domestic relationships in the world to come-or, when the Herodians put their question about the tribute money; still, there was nothing to awaken suspicion in this man's question. He may only have desired to bring forward a most important subject, to see how the Lord would deal with it.

2. Be the motive what it may, it is a question of life and death, demanding the most solemn consideration of every man, woman, and child—“ Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" With what weight of meaning every word falls on the ear! Yet, momentous as it is, how very few ever put the question in serious earnestness to themselves! Ten thousand other questions, public and private, agitate and absorb men's minds,-questions of liberty struggling with o pression,-questions of successful labour realizing wealth,-or fraud, or sloth, or dulness ending in poverty and shame,--questions of all kinds are suggested by pride or pleasure, by envy or ambition-these things are discussed every day with persevering avidity. But this question about the soul, and its interest in the world to come-how sins are to be pardoned, how the sinner can stand in conscious safety before God in the last great day,-by what means can he secure a good hope when life's vain dream shall end-to this great question, how few give any serious consideration! It is laid aside as a gloomy and unwelcome intrusion, disturbing more congenial thoughts, "If we must think of it," say they, "at least put it off till the time when sickness, and graves, and funerals, and such like repulsive things, can be no longer forgotten." My brethren, let us not incur the peril of such neglect. If life, slowly but surely, is leading us to death,-if the busy stream of this world will soon be merged into the vortex of the next,-if the broad road is thronged by the unforgiven and careless, and men that live without Christ must die without hope, then, as we value our souls, as we desire peace with God when we die, and bright hopes when death is over, let nothing hinder us from putting this question to our own hearts, what, WHAT must I do to inherit eternal life?" Mark the Lord's

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answer.

3. Had the man been awakened to know his condition of guilt before God, the Lord would have revealed Himself at once, as the way of peace. But this lawyer, like the young ruler in another chapter, had no conviction of sin. The Lord directed both of them to the

:

law for "by the law is the knowledge of sin." "The law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ."

"Jesus said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou ?”—“You know the law, ceremonial and political, which Moses gave to Israel, for, your business is to teach it; you know all the six hundred and thirteen different commandments the law contains; you know the ten great precepts of the moral law; but, give me its spirit and meaning; say, what is the sum and substance of the whole ? what does the law command, which, if a man will do, he shall live by them?" What is written in the law? how readest thou?"

4. Many of you also are habitual readers of the Bible. I would have you to question yourselves about its spirit and meaning-what is written, and how you are reading. Ask yourself to give some

account of some portion which you have just read,-give the substance, repeat distinctly the leading points of instruction the chapter contains. What, what is written in the law? And ask, too, the Lord's question, How readest thou? Some people read the Scriptures ignorantly,-some read them negligently,-some read them sceptically, and some read them, like the Ethiopian treasurer, that they may find there the way of salvation,-but, how readest thou?

This man had evidently read the moral law with an intelligent insight into its meaning. He could lay his finger distinctly upon the great aim and obligations of the law. He saw clearly that love is the fulfilling of the law; that the soul's supreme love to God is the sum of the first table, and love to man is the sum of the second. And he, answering, said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." He learnt this summary of duty out of the moral law. He knew more about his duty to God and duty to man, than all the wise philosophers of Athens, or Alexandria, or Rome. Our Lord commended his knowledge and discernment of truth: "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."-" Go, and put thy knowledge into practice love the Lord thy God supremely, as thou hast said; love thy neighbour as thyself; and thou shalt inherit the kingdom of heaven."

5. Perhaps he now perceived the drift of the Lord's inquiry. He was willing to justify himself. He felt anxious to put himself right with the Lord in this matter. He repelled any suspicion that he had not kept the law." As to the first table-Thou shalt love the Lord thy God-of course I love Him; and as to loving my neighbour as myself, I love those whom I ought to love. No man thinks he is to love every one. There must be some limitation. There are persons whom I ought to love as I love myself: tell me who they are, and my love to them will not be wanting. I acknowledge that I am bound to love my neighbour; but the question I want to know is this-Who is my neighbour"?

