There are largehearted men and women who are
anxiously considering the condition of the poor and what
means can be found for their relief. How the unemployed
and the homeless can be helped to secure the common
blessings of God's providence and to live the life He intended
man to live, is a question to which many are earnestly
endeavoring to find an answer. But there are not many, even among
educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that
underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the
reins of government are unable to solve the problem of
poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling
in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.
If men would give more heed to the teaching of God's
word, they would find a solution of these problems that
perplex them. Much might be learned from the Old Testament
in regard to the labor question and the relief of the poor.
God's Plan for Israel
In God's plan for Israel every family had a home on the
land, with sufficient ground for tilling. Thus were provided
both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and
self-supporting life. And no devising of men has ever
improved upon that plan. To the world's departure from it is
owing, to a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that
exist today.
At the settlement of Israel in Canaan, the land was divided
among the whole people, the Levites only, as ministers of the
sanctuary, being excepted from the equal distribution. The
tribes were numbered by families, and to each family, according
to its numbers, was apportioned an inheritance.
And although one might for a time dispose of his
possession, he could not permanently barter away the inheritance of
his children. When able to redeem his land, he was at liberty
at any time to do so. Debts were remitted every seventh year,
and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property
reverted to the original owner.
"The land shall not be sold forever," was the Lord's direction;
"for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners
with Me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall
grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor,
and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his
brother sold. And if the man . . . himself be able to redeem
it; . . . he may return unto his possession. But if he be not
able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain
in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee."
Leviticus 25:23-28.
"Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty
throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it
shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto
his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."
Verse 10.
Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a
safeguard was afforded against the extremes of either wealth or
want.
Industrial Training
In Israel, industrial training was regarded as a duty. Every
father was required to teach his sons some useful trade. The
greatest men in Israel were trained to industrial pursuits. A
knowledge of the duties pertaining to housewifery was
considered essential for every woman. And skill in these duties
was regarded as an honor to women of the highest station.
Various industries were taught in the schools of the prophets,
and many of the students sustained themselves by manual
labor.
Consideration for the Poor
These arrangements did not, however, wholly do away
with poverty. It was not God's purpose that poverty should
wholly cease. It is one of His means for the development of
character. "The poor," He says, "shall never cease out of the
land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open
thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy
needy, in thy land." Deuteronomy 15:11.
"If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren
within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine
hand from thy poor brother. But thou shalt open thine hand
wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his
need, in that which he wanteth." Verses 7, 8.
"If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with
thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger,
or a sojourner; that he may live with thee." Leviticus 25:35.
"When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not
wholly reap the corners of thy field." "When thou cuttest
down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the
field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it. . . . When thou beatest
thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again.
. . . When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou
shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow." Leviticus 19:9; Deuteronomy
24:19-21.
None need fear that their liberality would bring them to
want. Obedience to God's commandments would surely
result in prosperity. "For this thing," God said, "the Lord
thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou
puttest thine hand unto." "Thou shalt lend unto many
nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over
many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." Deuteronomy
15:10, 6.
Business Principles
God's word sanctions no policy that will enrich one class by
the oppression and suffering of another. In all our business
transactions it teaches us to put ourselves in the place of those
with whom we are dealing, to look not only on our own
things, but also on the things of others. He who would take
advantage of another's misfortunes in order to benefit himself,
or who seeks to profit himself through another's weakness or
incompetence, is a transgressor both of the principles and of
the precepts of the word of God.
"Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor
of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge."
"When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not
go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand
abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out
the pledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor, thou
shalt not sleep with his pledge." "If thou at all take thy
neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by
that the sun goeth down: for that is his covering only: . . .
wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he
crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious." "If thou
sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor's
hand, ye shall not oppress one another" Deuteronomy 24:17,
10-12; Exodus 22;26, 27; Leviticus 25:14.
"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures
of length, of weight, or of quantity." "Thou shalt not have in
thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not
have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small."
