MERCY REJOICETH AGAINST JUDGMENT.
“He shall have
judgment without mercy who hath shown no mercy. Mercy rejoiceth against
judgment.”-Jas.
2:13.
THE word judgment
here stands for sentence- the sentence of sin, death. It therefore represents
justice, because in man’s trial it was Justice which inflicted the sentence of
death. Mercy is the fruit or result of love, and therefore represents love.
Hence the case, Mercy against Judgment is equivalent to Love against Justice.
The thought would be that divine Love has secured a triumph over divine
Justice.
At first thought there would seem to be an inconsistency in this view: for
how could love triumph over justice, since the Scriptures, as well as reason,
assure us that justice must be the very foundation of all divine government;
and that to ignore it would mean the destruction of government and
order,-anarchy, disorder. It is when we inquire of the Lord’s Word, how his
Love gains a victory over justice, that we gain an insight into the beautiful
harmony and coordination of these divine attributes-Love and Justice. The
Scriptures assure us that “God is Love,” and that “Justice is the foundation of
his throne,” or government. (1 John 4:16; Psa. 89:14.) Since God himself is
Love, he can do nothing that can be derogatory or opposed to love; and since
his government is founded upon strictest justice he can do nothing that would
not be in harmony therewith. His own character and law are the bulwarks on
either side of the subject, each as high and as strong as the other.
How then, can love and mercy gain a conquest and rejoice over justice and
the sentence? The Apostle answers the question, assuring us that our
justification from the sentence is by divine grace, “through the redemption
that is in Christ: whom God sent forth to be a propitiation [satisfaction of
justice] through faith in his blood...that he might be just, and [yet be] the
Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.-Rom. 3:24-26.
Here then, is the triumph of love and mercy, not through a failure of
justice, not through conquering it, but through a satisfaction of justice, its
appeasement by the payment of a ransom price, a corresponding price-a man’s
life for a man’s life: the man Christ Jesus for the man Adam and those who were
involved in his disobedience and its sentence or curse. From this standpoint
alone would it be possible for love and mercy to triumph over divine justice
and its sentence; a triumph in which the justice of God can equally rejoice.
The original trial of father Adam in the Garden of Eden was along the
lines of strictest justice, and his sentence was without mercy: it was
inflicted without the slightest deviation. Subsequently, when God introduced
the Covenant of Law at Mount Sinai, with the nation of Israel, it also was
along the lines of justice: it was an offer of eternal life to any Israelite
who could and would live up to the divine law;-it was justice, without mercy.
It had indeed an admixture of leniency as represented by the annual Atonement
Day with its benefits extending to that nation for the ensuing year, but the
sacrifices which were offered according to the Law, the Apostle assures us,
“could never take away sin.” It could cover the sin temporarily for the year,
and furnish a new opportunity for a fresh start, but it could never cancel the
sins past, nor atone for sins future; hence it was still a reign of Law, a
reign of death, at the hands of Justice. Love did not and could not intervene
to spare the sinner; the most it could do was to point forward, in promise and
in type, to the coming Deliverer, who would satisfy the claims of justice, and
set at liberty the prisoners of sin and death. God was Love before he sent his
Son, just as truly as he is Love since he sent his Son; but God’s Love was not
manifested previously, as it was in that great act of love. “Herein was manifested
the love of God, in that he gave his only begotten Son.” The giving of his
son to be our redemption price was in connection with the making of a New
Covenant, a new agreement, a new compact, between God and those of his
creatures fallen into sin who might desire to return to his favor.
The New Covenant was an arrangement by which God’s love might exercise
mercy toward the sinner. The language of the New Covenant is apparently an
abandonment of strict justice in the Lord’s dealing with the sinner, and the
adoption of a course of treatment which deviates to some extent from strict
justice, and shows mercy to those who desire mercy, and desire to come back
into harmony with God, and desire to attain again the perfection lost through
sin. The language of the New Covenant is, “I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more.”-Heb. 8:12.
The Apostle assures us that this New Covenant could only go into force,
could only become operative toward us, by virtue of the atoning sacrifice which
the Father designed, and which the Lord Jesus joyfully and obediently
fulfilled. He assures us, and so also does our Lord Jesus, that the death of
Christ sealed or ratified or made binding and complete this New Covenant
between God and man, of which Jesus is the Mediator. Thus our Lord himself,
when speaking of his death, symbolized by the cup, said, “This is the blood of
the New Covenant shed for many for [in order to] the remission of sins.” Sins
could not be remitted except as justice would first be met, and the one who met
the claims of justice on behalf of the sinner would be the one who would have
the right to remit the sinner’s guilt, and thus to be the Mediator between
Justice and the sinner.
