Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1911 — Jesus, the Kingly Friend [ARTICLE]

Jesus, the Kingly Friend

By REV. F. E. HOPKINS, D. D.

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pfSXTuBtboM t* r uai «on»th.-^«ta | Consider the friendship of Jesus es lone of the kingly chsracteri sties of {Me royal nature. The Imperfection of Mr love is In Its disquietude. With a nr rare exceptions we are never •quite satisfied that we kave not jglvaa our love too easily, too quloktoo freely. But It was not so i Having loved, he loved unto tbs end. pad we believe that means not only junto the end of life and throughout bternlty, hut also unto the full oar jpaetty of his Infinite heart to love. Bocae one has said, ",Jesus was a sower land not a reaper;** that **He had very pw followers as compared with other (peat leaders or teachers.” The soundness of that statement is not at all dear. It seems to us that ijesus made friends quickly and that pa had far more of them than most jmen who live only thirty-three years, and whoee work was revolutionary. It la certain no man’s friends ever dung or ding more closely than the friends of Jesus. What man of thirtythree can name twelve friends to Whom he hu given a whoia heart’s {devotion and' reoelved the same In return? This Jesus did and had. Even &; misguided Judas was his friend, /town to the moment when he the upper room the master looked Bthe table, and In loving warnL: “The hand of him that belle Is with Me on the table.” er his great sin such remorse i Judas’ heart on account of ’ he had abused the friendship ord that he went out and hung

Now man do not kill themselves for abasing those they hate. And, of oourua, all that the New Testament tails us about the kingly 1* » mere outline. Only a few hemes are Etna. What Is the same of the friend who had the odt ready and waiting for Jeans at Bethpage when Jesus wanted to ride? Nobody knows. Who was the friend, “bearing the pitcher Of water'* through the streets of Jeruislem, who opened his house for the last supper? Nobody knows But they were among the friends of Jesus. In the New Testament we see the beginning of the great principle and {that is about all. And the essential principle of Christianity Is friendship, based an perfect love. Let us not forget the eleventh commandment That Is Christianity. We know that the (Jewish religion made but a slight lmipresston even upon those who professed it The Creeks undertook to meet the longing of the human heart jby culture, and marvelous were the achievements of that gifted empire; all the same, “the world by wisdom knew not Cod.” Then Rome incarnated a dream of mower and colonised as tar as the Manges. But with power came selfishness and It crushed liberty to death. But Jesus came and said, “Ye Sure my friends.” He said It to Creek and Roman. To Judah and to Israel. (To Samaritan and Publican, Scribe and Pharisee, and “To as many as believed on Him to them gave He {power to become the sons of Cod.” And what did that mean? It meant If even an usorlous tax collector like Zaccheua truly repents and restores bis 111-gotten gains where they belong be shall he treated as a friend of the Lord. If a woman has been a sinner and she Is sorry end she win promise to sin no more, she Is to be forgiven. She Is not to be stoned. Her sisters shall not say “Poor thing. We are awfully sorry for her, you know," while all the time In their hearts they are not feeling kind at all. They are to help her go in peace. And men are to be kind and help her. That la the Idea. She Is not to be tortured by regrets, and alarmed by fears, and torn by conscience, but the evil spirits sue to driven out of her, and Into the door of her heart is to enter the angel ct peace. When Samaritans are full of prejudice, and bigotry, and hatred, “Shall ere not call down lire from heaven and destroy them?” ask the apostles. But Jesus answered “No! No! The eon of man came not to kill but to aave. To make alive." “The good shepherd layeth down hia Ilfs for the sheep. “Greater love bath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. But Cod commendeth His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, enemies, His son died for us." Oh, what is love? Who can fathom ft? Who can define It? There Is only one who can do it, and that one is Jesus. Fbr Jesus is the lore of Qod epelt friend. And today wherever we see the rich helping the poor, and the wise Instructing the ignorant, and the strong bearing the burdens of the weak, and the saved seeking the lost, wherever doors of opportunity are being opened by helping hands with smiles of encouragement, wherever hope carries Its lantern to guide our steps along the unfamiliar and slippery paths of Ilfs, wherever we can gat on the track of men and women that have crossed the road to lift up a wounded traveler and care of him until he can take care at himself. ! there, and everywhere, behind these ministries, and rising above all aa the tnsplrer of all. wa catch sight of the worths only king, the ruler of the hnmanbMrt Tbs world’s Trusting and omnipotent friend, end ha to