ments. We must not be contented with our spiritual state unless we are sincerely anrl earnestly striving to obey it. The measure of that love is the measure of the whole heart and soul and mind: the heart, the centre of our being; the soul, the seat ol the affections and desires; the mind, the home of thought and reason. The love of God must dwell in all these parts of our complex nature, filling the whole man with its gracious sanctifying influence; we must try to love him with the whole strength of all our highest faculties. Such love, the first duty of the Christian, is also the source of his sweetest, holiest joy. There is no earthly joy like that which flows from the love of those dearest to us ; and as the love of God is of all forms of love beyond com- parison the highest, so the joy which streams from that love is of all joys unutterably the deepest and the most blessed. It is the foretaste of heaven, for the joy of heaven is to love God perfectly, and to know and feel the great love of God. St. Peter say~ that those who love him now "rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And if that be true of those who now see him not save by faith, what must be the entrancing gladness of those who see him face to face, as he is, in his kingdom? (2) The second commandment. There is a second, the Lord said, like unto the first: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Like the first, it prescribes a pure and unselfish love. And it issues from the first, for Christian love is not mere human good nature; it is a grace-it is the love of those whom God loves, because he loves them. The two commandments are like one another. Both say, "Thou sha.lt love;" the word "love" in both is the same; not ,p1>..•w, which expresses feeling, affection., passion; but &-y..,.a,,, which is the love of reverence, respect. We are bidden to honour all men; to respect their rights, their feelings; to reverence in all men, however humble and ignorant, the image of God; to remember that all are precious in the sight of Christ, ransomed with his life, redeemed with his precious blood. And that love, that respect, should be like the feelings with which we regard ourselves-true, real, sincere. As we care for ourselves, for our own comfort. and happiness ; so, if we am Christ's true disciples, we must ea.re for the comfort and happiness of others. Our love for others must be like the love with which we regard ourselves-like it in reality, in strength... On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets. " He that loveth another bath fulfilled the Law;" for the great principle, "Thou aha.It love," covers the whole sphere of human action and duties; and, if once accepted and received into the heart, will regulate all the details of life, and guide the Christian.a.right in all his relations.to others, at all times, under all circumstances. The commandments of God, whether expressed in the Law or the prophets, a.re not so many scattered, uncon- nected rules; they run up into one great principle; they are all developed from the one law of love. II. THE ooUNTEB·QUF.STI0NB OF THE Lon». 1. The first queslion. The Pharisees were still gathered together; most of them were filled with jealousy and hatred. All so understood the great truth of the unity of the Godhead as to suppose it impossible to regard· the. expected Messiah as other than merely human. Hence the Saviour's question," What think ye concerning the Christ [the Messiah)? whose Son is he?" They thought the answer easy. They knew that the Scripture had said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David; they had said so before (John vii. 42), and now they answered at once," The Son of David." 2. The second question. Jesus quoted the hundred and tenth psalm-a. psalm regarded by the rabbis as Messianic, "The Lord said unto my Lord [Jehovah said unto Adoni], Sit thou at my right hand." How could David speak of the Christ as his Lord ? Bow could the Son of David be the Lord of David? David spoke in the Spirit, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. How did they, the teachers of Israel, understand those sacred words? They could not answer him. They did not deny the Messianic character of the psaim, as, alas! some do without good reason now. They believed that the psalm was David's, and that he was speaking of the Christ; but they did not know, as we know, that Christ "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead;" that he was " God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world." We can answer the Lord's question readily; we know the Christian faith. The Pharisees could not answer him a word; and n.one from that time durst ask him any more questions, 370 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. M.A.TTHEW. [ou, n:n. 1-46.
LEsso1s"S. 1. " The great commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Keep that commandment, and you are safe; neglect it., and no exactness of external obedi- ence will atone for that neglect. 2. The second commandment is like it : "Thou shalt love _thy neighbour as thyself." It is the rule which must guide the Christian in his relat1ons to others. 3. " What think ye of Obrist?" He is the Son of God; he became for our sake also the Son of man. He is our God, our Saviour our Example our Life, our All in all. ' '