"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall
ye have." Leviticus 19:35, A.R.V.; Deuteronomy 25;13, 14,
A.R.V.; Leviticus 19:36, A.R.V.
"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would
borrow of thee turn not thou away." "The wicked borroweth,
and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy,
and giveth." Matthew 5:42; Psalm 37:21.
"Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shade as the night
in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the
fugitive." "Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee; . . . be thou
a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." Isaiah 16:3
(A.R.V.), 4.
The plan of life that God gave to Israel was intended as an
object lesson for all mankind. If these principles were carried
out today, what a different place this world would be!
Within the vast boundaries of nature there is still room for
the suffering and needy to find a home. Within her bosom
there are resources sufficient to provide them with food. Hidden
in the depths of the earth are blessings for all who have
courage and will and perseverance to gather her treasures.
The tilling of the soil, the employment that God appointed
to man in Eden, opens a field in which there is opportunity for
multitudes to gain a subsistence.
"Trust in the Lord, and do good;
So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou
shalt be fed."
Psalm 37:3.
Thousands and tens of thousands might be working upon
the soil who are crowded into the cities, watching for a chance
to earn a trifle. In many cases this trifle is not spent for bread,
but is put into the till of the liquor seller, to obtain that which
destroys soul and body.
Many look upon labor as drudgery, and they try to obtain
a livelihood by scheming rather than by honest toil. This
desire to get a living without work opens the door to wretchedness
and vice and crime almost without limit.
The City Slums
In the great cities are multitudes who receive less care and
consideration than are given to dumb animals. Think of the
families herded together in miserable tenements, many of
them dark basements, reeking with dampness and filth. In
these wretched places children are born and grow up and die.
They see nothing of the beauty of natural things that God
has created to delight the senses and uplift the soul. Ragged
and half-starved, they live amid vice and depravity, molded
in character by the wretchedness and sin that surround them.
Children hear the name of God only in profanity. Foul
speech, imprecations, and revilings fill their ears. The fumes
of liquor and tobacco, sickening stenches, moral degradation,
pervert their senses. Thus multitudes are trained to become
criminals, foes to society that has abandoned them to misery
and degradation.
Not all the poor in the city slums are of this class.
God-fearing men and women have been brought to the depths of
poverty by illness or misfortune, often through the dishonest
scheming of those who live by preying upon their fellows.
Many who are upright and well-meaning become poor
through lack of industrial training. Through ignorance they
are unfitted to wrestle with the difficulties of life. Drifting
into the cities, they are often unable to find employment.
Surrounded by the sights and sounds of vice, they are subjected
to terrible temptation. Herded and often classed with the
vicious and degraded, it is only by a superhuman struggle, a
more than finite power, that they can be preserved from sinking
to the same depths. Many hold fast their integrity, choosing
to suffer rather than to sin. This class especially demand
help, sympathy, and encouragement.
If the poor now crowded into the cities could find homes
upon the land, they might not only earn a livelihood, but find
health and happiness now unknown to them. Hard work,
simple fare, close economy, often hardship and privation,
would be their lot. But what a blessing would be theirs in
leaving the city, with its enticements to evil, its turmoil and
crime, misery and foulness, for the country's quiet and peace
and purity.
To many of those living in the cities who have not a spot of
green grass to set their feet upon, who year after year have
looked out upon filthy courts and narrow alleys, brick walls
and pavements, and skies clouded with dust and smoke--if
these could be taken to some farming district, surrounded
with the green fields, the woods and hills and brooks, the clear
skies and the fresh, pure air of the country, it would seem
almost like heaven.
Cut off to a great degree from contact with and dependence
upon men, and separated from the world's corrupting maxims
and customs and excitements, they would come nearer to the
heart of nature. God's presence would be more real to them.
Many would learn the lesson of dependence upon Him.
Through nature they would hear His voice speaking to their
hearts of His peace and love, and mind and soul and body
would respond to the healing, life-giving power.