The Apostle Paul gives us the same view of the matter; saying, that “the
blood [death, sacrifice] cleanseth us” and for this cause he is the
Mediator of the New Covenant: that by means of death for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Heb. 9:14,15.) We see,
then, that since Calvary, since the sealing of the New Covenant with the blood
of the Mediator, since that New Covenant was thus ratified or made effective,
the triumph of love and mercy over justice, and the sentence of death
originally inflicted, has been a fact. And since the offence and the sentence
were of one man, and rested upon the many through him, even upon all his
posterity, so likewise the New Covenant is by the one man, Christ Jesus, and is
applicable to not only the first offence committed in Eden, but applicable to
all the “many offences” since committed because of weakness and
depravity, introduced by the one transgression.-Rom. 5:12,15-21.
But while the New Covenant is thus for Adam and all his posterity,
nevertheless there are conditions attached to this Covenant, which limit its
action.
(1) Faith in it-and acceptance of its provisions or demands: and this
implies a knowledge of the covenant conditions, for no man can either accept or
reject that of which he has no knowledge, as the Apostle says, “How shall they
believe on him of whom they have not heard?”
(2) Obedience, as the result of faith, is required to the extent of
ability-obedience to the law of the New Covenant.
Hence, although the New Covenant is for the entire race, it is not as yet available
to any but a small minority. Few have the knowledge of God and of his
arrangement in Christ under this covenant, which would permit of faith in it.
And of those who have received some knowledge of the great fact, and who have
with more or less clearness exercised a faith in the atonement, comparatively
few have taken the second step of obedience. Those who have taken the first
step of faith are, on this account, reckoned as justified-to the intent that
they may take the second step of full obedience to the requirements of the covenant.
Those who have taken the second step have not lost the first step of
justification, but have added thereto the step of
sanctification,-consecration,-devotion. And only to the latter class belongs
the full benefit of this covenant.
These two steps, (1) Faith, and (2) Obedience, were illustrated in typical
Israel, and in the institution of their typical covenants, at the hand of their
typical mediator, and with the blood of their typical sacrifice for sins. The
Lord made known to Israel his covenant, and they assented thereto, and said,
“All these things will we do,” accepting Moses also as their mediator. This
was the first step, corresponding with us to the step of faith and
justification through faith. Then Moses took the blood of the sacrifice of
atonement,-the blood of their covenant, and sprinkled it upon the book; i.e.,
upon the tables of the law, as representing God and his Word, the law or basis
of his covenant with them, which they were to observe and obey. Moreover, he
sprinkled also all the people with that blood, saying, “This is the covenant
which God hath enjoined upon you.” This was not a meaningless performance.
The moment the drop of blood touched the Israelite, it meant that the covenant
was in operation, in full force and power, on him and toward him; that God was
bound to him by the covenant, and he was bound to God by the covenant. So
likewise in the antitype, after we have heard, known, and have exercised faith,
then the Lord requires that if we are in harmony with him, and desire to enter
into this new covenant, we shall take our position with those who receive the
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things for us than any typical blood,
and that by receiving this blood of sprinkling we shall not only be justified from
our past sins, but thereby also we shall recognize ourselves as henceforth
bounden, obligated, covenanted to the Lord, as his people.-1 Pet. 1:2.
Moreover, as Israel was bound by that covenant to the law of God, as
promulgated by their mediator, Moses, so we spiritual Israelites, who have
fully entered the New Covenant relationship, and who have had the seal of the
New Covenant, the blood of Christ, put upon us, are thereby bound to all the
terms and conditions of that new covenant,-to its obligations as well as to
its blessings: and these obligations are expressed in the law of the New
Covenant, promulgated by the mediator of the new covenant, namely the royal law
of Love.
There are many false apprehensions respecting the New Covenant: one is to
the effect that the law of the old covenant is also the law of the New
Covenant. But not so: as the New Covenant is higher than the Law Covenant, and
as its mediator is higher than the mediator of the Law Covenant, so the law
itself is higher still and grander still than the law of the Mosaic covenant.
