The Home Council

Sham Versus Reality

Who among you claims to be wise and intelligent? Let him show that his actions are the outcome of a good life lived in the humility of true wisdom. But, while you harbor envy and bitterness and a spirit of rivalry in your hearts, do not boast or lie to the detriment of the Truth. That is not the wisdom which comes from above; no, it is earthly, animal, devilish. For, where envy and rivalry exist, there you will also find disorder and all kinds of base actions. But the wisdom from above is, before every thing else, pure; then peace-loving, gentle, open to conviction, rich in compassion and good deeds, and free from partiality and insincerity. And righteousness, its fruit, is sown in peace by those who work for peace.

What is the cause of the fighting and quarreling that goes on among you? Is not it to be found in the desires which are always at war within you? You crave, yet do not obtain. You murder and rage, yet cannot gain your end. You quarrel and fight. You do not obtain, because you do not ask. You ask, yet do not receive, because you ask for a wrong purpose—to spend what you get upon your pleasures. Unfaithful people! Do not you know that to be friends with the world means to be at enmity with God?

—James, a Brother of Jesus.

Life Abundant Daily

In taking the account of your life, do not reckon by great distances, and by the periods of pleasure, or the satisfaction of your hopes, or the sating your desires; but let every intermedial day and hour pass with observation. He that reckons he has lived but so many harvests, thinks they come not often enough, and that they go away too soon. Some lose the day with longing for the night, and the night in waiting for the day. Hope and fantastic expectations spend much of our lives; and while with passion we look for a coronation, or a day of joy, passing from fancy to possession without any intermedial notices, we throw away a precious year, and use it but as the burden of our time,—fit to be pared off and thrown away, that we may come at those little pleasures which first steal our hearts, and then steal our lives.

—Jeremy Taylor.

Already Immortal

My eternity is not to come, it is here, it is now. The life eternal is not merely the life beyond the grave, but the life on this side the grave. I am now in eternity, I am breathing the very air of those who have passed the gates. I am already immortal; death can no more destroy my life than it can destroy God’s life.

—George Matheson.

Three Great Hearts

There are some hearts like wells, green-mossed and deep
As ever summer saw;
And cool their water is,—yea, cool and sweet;—
But you must come to draw.
They hoard not, yet they rest in calm content,
And not unsought will give;
They can be quiet with their wealth unspent,
So self-contained they live.

And there are some like springs, that bubbling burst
To follow dusty ways,
And run with offered cup to quench his thirst
Where the tired traveler strays;
That never ask the meadows if they want
What is their joy to give;
Unasked, their lives to other life they grant,
So self-bestowed they live!

And One is like the ocean, deep and wide,
Wherein all waters fall;
That girdles the broad earth, and draws the tide,
Feeding and bearing all;
That breathes the mists, that sends the clouds abroad,
That takes, again to give;—
Even the great and loving heart of God,
Whereby all love doth live.

—Caroline Spencer.

Alternate Reading: Revelation 21: 3-4 and 22: 5.

Jesus Befriends a Strange Woman from Syria

On leaving that place, Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

And he went into a house, and did not wish any one to know it, but could not escape notice. For a woman, whose little daughter had a foul spirit in her, heard of him immediately, and came and threw herself at his feet—the woman was a foreigner, a native of Syrian Phoenicia—and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“Let the children be satisfied first,” answered Jesus. “For it is not fair to take the children’s food, and throw it to dogs.”

“Yes, Master,” she replied; “even the dogs under the table do feed on the children’s crumbs.”

“For saying that,” he answered, “you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

The woman went home, and found the child lying on her bed, and the demon gone.

Cure of a Deaf Mute

On returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went, by way of Sidon, to the Sea of Galilee, across the district of the Ten Towns. Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and almost dumb, and they begged Jesus to place bis hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd quietly, put his fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with saliva. Then, looking up to Heaven, he sighed, and said to the man:

“Ephphatha!” which means “Be opened.”

The man’s ears were opened, the string of his tongue was freed, and he began to talk plainly. Jesus insisted upon their not telling any one; but the more he insisted, the more perseveringly they made it known, and a profound impression was made upon the people.

“He has done everything well!” they exclaimed. “He makes even the deaf hear and the dumb speak!”

—Mark.

