LOVE TO ONE'S NEIGHBOR.—“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Rom. 13: 9.
We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves; and whatever we would that men should do to us, we are required to do so to them: which glorious and divine laws the great Author of the Bible hath there more particularly explained, and filled up with such instances of justice, charity, and love, that nothing can be added to them. He requires us to put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil-speaking: that we lie not one to another, nor take up a reproach against our neighbor; that we be gentle and courteous, that we be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God forgives us; that we walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; that we owe no man anything but love; and, in a word, that we imitate the great Pattern of goodness, our Heavenly Father; and with a charity as extensive as the beams and influence of the sun do good against evil, bless them that curse us, forgive, pray for, and love our enemies, and overcome evil with good.