Wesley Corpus

as requiring elsewhere what was absolutely condemned in the very first commandment of it. This, therefore, duly considered, the sense of that command is easily resolved into this Thou shalt so love the Lord thy God with all thy powers, and with the whole force of all, as ever to remember that thou art bound, yea, by this very law, to obey him whom thou lovest ; and therefore to love those things which he com mands thee to love so far as he commands it. Secondly, to cherish that love which is the necessary effect of thus loving the Lord God, viz. the love of those men whom he has cre ated, particularly those who are renewed afterhis image, in righteousness and true holiness; and, Thirdly, to use all the means which reason and experience recommend as conducive to this great end, especially to love all his creatures so far as it tends to the love of thy Creator. In deed the third rule includes both the preceding, seeing that all obedience to God tends to the love of him, and every other fruit of divine love increases that love from which it sprung. The full sense of the first commandment is therefore contained in this single sentence