Chapter 25—Our Duty to the Unfortunate
Pity for the Blind, Lame, and Afflicted—Those who have pity
for the unfortunate, the blind, the lame, the afflicted, the widows, the
orphans, and the needy, Christ represents as commandment keepers,
who shall have eternal life.—
Testimonies for the Church 3:512
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Frozen Sympathies—In view of what heaven is doing to save the
lost, how can those who are partakers of the riches of the grace of
Christ withdraw their interest and their sympathies from their fellow
men? How can they indulge in pride of rank or caste and despise the
unfortunate and the poor?
Yet it is too true that the pride of rank and the oppression of the poor
which prevail in the world, exist also among the professed followers
of Christ. With many the sympathies that ought to be exercised in
full measure toward humanity seem frozen up. Men appropriate to
themselves the gifts entrusted to them wherewith to bless others. The
rich grind the face of the poor and use the means thus gained to indulge
their pride and love of display even in the house of God.... Were it
not that the Lord has revealed His love to the poor and lowly who
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are contrite in heart, this world would be a sad place for the poor
man.—
The Review and Herald, June 20, 1893
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Make Condition of Unfortunate Brother Our Own—When a
man is struggling with honest endeavor to sustain himself and his
family, and yet is unable to do this, so that they suffer for necessary
food and clothing, the Lord will not pronounce our ministering brethren
guiltless if they look on with indifference or prescribe conditions for
this brother which are virtually impossible of fulfillment ... We are to
make the condition of the unfortunate brother our own.
Any neglect on the part of those who claim to be followers of
Christ, a failure to relieve the necessities of a brother or a sister who
is bearing the yoke of poverty and oppression, is registered in the
books of heaven as shown to Christ in the person of His saints. What
a reckoning the Lord will have with many, very many, who present
the words of Christ to others but fail to manifest tender sympathy and
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