Brotherly Love.

' j'he law of hrotherly love is also abundantly Set forth in the Holy Scriptures , the hook which Ereemasons place before them hi those most solemn proceedings of their lodges in which they specially desire to acknowledge and call for the blessing of God . Nor is it only in the

New Testament that we find it so . The Old Testament is also full of it , and the Jew who is a Freemason must acknowledge the religious ohligation of hrotherly love as well as the Christian . This we propose to show in the following remarks , and hy

citation of passages hoth from the Old and New Testaments , beginning with the New Testament . After this we shall briefly refer to . the special relations of the law of brotherly love to Ereemasonry , and to the special obligations and duties of Ereemasons .

It is difficult to exhibit the whole amount of the proof from the New Testament , because the New Testament is so full of this subject , that it would be necessary to quote great part of it , and often , not single texts , but whole chapters or long passages . . We find not only inculcations

of brotherly love , but exhibitions of it in its practical applications and injunctions concerning , them all , founded on the one great principle which is the centre and the substance of the . whole moral law . Our Lord Himself when asked the question

" What is the great commandment of the law ? " replied , "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mitid ' . This is the first and great commandment , and the

second is like unto it , Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" ( Matthew xxii ., 36-40 ) . ' " These things" ! command you , " said Jesus after , washing His disciples' feet , "that ye love one another" ( John xv ., 17 ) . And again , " A new commandment I give unto youthat ye love one anotheras I

, ; have loved you , that ye also love one another . By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples , if ye have love one to another " ( John xiii ., 34 , 35 ) . And what can be more impressive and affecting than the parable of the Good Samaritanin

, which'the law of brotherly love is extended beyond all the bounds of kindred and of ecclesiastical or other connection , as a law relating to every member of the human fa . mil y whoso distress can he relieved , or to whom good can in am' way be done

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper , also , is an institution , evidently intended , besides other things , for the exhibition of brotherly love , which all must profess towards one another , and towards all their brethren , believers in the same Saviour , throughout the worldwho take their

, p laces at the Lord's Tahle . The Epistles of John the Beloved Disciple—St . John the Evangelist , one of the two great "Patron" Saints of Ereemasonry —are especially occupied with the subject of brotherly love , exhibiting the duty , the

reasons , and the advantages of it . Brotherly love is exhibited as essential to Christianity , as the consequence and the evidence of true faith in Jesus Christ . "He that saith he is in the light , and hateth his brother , is in darkness even until now . He that loveth his brother abideth

in the light , and there is none occasion of stumbling in him . . But he that hateth his brother is in darkness , and knoweth not whither he goeth , because that darkness hath blinded his eyes" ( 1 John ii ., 9-11 ) . " -For . this is the message that ye heard from the beginning , that we

should love one another . Not as Cain , who was of that wicked one , and slew his brother" ( 1 John iii ., 11-12 )' . "We know that we have passed from death unto life , because we love the brethren . He that loyeih not his brother abideth . ' . in death . Whosoever hateth his brother is

a murderer : and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him . Hereby perceive we the love- of God ,. because he laid down his life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren . . But whoso hath this world ' s good , and seeth his brother have needand shutteth

, up his bowels of compassion from him , how dwelleth the love of God in himl My little children , let ns not love in word , neither hi tongue , but in deed and in truth" ( 1 John iii ., 14-18 ) . Here we perceive that the brotherly love

required of Christians , and declared to be their essential characteristic , is not a mere sentiment , but an affection , which displays itself in the conduct , as indeed no true affection can fail to do . It is by this that the sincerity of professions is to be

tested , —by thisthat the reality of brotherly love is manifested . We cannot refrain from quoting other sentences of this epistle . " And this is His ( God ' s ) commandment .