The Board of Missions
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PROCEEDINGS THE BOARD OF MISSIONS ^rxittstant €ptetopai Cimrcò IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A T TH E IR FORTIETH A ISTE- UAL MEETING, HELD IN NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1875. N e w Y o r k : STEAM PRESS OF E. S. DODGE & CO., NO. 12 WARREN ST. 1875. Yale Divinity Library New Haven, Conn. PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF MISSIONS OP TH E Protestant (Episcopal Cijutci) IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A T TH EIK FORTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. HELD IN NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1875. N ew Y o r k : STEAM PRESS OF E. S. DODGE & CO., *\0. 12 WARRFN bT. 1875. P?4 Ah. 7 F ortieth A nnual Ser m o n . Preached before the Board o f Missions, at Calvary Church, JSreic York, on Sunday Evening, October 1875, by the Rem. Wilbur F. Watkins, Hector o f the Church o f the Epiphany, Washington, I). C. S t. L u k e s . 27.— “ Thou shalt lo v e .............................. thy neighbor as thyself.” “ “ x. 29.— '* And who is my neighbor 1 ” As it happens in Oriental Cities that the most beautiful carvings are defaced by violence, or worn by time, and buried beneath gathering dust and soil until they are quite hidden, and travellers walk over them ignorant of the treasures that lie beneath their feet; so is it with the Holy Script ures. Some of the most exquisitely touched truths, partly by the dust that time has gathered, partly by being overlaid with vain traditions, and partly by the obscuring power of familiarity, have come to sink beneath the surface, and have lost their freshness, glow and force. After generations have passed away the truth seems to have disap peared. It has been expressed over and over again in the same words, and it no longer stands out with the sharpness and clearness which orig inally characterized it. Men hear it unmoved, they yield their cold assent, and that is all. There is then no power in it. And herein lies an impor tant part of the teacher’s duty—to reproduce and revivify old truths, to exhume the statue, cleanse the soil from its limbs and raise it again upon the pedestal, that its grace and beauty may once more be seen as they were in the beginning. So d id C h r i s t on the occasion before us. A certain lawyer had asked Him, not sincerely, but “ tempting Him,” seeing whether he could catch Him or not, “ What shall I do to inherit Eternal life ? ” The Great Teacher referred him at once to the Law of Moses, with the letter of which he was thoroughly acquainted. Just as in another instance, related by the earlier Evangelists : One of the same class, who liked better to dispute about the relative importance of the Commandments than to keep them, had inquired, “ Master, which is the great Commandment of the Law V ” Our Lord in making answer quoted from the books of Moses, the first great Commandment— “ Thou shalt love the Lord ¿Ay God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and itith all thy "ijyu n d . And likewise from the same source, the second great Command ment—“ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” Both these Mosaic Jurists acknowledged the authority of the Law, both were well versed in 2 it, a n d this g a v e C h e is t the opportunity to rebuke them for neglect of its provisions, and at the same time to point out its true Spiritual sense. He amplifies and invests with a fresh meaning precepts which were as familiar to His hearers as household words. For not only were they repeated every morning and evening in the synagogue as a summary of the whole law, but they were written, in part at least, upon the broad phylactery which was worn by the Pharisees. The craft}' lawyer, stung by our L o r d ’ s quiet but effective rebuke,, feeling himself worsted in the encounter, and “ willing to justify himself,,r contemptuously demanded—“ and who is my neighbor?” He is taught 1 >v the example of the Good Samaritan that his neighbor is not the Jew o n ly , one of h is own nation and religion, but the stranger, and the heathen as w ell; that neighborly offices of kindness and good s e r v ic e are due to all men without restriction or limitation. And so our L o r d inaugurated a new idea. He rescued an old truth from the dusty archives where the S c r ib e s and Pharisees had buried it beneath their glosses and evasions. He reproduced it before mankind as something better than revived, beeause He elevated it from its original status as a legal precept, and raised it to the dignity of a surpassing moral obligation. Self-love is an inextinguishable instinct of human nature. It is as much a part of our original constitution as the desire for food. It is wholly distinct- from, although often confounded with, selfishness. The latter is only a perverted and distorted manifestation of the former. Self-love is entirely compatible with love to one’s neighbor. Indeed, we cannot bene fit him without benefiting ourselves. “ We are members one of another ” —is a fact of nature which is made a doctrine of grace. Our whole interest and enjoyment are dependent upon the condition of others. The promotion of their well-being involves that of our own; so intimate and reciprocally dependent are a rational self-love and a love of our neighbor. They are not opposites, but different phases of one common principle. And it is to this principle that our L o r d appeals. “ I lay upon you no greater burden,” the Law-giver seems to say, “ than just this : Make thine own laws. Do good to thyself. Find out what would satisfy thy neighbor if he were thyself. In short, love thy neighbor as thyself, and all that the L o r d thy G o d hath required of thee, in respect of human obligation, is fulfilled, for ‘ love is the fulfilling of the L a w .’ ” Apart from Christianity, self-love were a mean and unworthy princi ple. It would respect merely my worldly interests with perhaps some very indefinite aspirations for Divine approval and final happiness. But self-love is exalted by Christianity. It tells me that G o d is m3' Father, that all unworthy as I am, I am still very dear to Him ; that to- rescue me from ruin and bring me to Himself in forgiveness and peace, He spared not His only S o n , and that His Spirit is continually working to renew in me the Father’s likeness. The Gospel tells me that by taking 3 my nature C h r is t has not only shown how highly he prized it, but has imparted to it a new and incalculable dignity and value. Thus Chris tianity inspires me with a new and noble self-love, since it gives me an unspeakably loftier and wider view than were possible without its revela tion. And as Christianity ennobles my love o f self so it extends and empha sizes my love to my neighbor. He is now no longer merely my human brother, having in his veins the “ one blood of which G o d hath made all the nations of men,” but he is my brother in the infinite regard of the world’s S a v i o u r . Although he may have flung away the crown of his manhood, I dare not despise him, because as he lies before me in his sin, prostrate and dishonored, there is that spark of heavenly flame which G o d the F a t h e r kindled, over which G o d the H o l t G h o s t yearns with intensest interest, and which G o d the Eternal S o n spilt his own heart’s blood to redeem. He shares equally with me the nature which the L o r d J e s u s assumed when He was “ born of a virgin,” and which He has forever enthroned in heaven. And therefore I am bound to love my neighbor as myself. The incidents of the parable of the good Samaritan are too well-known to call for detailed exposition. We all recognize in the Priest and the Levite twin types of selfishness. In the one it was instinctive, for he merely glanced toward the wounded traveller and passed on. In the other it was deliberate, for he came where he lay, coolly looked at him, but offered no assistance. And in the Samaritan, despised by the Jew as a heretic and schismatic, a very pariah socially and religiously, yet honored by all Christendom with the highest distinction any man can wear—“ the Good”— we see an example of the royal law of love. His was a charity which no prejudices could dampen, and no barriers restrain ; and which proved him the true neighbor. My brethren, this was one of the most offensive, original, and audacious of all the truths which C h r i s t uttered before the men of His generation. It shocked the Jewish pride of nationality, and more than once nearly cost the bold reformer His life. To us, it is trite, it is almost meaningless from familiarity. The rehearsal of the two great commandments is a part of the public worship of the Church as it was of old in the Jewish/synagogue.