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I THE (EIKHl^OLl) CORD I

OF LOVH.

BY A CHRISTIAN MINISTER

"By this shall all mi-ii kiKAv tiiat ye are iTry disciples, if yo have love one
to another."— .loiiN xiii. 35.

TORONTO:

WILLIAM BRKK^S, 78 & 80 KIN(J STREET EAST.
C. W. COATES, MONTREAL, (^(E. S. F. HDESTIS, HALIFAX, N.S.

t»RTCK lO CKTVTH. •

Shall We, or Shall We Not?

A SERIKS 01 I IVK UlSlOtUSKS

BY THE

REV. HUGH JOHNSTON, M.A., B.D.

SUBJECTS nlSCUSHKU:

WISE'-'OAPS'-'MEDASCE'-'THETEEmE'

■WHAT SHALL WE DO?'

rnivor, 1«0 lM)->

35 Cents.

. .,,,,1 stirrin" and poiiiti-'l iippoal-"
"Full "f cog"'' "''S"'™
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tho,ave-goi„g a,.e ^^^^:^^, ,,„,„« ground on the

:r:i^:;rur:s.t.d:»a"..„t.niti,y..on.

WILLIAM BRIGGS. 78 & 80 KING ST. EAST, TORONTO.

C. W. COATES,

MoxTiiHAii, Qui.

S. F. HUESTIS,

Uaufax, N.S.

THE THREEFOLD CORD
OF LOVE.

BY A CHRISTIAN MINISTER.

-0

" By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another."— John xiii. 36.

TORONTO:
WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST.

C, W, COATKS, MONTREAL, QUE. vS, F. HUESTIS, HALIFAX, N.S.

i>RICE !0 CENTB,

The Threefold Cord of Love.

F luivo Ijad it in our heart to jot down a fow
of our most earnest thoii^dits on three plain
rules of Scripture, prayin«r that with (Jod's
blessing they may be n ndered instrumental in (juell-
ing or preventing to ,onie extent the feuds of the
churphes, wherever a kind, providence may permit
them to go.

The world has its multitudinous groupings, accord-
ing io the endlessly diversified conditions and circum-
stances of men. Some are classified by self-interest,
others by oneness of sentiment, others by relationship.
However, such cords bind only groups, but there is a
golden chain which can bind all men into one universal
brotherhood. Love is that golden chain, U is im-
planted within us by the Holy Ghost ; Christ is its
source, and the centre of its strength in us : it binds
Him, it binds us, and each to each.

It is the saine kind of love which unites Father,
^Son and Holy Ghost. Says Christ to His followers:'
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you ; "
and then designing the same kind of love to be passed
on, He says, "This is my con^mandment that ye love one

another, as I have loved you." This love binds closely,
divinely, blessedly, so that we can say, "We being
many, are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another."

We exist as a Church not only to conserve and

establish truth and holiness and secure the observance

of all God's. ordinances, but to sympathize with each

other in the Joys and sorrows of He, and provoke

each other to love and good works, and put forth united

efforts for the conversion of mankind both at home

and abroad. When we thus walk in faith and charity,

spreading holiness and following peace with all men,

the great object for which we exist as a Church is

answered ; then while we put forth aggressive effort

let us endeavor to recognize and fulfil our mutual

obligations arising out of this divinely established

relationship.

One duty linked to this relationship is courteousness.
" Be ye kind one to another." This obligation may be
performed cheaply, therefore the neglect of it is the
more inexcusable. How small a thing it is to make a
pleasant bow or speak a kindly word, or even seek to
turn away wrath by answering softly. Whatever
influence you have to exert in any direction your
courteousness or your want of it often determines
whether or not it shall have sway. Its use may be
good or evi! ; but it is a power, and has too often been
made subservient to evil. The representative of a
false religion comes before you with oily, pleasant
words, and presents his dogma for your acceptance,
and for want of closer or more extensive reading on

closely,
e being
members

ve and
ervance
fch each
provoke
1 united
it home
iharity,
ill men,
urch is
e effort
mutual
blished

usness.
nay be
is the
nake a
seek to
latever
I your
rmines
nay be
n been
e of a
easant
)tance,
ing on

the subject, you perhaps fail to detect the underlying
fallacy, and it is a mercy if you are not victimized by
this setter forth of strange doctrine. And if blaridness
of speech does so much for the false systems without
being in itself an evil, why not use it freely in the
cause of Christianity ?

