A LAWYER SECTION LII. ST. MATTHEW, xxii. 35. Not in our sense of the word; but one supposing himself well skilled in the law of Moses, and all Scripture, and qualified to be a teacher of it. Tempting him-With design to sound him as to his knowledge and principles. Ver. 38, 39. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, &c.-Love of God with all the heart, &c., and of our neighbour with such a sanctified love as we should love ourselves, is our duty and happiness; we were made for it, are in an unnatural, perverted state in the want of it, and must have it restored to us. Now be a sincere man, and confess that thou hast lost this paradise. When thou knowest it, and findest there is no help in thyself, thou wilt be in pain to know how to regain it. The Bible tells thee, by faith in the pardoning love of God in Christ, warming thy heart with gratitude and love to him, and charity to mankind, for his sake. This is your light from heaven, the point in which all the rays of Scripture meet, and the heart of God opened to us for our renewal to a state of unfeigned regard to the two great commandments. I pray God we may all be supported continually with the thought, that we are travelling under the guidance of the Spirit to the region of perfect love. Ver. 40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. It is the great end of them to establish these duties; and, if we are not convinced of the necessity of them, and aiming at them in sincerity, and with a perfect heart, all Scripture is lost upon us. What think ye of Christ? &c. He now in his turn proposes a question to them, to convince them of their ignorance of Scripture, and withal to open a way for their acknowledgment of him as the Christ, David's Son, and yet his and their Lord. Ver. 43. How then doth David in spirit call him Lord? -Is he only David's Lord? And can any call him Lord but in and by the Spirit, as David did? Ver. 44. Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.— He is only so far our Lord, as we believe in him for salvation, and go to him for help to subdue our sins, his and our greatest enemies. Ver. 46. And no man was able to answer him a word.— Now, therefore, O Lord, let this be the effect of our reading, that we may never again answer thee a word; that when thou makest inquiry for sin, we may confess the charge that is against us; when thou offerest to help our infirmities, and give rest to our souls, we may gladly receive thee as our Peace-maker; when thou teachest, we may submit to thy infallible wisdom; when thou commandest, we may obey from the heart. LECTURE. I WOULD once more remind you of those words, "Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Hear and reverence your Lord. Let this thought be uppermost in our minds, and always ruling in our hearts; that as he has an absolute right to govern us, perfect wisdom to direct us, loves us with entire affection, and commands nothing but what he knows to be for our good; so it is both our duty and interest, what he earnestly requires of us as the proof of our faith in him, and the only return we can make him for all his benefits, to submit to his teaching, and receive all his instructions, with the simplicity of little children. For if we make any reserve in our obedience, if we suppose any of his commands may be dispensed with, any that he reminds us of, or recommends to us, may be disregarded, if in any one point, though it seem ever so trifling to us, we set up our own wills or fancies against his wisdom and authority; in so doing we put ourselves in his place, we become our own masters, we prescribe a law to him instead of receiving one from him, and cannot be entitled to the name and reward of his disciples. He, therefore, is the Christian, the man after Christ's own heart, the happy man, if there is one upon earth, who takes the whole yoke of Christ upon him, and makes it the great aim and steady purpose of his life, to fashion himself in every thing by the rule he has set before him. But if we are thus under a law to Christ, and if we would be his friends and servants, we must account nothing small or insignificant which he requires of us; and, certainly, we are bound in the highest degree to the observation of what he tells us is the first and great commandment," the love of God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength." Do you ever ask yourselves what it is, what it is founded upon, and whether it is the mark you are aiming at? We know very well what we mean by the word love in other cases, what it is to love any thing else, how far we desire it, and what we are doing to get and keep possession of it. And especially, if there is any one to whom we are greatly obliged, whose friendship we esteem, and on whom our well-being depends, we are affected with a sense of his kindnesses, find them to be the kindling of our love to him, dread the loss of his favour, and should think ourselves utterly inexcusable if we did not study to please him. Try your love of God by this rule. As we do not see him with our bodily eyes, we cannot well have the same passionate feeling of a sensible love to him, which we have for some other things, husband, wife, or child; but, nevertheless, we may have what perhaps is the best and truest love of the God and Father of our spirits; we may perceive him ruling in our minds; we may keep up a steady, prevailing regard to him in all we do, and he may be dearer to us than all the world. He is, when we are ready to forego any advantage, and deny ourselves any earthly pleasure, rather than disobey him. If you have this proof to give of your love of God, that you love him in his will, truly desire to please him, are never so unhappy as when you do any thing to offend him, and grieve for nothing so much as your coming short of that perfect obedience which he requires of you, you may set your hearts at ease; the love of God bears sway in you, and you have Christ's own words for your comfort and assurance in the case, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." And if you so love God as to do whatever he commands, and because he commands it, you cannot be at a loss to know upon what ground you do it. It is because you have some suitable apprehension of his goodness; but more especially, and above all, of his love to mankind in Christ Jesus. "We love God," says St. John, "because he first loved us," when we believe, and understand with the heart, that God gave his only begotten Son to die for us; that in him we are justified, accepted, beloved; that he bore our sins in his own body on the cross, and that they will never rise up against us to condemnation; we have such a powerful call in this manifestation of his goodness to love him again, and such a prevailing reason for it, as we cannot well resist. See, therefore, on what ground chiefly the love of God is to be We have great built, and how it takes possession of us. cause, on many accounts, to admire and adore his excellencies and perfections. Our lives, and the support of them, the sun that shines upon us, the rain that waters our fields, the air we breathe, the bread we eat, every thing about us and belonging to us, proclaim his goodness, and demand our highest gratitude. But Scripture knowledge goes beyond all this, and Christian faith shows him to us in a still more amiable light; and if the discovery he has made to us, of his grace and goodness in the wonderful manner of our redemption, does not incline us to love him, to seek his favour, to value his peace, and inspire us with a resolution to keep it, by a sincere endeavour to please him in obedience, we must not pretend that we believe in him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me, therefore, remind you of the question here put to the Pharisees, "What think ye of Christ?" Is he your Saviour in his blood? And is not this a mighty argument of his love to you, and a strong reason why you should take him for your Master too, thank God for his teaching, treasure up his words in your hearts and memories, and be always improving under him in that love of God which is your perfection and happiness? But is there not also another commandment, like unto the first, great in its obligation, springing from the same root of faith, and only differing in its object? Yes, the love of our neighbour; which, when it flows from the love of God, and is our tribute of gratitude to him, becomes divine, and is a far more noble principle of action than any degree of natural instinct or humanity. And when we know that God requires it of us, as the expression of our love to him, and has in some measure made over the love we owe him to mankind, as to the outward exercise of it, we shall think it our great distinction as |