p. 18 | In Behalf of the Aged and Orphans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 28, 1907

In Behalf of the Aged and Orphans

By George I. Butler

An annual offering for the relief of these two very important and needy classes is to be taken Sabbath, April 6. At the last council of the General Conference Committee it was decided that each union conference should look after the welfare of those in its own territory rather than to have the work carried on at any central point. We think that the plan is a wise one. It will save expense in transportation, and bring the people closer to needy cases, and the responsibility will be brought closer home.

We have needy ones who have a claim upon us in the Southern Union Conference. Let all the churches throughout this union conference remember the collection of April 6.

There is nothing that is made more plain in the Scriptures than the duty of God's people to care for the aged and the orphans. There is nothing that should appeal to our sympathies more than the condition of those who by misfortune have been brought to a condition of helplessness and poverty. The blessed Golden Rule teaches that we should do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. We may be well supplied with the necessaries of life, and well able to care for our own children and give them all that they need, but some one's children are being left as orphans. These are children of Christ, and as such God regards them highly, and with interest and tender affection. Pure religion before God is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. This does not mean to look in upon them and say a few words occasionally. It means to minister to their wants and necessities. That is one of the high claims of God upon us that we can not disown without demonstrating that we have not the pure and undefiled religion; and we are sure that no religion but this will stand the test of the great day before us.

No denomination is worthy of the confidence of man or the blessing of God that passes by with indifference the claims of the orphans and the aged. Their claims call loudly, even upon the world, and those who do not profess any form of religion. Shall we as a people who are looking for the coming of the Lord, in any wise neglect this great and important duty? But, we would not place it merely upon the standpoint of duty. We should realize that it is a blessed privilege to care for those whom God regards with affection and love.

We have in mind persons who have no

hope in God and no expectation of salvation, yet for the mere privilege and pleasure of doing good, are liberal souls and glad to show sympathy, and love and mercy to those who are more needy than they are.

I plead with the churches in our own Southern Union Conference to be very careful about this collection and deal with it liberally. We plead with any who may care to read this article to take an interest in the object set before us in this collection. We hope that our people will make this the largest collection ever taken for these purposes. It is a new departure in some respects, bringing the needy ones under the circle of our own influence. Seventh-day Adventists ought to be the most liberal people in this world. We claim to be those who believe the Bible, and one of the duties most clearly set forth therein is the care of the unfortunate, the suffering, and the needy.

GEO. I. BUTLER, Pres. Southern Union Conference.