Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-18
FIRST OF THE LAWS
We Are Commanded Above All Things
Else to Love the Father.
THE FOUR WAYS OF DOING 1T.
High Churchmen, Low Churchmen, Broad
Churchmen and others.
REV. MR.. HODGES SUNDAY SERMON.


WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind That is st. Mat
thew's record of Christ's great command
ment. "And with all thy strength" st.
Mark says, making it wider still.
Both of these gospel writer's tell us that
Jesus said also, 'Thou shalt love thy neigh
ber as thyself" But they both agree that
he said that afterward, putting the other
first, calling the other the "great" COM
mandment, and this the second" The
order is significant. Christ sets peculiar
emphasis upon the love of God He wants
us to love our neighbors; but first of all and
chief of all, He wants us to devote our
heart, and soul, and mind, and strength to
God.
This emphatic priority and preference is
made particularly noticeable by the earn
estness and persistence with which Jesus
always insisted upon the observance of that
other commandment which is here set sec
ond. 1t means great deal, that he was
willing to put anything ahead of that
THE PROVINCE OF RELIGION.
No spiritual teacher ever laid deeper
emphasis than Jesus did upon mans duty
to his fellow men. All the truisms, and
socialisms, and secularisms and ethical
culture-isms get their best inspiration out
of the Christian gospel Felix Adler, the
leading ethical lecturer of this country, did,
indeed say to me the other day at Ply
mouth that the province of religion lies in
the domain of the affections, and that if we
want real education in conduct we must go
to philosophy. But Christ taught more
about conduct than He did about anything
else. The great purpose of religion, as he
conceived of it, Is to make men better. 1t
is true that He appealed to the affections,
for he who addresses the affections speaks a
universal language; everybody can under
stand him. And Christ wanted everybody
to understand him. But it is also true that
He appealed to the reason and the will. No
man ever breathed who had so lofty an
ideal Of human behavior. who attached so
much importance to everyday morality, who
insisted so strongly upon the translation of
every spiritual truth into righteous speech
and righteous action. He taught His dis
ciples that the real
TEST OF A MANS CREED
Is the mans character; that there is no al
lowable divorce between good belief and
good behavior; that whoever loves God
loves his brother also. In the ethics of
Jesus these two go inseparably together;
one is root and one is branch; one is cause,
ond one is consequence. No teachings have
ever so uplifted men.
There is no danger that Christ will under
value character, or cheaper morality, or set
duty on a lower plane than be-
II II
the philosophers of all time, the true worth
of ethics.
And vet Christ sets conduct second.
''Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,'
is commandment number two. The supreme
duty is God-ward; God-ward first, and then
The very first thing that Christ
asks about a man is, Does he love the Lord
our God? In the old torch races that the
Greeks ran in their games, no mans run
ming counted for anything if the light in his
torch went out. Before all else it was re-
quired that he keep that flame alive. And
love for God, it seems, is the sacred, neces-
sary flame in the race of human life. When
we consider the profound emphasis that
Jesus put upon brotherly love, we begin, as
[ said, to see how much it means that he set
this even before that. God first. ''Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
ucdIlJ WlIu all bHl SOulJ anu Win I'LL
thy mind, and with all thy strength" We
will love God a great deal if we love him as
much as that.
p. =. PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.
See how wide are the limits of this en-
phatic "great" commandment; how bound
lessly inclusive, and within the reach of
every body's obedience God is the universal
Father There are all sorts and conditions
Of men in His great family. And there
must be all sorts and conditions of regard
for God. All of us are different. No two
children love their mother in exactly the
same way-every mother knows that
You see that the great commandment
makes room for all these wide diversities
The strongest part of one man is the
str ength of his arm. He can do nothing so
well as to pull. and lift, and push. An
other is great deal better at thinking than
he is at lifting, cares more for books than
he does for blocks of wood or steel, handles
4 pen more skillfully than any other tool,
and is best at whatever occupies the en-
ergies of the mind. Other people attain
their highest possibilities in their affections,
cannot manage very heavy weights, nor
make out very difficult problems, but are
strong in believing, gifted with great capac-
tiles for trusting, blessed with deep and
warm affection. All these different natures
approach God from different sides. Nobody
loves God with heart and soul and mind
and strength alike.
IT IS OPEN To.ALL
And here is the blessed temple of the
owe of God, living four-square, facing the
Four corners of the earth, with a great,
8ide-open door on every side; so that every
nan who will walk straight on in the path |
where G has placed him, may come up to |
t and find access and invitation and vel |
,ome, and may enter in. There are four |
Ways of loving God-with heart, and soul, |
md mind, and strength.
1t is not easy to tell wherein the differ |
,nce lies between the love of God with the |
leart and the love of God with the soul. |
Heart and soul seem to be words of very
nearly the same meaning. We notice, how |
,ver, when we think about it, that the soul
signifies much more about man than the
leart. The heart is the seat of the emo
ions and affections; it is that part of our
,eing with which we experience joy and |
,rief and love. But the soul of man is
he man himself; it is the immortal, the |
piritual, the divine part of us. The most |
blessed privileges, the profoundest realities |
If religion, are associated with the soul. |
Jhrist came to save our souls.
LOVING WITH THE HEART.
We love God, then, with the heart, when
We love Him somewhat as the disciples loved |
he Master, as St. John, whom he loved, |
owed Him. We love Him as Mary did when |
he cried "Rabbonlp' in the garden of the |
and fell at His feet in adora-
ion. There are blessed, serene souls to |
Thom God seems close as personal friend. |
hey are always conscious of His beloved |