Care for Workers
Some provision should be made for the care of ministers and others
of God’s faithful servants who through exposure or overwork in His
cause have become ill and need rest and restoration, or who through
age or loss of health are no longer able to bear the burden and heat
of the day. Ministers are often appointed to a field of labor that they
know will be detrimental to their health; but, unwilling to shun trying
places, they venture, hoping to be a help and blessing to the people.
After a time they find their health failing. A change of climate and of
work is tried, without bringing relief; and then what are they to do?
These faithful laborers, who for Christ’s sake have given up worldly
prospects, choosing poverty rather than pleasure or riches; who, for-
getful of self, have labored earnestly to win souls to Christ; who have
given liberally to advance various enterprises in the cause of God, and
have then sunk down in the battle, wearied and ill, and with no means
of support, must not be left to struggle on in poverty and suffering, or
to feel that they are paupers. When sickness or infirmity comes upon
them, let not our workers be burdened with the anxious query, “What
will become of my wife and little ones, now that I can no longer labor
and supply their necessities?” It is but just that provision be made to
meet the needs of these faithful laborers, and the needs of those who
are dependent on them.
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Generous provision is made for veterans who have fought for their
country. These men bear the scars and life-long infirmities that tell of
their perilous conflicts, their forced marches, their exposure to storms,
their suffering in prison. All these evidences of their loyalty and self-
sacrifice give them a just claim upon the nation they have helped to
save,—a claim that is recognized and honored. But what provision
have Seventh-day Adventists made for the soldiers of Christ?
Our people have not felt as they should the necessity of this matter,
and it has therefore been neglected. The churches have been thought-
less, and though the light of the word of God has been shining upon
their pathway, they have neglected this most sacred duty. The Lord
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