He that is faithful in that which is? least, is faithful also in much.— Luke 16: 10. 



MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBOKS. 



WHO IS MY .\EIGHB0R1— LUKE 10.29. 



T one of our prayer-meetings the other 

 flay, one of our recent converts was 

 *■' leading, and he read tlie chapter con- 

 taining the text, '' Thou slialt love thy 

 neighbor as thyself." He made the 

 remark, that most people seemed to think it 

 is a pretty big task, and that it is a big task, 

 too, where our neighbors are lovable. It is 

 not so very hard to love the baby of the 

 household as you love yourself, because he 

 is lovable and innocent. Where is tiie child 

 who would not take more pleasure in giving 

 the baby a taste of a nice apple than in eat- 

 ing the apple itself? If the baby were in 

 danger, you would risk your life in a min- 

 ute, any one of you. Suppose he got his 

 clothes afire, and was in danger of burning 

 up", and that if you tried to put it out you 

 would be likely to get afire yourself, and 

 may be get burned up, would you hesitate 

 an instant? To be sure, you would not. 

 If Jesus had said. '' Thou shalt love tlie ba- 

 by of the household as thyself,'" you could 

 answer back, '• Why, we "do that already. 

 We love liim even lunre tlian we love our- 

 selves, and we would even lay down our 

 lives for him in a minute." If the baby had 

 the earache, and mamma had the power of 

 taking it away from him, and giving it to 

 some of you. you would all call out at once, 

 " Mother, let me bear it ;" '' let me bear it." j 

 Well, the young man who led meeting did ! 

 not tell all I "have told above, but he did say j 

 that Jesus not only called us to love all I 

 kinds of neighbors, good, bad, and incliffer- ' 



ent, but to love them as we love ourselves. 

 Nay, further ; he said we should love the ug- 

 liest and meanest and most disagreeable 

 neighbors tliat anybody ever had; for he 

 said, '"Love ye your enemies; do good to 

 them that hate you, pray for them that des- 

 pitefuUy use you." Is it not a pretty hard 

 task he has given us, my little friends? 

 AVell, there is this pleasant thing about it: 

 Even if we don't succeed in doing all he has 

 said, he is always pleased to have us keep 

 trying. In fact, I have sometimes thouglit 

 he took the "trying" as if we had done it; 

 and the happiness we enjoy here in this 

 world depends greatly on the energy with 

 which w" try to love oiir enemies and to do 

 good to those wlio hate us. 



Of course, Jesu.s didn't mean that we 

 should feel toward our neighbors to treat 

 them exaetlij as we treat tlie baby, for your 

 neighbor would not want you to give your 

 property with(»ut an equivalfut, or to take 

 up duties that belong to him. The great 

 point before most of us is, that no wrongful 

 selfishness should be shown toward our neigh- 

 bors. We should not have any desire to 

 beat them in a bargain, or to have a penny's 

 worth of any thing that is justly theirs ; and 

 that, when diiTercnces come up, we should 

 be just as eager to let them have the better 

 end of the bargain as to liave it ourselves. 

 When a matter comes up in regard to some- 

 thing that can not well be divided, Christian 

 courtesy should lead us to give them the 

 preference, or the better lialf. One at first 

 thought might be inclined to say we should 

 soon make ouiselves poor by this course; 

 but practice has demonstrated that it is the 



