_CHARITY AND INDEPENDENCE._
"But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write
unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another;
for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all
Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more;
and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to
work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk
honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of
nothing."--1 THESS. iv. 9-12 (R.V.).
When the gospel first came abroad in the world, two characteristics of
its adherents attracted general attention, namely, personal purity and
brotherly love. Amid the gross sensuality of heathenism, the Christian
stood out untainted by indulgence of the flesh; amid the utter
heartlessness of pagan society, which made no provision for the poor,
the sick, or the aged, the Church was conspicuous for the close union
of its members and their brotherly kindness to each other. Personal
purity and brotherly love were the notes of the Christian and of the
Christian community in the early days; they were the new and
regenerating virtues which the Spirit of Christ had called into
existence in the heart of a dying world. The opening verses of this
chapter enforce the first; those at present before us treat of the
second.
"Concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto
you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." The
principle, that is, of brotherly love is of the very essence of
Christianity; it is not a remote consequence of it which might easily
be overlooked unless it were pointed out. Every believer is taught of
God to love the brother who shares his faith; such love is the best
and only guarantee of his own salvation; as the Apostle John writes,
"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love
the brethren." It is perhaps not unnecessary to remark that, in the
New Testament, brethren means fellow-Christians, and not fellow-men.
We _have_ duties to all men, which the Bible does not fail to
recognise and enforce; we are one with them in the nature God has
given us, and the great alternatives life sets before us; and that
natural unity is the basis of duties which all owe to each other.
Honour _all_ men. But the Church of Christ creates new relations
between its members, and with these new relations mutual obligations
still more strong and binding. God Himself is the Saviour of all,
specially of them that believe; and Christians in like manner are
bound, as they have opportunity, to do good unto all men, but
specially to those who are of the household of faith. This is not
sufficiently considered by most Christian people; who, if they looked
into the matter, might find that few of their strongest affections
were determined by the common faith. Is not love a strong and peculiar
word to describe the feeling you cherish toward some members of the
Church, brethren to you in Christ Jesus? yet love to the brethren is
the very token of our right to a place in the Church for ourselves.
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
These words of John give us the key to the expression "taught of God
to love one another." It is not likely that they refer to anything so
external as the words of Scripture, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself." Even in the Old Testament, to be taught of God was something
more spiritual than this; it was the same thing as to have the law
written on the heart. That is what the Apostle has in view here. The
Christian has been born again, born of God; he has a new nature, with
new instincts, a new law, a new spontaneity; it is now native to him
to love. Until the Spirit of God enters into men's hearts and
recreates them, life is a war of all against all; man is a wolf to
man; but in the Church that internecine strife has ended, for its
members are the children of God, and every one that loveth Him that
begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him. The selfishness of
man's nature is veiled, and to some extent repressed, in other
societies; but it is not, as a principle, exterminated except in the
Church and by the Spirit of Christ. A family ought to be an unselfish
place, ruled only by and fostering the spirit of love; yet if Christ
be not there, what selfish passions assert themselves in spite of all
restraint. Any association working for the common good--a town council
even--ought to be an unselfish body; yet how often, in such places, is
rivalry conspicuous and self-seeking, and envy, and detraction, and
all that is unlike Christ. In the Church which has been taught of God,
or, in other words, which has learned of Christ, we find at least some
manifestations of a better spirit. It does contain people who love one
another because they are Christians; who are unselfish, giving way to
each other, esteeming each other, helping each other; if it contained
none such, it would not be a Church at all.
The brotherly love of the early Church was not only visible to the
world; it was its great recommendation in the world's eyes. It had
brought a new thing into being, a thing for which the world was
pining, namely, vital society. The poor people in the cities of Asia
and Europe saw with wonder, joy, and hope, men and women united to one
another in a spiritual union, which gave scope to all their gifts for
society, and satisfied all their desires for it. The early Christian
churches were little companies of people where love was at a high
temperature, where outward pressure very often tightened the inward
bonds, and where mutual confidence diffused continual joy. Men were
drawn to them irresistibly by the desire to share this life of love.
