THE GOOD SAMARITAN, Van Diepenbeek
XXIX
THE GOOD SAMARITAN
The law of love.
There is, perhaps, no principle of conduct that Jesus emphasized more in His teachings than the law of brotherly love. As we have already learned, the first great commandment requires that we love God; and the second requires that we love our neighbor as ourselves. It is not enough, then, that we withhold judgment and condemnation; nor that we do unto others—even unto our enemies—as we would have others do unto us. We must forget self; bury self, as it were; and cultivate for others a real affection—such an affection as God has for us, for God is love. The reward of such a God-like love of our fellowmen is beautifully expressed in a poem—oft but never too often quoted—written by the English poet Leigh Hunt.
The reward of brotherly love.