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censure in the church; but by and by He will say: “Give an account
of thy stewardship.” Says Christ: “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not to Me.” “Ye are not your own, for ye
are bought with a price,” and are under obligation to glorify God with
your means as well as in your body and in your spirit, which are His.
“Ye are bought with a price,“ not “with corruptible things, as silver
and gold,” “but with the precious blood of Christ.” He asks a return
of the gifts that He has entrusted to us, to aid in the salvation of souls.
He has given His blood; He asks our silver. It is through His poverty
that we are made rich; and will we refuse to give back to Him His own
gifts?
God is not dependent upon man for the support of His cause. He
could have sent means direct from heaven to supply His treasury, if His
providence had seen that this was best for man. He might have devised
means whereby angels would have been sent to publish the truth to
the world without the agency of men. He might have written the truth
upon the heavens, and let that declare to the world His requirements
in living characters. God is not dependent upon any man’s gold or
silver. He says: “Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon
a thousand hills.” “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world
is Mine, and the fullness thereof.” Whatever necessity there is for our
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agency in the advancement of the cause of God, He has purposely
arranged for our good. He has honored us by making us co-workers
with Him. He has ordained that there should be a necessity for the
co-operation of men, that they may keep in exercise their benevolence.
God has in His wise providence placed the poor always with us,
that while we should witness the various forms of want and suffering in
the world, we should be tested and proved, and brought into positions
to develop Christian character. He has placed the poor among us to
call out from us Christian sympathy and love.
Sinners, who are perishing for lack of knowledge, must be left in
ignorance and darkness unless men carry to them the light of truth.
God will not send angels from heaven to do the work which He has left
for man to do. He has given all a work to do, for the very reason that He
might prove them and that they might reveal their true character. Christ
places the poor among us as His representatives. “I was an hungered,”
He says, “and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me
no drink.” Christ identifies Himself with suffering humanity in the