Collection in Greece for the Poor Saints at Jerusalem

    Divine Providence had reduced the church at Jerusalem to great distress by poverty. This was peculiarly calculated to cement the union between the Jewish and the Gentile brethren. It served to soften the prejudice of the Jews, and to enliven the gratitude of the Gentiles for the gospel. But I refer to the fact principally to observe, that the law of Christ, placed before us in this transaction, is seldom if ever observed. Christians in many places make the most ample provision for the wants of the poor among themselves. But there are few that take means to supply the destitution of brethren in different quarters of the globe. Some churches never think of reaching their hand beyond those in immediate connexion with them. The churches of Greece contributed to the relief of the brethren in another quarter of the world. And this is quite as necessary as the relief of those around. There may be many churches situated in places where there are few or none rich, and while many are very poor. Why, then, do churches suffer this law of Christ to lie in abeyance? In some places they seem to provide for the poor even beyond duty, while they never think of the poor of the Lord's people in other places. Brethren, these things ought not to be so. Christians in every place, and of every denomination, are brethren, and none of them should be allowed to want while others have abundance. There is no propriety in taking the poor out of their toils, nor of rendering their own industry unnecessary. All I plead for is, that the Lord's people ought to be provided for, wherever they are, and that the bounty of Christians should not be confined to their own locality.

    What a richness is in the Scriptures! They are deficient on no point . Every possible occurrence will meet something to correspond to it. But the providential answers of revelation occasion many to overlook the things that are before their eyes.