'We love Him, because He first loved us.'--1 John iv. 19.
Very simple words! but they go down into the depths of God, lifting
burdens off the heart of humanity, turning duty into delight, and
changing the aspect of all things. He who knows that God loves him needs
little more for blessedness; he who loves God back again offers more
than all burnt offering and sacrifices. But it is to be observed that
the correct reading of my text, as you will find in the Revised Version,
omits 'Him' in the first clause, and simply says 'we love,' without
specifying the object. That is to say, for the moment John's thought is
fixed rather on the inward transformation effected, from self-regard to
love--than on considering the object on which the love is expended. When
the heart is melted, the streams flow wherever there is a channel. The
river, as he goes on to show us, parts into two heads, and love to God
and love to man are, in their essence and root-principle, one thing.
So my text is the summary of all revelation about God, the ultimate word
about all our relations to Him, and the all-inclusive directory as to
our conduct to one another. To know that God loves, and to love
again--there is a little pocket encyclopædia in two volumes, which
contains the smelted-down essence of all theology and of all morality.
Let us look at these three points.