The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-08

~ His text was
~ ..yhat doth thy
cod require Of thee,
but TO do justly ana
~ TO love mercy ana
"a walk humoly
with thy God?'
,NIicah 6:SO He
said in part:
RASI0R RUSSEDl the rs true religion Of Of
tho Bible demands
notbinr moro Of us than is expressed in
this text? What about the jewish La" !,
what about the Ten Commandments?
What about church attendance! w mat
about our responsibilities to our ram
lilies, to the church. to the poor? WhaI
about the study Of the Bible to know
Gods will? What about our RESPONSE
bility for the heather? What about haP-
tism and the Lords Supper?
Indirectly. all the matters covered ny
these questions. and many more. are IN
cluded incidentally in the provisions OF
our text. Sometimes a whole sermon Is
preached in a few words. No one Will
DISPUTE the reasonabIeness OF the DIVINE
requirement as stated in our text. Our
Creator could not justly or with sell
respect ask less OF His creatures VINO
would enjoy His favor. The interests
OF all demand that these principles snould
be required of every creature permitted
the enjoyment of Divine favor to the eN-
tent OF eternal life Whoever fails TO
come up to these conditions would thus
evidence his unworthiness of life ever
lasting. His prolonged existence would
merely be d prospecting of sin and men
ace to the happiness and righteousness
OF others.
Let us see the scope OF this Divine re-
uuircmcnt. whose justice We have al
ready acknowledged. We note the nat
uraI division Of our text into three parts;
,D Doing justly; ~ Loving mercy; 90
Walking bUmby.
The requirement of justice in all our
dealings with our fellows commends it.
self to every rational mind. 1t includes
the who'll. Law of God. 4 brief state
meut Of that Law. which had our Lord s
approval. reads. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart. with
all thy mind. with all thy being and with
all thy strength and thou shalt love
thy neighbor as myself On these two
propositions. hang all the Law and the
Prophets"
1t is but Just that We should recognize
our Creator as first; that We should
Glorify the One who gave us our being
and all the blessings coming Herewith;
that We should be Obedient to His right
eous requirements that make for our
happiness and that of others. 1t is also
but just that we should recognize the
rights of others. as We would have them
recognize our rights The Golden Rule
is the barest OF justice. Not a hairs
breadth less would come within the re-
Quirements of our text, Do justly. Come,
then; let US reason together How many
OF us do justly in all of life's affairs-in
our relationship to our God and to our
neighbOT?
Begin at Home.
Let each criticise his words and his
deeds toward parents, children, broth
crs. sisters toward husband. toward
wife. In all of our relationships of life
do we treat these near and dear to us &C
cording to the standards OF justice. &C
rording to the Golden Rule? Do We do
toward them as we would have them do
toward US? II not. after making be-
ginning with the Lord. striving to render
To Him our homage and obedience. let us
closely scrUtinize every word. every act,
OF the home life and see to what extent
these can he improved upon and made
more nearly just. The majority of peo-
pie. We feel sure, will be surprised TO
know how unjust they have been toward |
those who are OF the very nearest and
dearest Of feshly relationships.
Follow the matter up and consider the |
justice or injustice Of your words and |
deeds in daily life with your neighbors |
and associates. Do you invariably speak |
10 them in the same words and with the |
same tone and gesture that you would !
approve if they were in your place and
you in theirs? In business do you drive
closer bargain with them than you
would think just for them to make with
you? Or. on the other hand. do you ask
OF them higher prices for the services or
materials YOU furnish them than you
would consider right if you were the
purchaser and they the vendors? Do
you treat all men. women. children and
animals as kindly, as gently, as you
think would be just and right il you
were in their place and they in yours?
Do you speak as kindly OF your neigh
bors as you would have them speak OF
YOU? Or do you hold up their imper-
fcctions to ridicUIe as you would not
like them to hold up yours?
simple JuEtice-NOthInE More.
DO you not begin to see, dear friends,
that what God requires Of us is much be-
yond what the majority have been rem
dering2 Do you tell me that it would
he impossible to live fully up to that
standard? / agree with you. st. Paul
a grees, saying, We cannot do the
things which we would" The Scrip
lures again declare, There is none
righteous. no, not one. al have snned
and come short Of the glory Of God"
What shall We do? Because we are
unable 10 live up TO our own conceptions
and standards OF justice shall we aban-
don those standards? God Forbid To
ignore our best ideals of justice would
be to permits the downward tendencies
OF our depraved natures to carry us fur
Their and further from God and the stand
ards of character which lie approves.
We can surely be content to do nothingI
less than our very best to live up to
our own ideals and TO raise those ideals
as nearly as possible to the Divine
Suppose we do our very best daily to
measure up to our highest conceptions
Of our God-g given ideals and standards,
would God accept OF this and count us
worthy OF eternal life? Surely not, The