ARE WE BOUND TO HELP A BROTHER IN HIS NEED?
HOW READY we are to ask ourselves the question whether we are under any special obligation to help a brother, or a neighbor, in distress or need! And if we can not find the duty laid down specifically in the law which we are under, we are prone to count ourselves entirely free to do according to our ease and liking. A correspondent actually asks this question, as if he were in doubt on the subject:— After Abraham and Lot’s separation, was Abraham under obligation to help Lot to success? There certainly was no statute law making it a State prison offense for Abraham to stand idly by when Lot was in danger or need. But Abraham was a man who was quite as desirous to do a proper thing when he could do it as he was to conform to the letter of the law. Moreover, Abraham was of the Hebrew, or Jewish stock, and all of that race feel bound to help one another in time of need. There are Christians who feel the same way about their brothers or neighbors, but there are others who are asking whether they are really bound to be decent and neighborly. After all, the real question is, How loving and helpful can we be? not, How much are we bound to do for a brother, or a neighbor, in his need? There is no law so all-inclusive as the law of love.—S. S. Times.