Who Ought to Be Helped. The Egyptian hieroglyphic of charity is very striking and suggestive, —a naked child, with a heart in his hand, giving honey to a bee without wings. 1. A child, humble and meek. (Matt. 18:33And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3).) 2. With a heart in his hand, because the heart and the hand must go together, in helping the needy—we must be cheerful givers. 3. Giving honey to a bee—not a drone. 4. To a bee without wings—we must help such as would work, if they could, but are thoroughly disabled.
We inflict a serious injury upon a person when we take him off the ground of honest industry, and make him dependent upon periodical alms. There is no bread so sweet as that which is honorably earned—no air so healthful and bracing to the moral and mental constitution as that which we inhale in the fields of honest labor. God says, “If any will not work, neither shall he eat;” and surely He is wiser and more tender than we are.
“This Is What I Want.” A certain man on the Malabar coast had long been uneasy about his spiritual state, and had inquired of several devotees and priests how he might make atonement for his sins; and he was directed to drive iron spikes, sufficiently blunted, through his sandals; and, on these spikes, to walk a distance of about 480 miles. He undertook the journey, and traveled a long way, but could obtain no peace. One day he halted under a large, shady tree, where the gospel was sometimes preached; and while he was there, a missionary came and preached from the words, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).) While he was preaching the poor man’s attention was excited and his heart was drawn; and rising up, he threw off his torturing sandals, and cried out aloud, “This is what I want!” and became henceforward a lively witness of the healing efficacy of the Savior’s blood. Are there not thousands throughout the length and breadth of Christendom trying to get peace by walking on iron spikes? May God lead them to rest in the precious blood of Christ!