[January 20th, 1855.]
I. Meaning of the proposition.
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Love includes, a. desire of communion, b. complacency, and c. benevolence.
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When it is affirmed that God is love, it is not meant that he is nothing else, nor that all his moral perfections may be resolved into one, much less into one form of one.
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But it means negatively that there is nothing in God incompatible with love; no malice or malignity, no coldness or indifference. This is infinitely much, if the omnipotence and knowledge of God are not controlled for evil.
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Positively, it means that love in God, as desire, complacency and benevolence, is essential, eternal and infinite, a. It is universal, extending to all his creatures. b. It is intelligent. c. It is holy. d. It is unfathomable. e. It is sovereign and discriminating. One creature is an angel, another a man, and another a brute, another an insect. Of rational creatures, some are preserved holy, some left to sin. Of the latter some are redeemed and others are not. f. It is affluent, rejoicing in enriching and adorning his creatures. g. It is immutable in all its forms, whether of simple benevolence or of electing saving love. h. It is manifold, manifesting itself in one form towards merely sentient creatures, in another towards rational beings, in another towards the unholy, and in another towards the redeemed, his peculiar ones, his (if that word can have a plural.)
II. Proof that God is love.
- Negatively, there is no evidence of malignity in him. 2. Creation and providence constantly manifest it. 3. Redemption is the great overwhelming demonstration of it. 4. It is declared in a thousand forms in the Scriptures, that God is merciful, long-suffering, tender, compassionate; that his love is stronger than a father’s, or a mother’s, or a husband’s.
III. Importance of this truth.
- It is the foundation of repentance, faith and obedience. 2. It is important to the promotion of holiness. Our life consists in the knowledge of God, and God is love. This must be known, believed and appreciated before it can produce in us the proper impressions. 3. We are God’s children if we love; for God is love. 4. It is the ground of all confidence as to the issue of the universe, as to the course of providence, and as to our own affairs. 5. If God is love, then it is only by loving that we have fellowship with him, and that he dwells in us. The proposition thus becomes to us a test of character.