COMMENTS ON THE EPISTLES. THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. THE EPISTLE. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, Romans xiii., 8 to 14. that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Let there be but one debt that we owe, and let that debt be love. It is a debt that we must always owe, always pay, and can never entirely discharge. It is a debt that we owe to every body, and every body owes to us; a debt which comprehends every obligation; and, when felt to be really due, will dispose us to attempt the fulfilment of every obligation. If the Holy Spirit has engrafted this great Christian principle in our hearts, we shall neither kill, steal, covet, bear false witness, commit adultery, nor do any other unholy thing displeasing to God. Our tongues will be under control; our hearts will be watchful; our lives active services of love. Quarrels will cease; envyings will cease; ill-usage will cease; bad manners will cease. But let it also be remembered that if in any one of these things we transgress, and the transgression is habitual, the love thus commended is not in us. We cannot really love God, if we do not love our neighbour; and if we do not love God, we are without an essential feature of all true religion. B |