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 ments)?” This  being  a point  of  dispute  among  the  Jewish  Scribes, he  hoped  that,  whatever  our  Lord’s  answer  might  be,  He  would give  offence  to  some  one.  Jesus  said  to  him: “Thou  shalt  love the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy  whole  heart,  and  with  thy  whole soul,  and  with  thy  whole  mind.  This  is  the  greatest  and  first commandment.  And  the  second  is  like  to  this  (i. e. as  great  and important): Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  On  these two  commandments  dependeth  the  whole  law  and  the  prophets”.

Obedience to  temporal  authority.  We  are  not  only  allowed,  but commanded to  obey  the  authority  of  the  state,  and  to  pay  such  taxes  &amp; c. as  are  a due; for  the  authority  of  the  state  is  ordained  by  God  to  protect the lives  and  property  of  subjects. If there  were  no  temporal  authority, disorder, robbery,  murder  &amp;c. would be  rampant;  and,  therefore,  as  the authority of  the  state  exists  for  the  good  of  subjects,  it  is  the  duty  of these  last  to  pay  those  taxes  &amp;c. without which  it  cannot  be  kept  up.

The Worship  of  God.  We  are  to  be  equally  particular  to  give  to God  what  is  due  to  Him: faith,  hope,  love,  thanksgiving,  worship,  and obedience to  His  commandments.

The Veracity  of  our  Lord.  Even  His  enemies  bore  witness  that  He taught  in  truth. “Master, we  know  that  Thou  art  a true  speaker,  and teachest the  way  of  God  in  truth.”  This  very  testimony  condemned them, for,  in  spite  of  their  saying  this,  they  did  not  believe  what  He  taught.

Unbelief is,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  Pharisees,  untiring  in  its efforts to  find  objections  to  faith,  and  to  forge  fresh  weapons  against  the Christian religion,  showing  its  enmity  sometimes  openly,  sometimes  veiled under hypocritical  flattery. It deals  with  the  Church  and  the  faithful to this  day  exactly  as  it  dealt  with  the  Divine  Founder  of  the  Church.

The two  commandments,  to  love  God  and  to  love  our  neighbour, form, in  fact,  only  one  commandment. Without the  love  of  God  there can be  no  true  love  of  our  neighbour; and  he  who  does  love  God  must, of necessity,  love  his  neighbour  as  an  image  of  God.

For the  love  of  God  there  exists  no  measure,  for  we  must  love  Him as much  as  we  can,  and  more  than  we  love  anything  else,  because  He is  infinitely  worthy  to  be  loved.

The measure  of  our  love  of  our  neighbour  is  to  be  found  in  our love of  ourselves,  which  God  has  implanted  in  the  heart  of  each  one of us. We are,  our  Lord  says,  to  love  our  neighbour  as  ourselves.