Who is my neighbour?

The Good Samaritan.

(The Gospel History, Section 89)

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Who is my neighbour?

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book II Poem XXI)

That lawyer, had he pondered long one day
Ere told he in terse words man’s intimate need,
And, scoffing, questioned how he should proceed
To seize that ignis fatuus, mocked his way?

The Lord perceived the serious thought that lay
Behind his mockery;—“What is decreed?
How readest thou the law? We are agreed
That there those mandates be men must obey.”

Said the man, sincere at heart, “The law is love,
Our entire love to God; to neighbour, kind
Behaviour, seeking not our own above

Another’s good.” Pleased with his honest mind,
Christ bade him go and do; he, set to prove
His point, cried,—“How shall I my neighbour find?”

St. Luke x. 25–29.

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