Your ShelfYour Projects

Charity's Dead

11%

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 9, 1878

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 4, No. 18.

Read the full edition

Charity's Dead.

By Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

EARTH is so full of corruption and pride, Goodness and charity cannot abide, Selfishness covers the land like a flood, And nobody cares for his neighbor's good, Gentleness, patience, and kindness have fled, Love is forgotten, and charity's dead.
Look at the churches, the places of prayer, None but the rich have a welcome there, None but the rich, with his hoarded gold, Seeks for a home in the gilded fold. Open the door for the rich man, wide, Plenty of room for the poor, outside.
What if a brother should stumble and fall, Nobody stoops to console him at all, Pass right on, o'er the prostrate form, Leaving him out in the pitiless storm, Never is spoken a pitying word, Nobody's loving compassion is stirred.
Where is sweet charity? All o'er the land Brother 'gainst brother is raising his hand, Bitterest words are unwittingly spoken, Tenderest hearts are unfeelingly broken, Brotherly kindness and love have fled, Friends are forgotten, and charity's dead.
Go to the home of the millionaire, What do you see in the mansions fair? Gold and silver, and riches bright, Wrenched from the poor, by the hand of might, The widow's all, and the orphan's bread, Mournfully tell us, that charity's dead.
Many and many a strife is stirred, But by the sting of a bitter word. Many a tender and trusting heart, Shrinks from the wound of its venomed dart. Many a brother, in sin and guile, Sinks; for the want of a friendly smile.
Many a deed might have once been done, Many a glorious victory won, But for the taunt and the cruel sneer, Falling like weight on the shrinking ear— Many a soul will be garnered, when Charity dwells in the hearts of men.
What shall it profit me, though I may give, Half of my goods, that the needy may live, Though my own body I give to be burned Kindness and charity must not be spurned, Brotherly kindness will ever prevail. Beautiful charity never can fail. MRS. L. D. A. STUTTLE.