Mark xii. 32 — 34. And the Scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth : for there is one God, and there is none other but he : and to love him ivith all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
IT is the Christian's duty to be ready at all times to " render a reason for the hope that is in him, with meekness and fear." But there are some situations wherein this is extremely difficult. If a person ob- viously come only to cavil, we cannot but be pained on his account ; and we are apt to feel a degree of irritation also on our own. But we ought to be much on our guard against the smallest degree of asperity, lest we increase the prejudices which we should labour to subdue. It is true, we have not in such cases much prospect of success : but we learn from the instance before us, that we ought not to despair.
It was a question much agitated amongst the Jewish doctors, What was the first of all the commandments; whether that relating to circumcision, (whereby they were admitted into covenant with God,) or that which respected sacrifices, (whereby they obtained accept- ance with God,) or that about the Sabbath, (whereby they honoured God in a more especial manner,) or that respecting their phylacteries, (whereby they kept up the daily and hourly remembrance of God in their minds ; for on their phylacteries, or borders of their garments, they wrote passages of the law,) or finally, whether the moral law were not superior to the cere- monial altogether ? The Scribe who proposed this question to our Lord, though less captious than those who had preceded him, was under the influence of an improper spirit : yet our Lord returned to him, as he had done to all the others, a plain and incon- trovertible answer, and thereby not only convinced his judgment, but in a very considerable degree