LECTURE VII.

ETHICS.-II.

In the last Lecture we briefly reviewed the ethical principles of Christianity, and then proceeded to consider the type of character involved in the two great commandments of love to God and love to man. Our time only permitted us to dwell on the former of these commandments, and we must now pass on to notice the leading points connected with the latter. Love, as we have seen, is the supreme term in the social ethics of Christianity. Even Paul, the Apostle of faith, places it not only before the gift of angelic speech or prophetic power, but above hope and faith. A man may have the very faith which Christ so highly commended, and be able to remove mountains, and yet, without love, he is nothing.1 This, then, is the

1 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

standard by which a professing Christian is to judge himself. If in his dealings with his fellow-men his ruling principle is self-interest, and he cares not who suffers provided he himself gets on, his profession of Christianity is a hollow pretence; and when he boasts of his faith in Christ, he only insults the Master whose teaching he despises and disobeys. It is only through the spirit of love pervading and transforming our whole inward being that we know that we have passed out of death into life.1 This spirit is the Spirit of God, who is Love, and without it we cannot be his. He that hates his brother is in the dark; 2 but when all our hatred is driven out by love, we know the light, and see clearly, even as we distinguish the splendours of the dawn from the darkness in which we groped. Faith and hope belong only to the finite and imperfect being, and help us to lay hold of that which is life indeed; but love is of God, the infinite and perfect, and is itself the eternal life, which was manifested in Christ, and takes up its abode in all who are his.

This view of love, as an abounding life within, might relieve us of the question why we should love 1 1 John iii. 14.

2 1 John ii. 9.

REASON FOR LOVE TO MAN.

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man. Still Christianity has a special answer to this question; for when it first penetrates the mind, it completely revolutionizes the sentiments with which we regard mankind. For the first time we truly apprehend that they are our own brethren, and see them clothed with an indescribable dignity. Behind the meanest raiment, and the coarsest features, and even the ravages of sin, we behold the hidden child of God, and revere a nature which is gifted with such vast possibilities, and called to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence we "honour all men;" and the crimes and vices which defile the temple not only excite our indignation, but waken our pitying sorrow, and our longing to print once more the lost ideal on the soul. Thus love to man rests on a special ground, and is indeed involved in our love to God; for he that honours not the child honours not the Father, and if a man love not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

But independently of the particular sentiments towards mankind which are evoked by Christian faith, the life of love is in its own essence one of spontaneous and overflowing goodwill. Hence there are no limits to its exercise. It is not like the natural affections,

which are called forth only by pleasing objects, and adapted to the temporary purposes of life, but, like the sun, pours its energy abroad, to give light and warmth wherever its beams may fall. It pervades and glorifies the natural affections, lifting them into the eternal realm, and filling them with a divine constancy and power. But it goes further. It befriends the stranger, and ministers to the needy in their pain and sorrow.1 Nay, it extends itself to our enemies. It does not return insult for insult, or blow for blow. Blessing, and only blessing, can issue from its lips; and, instead of meeting evil with evil, it overcomes evil with good.2 These things are summed up by Jesus in the universal precept, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This precept, however, must be interpreted by the spirit of love, and not be slavishly followed; for we might desire wrong or foolish things for ourselves. It is a rule of practical sympathy, and requires

1 Matt. xxv. 34 sqq.; Luke x. 30 sqq.; James i. 27; 1 John iii. 17.

2 Matt. v. 38 sqq., Luke vi. 27 sqq.; Rom. xii. 14, 17 sqq.; 1 Peter iii. 9.

3 Matt. vii. 12; Luke vi. 31.