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 ever wrought  in  her  ruin  and  corruption. The same is true  of  the  human  race — the  more  they  prospered the farther  they  wandered  from  God  and  the  more dire the  periodic  calamities  with  which  He  recalled them. In fact  God's  truest  servants  are  ever  more numerous among  the  afflicted  and  the  poor  than  in the  ranks  of  fortune's  favorites. The poor  are  the true Christian  nobility,  and  among  them  are  enacted day by  day  scenes  of  Christian  heroism,  deeds  of heroic  fortitude  and  patience,  such  as  the  proud  aristocrats with  all  their  pretensions  are  seldom  capable of performing  or  appreciating. For though  worldlings must  taste  betimes  the  chalice  of  suffering,  it is  not  the  chalice  of  Christ,  but  of  the  world,  it  is  not drained with  Christian  cheerfulness  and  resignation, but with  sorrow  and  loathing. Only they,  says  Holy Writ, who  drink  the  chalice  of  the  Lord  are  made the friends  of  God. But this  divine  affiliation  is  produced both  in  the  actual  sufferers  and  in  those  witnesses of  those  sufferings  who  try  to  relieve  them. Go into  the  homes  of  poverty  and  disease  and  see the trials  there  so  patiently  endured  and  tell  me  if you  are  not  a  better  man  for  the  experience. See the little  orphans  wailing  farewell  to  one  another  and to the  old  home  perhaps  forever,  and  going  off  to spend  and  end  their  lives  how  or  where  God  only knows. Again see  the  parentless  brother  and  sister, or the  widowed  mother  proudly  braving  the  great world, and  winning  from  it  an  independent  subsistence for  the  little  ones  at  home. Stand by  the  deathbed of  these  latter-day  saints  and  martyrs,  and  watch