6. I would now invite your attention to this point in the dialogue. For, again, the Lord rather met the condition of the scribe's mind than the words of his question. You perceive that the Lord did not immediately tell him who his neighbour was. The Lord did not point out the man that is your neighbour; but He turned his thoughts to the love you are to cherish towards him. He left out the object, and spoke about the principle within. The true love of your neighbour is not an act towards certain individuals, or a thing of outside circumstances; but it is a principle of benevolence reigning in the heart. I do not say that this man is your neighbour, or that, but I bid you to see that you have the love, and compassion, and readiness to do good actively reigning in the breast; and you will soon find the neighbour on whom you may expend your love. "You ask, who is your neighbour. I will show you a man that loved his fellow-creatures as he ought to love. Give me thine attention, and I will describe his character. In the emergencies of real life, set this man's example before thee-consider him well-receive the instruction he is meant to give-then go, and do thou likewise.”

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7. These are the circumstances: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves." We know nothing of his rank, or nation, or character. That was purposely left out. He was a man; and, as such, had a claim upon the sympathy and aid of his brother man. The road along which he was travelling was as celebrated for the beauty of its scenery, as for its insecurity to travellers. It was infested by highwaymen. A gang of these desperate brigands fell upon this solitary traveller. Not content with plundering him of all his property, and even stripping off his clothing, they treat him with such merciless barbarity, that life is almost extinct. Lying on the roadside in that condition, already half dead, they leave him to his fate, and make off with the booty. As the traveller lay bleeding on the road, "by chance there came down a certain priest that way." Our translation, chance, is incorrect and objectionable. Nothing occurs by chance:

"All nature is but art unknown to thee,

All chance, direction which thou canst not see."

An event whose cause we are unable to discover we ascribe to chance; it seems chance to us. But it is no chance to Him that seeth all events from the end to the leginning, and that "ordereth all things in heaven and earth." It is His unerring though unseen hand that arranges the threads and weaves the curious tapestry of each man's life. It was not chance, but the coincidence of providential events, that led " a certain priest to go down that way," just as the wounded wayfarer lay expiring there. It was his golden opportunity for doing good. Providence laid before him that special conjunction of events wherein to show that he loved his neighbour as himself. But he lost his opportunity. He was returning from Jerusalem. Clad in priestly vestments, he had been engaged in the sacred offices of the temple, offering the sacrifice, diffusing fragrant incense, conducting the devotions of the people; and now, his sacerdotal offices discharged, he is returning homeward to Jericho.

8. Exactly rubrical in official duties-but, of justice, mercy, and faith-the weightier matters of the law-he took no cognizance. To lessen human misery he esteemed no part of his sacred calling. God will have mercy, and not sacrifice; this priest will have sacrifice, but not mercy. Of all the varied forms that hypocrisy loves to assume, that is the most flagrant and repulsive that conceals a cold, unsympathizing heart, under the garb and sacredness of religion. Hateful even to man; infinitely more offensive to the Most High. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. These things I delight in, saith the Lord God."

9. "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side." Attracted, as it seems, by some groans of distress, he crossed half over the road, observed some one lying there evidently plundered and ill-treated, then turned back again, "and passed by on the other side." Perhaps the Levite had observed that the priest went straight on, without even stopping to notice the dying man; and, the thought occurred to him, "If my superior passes on, why should I delay and concern myself?" Men seldom want a precedent to sanction their ungenerous neglects. Selfishness easily creates converts. The example of another's neglect soon quenches the glow of sympathy. The Levite, prompted by generous impulse, crossed half way over and looked. But his heart rebuked his eyes. On second thoughts, he crossed back again, and passed by on the other side. If there had been an ox or an ass helplessly prostrate under his burden, the law of Moses required immediate help; but here lies a man-a neighbour, a brother man, of like sympathies with themselves—and yet these two ecclesiastics, just returning from their sacred offices, can hear the expiring groans of a brother man, can see him gasping for his last breath, and not move a finger to abate his suffering, or to save his soul.

