est, wholly
unaware who he was.

"Eleven," was the astonishing reply; at which the very servants were
scandalized, regarding the newcomer as a prodigy of ignorance. But the
man of God perceived the rare light of character and insight which
gleamed beneath the answer, and asked for a private interview. This
issued in the invitation to preach on the following day. To the
amazement of the household, so scandalized on the previous night, the
stranger appeared in the master's pulpit, and announced the words on
which we are meditating as his text, adding, "This may be described as
the eleventh commandment."

_Obedience to this fulfills the rest_.--Love is the fulfilling of the
law. Do we need to be told to have no other gods but God, to forbear
taking His name in vain, and to devote one day in seven to the
cultivation of a closer relationship with Him, if we love Him with all
our soul and mind and strength? Do we need to be warned against
killing our neighbor, stealing his goods, or bearing false witness
against his character, if we love him as ourselves? Only let a man be
filled with this divine disposition which is the unique characteristic
of God; let him be filled with the spirit of love; let him be perfected
in love, and, almost unconsciously, he will not only be kept from
infringing the prohibitions of the law of Sinai, but will be inspired
to fulfill the requirements of the Mount of Beatitudes. Love, and do
as you like. You will like to do only what God would like you to do.

_There is a very important purpose to be realized in obeying this
command_.--"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye
have love one to another." Every Church claims to be the true
representative of Christ. The Eastern, because it occupies the lands
where Christianity was cradled. The Roman Catholic, because it
professes to be able to trace its orders to the apostles. But, amid
the hubbub of rival claims, the world, unconvinced, still awaits the
emergence of the true Bride of the Lamb. The one note of the true
Church is Love. When once men of different nationalities and countries
behold its manifestation, they do not hesitate to acknowledge the
presence of God, and to admit that those who are animated by perfect
love to Him and to one another constitute a unique organization, which
cannot have originated in the will or intellect of man, but, like the
New Jerusalem, must have come out of heaven from God. So subli