LV. Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. Subject. The good Samaritan. Text. S. Luke x. 37. "Go, and do thou likewise." THE text is our LORD's application of His own parable of the Good Samaritan, which derives its chief practical importance from these words. They were not merely a direction to the lawyer to whom they were addressed-they belong as much to ourselves. Our LORD could not recommend a faulty or defective example. In doing "likewise" with the Samaritan, we are sure we do acceptably to CHRIST. Every particular in the parable is an example to us. To understand the spirit of the good Samaritan, consider the occasion of the parable. A lawyer or scribe came to try (verse 25) our LORD's proficiency in the Holy Scriptures. These persons were the copyists of the sacred Writings, and were required to be learned in the works which they undertook to copy. Our LORD never charges them, among all their sins, with corruption of the sacred Text; probably they were restrained by Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32, Prov. xxx. 6. Providence guarded the purity of Holy Scripture; but the scribes, who wrote the pure text in their books, corrupted it in their hearts. They wrote in their books, as they read, Lev. xix. 18; but in their hearts they added, "and hate thine enemy;" till this saying was regarded as a precept of the ancients, of authority equal or superior to the written Law; though nothing could be more contrary to the express tenor of what was written. Ex. xxiii. 4; Prov. xxv. 21. The root of this evil was "the carnal mind," which cannot be subject to the law of GOD. (Rom. viii. 7.) The Jew had many neighbours whom he could not endure to love-heathens, Samaritans-and even his own brethren, if he took offence, or his selfishness inclined him to neglect them. As he would not submit to the Law, he tried to make the Law submit to him. The Law commanded him to love his neighbour: true; but who was his neighbour? no Gentile, no Samaritan, no personal enemy; none but a countryman and a friend. "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea: let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, 'Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour;' but this is not thy neighbour." (Maimonid. apud Lightfoot. Works, Vol.ii.p.15.) The lawyer in this history seems to have thought thus; and if he was sincere in his desire to know the true way of salvation,1 he might wish to be informed 1 Θέλων δικαιοῦν ἑαυτὸν are words just capable of a good sense, and might mean desirous of eternal life; but it is more probable that they signify a wish to justify his uncharitableness. See S. Luke xvi. 15, where the same Greek phrase is evidently used in a bad sense. what the true extent of the word neighbour might be. While, if he wished "to justify himself" in the popular construction of the term neighbour, he would ask our LORD's opinion, as an authority if it confirmed his own, or to cavil against it if it did not. Our LORD did not Two Jews passed un There was no deThe scribe having answer the question directly, but, by this parable, left the scribe without power to resist. "Which of the three was his neighbour ?" heeding; one Samaritan relieved. nying who best fulfilled the law. admitted this, our LORD, in the text, applies the parable: "Go, and do thou likewise;" go, and show mercy to thy Samaritan neighbour, or any natural enemy, as the Samaritan showed mercy to the Jew.1 Neighbour includes every man. Let us inquire what it is that we are instructed to do, when we are commanded to do like the Samaritan. It indicates I. The necessity of cultivating charity above all things. Col. iii. 14. The Samaritan, in religious knowledge, and in soundness of religious belief, was greatly inferior to the Jew. He rejected much of the Holy Scriptures; he separated from GOD's visible Church; he was unsound in his worship, and out of the covenant of salvation. (S. John iv. 22.) Yet he is here exalted above the Jew for his superior charity. (1 Cor.xiii. 1-3.) Not that a pure creed can be ever opposed to 1 It is assumed that the wounded man was a Jew; the spirit of the parable seems to require it; while the journey, from Jeru salem to Jericho, both places in the Jewish territory, seems purposely designed to convey the impression that both he and his assailants were Jews. charity. It was not the creed taught in Holy Scripture that restrained the Priest and Levite from being as charitable as the Samaritan. On the contrary, its effect would have been opposite; and the Samaritan evidently understood the Jewish Law better than they. If they had believed rightly, they would not have left a fellow creature to perish, even had he been an enemy, which here was not the case; for the law commanded them to help their enemy's cattle, much more himself. But the wounded man in this case was not an enemy, but, on their own principles, a neighbour. All sin hardens the sinner; they who began by restricting love to their own countrymen, ended by denying it even to these. There is no opposition, then, between Faith and Charity. Charity is even the daughter of Faith. It was because on that point the Samaritan was orthodox, the Priest and Levite heretical, that they acted as they severally did. The parable does not show that belief is indifferent, or that all religions are equal; but that the first point in religion is charity, without which all other orthodoxy is valueless. S. James i. 27. It speaks to us, "Go, and make expansive charity the soul of your religion: otherwise, however correctly you may believe, you have no religion at all." II. The principle on which we ought to conduct ourselves towards heretics and schismatics. The Samaritan was a heretic; yet he is here presented as a pattern to the orthodox believer. The Samaritan, in his charity, did not compromise his belief; nor would the Jew have compromised any truth by exercising charity towards the Samaritan. Kindness to those who hold the deadliest errors is not surrender of the faith; it is rather the recommendation of faith by its fruits. "We must defend Religion, not by killing, but by dying; not by cruelty, but by patience; not by crime, but by fidelity. The former are the weapons of evil men; the latter, of the good. And goodness, not evil, is the necessary accompaniment of Religion. If you defend Religion with blood, with tortures, with evil doing, she will not be defended; she will be defiled and violated. For nothing is so voluntary as Religion; which ceases altogether to exist when the mind of the worshipper is alienated." (Lactant. v. 19. See S. August. Epist. cxxvii. ad Donat. Procons. Africa, where the same argument is developed.) Let us distinguish between the love of error and the love of the erring. We may seek the welfare of the erring, without any allowance of their errors. We are to do good to all men, though "the household of faith" have the highest claim. (Gal.vi.10.) III. The duty of charity toward personal enemies. The Jews were personal enemies to the Samaritans. In the wounded man, the Samaritan might well believe he saw his foe humbled at his feet. He might be almost certain that the helpless creature before him, if restored to the use of his powers, would have employed them to assault and injure one of the detested nation; yet did the Samaritan show to this enemy the kindness of a friend-almost of a brother. If we would "do likewise," we must be so far from revengeful, that we must not neglect to do an enemy good." S. Matt. v. 44; Rom. xii. 19-21. III. The activity of true charity. Some, willing to justify themselves, almost would claim heaven on the |