p. 198 | Missionary Department by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 29, 1875

Missionary Department.

By John Norton Loughborough

“Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” John 1:46.

Work while the Day Lasts.

Our Saviour said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4.

The period of Christ’s public ministry and miracles among the Jews was by the Saviour himself emphatically called their day. When as a nation they had rejected Christ, their night came, and we behold the Saviour lamenting their fate as he wept over Jerusalem and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matt. 23:37, 38.

In the public mission of our Saviour we have a most striking illustration of a life of activity and toil, of journeying from place to place, enduring hardships and privations. Weary, faint, hungry—“not where to lay his head,”—but imbued with a sense of the magnitude and importance of his mission, he was ever active, improving every opportunity of doing good. How his time was employed is expressed by this one sentence; He “went about doing good.”

If we study his life we shall see him watching for opportunities to do good, taking advantage of the golden opportunities as they present themselves, and adapting his discourses and labors to the condition and circumstances of those he would benefit.

We are to learn from that life and example of our Saviour that “it is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master.” During the whole gospel day the Lord has demanded activity on the part of his servants; but now, in these last times, when fulfilling signs show unmistakably that the end of all things is at hand, our energies should be wholly devoted to the cause and work of God.

While the last message of truth is being proclaimed, and the world is being warned of its doom, how important that we work while it is day. When the solemn mandate shall be uttered in Heaven, “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still,” it will be too late to change their condition. Then, though they may “wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, to seek the word, of the Lord,” they “shall not find it.” Then night will indeed have come upon this generation, a night in which no man can work.

Now it is day. Now the fields are open everywhere, and now we have the golden opportunity to labor for the salvation of our fellow-men. Now, with our plan for missionary labor, there is an opportunity for every one to do something. Shall we have our hearts imbued with the Spirit of the Master? and shall we feel that we “MUST work” while it is day? If we have a disposition to labor in this cause there is no lack of opportunities. If we are ever on the alert and awake to observe the circumstances surrounding us, we may find opportunities to do good. It is not in debating with everybody we meet, whether they wish to learn or not, but it is in speaking a kind word to those in affliction and distress and caring for them, having hearts full of sympathy and love for perishing mortals, and conversing with them, praying for them, and seeking to lead them to Christ, that we can do the most good and receive the greatest blessing.

The reward of our labor is not measured so much by the amount we do as by the disposition and spirit with which we labor. If we are looking for opportunities to do great things only, those opportunities may never come. But we may perhaps overlook lesser opportunities and circumstances where a vast amount of good might be accomplished.

No opportunity or circumstance presented for doing good should be overlooked. We often see great results from those things which, in themselves, might appear, at first sight, to be insignificant. It was only last week that I learned of a person embracing the third angel’s message, whose interest was first awakened by reading a part of a torn leaf of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and the leaf was badly soiled at that. If such results are accomplished by a soiled piece of a paper, we certainly have abundant encouragement to take clean and whole copies and distribute them as freely as our tracts. Shall we arouse to the importance of the time, and “work while it is day.”

INSTRUCTION

It was voted at our last State Quarterly Meeting to issue extra copies of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES in the same manner as our tracts for general circulation. These may be not only mailed with the supplements, but we recommend to each district and church to have a good supply of these back numbers of the SIGNS, and let the members place a copy in the hands of any they may meet who show a disposition to read.

We have a good supply of SIGNS on hand, and will send them immediately to any district where they wish them, and where they will take hold of the work of circulating them. Let each director at once ascertain how many copies they wish, to be used in the same manner as our tracts, and they shall be sent to them at once.

A paper will be read many times when a tract would not be read, and although it may be used as wrapping paper, or thrown into the waste basket, still it will be read. Take hold of this matter, brethren, and let us hear from you at once. J. N. L.