Opportunity by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 1, 1875

Opportunity.

By John Norton Loughborough

As we have already suggested, the little job of personally calling upon those who have been reading the SIGNS for a few weeks or months, to have religious conversation with them, opens an excellent opportunity for interesting missionary labor. Who will attend to it? One of the most interesting portions of the missionary work and that which requires most care, is "visiting" those who have been reading our periodicals. It is not to rashly demand means for their paper, but to learn the true state of their minds, and furnish them further reading matter on such points as they need help, or continue the papers to them. The matter of their aiding in the publication of the paper will come in naturally enough.

Our great object in publishing and circulating the SIGNS is to do good, to instruct our fellow-men in the way of truth, and to lead them to the Lord. While all of course understand that it takes means to publish papers, this should not be brought before subscribers as the greatest object of a call upon them.

While we have viewed this as so nice an opportunity to do missionary work, we have been somewhat surprised to learn that some even in places where there was work of this kind to be done, "cannot see much opportunity" to do T. and M. work in their church. In some few instances we are requested to make almost a wholesale slaughter by cutting off forty names in a place, and where we judge from the tenor of their letter they have not visited the parties to ascertain the real state of their minds. To us this seems like casting aside forty opportunities to do good, and to do missionary work. This is not what we are proposing to do. We would be glad to see promptness of action on the lists, but there is not that haste demanded that one subscriber need be cut off who is interested in the paper.

It is due to our workers that we should say we thank you for the promptness and earnestness with which you are taking hold of this work. Patiently labor on remembering the admonition of the apostle, "As we have, therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

J. N. L.