General Conference Bulletin, vol. 1

THE WORD OF GOD. — NO. 6

W. W. PRESCOTT

(Continued from page 386.)

Now here is a member in the church who does not seem to have any very great talent; shall we, therefore, look down upon him? He can never be the president of the conference; he never can be elder of the church. Shall we therefore more lightly regard him? To every man is given his work. The eyes cannot do the work of the finger nails; they are extremely important in their place, but they cannot do the work of the finger nails so well as the finger nails can do it. Ears are very important, but they cannot do the work that the little finger was designed to do so well as the little finger can do it. GCB February 28, 1895, page 389.6

Now every member of the church has a place in the church; and if he will submit himself to God, he can fill that place better than any other one, and in his place he is to be esteemed just as highly and as being just as necessary as some one who may occupy a higher position. Suppose we were all presidents of the General Conference. Where would the different conferences be? Suppose all were fit for nothing else than to be presidents of local conferences. Where would the General Conference be? Every member of this body, of the church, no matter how small he be, has a place to fill, no matter how humble he may be; and if he will fill that place as God wishes him to fill it, he will succeed. GCB February 28, 1895, page 389.7

Now another thought. Jesus Christ is actually and really the head of the church, not as a kind of theory, but Jesus Christ literally, really, actually, is the head of the church, and no human being is ever to take that place. And he is the head of every man, no matter what position that man occupies. We are all brethren, and no matter what official station one may be chosen to fill, Jesus Christ is as much his head as Jesus Christ is the head of the layman; and no man in the church ever reaches that point under God where it is not just as true of him as of every other one, that Jesus Christ is his head. Then Christ is really the head of the church, presiding over his own church himself, directing his own body in the movements of every member in his own body, simply doing that through instruments. GCB February 28, 1895, page 389.8

But what gets us into trouble in the church relation? Of course the root of it all is that Christ is not in us the hope of glory, and that Christ is not in us the head of the individual. But just as soon as one begins to think that he is the head of himself, then he concludes that the president of the conference is the head of the conference, and that what he says and does, he says and does of himself; and then he does not propose to be bossed by the president of the conference or General Conference. But just so long as Christ remains our head individually, we never will see in the president of the State conference somebody trying to boss people, and we never will see in the President of the General Conference somebody trying to run things. And we never will see a clique; we never will see a ring; we never will see anything of that kind to disturb us. We will see Jesus Christ as the head of every individual, because he is our head, and we suppose him to be the head of every other brother. GCB February 28, 1895, page 389.9

But isn’t it true that they do boss sometimes? If they do, the safest position for me to take is that Christ is my head, and I believe he is the head of every other brother; and if it looks contrary to that to me, I will leave it with Christ and the brother to settle, and I will not step in to fix it up. Then there will be no trouble; and I believe that every child of God who submits himself to the organization of Christ’s church, because it is Christ’s church, and who believes that Christ is the head of the individual and the head of the church, even though there are trials to bear, and in the providence of God he is brought into a tight place, may be assured that God will overrule it to his individual advancement, and to the good of his own work. GCB February 28, 1895, page 389.10

When Christ is thus regarded, — as really the head of the church, — then even those who would boss can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Shall we advocate the doctrine that we will submit ourselves to the enemies of Christ, and if they want to take us and put us in prison, all right, we will submit? and yet shall we decline to take the position that we will submit to the friends of Christ, and that we will believe that Jesus Christ himself is the real head of the church and that he is able to direct his own church? This principle is the cure for all our conference difficulties, for all our church difficulties, for every difficulty, because Christ is the cure for all our troubles; and when he is the head, he is the cure. GCB February 28, 1895, page 390.1

One more thought. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Suppose this hand is hurt, and the other hand does not feel it any. What is the conclusion? Which is to be pitied the more, — the one that receives a slight injury, or the other one that does not know it? — The one that is paralyzed or dead is the one to be pitied more than the one that received the injury. But if one member receives an injury, and some other member does not feel it, the member who does not feel it, whose sympathy is not touched by that at all, really says: “I am dead; I am paralyzed; I am disconnected from the body; I have nothing in common with the body.” Then the member who says he does not suffer is much more to be pitied than the member who is injured, because the member that is suffering will soon recover; but the member that is dead, is in a pretty bad case. So let me say: If you do not suffer any when the other member suffers, be alarmed; get connected with the body; and then when one member suffers, every member will suffer. GCB February 28, 1895, page 390.2