No Respect of Persons with God
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Human Brotherhood
In the human brotherhood it takes all kinds of talents to make
a perfect whole; and the church of Christ is composed of men and
women of varied talents, and of all ranks and all classes. God never
designed that the pride of men should dissolve that which His own
wisdom had ordained,—the combination of all classes of minds, of
all the varied talents that make a complete whole. There should be no
depreciating of any part of God’s great work, whether the agencies are
high or lowly. All have their part to act in diffusing light in different
degrees.
There should be no monopolizing of what belongs, in a measure,
to all, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. Not a ray of
light must be undervalued, not a ray shut out, not a gleam unrecognized,
or even acknowledged reluctantly. Let all act their part for truth and
righteousness. The interests of the different classes of society are
indissolubly united. We are all woven together in the great web of
humanity, and we cannot, without loss, withdraw our sympathies from
one another. It is impossible for a healthy influence to be maintained
in the church when this common interest and sympathy does not exist.
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Exclusiveness
There is no caste with God. He ignores everything of the kind. All
souls are of value with Him. Laboring for the salvation of the soul
is employment worthy of the highest honor. It matters not what may
be the form of our labor, or among what class, whether high or low.
In God’s sight these distinctions will not affect its true worth. The
sincere, earnest, contrite soul, however ignorant, is precious in the
sight of the Lord. He places His own signet upon men, judging, not
by their rank, not by their wealth, not by their intellectual greatness,
but by their oneness with Christ. The unlearned, the outcast, the slave,
if he has made the most of his opportunities and privileges, if he has
cherished the light given him of God, has done all that is required. The
world may call him ignorant, but God calls him wise and good, and
thus his name stands registered in the books of heaven. God will fit
him up to do Him honor, not only in heaven, but on the earth.