if not of the same city with the injured man, and, consequently, his nearest neighbours, treated him with that neglect which fellow mortals should in no case experience from each other. "He that shewed mercy on him," though a foreigner, and ostensibly his greatest enemy, was by far more deserving of the name of neighbour than were those, his own countrymen, who had displayed no disposition to assist him in his distress. The matter, then, being thus clearly decided, the conversation was appropriately closed by the exhortation of our Saviour in the text, "Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

Such, brethren, we perceive to have been the result of the conversation between our Divine Lord and him who is denominated a lawyer. This person evidently belonged to the numerous class against whom our Saviour so frequently denounced woe for their hypocrisy, as it appears in the following passage from the eleventh chapter of St. Luke: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered one of the lawyers and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." Such was the man, however, who was willing to prove his own perfection to the satisfaction of Jesus Christ; he undoubtedly flattered him

self that he had performed the injunctions of the law to such an extent as would have entitled him to the reward of eternal life. The love of God and the love of his neighbour seem to have been admitted by the Jew, as they are now by the Christian, to be "two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets." And had these commandments admitted of a limited rather than of a sense of the most general and comprehensive character, the interrogator of our Lord would, probably, have succeeded in his attempt. His love to God might, undoubtedly, have been inferred from his love to his neighbour. The love of his neighbour was a commandment of God; and "he that hath my commandments," saith the Father by the Inspired Word, "and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Unfortunately, however, for the self-righteous lawyer, he had adduced no proof whatever that he had kept the commandment of God, by shewing a love for his neighbour. He readily quoted the words of the law on this important point, yet could he not prove that he had been influenced by these according to the interpretation which was put upon them by our Saviour. And this interpretation, as we have seen, was the just interpretation, and such only as was in conformity with the spirit of the whole law of which they formed part.

This precept, therefore, is a precept which it behoveth most particularly every disciple of Christ to follow. Such, brethren, were the words-such was the exhortation of the Divine Jesus to all those

who are aspiring to that crown of immortality and glory which is reserved in heaven for the faithful servants of God. And what a noble and exalted view does not this impart to us of the character of the Eternal Father, the great Creator of the Universe and of all that is therein contained. Instead of prescribing an unceasing and direct homage to God, our Superior and our Maker, by whose word we were brought into the world, and on whose Almighty will our very existence and continuation here depend, and that, in obedience to such command, we should neglect our fellow creatures by looking on them as undeserving our care and attention, the Sacred Gospel of Jesus enjoins us to establish our title to a heavenly inheritance, by doing like the good Samaritan; by regarding every one as our neighbour, and by treating our neighbour as ourselves!

By this we see, that the very submission which the Omnipotent exacts from us is intended to produce our own mutual and reciprocal advantage. To love God, and to disregard one's neighbour, is a notion altogether inadmissible into the mind of the true and genuine Christian. Nay, brethren, the selfish and designing individual to whom the injunction of our text was in the first place addressed, knew full well that the love of God altogether depended upon the love of his neighbour. And for such reason was it that he endeavoured in the first place to prove that he had performed this latter part of God's commandments. What then shall we say to that divine dispensation, which looks to the

happiness of man, not as subservient to, but as at least accompanying, if not taking the precedency of homage and submission to the Almighty. Would the most rigid moralist, who ridicules the gospel of Jesus, and looks upon it as repugnant to those feelings of friendship and good will which are due from men, one towards another, dare to assert, on mature and unprejudiced investigation, that these are not kept in view by its Divine Founder, as though they were objects of the most paramount and important interest? It cannot be denied, that did the Christian dispensation possess nothing but its own intrinsic merits, nothing but its own moral precepts and its own well-appointed regulations, even these, unaccompanied by those indisputable evidences of its divine origin, would be amply sufficient to entitle it to our highest commendation; and to recommend it to the reception of all wise and benevolent men.

In reference to the view which we are now taking of our subject, it may not be improper to recall your recollections to the memorable observation of our Lord, that "the Sabbath is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." No one who places the least reliance upon the authenticity of the Old Testament, can deny that this sacred institution was appointed to the honour of the Almighty. One would, therefore, naturally conclude that the interests of the Eternal, (if such an expression may be here allowed,) rather than the interests of man, would have held the first rank, when considered in reference to this divine institution. The above men

tioned declaration of our Saviour, however, leads us to a different conclusion, and we at once infer from it, that all the honours and adoration which man presents to his Maker on the weekly recurrence of the Sabbath, are intended to promote his own peculiar and individual benefit: "The Sabbath is made for man," that is, the homage and adoration which on this sacred occasion are offered to the Almighty, are intended for the advantage of him who offers, rather than for that of him who receives, the honours. And it is in a sense precisely analogous to this, that we have thought ourselves justified in interpreting the words of our text.

The duty of man hath been admitted by the lawyer, no less than by our Lord, to consist in loving the Lord God with the most unbounded love, and in loving one's neighbour as one's self.

Now on a certain occasion, mentioned by St. Matthew, either the same, or bearing a close resemblance to that which we have been considering, a Pharisee, who was a lawyer, is represented to have thus accosted our Lord: "Master, which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." In what, however, I would ask, does this likeness consist. They are both of them distinguished by the numerals first and second. The likeness, therefore, can only consist in the

And