The Support of God’s Work

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With the passing of another year, we have come to the time when a general call is being made for an offering to be taken up in all our churches, Sabbath, October 5, for the support of our colored work in the Southern States.

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One of the most important branches of this work is the establishment and maintenance of mission schools. The great need for this educational work has often been plainly pointed out. There are few more in need of the elevating influence of the truths of God’s word, than are the majority of the colored people in the South. They must be taught to read the Scriptures for themselves, and to understand what they read.

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We can not pass by lightly, as a matter of minor importance, our duty toward the negro race. God has made man his brother’s keeper, and will hold him responsible for this great trust. He has taken man into union with himself, and has planned that men shall labor in harmony with him. He has provided the system of beneficence, that man, whom he has made in his image, may be self-denying in character, like him whose infinite nature is love. He has appointed man as his almoner, to distribute the blessings he has given him.

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«Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.» God has done for our good all that a kind heavenly Father could do. He appeals to humanity whether he has failed in a single instance to do all that he could do for the highest interests of man. «Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could I have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?»

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We can show our appreciation of God’s merciful dealing with us in no better way than by giving liberally for the support of his cause in the earth. In the system of beneficence enjoined upon the Jews, they were required to bring to the Lord either the first-fruits of all his gifts, whether in the increase of their flocks and herds, or in the produce of their fields, orchards, or vineyards; or they were to redeem it by substituting an equivalent. How changed the order of things in our day! The Lord’s requirements and claims, if they receive any attention, are often left till the last. Yet our work needs tenfold more means than was needed by the Jews. The great commission given to the apostles was to go throughout the world and preach the gospel. This shows the extension of the work, and the increased responsibility resting upon the followers of Christ in our day.

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God is not dependent upon man for the support of his cause. He could have sent means direct from heaven to supply his treasury, if his providence had seen that this was best for man. He might have devised means whereby angels would have been sent to publish the truth to the world, without the agency of man. He might have written the truth upon the heavens, and let that declare his requirements to the world in living characters. God is not dependent upon any man’s gold or silver. He says, «Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.» «If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.» Whatever necessity there is for our agency in the advancement of the cause of God, he has purposely arranged for our good. He has honored us by making us coworkers with him. He has ordained that there should be a necessity for the cooperation of men, that they may keep in exercise their benevolence.

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What I have said in the past should be repeated. The colored people deserve more from the hands of the white people than they have received. There are thousands who have minds capable of cultivation and uplifting. With proper labor, many who have been looked upon as hopeless will become educators of their race. Let our people arouse, and redeem the past. The obligation to work for the colored people rests heavily upon us. Shall we not try to repair, as far as lies in our power, the injury that in the past has been done these people? Shall not the number of missionaries in the South be multiplied? This field lies at our very doors, and in it there is a great work to be done for the Master. This work must be done now, while the angels continue to hold the four winds. There is no time to lose.

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The Lord calls upon his people to make offerings of self-denial. Let us give up something that we intended to purchase for personal comfort and pleasure. Let us teach our children to deny self, and become the Lord’s helping hands in dispensing his blessings. If there was ever a time when sacrifices should be made, it is now. Those who have money should understand that now is the time to use it for God. Let us send in our offerings with thanksgiving, and with prayer that the Lord will bless the gifts, and multiply them as he did the food given to the five thousand. If we use the very best facilities we have, the power of God will enable us to reach the multitudes that are starving for the bread of life. Mrs. E. G. White.