The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1905-08-31
THE SIGN OF a SAINT.


by this shall all men know that yod
are my disciples if You have love one
to auother"-John 70; 81.
1t seems as IL it would be GOOD
thing if every man bore some S.sa or
mark which accurately indicated H5
true character, if the sheep and the
wolves wore their right clothing III TINS
world as well a in another.
At present attempts to label by but
tons, badges. neckties, or even by IA
cial contortions. must be counted as
unreliable, subject to counterteiting.
Congratulations based on eccleslasucS
classihcations may seem TO hold good
on Sunday; but they break down under
the test of commerce and there seems
TO be a prospect Of their being entirely
disarranged at the time when their de-
pendents expect most of them.
There is means OF classification
and Identification, however, as simple
as it Is reliable and permanent. Inc
great teacher saw his first followers
looking around for labels; they wanted
a gown or hood, button or a charm
ii password or holy groan. lie gave
them a sign that all could obtain, that
none could initiate, and that no one
could steal from them. Living work
Ing love IS the label Of the Christian.
This is the proof Of a better life, the
evidence Of a power that makes tl'
man anew. Tho moment even the
basest character really begins To love,
it begins to HI itself toward tine best.
You cannot love, in the sense OF sac
r!hcius helping. serving others without
coming into uplifting relationship with
the most high Loves deeds prove to
all the presence of love.
This IS the only orthodoxy. Surely
the standard Of the master Is enough.
Somewhere there are penalties re
served for those who SGT mp other
standards. who insist on shihhoieths OF
crcdal statements. or on intellectual
gymnastics OF dortrlnAl assent who
erect barriers to keep from their up
ward way any hearts that are turning
to the good No other test does Jesus
give than thls-that men love one an
other.
This ia the true worship Church
meetings are but means of suggesting
ways OF doing this, OF stimulating our
otherwise selfish hearts to their service
OF love. That only is religious ser
vice which leads men to sacrifice, To
serve one another. There IS more wor-
ship In giving pure milk to Stun babies
than there IS In sitting Sunday after
sunday drinking In, like Il sponge. the
sincere milk Of the word, or the honey
of the choir
This IS the true work OF the church,
not to love itself, but to love the other
fellows not to build fine churches and
make soft cushions for its own. but 10
make all these things and to make
them nobly for the halt and the sad
and the lonely. Not only 10 knit red
socks for IIottentots, but 50 sincerely,
unafrectedly, actually to love your civ
illzed neIghbor on the street or the
alley IS TO knit him to you by bonds
that cannot be broken.
THIS is the secret Of every religious,
rhianthropir edurntlye movement
that has accomplished any good, that 1t
won men because it was not afraid to
Spend life and shed blood for them.
80 life was buldeI, no reform accom-
plishcd no great work of any Kind was
over done without the shedding of
great drops Of sweat ana blood, and
this, this giving mp OF NE, whether In
one supreme act or in many little daily
deeds, Is the net OF love ana the badge
of Christian.