The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

and love of God which shines from the pages of the Gospelthe love which is growing in his heart bursts the reservtwhich has hitherto restrained it, and he finds that he hasadded to his godliness or duty-love love of the brethren.That which helps the Christian most is the Lord's newcommandment : " Love one another as I have loved you,"and John's axplanation of this in his first epistle, chapter 3.verse 16': Hereby know we love, because he laid downhis life for. us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for thebrethren " (R.v.).A tree in blossom is peculiarly attractive. Its beautyand its fragrant odour appeal to us. Is it not exactly thesame with many dear brothers and sisters of our acquaintance? Their beauty of character and the sweet-smellingsavour of their many self-sacrificing acts of kindnessappeal to us. We are attracted to them. Is it not thesame with any company of the Lord's brethren whopresent the beauty and fragrant odour of brotherly love ?Many have told me that the first thing which attractedthem to the truth was the+?ove manifest among the brethren.But remember that the [natural] heart is deceitfulabove all things and desperately wicked." Our hearts willsometimes tell us that we have developed this grace ofbrotherly love when we have not done so. So long as thegerm is shut up inside a hard capsule of reserve, we havereached only the bud-stage. It is not until the petalshave burst open the hard covering that we can truly saywe have reached the blossom-stage. To have reached theblossom-stage of love of the brethren our love must beseen. IC must not be shut up within our hearts but mustbe manifested by kind, loving words and many !ttle, andpossibly some great self-sacrificing acts of love. By thisshall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you havelove one to another." But how are all men to know it,unless they see us manifest this love ? If they do see it,and especially if they see it in trying circumstances when26