" (Matt. xxii. 35-40.)
The second precept occurs in St. Matthew (xix. 16), on another occasion
similar to this; and both of them, on a third similar occasion, in Luke
(x. 27). In these two latter instances the question proposed was, "What
shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Upon all these occasions I consider the words of our Saviour as
expressing precisely the same thing as what I have put into the mouth of
the moral philosopher. Nor do I think that it detracts much from the
merit of the answer, that these precepts are extant in the Mosaic code:
for his laying his finger, if I may so say, upon these precepts; his
drawing them out from the rest of that voluminous institution; his
stating of them, not simply amongst the number, but as the greatest and
the sum of all the others; in a word, his proposing of them to his
hearers for their rule and principle, was our Saviour's own.
And what our Saviour had said upon the subject appears to me to have
fixed the sentiment amongst his followers.
Saint Paul has it expressly, "If there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself;" (Rom.
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