New Park Street Pulpit · Sermon No. 162
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, November 8, 1857.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”—Mark 12:30.
OUR SAVIOUR said, “This is the first and great commandment.” It is “the first” commandment—the first for antiquity, for this is older than even the ten commandments of the written law. Before God said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal,” this law was one of the commands of his universe; for this was binding upon the angels when man was not created. It was not necessary for God to say to the angels, “Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not steal;” for such things to them were very probably impossible; but he did doubtless say to them, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart;” and when first Gabriel sprang out of his native nothingness at the fiat of God, this command was binding on him. This is “the first commandment,” then, for antiquity. It was binding upon Adam in the garden; even before the creation of Eve, his wife, God had commanded this; before there was a necessity for any other command this was written upon the very tablets of his heart—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.”
It is “the first commandment,” again, not only for antiquity, but for dignity. This command, which deals with God the Almighty must ever take precedence of every other. Other commandments deal with man and man, but this with man and his Creator. Other commands of a ceremonial kind, when disobeyed, may involve but slight consequences upon the person who may happen to offend, but this disobeyed provokes the wrath of God, and brings his ire at once upon the sinner’s head. He that stealeth committeth a gross offense, inasmuch as he hath also violated this command; but if it were possible for us to separate the two, and to suppose an offense of one command without an offence of this, then we must put the violation of this commandment in the first rank of offences. This is the king of commandments; this is the emperor of the law; it must take precedence of all those princely commands that God afterwards gave to men.
Again, it is “the first commandment,” for its justice. If men can not see the justice of that law which says, “Love thy neighbor,” if there be some difficulty to understand how I can be bound to love the man that hurts and injures me, there can be no difficulty here. “Thou shalt love thy God” comes to us with so much Divine authority, and is so ratified by the dictates of nature and our own conscience, that, verily, this command must take the first place for the justice of its demand. It is “the first” of commandments. Whichever law thou dost break, take care to keep this. If thou breakest the commandments of the ceremonial law, if thou dost violate the ritual of thy church, thine offence might be propitiated by the priest, but who can escape when this is his offence? This mandate standeth fast. Man’s law thou mayest break, and bear the penalty; but if thou breakest this the penalty is too heavy for thy soul to endure; it will sink thee, man, it will sink thee like a mill-stone lower than the lowest hell. Take heed of this command above every other, to tremble at it and obey it, for it is “the first commandment.”
But the Saviour said it was a “great commandment,” and so also it is. It is “great,” for it containeth in its bowels every other. When God said, “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day;” when he said, “Thou shalt not bow down unto the idols nor worship them,”—when he said, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” he did not instance particulars which are all contained in this general mandate. This is the sum and substance of the law; and indeed even the second commandment lies within the folds of the first “Thou shalt love thy neighbor,” is actually to be found within the center of this command, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God;” for the loving of God would necessarily produce the loving of our neighbor.
It is a great command, then, for its comprehensiveness, and it is a great command for the immense demand which it makes upon us. It demands all our mind, all our soul, all our heart, and all our strength. Who is he that can keep it, when there is no power of manhood which is exempt from its sway? And to him that violateth this law it shall be proven that it is a great command in the greatness of its condemning power, for it shall be like a great sword having two edges, wherewith God shall slay him. It shall be like a great thunderbolt from God, wherewith he shall cast down and utterly destroy the man that goeth on in his willful breaking thereof. Hear ye, then, O Gentiles, and O house of Israel, hear ye, then, this day, this first and great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”