It is the very same force which at this moment draws those who are
outcasts from society into the Salvation Army. Whatever the failings
of that organisation may be, its members are as brothers; the sense of
union, of mutual obligation, of mutual confidence, in one word, of
brotherly love, is very strong; and souls that pine for that
atmosphere are drawn to it with overpowering force. It is not good for
man to be alone; it is vain for him to seek the satisfaction of his
social instincts in any of the casual, selfish, or sinful associations
by which he is often betrayed: even the natural affection of the
family, pure and strong as it may be, does not answer to the width of
his spiritual nature; his heart cries out for that society founded on
brotherly love which only the Church of Christ provides. If there is
one thing more than another which explains the Church's failure in
missionary work, it is the absence of this spirit of love among her
members. If men were compelled to cry still, as in the early days of
the gospel, "Behold these Christians, how they love one another," they
would not be able to remain outside. Their hearts would kindle at the
glow, and all that hindered their incorporation would be burned up.
The Apostle acknowledges the progress of the Thessalonians. They show
this brotherly love to all the brethren that are in all Macedonia; but
he beseeches them to abound more and more. Nothing is more
inconsistent with the gospel than narrowness of mind or heart,
however often Christians may belie their profession by such vices.
Perhaps of all churches in the world, the church of our own country is
as much in need of this admonition as any, and more than most. Would
it not be higher praise than some of us deserve, to say that we loved
with brotherly cordiality all the Christian churches in Britain, and
wished them God speed in their Christian work? And as for churches
outside our native land, who knows anything about them? There was a
time when all the Protestant churches in Europe were one, and lived on
terms of brotherly intimacy; we sent ministers and professors to
congregations and colleges in France, Germany, and Holland, and took
ministers and professors from the Continent ourselves; the heart of
the Church was enlarged towards brethren whom it has now completely
forgotten. This change has been to the loss of all concerned; and if
we would follow the Apostle's advice, and abound more and more in this
supreme grace, we must wake up to take an interest in brethren beyond
the British Isles. The Kingdom of Heaven has no boundaries that could
be laid down on a map, and the brotherly love of the Christian is
wider than all patriotism. But this truth has a special side connected
with the situation of the Apostle. Paul wrote these words from
Corinth, where he was busily engaged in planting a new church, and
they virtually bespeak the interest of the Thessalonians in that
enterprise. Christian brotherly love is the love which God Himself
implants in the heart; and the love of God has no limitations. It goes
out into all the earth, even to the end of the world. It is an ever
advancing, ever victorious force; the territory in which it reigns
becomes continually wider and wider. If that love abounds in us more
and more, we shall follow with live and growing interest the work of
Christian missions. Few of us have any idea of the dimensions of that
work, and of the nature of its successes. Few of us have any
enthusiasm for it. Few of us do anything worth mentioning to help it
on. Not very long ago the whole nation was shocked by the disclosures
about the Stanley expedition; and the newspapers were filled with the
doings of a few profligate ruffians, who, whatever they failed to do,
succeeded in covering themselves, and the country they belong to, with
infamy. One would fain hope that this exhibition of inhumanity would
turn men's thoughts by contrast to those who are doing the work of
Christ in Africa. The national execration of fiendish wickedness is
nothing unless it passes into deep and strong sympathy with those who
are working among the Africans in brotherly love. What is the merit of
Stanley or his associates, that their story should excite the interest
of those who know nothing of Comber and Hannington and Mackay, and
all the other brave men who loved not their lives to the death for
Christ's sake and Africa's? Is it not a shame to some of us that we
know the horrible story so much better than the gracious one? Let
brotherly love abound more and more; let Christian sympathy go out
with our brethren and sisters in Christ who go out themselves to dark
places; let us keep ourselves instructed in the progress of their
work; let us support it with prayer and liberality at home; and our
minds and hearts alike will grow in the greatness of our Lord and
Saviour.
