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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
He lamented her straitened circumstances, and then said: “I don’t
know how she is going to get along this cold winter. She has close
times now.” Such have forgotten the pattern, and by their acts say:
“Nay, Lord, we cannot drink of the cup of self-denial, humiliation,
and sacrifice which You drank of, nor be baptized with the suffering
which You were baptized with. We cannot live to do others good.
It is our business to take care of ourselves.” Who should know how
the widow should get along unless it be those who have well-filled
granaries? The means for her to get along are at hand. And dare
those whom God has made His stewards, to whom He has entrusted
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means, withhold from the needy disciples of Christ? If so, they
withhold from Jesus. Do you expect the Lord to rain down grain
from heaven to supply the needy? Has He not rather placed it in
your hands, to help and bless them through you? Has He not made
you His instrument in this good work to prove you, and to give you
the privilege of laying up a treasure in heaven?
Fatherless and motherless children are thrown into the arms of
the church, and Christ says to His followers: Take these destitute
children, bring them up for Me, and ye shall receive your wages. I
have seen much selfishness exhibited in these things. Unless there is
some special evidence that they
themselves
are to be benefited by
adopting into their family those who need homes, some turn away
and answer: No. They do not seem to know or care whether such
are saved or lost. That, they think, is not their business. With Cain
they say: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” They are not willing to be
put to inconvenience or to make any sacrifice for the orphans, and
they indifferently thrust such ones into the arms of the world, who
are sometimes more willing to receive them than are these professed
Christians. In the day of God, inquiry will be made for those whom
Heaven gave them the opportunity of saving. But they wished to be
excused, and would not engage in the good work unless they could
make it a matter of profit to them. I have been shown that those who
refuse these opportunities for doing good will hear from Jesus: “As
ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.” Please
read
Isaiah 58
:
“Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict
his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread
sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an