Its service here is legitimate, being itself an element
of Christianity, and the exercise of it a part of Chris-
tian duty. Its exercise develops an essent part of
the Christian's character, and brightens his graces and
enlarges the sphere of his usefulness, and he becomes
under its gentle sway more like his exemplar and Lord.
But when errorists use it to build up their spurious
systems it is contraband ; they have no right to it ; it is
sheep's clothing for them when they are not sheep, but
wolves instead. It makes them like a sunbeam, when
the light within them is darkness ; it places them in a
falsely favorable light before the world, while it sets
the Christian in his true and proper place. And how
much more good some of us might do in the world if
we were more affable in our intercourse with others
The result of this would be the persuasion on their part
that we feel an interest in them, and this would make
way for influence to benefit them.

Our relation to them may be such that we have no
other way to give them to feel our interest in them
than by friendly recognition, or by addressing them
with respectful and loving words ; and how many have
been won for Christ and the Church by this kind of
approach. It is not enough to know that you have
love in your heart for them, you must find some way

to manifest your regard, and this way is always open.
Take an example of its utility : The late John B.
Gough was in a terrible gutter, an outcast of society,
self-respect all gone. Joel Stratten went to him in his
rags and told him how he could improve his condition
and be a man and be respected. This friendly attention
touched his heart, and when he promised to take the
temperance pledge and did not mean to do it, he was
overcome and induced to do it by Stratten's expressed
confidence in his sincerity. He had not been accus-
tomed to receive such respect, and was conquered by
its power and became, perhaps, the most attractive and
successful temperance lecturer in the world.

A friendly word may open for you a door of useful-
ness when you little think of it, and a slight or a frown
may drive a soul from the range of your influence, and
from the Saviour whom you serve, when you little
dream of such a result. You may have occasion to
administer reproof, but you can make it the remon-
strance of a friend, and it need not be offensive. With
what significance Paul's advice to Timothy comes in
here : " Reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering and
doctrine," and in anothf •^ place his exhortation runs,
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;
if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may
recover themselves from the snare of the devil, who
are taken captive by him at his will." This means
that we should administer loving reproof. It is one
thing to reprove, and another thing to make the
reproof scriptural and salutary. We need some of

the elements of a Christian gentleman to enable us to
do it.

However, touching the question of courteousness,
perhaps you tell us you had rather be blunt and honest.
We had rathei that too, if you could not be honest
without being repellant ; and not so much matter if
every one concerned could see kindness nestling at the
root of your bluntness. But since the tendency of
coarseness is mischievous, it is better to cover with a
gilding of external kindness your intercourse with

others. Genuine Christians have loving hearts the

Christ-like life begotten within them impels them to
do good, and no sign contrary to the law of love should
be observable on their tongues or in their lives.

Another obligation arising from our relationship as
members of the same church is mutual submission-
" Submit yourselves one to another."

God requires of His Church submission one to
another because of its peculiar and diversified rela-
tionships. There may be slight diflferences as to
authority of claim to be submitted to, which may be
regulated by a due regard to the amount of responsi-
bility invested in the individual. While no one is
allowed to lord it over God's heritage, we learn from
a particular precept of His Word that those who have
the responsibility of the ministerial office have a
special claim to deference which they modestly recog-
nize. " Obey them that have the rule over you, and
submit yourselves, for they watch over your souls as
they that must give account." But beyond this, on
tiie ground of heaven-inculcated expea-ency, there is

a call for a great deal of mutual submission ; submis-
sion, pleasant and sometimes distasteful ; submission,
intelligent and sometimes quite the contrary, were it
not for some awkward circumstance making it neces-
sary; submission of the rich to the poor as well as that
of the poor to the rich ; submission of the learned to
the ignorant as well as that of the ignorant to the
scholarly; submission of the old to the young as well
as that of the young to the authority ofyears.

