The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-12-22
AN APPEAL FOR THE POOR.
A Broad Field for Mission Work Right
in Winston.

To the Editor ef the Sentinel.
The near approach of the Christ
mas holidays has as usual melted the
spirit of gift-naking among all class
! es. the middle and poorer classes as
well as the rich. and as the weather
indications and prophecies point to a
winter Of unusual severity, what / am
going to say along this line may net
be inapt or out of place, but l hope
largely suggestive. | assume, too. in
what | shall say that | am addressing
an intelligent, benevolent and Christ
ian people-a people who are ever
ready and willing to respond to the
distresSfuI cry of the worthy poor and
destitute, and lend a helping hand to
place stcpDing-StOne for those
who would, but cannot help them
selves.
Now, just here. let me say to you
good people OF Winston, athese you
have among you, all around you, and
and from recent visit made to some
Of the Wretched homes of this class
q t solicitation of. and in company
with a lady of this city, well-kn0wn
for her devotion to the needs of the
suffering and destitute. and her self
sacrificing spirit in the Masters cause
in other words q veritable Tabitha-
mission work right within the local
lied bounds of onr own rapidly grow
ing city. and an urgent demand for
more active, cOnsecrated Christian
workers in this. to some, fOrbidding
vineyard of labor. The few brave,
fearless women who are so heroically
struggling for the betterment of the
poor. the ignorant and the weak. need
recruits and who will respond? How
many will bury the cross of your
Christ deep within your hearts, and
stretch forth conSecrated hands to
realize the life of humanity by up
raising it into the idealism of Jesus
The pagan idea that the social
classes owe nothing to each other is
receiving startling refutation, and
the Christian idea that every man is
his brothers keeper startling con for
nation. .intheSe days of the nineteenth
century. The responsibility of one
class for the well being of another is
no dream of prophets and poets: it is
an awful reality.
The neglected and oppressed may
not be able to protect themselves, but
in their wretchedness they drag the
whole world down.
There is no escape from the great
community of humanity and no class
in the community IS secure unless all
classes have right conditions of life.
No society is safe unless all the men,
berS are regarded. The law of love is
indeed the most beautiful dream of
the poets, the most glorious revela-
tion OF the prophets, the diyinest
word God, but it is also the most
| relentless fact in human history. 1t
| may be doubted, diSregarded, tiOuted:
but it cannot be escaped.
Christianity-not churchanity-is
nothing more nor less than religion
| founded upon love. Sabbath after
| Sabbath do we hear this beautiful
truth preached from our pulpits: yea,
no longer than last Sabbath evening,
we listened and doubtless the most, if
| not all of US. endorsed in our hearts
| the Bible doctrine that fell from the
| lips of that faithful minister Of God
| Rev. G. w. Robinson, when he ably
| proclaimed the truth that Christ so
| often proclaimed while in His minis
| try upon earth, namely, that no
! Christian is true to his Christ, nor
| has grasped the meaning of the cross,
who is not a vicariOuS sufferer for his
| fellOwmen, and who is not true
witness for him. All, the cross was
not our release from, but our obliga-
tiOn to sacrifice. And wherever there
| is heart throbbing with the passion
of Jesus, there will be a life strait
| ened till its mission is accomplished.
| Wherever there is soul pulsating
| with the life of God there will always
| be sacrificial hands uplifting human
ity to higher things. God is calling
! today for able men and noble women
| to go among his wrctched, oppressed.
discOnsOlate and suffering people and
administer first to their physical and
| then to their spiritual needs, as Christ
| did when upon earth. These minis
trations must need go together if
good be accomplished.
| Christian women Of benevolent and
religious societies, noble bands of
| Kings Daughters, | turn to you
you who have pledged yourselves ''In
| His Name" to reduce the sum of hui
man misery, il Is for the work that
God wo,i an int you. Are you
ready:
Does his work which involves so
| much of personal sacrifice on your
part appall you? Is the sacrifice too
great to be made for your Christ? "In
His Name"-your little silver cross
tells you, and you have no right
pulse or fashionable fad" as sc
many do l fear, but it means that you
| must go where the eternal Christ
leads, even if it be into the wretched
homes of poverty, sickness, sin and
dirt. To reach sthe people who are
in some senses below you, you must
touch them first on their plane, show
that you are interested in the things
trivial though they often are-that
interest them; and then you can reach
them and help them. This mounting
platform, stretching down han6
to some one on the ground, and eX
pecting that person to come in tOncE
, with you, is not practical
Just think of the incalculable ant
vast amount of good that would b'
accomplished among that laborinl
class and worthy poor if every mem
, ber of the Benevolent Societies, anC
: Kings Daughters in our city woull
regularly visit once mouth at least
a needy family-come into direct per
sonal contact with the recipients o
their charity, in the place of giyins
exclusively through these charitable
institutions,-what happy state o
things would be realized, for nev
day would dawn for many crushed ant
+ weary souls who are now hopeless ant
, despairing because they see no relic
: from the burdens which are almos
2 more than they can bear. The day
I | was out with Mrs. Tabitha, the las
place we visited was the cherries
| | home of destitute family in til
1 ! northwestern part of the city.
e grandmother, her w;duWe;, daughte
r and two small graR,;-elfiidred consti
f tuted the family circle. They live il
: little log cabin, which is rude an
a dilapidated. The grandmother is 9
0 years old, and has been. a helples
S cripple and confined to her bed fo
: fourteen years. The Benevolent Sc
ciety and few kind-hearted Chris