Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ... XIV. Statutes become Songs* "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."-- Matthew v. 44, 45. "THAT ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaVen." "The children." There is a wide difference between a mere connection and a kinsman. One is in the sphere of the legal and artificial; the other is in the vital and natural. One is determined by a certificate; the other resides in the blood. There is an equally wide and more profound distinction between offspring and children. One is suggestive of common blood; the other of common spirit. One indicates relationship; the other implies fellowship. Joel and Abiah, who "turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment," were not the children of Samuel; they were only his fleshly seed and offspring. To be a child is to share a spirit. Not to share the spirit is to be only the seed. "Abraham is our father." No, "ye are of your father the devil." Your deeper spiritual movements have their origin and affinity in him. To be a child means more than succession; it means repetition of the life which gave us our birth. It means more than descent; it means spiritual likeness. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God "; so beautifully do they reflect and repeat the spirit of our God. "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you . . . that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." I shall be a child, revealing and repeating a Father. If I do this I reflect Him. The child unveils the Father. Then mark this principle, What He wishes me to be, He is. He...