Brotherly love in the early Church, within the limits of a small
congregation, often took the special form of charity. Those who were
able helped the poor. A special care was taken, as we see from the
Book of Acts, of widows, and no doubt of orphans. In a later epistle
Paul mentions with praise a family which devoted itself to ministering
to the saints. To do good and to communicate, that is, to impart of
one's goods to those who had need, is the sacrifice of praise which
all Christians are charged not to forget. To see a brother or a sister
destitute, and to shut up the heart against them, is taken as proof
positive that we have not the love of God dwelling in us. It would be
difficult, one might mink, to exaggerate the emphasis which the New
Testament lays on the duty and the merit of charity. "Sell all that
thou hast, and give to the poor," Christ said to the rich young man,
"and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." "Give alms," He cried to the
Pharisees, "of such things as ye have; and behold, all things are
clean unto you." Charity sanctifies. Nor have these strong sayings
been without their due effect. Charity, both organised and private, is
characteristic of Christendom, and of Christendom only. The pagan
world made no provision for the destitute, the sick, the aged. It had
no almshouses, no infirmaries, no orphanages, no convalescent homes.
The mighty impulse of the love of Christ has created all these, and to
this hour it sustains them all. Acknowledged or unacknowledged, it is
the force which lies behind every effort made by man for the good of
his fellows; wherever this disinterested love burns in a human bosom,
it is the fire which Christ cast upon the earth, and He rejoices at
its kindling. As a recent example, look at the great scheme of General
Booth: it is the love of Christ which has inspired it; it is the love
of Christ that must provide all the subordinate agents by whom it is
to be administered, if it is ever carried into effect; it is on the
public conviction that he is animated by the love of Christ and has no
by-ends of his own to secure, that General Booth depends for his
funds. It is only this Christ-enkindled love which gives charity its
real worth, and furnishes any sort of guarantee that it will confer
a double blessing, material and spiritual, on those who receive it.
For charity is not without its dangers, and the first and greatest of
these is that men learn to depend upon it. When Paul preached the
gospel in Thessalonica, he spoke a great deal about the Second Advent.
It was an exciting subject, and some at least of those who received
his message were troubled by "ill-defined or mistaken expectations,"
which led to moral disorder in their lives. They were so anxious to be
ready for the Lord when He came, that they neglected their ordinary
duties, and became dependent upon the brethren. They ceased working
themselves, and so became a burden upon those who continued to work.
Here we have, in a nutshell, the argument against a monastic life of
idleness, against the life of the begging friar. All men must live by
labour, their own or some other's; and he who chooses a life without
labour, as the more holy, really condemns some brother to a double
share of that labouring life to which, as he fancies, the highest
holiness is denied. That is rank selfishness; only a man without
brotherly love could be guilty of it for an hour.
Now in opposition to this selfishness,--unconscious at first, let us
hope,--and in opposition to the unsettled, flighty, restless
expectations of these early disciples, the Apostle propounds a very
sober and humble plan of life. Make it your ambition, he says, to be
quiet, and to busy yourselves with your own affairs, and to work with
your own hands, as we commanded you. There is a grave irony in the
first words--make it your ambition to be quiet; set your honour in
that. The ordinary ambition seeks to make a noise in the world, to
make itself visible and audible; and ambition of that type is not
unknown even in the Church. But it is out of place there. No Christian
ought to be ambitious of anything but to fill as unobtrusively as
possible the place in life which God has given him. The less notorious
we are, the better for us. The necessities of our situation,
necessities imposed by God, require most of us to spend so many hours
a day in making our daily bread. The bulk of most men's strength, by
an ordinance of God that we cannot interfere with, is given to that
humble but inevitable task. If we cannot be holy at our work, it is
not worth taking any trouble to be holy at other times. If we cannot
be Christians and please God in those common activities which must
always absorb so much of our time and strength, the balance of life is
not worth thinking about. Perhaps some of us crave leisure, that we
may be more free for spiritual work; and think that if we had more
time at our disposal, we should be able to render many services to
Christ and His cause which are out of our power at present. But that
is extremely doubtful. If experience proves anything, it proves that
nothing is worse for most people than to have nothing to do but be
religious. Religion is not controlled in their life by any contact
with realities; in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they do not know
how to be quiet, but are vain, meddlesome, impracticable, and
senseless. The man who has his trade or his profession to work at, and
the woman who has her household and social duties to attend to, are
not to be condoled with; they are in the very place in which religion
is at once necessary and possible; they can study to be quiet, and to
mind their own business, and to work with their own hands, and in all
this to serve and please God. But those who get up in the morning with
nothing to do but to be pious, or to engage in Christian works, are in
a position of enormous difficulty, which very few can fill. The daily
life of toil, at the bench or the desk, in the shop, the study, or the
street, does not rob us of the Christian life; it really puts it
within our reach. If we keep our eyes open, it is easy to see that
this is so.
