The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-10-03

est commandment, the same reply
still comes to us. We are told co
love the Lord our God with all the
heart. That Is the seat of the emo
lions as 1t was then understood We
must not neglect the mind, for prob
lens will always arise which demand
thought and intellect. We must
love with the soul. That central
citadel of being where man in dark
! ness makes his plans, forms his pur-
poses and develops his motives. And
with all the strength which includes
will, purpose and activity. But sup
pose we attain to all this. Some
thing ia yet to be done. We must
| give practical expression to 1t. And
| that is the point of the parable. Sen.
| timent, emotion and the result OF
careful thought will end. unless we
| keep the fire alfght by continued ae.
tivity. And the expression of love
/! is essential to its continuance.
1 Look at the incident and you Will
| see what / mean. Jesus Is teaching
1 the people. In the midst OF his
teaching some lawyer comes to Him
to test Him. He will see how far
His knowledge is sound. and what
He will hold up as the greatest 81
! the commandments. This was cues
| ton which was being much discussed,
! just as we today discuss theological
problems, and assign to them places
among the essentials and the non-es'
/ sentials. In reply Jesus throws him
back upon the standard Of all law to
the Jew, What is written in the law
How readest thou?" He assumes
/ that the q1lestioner has the informa'
ton he is seeking, and the tables are
/ turned hmm diately he gives the
summary Of the whole law contained
in the books of Moses. And then
Jesus turns upon him and says, Thou
hast answered rightly. Do this and
thou shalt i've"
Plain Language.
Here let us pause moment. Do
Jesus mean this? Was nothing else
necessary? What of the sacrifices
J and the publications, and the deeds
which were the soul Of their religion
Had Jesus nothing to say about this
| Not q word. In the plainest possible
Language He says that this is enough
! for life. And is this true today? Or
must we supplement the words by
later utterances and qualify them by
later thinking. F
II believe that Jesus meant. what He
said. It seems to me that to qualify
or supplement the words Is perver.
sion of the teaching Of Jesus.
How is It that when we read the
words of other men we take them at
their face value and when we come to
the words of Jesus pursue an entirely
different course. We hear a speaker
! and say that we understand him. His
words are the expression Of his inten-
tons, and they reveal to us his mean
| ing. We read book and say we
know what the author meant, ana
| take the words he has spoken as con-
veying to us his meaning. But when
we come to the words of Jesus, the
4 simplest and most direct of all, we
! say well He did not quite mean that,
T! and must have meant other or diner
ent'' What I am suggesting is that
we have given preference to utteran-
| ces of councils and of men who. how
ever good, have not the power to
think for coming generations. To
assert that the words Of Jesus In this
incident are not to be taken any other
way than literally is to stulify them,
and to destroy their value. He means
what He says, and we do we'll to come
| for all generations and all ages. To
us as to the man who asked the ques-
ton we need the reply to anxious
/ questioning. Let us believe that
Jesus meant what He said and set to
work to put into practice all that He
has taught. We may safely. leave all
else till we have settled for ever the
fact that His teaching is forever SUI
preme and authoritative
| We profess this. But when we are
put to the test, we invent discussions
and proclaim doctrines till we have
| lost sight of the simple and direct ut
| terances of Him whom We claim as
Master of Life. The church needs
/ to hear afresh the words which
are practical and which gives us sure
direction and guidance. There is
nothing more talked about today than
the gospel of service. Men say they
are not in sympathy with the organ
lied forms of religion because Of the
neglect OF the practical worth Of re-
ligious faith in that realm. They
point to the divisions in the church,
and speak of the spirit which is too
often seen of sectarian competition.
Settle which is right and they will
in moment give us their allegiance
and their help. But here is a word
OF simple direction that they may
take and put into practice. We may
all of us do that at least, whether we
are interested in theological or eccles.
iastical differences. We are in the
same position as the man who came
to Jesus. Which is the greatest?
Which is right? And he comes to
us with the same command. Set to
work to render obedience to that, and
the questions will disappear even tho
they may not be answered.
Who 10 My Neiohbor?
But press this home, and immedi-
ately such men begin to hedge
There is still way out. And the
question comes up at once, WHO is
my neighbour" And then the lesson
| of the centuries was taught He had
expected that Jesus would encourage
| the limitations Of the social and re-
ligious order of the day. But he was