Article February 4, 1956 Issue

THE ROYAL LAW

HENRY J. LODER

"If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well." So wrote James "the just," one of the brothers of Jesus (2:8). And he continued, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

We may find it difficult to obey the royal law. Yet there can be no evading the issue, whether one appears faced with an exasperating relative, a dominating church member, a false friend, or a repulsive stranger.

It may seem severe to human sense that one who has laid the law as a whole to heart, but has failed in only one tiny particular, should be reckoned guilty of breaking the whole. Yet in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray that our debts may be remitted in the degree that we release others. Immediately after giving the disciples this prayer, our Master added (Matt. 6:14, 15), "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

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