The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1915-08-12
A SERMON BY
REV. A. ToRBE1

John 13-35.-"By this shall all men
know that We are my diciples, if We
have love one to another"
Jesus does not say that one is all
right if he belong to some sect. Put
ting a goat into a sheepfold would not
make a sheep of it.
The question is not so much whether
one belong to some sect calling itself
the true church as it is whether he be
himself a true man.
A million square miles of wild oats
would not make a single acre of
wheat;and a thousand square miles of
popple trees would not make an acre
of pine forest; and growing in a pine
forest would never make a popple
tree a pine tree.
A large number of pine trees con-
stitutes a pine forest, and a group or
company of true Christians constitutes
a true church by whatever name you
call it, or weather it has any name or
not. But no multitude Of unchristian
people would constitute a true church,
any more than a sufficiently large pile
of rocks would make a bushel of po-
tatoes.
Putting a butter label upon a pack
age of cleo margarine would not make
butter of it; and just So certainly be-
longing to some church organization
does not prove that one is in heart a
christian.
This practical and rational age asks
not what sect or church organization
a man is attached to, but what sort of
a man is he?
If he be not the right sort of a man,
he is untitled to be classed in any sect
or church organization; for this would
be like a wolf wearing sleeps cloth
ing.
And it is not so much matter what
sect or church organization in which a
man preach, as wheather he preach
the true gospel Of Christ. Men must
stand before God and before intelli-
gent people as Individuals, rather than
as members of certain organizations.
The seven times married and now
~adulterous woman at Jacobs well near
Sycher in Samaria was a devctee of
those who said that the right place to
worship was in Mt. Gerizim rather
than with the Jews in Jerusalem; but
Jesus taught her that true worship IS
not a matter of whereof is offered, bu.
it is a matter of the real worship of
the spirit in sincerity and in truth.
John 4::20-23.
Abraham who is called the father of
the faithful never belonged to any or
ganization, and he was v inside of
any church for the simple reason that
all around him were idolaters from
whom God commanded him to separate
himself.
Solitary and alone in his devotion
to the true God of cleanliness and
righteousness, he belonged only to the
company of all faithful souls.
Enoch in history's morning was a
model sort of man, for in an age of
corruption he walked with God till he
was carried home to God without hav-
ing passed through the experience of
dying. He neither lived nor died a
member of any organization, but he
had fellowship with God on earth until
he was taken to the home of God.
Jesus gives US. an infallable test as
to whether we are truly his disciples
or not
Thank God that it is not dependent
upon our having clear intellects, or
opinions which are in accordance with
facts, or belonging to certain church
organizations however good all these
things may be.
Such tests would exclude some of
necessity.
The words Of Jesus are, "By this
shall all men know that We are my d.
sciples, if We have love one to another.
Love toward our fellow men is the
thing without which we are not the
disciples of Jesus, an dwith which
alone we are real christians.
In l. John go and ten we read. ole
that SAITH he is in the light and hateth
his brother, is in the darkness. He
that loveth his brother abideth in the
light"
Those who love God because He
first loved us and who love their fellow
men, these alone are the true church,
and no others belong to the true
church, regardless of the sect or
church name they bear, or the organi-
cation to which they belong, or
whether they belong to any at all.
In I.John 4: Z we read, "Love is of