Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-04-11

| murderer latl eteTuul llle dDluluB III
him." Il John 3;15) Murderers may
indeed receive severe stripes, and
eventually learn better under Mes
siahs Kingdom; but no one Of a muir
derous condition of heart seeking to
do evil to brother, could possibly be
of suitable character to be joint-heir
with his Master In the Kingdom,
zone Of tho Least Of These"
In every time, and now, the spirit
of persecution naturally would strike
most prominently certain leading fig
ures; nevertheless, even as Jesus
words implied, all lovers Of righteous
ness are to have more or less share In
such experiences Of opposition. st.
Paul mentions this, saying. "Ye en-
dured a great fight Of Affections; part
ly, whilst We were made gazing
stock and partly whilst ye be-
came companions Of them that were
so used" (Hebrews 1892, 33) Jesus
gives us the same thought In His
declaration that whosoever shall Of
fend one Of the least Of these, His
disciples, 1t were better for him that
q milestone were hanged about his neck
and he were drowned in the depths Of
the sea.-Matthew 1876.
This, of course, is very highly fgura-
tive language, and yet 1t must have a
special meaning. 1t must mean that
the Lord has special care over all or
His consecrated saints; and that no
matter how poor, how weak, how ig-
norant, they may be, the very least Of
His followers are supervised, and in
jury to the least is punishable, OF
course, there would still be an awak-
enlng from the dead for the one who
was drowned in the sea; and so there
are possibilities OF help and recovery
for those who would stumble the
Lords "llttle ones" Nevertheless, the
lntlmatlon is that of drastic punish
ment. This would not mean anything
like we once suppOsed-eternal tor
ment-but some just recompense Of re-
ward for every evil deed.
From this standpoint we may readily
assume that considerable satisfaction
Of Justice is necessary; for surely a
considerable number Of the Lords
"little ones" have suffered persecution.
And as we have seen, not all Of this
persecution lies at the door Of the
world. Much Of it lies at the door of
the professed Church of Christ-"false
brethren"
Speaking of some such, Jesus once
declared that they would have great
disappointment when the time Of re-
shall say unto Me in that Day, Lord
Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy
name, and done many wonderful
works? And l will declare, do mo-
recognize you" They will not be
worthy Of the Lords recognition as
amongst His Elect Church, His Bride
class. We shall be glad If they will bt
found worthy of some blessing undel
His Kingdom. But there will be great
disappointment to them. They missed
the greater point of the Gospel-LOCe,
Love For the Brethren.
= The Lords will concerning all His
followers is that they should love one
another as He loved them. st. Johr
expressed this sentiment, saying tha'
as Jesus loved the Church and laiC
down His life for the Church. so alst
His followers should lay down theil
lives for the brethren. u John 3:16.
If this Is the lore standard that thu
Lord has set for His people, how sorely
some will soon be disappointed in re
spect to His will If they have ignored
this requirement If, instead Of lovlnl
the brethren and laying down their live
for them, they say all manner Of evl
against them, etc, what then? Thel
they are false brethren. Then they ar
I the peril OF the true brethren. as men
toned in our text,
Oh, how much the true followers O.
y Jesus need to impress upon themselve
i this great lesson-that love does nj
Ill to his neighbor, that love is sympa
= thetic suffereth long and Is kind
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up
= seelieth not merely It's own interes
: and welfare, but seeketh the interes
and welfare Of others!
The supreme test Of our loyalty t
: God Is our love for Him. And thl
I love is manifested by our desire to d
those things acceptable to Him, Their
: is little that we really can do for tn
y Almighty, He is so great and we ar
L so small! But II we have His splrl
. Of Love, then we shall love all thos
who love Him. And our conduct tc
ward them will demonstrate the rea
sentiment Of our hearts. Thus seen
we are daily making our reward in tn
' Lords sight, daily showing Him +
Z what degree we are worthy or vi
worthy Of His great reward.
y Those mentioned In our text as falls
> brethren were perilous to the tru
;, brethren, but did not get into this pc
9 sition Immediately, It was growtl
y a development. The wrong spirit grad
= ually supplanted the right, 1t is we
v that Christians note this lnsldiou
! canker which gnaws at the root o
= brothery love, tends to poison tn
7, spirit and to bring forth the evil frui
" age mentioned Apparently, in som
: cases, the spirit Of pride, the spirit q
> scctarlanlsm, the spirit Of ambition
are the leading features Of the wron
course which, II permitted to 90 {
= the heart, will develop n bad frultag,
' snnh ne ,vn nrn discussing II wifi mr.