The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-01
SERMON.
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT.
BY REV. II L. VEAZEY.
Hartman, Tenn.


ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as myself -
MATTHEW xxi. 1879.
NOWHERE does the manliness
IN and the pre- eminent clear
medicines of Jesus appear to better
advantage than here in this contro-
versy with the various parties OF the
Jews. There is concerted move
ment amongst them, an endeavor to
tempt him into saying something
that may be used against him as
sentiment of treason or heresy. But
with replies far above the power of
bigotry and hate to distort into here
sy, Jesus answered all their questions.
To the lawyer who would tempt him
into denunciation or reputation of
the Mosaic economy, and thus bring
upon himself the penalty of death by
stoning, he replied with the words of
our text, and while this was not such
an answer as the lawyer himself
would have given, yet it proved itself
to be truly the Great Commandment
with such convincing force that he
could only acknowledge that this is
indeed the very soul of the law.
Jesus acknowledges the moral ex-
-cellence and truth of the fundamen
tails of the Jewish law, and at the
same time shows how sadly the
scribes have missed it's real strength
and truth, and are dwelling in the
densest ignorance of all that is best
in it. For these quotations are truly
the heart and the life of that code
which had been made by some of the
most thoroughly religious men that
ever lived. This old law is the pro-
duct of race whose passion for
righteousness was most intense,
whose religious perception is the
wonder of every student of mankind
even today. Its fundamental and
all-pervasive principle is still the
very soul of the worlds best ethical
code, and the mind of man has yet
to discover that heaven has imposed
a weightier obligation upon mankind.
On it still hangs all the rest of the
law, and all the prophecies that have
ever blessed the world.
The significance OF the lawyers
question: Master, which is the great
commandment in the law7" lies in
the fact that Jesus deemed that
part of the law pertaining to cere-
mony to be the greater, while the
moral commandments were light
ly esteemed. To such length was
this distinction carried that only
those converts to Judaism who SUBJ
mitted to the rite of circumcision
were admitted to the inner court of
the temple, while those who only ac-
cepted the moral obligations of the
law were forbidden to approach near
er the Holy of Holes than the outer
court.
We may be surprised at this. We
may think it remarkable that a peo-
pie so deeply religious could ever re-
gard a mere natter of form more
essential than a matter of moral con-
duct and principle. But if we were
more careful critics of our own times
and people, if we were less superficial
in our observation of human actions
and the ideas that underlie them, we
would find that the same thing is
true in great measure amongst us
nowadays. The ceremonies of church
membership, of public profession of
religion, are made the only passports
to the inner courts of the temples of
today, while no man is so poor as to
honor "the merely moral man." He,
poor fellow, is only proselyte of the
gate, worse in many respects than
the publican and sinner.
So the world of today needs to hear
the voice of Jesus telling it that the
great commandment is not in regard
to the tithing of mint and anise and
cummin, but that it pertains to the
weightier matters of judgment,
mercy and faith.
For the pharisaism of the close of
the 10Th century is as great a hind
rance to the upbuilding of the King
dom of God today as was that
same spirit the greatest obstacle to
Christ himself at the very inception
of his blessed work among men. The
Pharisees of Christianity are missing
the mightiest factors in the problem
of life, and have lost the most power
full forces toward the salvation of the
world. They still shut up the king
dom of heaven against men, neither
going in themselves, nor suffering
those who are entering to goin. They
are still comprising sea and land to
make one prOselyte. and when he is