Gen. xxiv. 41. Gen. xi. 3, 7.NEIGHBOUR. Propinquus or proximus signifies near Relations, Countrymen, those of the same Tribe, Neighbours, and in general, all Men that are linked together by the Bonds of Humanity,and whom the Law of Charity requires, that we should consider as Friends and Relations. We shall alledge Examples of all these Significations. Cum veneris ad propinquos meos; says Abraham to Eliezer: When you shall arrive at my Relations, my Kindred. Dixit alter ad proximum suum. One said to another, one Neighbour to another. Levit. xxv. 25.Si voluerit propinquus ejus redimere; if his Neighbour, he that is of the same Tribe, and of the same Family, has a Josh. xx. 5. See Matth. v. 43. and Luke x. 29. Psal. lxxxiv. 10. cxliv. 18. Judg. vii. 13.mind to redeem the Field that was sold.
Propinquus is us’d in this Sense through the whole Book of Joshua: Quia ignorans percussit proximum. He kill’d a Man at unawares. Narrabat aliquis somnium proximo suo. One Soldier related his Dream to his Comrade.
At the Time of our Saviour, the Pharisees had restrained the Word Neighbour to signifie those of their own Nation only, or their own Friends; being of Opinion, that to hate their Enemy was not forbidden by their Law. But our Saviour informed them, that the whole World were their Neighbours, that they ought not to do to another, what they would not have done to themselves, that they ought to love all Men as themselves, and that this Charity ought to be extended even to their Enemies. Thus he overthrew the false Maxims of the Pharisees, and brought back the Precept of universal Charity to its first Intention. See Luke x. 29.
God is a Neighbour to those who fear him, and call upon him. He gives them Tokens of his Presence and Protection. Putasne Deus è vicino ego sum, & non Deus de longe? Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? Am I one of those Gods that Men have made not above two Days Jerem. xxiii. 23.ago? Am not I an eternal God? Otherwise, I am a Neighbour-God, that sees every thing, knows every thing, and not an absent or distant God.