THROUGHOUT the Scriptures,—from the days when Abram entreated Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, ... for we be brethren,"—we find command after command that brethren shall dwell together in peace and harmony. So clearly and emphatically are these commands given that it seems strange they have not been more carefully heeded by all who have taken upon themselves the name Christian, and especially by those who are banded together in church organization, and therefore stand before the world as professed followers of Christ in truth and deed.
Jesus said to the lawyer who sought to gain from him an expression of opinion as to which was the most important commandment of the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." The inference is plain from this statement that the Master regarded love to God and one's fellow as the prime essential to a rightly ordered life, and that he who fulfilled this greatest command was not likely to fail in obedience to the lesser ones.
It is related of St. John that when he had attained a great age, when after his arduous experience he might honorably have rested from his labors in behalf of the church, he still caused himself to be carried into the assemblies. It was noted by the younger members that on such occasions the apostle continually repeated the words, "Little children, love one another;" and when they questioned him in regard to this statement and his reason for continually dwelling upon it, he is said to have thus answered them:"Because it is the command of the Lord, and enough is done if this is done."
