I have been shown that our ministers generally are deficient in making themselves useful in the families where they are entertained. Some devote their minds to study because they love this employment. They do not feel that it is a duty which God enjoins upon ministers to make themselves a blessing in the families which they visit, but many give their minds to books and shut themselves away from the family and do not converse with them upon the subjects of truth. The religious interests in the family are scarcely mentioned. This is all wrong. Ministers who have not the burden and care of the publishing interest upon them, and who have not the perplexities and numerous cares of all the churches, should not feel that their labor is excessively hard. They should feel the deepest interest in the families they visit; they should not feel that they are to be petted and waited upon while they give nothing in return. There is an obligation resting upon Christian families to entertain the ministers of Christ, and there is also a duty resting upon ministers who receive the hospitality of Christian friends to feel under mutual obligation to bear their own burdens as far as possible and not be a tax to their friends. Many ministers entertain the idea that they must be especially favored and waited upon, and they are frequently injured and their usefulness crippled by being treated as pets. {3T 308.3}

Jeg er blevet vist at vore prædikanter i almindelighed mangler at gøre sig nyttige i familier de kommer i. Nogle helliger sig til studier fordi de elsker denne beskæftigelse. De føler ikke at det er en pligt som Gud pålægger prædikanter at de skal være til velsignelse for de familier som de besøger, men mage giver deres sind til bøger og lukker sig selv ude fra familien og ikke taler med den over sandhedens emner. Religiøse interesser i familien nævnes knap nok. Dette er helt forkert. Prædikanter som ikke har byrde og bekymring for forlagsvirksomhedens interesse på sig og som ikke de mange indviklede bekymringer for alle menigheder, bør ikke føle at deres arbejde er ekstra hårdt. De bør føle den dybeste interesse for de familier de besøger; de bør ikke føle at de bliver forkælet og opvartet, når de ikke giver noget tilbage. Der påhviler kristne familier en forpligtelse til at beværte Kristi prædikanter og der påhviler også de prædikanter en opgave som modtager kristne venners gæstfrihed at nære gensidig taknemmelighed og bære deres egne byrder så langt så muligt og ikke være til byrde for deres venner. Mange prædikanter nærer den tanke at de må begunstiges på en særlig måde, men de skades ofte og deres nyttighed forkrøbles når de behandles som forkælede børn.