Although the latter was holy and just and good (Rom. 7:12), the law of the New
Covenant is sublime. The Apostle declares that the law of the New Covenant is
in full harmony with the law of the old covenant, that it is really the same
law, only that our Mediator has magnified it, and made it still more honorable,
adorable. The law of the covenant which Moses mediated reads, “Thou shalt not”
do thus and so; the law of the New Covenant is briefly comprehended in one
word, Love; “Thou shalt love.”
O, how much difference there is between these two laws, notwithstanding
all their many points of harmony. “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not
steal,” might be understood by some, perhaps, to leave room for a willingness
or desire to steal, or a willingness or desire to murder, if the evil
acts themselves were abstained from. But the one command, “Thou shalt love,”
not only leaves no room for stealing and murder, but leaves no room for any
thought that would be akin to these evil deeds. More than this, it is not
merely a law of negatives, commanding us to abstain from doing and from even
thinking evil; but it goes much further in positively requiring of us to think
good and do good-to fulfil “the royal law” “Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor.”
Many who think that they have entered into the New Covenant relationship
with the Lord are evidently mistaken. They have perhaps believed in Jesus, and
in his sacrifice for sins, and have desired his blessing and liberty from the
curse of death; but they have not recognized nor accepted the corresponding
obligations on their part. They have not stood up before the Lord to swear
allegiance to him and to the law of his covenant, and to be sealed with the
blood which seals that covenant. They are deluding themselves in thinking they
are under the terms of the New Covenant, when they are not-not having taken the
necessary second step to make them beneficiaries under its arrangement. They
have heard of “the royal law of love,” they know of it as the Golden Rule of
the New Covenant, yet they have never, by consecration, put themselves under
that law. They have never recognized it as being the law over them, by which
they are to be controlled, and by which eventually they are to be judged. It
is a work of kindness to such to point out to them clearly and distinctly that
they are deceiving their own selves, and that those who do not accept of and
come under the royal law of the New Covenant have neither part nor lot in the
blessings which flow from that covenant.
It is time that all who profess faith and loyalty to the Lord and to the
New Covenant should recognize themselves as Covenanters-those who have made a
compact, a covenant, with the Lord through Christ Jesus, and who are bound by
the law of that covenant. And if they have done this intelligently, it is high
time that they should be measuring every act and word and thought of life by
the Golden Rule of this Covenant, which our Lord Jesus expresses most
succinctly, saying, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
likewise.”-Luke 6:31.
THE ROYAL LAW.
Our Lord and the Apostles, in all their teaching and writing, inculcated
this royal law of the New Covenant. It was along this line that our Lord said
to the disciples, “Judge not [harshly, unmercifully, ungenerously,] that ye be
not [so] judged; for with whatever measure of cold justice and mercilessness
you measure others, the same shall be meted out to you. The Apostle James, in
our text, repeats the same thought, saying, “He shall have judgment [just
sentence] without mercy who hath showed no mercy.” That is to say, if we have
come under the blessed provisions of the New Covenant, it means not only that
we have accepted of God’s mercy through Christ in the forgiveness of our sins,
but also that a condition upon which we receive divine mercy was that we
ourselves would be governed by the same rule of love and mercy towards our
fellow-creatures. If, therefore, we fail to follow the Golden Rule, we mark
ourselves as rejecters of the covenant of grace, and as those who despise
divine favor, and who trample upon and make light of the great sacrifice by
which this favor of the New Covenant was made available to us.
Such a course, persisted in intelligently and intentionally, would seem to
result in the Second death; for, as the Apostle declares, if we show no mercy
to others, if we attempt to mete out justice without mercy, the result to
ourselves will be that we will be treated without mercy,-on lines of strictest
justice. This would mean that we would be without any benefit in the New
Covenant, and without any covering or protection in the Mediator, and would
fall directly into the hands of Justice, without a covering for our blemishes.
This is the condition of affairs which the Apostle Paul points out to us, in
connection with which he says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God.” It is a fearful thing for imperfect beings like ourselves to
fall into the hands of strict justice and its judgment, and to obtain no mercy.
