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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For
to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were
willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would
receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to
the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Insomuch that we
desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the
same grace also.”
There had been a famine at Jerusalem, and Paul knew that many of
the Christians had been scattered abroad and that those who remained
would be likely to be deprived of human sympathy and exposed to
religious enmity. Therefore he exhorted the churches to send pecuniary
assistance to their brethren in Jerusalem. The amount raised by the
churches exceeded the expectation of the apostles. Constrained by the
love of Christ, the believers gave liberally, and they were filled with joy
because they should thus express their gratitude to the Redeemer and
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their love for the brethren. This is the true basis of charity according
to God’s word.
The matter of caring for our aged brethren and sisters who have
no homes is constantly being urged. What can be done for them?
The light which the Lord has given me has been repeated: It is not
best to establish institutions for the care of the aged, that they may be
in a company together. Nor should they be sent away from home to
receive care. Let the members of every family minister to their own
relatives. When this is not possible, the work belongs to the church,
and it should be accepted both as a duty and as a privilege. All who
have Christ’s spirit will regard the feeble and aged with special respect
and tenderness.
God suffers His poor to be in the borders of every church. They
are always to be among us, and the Lord places upon the members of
every church a personal responsibility to care for them. We are not
to lay our responsibility upon others. Toward those within our own
borders we are to manifest the same love and sympathy that Christ
would manifest were He in our place. Thus we are to be disciplined,
that we may be prepared to work in Christ’s lines.
The minister should educate the various families and strengthen
the church to care for its own sick and poor. He should set at work the
God-given faculties of the people, and if one church is overtaxed in