I said that John, by leaving out any specification of the object of
love, as well as by the verses that immediately follow, shows that he
regards the emotion as one, though its direction is two-fold. That just
comes to the plain truth, that the only victorious antagonist to the
self-regarding temperament of average men, and the only power which will
change philanthropy from a sentiment into a self-denying and active
principle of conduct, is to be found in the belief of the love of God in
Jesus Christ, and in answering love to Him.
That is a lesson for many sorts of people to-day. What they call
altruism is no discovery of Christianity, but its practice is. I freely
admit that there is much honest and self-sacrificing beneficence and
benevolence which are not connected, in the men who practice them, with
faith in Jesus Christ. But I question very much whether these would have
existed if the story of the Cross had been unknown. And sure I am that
the history of non-Christian attempts to promote the brotherhood of man,
and to diffuse a wide and operative love of mankind, teaches us, on the
one side, that the emotion is not strong enough to last, and to work,
unless it is based on God's love in Jesus Christ. And the history of
Christianity, on the other side, though with many defects and things to
be ashamed of, teaches us, conversely, that wherever there is a genuine
love of God, its exterior form, so to say, the outside of it which is
presented to the world, will be true love to man.
Christian people, lay this to heart; you are to be mirrors of the love
to which you turn for all blessedness and peace. It is of no use to say,
'My religion is the love of God' unless the love of God is manifested in
the love of man. If you love God, you will love those that God loves,
those for whom Christ died, those who are just like what _you_ were when
you learned that God loved you. The service of God is the service of
man.
One last word, 'We love Him, because He first loved us.' Do you? Or is
it rather true of you: 'I do not love God, though He has loved me'? I
saw not long since, up on the flank of a mountain, an obstinate patch of
snow, that had fronted, in unmelted cold, months of the summer sun.
There are some of us who lift a broad shield of thick-ribbed ice between
ourselves and the radiance of the warm heart of God. Oh! brother; do not
shut that love out of your heart; for if you do, you shut out peace and
goodness, and shut in all manner of poisonous creatures and doleful
shapes, whose companionship will be misery and death.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
List of corrections and amendments made:
Ephesians:
Page
36: added closing quote after "the event of our inheritance"
(line 3)
102: "gentle words _ot_" to "_to_"
154: "it" added in "what it is to hear"
263: [Preached on Whitsunday] was a footnote.
286: (R.V.) to (R.V.). for consistency with other references.
286: "please _to_ understand" to "_do"
287: "we _shoud_ be entitled" to "should"
391: added -- and changed Ephes. to Eph. for consistency with
other headings
391: added colon after "Mark its simplicity" (for grammar, and
there was a large space in the book)
Peter and John:
8: "_ordisaster_" to "_or disaster_"
28: added close quote after "that which is another's"
34: added close quote after "My heavenly Father's Kingdom."
39: "to _y_" -> "to you" in poetry
66: added -- after "especially to recreation" (for sense, and
there was a large space in the book)
86: "_Caesarae_ Philippi" to "_Cæsarea_ Philippi"
88: "bow _or_ stubborn" to "bow _our_ stubborn"
99: "dicattes" to "dictates"
107: "ever" to "even" in quotation from 1 Peter ii. 21
116: added opening quote before "Any man who"
146: "inadeqate" to "inadequate"
170: "It may be that he he". Duplicate word deleted
173: "_Whose_ righteousness clothes" to "_whose_"
210: added open quote before sea of glass (by reference to
Rev 15:2)
219: "slave has no _resource_" -> "_recourse_"
219: added opening quote before "Take that man's child"
242: added closing quote after "like Lebanon."
260: added closing quote after "all sin."
297: added closing quote after "My Father;"
308: added closing quote after "at His coming"
313: corrected 1 John iv. 9 to 1 John i. 9 (the verse being
quoted)