But is this submission in perfect agreement with
the designation, " kings and priests," applied to Chris-
tian believers in the revelation of St. John ? Yes ;
there are strokes of royalty in this mutual sabmission.'
What is it but authority conunencing to wave the
sceptre of its power at home ? The man who is so
wise and strong that he must rule may rule ; he may
be a king as well as a priest, only let his authority
begin at home. Let him take the Bible and manage
his temper and life by its laws ; let him curb his
headstrong will by its requirements ; let him rule his
passions by its precepts, and he has won a more
glorious victory than any military general who has
bugled his supre4nacy at the close of a sanguinary con-
flict, " for he that ruleth his spirit is better than he
that taketh a city."

It is a grand thing for a man to rule himself properly.
But if he does this he will see that there is as much
submission as authority in such ruling, and that it is
a complete preparation for the mutual submission en-
joined in the New Testament. We speak not of un-
qualified submission. We are not to be like the vane

submis-
unission,
, were it
fc neces-
l as that
irned to
t to the

as well

nt with
) Chris-
? Yes;
mission,
ave the
10 is so
he may
ithority
manage
irb his
rule his
I more
ho has
ry con-
ihan he

operly.
3 much
it it is
ion en-
of un-
e vane

on the steeple, subject to every wind that blows. We
must have steadiness of purpose with correctness of
aim, and when submission is not conducive to God's
glory, It IS not required. We nuist resist unto blood
rather than give up a fundamental doctrine of God's
Word, or the practice of any kind of morality required
by Its laws, but in dealing with prudential measures
involving no fundamental principles of right and
wrong, any one of which might succeed to a reasonable
extent, it is not best to say, with a scowling brow I
have named my plan and if it is not adopted I'll dri've
in the wedge of opposition with the unconquerable
torce of my sledge-hammer will. The machinery of
the Church cannot work to advantage on that line.
The better way is to act in unison, though we cannot
quite think the same. But how often when a site for
a new church is to be chosen, or the time of public
worship to be fixed, or a church officer chosen, or a
hnancial scheme inaugurated, the decision of the ma-
jority is opposed by a small minority; small, but larcre
enough to retard materially the good work to be done
Halt a dozen men want to have their own way and
who can blame them ? It is all right, but they won't
fall in with any other plan. That's all wrong, because
instead of suffering "all things lest any man hinder
he Oospel of Christ," they blockade the heaven-
ireighted ship that won't carry their canvas, and the
Church has to halt in its accomplishment of good for
their sakes. ^

^ Their justification is that their method or plan is
intrinsically the best, but the question is, will it work

the best resnits with a majority not in sympathy with
it, and not lielpin<r to carry it out, and wlio could not
on any safe principle be asked to do it ; a second best
plan, with all taking hold of it heartily, will generally
accomplish better results than the best scheme with a
majority against it. It is better to work together
even at the expense of a few of the wisest ones having
to stoop to get their necks into the yoke.

But suppose your plan is so excellent, that being
left to work it alone, it will yield results directly
aimed at, equal to any other plan, having a whole
crowd of co-operators to further it. Even in this case
It may not be wise to insist upon your machinery
bemg employed just now, because it is worth a great
deal to those who might be employed in the service of
the Church to have them at work ; willing service
rendered for any object has a tendency to increase our
love for that object. Then if you would have men
love the Church, have them enlisted in its service,
give them some of its responsibilities, so that they
may not feel that they are useless appendages, but
that they have something to do with its progress.
Better have them workers for God, with a little
self- satisfaction in excess, than have them indifferent
to His cause as the result of inaction. Then if you
throw down the last bar which hinders their co-
partnership with heaven's consecrated workers, you
haveJIdone something for them, whatever you have
done for the Church ; so that if yielding to, and work- '
ing with, a majority in carrying out a prudential ar-
rangement of a Church will secure the active co-opera-

