did not wait till the hour had arrived for the message to be given, and then select a man at chance. The Lord does not do his work in this manner. His plans were laid long beforehand. Gabriel was sent to Zechariah, even before John the Baptist was begotten, to inform his father what kind of a son he would be, and how he should be reared, what he should be named, &c. The Lord was not mistaken. John fulfilled the prediction in every particular.

Who does not believe that it was by a special providence of God that Martin Luther was raised up to do the mighty work which he did? Who can read his life from early infancy up, and not believe that God formed the man for the occasion, a man of iron will, of indomitable courage, a great mind, and of deep devotion? He lived to complete the work which God designed to be accomplished.

What Adventist does not believe that father Miller was the special agent of God to arouse the world upon the great question of the second advent, and give the first angel’s message? Rev. 14: 6, 7. All who are familiar with his labors know that he was just the man for the place. There were other men who were far better scholars, perhaps more eloquent speakers, and abler in many ways, but yet all in that great movement felt and recognized their leader in father Miller. Around him all rallied; his counsel was sought by every one. His great mind held all the elements in harmony till his work was done, till the first and second messages were given.

We do not argue that any of these chosen servants of God were faultless and perfect in all their ways. In most cases it is very evident they were not. But in every case it will be seen that some things were absolutely necessary to the successful accomplishment of the work.

1. There must be a leading mind in the work. But is not Christ the leader of his people? Yes. And was not he the leader of his people in the days of Moses, Nehemiah, Luther, Wesley, Miller, etc.? Yes. Did those men usurp the place of Christ? No; and yet the Lord did place them in a leading position in his work on earth. This is what we claim for this message and nothing more.

2. This person must be a man of more than ordinary capacity, not a man of second or third rate ability. 3. He must be a man naturally constituted to be independent and to lead in his work. 4. He must be specially adapted to the peculiar work to be done. Hence as the nature of the Lord’s work varies at different times, so men differently constituted are chosen by the Lord. John the Baptist could scarcely have filled the place of Moses or of Luther, neither could they have filled the place of John the Baptist.

5. There is not a single case in all the history of God’s work, from Adam down, where the Lord has had a special and great work to be done, in which this work has been commenced by one man, and that man has apostatized, or led off in a wrong direction, and God has raised up another man to take his place and take the work from his hands, correct the errors of the first in opposition to him, and thus finish the work to be done at that time. I regard this fact as one having great weight in the question we are here considering, so I state it again. There is not a single case on record in the history of God’s work upon the earth, where he has had a special work to be done, in which the Lord has permitted a man to start that work, who has afterwards apostatized or led off in the wrong direction, and then God has raised up other persons to take the work from his hands, correct his errors, and so finish the work. Judas is not an exception to this rule. The work of the apostles did not begin till Pentecost. This was after Matthias was chosen.

D. M. Canright.

(To be Continued.)