The Church Enriched from the Ranks of Poverty
Matthew 4:19
And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.


A few years ago, on a wintry morning, a boy in the habiliments of poverty entered an old schoolhouse among our western mountains, and avowed to the master his desire for an education. There was poverty laying one of her richest gifts on the altar of religion, for that boy was Jonas King. On his humble shoemaker's bench, Carey laid the foundation of British Baptist Missions. John Newton found in his congregation an unfriended Scotch bey, whose soul was then glowing with new-born love to Christ. He took him to John Thornton, one of those noble merchants whose wealth, whose piety, and whose beneficence increased together. They educated him, and that boy became Claudius Buchanan, whose name India will bless when the names of Clive and Hastings are forgotten. John Bunyan was a gift of poverty to the Church. Zwingle came forth from an Alpine shepherd's cabin; Melanethon from an armourer's workshop; Luther from a miner's cottage; the apostles, some of them, from fishermen's huts. These are the gifts of poverty to the Church.

(Dr. d. Harris.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

WEB: He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men."




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