fchy with
ould not
ond best
generally
e with a
together
5 having

it being
directly
a whole
his case
chinery

a great
rvice of

service
sase our
ve men
service*
it they
es, but
rogress.
I little
ifferent
if you
sir co-
's, you
1 have

work-
ial ar-
opera-

tion of its undivided membership, it is as little as we
can do to do it. A lefusal to render the mutual sub-
mission re(iuired by God's Word and the laws of
society reveals an imperious will, a proud heart, a self-
ish nature, and a want of interest in the bonds which
bmd society and the Church together ; and can such a
line of action comport with Christian principle and
what is the legitimate outcome of Christian character ?
A change of heart, including a radical difierence
made in the primal spring of action, is necessary to
enable a man to bring forth the fruits of righteousness
living in obedience to God and honoring the claims of
society. It is not necessary to be renewed in righteous-
ness and true holiness to be able to say to my friend
pull down your barns that my unchartered tmin may
have a track; but it is necessary to be thus renewed to
enable you to deal with God and man aright God's
claims and man's interlap. You cannot honor God
and Ignore your neighbor's rights, submission one to
another being required by God. It won't do to discon-
nect it with the submission we owe to God, as if the
submission we owe to each other were one thincr and
submission to God altogether another. •

Reverence due to God and the respect we owe to
men are not so distinct as to be separable. We seri-
ously compromise our obligations to God, if we fail in
the respect we owe to man.

If we refuse reasonable and scriptural submission
one to another, neither would we submit to God if He
were to speak to us with an audible voice as He did
to Abraham.

Many are slow to" recognize that their submission to
God is indicated to the extent that it is, by tl)eir sub-
mission one to another. Their constant walk testifies
how far they are astray ; they may seem to be devout
and reverential in the house of prayer, but God reads
the acceptability of the worship and service rendered
to Him, partly in our uniform treatment of our fellow-
travellers to eternity.

If we arrogantly refuse to submit to a reasonable
claim of the Church, be sure God has set it down,
want of submission to Himself.

There is no such thing as two characters in one in-
dividual ; one to display before men and the other to
flourish before God.

Individual character is a unit, and if it can with-
hold what is due to men, it is incapable of being true
to God. " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, ye did it not unto me." God speaks to
us on behalf of others at times through their rights or
necessities, or relationships, and we should not reason
away the force of the appeal, because it has a human
echo.

Mutual yielding is the law of the universe. When
God started our planet into existence, and sent it rolling
through space, he charged it to yield a certain amount
of allegiance to the influence of other planets which
had received a similar charge in relation to the in-
fluence which it exerts upon them ; hence its orbit of
order and rectitude, nor has it dared to swerve one iota
from obedience to the Divine command.

God has fastened upon us a like charge in relation

Tiission to
tlieir sub-
k testifies
3e devout
jrod reads
rendered
ir fellow-

jasonable
it down,

1 one in-
other to

m with-
iing true
J of the
peaks to
rights or
t reason
1 human

When
t rollinof
amount
s which
the in-
orbit of
one iota

relation

to one another, and shall we ignore His authority ?
Does matter obey and mind rebel ? Do planets and
satellites, obedient to the Divine decree, move in har-
mony and minds perpetuate a rel)ellious jostling, and
are we satisfied to have it so, and satisfied to n'^eet it
at the last day ? Let us take care how we deal with
God's representative, "our neighbor" and fellow-
worshipper. The spirit of what we are trying to im-
press was enforced by Christ when He washed His
disciples' feet, and added precept to example to induce
them to wash one another's feet.

The last sayings of ordinary men are often unusually
important and impressive; how much more so the vale-
dictory doings and sayings of the Great Teacher? They
demand our most earnest attention. Let us watch
and listen, for everything is fundamental now. " He
riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and
took a towel and girded Himself, after that He pour-
eth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples
feet and wipe them with the towel wherewith He
was girded."

