Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/28

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

qualities of mind, for such is the love that sinners have for each other, a love which frequently ends in discord and hatred. All that we discover in man that is good, true, merciful, and godlike, is our neighbour. We are to love these qualities in him first, and this will necessarily produce the love of the person in whom such qualities dwell. The Lord's command to each of us is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." For when a man loves all that he sees of goodness, truth, holiness, and mercy in another, he loves ardently those heavenly qualities only which are congenial to his own self—the Christian's Self being the love of all that is good, true, and excellent. Our Lord, in the parable of the man who fell among thieves, gives the true answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" It was the good Samaritan, who, as he journeyed, came to the place where the wounded man was, and while the mere professors of religion, the priest and the Levite, saw the distressed man, yet neglected the law of charity and passed on the other side, he had compassion on him, went and bound up his wounds, administered consolation, and took care of him. "Which of these three, thinkest thou," saith the Lord to the enquirer, "was neighbour to him that fell among the thieves?" The answer was, "He that shewed mercy on him." Reader! "Go thou and do likewise;" then wilt thou follow the Lord, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.