indifference. The whole of our nature is expected to combine, so to speak, in this exercise. Not only so, but God is to be regarded as the supreme Object of affection and devotion. He demands the first place in our heart; and those who see his grace in Christ cannot find it hard to offer what he demands. 4. Love to man follows upon ove to God. Ié may, indeed, in order of time, in some measure precede and prepare for it. But in the moral order, in the order of obligation, love to God comes first, and, indeed, furnishes the one sound and safe basis for human love. The designation of the objects of this love deserves notice; they are our “ neighbours.” We must interpret this term in the light of our Lord’s answer to an earlier question put to him by a cer- tain lawyer: “ Who is my neighbour?” In the parable of the good Samaritan Jesus then laid a broad foundation for human charity. Not our own family, or Church, or nation, but all mankind, are to be regarded with good will, and treated, not only with justice, but with kindness. Practically, those have a claim upon our kindly feeling and good offices whom Providence brings into any contact with us in human society. Remark the measure of this love: “As thyself.” lt is, then, right to love self; but in subordination to Divine love, and in accordance with love to neighbours. The test is an effective ons, and canalways be applied; the Law is parallel with the golden rule, “ Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you.” The dependence of this law upon the preceding is obvious. Christianity bases morality upon religion; we love our fellow-men as the children of God, because he loves them and for his sake, 5, Love, to be acceptable, must display itself in practical forms. The love we cherish toward God should lead to worship and to obedience—in a word, to a religious life. The love we entertain to our fellow-men will reveal itself in the demeanour, the lan- guage, and still more in the conduct. Helpfulness, self-denial, liberality, forbearance, are all fruits of love; which is destructive of discord, malice, and envy, of jealousy, hatred, and persecution. Here is the power to banish the vices, and the remedy to heal the spiritual maladies which afflict mankind }
Ill. Tae soRiBH’s APPROVING CONSENT TO CHRIST'S REPLY. 1. He thus proved hig independence of judgment. Others, when answered and silenced by Jesus, retired dis- comfited, but unconvinced. This rabbi, with a mind candid and open to the truth, receives the Lord’s saying as suflicient and decisive, and renders his own consent and approbation in the words, “Thou hast well said.” 2. He shows his pleasure in the grand utterances of inspiration by repeating the language which Jesus had quoted— language evidently both familiar to him and congenial to his character. 3. His bold- ness and spirituality are apparent in his stating, what Jesus had implied, the supe- riority of the heart’s affection to all service of the hands,
IV. THE COMMENDATION EXPRESSED By JEsUs. 1. The position of the lawyer w very different from that of others. There were many who were “far” from God’s kingdom. The Pharisees for the most part by their formality, the Sadducees by their scepticism and arrogance, the publicans and sinners by their vices, the multitude by their ignorance,—these were far from the kingdom. Amongst those who may justly be so described are always some who are outwardly numbered among the religious, as well as multitudes who are without God, and manifestly have no hope. 2. There were several respects in which this scribe approached the spiritual kingdom of the Saviour. (1) He was acquainted with God’s Word, and was interested in it; he explored and studied it. He appreciated the grandeur and beauty of the Divine Law, and he was bold and earnest in speaking of it, In all this he displayed sympathy with him who came to magnify and to fultil the Law, and who bade the people search the Scrip- tures. (2) He tnoroughly agreed with the dictum of the great Master, with regard to the first and most binding and comprehensive ordinances of the inspired Word. Whether or not he was prepared with this answer to the question he proposed, it is evident that the answer commended itself to his judgment and conscience, and that the Divine Respondent was regarded by him with reverential admiration. It is well to Sind the truth; but it is also well, when others have found it, to recognize and to accept it. (3) Grand indeed was this scribe’s confession, that love “is much more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” All religions—the true as well as the false—are corrupted by a tendency in human nature to substitute the sacrificial, the ceremonial, the verbal, for the real, the spiritual. Men think that to comply with directions, instructive and profitable in themselves, but having reference only to symbolical actions.
on. xu. 1—44.] THE GOSPEL AQCORDING TO ST. MARK, 165
ia all important, and they give diligent attention to these, and neglect the weightier matters of the Law. It is presumed that bodily service is sufficient, in forgetfulness of the fact that God is the Searcher of hearts, and that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. This is a lesson which still needs to be inculcated, even in days of Chris- tian light and evangelical fervour. Never be it forgotten that character and conduct are of supreme importanes, and that the only sufficient, conclusive evidence that » man has received the benefits of redemption, and has felt the renewing power of the Spirit of God, is to be found in the reign of love within his soul, and the manifestation of love in his whole character and life.
Y. THE RESERVATION AND QUALIFICATION IN OUB Logp’s APPROVAL. If there was so much that was admirable in the spirit and the language of this student and expositor of the Law, what was lacking? If he was near the kingdom, what separated him from it, and prevented him from entering in? This question we cannot answer with certainty ; we can only surmise. There may have been an inadequate sense of sin; his admiration of Jesus may have come short of true faith in him; and he may have been unready to make a complete surrender of himself to the Lord Jesus. At all events, we have no difficulty in enumerating various hindrances which, as a matter of fact, do keep outside of the kingdom those who are very near its confines. Christ’s dominion is one which cannot be entered except through the door of repentance and of faith. True subjects come in sincere and childlike humility, and receive the welcome promised ; by the new birth they enter the new life of the kingdom. The laws of the Kingdom are spiritual, and demand spiritual conformity. And the King is enthroned in the heart as well as in society. You must become as little children in order that you may enter the kingdom of God.