Duty to Our Father in Heaven Must be United with Duty to Our Brother on Earth
J. Halsey. Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,… You have a son, I will suppose, in a distant land. He has been prosperous, he has become honoured, influential, and beloved. He has won golden opinions from all for his abilities, his charities, his devotion to the interests of the community. He is known as a tender father; he is reputed a munificent benefactor and large-hearted philanthropist. The colony rings with his praises. Does not your paternal heart throb with a pardonable pride as you hear of the goodness and the greatness to which he has attained? "Alas!" you say, "what might be my pride is my pain. My boy has been absent for twenty years, and took a father's fond blessing with him, but during that long period he has sent no tidings to his parents. His commercial correspondence has been carried on with most commendable regularity, but never a solitary line has he written home. All the news we get of him comes at second hand. We hear of his bounties to others, but we are getting poor in our old age and no token has come to us. He has not shown in any way that he is even aware of our existence." Now what are your ideas of such sonship as that? Are not the benefactions of such a man an abomination, and his fascinations an offence? Here, then, is a picture of the behaviour of the man who, just in all earthly dealings, and tender in all human relations, yet lives, with regard to his highest obligations, simply as though God were not. (J. Halsey.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, WEB: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,