This would mean nothing short of the Second Death, for as the Apostle
illustrates, the one who despised the typical covenant and the law given by its
mediator died without mercy: much more, might we suppose, that he who has
accepted the terms of the New Covenant, and who has intelligently heard from
its Mediator the law which must govern all who would be blessed by that
covenant (the law of love), and who willingly and intentionally despises and
rejects the claims of that law, is worthy of death. And this death, as the
Apostle intimates, would be a greater, a sorer, punishment than the one
inflicted for the violation of the typical covenant-it would be sorer or more
disastrous, in that it would be the Second Death, the end of all hope; because
those thus condemned had enjoyed the opportunities and privileges of the New
Covenant, and had despised and rejected them.
Nor should such radical treatment of transgressors against the conditions
of the New Covenant surprise us: the same conditions will, we believe, obtain
in the next age, in the Millennium. The world of mankind, when brought to a
knowledge of divine grace, will be invited to fully subject themselves to all
the terms and conditions of the law of love. Those who endeavor to make
progress in this direction will have the blessing and the assistance of the
great Mediator, while those who reject the principles of this law of love to
God and love to man-“The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” will be
rejecting this law, be rejecting the life which is attached thereto. And such
rejecters of the law of the New Covenant are to be esteemed as rejecters of all
the grace “which first contrived the way to save rebellious man.” Such
rejecters will be despisers of God, who was the Author of this plan of
salvation. They will be rejecters of the blood of Christ, which sealed the New
Covenant. And figuratively speaking, they may be said to trample upon that
grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Very properly, eternal life is not
intended for such. It would not be a real blessing for such, and they in turn
would be an injury and a curse to all those who shall come into full accord
with the Lord and with the spirit of his law of love.
Let us, then, who have heard of the grace of God in Christ, and who have
accepted of that grace by entering into the obligations of the New Covenant-let
us remember daily, hourly, to let this law of love rule in our hearts, and in
all our conduct. Let us remember that it not only means supreme love to God,
which places the will and Word of the Lord paramount not only to our own wills,
but also to the wills of others, and thus makes us loyal in the highest sense
of the word, and in every affair of life, to the King of kings and Lord of
lords. Let us remember, secondly, that the law of love is to operate toward
our fellow men, and to lead us to “do good unto all men as we have opportunity-especially
to the household of faith.” Let us remember that love not only would not kill
the neighbor, nor steal from the neighbor, but that it would hinder us from
speaking evil of the neighbor, from stabbing him with slander, and from
stealing from him a good name, which is more to him than his purse. Let us
remember that love would not only utterly repudiate and contradict and hinder
such conduct, but that on the reverse, it would lead us to be kind, gentle,
patient, forgiving, merciful, not only to them that love us, and who are gentle
and kind to us, but also as our Master explained, to the unkind, to the
unthankful, to enemies who injure us, and who say all manner of evil against us
falsely. “Love suffereth long and is kind.”
Love and its consequence, mercy, take hold upon the heart, the sentiments,
the affections of life, and should ultimately permeate every channel of life.
Thus love, mercifulness, would extend not only to the household of faith and
our own family households, and to our neighbors, but also to the dumb animals.
The man who has accepted love (mercy) as the ruling and controlling principle
of life, the law of the New Covenant, which is to control in every act and word
and thought, will be loving (merciful) toward his horse, toward his dog, his
chickens,-toward everything with which he has to do. And if love (mercy) would
restrain him from whipping his horse unmercifully, and if it would lead him to
provide amply for the sustenance and comfort of the dumb creatures under his care,
will not the same spirit of love extend also along to higher lines of the
family, and lead him to be thoughtful of the comfort and welfare of all the
human beings under his care, in matters both spiritual and temporal? And if it
would stay his hand from smiting his beast an unnecessary blow, would it not
much more stay his or her tongue from smiting the hearts and feelings of
humanity with whom he or she may come in contact, with needlessly sharp,
cutting words, irony, sarcasm, etc.-or still worse, with the poisoned blade of
slander and suspicion and evil suggestion and surmise?
And all of this which applies to the beast, to the home circle and family,
applies with equal or still more force to the family of God, the Church; hence
the Apostle urges that evil speaking, bitterness, anger, wrath, malice,
hatreds, strifes, envyings, which are all parts of the old nature, the nature
of the world and of the devil, be put away. These are to be supplanted by the
new spirit of Christ, in harmony with the law of the New Covenant,-Love-with
its gentleness, meekness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly-kindness. “If
these things be in you and abound they shall make you that you shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that
lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give
diligence [to the cultivation of these graces] to make your calling and
election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall: for so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”-2 Pet. 1:8-11.