Two Roads: One to Gain, The Other to Give

“How much can I get?” a young man said:
The morning of life was fair,
And the things to have and the things to hoard
Were glittering everywhere.
“It’s every man for himself,” said he,
“And I’m going to have my share.”

“How much can I give?” a young man said:
The morning of life was fair,
And the things to do and the things to be
Were beckoning everywhere.
“It’s every man for his brother,” said he,
“And I’m going to do my share.”

• * * *

At last, as the evening shadows fell,
A millionaire lay ill,
Served and tended by hireling hands,
Unerring and deft and chill;
There were those who knew him and loved him not—
But they want his money so!
And they waited and fretted and sighed and said:
“Why doesn’t he hurry and go?”

At last as the evening shadows fell,
A penniless man lay ill,
Watched and tended by loving hands,
And their voices were hushed and still;
And pale and saddened, they wept and said
“We cannot let him go!
If God would but spare him a few years more—
Because we need him so!”

—Ruby Elizabeth Hines.

The Control of the Tongue

I do not want many of you, my Brothers, to become teachers, knowing, as you do, that we who teach shall be judged by a more severe standard than others. We often make mistakes, every one of us. Any one who does not make mistakes when speaking is indeed a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body as well. When we put bits into horses’ mouths, to make them obey us, we control the rest of their bodies also. Again, think of ships. Large as they are, and even when driven by fierce winds, they are controlled by a very small rudder and steered in whatever direction the man at the helm may determine. So is it with the tongue. Small as it is, it is a great boaster. Think how tiny a spark may set the largest forest ablaze! And the tongue is like a spark. Among the members of our body it proves itself a very world of mischief; it contaminates the whole body; it sets the wheels of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by the flames of the Pit. For while all sorts of beasts and birds, and of reptiles and creatures in the sea, are tameable, and actually have been tamed by man, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless plague! It is charged with deadly poison! With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made “in God’s likeness.” From the very same mouth come blessings and curses! My Brothers, it is not right that this should be so. Does a spring give both good and bad water from the same source? Can a fig tree, my Brothers, bear olives? or a vine bear figs? No, nor can a brackish well give good water.

—James, a Brother of Jesus.

The Great Lesson of History

One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness; that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run, it is ill with the wicked.

—J. A. Froude.

“Home—the place where we grumble the most and are loved the best.”

Contentment

Whichever way the wind doth blow,
Some heart is glad to have it so;
Then blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.

My little craft sails not alone;
A thousand fleets from every zone
Are out upon a thousand seas;
And what for me were favoring breeze
Might dash another with the shock
Of doom upon some hidden rock.
And so I do not dare to pray
For winds to waft me on my way,
But leave it to a Higher Will
To stay or speed me, trusting still
That all is well, and sure that He
Who launched my bark will sail with me
Through storm and calm, and will not fail,
Whatever breezes may prevail,
To land me, every peril past,
Within His sheltering heaven at last.

Then, whatsoever wind doth blow,
My heart is glad to have it so;
And blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows, that wind is best.

—Caroline A. Mason.

Happy in the Inevitable

I met a little Elf-man once,
Down where the lilies blow.
I asked him why he was so small
And why he didn’t grow.

He slightly frowned, and with his eye
He looked me through and through.
“I’m quite as big for me,” said he,
“As you are big for you.”

—John Kendrick Bangs.

Alternate Reading: I John 4: 7-21.

The Real Life

So the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law asked Jesus this question—

“How is it that your disciples do not follow the traditions of our ancestors, but eat their food with defiled hands?”

His answer was:

“It was well said by Isaiah when he prophesied about you hypocrites in the words—

“‘This is a people that honor me with their lips. While their hearts are far removed from me; But vainly do they worship me, For they teach but the precepts of men.’

“You neglect God’s commandments and hold to the traditions of men. Wisely do you set aside God’s commandments,” he exclaimed, “to keep your own traditions! For while Moses said

“‘Honor thy father and thy mother,’

and

“‘Let him who reviles his father or mother suffer death,’

you say ‘If a man says to his father or mother “Whatever of mine might have been of service to you is Korban”‘ (which means “Given to God”)—why, then you do not allow him to do anything further for his father or mother! In this way you nullify the words of God by your traditions, which you hand down; and you do many similar things.”

—Mark.

The Wealth of the Heart

There is nothing that makes men rich and strong but that which they carry inside of them. Wealth is of the heart, not of the hand.

