Page:Historical and biographical sketches.djvu/127

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CHRISTOPHER DOCK AND HIS WORKS.
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have been dedicated by Him to this calling, he has also given me the mercy that I have an especial love for the young. Were it not for this love it would be an unbearable burden, but love bears and is not weary. If a natural mother had no love for her children, the raising of children, what a mother must do through all the circumstances of childhood, would be an unbearable burden, but the love which she feels for her children makes the burden light. When the apostle Paul wishes to rightly express his love to the community at Thessaly, he uses these words, 1 Thess. ii, 1st to the end of the 13th verse. In the 7th and 8th verses he compares this love to that of a mother when he says: “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”

My worthy friend, the words of the apostle express such a love that he was willing to impart not only the gospel but his own life. Well would it have been if all the preachers in the so-called Christianity, from the apostles' time down to the present, had remained in such a state of heartfelt love. In these words of the apostle all have had an excellent example. He calls upon us all and says:

“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so, as ye love us for an ensample.” Phil, iii, 17. But how it stood in the apostles' time, and how it at present stands in the so-called Christianity, those can see best to whom the eyes of the spirit are opened.

I will let it go and explain my opinion to the friend at his request. I doubt not the friend has good views for the help of the young. Suppose now it was a natural