He who finds his heart not in harmony with this
law of the New Covenant, love-mercy, kindness, gentleness, goodness-lacks the
evidence of proof that he is in any sense of the word accepted as a son
of God, and a joint heir with Christ. If he have not this spirit of
love, he will find it impossible to go far in the footsteps of the Master, for
the sacrifice of Christ was not vain-glorious, not for outward show, not for
honor of men, but prompted by love-toward God and men. So likewise with us, if we have not love in our hearts for the brethren, and the
love of gentleness and benevolence toward all men, and even toward the brute
creation, we have not the spirit which will carry us through in making the
sacrifices necessary under present conditions. It will only be a question of
time with such when the power of pride or vain-glory, holding them in the way
of sacrifice, will snap asunder, and selfishness take full control. He
who would be faithful even unto death, walking in the footsteps of the Master,
must receive of the Master’s spirit of love, before he can thus follow him. As
the Apostle declares, “He that saith, I love God, and hateth his brother, is a
liar. He that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God,
whom he hath not seen?” Hence, the Scriptures place the love of the brethren as
one of the evidences of our having been begotten of the spirit, and of our
being in touch with the Master.
THIS LAW IN PRACTICAL OPERATION.
And love of the brethren does not mean merely love for a faction, or
clique, or for some of the brethren who have natural qualities which we
admire. It means love for all who have accepted the New Covenant and are
seeking to walk by the Golden Rule of love. It means that if some have
peculiarities of natural development and disposition, which are discordant to
our ideas and sentiments, nevertheless, we will love and cherish them, and
cheerfully serve them, because they are trusting in the Lord, and have been
accepted of him, and have adopted the law of the New Covenant, the royal law of
liberty and life, as their standard. We thenceforth know them not after the
flesh, with its peculiarities and knots and twists: but after the new nature,
as “new creatures.” It means also that each of us in proportion as we discover
our own natural crooks and twists, which are contrary to the law of love, will
seek to get rid of these imperfections of the flesh as rapidly as possible, and
to make them as little obtrusive and offensive to others as possible.
From this standpoint love will not be forever noting the defects of the
various members of the body of Christ, nor holding them up to ridicule and
scorn of others; but each will be, so far as possible, fully as anxious to
cover the defects of others as to cover his own defects; and to sympathize with
others in their conflicts with their besetments, as he sympathizes with
himself, and desires that the Lord shall sympathize with him, in his own
conflict with his own imperfections. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ
[the disposition of Christ, love] he is none of his.”-Rom. 8:9.
The object of the present call of the Church, in advance of the call of
the world, to share in the benefits and privileges of this New Covenant, is to
select in advance, not those that are perfect, not those who are the copies of
God’s dear Son, but those who desire and will seek to become copies of God’s
dear Son, “conformed to the image of his Son.” That image is love itself, for
as God is love, so Christ’s character is love, the express image of the
Father. This is the mold into which we are to be fashioned. But God will not
impress us into this mold; he will not force upon us these lines of character:
rather, the only influences which he exerts to this end are the “exceeding
great and precious promises; that by these we might become partakers of the
divine nature” and impress upon ourselves the divine character of love, and
thus escape the corruption that is in the world through selfishness; or rather,
we are to keep ourselves in the love of God while he causes the pressure
of all things to deeply engrave it upon us.-Jude 21.
The matter is left open to us; we can either avail ourselves of these
promises and permit them to mold and fashion us according to the copy, little
by little, daily and hourly, in thought, in word and in deed, or we can resist
their proper influence, and we can hold the truth in unrighteousness. Those
who take the latter course are purchasing for themselves thereby bitter
disappointment; for such are not of the kind to whom the Lord will say, “Well
done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I
will make thee ruler over many things.” The degree of our devotion to the
Lord, therefore, will be indicated in the degree of our love for him and his;
and the degree of our love and devotion will be manifested by our activity in
conquering self and its selfishness, in all its ramifications throughout the
affairs of life, and bringing all our thoughts and talents, great or small,
into active service, prompted by love to God and to his people. And such will
appreciate the sentiments of the Apostle, when he said, “We [who have received
of the begetting of the holy spirit of our Master, the spirit of love, and who
have grown to some extent in the knowledge of him-we] ought also to lay down
our lives for the brethren.”
THE ROYAL LAW DURING THE MILLENNIUM.
