Multitudes in Distress
[
Testimonies for the Church 6:254-258
(1900).]
When Christ saw the multitudes that gathered about Him, “He was
moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scat-
tered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Christ saw the sickness,
the sorrow, the want and degradation of the multitudes that thronged
His steps. To Him were presented the needs and woes of humanity
throughout the world. Among the high and the low, the most honored
and the most degraded, He beheld souls who were longing for the very
blessing He had come to bring; souls who needed only a knowledge
of His grace, to become subjects of His kingdom. “Then saith He
unto His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are
few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth
laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:36-38
.
Today the same needs exist. The world is in need of workers who
will labor as Christ did for the suffering and the sinful. There is indeed
a multitude to be reached. The world is full of sickness, suffering,
distress, and sin. It is full of those who need to be ministered unto—the
weak, the helpless, the ignorant, the degraded.
In the Path of Destruction
Many of the youth of this generation, in the midst of churches,
religious institutions, and professedly Christian homes, are choosing
[14]
the path to destruction. Through intemperate habits they bring upon
themselves disease, and through greed to obtain money for sinful
indulgences they fall into dishonest practices. Health and character
are ruined. Aliens from God, and outcasts from society, these poor
souls feel that they are without hope either for this life or for the life
to come. The hearts of parents are broken. Men speak of these erring
ones as hopeless; but God looks upon them with pitying tenderness.
He understands all the circumstances that have led them to fall under
temptation. This is a class that demands labor.
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