Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-19

SUNDAY, OCTOBER ]
that we do counts with God. No
amount of zeal, or of orthodoxy.
no amount of diligence in church
work, or of attendance at church
services, no amount of generosity in chart
liable giving is of any value without love.
That is St. Johns doctrine, too. "Love is
0 God, and everyone that .loveth is born OF
God. and knoweth God." Love is the very
essence Of religion. There can he no re-
llgion without il. Wherever it Is present
there is religion. 1t is worth noticing. that
the love of which both st. Paul and st.
| John were writing is that plain, everyday
love for our neighbors, which is sometimes
dscredited by religious teachers. The love
which we have toward our fellowmen is "of
God" 1t belongs to religion.
THE SACRAMENT OF LOVE.
Indeed. so close is its association with re-
ligion that ''every one that loveth is born of
God" To be born of God-surely that
means as much as Christ meant when He
said, Eye must be born again." Whoever
is born OF God is born again. Above the
sacrament of baptism is the sacrament of
love. See how that widens out religion be-
yond all ecclesiasticism. He is Christian
who is one inwar6ly. To love your neighbor
truly is to begin to be Christian. 1t Is to
be born Of God. The other sacrapent, also,
is paralleled in the language OF st. John :
And this is His commandment, that we
should believe on the name of His son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He
gave us commandment. And he that
keeDeth His commandments dwelleth in
Him, and He in him." That is the blessing
| which is associated with the eating of His
flesh and the drinking oi His blood. And
love wins it.
And everyone that loveth "knoweth God. I"
Only through the eyes Of love can man see
God: No man who hates his brother can
possibly see God. All unforgiveness, all
unbrotherly anger drifts in like black
cloud between man and God, and shuts out
the sight OF heaven. Our relation to God is
based on spiritual conditions. Unless those
spiritual conditions are fulfilled, knowledge
OF God is impossible. 1t is as impossible
as seeing is impossible with eyes.
THE DESIRE OF THE AGE.
To know God is one of the supreme de-
sires OF our generation. The age is not
orthodox; it does not follow very closely in
the old paths, sometimes it gets far afield
and astray. But the age is profoundly re-
ligious for all that. my soul is athlrst for
God; yea, even Tor the living God," e1-
presses the longing OF thousands of earnest
people whose Iaces are not seen often in the
churches. We all want to know the truth
about God.
And here is the way to know God. To
know God is not knowledge which can be
learned out OF book o: theology. It is not
knowledge which can be arrived at as the
conclusion of an argument. 1t is dependent
upon love. In proportion as we love our
fellow men, we come to know God.
How easy that isl First, the natural, and
after that the spiritual, st. Paul said
First, the love of our kin, and of our friends,
and of our fellow-men, and of our enemies,
and then the love of God. Whoever would
know God and love God, let him begin by
doing the nearest helpful duty which lies
beside his hand. All the rest will follow in
its time. Our Lord came to emphasize this
blessed spirit of love in the world. He
came to help us to love one another by show
ing US how much God loves us He had no
hard words, except for the unlovng and un-
He set prayer for us, in which this BROTH
erly spirit is SO breatbed into every phrase
that we cannot pray it selfshly, and in the
midst of it He set petition that God may
love US only as we love our tellow-men.
Beloved, let us love one another" that is
the characteristic utterance of Christianity.
A UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.
Beloved, let us love one another" st.
John is not content, you see, to have this
loving spirit just in his own heart. He
wants everybody else to share in it. So does
every one who is the kind OF Christian he
was. To be Christian and to be mission
ary of love ought to mean the same thing.
To be bringer of peace among men, TO
reconcile those who are at variance, to so ten
the angry speech and moderate the harsh
judgment. to help on all that makes Tor
charity. for tolerance, for sympathy, for JUS
tice, for brotherliness-that is what we
Christians are set in this world to do.
And we can do that il we will only begin
in the right wav-lf we will but set about
it as St. John did. Do you see how he first
says "beloved," and then afterward "let US
love one another" That is the right order.
We must ourselves begin by loving. then
we NAV hope to lead others into the path of
love. Indeed, whoever really loves is
missionary of love whether he tries or not
He cannot help it. There is that about the
tone of his voice, and the grasp of his hand,
and the look in his eyes, which brings love
with him wherever he goes. There is no
lack Of work for missionaries of love. And
the mission fields are not very far away,
either. Think of all the mean things
which are said in society, of all the per-
nicous talk which goes on endlessly to
somebody's discredlt behind somebody's
back, of all the unfriendly and uncharIta-
BILE criticisms wherein wit or smartness has
taken the place of love.
THE TONGUE OF GOSSIP.
Let US tell the truth; yes-but "in love-"
St. Paul says, speaking the truth in love-"
how often we forget that! Think of all the
mean things that are done in business, big |
undertaking and the stealing; all the |
tyranny and greed; all the murdering-for |
we can, 1 think, fairly call starvation
murder. Christ heals poor man in the
land of Ggdara, and makes sound and sane
man out of him. But somehow the loss OF a
drove Of swine is involved in the healing.
Down they rush over a steep place into the
sea, land that is the end of the swine-but it
is the beginning of the man!
And then the owners come. And the
owners do not So much as look at the new
man, their ewes are a-search for swine. And
the end is that they are angry, and they re-
quest the Master to part as speedily as may
be convenient out of their coasts. A drove
Of pigs is In the balance against man; it is
question whether they would rather have
their rockets full Of money or their brothers
lie, full OF sanity and strength. How
,ften the scene upon the shore of Galilee is
.e-enacted upon other shores! Men set gain
before love. What need of missionaries
IN the world of business. What need of
Missionaries of love!
Beloved, let US not love in word, neither
n tongue, but in deed and in truth. "Be-