“A NEW COMMANDMENT I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John xiii, 34.
No one can say but this commandment is binding in all its fullness, as it was given by the great head of the Church, Jesus Christ. His love to us is inexpressible, yet free and undeserved; so great that he condescended to leave the realms of glory, and come into this dark world of sin and sorrow, to lead a life of suffering. He came a babe in the manger; and as we follow him along through life, we hear him declare, “The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” The world knew him not; he came to his own, and his own received him not. View him in the garden of Gethsemane—there in his agony he prayed, and he sweat as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground; and from thence he is led away to Pilate’s judgment hall, and there buffeted, mocked and spit upon, yet he opened not his mouth. But all is not yet over. Up Calvary’s rugged height he bears the cross, upon which he is nailed, and there spills his precious blood, groans and dies. And for what? For a friend or brother? No, no! but for poor, sinful man, who had forfeited all right to life and immortality, whose doom was death, eternal death. O what love! “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John iii, 16. We may profess to keep the commandments of God, and outwardly observe the ten precepts; yet if we are destitute of the great principle of love in our hearts, it will profit us nothing.
Says the prophet Isaiah, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Chap. viii, 16. That this prophecy applies to the present time, is evident from the following texts: “And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” Verse 19. “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them.” As this prophecy is fast fulfilling before our eyes, in the many that are seeking to the dead for knowledge, I think the time has fully come for the testimony to be bound up, and the law sealed among the disciples. I understand the testimony and law here to mean the same as in Rev. xii, 17. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The testimony of Jesus embraces all the requirements of the New Testament. To bind up the testimony while a certain portion of it is being trampled under foot, would be impossible; therefore it must first all be restored and kept by the true Church. Says the apostle Paul, “Put on charity, [love,] which is the bond of perfectness.” Love then is the bond which binds up the testimony, makes perfect the child of God, that they may receive the seal of the living God. Without love we are nothing. Says Paul, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, [love,] I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. All these gifts are good, but unless we put on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and which unites us to the true vine, Jesus Christ, we are nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; charity never faileth.” 1 Cor. xiii, 3–8. Praise the Lord! O that these words might be written and engraven in the fleshy tables of our hearts. Love thinketh no evil. O you that are looking with suspicion upon your brethren, and watching for iniquity, think of this! Cast an eye within and ask yourself if the great principle of love dwells there. A certain lawyer once came to Christ and inquired of him what he should do to inherit eternal life. He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do and thou shalt live.
Many there are at this day who say the ten commandments are not binding upon us; that they are abolished, dead and buried, &c.; but at the same time will admit these two quoted by the lawyer, to be binding, and to be kept that we may have eternal life. We would answer them in the language of our Saviour, This do and thou shalt live. Here, then, is a standard to which we may come and try ourselves and see wherein we come short, and while we thus try ourselves by the word of God, let us ever remember that he has said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. God’s words will stand, and if we would stand amid the burning wrath of God in the seven last plagues, our feet must be firmly planted upon his Word. Truth alone must be our shield; through it we are to be sanctified. A theoretical knowledge of the truth, without reducing it to a constant practice, will do us no good. We are commanded by God the Father, [Lev. xix, 18,] and by Jesus the Son, [Matt. xix, 19,] to love our neighbor as ourself. Are we living in obedience to this command? I would ask the question to those who say that God’s ten precepts are abolished, when we urge upon you the necessity of keeping the fourth commandment, we are often met with the reply, Show it to us in the New Testament and we will keep it. Now here is a plain command both in the Old and New Testaments, to love our neighbor as ourself. Do you do it? Perhaps you will answer as did the young man who came to Jesus: All these have I kept, what lack I yet? But suppose Jesus, to test the sincerity of your love, should say as he did to the young man, Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, would you not go away sorrowful? No doubt but this young man outwardly observed every precept of the law, yet he was not perfect: there was a lack of love to his neighbor; for if there had not been he would not have gone away sorrowful, but joyfully distributed his goods to the poor, and followed Jesus. Again we are commanded to look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Phil. ii, 4. Love seeketh not her own. Our blessed Saviour did not seek his own ease or comfort, but the welfare of others. If we would be owned and approved of him when he comes to make up his jewels, we must be found following in his footsteps.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Rom. xiii, 10. If we love our neighbor as ourself, we shall not break one of the last six commandments, which show our duty to him; and if we love God with all our hearts, we shall keep the first four, which show our duty to him. Love is the fulfilling of the law. On these two commandments, love to God and love to man, says Jesus, hangs ALL the law and the prophets; and if all hangs there, one jot or one tittle has not passed away, and we may keep the Sabbath without being Judaizers, or falling from grace. Praise the Lord! Says John, This is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.
While I look into the word of God and contemplate upon the way which leads to life, and what we must be to enter there, I feel to exclaim in the language of our blessed Saviour, Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matt. vii, 14. Let our station in life be never so high, our profession what it may, if we are not living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, we shall at last be weighed in the balances and found wanting. O the solemnity of the time in which we live! Did we but realize it, our minds would not be taken up with things around us, but in seeking the preparation needful to stand in the coming storm of the wrath of God. The last sands of time are crumbling beneath our feet; the mighty men are awake; the nations are angry; dark clouds are already gathering over a guilty world; men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking for those things that are coming on the earth.
But is there no way of escape? no shelter beneath which we may be secure in that day? O hear the voice: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. . . . A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Because thou hast made the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Ps. xci. Truth alone will shield us. Says the Psalmist, Thy law is the truth. And let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Eccl. xii, 13. Our Saviour says, This do, and thou shalt live. Luke x, 28. James says, Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Chap. ii, 10.
The warning voice of the third angel is waxing louder and louder, the standard is raised, the banner unfurled, on which is written the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. On the one hand are the commandment-breakers, and on the other commandment-keepers; on which side will ye be found? Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, serve him—keep his commandments; if Baal, then serve him, and keep the traditions of men. As for me I will serve the Lord and keep his commandments,183that I may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the City.