[May 24th, 1863.]
The Scriptures divide men into two classes, the good and the bad; the righteous and the unrighteous; men of the world and children of God; carnal and spiritual. Of course there is great difference of character among those included under each general division. Not all men of the world are of the same moral character. But as to the great point, there is no difference. All not the children of God are the children of the evil one. All who do not belong to the kingdom of light belong to the kingdom of darkness. Under the gospel, the distinction which supersedes all others, and determines the status of every man in the sight of God, and decides his destiny forever, is whether he loves the Lord Jesus Christ or not, whether he lives for Christ or for the world. Blessings are pronounced upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ—in sincerity; and “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha.” 1 Cor. 16:22. There must be a reason for this. There must be some adequate ground for pronouncing a blessing upon those who love Christ, and the curse of God upon all who do not love him. That reason is that not to love Christ is the greatest of all crimes, and love to him includes all the excellence of which we are susceptible.
I. What is love? II. What are the grounds of love for Christ? III. What are the fruits of that love?
I. What is love?
No word in our language is more comprehensive and difficult of explanation. It is here, as in most cases, all true knowledge comes from experience. We can not know until we have felt. Setting aside the improper application of the word when used in reference to inanimate or irrational objects, it is to be remarked, 1. That love in the Scripture sense of the word, is an emotion, such as joy, fear, anger, an ebullition of feeling. 2. It is not simply an affection in the sense of a conscious state of the mind. Love may exist where there is no present or conscious exercise. A child loves its parent, a parent a child, a sister a brother, when their minds are engaged with other objects, and their feelings are called forth in other directions.
- Love can no more be defined, than can matter, or spirit. You can only say what it is not, and what are its manifestations. Can any one say what maternal love is? It is not an emotion; it is not a feeling; it is not an affection. It is something which lies back of all these, an instinct, a law. It is that which makes a mother delight in her child; which leads her to seek its good; which makes her live for it, labor for it, and suffer for it, and do all this gladly without any thought of a return.
So also love to Christ is not an emotion, or a feeling. It is that in the soul which makes it delight in Christ; which leads it to prefer the honor and interests of Christ to all other objects; and which leads us to live, labor, suffer and die for him gladly.
II. The grounds of love.
- Excellence of the object. 2. Suitableness to our necessities. 3. Relation to us.
III. Fruits of love.
- Joy unspeakable. 2. Superiority to the World. 3. Holiness.
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