and up for their
rights." They often lose sight of everything else; kindness, mercy,
forbearance, patience, Christlikeness--in fact, nothing counts but their
rights. Their rights they will defend; and very often their rights prove
to be wrongs, or in insisting on their rights they do that which wrongs
others. Really spiritual people are not so particular and insistent
concerning their rights. They would far rather sacrifice their rights than
to contend for them, unless something vital is involved, which is rarely
the case. When a spiritual man is compelled to defend his rights, he will
do it in a meek and quiet way, a way that has in it nothing offensive or
self-assertive. When they were about to scourge Paul unlawfully, his only
assertion of his rights was to quietly ask, "Is it lawful for you to
scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" (Acts 22: 25). But there
are those who will not yield in the least; they know their rights, and
they will not yield to anyone! Very often their rights would look quite
different if such persons possessed more of the spirit of Christ.

Things sometimes look very different to different people, and no amount of
talking and arguing will make them see alike; and the more of such there
is, the further apart people drift. That is the reason so many church
troubles are always _being_ settled but are never _really_ settled. The
trouble is in the hearts. The members are not willing to be entreated. Let
them get their hearts warm toward each other, and be filled with the
spirit of brotherly kindness. Until such is the condition, one might as
well try to weld two pieces of cold iron. As before stated, when people
desire unity and harmony they can have it. But they must desire it enough
to be willing to sacrifice for it all those things that prevent it.

Another thing that hinders is self-will. So many people like to have their
own way. If others will do their way, such persons can be very gracious
and kind; but if they do not have their way, they manifest a very
different disposition. They are ready to "balk"; their kindness is gone;
they become stubborn; if there is trouble, they are very slow to yield. It
is very hard for them to submit even when they are convinced that they
should do so. When they do seem to yield, it is often only an outward
yielding, the heart remaining the same. How much trouble this self-will
makes, and how different it is in spirit from him who said, "Not my will,
b