10. Do you ask, "And who is my neighbour ?" Look there! See that man dying of wounds, and fever, and neglect. Does your creed recognise any love for your brother man? Then show it. There is your opportunity. If your bosom glows with any generous feeling, ask not who is your neighbour. The stern events of life will teach you who your neighbour is, and where he lies. See him there, on that highway, helpless and sinking,-go up to him, feel for him, as man feels for his brother man-do him the kindness he needs, act the part of a loving neighbour to that suffering man. Do not, like the priest, just glance, and then pass by-do not, like the Levite, glance and approach two steps nearer, and then pass by. Here, in this world, you may pass him by; but know this, he will lie right across your path, and bear his testimony against you, in the world to come.

11. "But a certain Samaritan"—I can imagine the altered countenance of the scribe, as soon as our Lord uttered the hated name Samaritan: aliens in blood, aliens in language, aliens in religion, the Samaritan hated the Jew as much as the Jew hated the Samaritan-" But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was." The priest looked at the wounded traveller, the Levite looked and came partly towards him; but the Samaritan went right up to him,— looked,-examined,-felt for him. Stranger as he was, and alien, still, he is a man-has the wants and feelings of a man-his countenance is wrung with anguish, his looks implore pity,-his upraised band feebly beckons help. Nor does he ask in vain. With good men, compassion is ever stronger than prejudice. Samaritan though he was, he had compassion-His heart bore sway. Forgetting all antipathies, -regardless of the business on which he was journeying,heedless of robbers who might attack him too,-" he came" to the spot where the traveller lay, stooped down to examine,--closed his gaping wounds,

-stopped the bleeding,-soothed the pain,-bound them up and supported them with bandages, and, when sufficiently revived, raised the fainting sufferer, placed him upon his own beast, and walked carefully by his side, until he had brought him to an inn. Nor did he leave him even then; but remained all night, watchfully ministering to his wants; and on the morrow, when duty required him to pursue his journey, still commended the sufferer to the special care of the innkeeper, and with liberal hand engages to meet any further charges incurred during his absence: "Whatsoever thou spendest more, I make myself responsible,—it is my business,—when I come again, I will repay thee."

12. Fixing His eye with indescribable meaning upon the scribe, the Lord appealed to his own judgment: "Which now of these three-the priest, Levite, and Samaritan-thinkest thou was neighbour to him?.... Which showed the love of a neighbour? Which acted towards that suffering traveller as he would like another to act towards him ?" The scribe would not let the name Samaritan pass his lips; but his answer was the right one, for all that: "It was he that had mercy upon him." The priest and the Levite acted not the neighbour's part-they left the man to die. With breathless haste they hurried home, and told of their marvellous escape:-that some poor traveller they actually saw lying on the roadside,-stripped,and plundered, and apparently in the agonies of death,-and they escaped with the utmost speed from the perils of those mountainpasses. They were not "neighbours" to him that fell among thieves. But this stranger-Samaritan though he was-he that denied himself to do good to a brother in need-he that loved him with a generous heart, that soothed his sufferings,-dressed his wounds,-and saved his life, this man was "neighbour to him that fell among thieves." 13. "Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." Be this the spirit in which thou shalt live. Cherish in thy bosom love like his. Go where thou wilt, and thou shalt find a neighbour everywhere, lying among the changes and perils of life, who needs thy compassionate attention. Copy this Samaritan-his heart tenderly sympathizing towards the distressed, his will resolutely self-denying, his kindness unwearied,-his benevolence large-hearted, engaging others to help, while he spared himself no trouble or expense ;think of this Samaritan, what he felt, and did, and gave,-and then, wherever suffering abounds, and help is needed, go, with a heart and hand like his " Go, and do thou likewise."

14. Instructive as this parable is to teach the obligation of Christian benevolence towards the needy and distressed, yet we are admonished by almost all ancient Scripture interpreters that this parable yields some grapes of still richer flavour, which it were well for us to stay for one moment and taste. At any rate, the parallel is instructive.

For, in the pitiable and perilous condition of this wounded traveller, we see a vivid portraiture of the whole human race after the Fall. And, as the man in the parable fell among thieves, who plundered and stripped him, and left him to die of his wounds, so here are we reminded of the robbery far more ruinous, wounds