THE POOR by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 16.

THE POOR.

By W. N. G.

"YE have the poor always with you," is a fact that no community in the world ever has been able to overcome. General Booth conceived a great scheme for placing the "submerged tenth" of London's population on a self-supporting basis. The people were ready to assist him with their confidence, and a large amount of money with which to start industrial enterprises. But official investigation of his plans shows that while he has lifted many out of the mire of idleness others who had previously supported themselves were forced into the mire. If he started wood and coal yards, and the people patronized them, the employes of existing enterprises found their occupations gone. The fact is there are more people in London, as also in other large cities, than there is legitimate employment to support. The tendency of the present generation is to crowd into the cities. The ambition of each city is to increase its population and become greater than other cities. But this selfish, grasping world will never devise ways and means to lift the human race as a whole above the mire of poverty. "The righteous considereth the cause of the poor; but the wicked regardeth not to know it." The efforts of the wicked will always increase poverty, and the oppression of the poor is a characteristic of the last days. See James 5. Accepting the poor as an indispensable factor of this world's experience, the following injunction comes to us daily: "The poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy." The principal occupation of the Lord while sojourning on the earth was ministering to the necessities of the poor, and his true followers will do likewise. "I was a-hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." When? "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." And what is the reward of such service? "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." W. N. G.