If they ever become industrious and self-supporting, very
many must have assistance, encouragement, and instruction.
There are multitudes of poor families for whom no better
missionary work could be done than to assist them in settling
on the land and in learning how to make it yield them a livelihood.
The need for such help and instruction is not confined to
the cities. Even in the country, with all its possibilities for a
better life, multitudes of the poor are in great need. Whole
communities are devoid of education in industrial and sanitary
lines. Families live in hovels, with scant furniture and
clothing, without tools, without books, destitute both of
comforts and conveniences and of means of culture. Imbruted
souls, bodies weak and ill-formed, reveal the results of evil
heredity and of wrong habits. These people must be educated
from the very foundation. They have led shiftless, idle,
corrupt lives, and they need to be trained to correct habits.
How can they be awakened to the necessity of improvement?
How can they be directed to a higher ideal of life?
How can they be helped to rise? What can be done where
poverty prevails and is to be contended with at every step?
Certainly the work is difficult. The necessary reformation
will never be made unless men and women are assisted by a
power outside of themselves. It is God's purpose that the rich
and the poor shall be closely bound together by the ties of
sympathy and helpfulness. Those who have means, talents, and
capabilities are to use these gifts in blessing their fellow men.
Christian farmers can do real missionary work in helping
the poor to find homes on the land and in teaching them how
to till the soil and make it productive. Teach them how to use
the implements of agriculture, how to cultivate various crops,
how to plant and care for orchards.
Many who till the soil fail to secure adequate returns
because of their neglect. Their orchards are not properly
cared for, the crops are not put in at the right time, and a mere
surface work is done in cultivating the soil. Their ill success
they charge to the unproductiveness of the land. False witness
is often borne in condemning land that, if properly worked,
would yield rich returns. The narrow plans, the little strength
put forth, the little study as to the best methods, call loudly for
reform.
Let proper methods be taught to all who are willing to
learn. If any do not wish you to speak to them of advanced
ideas, let the lessons be given silently. Keep up the culture of
your own land. Drop a word to your neighbors when you
can, and let the harvest be eloquent in favor of right methods.
Demonstrate what can be done with the land when properly
worked.
Attention should be given to the establishment of various
industries so that poor families can find employment.
Carpenters, blacksmiths, and indeed everyone who understands
some line of useful labor, should feel a responsibility to teach
and help the ignorant and the unemployed.
In ministry to the poor there is a wide field of service for
women as well as for men. The efficient cook, the housekeeper,
the seamstress, the nurse--the help of all is needed.
Let the members of poor households be taught how to cook,
how to make and mend their own clothing, how to nurse the
sick, how to care properly for the home. Let boys and girls
be thoroughly taught some useful trade or occupation.
Missionary Families
Missionary families are needed to settle in the waste places.
Let farmers, financiers, builders, and those who are skilled in
various arts and crafts, go to neglected fields, to improve the
land, to establish industries, to prepare humble homes for
themselves, and to help their neighbors.
The rough places of nature, the wild places, God has made
attractive by placing beautiful things among the most
unsightly. This is the work we are called to do. Even the
desert places of the earth, where the outlook appears to be
forbidding, may become as the garden of God.
"In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness.
The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."
Isaiah 29:18, 19.
By instruction in practical lines we can often help the poor
most effectively. As a rule, those who have not been trained to
work do not have habits of industry, perseverance, economy,
and self-denial. They do not know how to manage. Often
through lack of carefulness and right judgment there is wasted
that which would maintain their families in decency and
comfort if it were carefully and economically used. "Much
food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed
for want of judgment." Proverbs 13:23.
We may give to the poor, and harm them, by teaching
them to be dependent. Such giving encourages selfishness
and helplessness. Often it leads to idleness, extravagance, and
intemperance. No man who can earn his own livelihood has
a right to depend on others. The proverb "The world owes
me a living" has in it the essence of falsehood, fraud, and
robbery. The world owes no man a living who is able to work
and gain a living for himself.
