Help in Time of Need

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 12, 1872

Help in Time of Need.

DID you ever live in a great city—a Babel of confusion—a place where you might be hungry and sicken and die, and your next neighbor would not know it till he saw them carry in your coffin, or carry out your corpse? a place where kind men get imposed upon by begging impostors till their hearts grow hard, and where shrinking, timid, honest people stay in garrets and starve, rather than endure the insults incident to beggary? a place where there are hosts of friends for the poor, but you do not know where they are, and where there is no difficulty in finding plenty of the vicious and the vile? Were you ever there, penniless and friendless? Perhaps you never were, and perhaps you never may be, but if you ever should be thus circumstanced, learn to trust in God.

About the year 1835, when fires, and cholera, and financial disaster had done their worst, and thrown the city into confusion, there resided in New York a poor laborer. He was out of work, and that simple sentence tells of multiplied horrors in such a place. He had hitherto lived honestly and independently, and free from debt. Consequently, he was unskilled in the arts of the dishonest, or the subterfuges of the poor. Unaccustomed to ask favors, he knew not where to obtain them; and as he had neither employment nor money, he was in great distress. Food was gone, and a wife and family depended on him for a breakfast, which he had no means of obtaining.

But he was a Christian. His hope and confidence were in that God whom he had endeavored faithfully to serve; and who ever trusted God in vain? He went to his chamber and laid the case before the Lord. He plead with earnestness the divine promises, and supplicated God for daily bread. For hours he continued there, until at length his wife came to the door, and said, “A gentleman wants to see you.” He left the chamber and came into the room where he found a stranger, who said, “I have a contract for labor in the prison at ——, and I wish to obtain an overseer for my hands. I want a steady, faithful, and reliable hand. I am informed that you are well fitted for the place. Now, name your terms, and if you wish money to settle up here, or to remove, there it is at your service.” A bargain was quickly concluded, and with a salary of $1000 per year, he entered upon his duties. He prospered. His wages were increased; he rose to stations of profit and honor; he became in after years mayor of the city in which he still resides; but in all his subsequent prosperity he never experienced a purer joy than on that day when he proved the faithfulness of God, the steadfastness of his promises, and the power of persevering prayer.

This account I had from my friend, Mr. B——, a relative of the gentleman referred to, and the statement may be relied upon as correct.—The Christian.