These same principles will be applicable to some extent during the
Millennial age: note some of the differences between then and now, in the
operation of this New Covenant.
First, the Mediator shall then draw or call all men to a knowledge
of the grace of God bestowed upon them in the provisions of this New Covenant;
whereas now all are not called, but only “Whomsoever the Lord your God
shall call,” for no man cometh unto the Son now, except the Father who sent the
Son draw him. (Jno. 6:44.) Not many great, or wise, or learned, or rich
are called.
Second, the acceptance of the New Covenant then will be less a matter of
faith and more a matter of knowledge, than now; because the Lord shall take
away the vail of ignorance which now is spread over all the earth, and the
blinded eyes shall see out of the obscurity.-Isa. 25:7; 29:18.
Third, nevertheless it will be equally necessary that each one who would
then avail himself of the blessed provisions of the New Covenant shall for
himself enter into a positive covenant with the Mediator, that he will obey
the law of the New Covenant, Love. Love is the voice or command of the great
Teacher, who shall then stand up with authority, and cause that all the world
of mankind shall hear this message. “It shall come to pass that whosoever will
not hear [obey] that prophet shall be cut off from among his people.” All who
will not conform themselves to the law of love, the law of the Millennial
Kingdom, shall be cut off in the Second Death.
Fourth, but even in the Millennial age God will not compel mankind to be
conformed to this law. He will compel them to bow to and acknowledge the rule
of love, as it is written, “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall
confess;” because, when the Kingdom is established, and righteousness is laid
to the line, and justice to the plummet, every violation of the law of that
Kingdom, the Golden Rule, will meet with swift punishment; to the intent that
evil doers shall be afraid, and that the righteous shall flourish. But God
will still not impress the law of love upon the hearts of any; he leaves
that for each to do for himself, just as at the present time. Each then, as
now, must “put away” from his heart selfishness and all of the
concomitant evils resulting from sin. Each then, as now, must “cleanse himself
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
reverence of the Lord” (2 Cor. 7:1); because God seeketh not such as are merely
forced into obedience,-he “seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit
and in truth”-such as love the law of God with all their heart, and who are at
warfare with selfishness and sin, especially in themselves.
Hence we see that at the close of the Millennial age, after the full opportunity
has been granted to the world to have two-fold experience-now, with sin and
selfishness, and their misrule, and the evil results; and then, with
righteousness and love, and their blessed rule of peace and joy-when all shall
have had fullest opportunity to develop in their hearts the spirit of love,
then will come a test, a trial, in the close of the Millennial age, which will
prove and demonstrate those whose love and fidelity to the Lord are of the
heart, versus those whose obedience has been because of expediency. This trial,
we may suppose, will not be a trial to see whether or not they will commit some
open and flagrant wrong, but rather like the trial of father Adam in his
perfection, a trial along the lines of obedience and disobedience, and whether
love has been permitted to rule and take full possession of the heart, with
resultant faithfulness to God and every principle of righteousness which would
trust the Lord and follow strictly in his way.
The result will be that all of the world who then shall not have the
spirit of love properly developed, will be cut off in the Second Death, as
unfit for eternal life, or to go beyond the Millennium into the grand
conditions;-respecting which God has promised us that there shall be no more
dying, no more sighing, no more crying, no more pain, there; because all the
former things shall have passed away-all the things of sin, and all who have
sympathy or love for sin.
The victory in this race is not because of willing, nor for perfect
running, yet it is only to him that willeth and that so runneth-through
Christ. Thus Mercy rejoiceth against Justice, yet he that shows no mercy
and who thus shows himself lacking in love shall receive no mercy. He that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and for such are all the riches of divine
mercy and grace.
I’LL DO MY VERY BEST.
I may perform no deed of great renown,
No glorious acts to millions manifest;
Yet in my little labors up and down
I’ll do my best.
I may not paint a perfect masterpiece,
Nor carve a statue by the world confessed
A miracle of art; yet will not cease
To do my best.
My name is not upon the rolls of fame,
‘Tis on the page of common life impressed;
But I’ll keep marking, marking just the same,
And do my very best.
And if I see some fellow traveler rise
Far, far above me, still with quiet breast
I keep on climbing, climbing toward the skies,
And do my very best.
Mine may not be the beautiful and grand,
But I must try to be so careful, lest
It fail to be what’s put into my hand-
My very best.
-H. Guy Carleton.