has the whole of it. Even so with Jehovah our heavenly Father; even so with Jesus our elder brother. His is a special, personal, pe- culiar love, just as if he loved no other, but had his whole heart to spare for us. His is a minute and watchful care, bending over each, day and night, as if he had no other to care for. How sweet to think that each of us is the special object of such personal attachment, the peculiar object of such unwearied vigilance ! What manner of love is this ! Now we believe and are sure that we shall be fully cared for, and not one want or sorrow overlooked. Now we know that " all things shall work together for our good," and that the end of everything which befalls us here shall be light and glory for ever ! " I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end."* "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you."t " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
It is sweet to realize the common love flow- ing out of the Father's bosom to the whole happy household of his saved ones ; but it is
* Jer. xxii. 11. t Is. Ixvi. 13. * Ps. ciii. 13.
22 THE FAMILY.
no less sweet, specially in the day of trial, to dwell upon the personal love he bears so pecu- liarly to each. It is blessed to identify our- selves with such a family who are all joying in the sunshine of paternal love ; but it is as blessed at times to isolate oneself and realize the individual love which is our own peculiar heritage. Thus felt the Bride when she said, " let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine."* " I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."t
It was when first the Holy Spirit opened our ears to listen to the tale of love which the Gospel brought to us, that we sought our Fa- ther's house, and rested not till we had found ourselves in his embrace. It was then when first we received " the gift of God," and under- stood the love which that gift declared, that we took our place in the family circle, tasting the plenty of our Father's table, and enjoying the sweetness of our Father's smile. And even as we entered in, so are we to abide for ever ; " root- ed and grounded in love," realizing the words of Jesus, " as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you : CONTINUE YE IN MY LOVE."£
* Song of Solomon, i. 2. t Song of Solomon, vi. 8. JJobn xv. 9.
CHAPTER II.
THE FAMILY LIFE.
THEY live by faith. Thus they began, and thus they are to end. " We walk by faith and not by sight." Their whole life is a life of faith. Their daily actings are all of faith. This forms one of the main elements of their character. It marks them out as a peculiar people. None live as they do.
Their faith is to them "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It is a sort of substitute for sight and possession. It so brings them into contact with the unseen world, that they feel as if they were already conversant with, and living amongst, the things unseen. It makes the future, the distant, the impalpable, appear as the present, the near, the real. It removes all intervening time : it annihilates all interposing space ; it transplants the soul at once into the world above. That which we know is to be hereafter, is felt as if already in being. Hence the coming of the Lord is always
24 THE FAMILY LIFE.
spoken of as at hand. Nay, more than this, the saints are represented as " having their conversation in heaven ;" as being already " seated with Christ in heavenly places,"* as " having come to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first- born who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect."! The things amid which they are to move hereafter are so realized by faith as to appear the things amid which they are at present moving. They sit in "heavenly places" and look down upon the earth, with all its clouds and storms, as lying immeasura- bly far beneath their feet. And what is a "present evil world" to those who are already above ah1 its vicissitudes and breathing a purer atmosphere ?
Such is the power of faith. It throws back into the far distance the things of earth, the things that men call near and real; and it brings forward into vital contact with the soul the things which men call invisible and dis- tant. It discloses to us the heavenly man- * Eph. ii. 6. t Heb. xii. 22.
THE FAMILY LIFE. 25