od and drink,
blessing and honor, must now love him in hunger and sorrow, in
adversity and disgrace. All works of love, then, must be directed to
our wretched, needy neighbors. In these lowly ones we are to find and
love God, in them we are to serve and honor him, and only so can we do
it. The commandment to love God is wholly merged in that to love our
neighbors.

28. These facts restrain those elusive, soaring spirits that seek
after God only in great and glorious undertakings. It stops the mouths
of those who strive after greatness like his, who would force
themselves into heaven, presuming to serve and love him with their
brilliant works. But they miss him by passing over him in their
earthly neighbor, in whom God would be loved and honored. Therefore,
they will hear, on the last day, the sentence (Mt 25, 42), "I was
hungry, and ye did not give me to eat," etc. For Christ laid aside his
divinity and took upon himself the form of a servant for the very
purpose of bringing down and centering upon our neighbor the love we
extend to himself. Yet we leave the Lord to lie here in his
humiliation while we gaze open-mouthed into heaven and make great
pretensions to love and service to God.

ALL COMMANDMENTS SUMMED UP IN LOVE.

"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou
shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other
commandment, it is briefly summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself."

29. Love being the chief element of all law, it comprehends, as has
been made sufficiently clear, all commandments. Its one concern is to
be useful to man and not harmful; therefore, it readily discovers the
way. Recognizing the fact that man, from his ardent self-love, seeks
to promote his own interests and avoid injuring them, love endeavors
to adopt the same course toward others. We will consider the
commandment just cited, noticing how ingeniously and wisely it is
arranged. It brings out four thoughts. First, it states who is under
obligation to love: thou--the nearest, noblest, best individual we can
command. No one can fulfil the Law of God for another; each must do it
for himself. As Paul says (Gal 6, 5), "Each man shall bear his own
burden." And (2 Cor 5, 10): "For we must all be made manifest before
the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done
in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or
bad." So it is sai