# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1901_S22 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) “The Lutheran Pioneer. (For the LUTHERAN PIONEER.) The Eighth Commandment. (Concluded. ) 2. The second sin mentioned in Luther’s ex- planation is betraying. We should not betray our neighbor. One of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas Iscariot, was guilty of this sin. And be- cause of this he will ever be known as Judas the Traitor. He basely revealed to the Lord’s enemies the place of His retreat, and thus de- livered Him into the hands of His enemies. What God, however, thinks of traitors, we learn Proy. 11,13: ‘‘A tale-bearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit con- cealeth the matter.”’ God calls them tale- bearers and says that they have a faithless, deceitful heart, or spirit. Has the tribe of tale-bearers become extinct? By no means; their number is legion. Here is a sample of their manner of working in our day. A cer- tain young man was a bad boy some years back, but he has changed and turned over a new leaf. He finds employment ina store and soon gains the confidence of his employers. In the course of some years, a position of trust in the store becomes vacant, and after due de- liberation it is decided to promote this young man to the position. No sooner does this fact become known than one of these tale-bearers comes along and tells about the young man’s past: ‘‘You had better see to your money, if you give that position to that fellow. Don’t you know that he once stole some money from his father?’’ I am pleased to state that the employers, after speaking with the young man, who did not deny his former sins, nevertheless retained him and were never sorry for having done so; but how easily could the wretched tale-bearer have ruined the life of this young man. Right here it will be well for us to remem- ber, however, that at times it becomes neces- sary for us to reveal secrets. If you should, for instance, overhear two men talking about injuring another, it would be your duty to warn your neighbor of the impending danger. Thus Jonathan warned Dayid when he heard of Saul’s intention to kill David. In short, we go safe when we say that we must reveal all those secrets which would harm our neigh- bor if he were not warned. 8. The third sin Luther mentions is s/an- dering. What is slander? James tells us: “Speak not evil one of another, brethren,” James4,11. This sin is usually committed in the absence of the victim, so that he has no opportunity to defend himself. Let us be careful never to have an open ear for slander, " for it is the most untrustworthy evidence con- cerning our neighbor’s character we can pos- sibly obtain. ‘‘Judge not,’” says Christ, ‘‘and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye ull not be condemned.”’ It is not merciful to judge and condemn our brother before we “have heard him. Still more unmerciful is it il others the result of our judg- ment, thus, perhaps, damaging our neighbor’s good name beyond repair. Instead of doing thus, let us rather follow the injunction of Christ, Matt. 18,15: ‘‘If thy brother shall tres- pass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.’’ We are here forbidden to publish our neighbor’s faults, and what happiness would enter this world if we were to follow our Saviour’s injunction! A most detestable case of slander we have re- corded 2 Sam. 15,1—6. Absalom, desirous of becoming king over Israel, ‘‘stole the hearts of the people’ by slandering his father, David. In consequence of these slanders of his own son, Dayid was obliged to flee from Jerusa- lem, and although Absalom was not success- ful in getting the crown, yet the slander of his son caused David much sorrow and pain. 4. The last sin mentioned in the explana- tion of the Eighth Commandment is that of defaming the neighbor. This sin is the natu- ral outcome of the former. By speaking evil of my neighbor, I deprive him of his good name, or fame. Thus Absalom defamed his father when he slandered him, for he caused the people to think evil of David, and they, in turn, spoke their evil thoughts to others. Thus, as James says, a little spark kindleth a great fire. Therefore let us refrain from speak- ing evil and guard our lips that they speak no guile. Let us now yet briefly consider the injunc- tion contained in Luther’s explanation of this Commandment. 1, We should defend our neighbor. How often do we not hear others speaking evil of our neighbor behind his back. He not being able to defend himself, we should do it for him. Proy.31,8.9 Solomon says: ‘‘Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.’’? Dumb, to all prac- tical purposes, is also he that is not present to defend himself. Therefore we should speak for him and rescue him from the threatened destruction of his good name. And there is one particular class of fellow men which we should especially defend against evil tongues, namely, the poor and needy, because they only too/often are at a disadvantage. Of course, it is understood that our defense must at all times agree with the facts. 2. We should speak well of our neighbor. While others seem to delight in speaking evil, we should find pleasure in speaking well of him. If others turn out the bad qualities of our neighbor, we should call attention to his good qualities. We should follow the example of Jonathan, 1 Sam. 19, 4—6, who, when his father spoke evil of David, reminded him of David’s good qualities and deeds, and by doing so succeeded in getting the king’s promise to do David no harm. 8. We should put the best construction on what our neighbor says or does. No one is perfect. Everybody has his faults and fail- ings; these we should charitably cover up. | “Charity shall cover the multitude-of sins,”’ 1 Pet. 4, 8. That, of course, does not mean that we should ignore and make light of sin; what it means is, that we should keep them from such as need not know of them and ex- plain our neighbor’s words and actions in his favor as much as possible. you should see a man staggering along the street, it would be wrong at once to conclude that he is drunk: charity would demand you rather to believe him to be ill. has fallen and promises to amend, charity will hope for the best. fall again, even then charity has patience and bears with him, willing to trust his repeated promises of betterment. 18,7: ‘Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’’ forgiving, hopeful, patient love God grant us all for Christ’s sake. If, for instance, If a brother And though the brother Says Paul 1 Cor. Such fervent, Let us ever pray: “© let me never speak What bounds of truth exceedeth; Grant that no idle word From out my mouth proceedeth; And grant, when in my place I must and ought to speak, My words due power and grace, Nor let me wound the weak.” F. J. L. 2 + oor The Power of the Gospel. James Hanson, an Alaska Indian, two years ago murdered a young couple who were on their wedding trip in southern Alaska, and a few months later he came and voluntarily de- livered himself into the hands of the law, al- though he had not been suspected or sought after. This strange occurrence is explained by the fact that the murderer had come under the influence of the Gospel and been converted to Christianity. What the heathen never thought of doing the Christian found it impossible to avoid, and when this converted heathen ap- peared before the magistrate and confessed his crime, concluding with the following signif- icant words; ‘Brother, I have done my duty, now do yours,”’ he unwittingly preached an earnest sermon to thousands of people, Chris- tians in name, whose consciences don’t seem to stand in their way when they trample God's laws under their feet. —-—+ oo > “Seeing it’s for the Lord.’”” When Andrew Fuller went into his native town to collect money for Foreign Missions, one of his old acquaintances said: ‘‘Well, An- drew, I'll give five pounds, seeing it’s you.”” “\No,”? said Mr. Fuller, “7711 take nothing for this cause, seeing it’s I,” and handed the money back. The man was stung, but in a moment re- covered himself, and said: ‘Andrew, you are right; here are ten pounds, seeing it’s for the Lord Jesus!’’