He wanted to put a characteristic of His own life
before then) for their imitation, by means of an im-
pressive sign, so He washed His disciples' feet and then
said, " Know ye what I have done to you ? Ye call
me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If
then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye
also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given
you an example that ye should do as I have ^one to
you." We are not required literally to wash ...e an-
other's feet in connection with the changed usages of

the present day ; this simple act of the Saviour did
not limit the meaning of the command which fell
from His lips. W*. understand by it that we are to
watch for opportunities to render some humble service
to our fellow Christians in order to keep down the
spirit of pride in our own hearts, and cultivate the
disposition of the Master.

And the feet-washinnf required for us may some-
times he submission to others for the avoidance of
dissension and trouble when it would be really more
befitting for others to submit to us. Wc need a will-
ingness to make sacrifice for Christ and the Church
He has redeemed with His own blood, and must do a
little of what Christ's whole life was made up of if we
would please Him.

He was endowed with omnipotence, but He sub-
mitted to the exercise of it in a sinful and depraved
world. He was unerring in wisdom, but he conde-
scended to display it among lo''ors of folly. He had
omniscience, but the scene of its manifestation was
where men say, " How doth God know ? and is there
knowledge in the Most High?" And the Master asks
us to catch His spirit. He did not desire His disciples
to imitate His power which raised the dead, or His
wisdom which confounded the machinations of men
and dwarfed the reason of men and silenced His inter-
rogators, so that " they durst not ask Him any more
questions." The exercise of wonderful powers or gifts
is of secondary importance, but a willingness to do
good by self-sacrifice, whether it be doing or giving for
another or submission to apother, is of the first im-

viour did
irhich fell
we are to
>le service
jown the
ivate the

lay aome-
idance of
allv more
Bd a will-
B Church
nust do a
) of if we

He sub-
depraved
le conde-
He had
tion was
:1 is there
ster asks

disciples
], or His
5 of men
3is inter-
my more
s or gifts
ss to do
[ivintj for
first im-

portance. Then let us remember the feet-v a.^hir,g and
its lessons. Another obligation arising out of our re-
lationship as members of the same church is a willing-
ness even to suffer wrong when necessary for the pre-
servation of harmonious action.

One essential for a Church is rectitude, but the aj)-
prehension of right being clear to one mind and only
imaginarily so to another, there arises a difficv.Ity in
securing to every man his just claim peacefully. You
desire to have your right, but you had better try to
maintain peace too. " Jf possible as much as lieth in
you live peaceably with all men." The Gospel of
Christ is a gospel of peace, the kingdom whose im-
munities it offers is a kingdom of peace, and the hea^'en
to which the one points and in which the other ends
is a heaven of peace. Therefore as heaven-bound
travellers we must be lovers and promoters of peace.
The ruling principle everywhere within heaven's jur-
isdiction is love, and peace the issue. But you ask, how
are you to maintain peace when your earnest work is
rewarded with jeering and reproach ? It may be far
from right to make you the victim of such foul treat-
ment, but don't be in a hurry to settle accounts with
your persecutor, wait until the cool of the evening
when the agitation will be off and the result will be
better. If your assailant pounces upon you with a
nature which contact with the enemy has transmuted
into flint, d- I't let your temper harden you into steel
and there will be no fire. Let the 13th chapter of first
Corinthians pour into your heart a flood of well-distilled
charity, and let this chapter not only be your wardrobe

to furnish you with mantles of charity for others, but
your arsenal to provide you with siicli weapons of de-
fence as will enable }'ou when assailed to overcome evil
with good.

But you clrtim the ri<,dit to maintain your dignity.
You may do so and still bring your soldiery into this
line. Suppose the Prince of Wales were standing on
the declivity of a mountain, and a huge stone is seen
rolling from its summit, its apparent aim is to strike
the Prince's path. What is the Prince to do ? Why,
get out of the way. But nuist a Prin-o give way to
an Inanimate stone ? Yes, until it roils past. And
who will say that the Prince lias debased himself by
doing so ?

