Peace and Truth

In one of the large rooms of the Dresden Art Gallery in Germany hang two pictures. One is of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and the painting bears the legend : "Napoleon, The Greatest Man of War." On the opposite wall is that of Jesus the Master, which has this inscription : "Jesus Christ, The Greatest Man of Peace." Those two pictures are suggestive of the two great forces that mankind is confronted with today. The world is at war; and the world is at peace. Wrong is contending against right for the mastery of the souls of men ; and our problems are greater now than they ever were before. This is a congregation of peace, joy, and sunshine, because we have come up to the tabernacle of God to hear the word of life and salvation. This is truly a house of God. ¶

An ancient psalmist once asked: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle ? who shall dwell in thy holy hill ?" Jehovah answered and said : "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh truth in his heart." What a power the world would have for right, if these principles as taught to the psalmist were lodged deeply in our hearts to influence our lives every day. Such a thing can be if we begin to teach our children properly in the home. I fear that we are leaving the teaching of our children too much to the school and church, and that parents are not careful enough what they say and how they teach their children within the precincts of the home. It is the home that is the center of our social lives ; it is the cathedral of our religious lives, where the Lord has imparted to us the knowledge of the immortality of his spiritual values : It is character that we must build ; and in Jesus as in no other soul, humanity has found its ideal of character before which the noblest of the sons of men in all generations since his day have bowed their heads in reverence. ¶

The Old and New Testaments are full of the spirit of joy and thanksgiving which comes into the hearts of the people who are seeking to do the ways of Jehovah. I am always impressed with the thought when I stand before you good people that you are living upright lives, and in the battle of life you are playing your parts well. The great need today is that we teach our children the finer truths of life, and impress them with the ideal that each and every one must perfect himself in his spiritual power. Each one must perfect oneself in the sphere in which ¶

one is working. One must be taught the glorious words of the Master : "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." Wle parents are learning from day to day, and as we learn we are able to impart knowledge to our children. It is in the home that God makes his covenant with us, and we have always new opportunities and new duties. When Jesus bade his disciples to receive the kingdom as little children, he meant that they should place their faith in God as children place their faith in him, because of their conscious helplessness. ¶

I am reminded here of a character in history who to me stands next to the Master in power, faith, and understanding. I refer to John the Baptist. John had been in the wilderness of Judea teaching repentance and the kingdom of God. "Repent ye," said he, "for the kingdom of God is at hand." John was speaking to living Jews, delivering to them for all time a message from their God. "Let us prepare our souls," Baruch said, "that we may have hope and be not put to shame, that we may reap with our fathers, and be not punished with our foes." Now the time had come. A prophet had risen once more in Israel. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." John had given all ; he had won all. One day while he was teaching his people on the banks of the river Jordan, he saw someone coming towards him. John turned to his congregation, and said : "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." John knew the Master the minute he saw him. And why? Because he had the spirit of truth and faith which manifests all things divine. Jesus was baptized by John, and then retired into the wilderness. The time was fulfilled, the kingdom of God was at hand. This kingdom could come to earth only through souls that hungered and thirsted after righteousness. ¶

Jesus began his work among humanity to build it into a civilization the like of which the world has never known. That work we are continuing today. That fine truth that we may know God only by the spirit of the Master is the truth that I fear we forget today. This truth, however, is an eternal verity. Jesus told us to be "Perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect." ¶

We speak of the great changes that have come about in the world. It is an ever-changing world ; and there will be more changes. Our great problem will be whether or not our moral and spiritual lives will grow as the world moves on. ¶

Yes, the world will change for the best, spiritually and morally, as we come to know that God has laid his hand on souls to whom the Gospel has become a burning fire within them, and they speak the word of the Lord which has been entrusted to them. In other words, the finer spiritual life will be brought about by men of faith. They will go forth with the spirit of the eternal truths of morality as expressed in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. These moral truths are eternal. They will teach that the "pure in heart shall see God," and that Jesus died for the sins of the world. ¶

You and I, my brethren and sisters, have come up to this tabernacle and to this holy altar to hear the word of God and to hear about the ¶

spiritual truths that live forever. .We wish to show Jehovah that we walk uprightly, and speak truth in our hearts. My faith is that the world is growing better, and that mankind will be more closely united in divine faith. Truth will prevail, and the kingdom of God will come. ¶

There is a beautiful lesson in a part of the German writer's play called "Nathan the Wise." It was written by Lessing, a celebrated Jew of the days of Goethe. There is a conversation between a Christian and ^a Jew. The Jew says in substance, "I know, O Christian, by the spirit of Jehovah that the message of Christ to the world is one of fatherhood and brotherhood, of spirit and truth." The Christian replies to the Jew and says : "And I know by the same spirit that the Jew has borne the same great message to the world ! We will be brought together by the same illumination, by the same spirit." ¶

So we realize that truth and goodness can inspire in men an affection infinitely more creative and unconquerable than anything else in life. The transcendance of the human spirit can conquer all things. ¶

May God bless us all. May the world understand the word of truth. May we all come closer together by the illumination of truth and the spirit of Jehovah, and walk uprightly and speak truth in our hearts, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