p. 61 | WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 16, 1877

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

By Dudley Marvin Canright

Roll back a dozen years, and see that vast army, hundreds of thousands, camping for months along the Potomac. “On to Richmond,” was the cry all over the land. But they did not go on very much. The response came back day after day, and through long weary weeks and months, “All quiet on the Potomac.” Nothing was done. What was the matter? Just one man was the matter. They had a poor leader—M’Clellan. Look again. See that other army, smaller by far, made up of the same material, no better men; but, shades of Napoleon! how they fight, how they march, how they fly through the country, how they storm forts and take cities! A horse can hardly keep up with them. We scarcely get news of the capture of one city before they have taken a dozen more. God bless these heroes. They walked through the heart of the rebellion, and took out its soul. What does this mean? Oh! a different man is at the head. Sherman is there. It is only one man that makes all that difference.

And now, O ye presidents of our Conferences, this article is for you. Have you not seen, has it not been told you, has it never occurred to your mind what a wonderful difference there is in the progress of the work in a State when you get the right man at its head? Perhaps this thought has never struck you; but look and see. Show me a State that has a live, energetic, thorough-going, orderly man for a president, and I will show you a Conference that is doing something. Examine the field, and see if it is not so. On the other hand, you may take the very best field, with the best resources and the most flattering prospect, and put a dull, lifeless man at the head and everything stops suddenly, and everybody becomes discouraged. The offerings of the brethren cease, the preachers lose their zeal, the old churches go down, and things generally become discouraging. And this is reasonable. Everybody looks to the president to give the watchword, to lead off, and to keep things moving. If this is not his duty, then he has none. It is an old proverb that “the eye of the master does more work than both his hands.” The best overseer of a large number of hands is not the one who undertakes to do the largest day’s work himself; but it is the one who is here and there, and has his eyes on everything, seeing that all are at work, speaking a word of encouragement to this one, commending that one, stirring up another one, and seeing that each one is doing something.

Now this is just what the president of a Conference should do. His business is to know about everything in the State, small and great, to know just the ability and gift of all his people, just where each one can work the best, and to see that he works there. He should be in constant connection with every minister; be familiar with the wants of the cause in the whole field; look after the elders of each church, and straighten up the books, examine the records of the clerks, the treasurers, and every officer in the Conference, to see that the records are kept right; and he should see that the ordinances are celebrated, etc. If there is anything encouraging, he should seize upon it immediately, and make the most of it, to encourage the brethren. If there is any progress in the cause, let it be known. *These are the things which stimulate men to work. He ought to have something in the REVIEW, if it is not more than ten lines, at the very least every other week, particularly if he can find anything to say that is encouraging. If he has the blues, and his faith in God and the truth is gone, and he has nothing but evil to report, he had better keep still. The market is already well supplied in that direction.

Come, brethren, wake up. Let us hear from you. Every church and every man in your Conference is looking anxiously each week to see what you have to say about affairs in your State. If you say nothing, they naturally conclude that you are doing nothing, and furthermore that there is not much being done in the State any way. And so they will settle down very contentedly to do the same as you are doing.

Observe what wisdom Paul had. He was constantly stirring up the brethren by what the other churches had done; and when that failed, he would write to the church and tell how he boasted of them, and tell them how confident he was that they would not prove that he had stretched the thing. Go thou and do likewise. D. M. CANRIGHT.

*Newburyport, Mass., July 14.