When Paul and Barnabas were about to set forth to labor among the
heathen, Cephas, James and John gave them the right hand of
fellowship with a charge included in these words: "Only that they
would remember the poor." How they should do it had been indicated by
Him who said of his own labors "the poor have the gospel preached to
them."

The expression "the poor" is comprehensive. All human wants relate to
it. The poverty of some, however, is more complete than that of
others, and the poorest have early, if not the first, claim to
attention. The Pauls and Barnabases of our times may justly listen to
appeals which arise from the following conditions:

1. Ignorance. In this country it may be said ignorance is the mother
of poverty. Indeed, ignorance is one of the worst forms of poverty.
Intelligence among the masses, coupled with true religion, would soon
abolish it. Whatever is lacking of knowledge of God, of what He has
promised, of what He has made for us, of what we can do for
ourselves, must be supplied. It was an observation of Dean Stanley
that we ought to teach the heathen how to count three before
attempting to instruct them as to the doctrine of the Trinity. The
great Preacher was the great Teacher also. If there be the greatest
ignorance South, the appeal from the South to us to remember the poor
is urgent and imperative.

2. Poverty. Where a large proportion of the people can neither read
nor write, there nothing but a fractional supply for human wants is
to be expected. Inadequate buildings meagerly furnished, insufficient
clothing for the young, lack of medical care and neglect of the aged
and infirm--these are evil conditions only too common all over the
South, rendering much that ministers to a thrifty and manly character
impossible, as things are now. Where there is the greatest sickness,
privation and want, there apostles to the poor have legitimate field
for labor. Is there any such field in our country as that presented
at the South?

3. Vice. It is admitted that ignorance and poverty beget vice.
According to recent statistics, gathered from the whole country, it
is shown that the illiterate classes commit more than ten times
their pro rata of crime. The missionary must stay the progress of
vice, drying up its sources as best he may, and uncapping the
fountains of life. To do this he must impart knowledge and preach the
gospel.

If, in consequence of the ignorance and poverty of the people South,