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Counsels on Stewardship
no distinction of rank. With Him there is no caste. In His sight, men
are simply men, good or bad. In the day of final reckoning, position,
rank, or wealth will not alter by a hairsbreadth the case of anyone. By
the all-seeing God, men will be judged by what they are in purity, in
nobility, in love for Christ....
Christ declared that the gospel is to be preached to the poor. Never
does God’s truth put on an aspect of greater loveliness than when
brought to the needy and destitute. Then it is that the light of the
gospel shines forth in its most radiant clearness, lighting up the hut
of the peasant and the rude cottage of the laborer. Angels of God are
there, and their presence makes the crust of bread and the cup of water
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a banquet. Those who have been neglected and abandoned by the
world are raised to be sons and daughters of the Most High. Lifted
above any position that earth can give, they sit in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. They may have no earthly treasure, but they have found
the pearl of great price.—
The Review and Herald, July 21, 1910
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Claims of the Widow and Fatherless
It is not wise to give indiscriminately to everyone who may solicit
our aid; for we may thus encourage idleness, intemperance, and ex-
travagance. But if one comes to your door and says he is hungry, do
not turn him away empty. Give him something to eat, of such things
as you have. You know not his circumstances, and it may be that his
poverty is the result of misfortune.
But among all whose needs demand our interest, the widow and
the fatherless have the strongest claims upon our tender sympathy and
care. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world.”
The father who has died in the faith, resting upon the eternal
promise of God, left his loved ones in full trust that the Lord would
care for them. And how does the Lord provide for these bereaved
ones? He does not work a miracle in sending manna from heaven, He
does not send ravens to bring them food; but He works a miracle upon
human hearts, He expels selfishness from the soul, He unseals the
fountain of benevolence. He tests the love of His professed followers
by committing to their tender mercies the afflicted and bereaved ones,