heart wills some self-justification, anJ, thus willing, produces some excuse, some word by which to tum aside the arrow of conviction, II. THE B0ENE AND THE PERSONS 01" TJIE DRAMA. 1. The ,cene. The wild road, proverbial for deeds of blood, which Jesus and the disciples had just traversed. 2. The persons. The traveller, who had been attacked by the Bedouins, had fallen among them, and been spoiled, mutilated, ldt half dead. The priest, coming that way by chance, or rather "by a coincidence;" it was natural that he should be there, since Jericho was a station of the priests. When the priest saw the half-dead man, afraid of any defilement, "he pMsed by on the other side." Next, the Levite. Observe," be came and looked on him," with the life ebhing away, and he too moved to the other side. And then, finally, the Samaritan. (1) Look at him in contrast with the other two. Of them the kin<lnes~ might have been expected. The traveller, we may suppose, is their co-religionist. They, at least, are fresh from the sanctuary-from the reading of Moses and the prophets. 'l'hey hide themselves from their own flesh. The de,iire is to get home, and they pass by. The one not expected is" he who shows mercy." Is it not often so? Recall the word used concerning the Roman centurion, "1 have not found so great faith, no, nut in hrael." (2) Who is the Samaritan? Priest and Lcvite denied him a share in the kingdom. lle was a heretic, a descendant of the half-heathen stock, "the men from Babylon and Cuthah, whom the King of Assyria. placed in the cities of Sa.maria. instead of the children of Israel." CurRed in the synagogues, the people were taught that to entertain a Samaritan was to lay up judgments for a. hou.se. This is the man. If it had been a Jew approaching a Samaritan, the Jew would have left him in his blood. The Samaritan stops, compassiona.tes, binds the wounds, pours in the oil and the wine, puts him on his own beast, tends him, pays for him, provides for him. Brave, tender-hearted Cuthite that he fs I Thus the Lord answers the inquiry," Who is my neighbour?" Neighbourhood is dissociated from the range marked out by co-religion- ism; it is constituted by the fact of need. "Where you ca.n be helpful, to whom you can. be helpful, there, in him, is the neighbour." There a.re circles within circles. To love them that love us is not wrong; but, if that is a.II, what do we more than others? Humanity is neighbourhood. Do not ask what the man is. Enough that he is there, and in want. Sad, o.nd worse than sad, when the representative of religion is not also the representative of humanity I After a.11, who is man's neighbour? Like the traveller in the para.hie, man has ldt the heayenly dty, a.nd has fallen among thieves. To man the sinner the love of God in Chrbt is the neighbour. He has showed mercy; he is our Example: "Go, and do likewise." "Be imitators of God, as dear children; and walk in love as Christ also loved us."
Ver. 27.-The love of the neighbour. Fixing, then, on Christ's definition of the sphere of neighbourhood, wo are ea.lied to give a length and a breadth to his rule, which make it equivalent to the assertion, "Your neighbour is, not your blood-relation only, not the circle of your acquaintance ouly, not your countryman or co-religionist only; but he or she whom you ca.n help in any way w!J.atsocver-the wretched tatterdemalion from the slightest contact with whom you shrink; the besotted and degraded; even your enemy, who hates you and despitefnlly uses you; him, her, mankind, you are to Juve." "Thou shal t love thy neigh hour as thyself." A very searching word indeed. God help us! how far are we from realizing it? Here some may will to justify them- selves, and assume the defensive in some such manner as this: "It is impossible. We may cherish a 'eeling of benevolence towards a.11 men in virtue of their common humanity; but how can we love them? Love requires the perception of what is lovable; it rcq uires, too, that then sh11,ll be some link connecting 0110 personally with another. Dut to summon us to love the neigh hour, in Christ's sense of the phrase, is to insist on luve before the discovery of any such link, or notwithstandin'l: the discovery that such a link is wholly wanting." Or, again, ''This is a commandment to love. Now, we cannot love by commandment; we cannot go beyond the prompting of our own natu~es. Some we cau embrace with affection but from others we tum away. We have tned the law that is announced on a limit~d scale, and the result of the trial w~s this-So long as we thonght of the world in a general, ideal way, we felt, in a measure, ru-dent; but as regards the persons actually crossing our path as neigh hours, before the selfish- llet1s auu grccdi11cst1 aud ugliuoss which confruntcJ us, we wero forced to retreat, a.nu to 284. THE GOSPEL ACCORntNG TO ST. LUKE. [on. x. 1--42,