One day a contemporary of John Wesley is said to
have met him on the side-walk and was anxious to let
him know why he had not the politeness to turn aside,
so he said, " I never turn out for a fool." Wesley im-
mediately stepped aside, saying at the same time, " I
always do." Who will say that the M. thodist divine
demeaned himself by the act ?

Do you still insist on having your rights ? Then we
must ask who are you, who cannot in anywise be im-
posed upon? . heaven-acknowledged expediency to
suffer wrong furr, i,, elf into some circumstances of
life, and it will U i v oiuier if it does not demand recog-
nition from you and r.io. Did not our blessed Saviour
suffer a large amount of wrong? Was it right that men
linked to fiis hallowed name a thousand epithets of
reproach, and that they called Him an ally of hell and
spat on His face and condemned Him as a malefactor

' others, but
ipons of (le-
ercome evil

nir tlignity.
ry into this
standing on
tone is seen
is to strike
do ? Why,
y'lve way to
past. And
himself by

sy is said to
xious to let
turn aside,
^.Vesley im-
ne time, "I
dist divine

? Then we
^vise be im-
jediency to
nstances of
land recog-
ed Saviour
t that men
epithets of
of hell and
malefactor

and blasphemer' This was all •^Ton^^ an.l He could
have protected Himself a-ainst it. Ho could have
slam all His persecutors by the breath of ids mouth
Then V .V did he not ? Because He saw that more
good would be the result by submitti»ig to these cruel
wrongs than would be the conse(|uence of resisting
them ; so " He was led as a Iamb to th(> slaut^ditnr. and
as a sheep before her shearer's is dumb, so H»^ opened
not His mouth." And is it not enough that the
servant be as his Lord. The example of Christ
speaks to us, and the Word of God says to jangling,
irascible crowds, why do ye not suffer wrong ? Why
do ye not suffer yourselves to be defrauded ? ^

Christ has left us an example of suffering-wrong
which is more than passive (such as just mentioned)
When Christ was asked for tribute money for the
maintenance of temple service, uch money could not
on any fair grounds be exacted from Him, as shown
by his own question to Simon Peter, " What thinkest
hou Sii 'M, i Of whom do the kings of the earth receive
tribute, of their own children or strangers ? Peter
saith unto Him, of strangers. Jesus saith unto him
then are the children free."

The argument is, that as the kings of the earth did
not take custom from their own household, but from
strangers, the collectors of such revenue had no proper
claim upon Him and the apostles whom He had chosen
for the tribute of the temple, the house of His Father'
and had a compliance with their demand been produc-
tive of more than personal inconvenience, as would
,..!,. ^a^c iL the uuatriDuuon had been for

the support of a pag^ temple, He would have resisted
the impost with the heroism of a thousand Daniels, if
as much chivalry w^ere necessary ; but knowing that
the payment of the money would have no corrupting
influence upon society, and that it was not convertable
into injurious precedent to work mischief in the future,
and that a refusal to recognize the tax would produce
a jangle with the oflftcers of state which it would be
worth something to avoid, He said to Peter who had
answered His question, " then are the children free ?"
"Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go
thou to the sea and cast an hook, and take up the fish
that first Cometh up, and when thou hast opened his
mouth thou shalt find a piece of money, that take and
give unto them for Me and thee." No matter whether
great or small resources are at command there is a
repugnance in every intelligent being to an unfair
demand, and any Christian believer, following the
example of Christ on this line, will soon find that he
needs no small measure of his exemplar's supporting
grace to enable him to say, I will take this wrong lest
I should ofiend.

You are not required to suffer wrong either passively
or with your consent, indiscriminately. You are re-
quired to do it only when more evil will be occasioned by
not doing it. Only when if you fail to do it the chariot
wheels of the Gospel will be retarded, and when it will
be likely to occasion a diminution of glory to the
triumphantly waving banner of our conquering Im-
manuel, and should we not be willing to make such
sacrifices for Him " Who bore our iniquities and carried
our sorrows."

