62 church unity 



commandment, " Love thy neighbor as thy- 

 self." Do you ask in this connection, 

 " Who is my neighbor ? " Answer the 

 question, not in the lowest sense of mere 

 almsgiving, but in the highest sense of 

 true charity. 



Who is my neighbor ? Not necessarily 

 one who lives nigh or near me. The way- 

 faring Jew was in this sense no neighbor 

 to the Samaritan. Nor can mere local 

 neighborship exhaust church membership 

 or church fellowship. There was indeed 

 some plea for the local church, when it 

 landed on the bleak New England coast, 

 with the stormy Atlantic between it and a 

 persecuting Christendom. But now, when 

 that ocean is itself throbbing with electric 

 sympathy and the whole Christian world 

 kindling into brotherhood, the true church 

 member whom I am to fellowship may live 

 in Old England or in New England, next 

 door or on the other side of the globe ; if 

 he is a fellow man and a fellow Christian, 

 he is my neighbor. 



Who is my neighbor ? Not merely one 

 who is nigh of kin, of the same blood or 

 race. The Jew was of a different tribe or 

 nation from the Samaritan. There were 



