Sacrifice and Sympathy for the Poor
HERE is a little story that may be read with profit by a good many:— "When Livingstone visited England after his great exploring tour, he was much praised for his sacrifices. It was true he had labored much, but what did he reply to this praise? 'People talk of the sacrifices I made in spending so large a portion of my life in Africa. Can you call that a sacrifice which is only a small payment on that great debt to God which can never be fully discharged? Say, rather, that it is a privilege. I have never made a sacrifice.'"—Spirit of Missions. And who has made a sacrifice? When we consider the sacrifice of Christ, who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich; and remember that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" who can talk about sacrifices made, much less to boast or mourn over them? IN his recent address to the Boston Evangelical Ministers' Association, Dr. Josiah Strong related the case of a minister who was pleading with his people for a larger manifestation of sympathy to the poor and destitute around them, when an influential church member arose, and said he wanted none of that class in his pew. The bold rejoinder came at once from him who believed he had been commissioned to preach the gospel to the poor: "I will not cease my plea till the door of this church swings in to the slightest touch of the needy." As a consequence of the pastor's determination to preach the gospel to the poor, he was dismissed from the church. And yet the members of that church doubtless think that they are followers of Christ; they certainly call themselves Christians.