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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S dreams, and upon the ministers of the Gospel rests a responsibility tremen dous and solemn. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” to bow to God’s will and yield at the cross of Christ their unholy wills, becoming partakers of that happy, glorious life which He so freely gives- ' T. C.H. SENSE VERSUS SENTIMENT This is a superficial age when there is grave danger of our losing our balance. We are d riftin g from our moorings. The Word of God gives us our precepts and our examples. We are tau g h t in the Word th a t we should love all men. No man should be beyond the reach of the love of our hearts, and this love should be manifested in our relation to him by our lives. B ut tru e love never thw arts justice. We should love our children and be w illing to suffer for them, b u t this demands th a t we should punish them when they are guilty of violation of law . V iolation of law demands righteous punishment. Love is not a sentim ent. I t is a principle, a principle unchanging \ w ith God, always exemplified by H im in H is Word. Punishment should not be inflicted in anger b u t in tears, though it should be inflicted a fte r G od’s own p attern . God’s love is a principle shown in H is grace, H is mercy, H is long-suffering. H is anger is shown in H is severity. He is angry w ith th e wicked, .b u t it is a righteous anger, a holy anger. God hates sin, and exemplified H is hatred of it by pouring out H is w rath on H is own Son. B ut H is love is also m anifested in the sacrificial g ift of H is Son. Our country is suffering intensely today by reason of lax ity both in the enforcement of law and in the punishment of lawbreakers. Ju stice is a joke w ith the law-violators. One excuse given fo r the failure to impose ju st sentences fo r violation of law is th a t the jails and penitentiaries are overcrowded, and it is impossible to accommodate the criminals. I f penalties were adequately adm inistered, th is would pu t fe a r into the hearts of men, and sentim ent would give place to common sense. Sentim ent breeds weak effeminate characters. We are charged sometimes w ith being too severe in our editorials, in our position towards the enemies of the tru th . We are told th a t we Should be more loving toward them ; th a t we should tre a t them as brethren. There is much of th is which is purely sentim ent, and leads to a compromising spirit. We love all men. We love bandits, and w ith th is same love we love the deniers of the tru th , bu t we w ant to call men by th eir proper names. We do not call a man a brother, in th e ligh t of th e Word of God, who denies th e D eity and blood sacrifice of our Lord, and y e t who pretends to be H is disciple and draws his salary from a deceived people. We bid him no God-speed, any more th an we would the Devil, fo r we know th a t he is the D ev il’s instrum ent and th e worst kind of a deceiver, fo r he wears the royal robe, as the ambassador of Christ while serving Satan. ■ . * Trifling w ith tru th , smoothing down sin, p alliating false preaching, calling a Bible- bandit a brother, pussy-footing w ith perjured professors, is purely silly sentimentalism . I t evidences a lack of Bible sense. Worldly and ungodly men respect th e man who reproves and rebukes th eir sinful ways, fo r they have a conscience concerning th eir wrongs. And these false teachers have more respect for those of us who love the Lord and H is Word, and who make no compromise w ith them bu t condemn th eir unholy position. We propose to expose error, not to excuse it. We w ill continue to love these destructive critics w ith a godly love, b u t w ill not fa il to le t the lig h t shine in on th eir dark and dangerous teaching. We w ill pray fo r th em 'as enemies of th e tru th , b u t will n o t p articip ate in th eir pernicious teaching. We prefer to be sensible ra th er than
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