Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-08

Our lesson has been drawn from
that masterpiece of homiletics, the
Sermon on the Mount, which was
Christ's inaugural address to the men
called to be His followers. The source
of the sermons superiority is found
in the personality of the preacher,
whose life, lessons and labor revealed
and demonstrated that His religion
was an advance upon the teachings
of His nation. He extended the re-
quirements of duty by the compre-
hensiveness Of His ethical teachings.
His clear and definite teachings re-
veal the thoroughnesS and eXactnesS
of His standards of living.
The social problems pressing for So
luton in the days of the Lord were
similar to those that the politician,
proletariat and the preacher face to-
day. The Master did not make any
blue prints that would show in detail
His program as a social engineer, or
furnish definite detail directions for
the construction of a social order free
from all social problems. He gave to
His followers as a standard of their
Christian life the fundamental prin-
ciple that He illustrated in His daily
life and teachings. He reduced all law
for His disciples to work out under
the leadership of the Holy Spirit the
detail application of that law to their
home, business. public life and every
crisis in the affairs of men.
Jesus did not come as a social re
former. He sought TO regenerate men,
not reform them. He worked from
within outward, molding life by chang
ing the character and the conduct of
men, through the application of His
law of love. The working out OF the
application of His standard of living
by Christians has transformed the
character of His followers, changed
the currents of civilization and made
Christianity the dominant force in the
world. In His golden rule" we have
the key that will solve every personal
and social problem.
Loving Your Enemies.
Every active Christian is certain to
have his enemies. Christ calls for us
to love our enemies. This is an adj
vance upon the Old Testament teach
ings that called for the feeding of
ones enemies and taking the proper
care of his flock. The Expositor's
Greek Testament calls our attention to
the fact that 1.-The Greek word for love
in our text is carefully chosen. 1t is
not demanded that we should love our
enemies with a natural and Spon
taneous affection (phileinl, but with a
supernatural Christian love that
come by grace (agapan). This COM
mandment is not the rule of nature
nor in a certain sense of law, but ii
is in accord with Gods practice, for
HE commandeth His love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for u.s."
Although this commandment has
been called an impossible one to full
fill, Jesus illustrated the practical ar
plication of it to ones enemy by the
parable of the Good Samaritan
There can be no higher Interpretation
of the law of love than the one made
by the Master, which interpreted both
''neighbor" and love" by showing
that love reveals itself in unselfish
service for the needy. Love for our
enemies has its source in our love for
God. which fosters love for our
brothers. Fraternity without God is
doomed to failure. The history OF
France proved that n brotherhood of
man without God is impossible.
1t is difficult to analyze love. Paul
in his poem on love has divided it
into its elements. Jesus divided love
to our enemies into three parts Do
good, bless and pray. Our personal
feelings. possibly for revenge, are to
be suppressed, because the one who
hates another wrongs his own soul.
The vengeance of love calls for doing
good to our enemies and blessing them
that curse us. Whenever any one
calls down the curses of God upon us,
then we are to ask Him to bless them.
We check the curse, as did our Lord
when He was being crucified by pray
ing for a blessing upon those who
wish us evil. Love calls for us to- do
more, for it requires of us that we
pray for our enemies. The difficulty
of our loving our enemies disappears
in the atmosphere of prayer. stephen
demonstrated in his prayer for his
murdererS how a Christian through
his love for God can rise above the
standards of men to those given His
followers by the Master in His COM
mand for them to love their enemies.
Practical Working.
While love is active in the exercise
of it's sentiment, it calls for us to be
passive in our attitude toward suf-
fering wrong. The law gives us the
right of Self-defenSe. Christ sets up
the plea that we are not to take the
vengeance in our hands, because 1t is
contrary to the law of love. If a man
Sm1teS us on one cheek we are Ito
offer the other" Love suffers long"
but the Masters own action teaches
us that in applying this law it does
not call for us to suffer under all cir
cumstanceS all the PERSONAL injuries
and indignities that our enemies may
desire to inf1ict upon us. He did not
tamely submit when the Nazarenes
tried to thrust Him over the brow
of the hill. He did not turn the other
cheek when He was struck unon the
face in the high priests hall, for He
rebuked the offender. Love does not
seek its own but it will prompt us
to act in the spirit of the Master.
Richardson, the missionary hero of
the Congo, is spending the closing
days of his life. since he was retired,
in the Nations Capital. He tells how
he found that the literal compliance
with the injunction concerning giving
opened up the hearts of the pagan
men of the Congo to the fact that he
was their friend. This made possible
the marvellous success that came to
his missionary work. He gave the
| natives everything that they asked
of him until he was literally destitute.
When he had sacrificed his all, the
chiefs commanded the natives to re-
turn to the white man the gifts that
they had sought. We are not called