■m

ive resisted
Daniels, if
owing that
corrupting
3onvertable
the future,
lid produce
t would be
?r who had
Iren free ?"
I them, go
up the fish
opened his
.t take and
Br whether
there is a
an unfair
owing the
nd that he
supporting
wrong lest

? passively
ou are re-
asioned by
ihe chariot
len it will
[■y to the
lering Im-
nake such
nd carried

Say you that you would willingly take wrong for
the Master's sake, if while you endure it you could
claim respect ; but when you are called passive fools
instead, you shrink, but if you have a spark of the
Master's spirit left, you will welcome such reproach,
and rejoice in tho experience of such a conquest over
your rebellious self as enables you to do it, and in the
experience of such a rising into the Christ-like as is
implied in such a victory. If reproach comes to you
for the noblest obedience that heaven can receive and
earth can offer, let it come, and happy are you. Thank-
ful should we be that it is allowable on certain condi-
tions to suffer wrong in the interests of peace, because
there are times when the peace of communities and of
churches cannot be maintained without.

Being members one of another, and dependent one
upon another, men are necessarily brought into some
kind of business contact with each other. Some itenr
of business has to be transacted with another sur-
rounded with inversely modifying circumstances.

Your claim is so, and so looked at from your own
standpoint ; your neighbor's claim conflicts with yours
as seen from his point of view. You say that your
logic is as correct as his, and he demands that his
reasoning process is equal to yours. You say that you
are smcere in fixing your premises and deducino- your
conclusions ; he insists that he is equally sincere and
logicjJ in arriving at his conclusions.
^ What is to be done ? Shall you in your manliness
insist that your claim is the true one and make it a
demand ? Let the consequence be what it may, are

you determined not only to do right but demand right
/3^^4— at any sacrifice? ^8y-why should not your contem-
porary who has to deal with the same thing, and who,
although having the same Bible to guide him, has dif-
ferent eyes to see the application of its teaching to
the matter in hand, be as firm in his demands ?

There you are both acting conscientiously and press-
ing your conscientious claims, but you cannot have
peace on that footing. One or the other must consent
to take less than he considers to be his due. You
should bear in mind that you differ from him as much
as he differs from you and ought to endeavor to find
out by putting yourself in his place and cherishing his
sympathies and asking his questions, if it is not possi-
d^t^f^u ir ble that the enforcement of !««• claim may seem as
unfair and grievous to him as his exaction is to you ;
and that if the Omniscient One were to examine each
heart might there not be danger that He would report
each the imitator of each others sin, i.e., each proving
his love for the other's sin by being guilty of the same
thing, and each hating each as the perpetrator of the
act. But if instead each were to hate the sin and love
the sinner, how much more Christ- like the act, and
how much more heavenly the result.

No one should be willing to suffer wrong without a
sufficient motive ; but a church's peace is of weighty
importance, and men are ready to recognize the doc-
trine that we are endeavoring to enforce in its appli-
cation to purely business transactions. Many a saga-
cious business man will curb his temper and meekly
submit to be defrauded of cents if he has a prospect

nand right
ir contem-
<;, and who,
m, has dif-
eaching to
ds?

and press-
nnot have
ist consent
due. You
in as much
7or to find
rishing his
\ not possi-
y seem as
is to you ;
imine each
)uld report
ch proving
f the same
itor of the
n and love
le act, and

without a
f weighty
e the doc-
L its appli-
ny a saga-
id meekly
a prospect

of repairing the loss with the gain of dollars. Many
a patriotic statesman will pocket abuse from an un-
thankful constituency which ho has no right to receive
and go on legislating for their good and l.is own • the
abuse won't drive him from the track because' the
compensating good to be accomplished and enjoyed
nerves him to endure it. And shall God's glory be a
less influential motive to do and suffer than the money
consid. ration of the business man is to him, and the
patriotic and personal considerations of the politician
are to him? When we know that our resistance or ob-
.stinacy or wrath worketh not the righteousness of
(^od, let it be restrained for the Master's sake.

