Brotherly Love.--Let it continue. Hold it fast. Do not let it die out. Without it Christianity has no meaning. The greatest of all the graces, it is also the chief end and aim and fruit. It includes all else. There are many commandments, many virtues; but love sums them all up. There are many tasks to be got, many problems to be solved; but the one lesson of it all is love. "The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned." (1 Tim. 1:5.) "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one [195] another from the heart fervently." (1 Pet. 1:22.) By it does God recognize us as his children. "Every one that loveth is begotten of God." (1 John 4:7.) Love is the mark by which the world is to know us. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35.) And, thirdly, that is our own means of knowing that we stand right with God. "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." (1 John 3:14.) If we have been exhorted to continue steadfastly in faith and hope, now he says: "Let brotherly love continue." But let no one suppose that this love is obtainable except through faith and hope and the obedience connected. We cannot learn this supreme lesson without taking in God's school. We cannot have the full ear without root or blade or stalk. In all our Christian walks let us keep our eye on love, remembering that it is to be the essential purpose of all we believe, confess, or practice.

      Hospitality.--Not simply hospitality, but hospitality "without grudging" (1 Peter 4:9), free, liberal, full of kindness. Show love unto strangers, more especially to those who need it and cannot requite you by entertaining you again. (Luke 14:12-14.) This is evidently not simply the sentimental love, but the practical kind-- [196] not without its proper sentiment, for sentiment and practice are hard to divorce. "My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18.) We are unduly exercised over the danger of bestowing a gift upon an unworthy person, ostensibly because we are "afraid to encourage them in idleness," and lest we actually "do them an injury by helping them along when they ought to help themselves," etc. Often, however, the real reason is that we grudge to give to or to do for others, especially for strangers and very needy people; and so we get very scrupulous about doing them an injury indirectly, and willing rather to risk doing them a real and direct injury by withholding from them what they ought to have. It is an instance of pharisaism--straining out gnats and swallowing a camel. If I am imposed upon, it is only a mistake; if I misjudge, and accordingly mistreat, another, it is a cruel wrong. Which should I risk? True, there is room for wisdom in bestowing gifts and hospitality. True, there are many who habitually lean and sponge on their fellows and "beat their way" through life. But while God sharply rebukes such persons, saying, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat," yet he adds this to those who had been imposed upon: "But ye, brethren, be not weary in [197] well-doing." (2 Thess. 3:10-13.) And when a man is in need, it is no good time to ask questions. Sometimes, as Victor Hugo says, it is the man who has most reason for wishing to conceal his name that needs our help most. Let us not be overinquisitive or overscrupulous there, that we may be the children of our Father who is in heaven; "for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." And have you never received a gift of his unworthily or misused one of his blessings? Yet he has not withdrawn his help.

      As to the question, "Who entertained angels unawares?" there is, as far as I know, but one case on record--Lot. (Gen. 19.) Abraham (Gen. 18) showed by the form of his address (in the Hebrew) that he recognized the greatness of his visitors, whereas Lot seems to have taken them as ordinary travelers. We have opportunity of entertaining not only angels, but the Lord himself. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me."

      Brotherly Sympathy.--If we are bound together in the same body, having the same Head, the same life, the same Spirit, the same hope, sympathy follows as a natural inference. How quickly, in the physical body, one member flies [198] to the relief of another! How the whole frame is distressed over the suffering of one part! So let it be in the body of Christ. Rejoice with them that do rejoice; weep with them that weep. "And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." (See 1 Cor. 12:25-27.)

      Marriage.--Marriage is holy before God and must be held in honor among men. God himself is the avenger of any breach of fidelity in the marriage relation. (1 Thess. 4:6.) Any laxity on this point is simply the undermining of the foundations of society, family, State, and religion. Moreover, there will be a terrible individual retribution. (Prov. 6:27-29.) God will see to that. David's sin was forgiven him, but the rest of his days were embittered by its consequences, and his whole posterity after him labored under the curse of the sword which came upon his family because of the crime. And what will God do about the adulterers and adulteresses of to-day, who, under the cover of law and the name of "divorce," flagrantly violate the holiest obligation of earthly life? "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." They shall in no wise go unpunished.

      The popular novels of to-day, the scenes enacted upon the stage and in the moving [199] pictures, often turn upon marital unfaithfulness, sometimes representing it in pleasing and attractive guise. Thus the youth of the land become accustomed to look upon this evil. It becomes a familiar thing, and the natural, high-principled abhorrence of this great wrong wears away. What will the outcome be?

      Shun the popular novel! Shun the theater! Impurity, vice, adultery, are there broadly, shamelessly flaunted into your face, arrayed with all the glitter and enticement of the world. Abhor that false, devilish sentimentality that speaks of "soul affinity," and "souls that met in space and recognized each other," and "hearts that were made for each other," etc., in excuse for adultery--fine, specious phrases to hide the enormity of its wickedness; the spawn of filthy minds, the perfumed lies wherewith they cover the abyss of their foul putridity; the hypocrisies of Satan clothed in high-sounding poetry and philosophy; the venom of hell in palatable form. Flee every suggestion of this terrible, damnable sin! The wife's first earthly duty is to her husband; the husband's, to his wife. They are joined for better or worse. [200] If for worse, it is a school of patient endurance, doing the will of God, learning love, meekness, and goodness under difficulties. And God will not forsake those who in the fear of him bear that burden--yea, he is able to bring forth light out of gloom and change the burden into a blessing even in the earthly days. (Ps. 27:13.) But for divorce there is no reason or excuse, save that which is written. (Matt. 5:32.)

