Christian Patriotism

CHAPTER XVI. CHRISTIAN LOYALTY

Everything that the Lord has ever done for mankind since the sin of Adam, has been done solely to bring man back into harmony with His law. CHPA 99.1

The establishment of ordinances; the giving of His law; the sending of His prophets; the sending of His Son, “that Prophet” greater than all; the gift of His Holy Spirit; and the gifts of the Spirit—all, everything, that has been given, established, or employed by the Lord, has been to bring men to obedience to His law. CHPA 99.2

In bringing men to His law He is bringing them to Himself; for it is written: Thou “testifiedst against them, that Thou mightest bring them again unto Thy law,” and “testified against them to turn them to Thee.” Nehemiah 9:29, 26. Read carefully the whole chapter, and see the object of all that He did. Bringing men to His law is only turning them to Himself; because “God is love,” and this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” CHPA 99.3

No higher attainment than the love of God can ever be reached by any soul in the wide universe. And since it is the love of God, and only the love of God, “that we keep His commandments,” it is the very certainty of truth that no higher attainment than the keeping of the commandments of God can ever be reached by any soul in the wide universe. CHPA 99.4

Jesus said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love,” and “I and My Father are one.” There can not possibly be any higher nor any better attainment than oneness with God: than likeness to Christ, who is one with God. And as He kept the Father’s commandments and abode in His love, and abode in His love by keeping His commandments, so there is no higher nor better thing that could possibly be attainable than the keeping of the commandments of God. CHPA 100.1

The greatest gift of God to men is the gift of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Yet with this wondrous gift to men, even in Christ nothing avails on the part of men “but faith which worketh by love.” Faith is the gift of God, and, working by love, works only by the love of God. And “this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Therefore it is certain that the one great object of the very gift of Christ, and of faith in Him, is to bring men to the keeping of the commandments of God, to faithful obedience to His law. CHPA 100.2

The greatest gift God can bestow on men through Jesus Christ, the only means of this gift to men, is His Holy Spirit. Yet in this gift all that He does, all that He can do, is to cause men to know the love of God: for “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5. CHPA 100.3

And since it is “the love of God, that we keep His commandments,” and “love is the fulfilling of the law,” it is perfectly plain that the one purpose of this greatest gift of God through Christ is the keeping of the commandments of God, faithful allegiance to His law. CHPA 101.1

All the working of the Spirit of God, through all the diversities of operations, is to bring souls unto charity, the bond of perfectness, which is perfect love, the love of God. And “this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Therefore all the working of the Spirit of God, through His many gifts and operations, is solely to bring men to the keeping of the commandments of God. CHPA 101.2

By all this therefore it is certain that the keeping of the commandments of God is the greatest blessing, the highest honor, and the richest gift that even God can bestow upon any soul. All other blessings honors, and gifts are subordinate to this; they are given only to be conducive to this one thing; and they are to be used only as means of attaining this. CHPA 101.3

For any person to use any of the gifts of God for any other purpose than to make himself a true keeper of the commandments of God, is for that person to miss the will of God, and to frustrate the object of the very gift which he would use. To be willing to use the Word of God, to use God’s gift of His dear Son, to use the gift of the Holy Spirit, or any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, with any other aim than the perfect keeping of the commandments of God, is to miss the will of God, and to pervert the purpose of that Word, or that gift. That one aim, and that alone, is true Christianity. CHPA 101.4

This is what Christian patriotism means. So to honor the law of God is what it means to be a true citizen of the commonwealth of Israel. This is what means loyalty to the government of God, and allegiance to the constitution the supreme law of the Most High. CHPA 102.1

Now are you a Christian patriot? Is the keeping of the commandments of God your one single aim? Are all the gifts and blessings of God counted by you as only contributory to this one single object? These questions are important. This whole subject, as here presented, is of vital importance to every soul; for the loyalty of every soul to God, to His government, to His law, is to be tested to the uttermost in this time, when “the hour of His judgment is come,” and when, of all who shall stand in the judgment and be saved, it is declared from heaven, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:6-12. CHPA 102.2

Here are the commandments of God, His holy law: CHPA 102.3

“I am the lord thy god, which have brought thee out of the land of egypt, and out of the house of bondage. CHPA 102.4

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. CHPA 102.5

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven CHPA 102.6

Image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for 1 the lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. CHPA 103.1

“Thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain; for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. CHPA 103.2

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter; thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. CHPA 103.3

“Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god giveth thee. CHPA 103.4

“Thou shalt not kill. CHPA 103.5

“Thou shalt not commit adultery. CHPA 104.1

“Thou shalt not steal. CHPA 104.2

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. CHPA 104.3

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” CHPA 104.4

These commandments are summed up in the following two; because “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets“:— CHPA 104.5

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” CHPA 104.6

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” CHPA 104.7

This alone is Christian patriotism; and Christian patriotism is, in every individual who possesses it, the total separation of religion and the State. CHPA 104.8