my God; with a good will I offer my life to Thee; with a right mind I give myself into Thy captivity; and I long to have my weakness crowned in Thy strength, and my darkness glorified in Thy light. Thy captivity is the freedom of God.

O Jesus, Son of the living God, lift me up from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of Thy Father's children. O my Lord and my love, I

count all things but loss for Thee.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR.

OUR Lord, being asked which was the greatest commandment, gave two answers to that one question. He said, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' That answer has been already explained. He also said (St. Matt. xxii. 39), Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'

I. As to the second answer, we must

bear in mind that he who keeps this commandment fulfils the whole law; as St. Paul teaches (Rom. xiii. 10), 'The love of our neighbour worketh no evil; love therefore is the fulfilling of the law.'

To the love of our neighbour we are led by four motives.

1. The love of God. St. John says (1 Ep. iv. 20), 'If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.' For clearly he is a liar who says that he loves any one, hating, at the same time, his children, who are his members.

But

all the faithful are children of God and members of Christ, whose Apostle says (1 Cor. xii. 27), 'Now you are the body of Christ and members of member.' He therefore who hates his neighbour does not love God.

2. The command of God. Jesus, when He was going away, gave to His disciples this command of love above all other commands (St. John xv. 12), 'This is My commandment, that you love one

another, as I have loved you; and (ver. 17), 'These things I command you, that you love one another.' No one therefore keeps the law of God who hates his neighbour. Hence the love of our neighbour is taken as a sign of our keeping the law of God. Our Lord teaches us this truth (St. John xiii. 35), 'By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.' He does not say that His disciples shall be known by raising the dead or by any outward miracle. He says that the mark by which they shall be known is the mark of brotherly love. So well did Blessed John understand this truth, that he said (1 Ep. iii. 14), 'We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.' Why is this? He goes on to tell us (ver. 14, 15), 'He that loveth not abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.'

3. Our share in a like nature. We read in Scripture (Ecclus. xiii. 19), 'Every beast loveth its like: so also every man him that is nearest to himself.' It follows then that men, being like in nature, are bound to love one another. It further follows that hatred of our neighbour is not only against the law of God, but also against the law of nature.

4. The attainment of common benefits. By charity the possessions of one person may be made useful to another. This it is which brings about the oneness of the Church and makes all things common, as David says (Ps. cxviii. 63), 'I am a partaker with all them that fear Thee, and keep Thy commandments.'

II. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' This commandment about love of our neighbour is the second commandment (or the second table) of the law.* How much we have to love our neighbour has already been said. It remains for

* See the beginning of Chapter VI.

us to speak of the manner of that love which Jesus indicates, when He says, 'as thyself.' As to this, there are five points to be considered, by which we see the right way of loving our neighbour.

1. We ought to love him truly as ourselves. This we do if we love him for his own sake, and not for our sake. But here we must bear in mind that there are three kinds of love. Of these two are false, while the third is true.

a. There is a love which springs from selfishness. Holy Scripture says (Ecclus. vi. 10), There is a friend, a companion at the table, and he will not abide in the day of distress.' That plainly is not true love; for it fails when our advantage fails. In this case, therefore, we do not wish the good of our neighbour, but rather we wish. for ourselves all that we can get.

b. There is another love which springs from what is pleasurable. This, however, cannot be true love; for when the pleasure ceases, the love ceases also. In this