Real charity helps men to help themselves. If one comes to
our door and asks for food, we should not turn him away
hungry; his poverty may be the result of misfortune. But true
beneficence means more than mere gifts. It means a genuine
interest in the welfare of others. We should seek to understand
the needs of the poor and distressed, and to give them the
help that will benefit them most. To give thought and time
and personal effort costs far more than merely to give money.
But it is the truest charity.
Those who are taught to earn what they receive will more
readily learn to make the most of it. And in learning to be
self-reliant, they are acquiring that which will not only make
them self-sustaining, but will enable them to help others.
Teach the importance of life's duties to those who are wasting
their opportunities. Show them that Bible religion never
makes men idlers. Christ always encouraged industry. "Why
stand ye here all the day idle?" He said to the indolent. "I
must work . . . while it is day: the night cometh, when no
man can work." Matthew 20:6; John 9:4.
It is the privilege of all to give to the world in their home
life, in their customs and practices and order, an evidence of
what the gospel can do for those who obey it. Christ came to
our world to give us an example of what we may become. He
expects His followers to be models of correctness in all the
relations of life. He desires the divine touch to be seen upon
outward things.
Our own homes and surroundings should be object lessons,
teaching ways of improvement, so that industry, cleanliness,
taste, and refinement may take the place of idleness, uncleanness,
coarseness, and disorder. By our lives and example we
can help others to discern that which is repulsive in their
character or their surroundings, and with Christian courtesy
we may encourage improvement. As we manifest an interest
in them, we shall find opportunity to teach them how to put
their energies to the best use.
Hope and Courage
We can do nothing without courage and perseverance.
Speak words of hope and courage to the poor and the disheartened.
If need be, give tangible proof of your interest by helping
them when they come into strait places. Those who have
had many advantages should remember that they themselves
still err in many things, and that it is painful to them when
their errors are pointed out and there is held up before them
a comely pattern of what they should be. Remember that
kindness will accomplish more than censure. As you try to
teach others, let them see that you wish them to reach the
highest standard, and that you are ready to give them help. If
in some things they fail, be not quick to condemn them.
Simplicity, self-denial, economy, lessons so essential for
the poor to learn, often seem to them difficult and unwelcome.
The example and spirit of the world is constantly exciting and
fostering pride, love of display, self-indulgence, prodigality,
and idleness. These evils bring thousands to penury and
prevent thousands more from rising out of degradation and
wretchedness. Christians are to encourage the poor to resist
these influences.
Jesus came to this world in humility. He was of lowly
birth. The Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, the
Commander of all the angel host, He humbled Himself to accept
humanity, and then He chose a life of poverty and humiliation.
He had no opportunities that the poor do not have.
Toil, hardship, and privation were a part of every day's
experience. "Foxes have holes," He said, "and birds of the
air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His
head." Luke 9:58.
Jesus did not seek the admiration or the applause of men.
He commanded no army. He ruled no earthly kingdom. He
did not court the favor of the wealthy and honored of the
world. He did not claim a position among the leaders of
the nation. He dwelt among the lowly. He set at nought the
artificial distinctions of society. The aristocracy of birth,
wealth, talent, learning, rank, He ignored.
He was the Prince of heaven, yet He did not choose His
disciples from among the learned lawyers, the rulers, the
scribes, or the Pharisees. He passed these by, because they
prided themselves on their learning and position. They were
fixed in their traditions and superstitions. He who could read
all hearts chose humble fishermen who were willing to be
taught. He ate with publicans and sinners, and mingled with
the common people, not to become low and earthly with
them, but in order by precept and example to present to them
right principles, and to uplift them from their earthliness and
debasement.
Jesus sought to correct the world's false standard of judging
the value of men. He took His position with the poor,
that He might lift from poverty the stigma that the world had
attached to it. He has stripped from it forever the reproach of
scorn, by blessing the poor, the inheritors of God's kingdom.
He points us to the path He trod, saying, "If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow Me." Verse 23.