Perhaps you are the subject of undeserved reproach
which is grievous to conscious innocence, but Christ-
hke patience will give relief. When the carnal has
the supremacy this may appear like curing a festering
sore by pin scratches, but as soon as the spiritual be-
comes supreme you will see clearly the adaptation of
the remedy The cup put to your lips by the hand of
calumny is bitter enough, but the undesolved sweet-
ness of God's blessing is found at the bottom and
patience converts the venom of the verulent into means
of grace refreshing to the soul. " Take my brethren
the prophets who have spoken in the name of the
Lord for an example of suffering affliction and patience,
iiehold we count them happy which endure "

While you adore the doctrine of God your Saviour
and suffer for His sake. He will not leave you without
a comforting sense of His approval. "For this is
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God en-

< '^•

'A-

dure grief and suffering wrongfully. For what glory
IS It if when ye be buffetted for your faults ye shall
take It patiently ? But when ye do well and suffer for
It ye take it patiently, this is acceptable to God " It
IS no part of your duty to stir up the rage of the god-
less, but if they will make their words like sharp
swords to destroy you, and will pierce you with their
hellish darts, you can pray with " Christ-like patience
arm my breast," and experience the support you need
and have your conduct pronounced by heaven thank-
worthy and acceptable, and the well-done of heaven
will comfort and cheer you more than all the curses of-
wrong-doers can harm you. The archers may shoot
at you, but when they have done their worst you can
say my Kedeemer and Lord hath turned your hard
battering into burnishing for my wounded spirit, and
lamagainor for the grieving ; brighter, for the be-
spat ering, richer, better, freer, happier for the spoil-
mg, ror who hath cursed whom God hath not cursed "
If we famt in the day of adversity and can endure
nx)thing for the Master's sake "our strength is small."
We may have much knowledge but what of that if
we have no patience ; we may say much and do much
but where is the profiting if we can suffer nothing.
We mus learn to bear contradiction and suffering in
the spirit of Christ. If we fail here where can we di-
rect people to look for the proof of our conformity to
the mind of Christ and for evidence that our religion
is a reality. °

What is it tlmt makes a ma„ an attractive member
oi the Church of (Jhrist ? It is not being what the

world calls a grand man, or a great man, or a brilliant
man. A man might be all these and not be a Chris-
tian, or his Christianity, if Christian at all, might be
crippled and dwarfish ; but let him add to any of
these elements of character that of a meek follower of
Christ, then he begins to shine.

"Jesus let all Thy lovers shine illustrious as the sun."

When the usefulness and popularity of Charles
Hadden Spurgeon first appeared, men bespattered him
with mud, calling him an upstart through the papers.
If he had come down from his great work and spent
his time in putting himself right before the world
and had found delight in resentfully putting the black
cap upon the heads of his culumniators, we doubt
whether he would have been the Spurgeon of the
present day.

Or if Stephen, while answering the fallacious argu-
ments of his pagan castigators had cherished such a
temper as would have thrown back at his murderers
the stones that made him a martyr, we doubt again if
his face would have shone like an angel's. So that if
men will daub over your good name and make you a
reproach to your neighbor be thankful. " For it is
better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well
doing than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God."

Fidelity to the foregoing trio of scriptural obliga-
tions will be a guarantee against what is unkind in
demeanor and uncharitable in judgment, and whisper-

ing and backbiting, anri will temper what is uncom-
promising in disposition and harsli in reriuirement
and bring into harmonious action the working elements
of the Church of God, and at the same time be help-
ful to personal piety by brightening your graces and
strengthening the love which embodies them all In-
stead of sinking it into nothing or quenching its twi-
light, It will lift it to an altitude of power almost
beyond the influence of earthly storms and hellish
darts, and place you in the sunny prominence of per-
tection s height. Patience naving had her " perfect
work," leaving you perfect and entire, wantincr
nothmg. °

'VW»W I JII1L-1!_.

avers Youiig Man SlioiiW ted This Book,

ELEMENTS NECESSARY

TO THE

FORMATION OP

BUSINP^ CllARACn^R.

By JOHN MAGDONALD, Esq.. Toronto.

PAREH8 SHOULD msmj^TO THEIR SONS-

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