      The Love of Money.--Free from the love of money. Of all that is in the world--its lust, its glory, its pride--money represents the sum. Therefore the love of money is the love of the world. The world is purchasable with money, and most men seek the world through the channel of money. Money is a god, in whose service and worship thousands in Christian lands spend their lives. "Mammon" is his name. Love him, and he will come to you; trust him, and he will furnish you with all you want and need and wish for as to this life. Therefore, covetousness (the love of money) is idolatry. What I look to and trust in for my support, that is my god. (Job 31:24, 25, 28.) And as idolatry has always been the source of darkness, degradation, and every sort of crime, so here also; for "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced [201] themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Tim. 6:10.)

      This love of money is occasioned in the first place by an anxious concern for the morrow. What shall I eat? What shall I drink? Wherewithal shall I be clothed? Now you may seek assurance on these questions in two ways. One would be to look to money, laying it up in store, hoarding it, securing it, obtaining it by all means; the other, to look to the true and living God, who owns all things and who has all power. As soon as you draw this distinction, however, some one is ready to say: "Yes, but you must work. God will give you nothing if you do not work." No one denies that men should work. But you can do the same thing on different principles. One may be, to use an illustration, circumcised for hygienic reasons; another, as a religions act. Both did the same thing; but the one did no wrong, whereas the other rejected Christ. One man is baptized to obey God; another, to win favor of certain church members. Both did the same thing; but the one pleased God, the other was an abomination to him. So one man works, and he is serving God the while he does it; another works, and is an idolater--doing service to mammon. Moreover, one man works to secure his own welfare and comfort; and having thus fixed [202] himself comfortably, he looks around to see what he can do for God's kingdom with what he may happen to have left. Another seeks first "the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," trusting that as he is faithful to God, God will be faithful to him. Which is better? Which is right?

      Note now carefully the argument of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Matt. 6:19-34.) "Lay not up." Earthly treasures are uncertain. Treasure in heaven is better. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The single eye--just the one good end in view, just the one purpose--that means light to the whole man. "No man can serve two masters." "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." "Therefore"--mark it. "Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink." Do not throw away your life for food or your body for the sake of raiment. There are higher uses. The life is worth more than the food; the body, more than the raiment. There are higher uses. The life is worth more than the food; the body, more than the raiment. God cares for all his creatures--even the birds, the lilies, the grass. How much more shall he see to you and your needs! Do not be anxious, therefore, for such things. The Gentiles, who know not God, do that. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Aim at [203] the higher things, and the lower shall be adjusted. Even as Solomon desired wisdom above all, and he received it and everything else thrown in besides, so shall it be with you. Seek after God's kingdom and righteousness. Let this be your single aim day by day. All things else will come in incidentally. God careth for his own.

      There is no fetter or clog on the church so heavy as this concern about money and "what shall we eat?" etc. If it were not for that, how many missionaries would go out! What willingness to support those who have gone out! How much liberality, charity, good works! How much self-denial, devotion, and earnest, self-sacrificing effort would result if there were faith to believe what God has actually said on this subject! And see now what assurance God has given us here: "Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?" For where God "himself" says such things, we may "with good courage" respond as above. It is a question of believing in God and trusting ourselves unreservedly into his faithful hands. [204]

      Our Father, we pray that thou make us to abound more and more in love toward our brethren and toward all men; for this prayer thou didst thyself, by the holy Spirit, put into the mouth of thy servant, Paul. It is good, and thou wilt hear it. May we excel before thee in this, the greatest of all virtues and graces, that we may be like thee, for thy name is "Love." May thy love fill our hearts and through us extend to men--to the poor and to the stranger who knocks at our door; to the brethren who are suffering privations and afflictions and persecutions; in our home circles, in parents towards children, in children toward parents, in husband toward wife, in wife toward husband. To those who are battling with domestic difficulties, be thou a forgiving and gracious Helper, lest they fall into condemnation. Help thou thy children who are wives to wear that ornament which is in the sight of God of great price--a meek and quiet spirit--and by their chaste behavior, coupled with fear, command respect of their husbands and win them to Christ; and husbands, that they may give honor unto their wives and love them even as Christ also loved the church. O Lord, preserve thou the purity and sanctity of our Christian homes; may thy peace rule in them; and keep each one of us from contamination from the [205] corruption that is in the world. Inasmuch as thou hast called us, like Abraham, to seek after the things unseen, help us to renounce the love of money; for money is the chief representative of things that are seen, and our hearts are prone to cleave unto it for want of faith. Lord, we believe; help thou our unbelief. May we seek after the higher things with single eye, and in boldness, inspired by thy eternal promise, exclaim: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear!" In Jesus' name. Amen. [195]

[LOH1 195-206]