And you who have few advantages, take
comfort by those poor Samaritans, who knew a very little, and yet
made the best of it, and so at last saw a great light, after sitting
in darkness for so long. Schools, books, church-going, ordinances
of all kinds, they are good. If you can get them, use them, and
thank God for them: but remember, God does not ask for learning,
but for goodness and holiness: he does not ask for knowledge, but
for a right life. And do not fancy, that because your children have
a good education now, and you had none, that God does not love you
as well as he loves them. His mercy is over all his works; and the
promises are to you as well as to your children. There is many a
poor soul who never read a book in her life, who is nearer God than
many a great scholar, and fine preacher, and learned divine. All
Christ asks of you is, to receive him when he comes to you; and to
love, and thank, and admire him, and try to be like him, because he
will make you like him: while for the rest to whom little is given,
of him shall little be required; and to him who uses what he has, be
it little or much, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
For God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation, he that
feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted by him.
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