The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-31
RECIPROCITY DOMINANT
NOTE IN TRUE RELIGION.
The RevereHd Doctor King Draws
Lessons From the Sermon ON
the Mount.

The Reverend Doctor ". r. King of
Monmouth, ILL.,, preached yesterday morn
ing in the Second Presbyterian Church on
1.-THE Reciprocity of Life He took for
his text Matthew vii, and 2. He said. in
part E,.. ,,ora. -. t...n ,-o,, ~. ,,onasr.
full discourse of our Lord, delivered to his
Of his ministry. That discourse is common
ly called the Sermon on the Mount. though
there was nothing Of the sermon about 1t.
on The nature Of the kingdom; a treatise
festo of the Kingdom the Master mad come
was to teach the disciples the nature Of
true religion. to show them that 1t consists
in the thoughts and intents OF the heart
and not In the outward observance of rules
He is trying to show his disciples that
there are certain great laws of lie, prtnci-
pies Of being. that determine our character;
great laws. the law Of reciprocity: Judge
not that ye be not judged. For With what
Judgment we judge, We shall be judged land
measured unto YOU The New Testament
Is full OF the idea of natural and necessary
reciprocity between man and the things by
which he Is surrounded.
Whatever man soweth that shall he
also reap He that soweth sparingly shall
also reap spar1ngly, and he that soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully.' The
world is conceived as great field into
which man drops the seed and receives
back. again after the kind and in proper
ton to the amount of his sowing. Every
the actor. Man stands conferred in this
great active, alert world: all things have
their eyes open to see his actions and their
hands ready to give back to him that which
'.fhe thought Of the text is that we will
receive from the world what we give to the
world. The word judge is used with u
In this text 1t refers to that fiippant, en-
vious. censorious criticism that Is always
finding fault and magnifytng the failures OF
others. He warns the disciples against that
kind Of criticism for two reasons: First,
because 1t would reveal their own character
to the world, and, secondly, because the
world would give them back the same kind
let US look at this law Of reel.
procity in the material world. We get
to it; We see this in the way the world
responds to our effort. The world yields
her treasures to those who yield them
s selves .p to n pqe esp s 81 s and @
God has 80 constituted his physical uni
y as t. make it TSra e the Dns
Rmples Of this fact. Take It in any line you
may and you viii find that the world
syssa to US IN as we give t. the
IL true IN the realm of scieuce and inven-
ton; it IL true in the world OF music Snd
art: It IL true everywhere. The world gives
to US In proportion as we give to It.
But not only does the world give in pro-
portion a. We give to It, but It gives with
the same spirit In which we give. There Is
spirited reciprocity even In the material
universe. Nature gives to us In exactly the
same spirit which we give to nature Ma
ture Is IN mirror that reflects the image
that stands before It. and the man who
makes faces at that mirror win see, not the
tmperfectfons OF the mirror but the dis
torted features Of himself g
Consider. again, this law Of reciprocity
IN the social world. lift II true that nature
responds to us ~ we give ourselves to ma
tures II IL even more true that We ret from
\ men In proportion as NE give to them.