The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1901, Page 22

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“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!’’