Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-11
The Sunday School
~. Lesson for May IL
LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS.
Luke vi, 1888; Romans xiii, s-1o-
May II.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
myself Romans xiii, 9.

Tic WOIlu, UuI dpplloo W oe1AAIo ~
those who have consecrated their lives
fully to follow in the footsteps OF
Jesus-to suffer with him that they
may also reign with him. Even these
may not be able to live up to every
feature of the masters instructions
because of weakness in their fallen
flesh. We must take the masters
words addressed to the faithful as rep
resenting the full, complete, perfect
standard It is for each disciple to
recognize this supreme standard and
to measure and guage his thoughts
and words and doings thereby, and
as closely as possible attain this stan
dard.
Thus doing our very BEST yet surely
coming short. the apostles words ap-
ply to us: "The righteousness Of the
law Is fulfilled in US who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit" y
We walk after the spirit, and would
walk up to it if we could, but. being
unable to do so, "The blood Of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us from all sim" This
is the happy state Of all who through
faith and conservation become chill.
dren of God during this gospel age.
AS for others than Gods people, he
does not speak to them at all, except
to tell them that they are sinners I'M
| der the sentence of death, but that he
| has made provision for their recon
ciliation through the blood of the
cross, and that whether they become
disciples of Christ or not under the
call to brideship, nevertheless their
words and conduct in the present life
will all advantage or disadvantage
them in the life to come. In this Sec
ondary way the world-all mankind
aside from the church, the consecrated
may be measurnbly enlightened by
the masters TEACHINGS in this lesson,
even while it is not addressed to them.
The Path Of Love marrow Way"
The path of love is, as Jesus de-
scribes It, under present conditions,
marrow way" narrow is the gate,
difficult the way Of life now open.
Only the sanity few will be willing to
walk therein. and only these will gain
the great prize. "the pearls of great
price," joint heirship in Messiah's
kingdom. Hearken! Do not merely OBJ
serve the golden rule toward your
to them that hate you, and bless them
ludI curse you, anu pray lOI lueIl tudI
despitefully use you"
THE masters expression t'Unto
him that smiteth thee on the one
cheek offer also the other is to. be
taken as signifying simply do not
render evil for evil, even though he
smite thee on the other cheek also.
Our Lord himself when smitten. ac-
cording to the report, did not invite
the shifting of the other cheek, but
rather he defended himself to the ex-
tent of criticising the evil deed But
if he had been smitten on the other
cheek also, let us not for a moment
think that he would have resisted in
the sense of rendering blow for blow.
The next statement is more COM
prehensively given by Saint Matthew
"If any man sue thee at the law and
take away thy coat, withhold not thy
cloak also" The follower Of Jesus
may flee from an adversary. or he may
resist him to the extent Of proper ex-
postulation, but he is to he thorough
ly responsive to all government; if the
court decides that his coat and his
cloak shall both be taken from him,
he shall unmurmuringly submit, even
though he realize that such a proce-
dure would be unjust and quite at
variance with the divine regulation.
Saint Pa. as we'll as Jesus used argu
ment in his own defense, not only with
the mobs. but also before Judges; but
they resisted the law never.
"This is a Hard Saying"
"Give to everyone that asketh Of
thee, and Of him that taketh away thy
goods ask them not again." The
broadcast Interpretation we could con-
sistently give to this would be--be
generous. tender hearted, err on the
side of too great generosity rather
than to be hard-hearted, selfish. The
Lord could not have meant us to take
his words with absolute literalness: as
for instance, give child a razor If it
cries for it; or, give money to the
dissipated, that they may iniure them
selves still more. The spirit of a
sound mind forbids that we should
understand the master to teach that
We should do anything for another or
assist him in any manner that would
be really to his injury. This is ex-
pressed in the next statement: LAS
We would that men should do unto you,
do We also to them likewise"
Very evidently our Lord was setting
up his teachings in contrast with the
maxlms of the Pharisees, the holiness
people Of that day. To love another
because he loved us, or to give to an
other in the hope that he would equal
ly befriend us, would have nothing
creditable in it.
Jesus disciples are to do good for
principles sake--to be in full accord
with the heavenly father, to have his
smile and approval. They are to take
him as their example, as they are god
like they show forth the spirit of SON.
ship.
MercifuI to Obtain Mercy.
The world during Messiah's kingdom
will be under instruction and lessons,
| which will include mercy, and an as
suranoe 70 the willing and obedient
Of perfection by the close Of the king
dom. But the church class, now called
out, will have no such long period for
their character development, and since
they will not attain that perfection
here, but will require divine mercy,
through the imputation of Christs