Two commands are dwelt upon by Christian Scientists as all-important: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me!" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!" They are indeed vastly important; but in quoting them, mistakes should be avoided.
Sometimes these two commands are cited as if they were the two great commands of Jesus, "whereby," he said, "hang all the Law and the Prophets." This is partly erroneous. Of the two commands, thus referred to by the Master, one is truly the same, —the second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" but the other, the first command, is different: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart."
On the other hand, the two commands, emphasized by Christian Science, are attributed, by some correspondents, to the Decalogue,—that is, the Ten Commandments; and in one letter it was stated that these were the two important commands among the Ten. This is an obvious error. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," is one of the Ten,—the first of what the Hebrews call the sacred Words; but the command about Loving the Neighbor is not one of the Ten. To be sure, it is found substantially in the Old Testament, in the writings of Moses (Leviticus xix. 18), but not as part of the Decalogue,
