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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
inasmuch as the salvation of precious souls is involved. Why is it
not a duty which God enjoins upon you who are able, to expend
something for the benefit of the homeless, even though they may
be ignorant and undisciplined? Shall you study to labor only in
the direction where you will receive the most selfish pleasure and
profit? It is not meet for you to neglect the divine favor that Heaven
offers you if you will care for those who need your care, and thus
let God knock in vain at your door. He stands there in the person
of the poor, the homeless orphans, and the afflicted widows, who
need love, sympathy, affection, and encouragement. If you do it not
unto one of these, you would not do it unto Christ were He upon the
earth.
Call to mind your former wretchedness, your spiritual blindness,
and the darkness which enshrouded you before Christ, a tender,
loving Saviour, came to your aid and reached you where you were.
If you let these seasons pass without giving tangible proofs of your
gratitude for this wonderful and amazing love which a compas-
sionate Saviour exercised toward you, who were aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, there is reason to fear that still greater
darkness and misery will come upon you. Now is your sowing time.
You will reap that which you sow. Avail yourselves while you may
of every privilege of doing good. These privileges improved are as a
passing shower, which will water and revive you. Lay hold of every
opportunity within your reach of doing good. Idle hands will reap
a small harvest. For what do older persons live but to care for the
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young and help the helpless? God has committed them to us who
are older and have experience, and He will call us to account if our
duties in this direction are neglected. What though our labor may
not be appreciated! what though it prove a failure many times, and a
success but once! This once will outweigh all the discouragements
previously borne.
But few have a true sense of what is comprised in the word
Christian. It is to be Christlike, to do others good, to be divested of
all selfishness, and to have our lives marked with acts of disinterested
benevolence. Our Redeemer throws souls into the arms of the church,
for them to care for unselfishly and train for heaven, and thus be
co-workers with Him. But the church too often thrusts them away,
upon the devil’s battlefield. One member will say, “It is not my