South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1913-09-06

Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind
Luke 1922.
LOVE.
l. Love Love is not a mere senti-
ment, It IL an action. Those who
commence TO live a life OF love may
be unconscious OF any particular SEN
timent. They begin by doing 10 God
and their neighbOr what they believe
is their duty. Love as a matter Of
fact is the ten commandments con-
densed into one word. Ii is the sum
and substance Of the moral teaching
OF the Old Testament, for Jesus, the
author of the text. did not give it is
an original statement, but as quota
ton from the Old Testament. (See
Deut. 6:5) From the beginning il
has been the duty Of man to love, and
Jesus Christ simply emphasized and
Vitalized an old commandment, giving
IL all the startling effect of a great
new truth. 1t is true that Jesus and
his disciples. as seen in the New Tes-
lament, laid more emphasis upon love,
kindness, charity and similar virtues,
of the nature of love. than the Old
Testament prophets and teachers. But
love does develop into the noblest
sentiment and creates the only true
and lasting happiness.
2. Love to God. 1t is necessary in
order TO love God to place him first
in our thoughts, plans and purposes
To do this we must seek to know. or
find out, what Gods will is concern T
us in general, and then to apply the
knowledge TO every indVluua4 .i.Jt..-
and act Of our lives. 1t is not enough,
however, TO know the will of God; we
are under obligation 10 do His will if
4 -
quirement of love. 1t is necessary for
us TO measure our conclusions on all
matters by the standard OF love. In
other word, IL God has first place in
our affections we shall think of Him
and His will in forming every decision,
as well as in commencing every en-
terprise. Love 10 God means that we
first consult him, and having found
out what His will is. follow that viii
without any variation. In this we
shall follow the example of Jesus our
Saviour for the chief element in His
character was in the fact that He
claimed TO do His Fathers will. He
had a way of finding out what the will
of God was in every circumstance, and
then did it. If we would be perfect
we must follow our divine Master in
this His lifelong habit But it is not
enough for us TO do the will OF God
as a matter of mere duty; it is neces-
sary that we should delight TO do that
will Love makes the difference be-
tween doing right from a mere sense
of duty and doing it with gladness.
g. Love To Man. Loving our neigh
Dor implies, In the first place, q
kindly disposition toward him; IL pre-
cludes all envy or jealousy of our
neighbor. We rejoice with those that
rejoice, and weep with those that
weep. We make common cause with
our neighbor, and are glad when he
succeeds; when things are we'll with
him and his family. and sorry when
ever anything happens 10 him which
may appear to be unfortunate. Then
| love is always ready TO lend a helping
hand as she may have the opportu
nifty. In fact love would rather have
the opportunity TO help her neighbor
than not. Just as parents delight TO
do their children good, go true love
4 for our neighbor implies that we shall
delight to do him good, and be glad
/ for the opportunity. Love instinctively
/ prays for her neighbor. Those whose
\ hearts are filed with love for God de-
| light to pray the blessing Of the Heav-
\ emily Father upon their friends and &C
quaintances. This sort prayer
/ takes in the poor and the needy; not
! only those whom we meet personally,
/ but all those who in this or other
1 ldnuk nave hot ndQ lllt DlANAlEBb VI
I hearing of the love of Jesus and are
/ living under unhappy conditions.
T. Love God With All Our Strength.
/ There Is no doubt about 1t that
4 there are degrees in love. but the
degree which we are commanded TO
attain is in the superlative; II must
! be with all our heart and soul and
| strength and mind A love which
prompts us 10 do certain duties which
| may be congenial and to neglect other
duties is not sufficient. We must see
! to II that our whole natures, body,
spirit, soul. are famed into an ever
| burning flame of love 10 Goo. We are
| to love God with our whole heart, but
we are also TO love Him with all our
mind. This implies prayer, thought,
research. 1t means that we are TO
find out all we can about the infinite
and holy attributes of God, for by
this means only can we find out how
worthy he is of the entire devotion of
our natures. IGNORANCE is often the
!. means OF the " rakness of our love.
We need not be concerned so much
about the feeling or sentiment Of love
as we are about the deeds of love. A
study OF the needs of our fellow men,
helping them all we can, communion
with nature. the study Of history, the
reading OF the Bible and the habit OF
praying without ceasing, are effectual
means toward the end that we love
God with all our strength.
/ fCor,-rfgbt = = DaVidSODl