—John Milton.

Home—the father’s kingdom, the mother’s university, the child’s paradise.

The Religion Of Common-Sense

My Brothers, what is the good of a man’s saying that he has faith, if he does not prove it by actions? Can such faith save him? Suppose some Brother or Sister should be in want of clothes and of daily bread, and one of you were to say to them—” Go, and peace be with you; find warmth and food for yourselves,” and yet you were not to give them the necessaries of life, what good would it be to them? In just the same way faith, if not followed by actions, is, by itself, a lifeless thing. Some one, indeed, may say—” You are a man of faith, and I am a man of action.” “Then show me your faith,” I reply, “apart from any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.” It is a part of your Faith, is it not, that there is one God? Good; yet even the demons have faith, and tremble at the thought. Now do you really want to understand, you foolish man, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing? Look at our ancestor, Abraham. Was not it the result of his actions that he was pronounced righteous after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar? You see how, in his case, faith and actions went together; that his faith was perfected as the result of his actions; and that in this way the words of Scripture came true.—”Abraham believed God, and that was regarded by God as righteousness,” and “He was called the friend of God.” You see, then, that it is as the result of his actions that a man is pronounced righteous, and not of his faith only. Was not it the same with the prostitute, Rahab? Was not it as the result of her actions that she was pronounced righteous, after she had welcomed the messengers and hastened them away by a different road? Exactly as a body is dead without a spirit, so faith is dead without actions.

—James, a Brother of Jesus.

Charity is the salt of riches.

—The Talmud.

Who is the Honest Man?

He that doth still and strongly good pursue,
To God, his neighbor, and himself most true;
Whom neither force nor fawning can
Unpin, or wrench from giving all their due.

—George Herbert.

How Old Are You?

Nineteen years old? Have you reckoned the number of minutes that have elapsed since your birth? The number is startling: nine million, three hundred and thirty-three thousand, two hundred. Each of those minutes has flown to God; and He has examined them, and weighed them, and for them you must give account. Each minute bears its own impress (as a coin bears the impress of the sovereign) and only those marked with the image of God will avail you for eternity.

—Anon.

The Infinite Value of Time in Childhood

I will protect childhood, that it may not, as in earlier generations, be pinioned, as in a strait-jacket, in garments of custom and ancient prescription that have become too narrow for the new time. I shall show the way and shape the means, that every human soul may grow of itself, out of its own individuality…

From each object of nature and of life, there goes a path toward God…

The first groundwork of religious life is love—love to God and man—in the bosom of the family.

Childhood is the most important stage of the total development of man and of humanity.

Without religious preparation in childhood, no true religion and no union with God is possible for men.

The lovingly cared for, and thereby steadily and strongly developed human life, also the cloudless child life, is of itself a Christ-like one.

—Friedrick Froebel.

Alternate Reading: I John 3: 1-8.

Safeguard Growing Childhood

Respect childhood, and do not hastily judge of it either for good or for evil. Allow a long time for the exceptions to be manifested, proved, and confirmed, before adopting special methods for them. Allow Nature to act in her place, for fear of thwarting her operations. You know, you say, the value of time, and do not wish to waste it. You do not see that to make a bad use of time is much more wasteful than to do nothing with it; and that a poorly taught child is further from wisdom than one who has not been taught at all.

You are alarmed at seeing him consume his early years in doing nothing! Really! Is it nothing to be happy? Is it nothing to jump, play, and run, all day long? In no other part of his life will he be so busy. Plato, in his ” Republic,” which is deemed so austere, brings up children only in festivals, games, songs, and pastimes. It might be said that he has done all when he has taught them how to enjoy themselves; and Seneca, speaking of the ancient Roman youth, says they were always on their feet, and were never taught anything which they could learn while seated. Were they of less value for this when they reached the age of manhood? Be not at all frightened, therefore, at this so-called idleness.

What would you think of a man, in order to turn his whole life to profitable account, would never take time to sleep? You will say that he is a man out of his senses: that he does not make use of his time but deprives himself of it; and that to fly from sleep is to run toward death. Reflect, therefore, that this is the same thing, and that childhood is the slumber of reason.

—Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Life’s Measure

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred years,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer in May,
Although it fall and die that night,—
It was the plant and flower of light:
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measure life may perfect be.

—Ben Jonson.

Alternate Reading: I John 3: 13-24.