There are two reasons assigned by the Apostle for this life of quiet
industry, both of which are noticeable. First, "That ye may walk
honestly toward them that are without." Honestly is too colourless a
word in modern English; the corresponding adjective in different
places is translated honourable and comely.[14] What the Apostle
signifies is, that the Church has a great character to sustain in the
world, and that the individual Christian has that character, to some
extent, in his charge. Idleness, fussiness, excitability, want of
common sense, these are discreditable qualities, inconsistent with the
dignity of Christianity, and to be guarded against by the believer.
The Church is really a spectacle to the world; those who are without
have their eye upon it; and the Apostle would have it a worthy and
impressive spectacle. But what is there so undignified as an idle
busybody, a man or woman neglecting duty on the pretence of piety, so
excited by an uncertain future as to disregard the most crying
necessities of the present? Perhaps there is none of us who does
anything so bad as this; but there are some in every church who are
not careful of Christian dignity. Remember that there is something
great in true Christianity, something which should command the
veneration of those who are without; and do nothing inconsistent with
that. As the sun breaks through the darkest cloud, so honour peereth
in the meanest habit; and the lowliest occupation, discharged with
diligence, earnestness, and fidelity, gives scope enough for the
exhibition of true Christian dignity. The man who does his common
duties as they ought to be done will never lose his self-respect, and
will never discredit the Church of Christ.
The second reason for the life of quiet industry is, "That ye may have
lack of nothing." Probably the truer interpretation would be, That ye
may have lack of no one. In other words, independence is a Christian
duty. This is not inconsistent with what has been said of charity, but
is its necessary supplement. Christ commands us to be charitable; He
tells us plainly that the need for charity will not disappear; but He
tells us as plainly that to count upon charity, except in the case of
necessity, is both sinful and shameful. This contains, of course, a
warning to the charitable. Those of us who wish to help the poor, and
who try to do so, must take care to do it in such a way as not to
teach them to depend on help; that is to do them a serious wrong. We
are all familiar with the charges brought against charity; it
demoralises, it fosters idleness and improvidence, it robs those who
receive it of self-respect. These charges have been current from the
beginning; they were freely brought against the Church in the days of
the Roman Empire. If they could be made good, they would condemn what
passes for charity as un-Christian. The one-sided enforcement of
charity, in the sense of almsgiving, in the Romish Church, has
occasionally led to something like a glorification of pauperism; the
saint is usually a beggar. One would hope that in our own country,
where the independence of the national character has been reinforced
by the most pronounced types of Protestant religion, such a deformed
conception of Christianity would be impossible; yet even among us the
caution of this verse may not be unnecessary. It _is_ a sign of grace
to be charitable; but though one would not speak an unkind word of
those in need, it is _not_ a sign of grace to require charity. The
gospel bids us aim not only at brotherly love, but at independence.
Remember the poor, it says; but it says also, Work with your hands,
that you may preserve a Christian dignity in relation to the world,
and have need of no one.
[14] See 1 Cor. xii. 24; vii. 35; Acts xiii. 50; xvii. 12.