Christian workers are to meet the people where they are,
and educate them, not in pride, but in character building.
Teach them how Christ worked and denied Himself. Help
them to learn from Him the lessons of self-denial and sacrifice.
Teach them to beware of self-indulgence in conforming to
fashion. Life is too valuable, too full of solemn, sacred
responsibilities, to be wasted in pleasing self.
Life's Best Things
Men and women have hardly begun to understand the
true object of life. They are attracted by glitter and show.
They are ambitious for worldly pre-eminence. To this the
true aims of life are sacrificed. Life's best things--simplicity,
honesty, truthfulness, purity, integrity--cannot be bought or
sold. They are as free to the ignorant as to the educated, to the
humble laborer as to the honored statesman. For everyone
God has provided pleasure that may be enjoyed by rich and
poor alike--the pleasure found in cultivating pureness of
thought and unselfishness of action, the pleasure that comes
from speaking sympathizing words and doing kindly deeds.
From those who perform such service the light of Christ
shines to brighten lives darkened by many shadows.
While helping the poor in temporal things, keep always in
view their spiritual needs. Let your own life testify to the
Saviour's keeping power. Let your character reveal the high
standard to which all may attain. Teach the gospel in simple
object lessons. Let everything with which you have to do be a
lesson in character building.
In the humble round of toil, the very weakest, the most
obscure, may be workers together with God and may have the
comfort of His presence and sustaining grace. They are not
to weary themselves with busy anxieties and needless cares.
Let them work on from day to day, accomplishing faithfully
the task that God's providence assigns, and He will care for
them. He says:
"In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God." "And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, A.R.V.; 4:7.
The Lord's care is over all His creatures. He loves them
all and makes no difference, except that He has the most
tender pity for those who are called to bear life's heaviest burdens.
God's children must meet trials and difficulties. But they
should accept their lot with a cheerful spirit, remembering
that for all that the world neglects to bestow, God Himself
will make up to them in the best of favors.
It is when we come into difficult places that He reveals His
power and wisdom in answer to humble prayer. Have
confidence in Him as a prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God.
He will reveal Himself to you as One who can help in every
emergency. He who created man, who gave him his wonderful
physical, mental, and spiritual faculties, will not withhold
that which is necessary to sustain the life He has given. He
who has given us His word--the leaves of the tree of life--will
not withhold from us a knowledge of how to provide
food for His needy children.
How can wisdom be obtained by him who holds the plow
and drives the oxen? By seeking her as silver, and searching
for her as for hid treasure. "For his God doth instruct him to
discretion, and doth teach him." Isaiah 28:26. "This also
cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in
counsel, and excellent in wisdom." Verse 29, A.R.V.
He who taught Adam and Eve in Eden how to tend the
garden, desires to instruct men today. There is wisdom for
him who drives the plow and sows the seed. Before those who
trust and obey Him, God will open ways of advance. Let them
move forward courageously, trusting in Him to supply their
needs according to the riches of His goodness.
He who fed the multitude with five loaves and two small
fishes is able today to give us the fruit of our labor. He who
said to the fishers of Galilee, "Let down your nets for a draft,"
and who, as they obeyed, filled their nets till they broke,
desires His people to see in this an evidence of what He will
do for them today. The God who in the wilderness gave the
children of Israel manna from heaven still lives and reigns.
He will guide His people and give skill and understanding in
the work they are called to do. He will give wisdom to those
who strive to do their duty conscientiously and intelligently.
He who owns the world is rich in resources, and will bless
everyone who is seeking to bless others.
We need to look heavenward in faith. We are not to be
discouraged because of apparent failure, nor should we be
disheartened by delay. We should work cheerfully, hopefully,
gratefully, believing that the earth holds in her bosom
rich treasures for the faithful worker to garner, stores richer
than gold or silver. The mountains and hills are changing;
the earth is waxing old like a garment; but the blessing of
God, which spreads for His people a table in the wilderness,
will never cease.