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Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, i. e. the affections, which glow in thy bosom, welling up as they do from a fountain which God alone supplies, ought to rise in their regards, until they shall be fixed supremely upon Him, who is love, and the source of all that is lovely.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, i. e. that intelligence, which the Creator has bestowed upon thee, should seek after him who inspired it, the knowledge of whom alone is true wisdom.
Thou shalt love him with all thy strength, i. e. all thy activities should be guided by the highest wisdom, and animated by the purest, best affections, that may be developed within thee.
So too, as it respects thy fellow being, between whom and thyself there is a mutual dependence, who has faculties, feelings, hopes, fears, infirmities, wants, like thine own—it must be obvious that he is thy brother. Thou shouldst therefore love and treat him as such. The best of all rules, by which to govern your conduct towards a fellow man is, to do unto him just what you would that he should do unto you. Can there be a rational and moral being, who does not see at a glance, that a general obedience to these commands would promote the glory of God, and the good of mankind in the highest.
Let me here add, that the obligation to obey these commandments, does not rest merely upon the authority of him, in whose words we have received them; so that they are not exempt who deny Christ. These principles of moral conduct were inculcated by Jesus Christ, because they were right. The obligation to conform to them arose then, and arises now, from that moral constitution, which God instituted, and of Jesus Christ was the best expounder—a constitution not written upon parchment, but upon the living tables of the human heart; a constitution of course much more ancient, venerable, sacred than any, which men have devised for national purposes. We are not therefore to wait until the civil government, under which we live, shall see fit to re-enact these laws, before we acknowledge our obligation to obey them. Individuals generally have to precede nations in their conformity to God's will, often through much persecution and suffering. These are the benefactors of men, the lights of the world, the leaders of reform. Every one, when he comes to know himself, and his relations to other beings, will see
