IN RE LITERATURE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Hereafter no literature in a foreign language will be issued from this office, The names of all subseribers to the foreign Towers wil] be transferred to the English Warcu Tower list for the remainder of the term of subscription, unless the sub Vou. XXXIX BROOKLYN, N. Y., JULY 15, 1918 seribers shall notify us to the contrary. Should any subseriber to a foreign TowER prefer to have his money refunded for the unexpired term of subscription, this will be done upon his written request to this office. No. 14 THE NEW COMMANDMENT “1 new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”—John 13:34. The New Creation is not left without a law. It is a very oft repeated commandment; and the attainment of all the various things to which it is invited rests upon the keeping of it: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in hig love. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as J have loved you.” (John 15:10, 12) This new commandment of the Lord made a great impression upon the mind of the loving Apostle John. He mentions the injunction a number of times: “This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” (1 John 4:21) “For this is the commandment [marginal reading] that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us eommandment,.”—1 John 3:11, 23. A great deal that passes for love will not stand the test. Many people have had Jarge numbers of friends while their conditions were prosperous, and have been greatly surprised in the hour of reversal to find that they could count their true friends upon the fingers of one hand and have fingers to spare. The Lord does not wish his people, however, to cultivate an outward love for the fellow-members of the New Creation, but a heart love; nor would he have them as new creatures love each other coldly and indifferently, but fervently: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”—l1 Peter 1:22. A first consideration to the keeping of the new commandment is that the one we are invited to love as a new creature should be one who, like ourselves, is a partaker of God’s holy Spirit; for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:9) This love for those who have our Father’s likeness is as superior to any earthly love as the heavenly relationships are superior to the earthly relationships. In the history of our Lord’s life is an incident which brings this fact forward with great prominence. While he was engaged in seeking those who should ultimately become members of the heavenly family, messengers came to him informing him that his mother and brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. It is probable that our Lord loved his mother more than any other earthly being. There was a special bond between them due to the circumstances of his birth, which apparently they alone could fully appreciate, (Luke 2:19; John 8:41. 42) But although Jesus loved his mother so dearly that his last thought was to provide for her a home with the Apostle whom he specially loved (John 19:26, 27), yet to those who wished him to leave off his preaching of the Gospel he answered: “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? and he stretched forth his hands toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,” i. e., ‘he stands to me in a relationship that is at once close and tender and vital,’—Matthew 12:48-50. Undoubtedly the reason for the Apostle Paul’s advice to unmarried consecrated ones to the effect that they would probably do better to remain so, was not because there is anything displeasing to the heavenly Father in this nearest and dearest of all human relationships, which he himself instituted and for which the creatures of his handiwork are by nature adapted, but because many,new creatures are not strong enough in character to make sure always that the Lord oecupies the first place in their hearts, and the earthly companion the second place. Every marriage in which this balance is never lost sight of is beautiful, lovely and acceptable in the Father’s sight. But it requires great strength of character to keep the Lord always upon the throne of our affections. Hence the sad condition arises that if a new creature becomes soul-sick and withdraws from the altar of sacrifice, his or her companion is very frequently drawn away, too. TWO CLASSES THAT PEOFESS DISCIPLESHIP The fact that one professes to be the Lord’s follower does special love which we feel, and which we must feel, for every one who has covenanted to lay his all at the Lord’s feet. There are some who apparently feel very free to call upon the Lord's name, but who do not have the spirit of consecration. ‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which igs in heaven.”—Matthew 7:21. But if we find one who is a true believer in the Lord and who has accepted him as his Savior and Redeemer and who is trying to live an inoffensive life, we are to count him as a brother, even though he may not have seen the privileges of the priesthood which are ours. Such brethren were very dear to the Apostle Paul; and it was among them that he sought for those who shall be worthy of being counted brethren on the higher plane. Thus he said: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [tentatively justified], that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God”—that thus you may become actually justified. (Romans 12:1) Those who have taken neither of these steps are not our brethren as yet, but are “by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”—Ephesians 2:3. The privilege of being sons of the divine family and of being recognized as such by other members of the family and of enjoying the blessings of such fellowship is limited. 1t did not exist before our Lord’s day; it was limited then to one nation and to the few in that nation who could and did meet the conditions imposed. The divine sonship could not be reéstablished until Father Adam’s ransom price was provided. The terms of the heavenly salvation are not stated in the Old Testament; and until Pentecost not one Jew could be transferred from the house of servants to the house of sons, At Pentecost, however, the new family relationship began; and “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”— John 1:12. Many who suppose that they are children of God, or at least ealculation are very worthy and very acceptable servants, do not have the spirit of sonship at all, but have an opposite spirit derived from an opposite source, and for that reason are designated the children of the devil: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). Christ said to some in his day. From this we can plainly see that the expression, “the fatherhood of God,” when applied to all men in the present time, is incorrect. The fatherhood of God now is limited fo those who have received the spirit of adoption. “But ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we ery, Abba, Father”’—dear Father. PRIVILEGE OF COMFORTING THE BRETHREN One of the blessed privileges which we enjoy towards the other members of our Father’s family is the privilege of comforting them in the midst of the sorrows which are peculiarly the lot of the sacrificing priesthood. The Apostle Paul in writing to the Thessalonian brethren said: “Ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.” (1 Thessalonians 2:11) In writing to the Corinthian brethren, his great heart of love was allowed to overflow with the following wonderful passege of consolation and comfort to his brothers and sisters of the divine family who for the time made their home in the city of Corinth: “May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus—that you have been so richly blessed in him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge. Thus my teatimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience, 80 that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—1 Corinthians 1:3-7, Weym. It is a mistake for new creaturea to withhold from one another the words of comfort which mean so much in the midst of storm. If we do withhold these words of comfort, it shows that we are deficient in the holy Spirit; for the holy Spirit was given to us, not only to be a comfort to our own hearts, but to aid us in our efforts to be a comfort to others. not necessarily mean that we should bestow upon him theThe holy Spirit is like the truth—the more of it we give away [6289] (211 212)
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