and sympathy. Goethe has a
fine couplet to the effect that 'it is safe in every case to appeal to
the man who knows.'[22] But to understanding must be added
appreciative consideration. We must endeavour to put ourselves in the
position of our brother. Without a finely blended knowledge and
sympathy we grow intolerant and impatient. Fairness is the rarest of
moral qualities. He who would estimate another truly must have what
St. Paul calls 'spiritual discernment'--the 'even-balanced soul' of one
'who saw life steadily and who saw it whole.'

(2) Brotherly Love evinces itself further in _Service_, which takes the
three forms of Compassion, Beneficence or practical kindness, and
Example.

(_a_) _Compassion_ or sympathy is a readiness to enter into the
experiences of others. As Christians nothing that concerns our brother
can be a matter of indifference to us. As members of the same
spiritual community we are participators in each other's joys and
sorrows, 'weeping with those that weep, and rejoicing with those that
rejoice.' It is no mere natural instinct, but one which grows out of
the Christian consciousness of organic union with Christ. 'When one
member suffers, all the members suffer with it.'[23] {213} We fulfil
the law of Christ by bearing one another's burdens.

(6) _Practical Beneficence_ is the natural outcome of sympathy.
Feelings pass into deeds. Those redeemed by the love of Christ become
the agents of His love, gladly dispensing to others what they
themselves have received. The ministry of love, whatever shape it may
take, must, in the last resort, be a giving of self. No one can do a
kindness who does not put something of himself into it. No true
service can be done that does not cost us more than money.

In modern society it is inevitable that personality should largely find
its expression and exercise in material possessions. Without entering
here upon the question of the institution of private property, it is
enough to say that the possession of material goods may be morally
defended on the twofold ground, that it ensures the security of
existence, and is an essential condition of the development of
individual and national resources. The process of acquisition is a
moralising influence, since it incites the individual to work, and
tends to create and foster among men interchange of service. Property,
says Hegel, is the embodiment and instrument of the will.[24] But in a
civilised com