The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-05
fhe sea.--Matthew 1s;s.

the l6sO. s
This, Of course, Is very highly ng..sa-
tive language, and yet it must have a
special meaning. 1t must mean that
the Lord has a special care over all OF
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-
ening from the dead for the n who
was drowned In the sea; and SO there
are possibilities of help and recovery
for those who would stumble the
Lords little ones" Nevertheless, the
fntimation 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 1t lies at the door OF
the p~rofessed Church Of Christ-"false
brethren"
Speaking OF some such, Jesus once
declared that they would have great
disappointment when the time of re-
wards would come. He says, Many
shall say unto Ne in that Day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy
name, . and done many wonderful
works? And I will declare, do not
recognize you" They will not be
worthy OF the Lords recognition as
amongst His Elect Church, His Bride
class. We shall be glad II they will be
found. worthy Of some blessing under
His Kingdom. But there will be great
disappointment to them. They missed
the greater point of the Gospel-Lore.
Love For the Brethren.
The Lords will concerning all His
followers is that they should love one
another as He loved them. st. John
expressed this sentiment, saying that
as bCSdS lONCu LLC CIluECu anu Idlu
down His life for the Church, so also
His followers should lay down their
lives for the brethren. Il John 3:16)
IL this is the lore standard that the
Lord has set for His people, how sorely
some will Dol be disappointed in re-
spect to His will IL they have ignored
this requirement. II. instead of loving
the brethren and laying down their lives
for them, they say all manner Of evil
against them. etc, what then2 Then
they are fafNS brethren. Then they are
the peril or the true brethren, as men
toned in our text.
Oh, how much the true followers of
Jesus need to impress upon themselves
this great lessOn-that love does no
Ill to his neighbor, that love is sympa-
thetic, suffereth long and is kind,
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
seeketh not merely its own interest
and welfare. but seeketh the interest
and welfare Of others!
The supreme test Of our loyalty to
God is love for Him. And this
love is manifested by our desire to do
those things acceptable to Him. There
is little that we really can do for the
Almighty. He is so great and we are
so small! But if we have His spirit
of Love, then we shall love all those
who loFe~Him. And III conduct to.
ward them will demonstrate the real
sentiment Of our hearts. Thus seen,
| ~yn ara 6atlu TSAal-snI ~ -rrrDnZ - IL,
Lords sight, daily showing Him to
what degree we are worthy or un-
worthy Of His great reward.
Those mentioned in our text as false
brethren were perilous to the true
brethren, but did not get into this po-
sition Immediately. 1t was a growth,
a development. The wrong spirit grad
ually supplanted the right. 1t is well
that Christians note this insidious
canker which gnaws at the root of
brotherly love, tends to poison the
spirit and to bring forth the evil fruit
age mentioned. Apparently, in some
cases, the spirit of pride, the spirit Of
Sectarianism. the spirit of ambition,
Sre the leading features of the wrong
course, which, if permitted to go to
tho heart, will develop a bad fruitage,
such as we are discussing. It will pro-
duce false brethren, prosecuting breth-
rem, blind to the real spirit of their
Master, heady, high-minded.
Let us then. beloved. be more and
more on guard against the encroach-
ments Of the Adversary upon us as
New Creatures! Let us be more and
more jealous for the Spirit of our Mas
ter and show forth the praises of Him
who has called us out of darkness into
His marvellous light! In no way can
we better show forth these praises than
by exemplifying in our daily conduct
the lessons we have learned of Hint
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