Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-07
THE BIBLE AND THE POOR.

the school.
THE BIBLE AND THE POOR.
The Cruelty of That Skepticism Which
Tries to Prejudice the Poor Against the
Word of God-How to Counterfeit This
Insidious Influence.
The Bible is the book of the poor. To
quote the passages in which they are
mentioned as objects of Gods special
care would fill many columns of our
paper. In the Mosaic code they were
provided for and protected. The pro-
duce of the land every seventh year was
to be left for them; they were to CLEAN
the fields all the other years; they were
to be invited to all the feasts as guests
with priests and Levites; the rich were
to lend to them without usury, and il a
garment was taken in pledge it was to
be restored before shutdown When
laborers were hired they were to be
paid every evening. If poverty COM
PEELED man to sell his land it came
back to him, or his heirs, in the year of
jubilee.
In addition to such wise and thought
full provisions, the code is full of gen
eral eXhOrtatiOns: as Thou shalt not
respect the person of the poor, nor
honor the person OF the mighty
Chou shalt not wrest the Judgment of
the poor in his cause" Thou shalt not
harden thy heart nor shut thy hand
against thy poor brother. But thou
shalt open thine hand wide unto him,
and shalt surely lend him sufficient for
his need" ''Thou shalt not Cypress a
hired servant that is poor and needy,
whether he be of thy brethren or of
strangers, lest he cry against
thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto
thee
job declares that he was father to
the poor; and all through the wonder
ful book that bears his name, God
is spoken of as the avenger of the
poor. Kindness to them is "a proof of
piety and cruelty to them is a crime
that their Maker will surely punish.
The Psalms are rich in comfort for
the poor, and in promise for those who
care for them: ''He hath prepared His
goodness for the poor" .'The Lord
heareth the poor,'' '.He shall save the
children of the needy and break in
pieces the oppressor, HE shall deliver
the needy when he crieth; the poor also
and him who hath no helper HE
shall stand at the right hand of the
poor" BLESSED is he that considereth
the poor. The Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble"
In Proverbs this broad foundation is
laid for social equality and fraternal
sympathy: 1.-The Lord and the poor meet
together; the Lord is the maker of them
all. . They are equally His children.
and he has given to some wealth and
withheld it from others, not because He
is partial and unjust, but because He
would cultivate in each class the spirit
of brotherhood. He takes the poor
under His special care. He declares
that whoever oppresseth the poor re-
proacheth his maker, and whosoever
giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.
OF the virtuous woman it is said: ''She
stretcheth out her hand to the poor;
yea she reacheth forth her hands to the
needy"
The prophets uttered their most fear
full denunciations against those who
Cypress the poor. They seemed to re-
gard this as one of the worst evidences
of apostacy. Hear Isaiah: Eye grind the
faces of the poor" Hear Amos; 'They
sold the poor for pair of shoes"
Your treading is upon the poor" But,
while declaring that God will pour out
His fury upon the proud and the cruel,
how sweetly they tell of His mercy for
the oppressed. "When the poor and
needy seek water and there is none,
and their tongue faileth for thirst, /, the
the God of Israel will not forsake them,
I will open rivers in the high places and
fountains in the valleys" Yea. He will
even work miracles to supply the wants
of the poor.
In the New Testament we learn that
our Saviour was poor; that He preached
the Gospel especially to the poor; that
He cried: blessed be We poor. for
yours is the Kingdom of Heaven" that
He said "When thou makest a feast
call the poor, the MANNED, the lame and
the blind" He was accustomed, out of
his limited means, to give to those who
were poorer still, as we learn from
John xiii:29. When He spoke to Judas.
the treasurer, the other disciples thought
of course that 1t was about giving some
thing to the poor. He told the rich
young man who wanted to be perfect to
sell all that he had and give to the poor.
When Zaccheus was converted, he
VIC VI tLc
Master that he cried at once: 1.-The
half OF my goods give to the poor''
When Paul went forth as the Apostle
to the Gentiles, James, Peter and John
insisted upon only one thing-that he
should remember the poor. Gal
ii:lO.) Wherever he went he took up
collections for the poor. And James
wrote: Hearken, my beloved breth-
rem, hath not God chosen the poor OF
this world, rich in faith, and heir OF the
kingdomP'' The primitive church chose
deacons on purpose to take care OF the
poor. The whole history of Christiani-
ty shows that it is the friend of the
poor. All our asylums, hospitals and
infirmaries are the outgrowth of the
spirit which it has inspired. Every
benevolent and charitable institution of
the age is noted in the Bible. Such in
situations were unknown until Jesus
came, and they flourish now only where
the Gospel has gone.
But we may go farther than this. Our
modern ideas of human equality. of tho